This is the companion piece Learning to Love. While posting that fic, someone asked what Lucy thought about something that happened. However, that whole fic was from either Lois or Clark's POV and so working her thoughts in just didn't work. This was born from that question. I'd originally only planned on writing the first year or so, but it expanded beyond that and now covers essentially the same time period but from Lucy's perspective. So, if you've read that fic, this one probably won't hold any amazing new truths or shockers or anything like that, but I enjoyed writing it and seeing what Lucy [and Jimmy and Perry and Alice] thought and did at times when we didn't see them. And knowing what I/we know about Lois and Clark from seeing things from their perspective, seeing things from her side is interesting [and if you haven't read LtL, then you won't know what I'm talking about until Lucy does
]. Is it necessary to read Learning to Love first? I don't think so, but it probably wouldn't hurt. I don't think there's any inconsistencies between the two but I won't swear to it – if you notice any, let me know? There are a couple of things that I've edited in LtL to reflect things that happen here that I'll mention as we get to them. Some of the dialog [and, I admit, in places, dialog for most of a scene] is taken directly from Learning to Love.
There are some WHAMs in here – this is the story of Lucy's life covering the same time period as Learning to Love. Most of the WHAMmy stuff doesn’t happen to Lucy but rather around her so...
And a warning – Lois and Clark are very much the minor characters here. This is *Lucy's* Story. They're there, and prominent at times, but they are *not* the main characters so don't get all mad at me if they don't get enough 'screen time'
. You've been warned.
Thanks, of course, go to my fabulous betas, Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK, for invaluable insight, encouragement, badgering, etc.
Story segments in Chapter 1 between the ~*~*~ marks are flashback.
It's not done yet, but I'm guessing in the 15-20 range at the moment, probably closer to 15. Look for a MWF posting schedule for now.
*****
Chapter 1
*****
December 1984
*****
Lucy Lane hated peanut butter. She didn't just dislike it, like someone might not care for lobster or green beans. She loathed it. The mere thought of peanut butter was almost enough to send her running towards the nearest bathroom or trash can to empty her lunch into it.
The only thing that kept her from doing that was the idea that peanut butter tasted worse coming up than it did going down.
She stared at her sandwich and wondered for the millionth time if it was possible to die from eating too much peanut butter. She thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't allergic to peanuts – because she would have died from anaphylactic shock or something years ago.
It wasn't Lois' fault. Lois had more than proven over the years that she was completely inept in the kitchen, starting with the time she'd used their mother's good towels to clean up the nearly full gallon of milk that she'd managed to pour all over the kitchen floor.
At least Christmas break was only two weeks long. If it was much longer than that, she'd spend New Year's Eve 1984 in the emergency room with peanut butter poisoning.
~*~*~
*****
Four and a half years earlier: June 1980
*****
"I don’t want to go to Future Rodeo Clowns of America camp, Mom." Ten-year-old Lucy glared at her half-drunk parent.
"It's not Future Rodeo Clowns. It's a camp for kids to learn about horses and stuff."
"Same thing."
"No, it's not and you're going."
Lucy glared at her for another minute then stomped off to her room upstairs. Lois had already deserted her for some journalism thing and then she was off to science camp to appease her father and Lucy would be leaving for something called Horse Lover's Camp for Girls in two weeks.
She hated horses. Did her parents care? No, of course not. They just wanted her out of the house for a while. That was the only reason they'd let Lois go to that journalism camp and really they'd only agreed to that because that was the only way she wouldn't throw a fit about science camp later in the summer.
She sighed. This was going to be just great.
*****
July 1980
*****
Four weeks later, Lucy watched as her dad pulled out of the driveway. She'd seen him put a suitcase in the car and it looked like there were some boxes in there, too. Was he going to some conference out of town? Why hadn't he said anything? She heard her mother banging around in the kitchen, probably looking for something else to drink.
She sighed. If she wanted something to eat, she was going to have to go down there eventually. If her mom had just started drinking, she might make something for her. If she was passed out, or close to it, Lucy could get something for herself. No, it was the in between that Lucy hated the most, especially without Lois here to help.
She started down the hall, listening for the tell-tale sounds that would let her know what kind of condition her mother was in. It was only mid-morning, but that wouldn't matter to Ellen Lane. As she passed her parents' room, she was struck by the disarray there. It was rarely neat as a pin, but the drawers were open on her father's dresser and it looked like they'd been ransacked. She went in and discovered that not only had her father taken a few clothes for a possible business trip, but everything of his was gone.
She stumbled back as though someone had hit her in the gut. She made it back to her room before and shut the door before she sank to the floor.
She'd thought it was a welcome respite when, out of nowhere, she was informed that she wasn't going to camp this summer after all, but if she had to guess, this was already in the works and that's why she didn't have to go. As hard as she tried to stop them, the tears came anyway.
After her tears were spent, she dug out a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote a letter to Lois. There was no reason for her to be shocked when she came home.
*****
It was another two weeks before Lois returned from Journalism Camp.
"Tell me all about it." Lucy sat cross legged on her sister's bed. Lois had only been home for a few hours but they were already locked in her room in a relatively vain attempt to block out their mom's muttered curses.
Lois shrugged. "I went to classes on how to be an investigative journalist and about photography..."
"Oooo, I love photography. Did you get to take pictures?"
"No, not really. Just talked about it and looked at some. Lunch and dinner were usually some form of mystery meat. Breakfast was usually okay. There was a lake for free time. We went swimming or out in canoes or just walked on one of the trails."
"We? You actually made a friend there? I thought you swore you wouldn't."
Lois shrugged. "I did. I ran into this guy, literally, during registration. We had a couple of classes and free time together so we hung out some."
"Oooo!!! What's his name?"
Lois glared at her. "His name was Clark and he was a friend. Nothing more."
Lucy giggled. "Sure, Lois. If you say so."
Lois and Lucy both stared at the bedspread. Finally Lois spoke. "What happened?" she asked quietly.
Lucy shrugged. "I don’t know. I saw Dad putting a suitcase in the car and thought he was going to a conference or something, but when I walked by their room I realized all of his stuff was gone."
"Did he even say good-bye?"
Lucy shook her head. "No."
"I'm sorry."
"Not your fault." She glanced outside. It was getting dark. "I wonder if Mom's passed out yet."
Lois shrugged. "Probably." She sighed. "It's bedtime, Lu."
"Yeah."
"Want me to tell you a story?" Lois smiled.
"Fairy princesses?"
"Sure. But tomorrow I've got a new one with a new kind of prince."
"Okay."
"Go put your pajamas on and get in bed. I'll be there in a minute."
Ten minutes later, Lucy was in bed and Lois was seated next to her.
"Once upon a time, there were two fairy princesses named Lois and Lucy. They were very beautiful princesses, but very lonely. You see, their parents had died when they were little and they had no one to take care of them but themselves. They had each other and they loved each other very much, but they still felt like they were missing something. One day, they were having cake and ice cream. It was Lucy's birthday and so they had all of her favorite things to eat. For breakfast they had chocolate chip pancakes..."
"Those are your favorites."
"Well, in this story, they're Fairy Princess Lucy's favorites too."
"Fine."
"So they had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and grilled cheese sandwiches and Doritos for lunch. For dinner, they had Chinese food from their favorite restaurant in China. They had all the money they needed and they were able to fly to China and get take out. They had finished their dinner and Lois got out the cake. She'd made it and the ice cream from scratch."
"You can't cook."
"In this story, Fairy Princess Lois can."
"Fine."
"So Lois had made cake and ice cream and she sang 'Happy birthday' to Lucy. As she finished they heard the sound of fairy wings flapping. They looked for a place to hide because they hadn't heard the fairy wings of any other fairies since their parents had left them and had an accident. But they couldn't hide and they were scared. It turned out they didn't need to be scared because these were fairy princes. Two of them, as it turned out. One of them was a little older and one a little younger. They asked the two fairy princesses if they could take them home to their castle and marry them. Lois and Lucy said yes, but only after they ate chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream."
"I like white cake and vanilla ice cream."
"Next birthday."
"Fine."
"So they ate cake and ice cream and the older fairy prince named... Charlie..."
"I thought his name was Dan."
"Not this time."
"Fine."
"The older fairy prince was named Charlie, Charlie King and the other one was named Luke Skywalker Prince."
"Oh, please. What happened to Jonathan Prince?"
"He's in another story. This time it's Luke Skywalker Prince."
"Fine."
"So Charlie King and Luke Skywalker Prince took the fairy princesses Lois and Lucy by the hand and together the four of them flew away to the princes' castle. Once they were there, they got married. Princess Lois married Prince Charlie King and Princess Lucy married Prince Luke Skywalker Prince."
"Prince Luke Skywalker Prince?"
"Yes."
"Fine."
"So they had a big double wedding with all of the princes' friends there but none of the princesses' friends, because they didn't have any friends because their parents had left them and died in an accident and they only had each other. But now, with their princes, they had new friends who loved them. So they married the princes and they all lived happily ever after."
"How do you know they lived happily ever after?"
"Because when they got married, part of the wedding vows was that Charlie and Luke Skywalker promised that no matter what, they would never, ever, ever leave Princess Lois or Princess Lucy and they, unlike the princesses' parents, kept their promises. So they never, ever left and they lived happily ever after." Lois gently brushed Lucy's hair back. "Sleep tight, Princess Lucy Prince."
"Thank you, Princess Lois King."
"I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay."
Lucy watched as Lois left the room and shut the door behind her. She knew that Lois was going to go find their mom and do whatever it was Lois did that meant their Mom would spend the night in her own room. Lucy wasn't sure what it was, but she knew from spending the last several weeks without her big sister that she did something, because her mother had rarely been asleep in her own room these weeks.
She knew that other kids didn't deal with the same things she and Lois did, and she was fortunate that she had Lois to take care of her and everything else.
*****
October 1983
*****
"Lois! You got a letter!" Lucy hollered up the stairs at her sister. Even though Daddy had moved back in, things were still tense in the Lane household.
It had started, out of the blue a year earlier, when she'd woken up to find her father in the kitchen drinking coffee. They'd gotten married again the night before. Did she know New Troy didn't have a waiting period, they'd asked.
So far there were few signs that he'd gone back to his cheating ways, but Lucy knew it was probably only a matter of time before he did – or at least before he got caught.
Remarrying had helped her mom. She was sober for weeks at a time sometimes, but then she'd go weeks on end drinking herself into oblivion. The beginnings of those stretches of time seemed to coincide with her father's business trips and last until he'd been home for at least a week – to convince her he was really staying this time?
Lois bounded down the stairs. "Who's it from?"
Lucy held the letter out of reach. "Who do you think?"
Lois rolled her eyes. "Probably the IRS. They think I'm shirking my duties as a taxpayer and they want to audit me over the $37 I made babysitting last year."
"Nope."
"Then it must the Russians. They want me to go back to junior high and be a spy so they can know what the evil Americans are teaching."
Lucy shook her head again. She loved this game. She knew who it was from and Lois knew she knew, but until she came up with something really good, there was no way Lucy was giving up the envelope.
"It's from the White House. The president wants to adopt me and make me his head speech writer."
"Can I come too?"
"Of course. I'll always take care of you, you know that."
"Can I sleep in the Lincoln bedroom?"
"Sure."
"Okay then." Lucy held the letter out. "I want to read it later."
"Maybe." Lois turned and ran up the stairs, locking the door to her room behind her.
Lucy smiled. Sometimes Lois would let her read the letters. She was more interested in reading the ones that Lois wouldn't let her read, but she knew more than Lois thought she did.
The mysterious Prince Cowboy Charlie King had made his way into the Wild West stories Lois began telling not long after she returned from journalism camp. When letters from Clark Kent of Kansas began to arrive a month or so later, Lucy made the connection. She'd never told Lois that, though. More and more the adventures of Tiny Town Reporter Princess Lois and Tiny Town Photographer Princess Lucy had stories that only could be told by someone who knew what they were talking about. And Lois could only have gotten those stories from Clark.
Lucy had made the mistake of referring to Clark as her boyfriend – but only once. The glare Lois had given her made her hair stand on end for days and she'd apologized immediately. Not long after that, an evil villainess had shown up in the stories Lois told her. Robber Baroness Lanette, and later joined by Robber Baroness Raquel, tried to keep Prince Cowboy Charlie King and Prince Matthew Broderick Prince from the two Princess heroines. Well, Lucy's prince changed based on who Lois – or occasionally Lucy – thought was cute at the time, but the principle was the same.
Lucy wondered idly who Lanette and Raquel were supposed to be. Obviously Charlie King was Clark Kent, but who were they? Clark's girlfriends? Did he have more than one girlfriend? Was the other one his sister? Lucy shrugged mentally.
Lucy wondered if Lois would work in the current crush of her life into the stories. She probably would, but that would mean that she would have to tell Lois that she had a crush on Joe – the guy who was going to take Lois to the dance in a couple weeks.
Nope, no way she was going to mention that to Lois. She wondered what parts of the latest letter would work their way into Lois' stories over the next couple weeks then shrugged. It was almost time for Family Ties.
*****
December 1984
*****
The first day of December was a Saturday and the Lanes spent the day decorating the house for Christmas. Lucy and Lois giggled as they put the ornaments on the tree and the garland on the banister.
Their parents had called an uneasy truce of some sort. Lucy wasn't quite sure what it was but she was grateful. Since they'd remarried over two years ago, things had seemed rocky at best. They fought almost constantly and made up nearly as often. Lucy shared a wall with them and knew far more than she cared to about how often they made up – something she'd never had to worry about before. Whether or not her Dad was cheating, she had no idea, but her mother's drinking binges had slowed down considerably over the last year. Maybe they'd finally come to some sort of agreement or something; Dad could sleep with whoever he wanted as long as he was home every night or something. The thought sickened her, but she recognized it as a possibility.
The next few weeks flew past and then it was Christmas. The sisters were actually almost enjoying opening presents and, so far, there was no sign of the tension normally present at Lane family holidays.
"Oh, Sam! Thank you!" Ellen hugged her husband. "This is wonderful!"
"What is it?" Lois asked.
"A trip to that new ski resort next weekend – the one in northern New Troy."
"Next weekend?"
Lucy watched as her sister's face fell, but only for a split second before an unreadable mask slipped into place. Her birthday was next weekend. And her parents were leaving. Lucy knew that Lois was incredibly disappointed – their mom had promised her just yesterday they'd have cake and ice cream next weekend. But Lois would never let on how much it disappointed her. It was what their parents did. Let them down. Repeatedly. Left them. This time it was to go skiing. Last time it had been when Lois had a small singing part in the Spring musical. The time before that had been when Lucy's pictures were on display with the rest of the high school photography classes'. Who knew what it would be next time.
~*~*~
Lucy managed to choke down the last bite of her peanut butter sandwich and followed it with a glass of milk.
"Lucy, we're back!" Lois walked in, followed by a small, gray haired woman.
This weekend just kept getting better. Mom and Dad were gone and now Great Aunt Louise was here. Lucy would bet money that they had forgotten she was coming. It was a four hour drive to the resort and the roads were still a bit slick from the ice and snow storm the day after Christmas. They'd left two hours ago and then the phone call came. Lois had left grumbling about something but hadn't told Lucy where she was going.
"Hi, Aunt Louise." Lucy stood and gave the slight woman a hug, not out of affection but duty.
"Hello, dear." Louise returned the hug then set her purse down. She looked around then spoke. "I'm willing to bet that neither of you have eaten dinner."
Lucy shrugged. "I just finished a sandwich."
Lois walked in with a suitcase. "I'll make myself one in a minute."
"Nonsense. We'll order out. Is there a good Chinese restaurant nearby or would you prefer Italian?"
Two hours later, they had finished dinner and Lois and Lucy were contemplating a game of Monopoly while Aunt Louise, saying she was tired after the long trip, prepared for bed.
A knock on the door interrupted their plans.
Shooting Lois a puzzled look, Lucy turned in her seat on the couch and looked out the front window. Her eyes widened. "It's the cops."
Lois stood to answer the door. "I wonder what they want."
Lucy followed her and heard steps coming down the stairs behind her.
Lois pulled the door open. "Can we help you?"
"I'm Sergeant Tom Winslow with the Pittsdale Police Department and this is Officer Owen Dale of the New Troy Highway Patrol. Is this the Lane residence?"
Lois turned to look at her, her eyes wide. "Yes," she said. "I'm Lois Lane."
"May we come in?"
Lois nodded and opened the door a bit wider allowing them to enter. Scant minutes later they were seated in various spots around the living room and Lucy and Aunt Louise were also introduced to the officers.
"There's no easy way to say this," Sergeant Winslow began. "There was an accident on Highway 43 as it heads up to Martin's Peak."
Lucy gasped. Lois' mouth gaped open but no sound came out. Aunt Louise closed her eyes and appeared to say a quick prayer.
"The black ice caused a semi-truck heading down the mountain to lose control and veer into oncoming traffic. While trying to avoid the semi-truck, another vehicle – a large Suburban – spun another car out of control and over the edge of the cliff face at the side of the road. I'm sorry to inform you that Sam and Ellen Lane were in the vehicle that crashed over the mountain. They did not survive the accident."
Lois had kept her eyes closed throughout the Sergeant's speech. Lucy watched her and her great aunt as she absorbed the news. Tears slid down her great aunt's face.
They were gone. Her parents were gone. What would happen to them now?
*****
The next night, Lucy sat staring out the window when she saw someone walk up the drive. It was a man – she couldn’t tell how old – but he carried a suitcase. Had Aunt Louise called someone? They had no other family.
She saw him leave her line of vision seconds before there was a knock at the door. She left her room but stopped at the top of the stairs when she saw Lois in the arms of the mystery man. Who was it? She couldn't see him very well – just that he was tall and had dark hair.
They stood there for what seemed an eternity until Lois finally stepped back and asked him to come in. Lucy strained to hear what they said but only heard something about Kansas. Was this Clark Kent? How had he known? The phone call Lois made late last night? It had to be. But why was he here?
She sat down, not in the slightest bit guilty about trying to hear what was being said because by the time they'd moved into the kitchen she could hear little more than murmurs.
Her curiosity finally getting the better of her a few minutes later, she started down the stairs. As she reached the bottom and turned towards the kitchen, she stopped in her tracks.
There he was, on one knee with a box in his hand. Was he...? Could he be...? Surely he wasn't... And even if he was, Lois wouldn't say...
Would she?
Tears welled up in Lucy's eyes as she saw the guy – whoever he was – slip the ring on her sister's finger and pull her up into a long hug. She turned and fled to her room. Lois was leaving her too.
*****
A rap on her door a few minutes later broke her out of her reverie. She wiped her tears and moved to open the door. Aunt Louise had heard voices downstairs and wondered if Lucy knew who it was – since one was obviously masculine.
Lucy shook her head, saying only that she'd seen someone come up the walk and that Lois had been talking to him but she didn't know who it was.
That settled, Aunt Louise led her downstairs to meet the mystery man.
Lucy fully expected to find her sister and her *fiancé* in some sort of compromising lip lock, but no, they were still sitting at the kitchen table. They both stood as she and Aunt Louise entered the room. She watched as Lois put her hands behind her back for a second and then shoved something in her pocket.
"Aunt Louise, Lucy – this is my friend, Clark Kent. I talked to him last night and he came in from Kansas today." So Lois wasn't going to tell them they were engaged?
Aunt Louise extended her hand and told him that she was pleased to make his acquaintance. They settled down at the kitchen table and the elder Lane proceeded to grill the young man about his plans.
Okay, grill was probably a bit harsh; she simply asked where he was staying. When he said he didn't know, she offered him the couch.
Sure. That's where he'd be. At least until they were all asleep and he snuck up to Lois' room.
She hadn't said anything yet, only giving the interloper a tight smile and small nod. At a lull in the conversation, she finally decided it was time to say something to this home wrecker. "So, you're Clark," she started.
"Yep." He smiled at her. "Lois has told me a lot about you in her letters."
"Really? She's told me a lot about you, too. Smallville, right?"
She held his brown eyes while they spoke. She could sense Lois tensing up in her chair.
"Otherwise known as 'middle of corn country in southeast Kansas'."
"Your parents died in a car accident didn't they?"
"Lucy!" Lois hissed.
"It's okay." He'd looked briefly at his hands as they held his drink. "Yes, my parents died on a mountain road in Colorado. It was eight years ago yesterday."
She narrowed her eyes as she spoke again. "So you're an orphan too?"
He nodded, holding her gaze with his own. What was his game?
"Were you adopted or did you stay in foster care?"
"Lucy!" Lois' protest was louder this time.
"It's okay, Lois. I was in foster care until last May when I graduated from high school. I stayed with a number of different families – most of them friends of my parents – until I landed with the Langs for the last couple of years. They have a daughter my age. We'd played together since we were kids and Lana begged her parents to take me in when my other foster family moved back to Wisconsin. They did and were very good to me until I moved back to my parents' farm."
Lana? As in Lanette? The evil villainess from Lois' stories? Had he dated her? And now he lived on his parents' farm. So Lois was going to marry him and move to Kansas. Perfect.
"Smallville... quite a name for a town." She could sense Lois starting to get mad and wondered how far she could push this before her sister blew her top.
"Well," he smiled. He did have a nice smile. "It fits. It's a small town."
"I see." She faked being thoughtful for a second. "Why wouldn't they name it something like Tiny Town? Or is that just silly?" She heard Lois' sharp intake of breath. Yep. It wouldn't take much longer. She looked intently at the man who was taking her sister away. "And you look more like a Charlie than a Clark."
"Lucy Ellen Lane." The explosion came not from Lois as expected, though Lucy had noticed her mouth open, but rather from Aunt Louise. "That's enough. Mr. Kent is a guest in our home."
"It's not your home, Aunt Louise. And soon it won't be ours either." She pushed back from the table and headed up to her room. "Nice to meet you, Charlie," she called back over her shoulder as she started up the stairs. Let Lois stew on that.
*****
TBC
