Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Once Bitten (27/?)

The chief and his pledged bride walked slowly to his hut, their hands joined, their laughter floating behind them.

Lois took Diddi's hand and smiled down at him.

Around him, Clark heard the whispers of the people.

"Lois Moko … Lois Moko."

Lois left Diddi and went to an older woman who was sitting in a chair with her leg raised on a stool. Lois embraced her, crouching as they talked.

Diddi walked over to Clark, his face glum.

"You all right, buddy?" Clark asked.

Diddi nodded sombrely.

Clark squatted beside the boy. "Your maman is happy for Matymbou and Gislane," he said. "I think she wants you to be happy, too."

Diddi nodded again.

Clark squeezed his shoulder. "What does 'Moko' mean?" he asked.

"Alone," Diddi said. "Maman is now called 'Lois Alone'."


Part 27

"You … sala boye?"

"Clyde wants to know if you made the truck," Lois said, sending a reassuring smile in Clark's direction.

Clark nodded. "Yes, I made it."

The Bangala worker of wood ran his fingers over the cabin of Diddi's truck. "It … pemela,"

Lois chuckled. "Clyde says it's mind-blowing. I think you have a fan."

Clyde grasped Clark's arm. "You … na okei? Koma?"

"He's asking you to stay," Lois said. "He wants you to work with him and Ines."

That much was obvious, even without Lois's translation. "Yes," Clark said, a little overwhelmed by the intensity of Clyde's welcome.

"Yes, stay, all time," Clyde said, grinning widely. "Ines …" He yanked at his own wrist and winced.

"Ines is hurt?" Lois asked with immediate concern.

"Yes."

"Did she go and see Sylva?"

"No. She say not ... mabe."

Lois rested her hand on Clark's arm. "I need to check on Ines. Will you be all right if I leave you with Clyde?"

"Sure," Clark said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.

"I'll tell Diddi to come and get his truck," Lois said. "He can play outside the hut and be available if you and Clyde need a translator."

"Thanks," Clark said, giving her a smile and hoping she would understand how much he appreciated her uncanny ability to perceive his misgivings and arrange ways to help him through them.

Clyde gestured to the long bench and beyond, to several rows of shelves containing an assortment of tools. "I show," he said to Clark.

"I'll check on you later," Lois said. "And you are to come to my hut for dinner tonight."

"OK."

With a parting smile that made Clark feel as if a chunk of him was being stripped away, Lois left the carpentry hut.

Clyde launched into a tour of his work area, lifting individual tools and giving the corresponding Bangala word. Clark repeated each word, asked occasional questions, and tried to extract meaning from Clyde's mix of Bangala and English.

When they had covered everything, Clyde looked expectantly at Clark. "What you … now?" he asked. "Nini kende ozali?"

"Ah …" Clark looked around the hut. There were four slabs of wood, roughly hewn. He picked up one. "Chair legs?" he guessed.

"Ee." Clyde pointed to the closest chair, indicating the legs.

"They need sanding?" Clark asked, picking up a piece of rough paper.

"Ee. Yes. Good."

Diddi wandered into the hut.

"Hi, Diddi," Clark said with a smile. "Thanks for loaning me your truck."

"'S'OK," Diddi said, not looking at Clark. He picked up his truck and left without another word.

Clyde had returned to his place at the far end of the bench, already engrossed in his task. Clark began sanding the coarse surface, glad of something to occupy his hands. He glanced around the hut, trying to recall words for each item. He remembered most of them, but after his third run-through, his interest wasn't strong enough to keep his mind from slipping back to the events of the day.

The ceremony that had ended Lois's marriage to Matymbou and pledged the chief to Gislane had happened so quickly and simply that it belied the magnitude of the ramifications.

Lois was now a single woman.

Throughout the ceremony, Clark had watched her. Concentrating on her had helped him ignore the numerous sets of eyes openly staring at him, but that hadn't been the foremost reason for his scrutiny. He was concerned about her and not completely convinced by her claims that she didn't feel the smallest tug of loss at the dissolution of her marriage.

She'd withdrawn from him. Actually, she'd been backing away since the almost kiss, and her suddenly single status had congealed the distance between them.

Clark's inner voice kept nagging him with the possibility she was having second thoughts about him now she was single. But he figured it was more likely she was trying to nullify all expectation that the ending of one marriage would automatically trigger the beginning of another.

Or perhaps she was hurting and she didn't want him to know.

Whatever the reasons, Clark mourned the loss of the closeness he'd felt at the miracle berry bushes and later, at the water hole.

Opening the door of his mind to that memory transported him back to the moment when he'd been poised on the threshold of kissing Lois.

He could feel her breath, her willing participation in moving them to another stage.

A stage fraught with complications.

He was married.

He had promised to remain faithful to Lana for the rest of his life.

But now, he wanted to kiss Lois. He wanted to experience that closeness with her. He wanted to glimpse how a kiss would change the landscape of their friendship. Would it bring them closer?

Or cause them to be enveloped in an even darker cloud of confusion?

She was beautiful.

On the outside.

But it was her inner beauty that had wrapped itself around his heart.

Since she'd told him of Matymbou's love for Gislane, Lois had been crisply efficient. When they'd arrived back in the quarantine area after the ceremony, she'd plunged straight into arrangements for them to move into the village. Clark had barely had time to wonder if he would continue to share a hut with Lois and Diddi when she'd informed him that she'd arranged for him to share with Tsumbu.

Clark had been shattered with disappointment and dizzy with relief.

It had only taken a few minutes to gather up his meagre collection of belongings - a few pieces of clothing and the tools he had borrowed from Clyde. Lois had introduced him to Tsumbu, and he'd followed the Bangala man to a hut at the back of the village, pressed against the boundary fence.

It was small, sparsely furnished, and devoid of any decoration.

For now, it would be Clark's home.

He appreciated Tsumbu's easy acceptance of a stranger into his home, but he couldn't help wondering if the arrangement would prove to be permanent and, if not, whether his next abode would be with Lois and Diddi.

The afternoon passed surprisingly quickly. Clyde chatted good-naturedly at times, littering his speech with laughter. Clark became used to his habit of starting sentences with a couple of English words and then pausing before finishing in his native tongue.

Regardless of the language differences, they communicated well enough for Clark to decide that if his life as a budding Metropolis reporter had had to take a hairpin bend, his destination could have been far worse than a carpentry hut somewhere in the middle of Africa.

Clyde spent some of the afternoon elaborately carving a leaf and vine pattern along the edges of a square of wood. When he saw Clark watching him, he beckoned him over.

"That's … pemela," Clark said.

Clyde roared with laughter. "I … lakisa. I show you."

"You'd teach me?" Clark said, wondering if he could attempt to use newly acquired carving skills to make something ornate for Lois. "Please? Koma?"

Clyde nodded eagerly. "Yes. I teach you. One time. Soon."

"Thank you," Clark said.

The men smiled, and it felt as if a friendship had been forged.

They left the hut late in the afternoon. Clyde showed Clark where to wash up, and then Clark went to the hut Lois had pointed out as being her home.

He paused at the doorway, unsure of protocol.

"Come on in, Kent," she called.

Lois was in the hut with a boy a few years older than Diddi. Clark realised Diddi was there, too, sitting on a bed at the back, cradling his truck, and looking distinctly miserable.

"This is Zephyrin, Gislane's son," Lois said. "Zephyrin, this is Kent."

Zephyrin nodded shyly and then said, "Did you make the truck?"

"Yes, I did."

"It's my truck," Diddi said sullenly.

"Come and join us," Lois said to her son. "We are going to eat now."

Diddi rose slowly from the bed and dawdled to the low seats arranged in a circle near the centre of the hut. He put the truck down, tucking it between his legs and the seat.

Clark glanced at Lois. She met his eyes and smiled, but it seemed more an expression of apology than of joy.

Had something happened during the day?

Was Diddi in trouble?

Clark had been away for just a few hours, but he felt as if he'd moved outside their family circle.

Lois handed him a plate, offering him another tight smile. "Matymbou banned Gislane from cooking today, so it's just whatever I could scrounge," she said. "I don't cook."

The cold roast hog and bread sticks with a variety of salad vegetables looked good to Clark. "Thanks," he said.

"How was your day?" Lois asked pleasantly. "Were you able to communicate with Clyde?"

"A little," Clark said. "We used a lot of hand gestures, and he taught me some new words."

"I thought I was going to teach you Bangala words," Diddi muttered.

If that were news to Lois, she didn't react.

"You can still teach me words, buddy," Clark said.

"There won't be any time. You're going to spend all day with Clyde."

Sudden insight flashed through Clark's mind. In the whirl of Lois's singleness and the abrupt shift from the quarantine area to the village, his mind had been fixated on his own need for adjustment; he'd given very little thought to how these events might affect Diddi.

It was kind of gratifying to know the boy valued their friendship. "If it's OK with your maman, we can play some basketball after we've eaten," Clark said, throwing a questioning look to Lois.

"I think that's a great idea," she said brightly.

"Can I come, too?" Zephyrin asked.

Diddi slid his plate from his lap, thudded it on the ground, and scowled at Zephyrin. "No, you can't," he snapped. "Kent is my friend, and your maman already stole my maman's husband."

A crackle of silence followed his outburst. Clark looked at Lois. "Diddi," she said. "Gislane didn't steal Matymbou from me. I gave him to Gislane. I already explained that to you."

"I hate Matymbou," Diddi said darkly. "Why does he want to be with Gislane and not you?"

"Sometimes, you can't explain why someone wants to be with one person," Lois said gently. "I know that's hard for you to understand right now, but you're old enough to understand that I'm not upset because Matymbou wants to be with Gislane."

"Does he like Gislane better than you?"

Lois paused for a moment. "In some ways, yes, he does."

"That's not fair," Diddi said. "You're much better than Gislane. She can only cook food, you can make people better."

Lois moved closer to her son. "Cooking and healing are equally important," she said. "Think about what would happen if -"

"Then why did Matymbou throw you away and get Gislane?"

"I gave Matymbou to Gislane because I knew that would make both of them happy."

Diddi blinked a few times and swallowed. After rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand, he said, "Is it because you're white? Is that why Matymbou doesn't like you as much as Gislane?"

"No," Lois said. "That's not the reason."

"Then why?"

"Lots of times, adults like each other enough to be friends," Lois said. "Like Romaric and me. Like Sylva and me. Like Tsumbu and Clyde. Like Gislane and Sylva. But then, there's a special sort of friendship called a marriage which is when one person becomes a very close friend."

"Yeah," Diddi fired at her. "That's the friend you like most, isn't it? Matymbou likes Gislane more than he likes you."

"In some ways, that is true," Lois said. "But it doesn't make me upset."

"Why?"

"Because I like Matymbou so much, I want him to be happy."

"But he doesn't like you enough to make you happy."

"Yes, he does. He is still my friend, and he still makes me happy."

"But now, you won't ever get a baby."

Lois's jaw dropped. "You were hoping I would have a baby?" she squeaked.

Diddi glared at Zephyrin. "He told me that women can't get a baby inside them unless they have a husband. Now his maman took your husband, so she'll get the baby and you won't. That means he gets the baby, and he gets to be Zephyrin Sol-Matymbou and I have to be Didier Lois-Moko, and he wants to play with my truck and he wants to be friends with Kent."

Lois took a deep breath. "Kent can be friends with both you and Zephyrin," she said.

"But he'll like one better than the other," Diddi replied. "Just like Matymbou does. I used to be Kent's bestest friend, now Zephyrin wants to take him away from me."

Lois put her hand on Diddi's arm, but he angrily shrugged it away. "I didn't know you were hoping I would have a baby," she said.

"I wanted someone to play with," he said dolefully. "Kent said he would play with me, but now he's going to be with Clyde instead."

Lois gathered the boy onto her lap. "Diddi," she said. "It doesn't matter whether I'm married or not, I won't ever have a baby."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "Why not?"

"Some women - like Rolle - can have babies. Other women - like me - can't, even if I had a husband."

"Why not?" Diddi said.

"I don't know for sure," Lois said. "When she was a young woman, Sylva had a husband, but she never had any babies."

"So it's because you're a medicine woman that you can't have a baby?"

"No," Lois said. "That's not the reason." She pulled him tighter. "I won't have a baby, but that just makes me even more happy that I have you."

Diddi relaxed for a moment before squirming out of her embrace. "I still don't want Zephyrin to play ball with me and Kent."

"Maybe, you and I can play together today," Clark said. "But next time, Zephyrin can play, too. It's more fun with three."

Diddi's countenance didn't brighten. "Are you going to make Zephyrin a truck?"

"Diddi!" Lois sounded exasperated now.

"Have you finished eating, Diddi?" Clark said quickly.

"I don't like Gislane's food."

"Diddi, you're being rude," Lois said.

Clark pushed aside his half-finished plate. "Come on, Diddi," he said. "If it's all right with your maman, we'll go and play basketball now. We have some time before it gets dark."

Without waiting for his mother's permission, Diddi scrambled to his feet and picked up his truck.

"Thanks, Kent," Lois said.

The gratitude in her tone warmed Clark's heart. He risked a touch to her arm as he passed by. "Enjoy the rest of your meal," he said. "And try not to worry. Everything's going to be all right."

She nodded and gave him a wan smile.

Clark put his hand on Diddi's shoulder as they moved through the village together.

Diddi kept his head down and his shoulder tense.

~|^|~

"Did my maman really take Matymbou away from you?" Zephyrin asked despondently.

Lois hugged the boy. "No," she said. "Diddi is feeling upset because he doesn't understand about how adults feel. You know your maman and I are good friends."

"Will you still be her friend?"

"Of course. Nothing could stop me being friends with your maman. She comes to Sylva's hut and listens to my stories. She makes wonderful food for Diddi and me."

"Do you think Kent will want to be my friend?"

"Of course, he will. But right now, Kent realises that Diddi needs friends. Kent will talk to Diddi, and when they come back, Diddi will understand that your maman didn't do anything wrong." Lois patted Zephyrin's head, realising she had no doubts regarding Kent's ability to find a way to reach her confused and indignant son.

"Diddi's truck is the best toy I've ever seen," Zephyrin said wistfully.

"Diddi's only five," Lois said. "He wasn't very nice to you, but you're eight, so I'm hoping you'll understand that, sometimes, little kids say things they don't mean."

Zephyrin suddenly broke into a big smile. "You could marry Kent," he exclaimed. His joy died. "But you still wouldn't get a baby."

"I didn't know you and Diddi had talked about having a little brother or sister."

"When Rolle started getting bigger and bigger, Diddi said he wanted you to have a baby. He asked me if I wanted Maman to have a baby, and I said she couldn't have a baby 'cause she didn't have a husband."

"Thanks for talking with Diddi," Lois said with a smile.

Zephyrin looked relieved. "Can I go and stay in Romaric's hut tonight?"

Lois looked at him in surprise. "You don't want to stay here?"

"I don't think Diddi wants me here."

"What Diddi wants isn't the most important thing. He needs to learn that even if he's feeling bad, he can't be rude."

"It's OK," Zephyrin said with a shrug. "He's just a kid."

"I told your maman I would look after you while she spends some time with Matymbou."

"Maman won't mind me staying in Romaric's hut," Zephyrin said.

"OK," Lois agreed, knowing it was true. "Do you need any help with your mattress?"

"No." Zephyrin rose from the floor. "I can take it." He hauled the mattress to the doorway of Lois's hut.

"I'm sorry that Diddi was mean," Lois said.

"I guess it's hard when you really want something and you can't have it."

Lois nodded. She sipped her tea as her thoughts tumbled from the surprising revelation that Diddi yearned for a sibling to a day that had started in the quarantine area as the chief's wife and ended as a single woman, facing the difficulties of walking the fine line between coercing and supporting the man she loved.

She sighed.

The simple life of the Bangala had turned complicated.

Ever since a very handsome American with secrets weaved through his broken heart had literally dropped into her life.

~|^|~

Clark tossed the ball around, making rather haphazard attempts to shoot it through the hoop as he tried to come to terms with the dismantling of another barrier preventing him from marrying Lois.

Lois couldn't have a child.

If he were to marry her, that aspect of his alienness wouldn't make any difference.

His need to talk with her, to get a sense of how she was feeling, to try to re-establish some of their closeness, made him feel like an addict desperate for another hit.

As darkness approached, Clark's lethargy spread to Diddi, and the boy said, "Do you want to go back now?"

"Would you like to talk first?" Clark offered.

"About what?"

"About how you feel about your maman not being married to Matymbou anymore."

Diddi shrugged.

Clark sat on one of the rocks around the pile of ash that had been their fire. "When things happen quickly, it's OK to feel unsure about what will happen next."

Diddi slumped onto a rock. "If you become friends with Zephyrin and all the other kids, will you still be my friend?"

Clark put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Want me to tell you a secret?"

Diddi nodded.

"No matter how many friends I get in the Bangala, you and your maman will always be my favourites."

Diddi's frown smoothed to a hesitant smile. "Really?"

"Yep."

"Then I guess I don't mind if you are Zephyrin's friend. You can even make him a truck if you want to."

"Thanks, Diddi."

"Why didn't you move into our hut if we are your favourites? Why are you going to live in Tsumbu's hut?"

"Because you and your maman are a family and I'm not a part of that family."

"You said we are your favourites."

"You are."

"But you don't want to live in our hut?"

"No, Diddi. I can't live in your hut."

"Why didn't Matymbou give Maman to you?"

"I can't marry your maman," Clark said. "I'm already married to someone else."

Surprise lifted Diddi's eyebrows. "Where is she?"

"She's with my old tribe."

"Are you going to leave us?" Diddi asked. "Are you going back to her?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she decided she didn't want to be with me anymore."

"Did she like someone else more than you?"

"Yeah," Clark said with a sigh. "She did."

Diddi pointed to his chest. "Did that make you hurt in here?"

"Yes. It hurt a lot."

"Is that why you're sad sometimes?"

"Yes."

"Maman said that if we tried to make you happy, you wouldn't be sad anymore."

Clark smiled. "Maybe she's right."

"Do you think she's sad that she can't have a baby?"

"I don't know. But she has you."

"I'm sad there won't be a baby. But I guess it doesn't matter that she doesn't have a husband."

"Uhm," Clark said. Looking to the darkening sky, he added, "We should go back to the village, Diddi, or your maman will send Romaric out to look for us."

Diddi giggled. As they left the quarantine area, he slipped his hand into Clark's larger one. "I'm so glad you came, Kent," he said. "I like being your buddy."

"I'm glad, too, Diddi," Clark said.

"Really?"

Clark nodded as the truth massaged his heart. "Yes," he said. "I'm very glad I came to be with you and your maman." His feet quickened without his bidding. Towards the village. And Lois.