Description: Lois meets an old woman that has some unbelievable things to tell her.
TOC /
Chapter 1 /
Chapter 2 /
Chapter 3__________
Previously ...
Lane looked up and caught Lois gaze. Lane began to shake her head and mouth 'no', but Lois continued to sprint. She reached out with her arm and felt it connect with something.
A moment later she found herself on the dark alley floor. She pushed herself up and glanced around. There was no sign of the time machine, or the older Lois. She blinked and frowned, looking round and round. When she began to feel dizzy she halted her spiralling and raised her hands to her forehead. The dizziness increased and a pain began at the back of her head then spread over to her eyes. She collapsed to the ground and cried out, a thousand images burning into her mind, before losing consciousness.
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Chapter 4She came too, slowly. Gradually becoming aware of her surroundings, she also gradually remembered the circumstances which had led to her being on the floor of a dark alley. She stumbled to the edge of the alley, light streaming in. As she leaned on the wall at the corner of the building she panicked, momentarily, that she might now be lost in time. Who knew what year she was in, and Lane was nowhere to be seen, along with the means for a return trip. Panic began to well up, until she spied the table just on the other side of the bistro barrier. Her coat, handbag and empty coffee cup were still there!
Lois reasoned that she could have only been unconscious for a minute at the most. Her coat and handbag would have been snatched by an opportunistic thief otherwise. She stumbled around to her table and slipped into the chair. Resting her head on her hands, and closing her eyes, she began to breathe deeply and evenly.
While she calmed her heart, pictures began to play across her eyelids. Pictures of a man in bad ties, an old couple with loving smiles, a freckle faced young man, an apartment with steps into the living room, a house with a large fish tank …
She rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her palms, but the images kept coming. She screwed up her eyes and took deep breaths, hoping to ride out … whatever was happening.
If she'd actually travelled in time then she would suspect this to be some kind of side effect, but she hadn't. Or maybe she had? What if she'd travelled … one minute into the future?
Lois groaned. "And Lane said she'd done this many times. If she's really me, then I sure hope I get used to this," she muttered to herself.
Movement at her side caught her attention. She looked up to see the waitress taking away her empty coffee cup. "Excuse me," Lois asked. "Do you have the time?"
The tired looking woman paused, put the cup back down and then looked at her wrist. "Five-twenty," she replied, then picked up the cup once more and wandered off. Lois checked her own wrist. Her watch confirmed the same time. There had been no time travel.
So what was this … thing … she was experiencing?
Lois pressed her fingertips to her forehead and closed her eyes once more. She'd reached for the time machine, for Lane. She made contact with something. What? Squeezing her eyes tighter again, trying to wish away the pictures of a man with soft, loving chocolate-brown eyes, she focussed on what had happened in the alley.
Lane had been shaking her head, her mouth open in denial of the circumstances, of Lois' actions. Lois reached out …
… and touched Lane, just as the sled, Lane and Tempus disappeared.
In that moment Lois knew. What she was seeing was Lane's memories.
And Lane … really was a ninety-seven year old Lois.
And that meant that everything Lane had said was true.
Lois put her hand to her mouth and covered her shock.
Lane had said that Lois would marry. Someone called Clark. Someone perfect.
Lois, unexpectedly, shivered in pleasure at the thought. Clark Kent. Her husband.
She dropped her hand and smiled.
Yes. Somehow, she knew. Clark Kent was her husband, or would be. She could even picture him in her mind. Tall, broad shouldered, dark, thick, beautiful hair … and strong arms, the strongest arms in the world. Lois could even feel those arms around her. Her heart skipped a beat.
Safe. In Clark's arms she was safe.
Loved. In his eyes she was loved. She was worth loving.
Wanted. In his heart she was wanted … desired … needed.
Her heart rate soared and she felt heat pool in her stomach. Her breath caught as she recalled the feeling of Clark's lips on hers, his hands on her body, his chest clasped close to hers, their feet tangled in soft cotton sheets.
Lois felt a tear trickle down her cheek at the love she felt coming from him, the love she felt
for him.
She looked up to the sky and took a deep breath. Gazing at the darkening blue she was suddenly assailed by the feeling of soaring up above the skyline. It seemed so real, so amazing.
Lane had said that Clark was different, was 'super'.
Well, everything she'd experienced, so far, through these visions, confirmed that.
She had so many questions. But Lane was gone.
Still the only thing she really wanted to know, she so very nearly found out … and Lane had been interrupted.
When?
How many years?
How long till Clark would come into her life?
She looked into the stolen memories, but could see nothing. All the memories seemed to revolve around emotions and feelings, not factual events.
Lois looked up into the early evening sky. The sun was behind the tall Metropolis buildings and one building stood out in stark relief. The revolving globe called to her.
One thing she did know. Somehow.
She met … would meet … him there. The Daily Planet.
Lois smiled. The Planet was a dream, a vision, a goal she had nurtured for so long. Well now she had even more reason to work there. And the sooner, the better. She rifled in her bag and pulled out the internship application form. Full of purpose and inner strength she stood, hitched her bag over one shoulder, folded her coat over her forearm and headed across the street for the Daily Planet lobby.
THE END (or is it?)
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