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To read Part 14G

Part 15

Friday – Mid-day

Clark wasn’t sure where he should go. He wanted to call Lois and meet up with her and apologize, but he had to give her time to get his messages. Either the one from Jimmy or the one he had left at the apartment. He hit his head with his hand. Why hadn’t he just waited for Lois at the apartment? He could have unloaded his clothes into the dresser. Her dresser. He sighed.

It was obvious that the apartment wasn’t theirs. Superman wasn’t even welcome there because of the tabloid reporters – like Nunk – stalking out the place. Anyway, Kal didn’t know if she would forgive him for all his blunders.

If you’re not him, how come you keep acting like the dense idiot I married? Lois had yelled at him as he had walked out the door.

Obviously Lois liked dense idiots, otherwise why would she marry one? He was curious what sort of dense idiot Clark had been… Kal shook his head. He had been when he was Clark. Kal winced. He really wasn’t sure who he was. He wasn’t Clark. But he was feeling less and less like a superman.

Kal needed to talk to someone about the best way to get Lois to forgive him. He passed a newsstand and noticed the headline on Friday’s Daily Planet: “Superman Came Home: Where Is He Now?” Good question.

He pulled out Clark’s wallet and saw that he had paper money. If he was going to make phone calls, he would need coins. And he was curious what the Daily Planet was saying about him.

***

Kal closed the paper. They were taking the word of the deliveryman from whom he had gotten the newspapers the previous morning. No hard facts, only a quote from the driver saying, “He was there one moment. Gone the next. It had to be him.” Well, they got that right. It had been him. There were quotes from other people who had seen him in the blue suit around Metropolis. If he was guilty of giving people false hope, so was the Daily Planet.

Only it wasn’t really false hope. Superman was “home”. He was alive. Did Perry White know this? Had Lois told her boss that Superman had returned? That she had seen him, spoken with him? Of course, she did. She must have talked to Mr. White about Clark and according to the Kents, Perry White knew Clark was Superman. Was that the best thing for the paper to do, given his current mental weakness? Especially since Kal couldn’t even remember how to fly?

On the back of the paper was a list of want ads and lonely heart ads. Kal wondered if enough time had passed and he could call Lois at the paper. He browsed the ads trying to kill more time. He didn’t want to wait any longer. He had had a dull ache in his chest since he had walked out on her this morning. Frankly, he missed her.

There was a telephone not far from the bench on which he sat. He pulled a quarter out of his pocket and dialed the number on the card Jimmy had given him.

“Daily Planet. How may I direct your call?”

“Lois Lane, please. She should be…”

“Connecting…”

Oh, good. Kal exhaled.

“Hello?”

Lois! Oh, her voice sounded so sweet to his ears. He could hear her heart racing. Did she know it was him? Was she as nervous as he was?

“Hi, Lois. It’s Kal,” he said with an attempt to sound casual.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know anyone with that name.” Click. Dial tone.

Kal stared at the receiver in his hand. What had just happened? He hung up. He stood there a full minute, kicking his heart around with his feet and trying to figure out what he should do next. He wondered if he should try again, only this time not use names. He picked up the receiver, dropped in another quarter, and redialed.

“Daily Planet. Cat Grant, speaking,” said a woman. A different person than the man who had answered before.

“May I speak with Lois Lane?”

“I don’t think she’s here. She hasn’t been in the office all week.”

Kal’s jaw just hung there. What? “No, that can’t be right. I just spoke to her a minute ago.”

“Actually, I can see her desk right now and it’s bare, like she hasn’t even taken possession of it yet. I bet she’s still out chasing Superman. Is there something I can help you with? Or do you want to leave a message?”

“I was just on the phone with her. We got disconnected,” he tried to convince Cat Grant. “Can you double check?”

Ms. Grant sighed heavily and he heard her chair scoot out as she stood up. “Nope. Don’t see her. Who should I tell her called?”

“Ah…” A good question indeed. “Her husband.” Yes, that, at least, was correct with no sticky issues of names to mess anyone up.

“Husband?” Ms. Grant choked on the word. “Lois is married?”

“Yes.” Kal felt hesitant about saying the word, but he knew it was the truth. Lois was his wife.

“I can’t believe she would do that to…” He could hear the shock in this woman’s voice. “Lois has a secret life. Wow! Who would have thunk it? You wouldn’t happen to know anything about Ian Harrington, would you?”

“Who?” He drew a complete blank.

“Never mind. There’s my other line. I’m expecting this call. I’ll let her know you phoned. Bye.”

“Could you…?” Click.

Kal threw his hands up. The Daily Planet had a serious problem with phone etiquette.

What now? Calling back a third time seemed pointless. Maybe Lois really didn’t want to talk to him. Maybe she had left. He had been rude this morning.

He stuck his hand in his pocket and felt a piece of paper. Oh, right. The page of the phone book. He remembered Jonathan Kent offering to come get him if he had any problems with Lois. Kal scoffed, remembering what he had thought in response. No matter what, he would make it work with Lois. That hadn’t lasted long, Kal, my boy, he said to himself.

He still had one quarter left, jingling in his pocket. Maybe Jonathan Kent would be able to give him some advice.

***

Lois stared at her hand sitting on the telephone.

What did you do?

She picked up the receiver again. “Hello?” Oh, please still be there. He wasn’t.

“What in Sam Hill was that?” snapped Perry, in whose office she stood.

“I don’t know what came over me. When he didn’t say he was Clark, memories of our fight this morning flooded through me…” Lois admitted, ashamed by her anger.

“And what was your fight about? If I may be so bold?” asked her boss.

Lois sat down in a chair. “He accused me of not loving him. Only loving Clark.”

Perry blinked once, then again. “Come again?”

She sighed. “He refuses to admit that he’s Clark, because he doesn’t have Clark’s memories. He says that Clark might as well be another person.”

The Chief raised a brow.

“Okay. I admit, I allowed him to continue down that path instead of steering him onto the correct one,” Lois conceded, feeling honestly chagrined under her boss’s gaze. “But I didn’t want to upset him or scare him off. I just hoped his memories – his Clark memories, his memories of us – would return before I had to explain my actions. When he recalled the fact that sunshine recharged him this morning, I got too excited and assumed that all his memories were back. He got angry, saying that I didn’t love him, that I only wanted my husband back, and then he stormed out.”

Perry shook his head. “You need to fix this, Lois.”

“I know.” She ran a hand across her forehead. “Do you think he’ll call back?” she asked hopefully.

“Can’t say, darling. You have something he wants, so he might.”

Lois’s heart beat against her ribs. “What? What could I possibly have that he wants?”

“You.” And then her boss smiled. “I’ve never seen a man more in love.”

“That was Clark. We’re talking about… you-know-who, now,” she contested.

“Right. And what alias was he hiding under at the police station? Charlie King, wasn’t it? And who called here looking for Lois Lane yesterday morning, before Henderson picked him up? Charlie King. He loves you, honey.”

There was a light rap on Perry’s office door. It was Jimmy. Perry waved him inside.

Lois jumped to her feet. “Is it Clark? What line is he on?”

“Um… Lois, didn’t I just transfer CK to you?” said a perplexed Jimmy.

“No,” Lois growled. “It wasn’t him.”

A red flush crept up Jimmy’s neck to his cheeks. “Geez, Lois. I’m sorry. I was sure that was CK. Um… Chief, Alice on line two.”

Perry double finger pointed at the young photographer. “You got those Superman photos I asked for?”

Jimmy gulped. “You asked for Superman photos?”

“Great shades of Elvis! Weren’t you listening at the meeting this morning? Everyone was supposed to get me anything and everything on Superman? He’s still our top story. You ran into him at Mazik’s. Where are the photos?”

Lois turned and shot her boss a glare. He knew as well as she did that Superman wasn’t up for interviews. How could he sic his bloodhounds on him?

Yes, but Perry’s not supposed to know that Clark is Superman. He’s just covering for Clark by acting like the editor of this newspaper would.

Right.

“Um… Chief. I asked if I could take his picture, but he said that CK was his top priority. And since he hadn’t helped out at the jewelry store, he said it wouldn’t be fair to the MPD if I took his picture.” Jimmy shot his boss a nervous grin. “Then he ran off to look for CK.”

“You asked to take his picture?” Perry threw up his hands. “You are a news photographer now, Jimmy. You don’t ask! Next time you get the chance just take the photo.” Their boss growled in frustration and kicked them both out of his office. “Lois, get me the piece on the robbery.”

“Yes, Chief,” Lois replied, shutting the door behind her. She glanced at the desk that Perry had given her the other night when she had typed up her story about Superman, Nightfall, and the nuclear bomb. She saw Cat Grant at the neighboring desk grab her purse and hightail it to the elevators. At least Lois wouldn’t have to talk to her.

I wonder why Superman didn’t fly off.

Lois touched Jimmy’s shoulder.

“The Chief’s right, you know, Lois. I should have just taken Superman’s picture. It’s just – I was in awe of him – you know, talking to Superman. I was in fan mode, not news mode.” He shook his head. “It was a stupid mistake. Amateurish.”

“I understand, Jimmy. That blue suit has a tendency to distract one,” she told him.

Mission accomplished.

“What’s this about Superman running off?” she continued.

“Ah, yeah. We talked about you and Clark for a minute and then he jogged to the corner…”

Superman jogged?

“He didn’t fly off?” Lois inquired more specifically.

“Well, I didn’t hear that familiar swoosh, now that you mention it. No, I think he just ran off. Huh?” Jimmy thought about that. “Do you think he’s injured? Not able to fly?”

Was that why he wouldn’t go get wine last night?

“Good question. And it’s something I plan on asking him the next time we meet up,” Lois told her friend. “Why don’t we keep this between us for the moment until we have more information?”

Jimmy coughed. “Um… About that, Lois. Why didn’t you talk to Superman this morning?”

Lois glanced away. “I told you, Jimmy. Mazik’s is where Clark and I bought our wedding rings.”

“And it didn’t have anything to do with Linda King?” Jimmy inquired.

Yes, it had everything to do with bitch from hell.

“Maybe. A little bit. That woman just pushes my buttons,” Lois admitted. “I should write up that robbery article while I wait for Clark’s call.”

If he decides you’re worth calling back after you hung up on him.

***

“MJ’s Café. How can I help you?” said a sweet and friendly feminine voice.

Was this his mom? Kal didn’t think so. In as much as Kal fell in love at first hug with Martha Kent, it was her husband with whom he wanted to speak.

“Is Jonathan Kent available?” he asked tentatively.

“Hold on, sweetie. Jonathan! Your son is on the phone,” she called to Clark’s father.

So much for discretion. So much for Superman ever calling anyone Clark knew on the phone.

“I’ll take it in my office,” he heard Clark’s father respond. At least one person understood privacy.

“Hold on, deary,” the woman said to him.

There were a few moments of silence before Jonathan picked up. “Hello?”

Was Jonathan Kent having as much difficulty knowing how to address him as he was having addressing Mr. Kent?

“Hello, Sir. You told me that if ever I needed to, I could contact you,” Kal said much more confidently than he felt.

“Clark,” Jonathan said with a slight catch in his throat. “Do you need me to come pick you up?”

“I’m not quite sure where I am,” Kal admitted. He was in a small park across the street from a large bookstore. Mr. Kent would probably know if he described it, but that wasn’t why he had called.

“What can I do for you, Son?” Mr. Kent asked Kal.

Kal really wanted to ask Clark’s father about MDS, but instead blurted out, “What kind of idiot was Clark?”

“My son is not an idiot,” replied Jonathan forcefully. “Did someone say he… you are?”

“Well…” Kal cleared his throat, wishing he hadn’t brought up the subject in the way he had. “Lois said something about me acting just like Clark…”

“You are Clark,” Jonathan reminded him and then he chuckled. “You have always had a bit of a stubborn streak.”

Stubborn? Kal thought they were talking intelligence. He shook his head. “Why would Lois call me a dense idiot then?” he asked. Technically, she had said that Clark was one, but he felt he had insulted this man’s son enough.

“Ah,” said Jonathan as if he knew to what Kal was referring. Kal could hear the man’s chair squeak as if he leaned back in it. “Son, Lois wasn’t calling you an idiot as in someone who is stupid – well, not stupid, per se…”

“Huh?” Kal was completely lost.

“A dense idiot is women-talk for a man who is stupid when it comes to women,” Jonathan explained.

“Oh.” Kal considered this information for a moment. “But we made love and…” Oh, God! Did he just admit to Clark’s father that he had made love to his daughter-in-law? What was wrong with him? Some Superman! “What I meant to say is that she asked me to…” He winced, thinking that wasn’t much better. “I mean…” What did he mean?

“And?” Jonathan inquired.

“And?” Kal repeated back weakly and most certainly with embarrassment. “And what?”

“I’m confused, Son. You mentioned that you and Lois made love – all well and good. She’s your wife and it’s allowed. What else did you want to say?”

Kal cleared his throat and spoke more softly. “She seemed to like it?” he stated unsurely.

“She did or she didn’t?”

“Oh, no. She liked it,” Kal pushed through his embarrassment. “Very much so, Sir.”

Jonathan laughed. “Glad to hear it, Son. What seems to be the problem?”

“Why would she call me a dense idiot then?” If he could give Lois pleasure, he couldn’t possibly be stupid about women. Right?

“Son, a dense idiot is a man who doesn’t understand women. A man can be good in bed and still not comprehend one iota about how to treat a woman.”

“Oh.” Kal thought about this clarification. “There are men who understand women?”

He heard Jonathan slap the table while he laughed. When he could speak again, Clark’s dad said, “No, Son. None of us do. Some of us are better at faking it than others.”

Kal smiled. At least he wasn’t alone with this affliction. “What in particular did Clark do to earn him this title with Lois?” He wondered if Clark had used to speak to his dad about these topics. Or was it only with amnesia that he had suddenly felt comfortable enough with their relationship to delve in.

Jonathan had stopped laughing, but his voice seemed to indicate that he was still enjoying this conversation. “Son,” Clark’s father said with seriousness. “You need to stop referring to yourself in the third person. You are Clark.”

“Right.” Kal sighed. Another true believer. Was he being stubborn?

“Well, there was the time that you were upset with something that Lois did and you called her a streetwalker,” Jonathan told him.

Kal winced. Clark had called Lois a whore? She had been right; he was a dense idiot. “Why would she marry him… me then? And so quickly? They… we had dated for such a short amount of time before rushing off and getting married.”

“Love.”

“Love?” Kal couldn’t believe it would be that simple. “That’s it? How did they… we know it was forever-and-ever love?”

“How does anyone?” replied Jonathan.

“You weren’t surprised when Clark… I announced we were getting married? After dating for only… only…” Kal did some math in his head from the stories that Lois had told him the night before. “Two or three weeks?”

“We figured something was up when Lois stopped by to get your birth certificate,” Jonathan told him. “Maybe it was a little faster than normal, but we knew how much you loved Lois. Your mother was convinced that Lois was also in love with you. Plus there was all that stuff about you and her being preordained to be together and…”

“What?” Kal hadn’t expected this. “Preordained?”

“Well, back before you and Lois started dating, a couple of men from the future stopped by the store and told Lois that she was destined to marry her true love, who happened to a super fast, super strong, flying alien in a blue suit.”

Kal gulped. That did sound an awful lot like him. Were these the same men that Lois had mentioned the night before? Must be. He just couldn’t believe they were real. He was a super fast, super strong alien in a blue suit, and to some people that must be pretty unbelievable too. And supposedly he could fly. He sighed. He was good at going up, but even better at coming down.

“We knew it had to be true, because we heard about it on the very day that your mother had put the finishing touches on your blue suit. You hadn’t even seen it yet. It was obvious to me that you already had fallen in love with Lois.” Jonathan chuckled. “You were so happy just being around her, you couldn’t keep your feet on the ground. Literally.”

“I floated?” Kal was suddenly twice as interested in this conversation. Maybe his father knew the answer to his flying problems.

“‘Think happy thoughts!’ Isn’t that what Peter Pan says is the only way to fly?”

“Who?” Did he know someone else who could fly? Happy thoughts? “Really?”

“Sorry, Son. I forgot there for a second. Peter Pan is a character in a children’s book you used to love as a child. Martha must have read it to you a hundred times,” his father explained.

Kal glanced over to the bookstore across the street. Maybe he should check it out. “Thanks, Dad, you’ve been a lot of help.”

Jonathan Kent seemed almost choked up as he replied, “Anytime, Son. Would you like me to come pick you up and take you home?”

“Oh, no. I can figure out my way back to the apartment, but… but after the way I treated Lois this morning, I don’t think she wants me back,” Kal told him. So much for ‘happy thoughts.’

“Son, Lois loves you. She called here earlier looking for you. She wants you to come home,” said his father.

“She does?” Kal was perplexed. “Then why did she hang up on me when I called her at the Daily Planet?”

“She did?” Even Jonathan seemed confused. “What exactly did you say?”

“I said, ‘Hi, Lois, it’s Kal.’ And she said, ‘I don’t know anyone by that name’ and hung up,” he explained.

“And do you think she would have did the same thing if you had said, ‘Hi, Lois, it’s Clark’?” asked Jonathan slowly.

Kal sighed. “No, I guess not. Since it’s Clark she really wants.” He rolled his eyes; still not understanding why Lois preferred that bespectacled idiot over him. “But when I called back, Lois had already left.”

“Son. You. Are. Clark,” Jonathan told him once more.

“Yes, I understand that in theory, but without my Clark memories I feel like an imposter.”

“That’s just the amnesia talking, Son. In essentials, you are still our son. Kind and generous. Caring and loving. Helpful and courteous. Curious and loyal.”

He forgot in love with Lois. “Stubborn and a dense idiot?” Kal suggested with a laugh.

Jonathan joined in with his laughter. “Nobody’s perfect. Even you, Son.”

***

Lois turned in her story to Perry. It wasn’t great. It wouldn’t earn her any prizes. Actually, she would be surprised if it didn’t end up buried on page three of the city section. She had done her job – not to the best of her ability, but she had done it nonetheless.

“Any word from Clark?” her boss asked her as he looked over the paper she had handed to him.

Lois shook her head. “I’m heading out to see if I can find him,” she lied. Honestly, she had no idea where to look for him. She just didn’t want to sit around the office waiting for a call that might never come. And she still needed to buy a new futon mattress to replace the other one if she wanted to sleep that night. Well, go to bed. Sleep would be debatable.

“Tell you what,” Perry said, reaching into a drawer in his desk and pulling out a beeper. “If Clark calls in or another big story happens where Superman might show up, we’ll beep you.”

Lois looked down at the small electronic device in her hand. “Thank you, Perry. I really appreciate…”

“We need that Nightfall interview before someone else realizes he’s back. You find him, call in, and have him pose for pictures. You owe me one. Got it?”

Lois nodded and then reminded her boss, “I can’t interview him about Nightfall until he’s remembers it.”

“Then hit him in the head until he remembers it!” hollered Perry.

Like that would do a whole heck of a lot of good.

Lois raised a skeptical eyebrow at this suggestion.

“Between your exclusive that Superman actually destroyed Nightfall and that mood piece we did interviewing people who had seen him walking around town in his blue suit, we’re looking more like a gossip rag than a newspaper. We need proof that Superman is back. We need him to verify your story. And we need Superman protecting Metropolis again to knock Metropolis Star off its axis for suggesting that Superman died in space. Those are the cold hard facts.”

“I just need my husband back,” Lois responded. “Everything else would be gravy.”

“And we need Clark back so I’m not down two reporters!” yelled Perry. “Now, get out of here and find Clark! And know that neither of you are getting a day off for at least six months.”

“Yes, Sir,” replied Lois, backing out of her boss’s office. If she got Clark back, they wouldn’t need to leave town to make her life feel like a vacation.

***

Kal went inside the bookstore and after a quick glance around, he hopped onto the up escalator. Another quick glance around the mezzanine level and he headed upstairs again. As he stood on the escalator, he realized he forgot to ask Clark’s father what MDS was and if the man had his wedding ring.

“Yo, Kent!” called some guy going down the escalator opposite him. “Daily Planet send you back to the minors already?” Then the guy chortled.

Kal had no idea what that guy was talking about. The Daily Planet was a newspaper, not a baseball team. Had the newspaper hired him for his skills at sports? That seemed strange and unprofessional. But, knowing his strength, not unlikely.

He stepped off the escalator and took a look around the top level of the store. Bookcases to the right of him. Bookcases to the left of him. How could he find one book in this sea? He saw a sign for the Children’s section against the far wall and headed towards it.

“Clark?” he heard a voice call out. Kal ignored it, hoping the person would think they were wrong.

“Clark Kent!” she called out again.

Kal winced. He wasn’t going to escape her was he? He slowed his gate and turned around to smile politely at the pretty brunette woman who was approaching him.

“I thought that was you,” she said.

Darn! She hadn’t been positive on his identity, he could have ignored her.

“Hello,” he said, hoping he could fake a short enough conversation with her and escape without her discovering that he had no idea who she was.

“But, then again, a girl doesn’t forget the first man who made her orgasm during breakfast.”

***End of Part 15 ***

Part 16

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