[Well, since I've got this finished this evening, I might as well let you all have, it, right?]
“Lois! You’re kidding!” His eyes widened, his brow furrowed, and his hands grasped hers more tightly, but she plowed on.
“This morning when I woke up it was 1993. I was single, I had my job, which I was good at, and that was pretty much it. Then, next thing I know, it’s 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor of California, I’ve got kids I don’t even remember having, and Superman says I’m his wife, but it turns out that really I’m yours. And I barely know you, but it feels so right I know it must be true; part of me knows that I’m yours and you’re mine, but I can’t remember how we got here and I don’t know if I can be the person that everyone expects me to be.”
Clark leaned forward to fold her into his solid embrace. “Oh, Lois! I’m so sorry! What happened? Are you injured?”
“No. Physically, I’m fine. I just can’t remember anything.”
He pulled back enough to see into her eyes, his hands gripping the tops of her arms. “Lois, this is a shock. But, whether you remember it or not, you *are* my wife, and I will do whatever it takes to help you get your memory back. I know how scary this is, but we will beat it.”
“How can you be so sure, Clark? I’m not sure of anything right now.”
“Lois, I am upset; I hate that you have to go through this, and it feels really strange knowing that I know you as my wife but you don’t know me as your husband. But I’m not too worried. That’s because I know something you don’t. We’ve both been through this before, Lois, and we’ve both recovered. So I’m confident you will recover again.”
His face took on a look of grim determination. “Besides, Lois, do you know how many contacts we have? We have the President’s personal cell phone number. One of the best researchers in North America is our family physician. Lois, I will call in every marker I have if that’s what it takes to get your memory back. And, believe me, I have a lot of them, and so do you.”
He was bringing up the physician. She didn’t like that idea. “I don’t want to go to a hospital yet. I just don’t have a good feeling about it.”
A small frown creased his brow, as if he were thinking something through, but then he said, “Well, it may surprise you, but I agree with you. For now. The last time you lost your memory you did go to a hospital, and let’s just say it’s not an experience we want to repeat. But when I lost my memory, I was told to just hang around with familiar people, in familiar places, and it came back to me in a few days. So, my suggestion is that we try that first. We’ve got the whole weekend. Let’s just hang around the house, or we can try an outing to a favorite place or two if you’re up for it. Hopefully your memory will come back on its own.” She nodded slowly.
“But if it doesn’t, we can’t wait too long. I don’t care about work; you’ve got more sick leave built up than me, and that’s saying something. But the kids will be back on Sunday evening. They’re still little, Lois. They won’t understand why their mom doesn’t know them. So, if you still don’t remember anything by Saturday afternoon, we’ve got to get you some professional help.”
Reluctantly, she nodded her agreement. Neither of them seemed to know what to do next, and the silence was getting uncomfortable before he spoke again. “You said you don’t know me very well. I can leave you in peace if that would make you more comfortable, but I think it would be best if I were at least available to answer any questions you might have. If your memory doesn’t start coming back in a couple of days, we can talk about other options then. And, I know you’re exhausted tonight, but in the morning I want to hear exactly what happened, okay?”
“Okay.” She hesitated to mention it, but he had been so understanding and supportive, she felt he deserved to know, “Clark, it’s true I don’t know you well. In my memory, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. I wouldn’t even call us friends, really. Truth is I wouldn’t call anyone a friend. Not really. But I can tell, just from being with you tonight, you are a good husband. I’m glad you’re here.”
He smiled bravely. “Any time, Lois. I’ll always be here for you. And we will get through this. Together.” He took a deep breath and let it out, trying somehow to move this whole uncomfortable situation forward. “Now, how about that bath before it gets cold? I’ll lay some P.J.’s out for you, and I’ll sleep in the boys’ room. You could use a good night’s sleep, and in the morning we’ll figure out what to do next.”
“No!” The protest escaped before she could stop it.
He had started toward the bureau, but he turned back, his eyebrows rising in question at her outburst. She was just as surprised as he was, but she found she couldn’t let him leave. She felt shy again, but a panic was tightening her throat at the thought of being left alone, even if he was just down the hall. She knew it was irrational to feel so clingy for someone she had just met, but she was emotionally exhausted and way past rational.
“Clark,” she was pleading now, but she couldn’t help it, “my world is completely topsy-turvy. There’s so much I don’t know. But you have been an anchor ever since you showed up at the ceremony tonight. Please, don’t go. I don’t really want a bath. And I don’t want to be alone. Stay? Please?”
He was back beside her in an instant. “Of course I’ll stay. I love being with you. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I know you didn’t like me much when we first met.”
Lois’s mouth made a wry twist. “I don’t know; I think maybe I liked you a little too much for comfort. But, in any case, we haven’t just met, have we? We’ve known each other for ten years; we have three children together! I don’t think we should pretend that we don’t know each other. I think we should act as normal as we can. That’s what’s supposed to help my memory come back, right? Now, if I still had my memory and I hadn’t spent all evening freaking out, what would we be doing right now?”
“Um…” She looked him in the face in time to see the blossoming of a furious blush.
“Oh. Right. Of course. Well, I’m not sure I’m ready to act that normal yet.” Now she was blushing, too. “Would you settle for a hug tonight?”
“Lois, I’ll take a hug from you any time.” He suited his action to his words. “And tonight what *you* need is a good night’s sleep. You take the bathroom first—your stuff is all in the left-hand cabinet. I’ll find you those P.J.s and we’ll both turn in, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Lois carried the proffered pajamas into the bathroom and set them on the closed toilet lid. She peeled off her dress and stockings and slipped into the pajamas. This felt so weird. She hadn’t shared living space with anyone except Lucy since college. Even then, college room-mates were careful to keep to their own territory, even if that territory was half a dorm-room. But this—this was completely different. For one thing, she was uncomfortably aware that there was only one bed in that bedroom. But even here in the bathroom, there were so many signs of casual intimacy. As she reached to let the water out of the bathtub, she noticed her shampoo and conditioner standing on the corner of the tub, and also another brand she never used. There were two sinks—as Clark had said, “hers” was on the left. There was a jar of her favorite skin cleanser and a bottle of her moisturizer on the counter next to it, along with a bottle of liquid soap. Near the other sink was a matching soap bottle, a bottle of after-shave, and a black comb. On the counter between the two sinks stood a single tooth-brush rack with a half-used tube of toothpaste and two toothbrushes; pink on the left and green on the right. She washed her face and reached for the pink toothbrush. There was only one hand towel. She supposed they must share. <So what? He’s your husband! You’re about to share a bed with the man and you’re worried about sharing a towel?> She was starting to wonder whether she should have let him sleep down the hall after all.
When she was ready <as ready as I’m going to be> she picked up the dress and the stockings and cautiously poked her head into the bedroom. Clark was standing at the open closet, hanging his tuxedo jacket and wearing black sleep shorts and a gray t-shirt. <Wow! He looks good!> He pulled a padded hanger from the closet and reached for her dress. He took the stockings as well, and zipped them into a small net bag before tossing it into a laundry basket on the floor of the closet. He turned from hanging her dress in the closet and caught her staring.
“What?”
Lois blinked. “Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never seen a man so…comfortable with women’s…things.”
He smiled as he ducked into to the hallway to turn off the lights. “You’ve seen it plenty; you just don’t remember. We’ve been married for seven years, Lois; I have plenty of experience with women’s things.”
He headed into the bathroom and didn’t bother to shut the door as he brushed his teeth and washed his face. <Yep. Same towel.>
There was an awkward moment as he emerged from the bathroom and headed for the bed. Lois had been standing in the same spot since he had taken her dress from her. She just didn’t know what to do next.
Clark noticed her discomfort and immediately repeated his offer to sleep in the boys’ room. She was tempted to take him up on it, but she knew she only had the weekend to jog her memory before her children <Don’t think of that!> returned, and she wanted to keep things as normal as possible.
So she found herself lying next to Clark in a queen size bed, looking up at the ceiling and holding perfectly still so as not to accidentally touch him. After five interminable minutes, she was startled to hear Clark say, “Roll over.”
“What?”
He turned onto his side to face her, his head propped up on one hand. “I feel ridiculous; we haven’t been this awkward with each other since the Honeymoon Suite at the Lexor…never mind. Just roll over onto your stomach and I promise to behave myself.”
Slowly she complied, folding her arms under her cheek, looking away from him because she was too shy to face him.
“Now, all I’m going to do is rub your back and maybe stroke your hair, just like I did earlier on the sofa. If it makes you uncomfortable I’ll stop, but this is how I usually help you unwind when you’re too upset to sleep.” As he spoke, she felt his hands pull her long hair away from her face and smooth it down her back.
“Really? You do this a lot?”
“Well, you used to unwind by downing half a tub of chocolate ice cream, but this is more effective and doesn’t require a trip to the gym afterward.”
She let out a sigh that was half shudder. “This is so weird. You know me so well, and I don’t know you at all.”
“You do, Lois. You know me better than anyone. And it will come back to you. I know it will. Now, you don’t have to talk unless you feel like it. You can just close your eyes and drift off to sleep.”
She tried to do just that. His touch was so soothing, with a slow, gentle rhythm. Her breathing slowed and her mind quieted as she tried to let go of the day’s events and just focus on the feel of his hand on her hair. But every once in a while a stray question would pop into her head, and she just had to know the answer.
The first one wasn’t really earth-shattering; she just wanted to know. “Cla..ark?” she began, speaking in a hushed tone and dragging his name out almost into two syllables.
“Yeah?” he answered softly.
“How did Jimmy Olsen know where my kids are? I mean, Alice asked, and I didn’t know. Then you answered for the boys, which makes sense now, but then Jimmy answered for the little girl. We were friendly before, but it just seems like we’re closer now.”
“We are. Jim knew where Lara is because she’s at his house. Jim and Lucy were married five years ago. They have a little girl Lara’s age.”
“Tina.”
“Right. So, Lara’s having a slumber party at Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jim’s house.”
“Wow. I never would have predicted that one.”
He chuckled softly. “No, there’s a lot of things in the last ten years I never would have predicted.”
She was quiet for a while, and then, “Clark?”
“Yeah?”
“You said we’ve been married for seven years, right?”
“Yep. Seven years and two days. Monday was our anniversary. That’s why we have the long weekend off.”
“And we have three kids? How did we manage that? I mean, I know how we had kids, obviously. What I’m wondering is, how did we have three in seven years? Lara’s not a baby.”
“Ah. That one’s easy. Well, it wasn’t easy at the time. The boys are twins. Sam and Jon. They’re five-and-a-half, and Lara just turned three.”
“Twins! Yikes! I can’t imagine!”
“Yeah, it was a bit of a shock. But we had a lot of help. Your mom, my mom and dad, Lucy and Jim. We didn’t do it alone. And we still have lots of help. Lucy was never the ambitious career type and she loves being home. Even before Tina was born, she took care of the boys at her home while we were at work. Now the boys are in kindergarten, but Lucy still takes care of Lara during the day and the boys take the school bus to Lucy’s house after school. We pay her, which helps Lucy and Jim make ends meet and allows Lucy to be home with Tina. We try not to work as many late nights as we used to, but we can cover for each other when we really have to work late, so one of us is almost always home in the evening. If we have a real crisis, there’s usually one grandma available.”
“I can’t imagine leaving my children with my mother.”
He let out a soft little laugh. “I couldn’t either, ten years ago. Your mom has mellowed over the years. She’s better at grandmothering than she was at mothering. I think she learned a few things from watching my mom with the kids. My mom’s a natural, and so’s my dad. And, your mom’s been sober for years, so that helps a lot.”
Clark knew about her mom’s drinking problem. Well, of course he did, he was her husband. It just kept taking her by surprise how much he knew about her life when she couldn’t remember much of anything about his.
They were quiet again, and Clark’s strokes were growing softer and slower paced when Lois thought of a question so obvious she couldn’t believe it had slipped her mind for so long. “Clark?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Why would Superman say I was his wife? I mean, I know I didn’t imagine it. We had a whole conversation about meeting at the office or at the ceremony. And he called me ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’ and told me Perry was looking for me and my phone was off. And he kissed me. Why would he do all that if we’re not married?”
