Author’s Note: From now on all action takes place in canon dimension. The Clark is canon Clark. The Lois is canon Lois back from her year abroad in alt-dimension.
For a plot summary, please click here:
Synopsis of Chapters 1 - 7 Missing Lois - TOC ***
Where we left off in Part 6...Clark turned her towards him, placing a hand on each shoulder and staring into her eyes. “Last summer? When you were on that crazy banana and yogurt diet?” He had a strange expression on his face, almost like he was pleading with her.
“Can I help it if I wanted to look nice for our wedding? You don’t know how many quarts of double fudge chunk ice-cream I went though when you left. It was not pretty.”
Her husband sighed and took hold of hand again. Crisis averted.
Something gnawed at the back of her mind. “How did you know about that anyway?”
Clark grinned. “I’ve got my spies everywhere.”
Wasn’t that what Perry used to say about Alice? “Ah. Jimmy.”
They went around the corner and the smoothie shop was right where she remembered it was. Thank God. She didn’t need a strike two. “Want one?” she asked. “You’d love the strawberry cream.”
He smiled. “Mmmm… Strawberries.” Clark pulled her in for a kiss. “Strawberries always remind me of making love with you,” he murmured.
“Clark!” Lois gasped, covering Lara’s sleeping ears. Then she smiled. “Strawberries, huh?” He had liked that? Good to know. “When we get her room fixed up, we should find out what other fruits you like.” She winked and went into the smoothie shack.
“Deal,” she heard him murmur.
Lois wondered how often she had missed hearing him say sweet and romantic things, because of her normal human hearing. It was something she could quite easily get used to.
Part 7Lois came out of the Smoothie Hut a few minutes later to see a couple of women cooing to Lara. A growl escaped from her throat.
Clark glanced up and grinned, sheepishly. “There’s Mommy, now.”
Lois didn’t know if he was speaking to the women or Lara. Through pinched lips she handed over his smoothie. “Leave you alone for two minutes…”
“Can I help it if women find Lara adorable?” Clark said, sipping his drink.
She raised a brow. “Yeah, right.
That’s who they found adorable. Not the sexy man with a sleeping baby strapped to his chest?”
He grinned. “Sexy, huh?”
“And to think I was going to tell you how much I loved you.” Lois shook her head.
Clark grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “Go ahead.”
“Nope. Sorry. That moment’s gone.”
Her husband cupped her jaw and placed a tender kiss on her lips. “How about now?”
Lois closed her eyes and savored the moment. “Oh, Clark. No one kisses like you do.” Then she bit her bottom lip and grinned. “Well…there
is someone else who can sweep me off my feet with his kisses… Literally.”
“Lo-is,” Clark warned.
She sighed, leaning close to him. “I hate tabloids.”
Clark kissed her again. “Is that so?”
“Can I help it if I can’t resist a man in blue?” Lois winked at him, taking a sip of her smoothie.
“Lois! Clark! Just the intrepid reporters I was looking for.”
Lois froze. She knew that voice. She glanced over her shoulder. Detective Henderson. Oooh. Her eyes closed into slits. She was still pissed at him for snapping at her about touching ‘evidence’ at Clark’s apartment after Mayson’s car exploded. She took a deep breath.
Other dimension, Lois. This was
Inspector Henderson. Her dimension. Her Clark. No more Mayson.
“Look, honey, a man in blue.” Clark chuckled. “Hello, Inspector. What can we do for you?” He held out his hand. Henderson shook it.
“Perry said you found something. Oh, hello, there.” Henderson noticed Lara.
Thank you, Perry White. Lois swore at him under her breath. She would bet there was going to be an article in the paper this afternoon, too.
“I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. Is this why you rushed to get married last fall?” Henderson continued with a chuckle. “So, what did you guys find? A diamond? A gas leak? No, you would have reported that. An EPA disaster? Jimmy Hoffa? Superman’s spaceship? The Fountain of Youth?”
Lois was sensing a pattern. Did she and Clark have a reputation for strange stories?
Clark and Lois looked at each other and smiled, keeping quiet. Clark caressed Lara’s head.
“What’s his name?”
“Lara,” Lois replied. Why did all men assume babies were boys? “Lara Lucia Kent.”
“When did she come into your life?”
“Three months ago,” Lois answered, truthfully.
“Friday,” Clark also answered truthfully.
Lois glared at her husband.
Henderson raised a brow. “Well, which is it? Friday or three months ago?”
Clark sighed. Busted.
“She’s three months old,” Lois explained.
“Uh-huh.” Henderson looked to Clark. The beacon of truth in their relationship. It really should bother her more that people looked at him after she spoke.
“Someone left her on our doorstep late Friday night.”
Damn Clark and his honesty gene.
“So, this is what you found? Ever think about calling your friends down at the police department?”
Lois and Clark grinned innocently and in unison.
“She’s ours. The note said so,” replied Lois.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
They shook their heads.
“Okay. Let’s go. Show me this note.” Henderson turned them around and headed them back to their town home.
***
Inspector Henderson handed Lara back to Lois. They were standing in Lois’s and Clark’s living room. Lois’s parents had been there when they arrived with Henderson and they were all waiting for his verdict.
“She checks out. She looks well cared for,” announced the policeman.
“What did you expect?” Clark said, perhaps a tad too defensibly.
Henderson raised his hands. “No offense, Clark. Just protocol.”
“Right, sorry.”
“So, you want to keep her?” Henderson asked.
“Of course, we want to keep her. She’s our daughter.” Clark grabbed Lois as she stepped angrily towards the Inspector.
“And if her real parents come forward?”
“They won’t,” murmured Ellen.
“What?” inquired Henderson, glancing at Lois’s mother.
“Nothing. She means that Lois and I are Lara’s real parents.” Clark shot Ellen a look.
“You gave birth to her three months ago?” Henderson asked, curiously – almost sarcastically – looking at Lois.
She modestly covered herself. “If it means this whole investigation is dropped,” Lois replied. “Then yes, I did.”
“Lois!” That outburst came from her father. Sam, too, didn’t think Lois appeared to have given birth recently.
Even Clark gave her a second look. Had she? He had been sure, positive – especially after her comment last night – that this woman was his missing Lois, but suddenly another doubt arose. She looked the same as she had the day they captured Fat Head, the same as she had when he froze her to save her from Lex, Jr. He thought of the woman who telepathically called to him to make love to her. He hadn’t noticed any stretch marks on her taut body.
Lois caught him staring at her and raised a brow. “Look pretty good, don’t I?”
Henderson chuckled.
“Exceptional,” Clark answered, truthfully, kissing her cheek.
“Good save,” her mother murmured.
“Lara can stay with you for now.”
“For now?” Clark interrupted.
“Until the formal investigation has run its course.”
“We’re starting the adoption process. Constance Hunter is our lawyer.”
“That shark that defended Superman?” Henderson chuckled. Clark couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
“He did recommend her, yes.”
“Okay. I’ll send any formal requests through her.”
Lois stepped forward again. “Better her than Superman.”
Clark looked at her. What in the world was she doing? Superman couldn’t get involved in this.
“No. Certainly wouldn’t want to go through him.” Henderson elbowed Clark. “That kid must be the luckiest one on Earth.”
“I agree,” Clark said, not understanding his meaning.
“I mean, Lara’s probably the only kid with Superman as her guardian angel.” He tapped Clark with his notebook and with a grin, he went out the door.
Clark hugged his wife and child. “Yep. Superman’s your guardian angel.”
“Let them just try to take her away…” Lois said, handing Lara to Clark.
“Lois, he didn’t say that. Actually, you were a little rude.”
“Rude? Rude? I hate that I have to jump through hoops just to keep my own child. I hate that I have to stay home by myself with a nonverbal baby, changing diapers, and letting my brain rot, while everyone else gets to go off and continue their lives. I hate that I’m not allowed to be mad at you for loving your job so much. So pardon me for being a little rude. Plus, he was rude to me first when Mayson’s car exploded. I’m still pissed about that.”
Clark stared at her as if she grew a third head. “Lois, what are you talking about? Henderson didn’t work Mayson’s death.”
Lois froze. “What?”
“Henderson didn’t work Mayson’s death.”
She turned and looked at him, a hint of fear behind her eyes. “Did I say that?”
Clark nodded, wondering what she could be afraid of.
“Gosh, I must be tired. My brain is playing tricks on me.” She yawned dramatically. “I think I’m ready to turn in.” Then without further adieu, she ran up the stairs.
Clark handed Lara to Ellen and followed Lois up the stairs. He found her sitting on the bed, tears streaming down her face. He shut the door and knelt down next to her. “Lois?”
His wife grabbed hold of him, wrapping her arms around him. “I hate that you can’t stay home and watch Lara because someone might call for help and you would have to choose between the safety of your child and the safety of someone else.”
“I hate that, too,” Clark murmured. “I don’t answer every call now. I
can be selective.”
Lois shook her head. “No, you can’t. And you can’t strap Lara to your chest and take her with you. When you are watching Lara,
you are watching Lara. Nothing else can be allowed to distract you. You can’t run down the street to help the people being mugged or the fire at the factory across town, just because she’s asleep. You wouldn’t be able to leave. Would you be able to say ‘no’ to helping others, because you are watching your own child?”
“How can you even ask that, Lois?”
His wife looked him in the eye. “Because I
have to. When it was just you and me, I didn’t say anything when you took off in a streak of blue, though it killed me that I wasn’t your first priority. I know that I cannot stop you from being who you are nor would I want to do so. I love who you are… all of you.”
Clark took her hand to his face and kissed it. “You and Lara are always my first priority, Lois. Only when you are safe, can I help the rest of the world. Why do you think I’m always saving you?”
“Clark…” Lois paused, swallowing her words and looking away.
What she would not allow herself to say? Clark wondered.
“Some people would call me a danger magnet,” she finally finished.
“So, that’s what it is. I’ve always wondered.” Clark grinned in amusement. “Good thing I’m your other half, then.”
Lois kissed him gently. “It’s frustrating staying at home, not being able to leave, not being able to help, knowing what you are doing is important, but not feeling appreciated or wanted. Cast aside. Discounted. Ignored.”
Clark didn’t think she was talking about him anymore. “You sound like you speak from experience, Lois. Who did that to you?”
Lois opened her mouth, but then closed it. She bit her lip. “No one. I was picturing my life as a stay-at-home Mom.”
“No one said you had to stay at home with Lara,” he whispered, wiping the tears off her cheeks.
“Who else will stay with her, Clark?
My mother?” Lois rolled her eyes. “Look what a great success she was at raising me.”
“I think you’re pretty terrific.”
Lois waved off his words. “And we couldn’t put her in day care. We couldn’t. Not Superman’s child. That wouldn’t be safe.”
Clark nodded. “Probably not. We wouldn’t get any work accomplished speculating if anyone else had figured out my secret identity, yet again.”
Lois closed her eyes and he could hear her counting to ten under her breath. She did not explode, but her words were carefully spoken. “Do
not discount what I have to say, Clark.”
“I’m not, Lois. I’m teasing you. You are being far too serious. Honey, you’ve been home from work with Lara for a total of two days. Both days you had my parents and your parents to help you. You weren’t alone for a second… except…” He smiled. “I think you’re overreacting just a bit.”
Lois pressed her lips together. “One day is like a month for me.”
“So, are you saying you’ve been watching Lara for over two months already?” The smile slipped from his lips and he looked more closely at her. “Is that what you are telling me, Lois?” Please, please. Clark begged her with his eyes. Tell him the truth.
Lois looked away and took a deep breath, slowly releasing it. “No. Of course not, Clark. You’re right, I’m overreacting. Lack of sleep probably.” She sighed and lay down on the bed. “I should go to sleep.”
Lois was sleeping a lot lately. True, that was because she was only allowed an hour or two a time. But she always seemed to use sleep as her excuse for not talking with him. She had been acting so strange for the last two days. Saying odd things. Not remembering some stuff and remembering stuff that had never happened. He knew she was his Lois. He knew it at the core of his being. But something inside of her had snapped. It was like she was desperately trying to hold on to her sense of reality. He knew he should give her time, but he wished she would talk to him about what was bothering her.
“Okay, Lois. You sleep. I have some research I need to do on the Alexander Luthor story.” He kissed the top of her head and covered her with a blanket. He wished he knew what it was she wanted, what he could give her to make her all right.
***
Clark was out most of the following nights. He would stay with her at home during the day, but he was gone at night. He flew to Hong Kong and Australia doing research on Alexander Luthor. He was able to get a record of Linda Luckaby Luthor’s death certificate. She hadn’t died in childbirth, but in the car accident, like Lex had told her. But the child in the car with Linda Luckaby Luthor had not died. That was Lex, Jr., deformed and unloved, who Lex hid away in Australia.
The Kents had gone back to Kansas and Lois’s father went back to living at his apartment. Their only houseguest, if Lois could call her that, was her mother. Who was driving Lois nuts about redecorating Lara’s room. If Ellen hadn’t been there, she and Lara could have gone out for an afternoon stroll and come back to a completed room, thanks to Superman Construction & Decorating. She sighed.
Lois missed Superman.
Her Superman. She missed seeing his glimpse of blue and red, whenever he came and left. She still had Clark, kind of. She felt him starting to drift away. Lois didn’t want him to go. She hated waking up to find herself alone in bed. She had slept alone long enough. She wanted him home, not away on assignment.
The week passed. The police didn’t have anyone claiming a missing child. Perry’s story on the baby left with an anonymous couple had been, thankfully, buried on the fourth page. Constance started filing the paperwork for them to legally adopt their child and they had finally moved Lara out of their room and into her own room.
Her mother spent the night at Sam’s apartment and Lois had Lara to herself all night, because Clark was on the other side of the world doing Luthor family research. She knew her husband could only do this research at night, because it was day there when it was night here. The loneliness was overwhelming for her and Lois felt herself falling back down that black hole that was her life in the other dimension.
Lois woke up to find a red cape draped over her. She smiled.
Superman. She rolled over and kissed his lips. “Hello, handsome. I feel naughty with you in my bed. What will my husband say?”
Clark barely opened his eyes and smiled. He looked exhausted. She ran her fingers down his cheek. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered.
Her husband must have forgotten to change. Still. She kissed his lips. There was something about having him home, having him to herself. She felt like she was on fire. She kissed him again. She should really let him sleep, but he hadn’t let her kiss Superman in so long, it felt like giving in to temptation, ill-gotten fruit. Mmmm. He tasted good. Lois couldn’t stop kissing him and he slowly started to respond in kind. He had missed her, too.
As she pulled off her pajama top, she started to hear Elvis singing, “
One night with you… That’s what I’m praying for…”
Lois gasped and sat up in bed. She was alone. It had only been a dream. She covered her eyes with her hands. God, she didn’t even know if she had been dreaming of her Clark or the other Clark.
Lara started to cry. Lois sighed, pulled on her robe, slipped on her slippers and went to get her daughter. As they sat on the sofa in the living room, Lara enjoying her middle of the night bottle, Lois zoned out the windows, wondering when her husband was going to come home.
Lois stood up and walked to the wall by the easy chair and tapped it. The secret compartment with Superman’s suits appeared in the wall. She walked over to them and ran her fingers down the fabric. She smelled them, but – thanks to Superman Laundry Service – they were all clean. She pulled one of the red capes off its hanger and went back to the sofa, closing the secret closet. She lay back down on the sofa, Lara tucked carefully in the crook of her arm. Lois draped his cape over them, feeling the soft fabric with her fingers. Her eyes began to close and she drifted away.
She thought about all those times she and Superman had spent together. That weekend he was blind and stayed at her apartment. Float dancing with him after the Cost Mart Ball. Kissing him when he told her he loved her, drunk on ‘
Revenge.’ Kissing him when he left to save Earth from the Nightfall asteroid. Holding him when he was sick and dying that one Christmas. That night he arrived at Chateau Robergé, pre-tabloid fuss. When he had broken into that vault at the gold depository and he had almost kissed her. When he had carried her into the newsroom that first time. The first time she had ever seen Clark change into Superman. The first time she had kissed Clark, knowing he was Superman. Kneeling in the rain, asking her to marry him, telling her he would never leave her, even if the world opened up at his feet, he wouldn’t leave her.
Lois felt herself floating into the air. It felt good flying again. Slowly, she came down and she felt a pillow under her head. She blinked her eyes and saw Superman.
***
Clark came into the living room windows and quietly shut them behind him. There was a light on and he could see that the secret compartment was slightly open. That was odd. As he went to shut it, he heard a soft sigh. He turned around and saw Lois and Lara asleep on the couch under one of his capes. Guilt tugged at his chest. He had been leaving his wife and child alone at night all this week. He hadn’t meant to, but he was curious about Alexander Luthor. The only time really to do research on the other side of the world was during the night here.
Lois had been acting so oddly, he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone during the day. Not that he worried for Lara’s safety, but he hoped he could catch her saying or doing something that gave him a definitive answer on whether or not she was his missing Lois. The not-knowing was killing him. He wanted her to tell him. It would explain so much of her strangeness lately. But then, so could the newness of suddenly becoming a mother.
Clark lifted up Lara, set her against his shoulder, rubbing her back. He set her empty bottle in the sink and after her little burp, carried her back to her crib. He kissed her cheek and rested his head against hers.
Daddy? Her hand touched his cheek.
Daddy, why are you dressed like Uncle Super?Clark smiled. Uncle Super? He hadn’t changed out of his Superman suit, distracted by the open secret compartment. This was the first time his daughter had seen him dressed like Superman. “Sometimes I dress like Uncle Super, sometimes he dresses like me,” he replied.
Lara closed her eyes, accepting his answer, and falling back asleep. He set her down on her back in the crib.
A chill went down his spine.
Uncle Super? Was she talking about the other Clark? Her uncle? Or had Lois been telling her that Superman wasn’t her father, but her uncle? That might solve some future problems, once Lara was talking out loud, of Lara addressing Superman as Daddy in front of others. It would be just like Lois to be so forward thinking. He sighed. For a second there, he thought he had proof that Lois and Lara had been in the other dimension and it had once again slipped away through his fingers.
Clark zipped back downstairs to where Lois was asleep under one of his capes. She had said that made her feel safe, close to him. He had been spending many a night traveling recently. He thought she wouldn’t miss him so much at night, being asleep and him being there during the day, but maybe he was wrong. He picked her up and held her close to him, floating them up the stairs and to their bedroom.
He lay Lois down on the bed, still covered by the cape. He didn’t want to remove it, if it made her feel closer to him. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
Lifting her hand, she touched his face. “Is that really you?”
Clark smiled, guilt wrenching his gut. “Did you miss me?”
“I dreamed you were here, sleeping with me, but then I awoke and it was only a dream. So, I ask again, is that really you?”
He spun into his PJ shorts and did a ta-da movement with his hands.
“It’s you.” Lois sighed, sitting up. “Where’s Lara?”
“Asleep. I put her back in her crib. What’s with the cape?” Clark raised a brow, before heading into the bathroom.
Lois pulled the cape over herself. “If you must know, I missed you.”
He came out, his toothbrush still in his mouth. “Me or Superman?”
“I’ll take whoever I can get,” she replied.
Clark came back out of the bathroom, wiping his mouth. “Who do you want?”
“You mean I get a choice?” Lois grinned. “I’ll take whoever can bring me strawberries first.” She licked her lips.
Strawberries? Clark was back a minute later, jogging up the stairs, a bowl of strawberries in his hand. “I just happened to pick some strawberries up yesterday at the store.”
Lois picked up the cape and draped it over his shoulders. “Super Clark it is, then.”
He laughed. Picking up a strawberry, he dangled it over her mouth. She bit it and smiled. “Mmmm… Tastes yummy.” She licked her lips. Suddenly, his lips were covering hers. “Super Clark!”
“Mmmm… Strawberries.” Clark grinned, sitting down next to her. She slid her leg over his as she reached for the strawberry bowl. She sat down in his lap and fed him another strawberry. “These strawberries are tasting better and better.”
Clark gazed at her sitting on him feeding him strawberries and he flashed to that dream of the pregnant Lois feeding him strawberries. As she took a strawberry and put it between her teeth, he slid his hand under her PJ top and felt her stomach. Flat. He lifted up her shirt.
“Looking for something?” Lois asked, biting into another strawberry.
He smiled. “Just admiring the view.” Not an ounce of flab or a stretch mark anywhere. Clark dropped her shirt and she fed him another strawberry.
“I wonder, do you think the super healing powers that come should you ever get me pregnant mean I won’t get stretch marks?” She smiled and bit into another strawberry. “Bonus!”
Clark just stared at her. Was she teasing him or was she serious? He took the bowl of strawberries out of her hand and set it on the side table, then he quickly flipped her over. “I guess, we’ll have to get you pregnant and find out.” He kissed her. She responded, making the kiss deeper. Was she calling his bluff? He didn’t care what she was doing, she tasted like strawberries. He just wanted to keep kissing her.
Then Lois pulled back. “Better use precautions. If you get me pregnant, now, they’ll be exactly a year apart. Too close together. Ask me again at Christmas, after I’ve survived the next six months with Lara.”
Clark felt like she splashed cold water in his face. “Wow. Some mood killer you are.”
“No. No. No! Clark, please, make love to me. Forget I said anything.” She reached up and kissed him. “Please.”
Was Lois Lane begging him to make love to her? Clark raised a brow, unfastening the cape from around his neck and dropping it on the floor. What happened to his self-assured, self-confident, go-getter of a wife?
“Please, don’t leave me again,” Lois whispered, clinging to him. “Please, Clark. I need you.”
“Lois, is everything all right?”
“I need to feel something. All I feel is numb. My brain is numb, my body numb, my soul…” She closed her eyes. “Kiss me.”
“I think it’s time to get you back to work,” he replied.
Lois opened her eyes. “What?”
“You’ve spent enough time at home with Lara. Let’s ask your mother if she’ll watch Lara during the day while we’re at work. See how that goes.”
“What if she says no?” Lois asked. Clark could hear his wife’s voice quivering with fear.
“Then we’ll look into hiring a nanny.”
Lois raised a brow. “We cannot have a stranger in this house with our daughter. You know that. I know that.”
She had a point. “Well, then. We’ll hope your mother doesn’t say no. I cannot watch as you disappear before my eyes. You need sunshine, Lois. You need adrenaline. You need to get back to work. You need a story.”
Lois covered her face. “I’m a bad mother.”
Clark wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “A bad mother would stay home even though it killed her soul. What would that teach our daughter? I need your soul alive. My soul cannot live without you. We’ll figure this out, together.”
Lois kissed him. She kissed him so hard, it almost felt like Ultra Woman was back in town. Clark smiled. There was his soul mate.
*** End of Part 7 *** One Night performed by Elvis, a cover of a Smiley Lewis song, written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King.
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