PREVIOUSLY...
“Why are you wearing your engagement ring?” Star asked, trying to sound casual as she poured the tea into mugs and passed one over to Lois.
“Uhh... yeah,” Lois said, realizing immediately that Star was prying for more information about last night. Well, time to put an end to that discussion. “I guess I should take this off. It doesn’t mean anything, anyway. Just... It’s a long story.” She shrugged, raising her hand to remove the ring.
“No! No! Leave it on. Diamonds are an energy amplifier. They will enhance the power of the other crystals. So back to hypnosis.”
Lois almost let out a sigh of relief, as her hands fell back to the table, the diamond untouched. As much as she might consider talking about hypnosis a waste of time, it had at least distracted Star from asking more questions about the previous night. And as for the engagement ring... she’d take it off later.
AND NOW... PART 9...
Clark paced on the beach outside the cabin. He’d not returned to the cabin immediately after dropping Star off lest either Lois or Star made the connection between him and Superman. Still, he had expected to be present when Star hypnotized Lois. After all, what if Star asked something that made Lois remember that he was Superman? When, on one occasion, Star had hypnotized him in order to help him remember a piece of critical information during one of their investigations, he’d said his name was Kal-El. Fortunately, Lois had been there to cover for him. What if Lois said something this time and he wasn’t there to cover?
He liked Star. He trusted Star not to do anything that might hurt Lois. But did he trust Star enough to let her know his secret?
No. Maybe. He wasn’t sure.
Still, Star had been right about one thing. The tension in that room between him and Lois was not exactly conducive to the easy going atmosphere necessary for hypnosis.
And the important thing was to get Lois well. Even if that meant Star found out the secret. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for him to listen in, know if anything was said that shouldn’t be, and maybe have a chance to help Lois and protect his secret at the same time.
Satisfied that this was the best compromise he was going to reach, he sat down at the picnic table and watched and listened to the discussion happening inside the cabin.
* * * * * * * * *
“So you’re saying I’ve been hypnotized before?” Lois asked skeptically.
Star nodded. “A big software owner named Bob Fences hypnotized you and then gave you post hypnotic suggestions to put yourself in jeopardy every time he wanted to commit a crime so that Superman would be too busy saving you to stop him. Then I hypnotized you and removed the suggestions.”
“I think I remember something about this. This is the story where I thought I was abducted by aliens, right?”
“That’s right.”
“So why would I need your help this time? I haven’t been putting myself in jeopardy.”
“Superman told me that Clark thinks that Dr. Deter gave you some sort of post hypnotic suggestion that makes you think you’re in love with him.”
“Max didn’t give me any post hypnotic suggestions,” Lois said, trying to quell her doubts. Why hadn’t she been able to find any other words for her feelings for Max? Still, she wasn’t about to express her concerns. “Clark’s just mad that I love only Max, and...”
“He also said you always say the word ‘only’ when you say you love Max,” Star interrupted. “Just like you did right now. And when you say you love only him, where does that leave Clark?”
“He means nothing to me,” she said, even knowing as she said it that she was saying it only by rote.
Star’s eyebrows rose. “I wouldn’t call the heat I felt when you two were together in this cabin a few minutes ago ‘nothing.’”
Lois shifted uncomfortably. “Okay, so maybe he makes me hot. But that doesn’t mean anything.”
“So... you no longer love Clark?”
“What does that have to do with anything? Why does everyone keep harping on my feelings for Clark?” She knew she was refusing to answer the question directly, although she couldn’t say exactly why. She just wished Star would quit pushing.
“Maybe because most of us have never seen a couple more in love than the two of you were.”
That took the wind out of Lois’ sails. “Really?” She looked down quickly when she registered the wistfulness in her voice.
Star nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. You two could fight like cats and dogs. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any couple fight like you could...”
“And this is what I should want to remember?” Lois asked, trying to inject some sarcasm into her voice and failing miserably.
“...but you must have noticed the way he looks at you?”
Lois looked down as the way he’d looked at her the previous night flashed through her mind.
“That boy’s got it as bad for you as any man has ever had it for a woman. And you looked at him the same way.”
Lois was momentarily lost for words. Then she gave her head a shake. “Well, I can’t help that. He’s just going to have to get over it. And I don’t need hypnosis either.” Or did she? Maybe it would prove to herself, one way or another, what her real feelings were - because she suddenly wasn’t entirely sure.
Star let out a breath. “Look, Lois, I think part of the problem here is that you think hypnosis is something to be feared. And I guess it can be used to do unethical things. But really, it’s just an altered state of consciousness. A more relaxed state, one where your mind can recall things that you might not be able to recall if you weren’t as relaxed.”
“So you’re saying it could help me with my amnesia?” Maybe this was the way. Something was preventing her from admitting her doubts. But if she did this just to see if it would help with her amnesia...
“It might. And I can make sure that no one has been messing with your brain, and fix it if they have.”
“And how would you do that?”
“By helping you remember. Once you remember, any post-hypnotic suggestion will no longer work because it will have to compete against your conscious mind.”
Lois hesitated for a moment, torn. Maybe Clark was right. Maybe the reason she couldn’t expound on her feelings for Max, or on what exactly she meant when she said that Clark meant nothing to her, was the result of something other than her feelings. She just wasn’t sure any more. “Look, what I really want is a way off this island. Will this help me with that?”
“I think if you really remembered Clark, you’d know how to get off this island.”
“You really think so? How do you know?”
“Sometimes I just know,” she said, giving her head a tap.
Lois stared at Star for a long moment. This woman was a bit of a flake, but still... there was something about her, something that Lois trusted. Besides, there was something in the back of Lois’ mind that agreed with Star’s assertion that if she could really remember Clark, she’d know how to get off the island. That’s why she’d been so bound and determined to read those diaries, after all. And then there was the nagging question about Max. Maybe this would put that to rest one way or another. “Okay, so how do we do this?”
“Do you want Clark in here for this?”
“Is there any reason that he has to be?” She didn’t want him to know that he’d put doubts in her mind about her feelings for Max. And if he was here...
“If you don’t want him here, he won’t be allowed to be here.”
* * * * * * * * *
Lois snapped out of her session with sudden clarity, remembering her entire time in hypnosis from the first moment she’d stared at the black and white disk as it had spun around, through Star’s somewhat crazy questions to get her to relax and her instructions that any time she felt uncomfortable, she could emerge from the session and remember everything. And she most certainly remembered what had happened then.
“That bastard!” Lois exclaimed to a somewhat surprised Star.
“Who?”
“Max! Max! He hypnotized me and gave me one of those...” She snapped her fingers several times, trying to find the phrase she was looking for.
“Post hypnotic suggestions?”
“Exactly! I remember it all. Every word. He told me that my memories, my thoughts of Clark, the story I was working on, it meant nothing. He told me to forget all of it. He even told me that I knew only one truth - that I loved only him.” She drew in a deep breath. “Damn it. He told me that I was done with the Daily Planet. That it was time to move on to a new life with him. That’s why I quit my job to run away with him to the south of France. And then that fraud went on to tell me he loved me. Loved me. Boy, is that a joke! He didn’t even have the decency to tell me when I could remember it. He told me when I was under hypnosis so that I’d never even question it! Then he told me to forget being hypnotized!”
“Other than Max, do you remember anything else?”
Lois looked back at Star from where she was furiously pacing the room. When she’d suggested to Star that maybe it would be okay to start with her memories of Deter, she really hadn’t expected Clark to be proven right! Or had she? “What?” she asked, realizing she hadn’t heard Star’s question.
“Anything else come back to you?”
“Uhh... no. I guess the stuff with Max sort of had me preoccupied. But surely we can do it again, see what else it can help me remember?” She felt her heart lift with the idea that she finally had a real chance at getting her memories back.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois stared up at the ceiling in her room as she lay in bed the next night, feeling melancholy. She and Star had spent much of the previous day and then again most of today trying to use hypnosis to probe her memory. But other than a few small bits and pieces, it seemed it was just not possible to use hypnosis to solve this problem.
Star maintained that there was a trigger somewhere, something that once Lois remembered it, everything else would fall into place. Problem was finding that trigger.
Since she’d been made aware of Max’s post hypnotic suggestions, she’d been consciously fighting them. It wasn’t always easy. But the longer she fought, the easier it seemed to get. There were still moments when she thought she loved only Max and others when she believed Clark meant nothing to her. But these moments were getting fewer and further between. And as she fought those insidious suggestions that Max had placed in her mind, she found that her memory had begun to improve with more and longer flashes - although it was still not nearly quickly enough to satisfy Lois.
Superman had finally taken Star home today. Lois had mixed feelings about that. Star’s enthusiasm was a bit overwhelming at times, but she had a good heart. And overall, Lois had enjoyed her company.
But it didn’t make a lot of sense to have her continue hanging around. Star had a business of her own to run. And then there was Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and their revision of the Declaration of Independence... Lois still wasn’t entirely sure what that was about.
Lois shifted uncomfortably in her bed. In addition to losing a friend with the departure of Star, there was now the whole Clark problem to deal with. Star had served as a buffer between them over the past couple of days. Lois didn’t think that they had said more than a dozen words to each other the entire time that Star had been there.
Clark had spent most of the past couple of days taking long walks on the beach. In fact, he’d left for another one of his walks just before Superman had showed up to take Star home - how had Superman known when to return, anyway?
She shook off the question, turning her mind back to Clark who was still out, wandering around the island, no doubt. Perhaps sitting and pouting at the waterfalls. After all, he seemed to be doing a lot of pouting in the last couple of days.
“Damn!” Lois suddenly exclaimed. Why hadn’t she even thought to ask Superman to take her home when he’d been here to pick up Star?
‘Maybe you don’t want to go home,’ came a small voice from inside her.
‘That’s ridiculous,’ she argued back. ‘Why wouldn’t I want to go home?’
‘Perhaps some unfinished business with Clark,’ the voice responded before she could stop it.
She gave a very unladylike snort. Right!
No, Clark wasn’t the reason that she’d not asked Superman to take her home. Not at all. After all, why would she want to hang around with someone capable of moping the way Clark was? Ever since they’d spent the night together, he’d been acting as if she’d broken his heart.
She didn’t remember him. Or... not really. What did he expect of her? She quickly pushed away a little stab of guilt that immediately assaulted her. Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t have slept with him. But that was no reason for him to go around pouting all the time.
No, her reasons for forgetting to ask Superman to take her home had nothing to do with Clark. Nothing whatsoever. Absolutely not.
She immediately told the little voice in the back of her mind that was screaming to be heard to shut up. Not now. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to plunge into that particular minefield yet.
No, the reason she hadn’t been able to ask Superman to take her back was that every rational thought in her mind seemed to go right out the window whenever the superhero was around. She’d felt tongue tied in the presence of the hero both times she’d met him at the clinic before her kidnapping, and then again when he’d come to pick up Star this evening. People kept telling her that they were friends, even Superman had told her that. But she couldn’t help but feel like a schoolgirl experiencing her first crush whenever he was around. It was annoying.
It was no wonder she was so confused. She was tongue-tied in the presence of Superman. She had the hots for Clark. And she’d been hypnotized by her doctor to believe she loved him.
And it wasn’t just the fact that Max had hypnotized her that made her mad. Even before that, instead of, as her doctor, discouraging her from developing feelings for him, he’d been doing the opposite. She could see that now - now that there was no longer a voice in the back of her mind telling her she loved only Max. For example, what did Max think he was doing giving her forget-me-nots? A doctor should not be giving his patient flowers.
Lois suddenly had a memory flash.
Clark sitting at her desk, asking her if she believed in magic. She hadn’t, of course. So he had told her to close her eyes. When she’d opened them again mere seconds later, there had been a dozen long stemmed roses in a vase on her desk.
‘How did you...’ she began.
‘If I told you, it wouldn’t be magic,’ Clark responded, giving her a smile before rising and returning to his desk.
Another image came next: one of her coworkers handing her a bunch of yellow roses.
‘These just came for you,’ the woman said.
‘Ooo... Kathy, what do yellow roses mean?’ Lois asked, taking the flowers.
‘Who knows. The only thing men ever give me is directions to their house,’ Kathy responded.
‘Yellow is for friendship,’ Clark said, approaching her desk.
Lois reached over, opening the card. ‘From a special friend,’ she read, and instantly she knew who they were from. ‘One more sick joke from the Prankster,’ she said with certainty before dropping the flowers into her wastebasket and soaking them with her cold coffee.
In the corner of her mind, she heard Clark try to stop her, but it wasn’t until after the flowers were thoroughly drenched that she realized what it meant.
‘Those flowers cost me fifty bucks,’ he said morosely.
Instantly, Lois found herself lost in another memory. Arriving at the Daily Planet one morning and spotting a bouquet of flowers sitting on her desk. She fished out the card and sat down to read it. ‘Love, Clark,’ was all it said.
She felt a smile settle on her face as she remembered and quickly wiped it off as she forced herself to return to the moment.
‘Morning,’ Clark said, setting a cup of coffee down next to her.
‘Thank you for the flowers,’ she said. ‘And the coffee. What’s the occasion?’
‘The occasion is I’m in love and getting married,’ he responded with a grin.
This time she couldn’t quite keep the smile off her lips. He really was a romantic dolt - well, when he wasn’t moping.
Suddenly, Lois sat bolt upright in bed as the memory faded and a new thought occurred to her. Why would Max give her forget-me-nots? Damn! Why hadn’t she seen that before? Those flowers hadn’t been from Max, at all. After all, Max didn’t want her to remember - so forget-me-nots would be exactly the wrong flowers. Lois would give ten to one odds that those flowers had been from Clark.
“Why that little weasel... when I get well...”
The anger suddenly deflated and she collapsed back onto the bed. When she got well. When would she get well? She just wanted this all to be over. She wanted to be herself, but how was she supposed to do that when she didn’t remember herself?
And... she admitted silently... she wanted to remember Clark. Now that she was no longer under the influence of Maxwell’s post hypnotic suggestion that her memories of Clark meant nothing, she found she wanted to remember him so badly that it felt almost like an ache inside her. Even if her memories weren’t what she hoped, she needed to know, one way or another what it was about him that... made sense to her - even when he was moping.
Star had said there would be some sort of trigger, but how was she supposed to find this trigger when she didn’t even know where to look?
Suddenly, she sat up again. The diaries! How could she have forgotten about the diaries?
Immediately, she was scrambling out of bed. She still hadn’t heard Clark return to the cabin, so now was her chance to get the diaries.
* * * * * * * * *
“Well, at least she no longer thinks she’s in love with Dr. Deter,” Martha said, placing a piece of apple pie in front of her son. She mussed his hair before moving back over to the counter to get another piece for her husband.
“No. In fact, given some of the comments she’s been making, I’d hate to be him when Lois gets finished with him,” Clark responded. At first, he’d been skeptical, wondering if she were just pretending to dislike Deter. But some of her comments, not made for his benefit, but to Star, were all too explicit and scathing to be anything but Lois Lane when she was on a rampage. And then, last night, he’d overheard her bashing Deter under her breath when she was alone - no one at all to influence then. So, yeah, at least he knew that she no longer believed she was in love with Deter.
“Well then, that’s good news,” Jonathan said before digging into his piece of pie.
“I guess,” Clark said, pushing his pie around on his plate.
Martha shared a look with her husband. “What is it, honey?” she finally asked.
“Well, I guess now that Deter is no longer an issue, it doesn’t make any sense to keep her on the island. She’d likely recover her memory quicker, if she does recover at all, surrounded by things that are familiar. Metropolis. Her apartment. The Daily Planet.”
“But what about you? If you return to Metropolis, won’t the police press charges against you for her kidnapping?” Martha asked.
“I don’t know, Mom. I think Lois probably understands now why I kidnapped her, and will probably go to bat for me with the police.”
“Oh, honey. I’m sure she will.”
“I guess,” Clark answered, plunging his fork into the pie, breaking a piece off and then plunging his fork into the pie again.
Martha’s hand came up and covered Clark’s. “This isn’t about you worrying about kidnapping charges, is it?”
Clark sighed, finally setting his fork aside. “She still doesn’t remember us. I thought when she finally realized that she didn’t love Deter...”
“She’d realize she loves you?”
“Well...”
“Clark, she’ll come around,” Jonathan said.
“Yeah? And how long before that happens? I finally had it all, Dad. She loved me. She really did. And now...” He gestured helplessly with his hands. “How can I stand to wait another two years for her to fall in love with me all over again?”
“I’m sure it won’t be that long, honey,” Martha said.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Clark responded, obviously not believing it. “Anyway, I should go do a patrol of Metropolis before heading back to the island.” He rose to his feet, quickly hugged his parents and took to the air, almost before they could say goodbye.
He couldn’t tell his parents the rest. Making love to Lois had been a defining moment in his life. And yet, it had meant nothing to her. He’d heard her dismiss the whole thing to Star several times over the past couple of days.
And with every dismissal by Lois, he’d plunged deeper into depression. In fact, after the first day, he hadn’t been able even to listen in on their sessions. Not even for the sake of his secret. In fact, much of the time, he’d buried himself in his Superman duties back in Metropolis, telling himself he was just making judicial use of his time while Star worked with Lois. Not that that was exactly true. Mostly, he’d just needed distance to deal with his broken heart.
Still, he’d continued to hold out hope that maybe Star’s sessions with Lois would bring back Lois’ memory. The final blow had come when he’d flown Star home without Lois having regained her memory.
And now, knowing that there was no reason to keep Lois on the island...
What would happen when they returned to Metropolis? Right now, at least he could see her whenever he wanted. Yet with her not even remembering their friendship, would she want to spend time with him outside of work? And how could he go back to being simply her partner when he’d known the ecstasy of being closer to her than he’d ever been to anyone in his life?
He looked down, realizing suddenly that he was flying north, towards Canada. Forcing himself to concentrate, he adjusted course and sped towards Metropolis.
* * * * * * * * *
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
