from Chapter 12....
At that exact moment, Lois’ phone rang. “Is this Lois Lane?” a female voice inquired.
“Yes it is. May I ask who I’m speaking with?”
“My name is Chloe Sullivan. I’m your step-sister from California.”
and now...Chapter Thirteen
“My - *what*?” Lois shrieked. “I’ve never heard of you before.”
“My mother married your father… Sam Lane,” she explained.
“Waitaminute! My father’s wife has got to be about half his age… how old are *you*?”
“I’m 19, and my mother is in her mid thirties. Yeah, teenage pregnancy and all that,” Chloe explained. “My stepfather – your father – asked me to call you for him. They – my mom and your dad - went on a cruise, and won’t return for a couple of weeks. They’re planning on coming east as soon as they get back. Your father was so happy to hear that you were alive.”
“Really? I have to say I’m surprised to hear that. And how come I never met you before, Chloe? My father never mentioned having a step-daughter,” Lois spit out, annoyed. Of all of the possible phone calls to get, *this* wasn’t one she would have planned on receiving.
“He was embarrassed, I guess, because my mother was so young when she had me,” Chloe said. “But I’m in college now, and I’m doing well, so I guess he thought that now it would be okay for me to call you. I’m a big fan of your writing, Ms. Lane … can I call you Lois? We are related… sort of.”
“Chloe… yes, you can call me Lois. Of course.” <It’s not her fault she’s in this situation any more than it is mine. She sounds like a nice girl, actually.>
“Well, I’m going to be transferring to Met U from UCLA next semester. I’m majoring in journalism. Maybe you’ll be able to put a good word in for me, so I can get an internship at the Daily Planet? And you’re quite the legend at Met U, from what I hear. Class valedictorian, an offer to work at the Daily Planet even before you graduated…”
“Oh, that’s sweet, Chloe. I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m a legend, but thanks. Why don’t you have my father bring some of your writing samples with him when he comes out to visit? I’ll take a look at them and give you my opinion,” Lois replied. “Look, I don’t mean to cut you off, Chloe, but today is my first day back to work and I’m kind of in the middle of things. Why don’t you give me your phone number, and I’ll call you back when I’m settled in. I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”
Chloe gave Lois her cell phone number, very excited that her big step-sister was the legendary reporter Lois Lane.
Lois hung up the phone, astonished. “That doesn’t seem right. I have a step-sister? Since *when*?”
Lois did a search engine inquiry for the name “Chloe Sullivan” and got 2 hits: Dean’s List, fall 1996 and spring 1997, UCLA; and another hit for a story she had written for her high school newspaper about the strange effects of meteorites on the residents of a quaint California coastal town, Little Ville. Apparently there had been a meteor shower back in the early 1990’s and several of the townsfolk had been demonstrating unusual abilities. Chloe had constructed a “wall of weird happenings” bulletin board in the office of her high school paper, which had attracted local media attention. <Hmmm… she’s legit, I guess. At least she didn’t lie about being a writer.>
Lois brought up the archives of the Daily Planet and keyed in the name “Ellen Lane”. An obituary popped up, but now her date of death had changed!
“Oh, no, no…. Clark!” Lois groaned. “It didn’t work. Now she didn’t die of alcoholism, she was killed by a hit and run driver… one week after Herb and I left. Omigod.” Lois moved her chair next to Clark and threw her arms around him. Clark couldn’t believe how great it felt that Lois had been compelled to turn to him for comfort. She was the woman he was meant to be with, there was no doubt.
“I’m so sorry, Lois,” Clark said softly, kissing her on her forehead. “Tell me about the rest of your trip. You went to visit your mother to tell her what? That you’d be gone for five years? What exactly did you say to her?”
“Well, after Herb and I left the other world, I told him to set the machine for May 17, 1992…the day *after* my disappearance. I had it all planned what I was going to say…”
~~~~~~~~flashback~~~~~~~~~
The time machine re-materialized in a woodsy area of a park. Between the dimensional portal and the time traveling, Lois felt worse than she had before. <This time thingy makes you so sick, I’ll lose weight without trying,> she thought to herself.
“Where are we, Herbie George?” Lois asked sarcastically, trying to get her bearings. “Oh yes, now everything looks familiar. My mother’s apartment is two blocks over. Why did you pick this spot?”
Wells set the cloaking mechanism. “It’s important that no one sees you. Remember, Ms.Lane, you’ve now disappeared from this time line. You’re attempting to change your mother’s fate. If someone that knows you spots you, it will change your own personal history as well.”
Lois nodded. “Ok, point taken.” She was rather sick of Wells’ “attempting to change history is very tricky business” lecture. It was like his personal mantra.
“Ms. Lane, would you like me to accompany you on your visit to see your mother?”
“No, I don’t want to freak her out too much. I’ve got my whole speech planned out; it’ll be more believable if I go alone. But thanks for the offer.” <He’s sweet in his own eccentric way,> Lois realized.
“Very well, Ms. Lane. I suppose I’ll wait for you over there,” Wells said, pointing to a bench near the park’s manicured gardens.
“I might be a while, okay?”
“Ms. Lane, I have all the time in the world – pardon the pun,” Wells said smiling.
“Wow, you *do* have a sense of humor, Herbie – but don’t go auditioning for any comedy clubs anytime soon!” Lois teased.
“Comedy clubs?” Wells muttered as Lois took off.
Lois felt butterflies in her stomach as she buzzed her mother’s apartment number in order to gain entrance to the building. “Yes, who is it?” Ellen Lane called out thru the intercom.
“It’s me, Mother,” Lois said. “Buzz me in!”
The security door unlocked and Lois entered the apartment building lobby, waited for an empty elevator car, and was soon standing in front of her mother’s door. As she knocked, she was acutely aware that there was a possibility that this would be the last time she ever saw her mother. <This just *has* to work,> she told herself.
Ellen Lane opened the door and Lois could immediately tell that she’d been drinking. “Lo, Lois, Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Mother, give me a hug, will ya?” Lois said, so grateful for this chance to see her mother again. She threw her arms around her. Ellen was taken off-guard by Lois’ sudden display of affection. Typically the two women were more reserved with each other, with no overt displays of emotion.
“Lois – “ Ellen took a closer look at her daughter. “You’ve dropped a lot of weight. I just saw you last weekend. How the Hell did you do it?”
“Mom, it’s really hard to explain. *Really* hard. I came here to tell you that I’m going away for a long time, and you’re going to be the only one that knows where I’m going.”
“Lo-is! You can’t leave me,” Ellen said. “Who’amI going to commiserate with on the weekends? Wher’re you going? Take me with you,” her mother pleaded, slurring her words.
Lois felt her eyes well up with tears. “I’m going to – Africa, Mother. I signed up to work in a “Doctors without Borders” camp for five years. I won’t be able to contact you, but I’ll be thinking of you the whole time. Please promise me you’ll hold yourself together until I get back home. Don’t drink yourself to death.”
“Why would you say that? I don’t drink that much… just when I’m feeling depressed...”
“That’s just about every day, Mother! Please. You don’t need to lie to me. I’m your daughter. I love you,” Lois assured her. “But you drink too damn much, Mother. You need to stop. Get some help, before it’s too late.”
“Enough about me,” Ellen said, changing the subject. “You can’t be serious about leaving for five years! What about your job at the Daily Planet? Are they going to hold your job for you? What does Perry White think about this?”
“Mother… they don’t know. And you can’t tell them where I went. NO ONE CAN KNOW that I came to see you, Mother. As far as you’re concerned, I just disappeared,” Lois implored. “I don’t expect you to understand why I’m doing this, but …this time you must trust me. Okay?”
“This is because of that Claude fellow, isn’t it? He broke your heart and you just can’t work with him anymore. I have a good mind to go see him and tell him-“
“Mother - no! This isn’t about Claude. It’s about *me*. This is something *I* have to do. Can’t we just spend a pleasant afternoon together and enjoy each other’s company? Why don’t I make some coffee, and you can put that wine bottle away. Better yet, why don’t I just throw it down the sink?”
“Don’t you *dare* do that, Lois! Especially if you’re not going to be around to help me through those dark days, when knowing that your father is with - *her* - “
“Mother – you’re living in the past. Maybe if you got out more, mingled with people – you’d actually meet someone nice, that would treat you well. Have you ever thought of that?”
“Me? Be with someone other than your father? No, Lois. Your father may be a bastard, but he was *my* bastard. No man can take his place.”
Lois rolled her eyes at her mother. “Mother – I want you to promise me that you’re going to try to get out. Take a night class at the high school. Something. Anything. Spend some time with Lucy.”
“That sister of yours is too busy jet-setting around to bother with me, Lois, and you know it… you’re the only one that cares. You’re my only caring daughter. You can’t leave me.”
<Talk about putting me on a guilt trip!> “Mother… if I tell you the truth, will you promise me that you’ll try to stop drinking and get out more? And I’ll even tell you the exact date that I’ll be back. You can mark it off on the calendar, and I swear I’ll be there that date.”
“The truth? You mean you weren’t telling me the truth just now?” Ellen exclaimed. “Why should I believe you now, then?”
“Mother… the reason that I look so thin is that I’m your daughter….from five years from now..” <she’s never going to be believe me…>
Ellen started laughing. “I thought you were going to tell me the *truth*, not some science – fiction tale.”
“Mother it’s true. Here, I’ll prove it.” Lois took her mother’s obituary out of her pants pocket. “Look, mother!” Lois shoved the article right in her mother’s face. “This is what’s going to happen to you if you don’t stop drinking. I came back here to try to keep you alive. When I come back from Africa in five years, you’re gone. You drank yourself to death. Mother, you can change your own future. Please, Mom,” Lois pleaded, crying. “I need you to get yourself together. I need *you*.”
Ellen looked at the obituary with her name on it. “So that’s the date I cash in my chips, huh? You could have had anyone at the Daily Planet print this up – I know! Is this some type of intervention? Is that what you’re up to? Because it’s not going to work, Lois. I’m perfectly fine.” Ellen took the article, scrunched it up in a ball, and threw it across the room.
“Mother – if I’m lying, then how do you explain my sudden weight loss? I went down like 6 dress sizes in one week. That’s physically impossible. Think about it!”
Ellen studied her daughter’s much slimmer figure, and sat down on her couch, holding her head in her hands. “This can’t be possible. You’re telling me that you’re from 1997?”
“Yes, mother. When I was preparing to come home from Africa, I found out that you died while I was overseas. I felt so guilty that I wasn’t around to be there for you. I managed to meet someone that can time-travel so he took me back here so I could see you one last time. ”
“Then why did you leave?” Ellen naturally asked. “If you’re from the future, then you should know not to go to Africa. Stay here – with your mother.”
“Mother – I didn’t leave of my own free will – I was abducted.”
“That’s it, Lois! Now you’re talking crazy. Why would someone abduct you? Did you do an expose on some underworld figure that’s out to get you? I warned you how dangerous a career in journalism could be…”
“Now I know who I got the babble gene from, Mother,” Lois joked, trying to lighten the moment a bit. “The person that abducted me was from the future, too, and he dropped me off in Africa, in 1995. You will die two years from now, in May, 1994, of cirrhosis of the liver, Mom, unless you stop drinking *now*. You just have to hang in there. I swear, I’ll be back. In fact, I’ll write down the exact date you’ll see me again. Come to the Daily Planet on this date and time. Please be there.” Lois handed her mother a piece of paper bearing the date she would return back to work at the Daily Planet.
“Lois – really, you’ve lost your mind. I think you must have just escaped from the looney bin. This is crazy talk!”
“Mother – this is all you have to know: number one, the world will think that I vanished out of thin air; number two, I didn’t desert you of my own free will, and number three, if you stop drinking now, you’ll see me again in five years. I love you so much,” Lois started weeping and moved over to the couch and sat down next to her mother. “Please, don’t waste your life pining over Dad. He’s just not worth it. You’ve always been good at ceramics. Take a night class. Get out and meet people. I promise you, I’ll be back.”
Ellen Lane peered into her daughter’s eyes. “I know I shouldn’t believe you, but … somehow, I do. All right, Lois, I’ll do it. I’ll stop drinking. Right now.”
Ellen got up, grabbed her wine bottle and dumped the contents down the sink. “There! I did it! I don’t understand what the Hell you’ve been rambling on and on about, Lois, but … okay. I’ll get out more. I can’t believe you’re telling me I won’t see you again for five whole years. There’s just so much a mother can take. Losing her baby girl for all that time….oh, Lois.”
The two women clung to each other for what seemed like an eternity.
“Let’s have that cup of coffee, now, Mother, before I have to leave.”
~~~~~~~~~end of flashback~~~~~~~
Clark was humbled by the story he’d just heard. He still missed his parents, and Lois had gone to all this trouble to try to save her mother, all for naught. “Your mother died a week later from a hit and run accident? Does it give any details?”
Lois looked at the computer monitor. “Oh no! I told her to get out more, and she was just leaving an art supplies store when a drunk driver came around the corner, ran over the sidewalk – and she didn’t have a chance. Clark, just hold me, please,” Lois pleaded.
Clark squeezed Lois tightly and felt her body shuddering as she wept for her mother.
In a few moments, when she was able to compose herself, she looked at Wells.
“I guess you were right, Herb. You said this Tempus guy loved irony. How would he like this story? I got my mother to promise to stop drinking so she wouldn’t die of alcoholism. I suggested that she get out and mingle with people instead of feeling sorry for herself. She actually listened to me…first time, ever. And then – she gets killed by a drunk driver. So, in a way, alcoholism killed her anyway – not hers – someone else’s.”
Wells nodded his head in sympathy. “I’m so very sorry that it didn’t work out as planned, Ms. Lane. And you’re right… Tempus would have actually appreciated the irony greatly, I can assure you. It seems when a person’s time is up, destiny finds a way to fulfill death’s desire. What do you think happened to your sister Lucy?”
Lois was almost afraid to find out how her rescue effort to keep her sister alive had fared, after seeing how miserably her attempt to change her mother’s life had turned out.
Clark looked around the bullpen and was suddenly shocked to see James Olsen and a beautiful blond woman kissing in front of his office door. He gently tapped Lois on her shoulder. “Lois… you’re not gonna believe this,” Clark whispered. “Over there,” he said, pointing towards the office of the owner of the Daily Planet.
TBC….Friday….
