Author's Note: In this story, Lois and Clark were married in July 1996, instead of October like on the show.
For a plot summary, please click here:
Synopsis of Chapters 1 - 8 Missing Lois - TOC ***
Where we left off in Part 8... after the nightmare...Clark rushed into the room and took hold of her hand, shaking her shoulder. “Lois, Honey. I’m right here.”
“Oh, my God, Clark! No!” Lois cried, waking herself up, hitting him in the chest.
“Lois. It’s all right.” He grabbed her fists. “It was just a dream. I’m right here. I’m fine.” Clark ran his fingers over her hair.
“Clark?” Lois’s eyes focused on him. He was there. Sitting right next to her. Alive. Well. She wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Clark! You didn’t die. You didn’t die.” She laid her head on his shoulder and cried.
***
Part 9On Friday, Lois had an appointment at the hair salon. All right, thought Clark. Her hair wasn’t too long. It was a perfect pixie. He offered to take her to lunch and then drop her at the salon afterwards, but she declined. She would just order something up and eat at her desk, she said. Lois was going though the financial statements of one Multiworld Communications, aka Intergang, looking for something, anything, that would link LexCorp to Multiworld Comm. She was sure there was a link, almost doggedly sure.
Clark set down a bag of sandwiches on the conference room table. “Why don’t you take five minutes, Lois?” He handed her a soda, but she shook her head, preferring her bottle of water.
“Clark, I’m not going to discuss that here. Please, don’t ask me to,” she said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a ham and brie sandwich on a baguette. She raised a brow at him. “Just zip out for lunch, Clark?”
He shrugged with a smile.
“Did you bring me Belgium chocolates as well?” she asked, taking a sip of her water. “Since you were in the neighborhood?”
“Ha. Ha.” Clark took his sandwich out of the bag.
“Pity.” Lois sighed.
“Just tell me one thing, one itty bitty thing?” he asked.
She chuckled. It was good to hear her laugh. “I could tell you what your brother got his girlfriend for Christmas.”
Clark growled, dropping his sandwich back into the bag, standing up.
Lois sighed, rolling her eyes. “Not me, Clark. Mrs. Lola Luthor.”
But Clark’s appetite was already gone. He didn’t want to hear what a wonderful boyfriend the other Clark was. He didn’t want to hear anything about the other Clark.
“Fine. Be that way. But he’s in most of my stories.” She shrugged, taking a bite of her sandwich. “You’re just going to have to accept it, and move on, if you want to learn what happened to me.”
“Why don’t you tell me about Mayson, then?” Clark asked.
“Ugh. Clark, I’m eating.” Lois made a face at him. “Anyway, that’s a long story and I’d like to get some work done today.”
“She lived?” he asked, quietly, looking down. “
His Mayson?”
“Yes. But only because I warned him that she hadn’t survived in our dimension. He kept an ear out for the signs.” She sighed. “But even then, he was almost too late. One second more and he would have shielded her from the blast. One second less and she’d have still been in the car.”
How different would their lives have been if he had gotten to his Mayson in time? Dan Scardino would never have entered the picture. Good riddance. Would he have been able to date both Lois and Mayson? Would he have wanted to? Clark loved Lois and had since the first moment… But Mayson had liked him. Clark, him. True, she didn’t like the other side of him. He shook his head. It never would have worked. There was only one woman for him. Clark looked at his wife and smiled.
“Lucy says she’s dating Dan Scardino now. Small world, huh?” Lois chuckled.
He raised a brow. Mayson Drake and Dan Scardino? Yeah, he could see that. Better than Dan and Lois.
“She and Lucy are fast becoming friends. I don’t understand that. I never got along with her. Either of them.” Lois took another bite of her sandwich.
Clark stared at her. He knew why she hadn’t gotten along with his Mayson. She didn’t like that Mayson had liked him and that he had liked her. Was that the same reason she hadn’t gotten along with the other Mayson? Because she was jealous. The knot forming in his stomach told him he was on the right track.
“Would you stop calling her that?”
“What?” Lois asked.
“Lucy. Lucy El is you, not her.”
“Actually, she is, now. She took over my secret identity. Lois Lane is dead.” She took another bite of her sandwich.
“Don’t say that,” Clark whispered.
“I know all these dual names can be a bit confusing. It takes a little getting used to.”
“Don’t say that Lois Lane is dead,” he repeated.
“Not me.” Lois took hold of his hand. “I’m fine, Clark.”
Clark looked at her. “Are you?”
His wife smiled. “Only batty twenty-five percent of the time.” He knew she was joking, but a part of him wondered. “Oh, time for me to leave for my hair appointment. Thanks for the sandwich.”
“Why don’t I walk you?” Clark still wasn’t sure that was where she was going.
“No, Clark. Lex Luthor is dead. It’s safe to walk the streets of Metropolis again.” Lois patted his arm with a chuckle. “Except for Metro cabbies.”
Clark still followed her from a safe distance, but she turned into a hair salon after a five minute walk. He was just being paranoid. He shook his head, ambling back to the
Daily Planet.
***
Lois took a deep breath and walked out of her bedroom.
Please, be home. Please. She went into Lara’s room, but her crib was empty. Oh, no! Not again. She couldn’t spend another weekend like the last weekend. All alone. She just couldn’t. Not this weekend.
Slowly, she walked down the stairs. She heard a rustle of newspaper and practically sprinted into the dining room. “You’re home,” Lois gasped with delight.
Clark glanced up from the newspaper with a raised brow.
So much for nonchalance, Lois, she scolded herself.
Lara was sitting in her playpen in the corner of the room.
Lois picked her daughter up and kissed her cheek. “Good morning, baboo.”
Her daughter accepted her kiss, then squirmed as if she had enough already. Lois set her back down.
Lois sat down at the end of the table, next to Clark. She hated what their relationship had become. There was once a time when she was in control, when he would have done anything to make her happy. Those days were long gone. She hated being in the doghouse. Hated the silence. Hated that she caused Clark so much pain. There was a time that breakfast meant burnt sausages due to too much passion. Now, she was lucky if he was home when she came down stairs.
Dr. Friskin had said Lois needed to give him time to heal. She sighed and poured cereal into her bowl. “Good morning, Clark.”
He shook the paper. “Good morning, Lois.”
Good beginning. Lois knew the polite thing to do was ask him if he had any plans, but she didn’t want to give him an out. She wanted to ask him for a favor, even though it felt like begging, but doubted she had any chips left to cash in.
“I was thinking,” she plowed ahead, pouring milk on her cereal, then adding a handful of blueberries. “That we should do something as a family today.”
Clark folded the newspaper and set it down. “Such as?”
Lois was prepared with her answers. “I thought we could go to the town of Tombstone, Arizona, see what life was like in the old west.”
“Lois.”
“I know it will be scorching hot. Arizona in July, ugh, but if we all wore hats and brought plenty of sunscreen…” She took a bite of her cereal and looked up at him. He was just staring at her.
“No? Okay.” On to idea number two. “There’s a Renaissance Fair at Mid-West University this weekend.”
“A Renaissance Fair?” he repeated back to her. Was that a hint of a smile on his lips? Did he know what she was doing?
“People dressed up in medieval clothing, old timey music and dancing, sword fighting, pigs roasted on a spit. Lots of fun to be had.” She took another bite of cereal.
“Lo-is.”
Okay. Strike two. “I was going to suggest Disneyland, but it’s really hard to go on rides with an infant. We’ll have to wait a few years.”
“Disneyland?”
“Well, I thought it might be fun. The silly romance of the Fairy Tales, Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Mickey Mouse…” Lois glanced up at him. “No?”
“No. How about we just stay home? Take a walk in the park. Go out for ice cream.”
Lois smiled. “That sounds nice, too.”
“We’ve been traveling so much the last few weekends. Did you want to get out of Metropolis?”
Yes! They never made it out of town, out of the Clinton Street apartment, last year. She didn’t want to be reminded of that. She still wanted to go to Hawaii, but they would save that for a real second honeymoon.
Out loud, Lois said, “No, not particularly.” As long as they spent the day together, speaking, but not arguing, that would be enough. And if she could skip being shot this year. That was all she really needed.
***
Lois rested her head on Clark’s shoulder as they sat on the couch and watched
Jurassic Park on video. It had been a good day. She had been able to keep her foot out of her mouth and Clark had almost been his charming self again. They had gone for a long walk in the park with Lara in the stroller. They ate hot dogs and ice-cream cones and sat in the grass. It had been leisurely and laid back. Practically playful. And no appearances or disappearances from the Man In Blue.
Lara had gone to sleep early. She had started sleeping through the night recently, for which they were both thankful.
Clark and Lois ate pizza and drank red wine and watched videos. Action movies, not romance, but at least they were together. Lois wanted to tell him that
Jurassic Park had never been made in the other dimension, but she decided not to bring up the subject.
Lois’s eyes grew heavy and drifted shut. Clark turned off the TV and lifted her into his arms. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
Suddenly, Lois didn’t feel sleepy anymore. Had he said what she thought he said?
Oh, please! That would make this day perfect.
Clark lay her down on the bed, covered her with a blanket. Then he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Goodnight, Lois.”
Lois wasn’t going to let him go that easily. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a more intense kiss. “Stay.”
Clark hesitated for a moment, then started to move away. “I can’t, Lois.”
She pulled him back, kissing him again. “Yes, you can.”
“Lois, please, don’t. I’m not ready,” her husband whispered.
Lois let him go. “I’m sorry, Clark.”
“For cheating on me or for being caught?” he said and then winced.
Lois caressed his cheek. “For hurting you.”
He rested his head against hers. “Me, too.”
“I love you, Clark,” she whispered, kissing him again. “Happy Anniversary.”
Clark closed his eyes. She wondered what he was thinking. He couldn’t have forgotten. Not Clark. He kissed her again and again and again. She slipped her hand under his shirt, feeling his bare skin. No, Clark hadn’t forgotten. He had taken the day off. She wanted to tell him thank you, but was afraid the sound of her voice would stop the kisses.
Five minutes later, Clark pulled away. She could see the desire she felt matched in his eyes. “Happy Anniversary, Lois.” He swallowed and super sped out of the room.
Lois flopped back on the bed in utter frustration. “Clark Kent,” she mumbled. “You tease.”
***
On Monday, Lois had an appointment with an eye doctor.
“Why do you want to see an eye doctor?”
“Because I got used to wearing my John Lennon specs every morning. I still catch myself feeling for them. I should just make sure those no prescription lenses didn’t damage my eyes any.”
“Why don’t you see my doctor?” Clark asked.
“Because I want to see a doctor who can tell the difference between Clark Kent’s eyesight and Superman’s. Thank you very much.”
This time Clark followed her from the air. He didn’t think she had caught him the time before, but he wanted to be sure. Good thing that he did, because Lois got in her car and drove several miles, before pulling into an underground parking lot of building of medical offices. He had been there before, he was sure of it. But he couldn’t place the reason. He dropped to the ground, spinning back into his business suit. He went inside and read the names of the doctors. No optometrists, but he did catch the name of a psychologist. Dr. Friskin!
No. Lois couldn’t be going to see his old shrink. Maybe. His wife had recommended her to him. He had to think about that for a minute. What in the world was Lois telling this woman? Did he want to know? And the sixty-four thousand dollar question, was it helping? He pushed the elevator button, but then heard a siren. He ran out of the building and was in the air seconds later.
***
Clark flew back to the doctor’s office. He would sit in the waiting room and wait for Lois. Perhaps, listen in… He winced. How could he even contemplate doing that? Breaking the doctor-patient confidentiality like that? But Lois was his wife and Clark wanted to know the things she was afraid to tell him. She kept avoiding certain topics about her year in the other dimension. It was the not knowing that was driving him crazy. He needed to know what she was keeping from him and why. He would wait. He wouldn’t actively listen in, but if he happened to hear by accident…
The elevator doors opened and Clark walked down the hall to Dr. Friskin’s office. The receptionist was gone from her desk, so he sat alone in the waiting room. The last time he was here was before he had proposed to Lois, back when he was first exposed to Red Kryptonite. As Superman, he told Dr. Friskin how much he loved Lois and how much it angered him to see her with Dan Scardino. He had punched a hole in her wall. Clark sighed. That was a long time ago.
Clark realized his super hearing hadn’t picked up a peep from Dr. Friskin’s office. Was he wrong? Was Lois going to another kind of doctor’s office after all? Or had she already left? That robbery had taken him longer than he thought it would. He stood up and lowered his glasses. Nope. Dr. Friskin was alone. He stood up and turned to leave when she opened the door.
“Yes? May I help you?”
Clark was caught. There was so much he wanted to know but he knew Dr. Friskin wouldn’t tell him. He let go of the door knob and held out his hand.
“Dr. Friskin? Clark Kent,
Daily Planet.” Why in the world had he said that?
She raised a brow, shaking his hand. “Are you here in an official capacity, Mr. Kent?” she asked. “Because my files are confidential.”
“Sorry. Force of habit.” He smiled, sheepishly.
She waited.
“My wife is Lois Lane.”
Dr. Friskin continued to wait, not saying a word.
He felt embarrassed. What was he doing here? He turned back to the door. “Sorry. This was a bad idea.”
“What makes you think she came here, Mr. Kent?”
Clark paused, looking down. “I followed her here,” he admitted.
“Why don’t you come in and sit down?”
He walked into her office and sat down in one the chairs by her desk. He wasn’t a patient. He wasn’t going to lie on that couch again.
Dr. Friskin shut the door and sat down next to him. “Do you not trust your wife, Mr. Kent?”
“Of course, I…”
She raised a brow.
“OK. Maybe not one hundred percent,” he admitted.
“What did you hope to learn by following her here?”
“Anything!” Clark stood up and started pacing. “She won’t talk to me.”
“
She won’t talk to you?” Dr. Friskin repeated back to him.
Lois clearly told Dr. Friskin about his recent silent treatment. Clark closed his eyes and sat back down. “I admit I haven’t been the best listener lately.”
“If there is something you want to know, Mr. Kent, you should ask your wife or are you afraid of what she might say?”
He gazed at the doctor. “Why? What did she tell you?”
“I’m afraid that’s not how this works.”
Clark stared at Dr. Friskin. Which story did Lois tell her? “Did she tell you about kissing Superman?”
By her startled expression, he knew he had guessed wrongly. “Not unless your twin brother is Superman,” she told him.
“No! Of course not! That’s ridiculous,” he replied adamantly.
Dr. Friskin raised a brow and waited. Okay. Maybe he had said that a little too forcefully.
“She told you about sleeping with
him.” He couldn’t call the other Clark his brother. “Did she also tell you that he was dressed as Superman at the time? Because they had gone to a costume party?”
“Ah.” She nodded with comprehension.
Clark released a breath, having gotten himself so easily out of that mistake.
“So, which bothers you more, Mr. Kent? That she slept with your brother or that he was dressed as Superman at the time?” Dr. Friskin looked at him and he felt like a fish caught in a net. How had she come to the crux of the situation, the problem, the matter, so precisely?
“Are you afraid she looks at the real Superman differently now?”
Clark hated that when Lois saw Superman now, she might not be seeing him, her personal hero, her husband, but the other Clark’s Superman. She had always loved Superman. Always. From the first moment she met him. He hated that some of that obsession for his other self might be shared with the other Clark.
“I know he was once a suitor for your wife’s affections,” Dr. Friskin informed him.
“How do you know about that?” he snapped. Was Dr. Friskin revealing to a stranger what he had told her in confidence as Superman?
“Lois told me.”
Of course, Lois. Clark relaxed. Had she also told Dr. Friskin about his dual life? His secret identity? He tensed at this thought.
“Do you think your wife is hiding something else from you?”
Dr. Friskin had a point there. What could be worse than Lois cheating on him? Falling in love with the other Clark? He put his face in his hands. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
“Do you still love her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust her? I mean, you aren’t keeping anything, any secrets, from her?”
Clark swallowed. Well, there was what he knew about Bruce Wayne. But that really wasn’t her concern. “Nothing of importance.”
Dr. Friskin appeared a bit skeptical of his response. “Do you want to get past this incident? Continue your marriage? Start a family with her?”
“We already have a family, Dr. Friskin,” he growled, glaring at her.
“My apologies, Mr. Kent. Of course, Lara. Let me rephrase my question. Do you see Lois in your future?”
“Yes. As both my wife and mother of my children. Lois and I will grow old together.” Well, as best they could. “She
is my soul mate.”
Dr. Friskin nodded, making another note on her pad. “What is stopping you from forgiving her, then?”
“The betrayal. I keep imagining them together.”
“So she has shattered your trust in her. Are you afraid that when Lois and Kal see each other at holidays, vacations, weddings, and christenings and such, the old sparks will fly?”
Kal? “No.” Clark swallowed. “We aren’t likely to bump into him.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he’s not family. We were separated at birth, adopted by different couples, far apart. We only found each other last year by accident.”
“Oh. So, you aren’t close?”
“No. I hardly know the man. Lois…” Clark squeezed his eyes shut. “… discovered him. I have only met him a couple of times.”
Dr. Friskin looked perplexed. “Then why did she go to him for protection, when your life was in danger?”
“Me?” What was she talking about? “You mean Lois. Her life was in danger.”
The doctor shook her head. “No. She said that she wouldn’t have gone to him, because she knew how he felt about her, except that it was the only way to protect you, to save your life.”
“My life?” He laughed. “But I can’t…” He gulped.
“Can’t die, Mr. Kent? Immortal are you?” Dr. Friskin raised a skeptical eyebrow. “We’re all mortal. Even Superman. You should know that. You cover him for the
Daily Planet, don’t you?”
Clark nodded. “I meant I can’t think of why Lois would think my life had been in danger.”
“So, this man from her dreams…” The doctor flipped some pages of her notebook. “… this Jason Trask? What can you tell me about him?”
On a list of all the things, all the names he might have considered Dr. Friskin asking him about, Jason Trask’s name wasn’t on it.
“Lois is having nightmares about Jason Trask?”
Neither confirming or denying this statement, Dr. Friskin waited.
“Jason Trask was a crazy alien chaser for a secret government agency, Bureau 39, who thought Superman was the advance team for an alien invasion. He thought I was hiding Superman’s identity and tried to kill me and my parents. He died almost four years ago.”
“Hmmm.” Dr. Friskin made a note on her pad. “Interesting.”
Clark leaned forward. “No, not interesting. Important. Did she see Jason Trask at my brother’s?”
She glanced up from her notebook and looked him in the eye. “I thought you said he was dead?”
“So was Lex Luthor once too, but he came back,” Clark clarified.
“Oh, yes, she mentioned Luthor. His ex-wife made an exact duplicate of her and tried to kill her. Made her very distrustful of therapists.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he mumbled and then cleared his throat. “So, Lois didn’t see Trask?”
“Not outside her dreams that she’s mentioned to me.”
Clark thought about this. Why would Lois be having nightmares about Jason Trask? He thought that man was long dead and buried. “What do you think it means? That she’s dreaming about him?”
“He represents someone who tried to kill people near and dear to her. You, your family, and Superman. Perhaps he symbolizes the unknown, the boogeyman if you will, out to destroy what’s left of her happiness.”
Tempus he could see, like the dreams he had of him, before he reappeared as John Doe. But Trask?
A buzzer sounded. “Oh, Mr. Kent. My next appointment is here. This has been very informative.” Dr. Friskin held out her hand and he shook it. “May I recommend that you accompany Lois the next time we meet? Perhaps together we can rebuild those trust bridges. Shall I pencil you in?” She flipped open her black appointment book.
He stood up. “No! God, no. It would crush her, if she knew I followed her…”
Dr. Friskin looked at him. “I will not keep your appearance today a secret from her, Mr. Kent. She needs to know you are concerned about her. May I recommend that you reconsider?”
“I’ll think about it.” He swallowed. “I’d better be getting back to the office.”
“Good day.” She smiled as he left the room.
Clark put a hand to his head. Lois was going to kill him for spying on her.
*** End of Part 9 *** Jurassic Park the movie by Steven Spielberg (1993) was based on the
Novel by Michael Crichton (1990).
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