Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Time to Love 5: Led Astray 6/?

"Paul Bender can see you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning in his office," she said with frosty formality. "You seemed eager for the meeting, so he moved it forward."

The earlier time suited him. Now that Lois was awake, they needed to track down Tempus. "Thank you," Clark said.

"You'll be there? Paul's a busy man. He doesn't have the time for no-shows."

"I'll be there."

With a final frown, Lois turned and flounced away.

Clark closed the door.

His wife emerged from the bathroom.

"Whoa," she said. "Who was *that*?"


Part 6

That was another question with no simple answer.

"You ... er... you didn't recognise her voice?" Clark asked.

Lois shook her head. "Why would I? I don't know anyone from Tulsa."

He had to tell her. Now. "We're not in Tulsa."

"Then where are we?"

"1985."

Her jaw dropped. Her mouth opened. No sound emerged.

"1985," Clark repeated, trying to convince both of them.

"We *didn't* fly by Superman Express?"

"Not this time."

Lois fingered her wedding ring. "Are we married?" she asked uncertainly.

Clark grasped her left hand. "Yes," he said firmly. "I don't care what the calendar says, I don't care what reality is for everyone else, I don't care that out there, there are two people who don't yet realise that their lives aren't complete without each other ... for you, for me ... we *are* married."

Lois's look of relief was a fleeting glimmer of sunshine that was quickly overshadowed by the gathering storm of her confusion. "How did we get here?" she cried. "Why are we here? Did I really die? *When* did I die? And why would you ask if I recognised ..." Her impetus dwindled as incredulity spread across her face. "Was that ... Are we ..." Lois gulped and stared around the room with shock-widened eyes. "We're at the North-Western Hotel, aren't we?"

Clark swallowed and nodded.

"In 1985?"

He nodded again.

"And *that* was me?"

For the third time, he nodded. Words could add nothing to the legitimacy of his claims.

Lois sank into the chair. "I think you need to start at the beginning," she said weakly.

Clark sat next to her, still clasping her hand. "Your condition was deteriorating," he said. "Nothing we did helped, and then ..." He couldn't even think of those moments without anguish scoring another welt across his heart. "... you died. There was nothing anyone could do."

"In 1993?" Lois asked.

"Yes."

"So you thought that was the end?"

It had been the end. It had been like a heavy curtain being drawn across the stage in acknowledgement that there would be no more light, no more movement, no more sound. Everything was finished. "You'd died," he said forlornly.

"Aw, Clark," Lois said, her brown eyes steady with sympathy. "I wish ..." A smile came wistfully. "I wish I could have been there for you."

Clark tugged gently on her arm and pulled her from the chair and onto his lap. "I can't stop looking at you," he said. "I just want to hold you. To touch you. To be with you." The fear was still there. The fear that she would slip away again.

"I'm here now," she said, touching her hand to his neck. "And that proves that *whatever* happens, we are meant to be together."

But somewhere out there in 1985, Tempus was trying to kill her.

"When you said I'd died, I assumed the doctors had worked on me ... got my heart started again ... but that didn't explain why we are in a hotel room."

"It wasn't the doctors," Clark said. "They had no answers. It was HG Wells."

"HG Wells?" she repeated. "As in 'HG Wells and the time machine'?"

"Yes. He came into the room just a few minutes after you'd stopped breathing. He claimed that someone called Tempus had left the future and gone back to 1985 to cause your death. I didn't believe him at first. It was unthinkable, but ..."

Her thumb had been skimming across his cheek, but now it stopped at the corner of his mouth as his words wilted. "So I died in 1993 ... because someone killed Lois in 1985?"

Put like that, it sounded absurd. Clark had met a younger version of Lois, he'd had some interaction with the world of 1985, and he was now having a conversation with the woman he had watched die earlier that day, but the 'facts' Wells had told him still felt weirdly incompatible with reality. "Your mind must be reeling," he said as he lightly traced his forefinger down the sleek slope of her neck. "Are you all right?"

Lois nodded, but it looked more like an instinctive response than a considered reply. "Can ... can we return to 1993?" she asked. "Or are we going to have to live through all those years again?"

"We are going back," Clark said firmly.

"And the other Lois is here because we came back *before* her death ... and that's why I'm alive now?"

"That's what Wells said."

"How long do we have? Before we go back?"

Time ... time had become fickle. "A few days."

"A few days?" Lois breathed. "And then I will -"

"Before then, we will have found Tempus and stopped him," Clark said, suffocating his fear to stop it from poisoning his promise.

"You don't look any different," she said. "You don't look eight years younger."

"I'm not. *We're* still the same."

For a stretched moment, Lois said nothing. Then the tension slowly ebbed from her face, and she mustered a brave smile. "What do we know about Tempus?"

"I haven't made much progress," Clark said dolefully. "I couldn't decide where to start."

"Why does he want to kill me?" Lois asked. "Because of a story I wrote?"

"No," Clark said. "Apparently, he is disgruntled with the future. I didn't think to ask too many questions, but it seems he blames us for it."

"Us?" Lois tore off a portion of a bagel. "What did we do?"

"Wells said that the future is a peaceful, non-violent society, based on the precepts of justice and equality for all. He called it 'Utopia'."

"And Tempus wants to change that?"

"Yes. He wants a society ruled by violence and corruption."

Lois frowned. "But you're Superman; wouldn't it make more sense to kill you?"

"Apparently Tempus tried when I was a baby, but he failed."

"So ... now he thinks he can change the future by killing me?" Lois asked dubiously.

Her question caused a shaft of understanding to rise from the fog of Clark's disorientation. "Of course," he said with a sudden smile. "It makes perfect sense."

"It does?"

"The top of Table Mountain in South Africa."

"Huh?"

"We were talking about what should happen with my powers, and you said we could be Superman together. In the future, they must recognise something that was birthed that morning - the power of Superman is not one person, but two."

"So ..."

"So when Tempus couldn't kill me, he realised that the way to bring down Superman was to kill Lois Lane."

"And he went back in time to before I met you," Lois said. "So you wouldn't be there to protect me."

Clark's transient good humour vaporised.

But Lois's smile was infused with optimism. "It's not going to work," she declared. "You've come back to protect me. Not even the chasm of time could keep you away when I needed you."

"It didn't feel like I'd protected you," Clark said bleakly.

"But you will," she said. "Lois needs you. *I* need you. You're here, I'm here, and neither of us is leaving until young Lois is safe and Tempus has learnt that he can't separate us and he can't stop Superman."

"I had decided never to be Superman again," Clark said. "And anyway, the world thinks he has gone home."

Lois grinned. "But Wells gave you a glimpse of the future," she said. "A wonderful future where Superman is revered - so we know he comes back and begins to change the world, one super-act of kindness at a time."

Remembering the crippling numbness of his grief, Clark said, "There can't be a Superman unless Lois Lane is with Clark Kent."

"Yep," Lois said brightly. "And that's why we're here."

"You sound very confident."

She kissed him - a little peck on his cheek. "Of course I'm confident," she said. "Luthor locked me in his underground cell - away from you. Trask locked you in the warehouse - away from me. Tempus killed me in order to separate us. But here we are - still together."

But this time, it wouldn't be enough to take Lois and escape. Clark had to ensure young Lois was safe as well.

"Who are we?" Lois asked. On Clark's questioning look, she added, "Well, we can't be Clark Kent and Lois Lane, so who are we?"

"Mary and Robert James," Clark said.

"Mary James," Lois muttered. "Robert." She frankly assessed Clark and giggled. "Nope, you don't look anything like a 'Robert'."

"Wells chose our names because they were popular in the fifties."

"I figure Tempus is using another name, too," Lois said. "Did Wells give you a description of him?"

Clark took the photo from his shirt pocket and offered it to her. "Do you recognise him?"

Lois studied the small snapshot. "No," she said. "I've never seen him before."

"I guess that's to be expected," Clark said. "Tempus wasn't here when you lived through 1985. Wells said to look for someone who had inveigled his way into young Lois's life."

"Someone I didn't know? Someone extra? Or would Tempus have taken the place of someone who was in my life then?"

"It could be either."

"Have you shown this photo to the other me?" Lois asked.

"No," Clark replied. "I'm not sure how much we can rely on it for identification. It's possible that in the future, advances in plastic surgery or disguise techniques could mean Tempus no longer closely resembles the man in that photo."

"So we're looking for discrepancies?" Lois said. "Someone who doesn't fit with my memories?"

"Yeah," Clark said. "But Wells said we have to be really careful."

"Obviously Tempus is dangerous," Lois said. "But you're Superman." She held up a piece of bagel for Clark to take a bite.

He did, giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts. So far, Lois had accepted his revelations with remarkable equanimity, but she needed to know the rest. "There's more to consider," he said. "Wells told me that anything we do in this time could affect the world we return to. He said everything could change - we might not be working together, we might not know each other, we could even be married to different people."

For a moment, Lois looked perturbed. Then she smiled. "I don't believe that," she said. "I think we would always find a way to be together - whenever the time, whatever the place."

"I don't want to risk it," Clark said.

He'd half expected she would laugh off his caution, but instead she gave him another understanding smile. "What month are we?"

"October."

"Oh," Lois said. "Right at the start of college."

"Tell me about your life then."

"I was a freshman. I had a fight with my dad and moved out of his home. That meant I had to take the job at the North-Western ... here." She scrutinised the room. "We're on the ... fourth floor, right? Or perhaps the fifth."

"The fifth."

"Who was in reception when you came in?"

"Young Lois said her name was Carol."

"Did she see me?"

"Yes, she did," Clark said. "But I was carrying you, and you were wrapped in a sheet."

"She didn't give any indication she'd recognised me?"

"No."

"I guess she wasn't expecting an older version of the hotel maid to come in as an unconscious guest," Lois noted dryly. "And she was never very observant."

"I didn't even think about the receptionist possibly knowing you," Clark admitted. "Wells had stressed the importance of being unobtrusive, and I knew that wasn't going to be easy while I was carrying around an unconscious woman dressed in a hospital gown."

"We have to be unobtrusive?" Lois said with a sudden flash of her smile. "So I can't just march up to myself and demand that I stop being such an idiot and start using that intelligence and insight I'm so proud of?"

"Ah ... no," Clark said, smiling, too. "But I doubt you were being an idiot."

"I was," Lois said. "An incredibly stupid idiot - and all because of a man called Paul Bender."

"Paul Bender? Your editor?"

Lois scrunched up her nose. "Yep. That's him. I made a complete fool of myself over him."

Clark wasn't sure he wanted to know. He recalled his earlier conversation with young Lois about Paul. He hadn't been able to determine if her prickliness had been a reaction to him or a reaction to the subject of Paul. "You ... ah ..."

"Fell in love with him," Lois admitted. "Totally. Stupidly. Irrationally. Blindly."

Clark didn't know how to respond - although he was already fairly sure that he didn't like Paul Bender.

"There were three of us," Lois continued. "Linda King, Barry Russo, and myself. Paul handpicked us as the brightest prospects. He would regularly invite us into the inner sanctum of his office. It was like a cosy little club - with Paul as the chief, and the three underlings scurrying around, anxiously hoping for a morsel of his attention."

"Who won?" Clark asked, hoping it hadn't been Lois.

"I lost," she said.

Clark ran his fingers down to her elbow and tried to inject some sympathy into the gesture.

"The main competition was between Linda and me," Lois said as she picked up a chocolate croissant. "Barry wanted success, but only as a vehicle to raise awareness for the issues that were important to him. But Linda and I - we wanted Paul's approval, respect ... and love. And I thought I'd won when I found irrefutable evidence that some of the footballers were cheating on their exams."

"Big story."

"Very big story," she said after biting into the flaky goodness. "I double-checked all my facts and wrote the story ... but Linda stole it and took it to Paul as her own work."

"Aw, Lois," Clark said, well able to imagine her indignation and sense of betrayal.

"Paul was really impressed with the story, and he thought I was being a complete jerk when I claimed it was mine. One thing led to another ... and he never looked at me again."

Clark smiled. Tried to hide it. Failed.

Lois grinned. "You don't seem too upset that I lost the battle for Paul," she said.

Clark allowed his smile full freedom. "I'm sorry you lost your story, but I'm not upset that you lost Paul," he said, gathering her close for a kiss.

She responded eagerly. Eagerly and with tongue-probing chocolate-infused intent to build on his simple gesture of affection. Memories avalanched him - memories of their honeymoon in Smallville. And what had followed - the gripping, paralysing fear that his love had killed Lois.

Clark backed away. "We should work out how we're going to stop Tempus," he said, hoping she wouldn't push for further explanation.

Lois hesitated, as if poised at the junction of two paths. "How did Tempus know where to find me?"

Relief flooded through Clark - but it was relief peppered with regret. "Wells said Tempus had studied our lives. He has a degree in Kent History."

"Urggh," Lois said. "I'm not sure how I feel about people studying my life. I hope there was a kind historian who blotted out the worst of my mistakes."

"I bet you are many people's hero," Clark said.

"I bet I'm also the object of much envy," Lois said, sliding her hand through his hair. "Particularly from women."

Clark grunted. "Yeah, being with me got you killed."

She glossed over his peevishness with a smile. "If it's a warts-and-all history, Tempus might know about my feelings for Paul."

"Even if he doesn't know, the editor of the college newspaper is going to be a significant person in a young reporter's life," Clark said.

"You think Tempus could be impersonating Paul?"

"That was my first thought - except Lois Lane is going to notice if someone suddenly changes into someone else."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Superman blasted through the roof of Luthor's tunnel, and I didn't recognise the man I was falling in love with," she said.

"You were under stress," Clark defended quickly. "And you'd been told that Clark was dead."

"Is that why you're not wearing your glasses? So Tempus won't immediately recognise you as Clark Kent?"

"Wells suggested it," Clark said with a nod. "He said Tempus stole the time machine, so he won't be expecting anyone to follow him."

Lois chuckled. "No wonder you were worried about me not knowing you. It's comforting to know I've progressed far enough that I can't be fooled by a pair of glasses anymore."

Her laughter felt like a bubbling brook of tranquillity, but the dark shadows of Clark's fears hadn't quite disintegrated enough that he could share in her amusement. "Did you know Paul before college?"

"No. I met him in Orientation Week."

"So Tempus could have gotten here before the semester started, slipped into Paul's life, and used the summer break to explain away any minor changes in his appearance?"

"I guess so," Lois said. "If that is what did happen, I wonder where Paul - the real Paul - is now?"

In his anxiety for Lois, Clark hadn't even considered that. "Wells didn't mention anything about needing to rescue someone else," he said.

"Maybe Tempus sent him to the future," Lois said. "But wherever he is, I bet he's one very angry editor. He didn't like being pushed around by anyone."

"I've arranged to meet Paul tomorrow," Clark said. "We'll find out more then."

"You called him?"

"No. I went to the college."

"But you didn't see him?" She nodded to the photo. "You weren't able to compare him to Tempus?"

"No." Clark paused. "He wasn't in his office. I saw Lois instead."

"And she offered to set up a meeting with Paul?"

"Yes. It was supposed to be at four tomorrow, but when she was here just now, she moved it forward to ten o'clock."

"What did you tell her? About why you wanted to see Paul?"

"Nothing. I just said that I needed to speak with Paul Bender."

Lois smiled. "I bet that rattled her curiosity."

"Tell me about it," Clark groaned.

"She's planning to be there, of course."

Of course, that should have been obvious. But it hadn't been. Not when his mind had been ensnared in the maze of confusion and worry.

"Had you decided what you were going to ask Paul?" Lois asked.

"Not really," Clark said. "Nothing beyond realising that it's not going to be easy to explain why a man my age is suddenly interested in a college freshman."

"Uhmm," Lois said, seeming to be deep in thought. "If Paul *is* Tempus, and we go to that meeting, we -"

"Lois," Clark said. "You can't come."

"Why not?"

"Because this is your world. We can't risk people recognising you. If they do, we would face some really awkward questions. And Wells was adamant that we should be really careful not to change anything except -"

"I'm sure I could be there without Lois seeing me."

"No," Clark said decisively. Wells had mentioned body transference. Clark was sure he didn't want to take an eighteen-year-old bride back to 1993.

"So you and Lois get to meet, but I can't see her?"

Her face was deadpan, but Clark thought he could discern a twinkle in her eyes. Until he was sure, he decided not to risk inciting her annoyance. Maybe a few words of caution would temper her impetuosity. "Wells said it was imperative that you don't meet her. It's bad enough that she interacts with me, but there didn't seem to be any way around that."

"That's why you banished me to the bathroom when she knocked on the door?"

Clark did another quick scan of her face, checking for any uprising of aggravation. "Yes."

Lois stared at him for long moments, and then, like the unfolding dawn, her smile appeared. "What's she like? Young Lois?"

"She's ... Lois Lane."

"So you think she's beautiful? Even with her big eighties hair and penchant for side ponytails?"

"Lois," Clark groaned. "I can't answer that."

"Are you attracted to her?"

Was she upset? Was she teetering on becoming upset? "If young Clark happened to see young Lois, there is every chance he would fall in love with her within moments." He tried a hesitant smile, hoping it would ease him through this tight spot. "It just seems to be what happens. Clark meets Lois. Clark falls in love."

"So you fell in love with her?"

"I'm in love with *you*."

To Clark's immense relief, Lois smiled over the croissant. "Don't worry," she said as she nibble at the flaky pastry. "I know the 1985 version of Lois Lane better than anyone. She hasn't got either the maturity or the taste to fall for a farmboy." With a disdainful curl of her upper lip, Lois added, "She thinks Paul Bender is the embodiment of the ideal man."

Clark had to be honest. "Lois ... I *did* feel something. A connection. With her. A connection I've never felt with anyone else. Only you."

"Clark, I trust you. I know you would never be unfaithful - even with ... well, me." She giggled suddenly. "But it is kind of funny."

"It's not funny at all," he said.

"Yes, it is," Lois said. "Your future wife is deeply suspicious about your intentions towards your current wife, who happens to be her rolled forward, but she doesn't know that. She thinks she's launched into a huge investigation, blissfully unaware that she is the intended victim and you are actually here to save her."

"It's very complicated," Clark said.

"Ah, it gets better," Lois said as she scooped up a dollop of chocolate with her forefinger. "Young Lois is very interested in you - not because one day she'll realise that you are the one man who can complete her, but because she thinks you're a story. And her instincts are flawless - you are a huge story, even bigger than Clark Kent, alien from Krypton. You're now Robert James, AKA Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter from eight years in the future, and furthermore, *also* AKA Superman, super-powered Kryptonian visitor whose destiny is to divert the course of world history dressed in blue tights and little red briefs."

She dissolved into a flurry of giggles, but to Clark, her summation sounded too much like being trapped in an impossible web. "What are we going to do?"

Lois gathered in her laughter and held her loaded finger up to his mouth. "I think we should start with a little late-night investigation," she said.

Clark sucked the chocolate from her finger. "Paul's office?" he guessed.

Lois grinned. "Exactly. I'm sure I remember he kept photos of himself on his desk, so that might help with identification. Also, we can look for a weapon or something else that -"

"I think he might be poisoning her."

"Really?" Lois popped the last piece of croissant into her mouth. "Why?"

"Because when I saw her, she looked pale and unwell."

Lois's eyebrows dipped. "But something else must happen - something dramatic - if she's going to be dead in a few days."

"Perhaps he's planning to give her a sudden lethal dose."

"But if the plan involves a huge dose, why bother with the build-up?" Lois asked. "Why not just do what he came to do and get out of here? He has a time machine, right?"

"Yeah. That's how he got here."

"I wonder if something happened that changed his mind," Lois mused. "Is it possible that Tempus fast-tracked his plans because he discovered Superman had arrived in 1985?"

"I guess so," Clark said doubtfully. "But ... that would mean we weren't - or aren't going to be - careful enough."

Lois's little chuckle dispersed the solemnity that had crept upon them. "This stuff is enough to fuse your brain cells," she said. "All the tenses get tangled."

Clark nodded, in awe of Lois's poise and clarity of perception. He still felt as if he were trying to find his way out of a thick fog. "Do you remember not feeling well in the first few months after you started college?"

"I remember feeling tired a lot," Lois said. "Particularly after I moved out of Dad's house and had to work on the weekends."

"Then maybe he's not poisoning her," Clark said. "I remember Wells saying something about gradual decline. Perhaps that's why my thoughts focussed on poisoning."

Lois picked up her coffee. "Whatever Tempus is planning, he won't be successful," she said.

Her words felt like a dose of optimism sweeping through his spirit. With Lois's knowledge and his powers, it really shouldn't be too hard to keep one teenager safe - even if she did have Lois Lane's penchant for attracting danger. Clark instinctively tightened his arm around his wife. "While you were asleep, this felt like being trapped in a dark dungeon, and I just couldn't see any way out."

She brushed back his hair with a loving touch. "You didn't consider flying out?" she asked.

"I can't fly without you," he said.

Lois's smile was a gift. And a promise. And reassurance. "We're both here now," she said. "Lois is going to be just fine."

"What time does she finish her shift tonight?" he said.

"Half past ten."

"I think I should follow her when she leaves."

"Good idea. She might meet with someone. We could get a lot of valuable information."

"I want to know she gets home safely," Clark said. He searched his wife's face. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah," Lois said. "Is there any reason why you ask? Other than just being caring Clark?"

He didn't want to alarm her, but he'd learnt that keeping things from Lois inevitably ended badly. "I think it's possible you can be affected if Tempus does something to Lois."

"Other than kill her, you mean?"

Clark grimaced. "Earlier, your condition deteriorated, and she came up here looking exhausted. Then you improved, and the next time I saw her, she seemed better, too."

"I feel fine now," Lois said.

Clark lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "I know you don't like being fussed over," he said. "But if you feel anything unexpected, that could be our signal that Tempus is making his move and I need to go and find Lois."

His wife nodded. "OK. I'll tell you."

Clark smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

Lois suddenly jumped up from his lap. "There's not much we can do about Tempus yet, and Lois is safely working her shift in this very building, and now that I've had something to eat, I'm longing for a shower. Want to come with me?"

"Ah ... " Clark picked up the copy of The Daily Planet. "I've been intending to read this - catch up on 1985."

"Sure?"

No, he wasn't. But ... "I showered earlier."

"OK. See you soon."

From behind the newspaper, Clark watched her walk into the bathroom.

It was wonderful to be with Lois again. Talking with her. Watching her smile. Listening to her voice. Tracking her expressions as they flickered across her face. Touching her. Trying to keep up with her nimble mind as she sorted though the facts.

He loved her so much.

He admired her strength. He envied her adaptability - even in the most bizarre of situations.

But none of that had been enough to dissolve the heavy burden of guilt that had solidified in his gut during the long hours as he had watched her slide to her death.