The door opened and Clark, casually dressed without jacket or tie, stepped out. He shut the door directly behind himself.
I was hoping both Lois and Clark would meet Herb, but no such luck.
“So, Herb, please give me good news,” he said, dispensing with his usual pleasantries.
He really needs it right now.
“Fine. Never better,” Clark said.
That is for sure.
“Good riddance,” Clark grumbled.
I have to agree 100% there.
“Or,” Herb suggested. “Tempus may have given you a chance at a better life?”
Rubbish. After Tempus Clark knew he wanted Lois and could not have her.
Clark’s eyes, on the other hand, seemed to brighten considerably. “Wait. Let me make sure I’ve got this clear. Because Tempus wiped himself out of existence we cannot travel into the past and save this dimension’s Kal-El, Lois’s true Clark?” He stared at Herb as if his very life depended on his answer.
This is the best news Clark has ever heard.
“So, I don’t have any competition for Lois’s heart? She’s mine, free and clear?”
Lois: I like it better when you use the Portuguese.
“That’s terrific news, Herb. Well, no, not terrific all around, but you have made me very happy.” He turned to re-enter his apartment. “I should tell Lois!” Then he stopped as if by some fleeting thought. “No, first I need to…”
Go and get protection.
“Neither you nor Miss Lane were affected by the pheromone based perfume sprayed around the newsroom today, then?” Herb inquired.
“What are you talking about?” Clark asked before Herb’s words apparently sunk in. “Perfume? Yes… Pheromone… A chemical substance secreted by animals which produces a specific response to other individuals of the same species, usually related to a warning, food, or sex.” His eyes widened as he glanced down at his brown paper sack. His shoulders dropped. “No… No! It isn’t true!” He shook his head. “She forgave me. She loves me,” he said adamantly, pointing at Herb, before his voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Doesn’t she?” He raised his gaze to Herb’s beseechingly. “Doesn’t she?”
Technically Herb does not know, but that has not stopped him from saying before.
Herb shrugged. “Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t, Clark. I haven’t met her.”
At least he is being truthful.
“Tomorrow’s Daily Planet,” Herb said, holding up the paper he had picked up on his previous stop.
Clark took the newspaper out Herb’s hand and walked back to the café table. “Perry would never allow this,” he mumbled, his eyes closing. “I should have known; it was too good to be true. She loved me. She wanted me.” He pointed back at his apartment. “She begged me…” His hand dropped. “I’m such a fool.”
Well, it was actually generally within her expected behavior, except maybe not wanting to know at all.
Clark buried his face in hands. “She’s never going to forgive me now.”
I am really not sure of that.
“Haven’t yet what?” Clark asked, before thankfully catching on. “Oh! Oh! No. Herb, I… we… I was waiting to hear back from you. We kissed and…” His eyes widened before he swallowed. “Oh, God, no! Lois will never forgive me.”[Quote]
It is not like they have really done any more than in the past. Actually, he is going to have to work really had to avoid her anger for not making love to her. Hmm, he is in a tough situation.
[Quote]“Of course not, Herb! I would never do that to anyone in an intoxicated state, let alone Lois.
I have to agree with him here. I just have a fear it will drive her to Luthor and a wedge between them though.
“No, Clark. You cannot ever consummate your relationship with Miss Lane,” Herb said as plainly as he could.
Now I think Wells is just plain wrong. He has no proof the curse applies when it is a different Clark soul.
A guttural sound emerged from Clark’s throat as if he were repressing a roar. “And you didn’t think this curse was something I should have been apprised of earlier? Say, when we first started discussing the possibility of rescuing the Lois from my dimension? Or before you brought me here under the guise of falling in love with this dimension’s Lois?”
He has a very good point.
“And you know this for sure? Are you positive, despite the fact that Lois and I are from other dimensions and our souls don’t match up completely, that this curse would still affect us?” Clark asked.
Very good point.
“Couldn’t you just travel into the future and see if she…” His words dropped off as he picked up the copy of the next day’s Daily Planet from the table.
I guess that is a big risk. Hmm, there needs to be some better way to test for the curse applying.
“Thank you,” Clark whispered with a hitch in his voice. “Thank you from stopping me from killing her.” He dropped his head into his hands in defeat.
But she was not dead in two weeks. Wells is being duplicitous and dishonest by not telling Clark that he showed up two weeks later and Lois was alive and well. I like Wells less and less. He is constantly manipulating Clark and withholding vital information from him.
Herb hadn’t quite understood how Lois and this dimension’s version of himself hadn’t disappeared with Tempus. It had been as if they were echoes of a past life left to repair the damage done by now non-existent Tempus. How had they remained in a past without a Clark in the future to draw them there? Was it a strange kind of time aftershock of a dimension in flux, a dimension without a past of its own? It had been one of those time anomalies, which was sure to keep him from sleep for many a night.
This is another thing he should really tell Clark. I am liking Wells less and less. His withholding of information is very disturbing.
Clark’s head slowly rose from his hands. “I am not going back to my dimension, Herb,” he said.
Wells just does not get it. Life with Lois is so much better than without. Anyway, in his home dimension Clark is Superman to everyone and has no private life. I do not blame him for not going back.
Herb nodded. He had forced Clark into this mess, by bringing him to this damaged universe, the least he could do would be to extricate him from it as smoothly and painlessly as possible. “Do you mean to take her to your universe, if we cannot fix the curse here?” he asked.
“I’d rather not. I prefer my life here to the one back home. The same problems that stopped me from bringing the Lois from my dimension into the future still exist. Additionally, I’ve discovered that there is a lot more paperwork one must do when switching dimensions. I, as Superman, would hate to have to forge a fake existence for Lois as I’ve had to for myself in this one,” he said.
He should not have even told Wells this much. Realistically he needs to make any such plans with Lois.
Clark shook his head. “No, that would require her to bear an even more difficult burden, impersonating someone she’s not for the rest of her life. I would rather not have to do that to her.” He sighed. “But I’ll keep the idea of bringing her home with me open as an option of last resort.” He raised a brow. “If you are fairly certain that my dimension’s timeline isn’t damaged in a similar manner.”
I think he should be more open to giving her that option. It would work mostly, and if that is the easiest way for them to marry, why not? Clark needs to start making joint decisions with Lois.
Herb knew from his research on this universe that it was eerily similar to that of his own universe, almost as if this alternate universe had been formed by Tempus’s attempt on baby Kal-El’s life. If that were true, in May 1994, a mere three months in the future, this Lois Lane could be engaged to marry Lex Luthor. The Superman from his universe had ended up caught in a Kryptonite cage during the wedding in early June. Herb decided he should save Clark from having to deal with a similar fate, if such circumstances also were to happen here. “I’ll check back with you in three months to see how you’re faring, and give you an update on my research.”
This is where I really start to dislike Wells. I am sick and tired of his plotting to seperate Lois and Clark.
Clark raised his hand to stop this topic. “By bringing me here, you’ve already saved me from that fate, Herb, for which I’m eternally grateful. I’ve said from the beginning, I’d rather be in a dimension where Lois and I are just friends, than in one without her at all. Goodbye, Herb. I hope to hear from you soon.”
I doubt things would ever get so bad Clark would leave. On the other hand, I have my fears.
