Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Two Days Together (4/?)

"I want my old life back," she murmured.

Two days.

Wells had said 'two days'. Did that mean forty-eight hours exactly? Or would he be here early on the second day?

She looked around the room, searching for cameras. Finding nothing obvious, she turned towards the window and whispered, "Superman! Help, Superman!"

But there was no swish of air, no sudden appearance of the man in blue, no cape flapping majestically behind him.

It seemed he really had gone.

Why?

Had Luthor found a way to banish Superman from Metropolis?

Clark had been worried that Lex Luthor would hurt her.

Is that how Luthor had gained control over Superman? By threatening her safety?

Or did Luthor have kryptonite?

A new thought snaked through her stomach, leaving trails of dread.

What if Wells didn't return?

What if he'd never intended to return? What if this were retribution for being coldly unresponsive to a pure heart?

"He'll come back," Lois muttered to herself. "He has to come back. He said he would. He said he could move through time, and he did. He'll be back. He'll be back. He has to take me back to 1994."

But even if the circumstances of this world ceased to exist in two days, Lois couldn't deliberately cause Clark any more pain.

She'd already hurt him … this morning in 1994 … and she didn't even want to think about how much pain she had caused him the past two years.

For now, she would play the compliant wife - the beautiful partner at the exclusive ball. As much as everything within her was repelled by the idea, she would do it - not for Luthor, but for Clark.


Part 4

Lois entered the large, extravagantly appointed room on Luthor's arm, smiling demurely as the applause rose to greet the arrival of the pre-eminent guests. She gripped her 'husband's' arm a little tighter. He turned his head towards her and smiled, giving her a glimpse of the charming man she had once thought she'd known.

It had all been a mask.

A handsome and charismatic mask that hid a rancid heart.

But for now, circumstances demanded that she smile back, so smile she did.

She endured being presented to a raft of apparently important people, saying little for fear of exposing her lack of knowledge as to their place in her life. However, after a dozen or so such meetings, she relaxed a little, realising from their demeanour that Luthor allowed her nothing more than the most superficial of acquaintances.

Having finally completed the tedious greetings, they assembled at the tables. To Lois's disappointment, she and Luthor were led to the long table situated at the front of the dining room and seated in the middle. People were going to be watching them.

Lois played the sweet, submissive, brain-dead wife through the hors d'oeuvre, soup, and most of the entrée. By then, Luthor was in deep discussion with a rather intense man sitting on the other side of him. At a miniscule break in their conversation, she leaned into Luthor's side and muttered close to his ear, "I need to visit the bathroom. I'll be back in a moment."

She picked up her bag and rose as she spoke, afraid that he would have someone assigned to accompany her.

However, he merely nodded and returned his attention to the man's next point. Lois moved away with the slow and graceful stride of a woman whose mind harboured nothing more significant than touching up her make-up.

The exit led to a corridor. The restrooms were to the right, but to the left was a passageway of possibilities that included at least three doors. Lois was about to scuttle to the left when a man emerged from the door of the male bathroom. She brushed past him as she headed for the female equivalent.

There were two women in the bathroom, both peering into the mirrors as they reapplied mascara. Their light-hearted chatter stopped as they recognised her. Lois ignored them as she moved into a stall. Even after she'd closed the door, they didn't speak. A few seconds later, she heard the outer door quietly close.

Apparently, everyone knew that the wife of Lex Luthor lived apart from the rest of society.

Lois peeped out, and seeing no one, she snuck from the stall and cautiously opened the main door. The corridor was empty. She swept forward, moving as fast as she could without risking tripping on the hem of the dress. She slowed to an inconspicuous pace as she passed the entrance to the dining room, keeping her head down and her face turned towards the opposite wall.

The first door was locked. The second door opened into a dark room. Lois entered, closing the door behind her and fumbling for the switch. She found it, and the room flooded with light.

It was a small room with a row of chairs stacked against the far wall. To her right, there was a large closet. Lois opened the door in search of anything that might prove useful in her quest. She found an old and musty man's coat and slipped it over the distinctive ball gown Luthor had dictated she should wear.

As she fastened the coat buttons, Lois listened at the door. Hearing no approach of footsteps, she eased the door ajar and checked the corridor. It was empty except for a woman heading into the restroom. Lois waited until she had disappeared and then slipped quietly out of the room and sped along the corridor.

She came to a choice of ways and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw an exit door to her right. Restraining herself to a brisk walk, she hurried towards it, willing it to be unlocked. With a pounding heart, she gripped the door knob. It turned, the door swung open, and she stepped into the cool darkness.

She was free!

Despite the lack of anything resembling a feasible plan, she was had accomplished the first of her objectives. Now, she had to get to Clark.

Lifting her dress to knee height, she ran through the small manicured garden to the street. She turned left, despite everything within her wanting to go right. She scurried a hundred yards along the pavement and tossed her bag - another of Luthor's choices - into a shrub. She continued in the same direction until she saw a cab coming towards her. She crossed the road, hailed the driver, and after climbing in, gave a location near Clark's apartment.

The cab driver nodded, barely looking at her, and they slipped into the stream of traffic. "I'm coming, Clark," Lois murmured, sliding a little lower in the seat and turning away from the window. "Everything will be OK as soon as we're together again."

~^~^~

Lois paid the cab driver with the money from 1994 that she'd hidden in the folds of her dress, keeping her head down so he couldn't see her full face. She slipped from the vehicle and hurried away, melting into the crowd.

After the cab had driven away, she took a moment to calm her heart, leaning against a wall and pretending to adjust the coat buttons as she surreptitiously checked her surroundings. There were people walking the streets, as was always the case in Metropolis, but no one seemed to be watching her specifically. She scanned wider, looking specifically for a group of thugs, but found nothing reminiscent of the men who had attacked Clark that morning. She moved away, keeping in the shadows where possible and glad that this part of the city had changed little in the past two years.

As she neared Clark's apartment, she realised the frailty of her assumptions. Did Clark still live in the same apartment? Would he be home? Would he allow her into his home? Or would he demand that she return to Luthor?

"Please be home, Clark," she muttered. "I can't do this alone."

A couple of minutes later, she arrived at his apartment. A soft beam of light glimmered under the door.

"Clark!" she said in a loud whisper as she brushed her knuckles across his door. "It's me, Lois. Let me in."

There was only silence in response. No shadowy movements disturbing the light. No reassuringly strong and familiar voice. No sound of footsteps.

Lois bent down and peeled back the mat. The key was not in its usual place. As she lifted the entire mat, the door opened and a hand reached out, clasping her shoulder and slipping down her arm to pull her into the apartment.`

She knew instantly it was Clark, and it took all of her self-control to refrain from bounding into his arms in celebration and relief.

He closed the door firmly and turned to her, his face impassive as his eyes roved up and down her body. "Are you hurt?" he asked quietly.

She put her hand on his arm, just above his elbow. "Are you?" She examined his face, cringing at the gash that raked across his temple. "I saw what they did to you," she said. "I'm sorry, Clark. I'm so sorry."

"What did he do to you?"

She lifted her hand to brush back his hair with the tips of her fingers. "You knew what would happen, didn't you?" she asked. "You knew he would do this. That's why you were so horrified this morning when I came to the Star."

"Lois …" Clark sighed. He pushed his hands into his pockets. He stared at the floor for a stretched moment. "You can't be here. This is the first place they will look."

Her hand dropped to hang by her side. "I had to know that you're OK."

"I'm fine," he said, his expression lifeless.

"Clark …" Lois stared at him, distressed by the enormity of the changes wrought by two years. "I'm so sorry this happened."

He shrugged, twitching those broad shoulders that seemed to have shrunk. When he looked up, his face was lined with apprehension. "What are we going to do?"

"I am not going back."

He swallowed loudly. "He has hurt you, hasn't he?"

"Not physically."

"Then what?"

"He forced me to take some sort of medication. It made me sleepy … I couldn't concentrate."

"Aw, Lois. I … "

"What did they do to you this morning? Are your ribs OK? I saw one of them kick you."

"I'm fine."

"Has this happened before?"

Clark hesitated. "Not for a while."

"It happened because we saw each other?"

Clark stared across his apartment and didn't reply.

"When was the last time?" she persisted.

"The last time?" he said, pretending not to understand.

"The last time he sent thugs after you."

"A few weeks ago." Clark's head slowly turned back to face her. "Four. Maybe three."

"Because we saw each other?"

"No, we …" His gaze intensified as his words ground to silence. "Before this morning, I hadn't seen you for almost six months."

Lois could not imagine living in the same city as Clark but not seeing him. In fact, she couldn't imagine her life without him. "Why didn't you go to the police?"

He shrugged, signifying that they both knew the answer to her question.

"Threatening you is how he controlled me," Lois muttered, more of a question than a statement.

"Yeah," he breathed.

"Aw, Clark." Lois stepped forward and wrapped him in an embrace.

He tensed. His hands stayed in his pockets. His arms remained straight and rigid against his sides.

Conscious of his injuries, Lois kept her hug quick and light. As she moved away, she gave him a smile.

He suddenly seemed to realise that they were still standing within a couple of feet of the door. He gestured down the stairs, and Lois moved away. He followed her, and at the bottom of the stairs, they paused, as if suddenly caught in a web of indecision.

"What happened to Superman, Clark?" Lois asked.

Her question startled him. "Wh…what did Luthor tell you?"

"I don't remember much," Lois said.

"When did he start drugging you?"

"I'm not sure."

Clark's left hand, free of his pocket now, clenched to a tight fist.

"That's not important now," Lois said, cupping her hand over his. "We have to decide what we are going to do. We need Superman's help."

"Superman isn't … He doesn't help anymore."

She'd known that from the newspaper - suspected it, at least - but the confirmation felt like barbs being dragged through her heart. "What happened?" she asked. "What did Luthor do to him?"

"He has kryptonite," Clark said. "And he had y-"

"He killed Superman?" Lois gasped.

"Not killed," Clark hedged.

"Then what?"

Clark cast an anxious glance towards the door. "He can't find you here, Lois. If he does -"

"What happened to Superman?"

Clark seemed to shrink even further into his clothes, and his eyes flooded with anguish.

"You said Luthor had kryptonite?" Lois said, keeping her tone gentle.

Clark nodded.

"But others have had kryptonite before," Lois said. "Superman always found a way to -"

"I … he … we …" Clark dragged in a shuddery breath. "He had you."

Lois stared at Clark's averted eyes. "Luthor blackmailed Superman? By threatening me?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't he just fly in and get me?" Lois asked, although she knew the answer before she'd even reached the conclusion of her question. "The kryptonite, right?"

"Luthor found a way to expand its mass exponentially," Clark said dully. "He started with a small piece … increased it enough to make a …"

"A what?" Lois asked, steeling herself for the reply.

"A cage."

"A cage?"

"He captured Superman and kept him in the cage during the wedding."

Lois's mind conjured a stomach-churning image of the hero trapped in a green, glowing cage. "What about after the wedding?" she said. "Did he let him go?"

"Superman managed to escape, but he was weak from the exposure."

"He recovered, though? After a few days? He got better?"

"He -"

A loud bang crashed on the door, echoing through the apartment. "Kent!" a male voice shouted. "Open up. We know she's in there."

Clark had paled. Lois gripped his arms. "What are we going to do?" she hissed. "Is there anywhere I can hide?"

He shook his head. "They'll search every inch."

"What will happen if I go with them?" Lois asked. "Will they hurt you again because I came here?"

Clark's expression answered eloquently, though he said no words in reply. "What will he do to you if you go back?" he asked, glancing towards the door.

"I don't know."

Another thump vibrated through the apartment. Clark grabbed her arm and rushed to the balcony. Lois frantically combed it with her eyes. It offered no possibility of a hiding place.

"Get onto my back," Clark said, turning around.

"Your back?"

A series of bangs cumulated in the crash of shattering wood.

Lois hoisted up the skirt of her dress and clambered onto Clark's back.

"Hold on tightly," he muttered.

"What are we going to do?"

He climbed over the barrier, turned and slithered down the outside, leaving Lois hanging out over nothingness. She tightened her hold around his neck.

He placed one foot on the wall and lowered them, manoeuvring until they were hanging at arm's length under the floor of the balcony.

Above them, the stamping footsteps and shouted threats filled the air as Luthor's men raided Clark's apartment.

Were they going to stay here, hanging under the balcony? How long would Clark be able to hold their combined weight?

The footsteps came closer. "Hold on to me," Clark murmured. "And when we hit the ground, run. Don't wait for me."

"I'm not leav-"

"Loissss." Clark's protest whistled past her ear, caught in the rush of air as they plummeted to the ground. Lois felt the jolt through Clark's body as they hit the pavement. He buckled forward onto his knees, and his head hung low between his arms.

Lois slid from him, ignoring the shouts from above as she grasped Clark's arm to help him rise.

"Go!" he panted. "Get out of -"

"Not without you." She tugged on his arm, dragging him under the balcony. He slumped against the wall, pulling in ragged breaths.

"Are you all right?" she asked, leaning down to his level.

"We h…have to separate. I'll go that way …" He indicated with a slight flick of his right hand. "Wait until they've seen me, and then run the other way."

"I'm not leaving you."

"They'll come after me. It's your only chance."

Lois took his chin between her fingers and thumb and lifted his head. "We're staying together, Clark," she informed him. "And we don't have time to argue."

His eyes bored into hers, laced with a thousand fears. "Lois, if he finds us together ..."

"I'm not leaving you."

His shoulders crumbled in defeat.

Lois released his chin and looked up. The noise had silenced. "They'll be down soon," she said. "Are you going to be able to run?"

"Uh huh."

"How many are there? Do you think some will stay on the balcony? Are they armed? Will they shoot?"

"I don't know."

"They won't shoot me," Lois said, thinking quickly. "I'm too valuable as a means of controlling Superman. You go first, and I'll cover you with my body."

"No, Lois! I -"

"There they are!"

The shouts came from a corner fifty yards away. Clark seized her hand and together, they ran out from the shelter of the balcony.

Clark turned into an alley. A few seconds later, they reached a wire mesh fence. He helped her over it and followed, landing with another whoosh of pain expelled from between his lips.

Then, they were running again, as the chaos of footsteps and shouts ricocheted around them.

There wasn't time to ask any of the thousand questions bubbling through Lois's mind, but Clark seemed to be following a set route, so she had to believe he had a plan.

But, as she reminded herself, it would be a plan that didn't involve Superman.

Lex Luthor had driven the superhero from Metropolis, using a vile combination of kryptonite, blackmail, and ruthless brutality.

But she couldn't do anything about that now. She and Clark had to escape Luthor's men without any other assitance. They weaved along streets and alleys, wriggling through or under fences, and ducking between people. They paused for a moment to avoid being hit by a cab, and she re-gathered a larger handful of the dress, lifting it away from her feet. When one of her high-heeled shoes caught on a gutter and slipped from her foot, Lois kicked off the other one and left them, realising they would provide evidence of her presence, but not having the time to look for a hiding place.

Gradually, the people became fewer, the streets narrower, and the lights dimmer. Then, Clark pushed through a dilapidated wire mesh gate and into a yard strewn with piles of trash. They stopped and listened. Lois heard nothing but the staccato rhythm of their combined breaths and the thumping of her heart.

"We lost them," she breathed.

Clark nodded and led her between two piles and closer to a rickety fence. He released her hand and bent low, pulling up a metal grill.

"We're going under the ground?" Lois squeaked.

"It's safer than above ground," Clark said.

She peered into the hole and then looked at Clark for reassurance.

"I'll lower you down," he said.

"You're coming, too."

He didn't disagree; instead, he took her hands and supported her as she descended into the hole. "Ready?" he said when she was hanging above the black void. "It will be a drop of about two feet."

"Ready," she said, although she wasn't completely sure.

Clark released her, and she fell into the darkness, landing with a soft thud.

"You OK?" His voice floated down from above.

"Yes. Come on. Quickly."

"Move away a couple of steps so I don't hit you if I fall," he directed.

She shuffled backwards, groping for a wall. She found something damp, but solid. When she looked up again, Clark's feet were dangling in the hole. He didn't jump, and she was about to urge him to hurry when she realised that he was attempting to move the grill back into place.

When it was almost there, he dropped to the ground. She sensed and heard his winced reaction. She put her hand through the dimness and found his shoulder. "Are you OK?"

He grunted in response and then straightened, looking up to where the grill lay at a lopsided angle across its hole.

"We can't leave it like that," Lois said. "It's worse than an arrow pointing out where we went."

Clark jumped, but wasn't able to gain enough height to touch the cover.

"Squat down," Lois said. "I'll get onto your shoulders. I'll be able to reach it."

He hunkered low, and she climbed onto his shoulders. He clasped her knees through the dress and slowly rose to a standing position.

Lois reached up to the cover. "Move left a couple of inches," she directed.

He did, and she pushed her fingers into the tiny holes. She lifted it a little, dragged it sideways, and let it drop its hole, separating her and Clark from the world above.

Clark sank down until her feet touched the ground.

Lois clambered from his neck. "I don't suppose you have a flash-"

Before her question was asked, a dull light pushed back the murkiness.

Lois couldn't help but smile as she looked up into Clark's face and asked, "You carry a flashlight with you?"

He nodded, directing the light down a tunnel. "It's pretty narrow in places," he said. "You won't be able to see much. Do you want to carry the flashlight?"

"Do you know which way we should go?"

He nodded again, gesturing to his right. "This way," he said.

"You've been here before?" she asked. "You know where we are going?"

"Do you want to go first?"

Obviously, he had been here before. "No," she said. "You lead. But take my hand. I really don't want to lose you down here."

His hesitation lasted less than a second, but it hung noticeably between them like another brick in the wall of separation.

Then, his hand closed around hers, loose and light. His touch shivered through her wrist and up her arm, and immediately, the darkness seemed to slink back … as if it, too, realised that it posed no threat when she was with Clark.

He began walking, maintaining a steady pace, but repeatedly looking behind to check she was all right.

Once, Lois smiled at him. He didn't return her smile.

After some time - exact minutes being difficult to judge - Clark stopped. He shone the flashlight up to the concrete ceiling. "There's an exit to the street here," he said. "If you go up now, you'll be about ten feet from the front door of the ballroom. You might be able to slip in unnoticed. If anyone sees you, say you came out for some fresh air."

Lois stared at him, dismayed that, after all this, he still thought she would return to Luthor. "Is that what you want?" she demanded in a voice far harsher than he deserved.

"Lois." There was so much despair in the way he said her name. "If you go back now, maybe he won't hurt you."

"Are you worried that the longer I stay with you, the worse it will be for you?"

He shook his head, and she understood. They had gone past the point where Luthor would overlook their actions. "I'm staying with you, Clark," she declared.

"He won't allow it. He won't rest until he finds you. And then …" Clark's voice shook with intensity.

Lois put her hand on his arm. "We have two days," she said. "We'll work out something."

"You must know there is only one way this can end."

Yes, but before it ended, Lois intended going back to 1994 and this time, everything would be different. "We'll be fine," she said. "We'll be fine if we stay together."

He stared at her for a long moment, blank and wordless.

But she understood the irony volleying between them. If they'd stayed together back in 1994, they wouldn't be in this mess now.

Eventually, Clark turned and continued along the tunnel, his hand still enveloping hers.

"Where are we going?" Lois asked.

"There's an old warehouse. We can get to the basement from this tunnel."

"How do you know? Do you come down here regularly? Will we be safe in the warehouse?"

"We might be safe for a day or two. But eventually …"

A couple of days … that was all she needed.

"How do you know about the warehouse?" she said. "How can you be sure we'll be safe there?"

He stopped and faced her, his eyes solemn and his expression grim. "I can't be sure," he said. "If you're worried, you should go back now."

"I'm not going back," she stated. "And I'm not worried."

"You should be," he mumbled under his breath as he turned and continued deeper into the tunnel.

But she wasn't worried. In fact, Lois realised, when she was with Clark, she rarely worried. Even though they had been in some precarious situations together, they had always worked out a way.

Often with Superman's help.

But he wasn't in Metropolis anymore.

Obviously, when Lois had challenged him about his feelings, he had responded in the negative. He'd been locked in a cage during her wedding. And Luthor had made it impossible for him to stay in Metropolis.

Her marriage to Luthor had ruined three lives - Clark's, Superman's, and her own, too.

But she would have a second chance. She would go back to 1994.

And this time, she would get it right.