Hello everyone. I said by Thursday, so I barely squeaked in. <g>
As far as when you can expect part 6 - I'm not sure. Hubby's grandfather passed away on Tuesday
and so needless to say I have been busy dealing with that. So everything else has been on hold (including writing).
Sue offered to post a note for me (thank you Sue
So part 6 will be coming... but with current circumstances, it may take a little longer.
Thank you all for the comments and fdk, Sue and I have loved every one of them. -- DJ
Table of Contents *********
From Part 4
*********
“Project Nirvana?” Lois broke in. The mind-control drug Dan had been working to uncover?
Dr. Klein’s eyes went wide. “You know about Project Nirvana? That information was supposed to be classified.”
“I dated the DEA agent who was working on the case. I did some snooping around on him and found out a few things.” She crossed her arms in front of her, looking satisfied at her journalistic abilities.
Clark rolled his eyes. That was all he needed – to have Scardino show up in her life again. At least her amnesia hadn’t erased the fact that she had picked him over Dan.
He winced to himself when he realized where his thoughts were turning. What would he do if she decided... no, *when* she decided to date someone else? How was he going to deal with that? He wouldn’t be able to just stand idly by and watch Lois date some other person – even if he had told her that they couldn’t be together. Especially if she dated someone as smarmy as Dan Scardino. Or, god forbid, Scardino himself.
Dr. Klein threw Lois a quizzical look and then nodded his head. “I see. Work before love. I know that all too well.” He dribbled some of the liquid from his dropper into a Petri dish and then replaced the lid. “Well, I suppose if you already know about the drug it won’t hurt to talk to you about it. Uh, what do you know?”
She narrowed her eyes at him and then sighed – give a little, get a little, she supposed. “According to my sources, Bill Church, Jr. was involved in a deal with Charles Knox, the head of Omnicorp, to try and get the drug released as an over-the-counter pain med for headaches. The unexpected side-effect, though, was that it made you highly susceptible to suggestion, allowing you to be, in effect, brainwashed into doing whatever the intended benefactor wanted you to do.”
Dr. Klein nodded in agreement with her. “Yes, that’s correct. Fascinating stuff, really, neuropharmacology.” Dr. Klein tilted his head and blinked rapidly. “Oh no!” he exclaimed and began to hurry from the room. “I’m terribly sorry, I need to go check on...”
He was out the door, leaving both Lois and Clark to stare after him in surprised disbelief.
“Well,” Clark said after a few seconds had passed. “Do you want to wait for him to come back?”
Lois sighed.
“Come on,” Clark said, taking her arm, “Let’s get back to the Planet and see what we can dig up in the meantime on thought-altering drugs and mind-control.”
She scowled at him. “Oh, yeah, just what I was in the mood for – some light reading. Can we at least grab a bite to eat, first? You promised me lunch at Alfredo’s – remember?”
**********
PART FIVE
**********
Lois frowned at Clark as she took another bite of her ravioli. “You eat too fast.” Clark had kept his promise to take her to Alfredo’s for lunch eat since she hadn’t pilfered any of Bobby’s food - not that she’d had time – and she wasn’t about to inhale it. Food this good was meant to be savored.
Clark smiled at her as he watched her eat. “You should see me eat at home. I slow down when I’m in public.”
Did he do *everything* at super-speed? She sincerely hoped not. But, then again, she had kissed him plenty of times, and he certainly didn’t rush *that*. This thought caused her eyes to give pause at his lips.
Clark glanced over just in time to see her eyes darken just a shade. He swallowed as he recognized the unmistakable hunger in her eyes. It was a look that was beginning to *affect* him. Clark reached up and blotted at his mouth with his napkin, nervously clearing his throat.
Lois came out of her pleasant daydream with a sigh. She watched Clark dab at his mouth with his napkin. Was that his way of telling her that she needed to hurry up? She frowned. Did he think she wasn’t just as anxious as he was to get back to the Planet and get to work on the story? Her frown deepened. She was more eager than he was. She could feel the adrenaline rush of a good story and she was certain that having something to work on would go a long way towards shaking loose the cobwebs in her brain.
She dug into her food a little more voraciously. He might already be done but it wouldn’t take her long to catch up. Although, given that he was done eating, maybe he could catch her up to speed on a few things while she finished. But where to start? Might as well start at the beginning, she decided. “Speaking of,” she lowered her voice, “super feats.” She pulled another piece of bread out of the basket and chased some of the sauce on her plate with it. “What happened with Jace and Nigel? You told me this morning that your parents were okay, but what happened?”
“What happened?” Clark looked down at his plate and picked up the fork still lying there, smashing down the little crumbs that had been left behind. “Oh, you know, the usual. Superman saved the day, rescued my parents and revived you.”
He could feel Lois’s eyes on him. “Wow. So many details. I’m overwhelmed. Have you ever considered becoming a writer?" She paused long enough to take another bite of food. “Come on. I’ve lost my memory for the past month. Indulge me with some information. Did I tell you what it felt like to be frozen? Or to be revived with your heat vision? How did you capture Jace and Nigel? Was it easy? Did you just swoop in there and wrap them up in a big bow? What?” She had put her fork down and was staring intently at him.
He looked up, his eyes finally meeting hers. “No. It wasn’t easy.”
The softness in Clark’s voice caught her off guard. Something had definitely happened that night, something he hadn’t been expecting.
She reached out and laid one hand on top of his. “What happened?”
Clark looked away from her. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to tell her that she had almost died. The gentle weight of her hand on his made it feel as if his throat was closing off.
“Clark?”
He cleared his throat. “Jace had Kryptonite. Nigel had given it to him.”
She gave his hand a little squeeze, her heart constricting as she remembered the kind of pain that vicious green rock inflicted on Superman. On him, she realized. It had been Clark – her Clark – that she had seen writhing in pain under its influence. Somehow that made it even worse.
“Jace had us, Mom and Dad and me, locked inside this chamber. It was filling with gas, slowly suffocating them, and I couldn’t do anything because of the Kryptonite - but there was this vent. I froze it and Dad threw the Kryptonite up and it broke through. And then... And then I got us out and woke you up.” His voice was deathly quiet now, not more than a whisper, and he had gone back to playing with the traces of food left on his plate.
Lois could tell something was upsetting him and he probably didn’t want her to press him, but she had forgotten everything from that night and she wanted to know. “Just like that? Did I just wake right up? Did you have to take me to the hospital or anything?”
Clark’s face paled and then he coughed. “Where did our waiter go? I think I need some more water. What about you?”
“Clark...” She squeezed his hand again. “Please, I want to know.”
He tried to sigh but only succeeded in his breath hitching in his chest as his mind flashed back to that fateful night. She might have forgotten but the anguish he had felt that night still haunted his dreams. If only... he never should have agreed to her plan. It was his fault. It was all his fault. That night that had set in motion their current nightmare.
“The truth?” he asked and she nodded. When he spoke next his voice shook a little. “You scared me. I thought I had lost you.” He took her hand inside his, caressing her skin softly with his thumb. “I warmed you with my heat vision. Then I took your hand in my hand.” He held her hand a little tighter.
“But you didn’t wake up.” His gaze dropped but she could still hear the pain in his voice as he relived it. “I gave you CPR and I talked to you, hoping that you would hear me and wake up. But you didn’t respond.” His voice trembled on those last words.
“I lost you, Lois.” He ducked his head and took a deep breath. The next words tumbled from his mouth as he relived the nightmare. She had to know this. She had to know why it was so important that he keep his distance from now on.
“I begged you to breathe. I pleaded with you. But you were gone and it was like the rest of my life stretched out in front of me. Years and years to go without you. A lifetime to wonder and wish that I had never agreed to do it. And then... you took a breath. I held you and swore to myself that I would never let you go.”
Lois didn’t try to stop her tears. She wanted to tell him that it was okay, that she was okay, but that wasn’t really the truth, was it?
Poor Clark. It wasn’t his fault that things had turned out the way they had, but she knew he was blaming himself. Had he even forgiven himself yet for what had happened? Maybe, but, if he had, this latest setback with her amnesia had probably re-opened all the old wounds. No wonder he had been acting so strange. “Did you take me to the hospital?”
He nodded. “You said you were okay. You even got a little irritated at me and told me to quit fussing over you – probably because you had figured out my secret and were fuming over how to tell me that you knew. But I just had to get you checked out, make sure that everything was okay.”
“So how did I tell you that I knew?”
Clark made a show of looking down at his watch. “You know, we should probably get back to the Planet. We really need to give Dr. Klein a call and see if...”
“How did I tell you?” she interrupted him. Why was he so cagey every time she asked him a question about something that had happened? “Did I just come out and say it or did I try to manipulate it out of you? Did we have a big fight? What?”
He squirmed nervously in his seat. No. He couldn’t tell her about the proposal. That would only make things even more complicated. “I asked you a question and you took off my glasses and wanted to know who was asking, me or,” his voice trailed off and he mouthed the word, “Superman.”
“What was the question?”
“Question?”
“That you asked me? What question did you ask me?”
Clark cocked his head to the side suddenly and Lois grimaced. It was *the look*. The one that said he was hearing something she couldn’t hear. She had seen it on his face many times... and now she knew why he would dash off with some lame excuse.
“What is it?” she asked, disappointed that something was going to interrupt their lunch. She still had a lot of questions for him.
“Fire. Some people are trapped. I gotta...”
“Go,” she finished. “I know. Go.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “I’ll meet back up with you at the Planet.”
As Clark rushed from the table Lois forcefully pushed her plate away from her, no longer interested in eating. Ugh! Superman had come between them again.
Huh? Wait... Why did she feel that way?
Sure, looking back she realized that Superman had interrupted them quite frequently when they were on the threshold of some important conversation, but this felt different.
This emotion felt... hostile. Strange, she thought. Knowing he was Superman should have made it easier to see him running away in the middle of a conversation.
**********
Lois was headed to her desk, meticulously trying to remember every word from her lunch with Clark. She had to write it down in her journal. She didn’t want to lose it if she woke up in the morning and forgot everything from today.
If... Lois repeated the word to herself for reassurance - *if* she forgot.
It was probably because she was so lost in thought that she practically mowed Jimmy down on her way.
“Whoa! Lois!”
She sidestepped him at the last moment, almost tripping over her own feet in the process. “Sorry, Jimmy!” she called out over her shoulder as she continued on her way.
Then she stopped and turned back. “Jimmy, wait, I need you to get me something.”
“Sure thing, Lois, whaddya need? If it’s about your story at STAR Labs, you remember that I’ve got a friend who works there. I could probably...”
“No. Not for the story.”
Jimmy grimaced. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to program your VCR again...” he broke off, looking at her sheepishly. “Uh, sorry, bad choice of words.”
She smirked at him, crossing her arms. “Ha ha. Very funny. I want you to pull any and all articles I’ve worked on for the past month. Both the ones with and without Clark. This whole *thing* is making me crazy and I feel a little disconnected with everything. I think if I review what’s been going on in the world the past month that it might help.”
“Sure thing.” Jimmy turned and started to walk off.
“Oh, and Jimmy? Get me all the articles I’ve written up on Intergang, starting with the ones related to Knox and that drug the DEA was investigating.”
Jimmy nodded at her and walked off. Lois sat down at her desk, her mind still going over her last thought. The DEA...
Dan Scardino.
Dan might have information on Project Nirvana that could help them with this break-in at STAR Labs.
Lois eyed her telephone warily. She could call him, she was pretty sure she still had the telephone number for his office and, if not, it wouldn’t be difficult to get.
She reached out hesitantly for her phone.
But *should* she call him?
Well, why *shouldn’t* she?
How about because it might upset Clark? She rolled her eyes. Oh, come on, Lois, you’re being ridiculous. You and Clark and Dan are all adults and you shouldn’t let what happened stop you from calling Dan for some information. Besides, Clark knows that you chose him over Scardino. She grinned to herself. At least she hadn’t lost the memory of *that* night. Clark could definitely do some things very, very slowly.
She picked up her Rolodex and thumbed through it until she found his number. She picked up her phone and dialed it. The number was familiar and she realized that she had once had it memorized. Had she lost that memory in the missing month? No, she decided. She forgot Dan’s number the night she had shown up at Clark’s apartment and shown him who she wanted to be with.
The receptionist on the other end informed her that Dan was out of the office but would be back tomorrow afternoon. Lois left the woman her name and number – at the Planet – and asked her to have him give her a call.
Well, so much for that. She’d have to wait to explore that particular avenue further tomorrow.
She flipped through the “S’s” in her Rolodex a little further to locate the number for STAR Labs and then dialed it. If she couldn’t talk to Dan, maybe Dr. Klein would have time to talk to her now.
“STAR Labs, Mandy speaking. How may I direct your call?”
“Dr. Klein’s office.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but Dr. Klein has asked that all his calls be held today.”
“But this is really important. I’m Lois Lane with the Daily Planet and Dr. Klein was talking to me and my partn...”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but I can’t put you through. You’ll have to try back tomorrow.”
Lois hung up the phone in annoyance. Dead end. Everything today seemed to be a dead end. And not just with their story.
She glanced up at the elevator. Where was Clark? Probably still cleaning up the mess with the fire...
It was so frustrating to know that she was possibly going to wake up in the morning with no memory of what had happened with Clark, with her story, with everything and have to start all over again.
Start all over again...
She finally remembered what it was she had planned to do when she first came back to the office.
Her journal.
She had a lot of notes to make. Both about what Clark had told her at lunch today and about their case.
**********
Clark stepped off the elevator, his eyes automatically scanning the newsroom for Lois. She was sitting at her desk, furiously writing in that burgundy journal – the one she had determined was going to be her memory.
He started to head towards her when Perry’s voice cut across the newsroom. “Clark.”
Clark looked over as Perry motioned him to come to his office. He glanced back to Lois and found that she was watching him. She flashed a smile at him.
It used to be when he would see that smile that it would send a shockwave straight through to his heart, warming him from the inside out.
Now...
Now it began a slowly building ache that seemed like it was bent on suffocating him. When he finally told her what was *really* going on between them, this pleasant warm comfortableness between them would be gone.
He dreaded it.
He walked inside Perry’s office and closed the door behind him. “Yeah, Chief?”
“Where have you been?”
Clark swallowed involuntarily. “Uh, trying to track down some leads on this break-in at STAR Labs.”
“Well? What have you got?”
“Nothing yet. I mean, we’ve got some leads but they’re all going to have to be followed up on tomorrow... nothing concrete, yet.”
“Yeah, that’s just what Lois said, too.” Perry walked over to his window and peered out, looking at Lois. “I’m worried about her, Clark.”
Clark felt a little uneasy in the face of Perry’s concern. Perry didn’t show this side of himself too often, preferring instead to keep that gruff exterior of his always showing.
“Me too, Chief.”
“Listen it’s getting late in the day and you two aren’t going to get any further on this story today. Why don’t you both go ahead and head out. I’m sure you’ve got a lot you need to... catch up on.”
Clark wasn’t sure whether he should be grateful or fearful. Part of him wanted to talk to Lois, try to help her work through this. But another part of him realized that she was just going to keep asking him questions, grilling him about what had happened during the past month.
He couldn’t hide forever.
“Thanks, Perry.” Clark smiled warmly at him. “I’ll take her home.”
**********
The first part of the ride to her apartment had been spent discussing the break-in and where they were at with the story. Then they had both lapsed into silence.
Lois was lost in thought. What had happened between them over the past month? She could *read* about what had happened in her professional life. But her personal life? Only Clark could give her that.
Something big had happened. She could tell. There had been little hints and clues all day to the enormity of an event that she had now forgotten.
She knew what it felt like to be held in Clark’s arms and the rush she felt from him at just the touch of her hand against his. It was almost as if electric energy passed between them at times, it was so intense. She knew he felt it, too.
He had avoided touching her today. Oh, he had touched her arms and shoulders long enough to help her get her jacket on before they left the Planet. And he had rested his hand at the small of her back as they had stepped off the elevator into the parking garage.
She loved those small gestures. But she and Clark had long since moved beyond such trifles. Where was the passion she remembered? It was almost as if he was afraid of the energy between them. But why? Why was he so hesitant? What had happened between them? Were they in a fight?
Had they fought once she’d found out that he was Superman? Had she been upset with him for keeping that from her? She knew that’s how she was feeling right now. She had done her best to push those feelings aside, thinking that she had to have already come to terms with Superman in the past month; and, even though she didn’t remember ‘coming to terms’ with him, she didn’t feel like it would be fair to open old wounds that were surely closed by now.
But were they?
If those wounds were healed then what was it?
They had reached her apartment and she still couldn’t think of how to ask him. Clark had insisted on walking her to the door, but even that extra bit of time left her still scrambling to figure out what to say to him. As they rounded the last corner before her apartment door, Clark finally spoke.
“What time is your appointment in the morning?”
“Oh, uh, anytime. I’m just supposed to finish filling out the paperwork and pick up my prescription. No big deal.” She pulled her keychain out of her purse and nervously shuffled through the keys, trying to prolong the inevitable and hoping for an epiphany.
“I’d feel better if you’d let me drive you.” He knew she was physically capable of driving herself in the morning. But she had been right when she thought he would want to come by in the morning and check on her.
She located her apartment key and moved closer to the door. “Oh, don’t be silly, Clark. I don’t want to inconvenience you.” As she heard the words coming from her mouth, her heart pleaded for him not to listen to them. Why couldn’t she just tell him that she wanted him to check on her tomorrow?
Why couldn’t she admit to him that just the thought of waking up in the morning with all her memories from today gone frightened the hell out of her? If she loved him and he loved her, then why couldn’t she tell him how she felt?
She didn’t know. Something inside her told her that she didn’t want him to see her fear – and that same something was telling her that it had to do with what she had forgotten.
His hand came out to rest against her hand as she fumbled to press the key into the lock. The touch sent that electric feeling up her arm.
“It’s not an inconvenience. I would like to go with you.”
Her resolve finally melted and she let herself go. She turned and went to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him as she let her tears worry a damp spot into his coat. “Oh, Clark. I’m so scared.”
Clark’s heart lurched inside his chest. “Shhh. I know,” he soothed. “Everything’s going to be okay.” He rubbed his hands lightly across her back, the contact comforting her even as it seemed determined to tear him apart.
She leaned back and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “But how do you know? What if I never come out of this?” She snuggled against him again, hugging him tighter. “I’m afraid to go to sleep, Clark. I don’t want to wake up in the morning and start all over again.”
He continued to caress her back and began to rock her softly. “I know, Lois. I’m so sorry. This was my fault.” The guilt felt like it was eating a hole through his stomach.
“No. Don’t say that.” Her voice trembled against his chest as she scolded him, but it was firm. “This was Jace’s fault, or Nigel’s fault, or any one of those other criminals out there who force you to make choices every day.”
“Yeah, choices that I never should have had to make. Not when it comes to you. I should never have put you in the position to be used as a bargaining chip. It won’t happen again. It can’t.” The words were out of his mouth before he even realized that he was saying them.
She pulled back from him and looked up into his eyes. “What are you saying, Clark?” The heartbroken look on his face frightened her almost as much as his words had.
He released her from his arms and backed away, sighing softly. “I should go. You need your rest.”
“You’ve told me this before, haven’t you?” The expression on his face was answer enough.
“Lois? Clark? Is that you?” A familiar voice came from the direction of the stairs. Jimmy’s voice.
Lois wiped at her tear-stained cheeks and smoothed out her clothing, plastering a smile on her face as Jimmy rounded the corner. “Hey! You guys left before I could get you those articles you wanted.”
“Lois, I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Clark said, walking past Jimmy. “G’night, Jimmy.”
“Yeah, uh, night, CK. See you tomorrow.” Jimmy gave him a slight wave and then turned back to hand a stack of articles to Lois. “Here you go. Everything you’ve done for the past month, starting with the article on the arrest of Jacen Mazik.”
Lois was watching Clark disappear around the corner, a heavy sadness in her heart. She wanted to yell at him to wait, to come back, but not front of Jimmy. The boy had infuriating timing. “Thanks, Jimmy. I appreciate it.”
Her flat response increased the worry that Jimmy had felt since seeing the two of them in the hall. It was obvious that something had happened. Jimmy flashed her a grin, not daring to ask what was wrong.
“No problem. If you need anything else I’m only a phone call away.”
“Thanks, Jimmy,” she said again and opened her door. Tucking the papers under her arm she waved bye to him and then turned around and went inside her apartment.
Part of her, just a small part, thought about going to the window and yelling for Superman.
Would he come if she did?
Probably, if she was *convincing* enough. But she decided against it. She had already used that ruse once today. Besides, she had a few hours to kill before it was time to go to bed, she would put it to good use. It was time to see just what she had been up to for the past month.
Lois walked over to one of her loveseats and set the stack of articles down on the coffee table. She was just about to take a seat and start pouring over the articles when a stray thought meandered its way through the tangled mess of her mind.
What about the *box*?
If she was going to take a trip down memory lane tonight, that tour needed to include a visit to her box. She went to her closet and retrieved it. It wasn’t anything to look at, just an old shoebox; but that wasn’t important – it was what was inside that counted. She brought it back over to the loveseat and sat down with it, untying the twine that was holding it shut and pulling off the lid.
She had always had a keepsake box. Growing up, she had put things in it like certificates of achievement, awards and ribbons she had won for her creative writing attempts and some of the first stories she had written up for her school paper. Since graduating from college she had put pictures in it, special clippings, postcards from Lucy – Lois smiled as she examined one that Lucy had sent her from Baha, California. ‘The Perfect Man’ - It had a picture of a gorgeous guy who had an apron on, a dustpan in one hand, a bag of chocolates in the other and a piece of duct tape over his mouth. Back when Lucy had sent her that postcard, she had *thought* that was the perfect man.
It was amazing how much your opinion could change and as she perused her box further, she realized that this box confirmed that. Over the past year, a different kind of memento had begun to share space in this box with her other treasures.
Memories of Clark.
The first thing she had put in here from Clark – besides a clipping of their first article together – had been a simple little card. Its appearance was splotchy and warped with a yellowish-brown hue. Lois smiled remembering what had caused the discoloration.
Clark had given her yellow roses after her first fiasco with Kyle Griffin. She had thought Kyle was playing a final joke on her and she had thrown the card, roses, and all into her trashcan and poured her coffee out on them.
Only then had she found out they were from Clark.
‘From a special friend.’
The words weren’t his – it was just a stock card from the florist – but she had saved it anyway. That had been before she realized how special that friend was going to become.
She sifted through some of the other more recent items, smiling at the funny things she had kept. One item in particular caught her attention.
A cork.
She felt a blush creep into her cheeks when she remembered the night that cork belonged to.
The night of their ‘almost’ first date.
She had noticed the cork laying on the countertop above the small refrigerator that next morning and had pocketed it. She wasn’t sure why. She had just wanted it. It had been a special night – despite her being sick - and she had wanted something to remember it by.
Lois felt tears coming to her eyes again. What if she couldn’t ever make memories like that again? Had they shared close moments in the weeks she had lost? What didn’t she remember?
What if the memories she had right now and the keepsakes in this box were all she would ever know of her life? All she would ever know of Clark...?
A petite floral-decorated envelope in the box caught her attention. She didn’t remember this card. And that meant it must have been something she’d been given sometime in the past month.
It was a small card, like the one she had kept from her yellow roses. Had it been given to her by Clark?
She anxiously removed the card from its envelope and saw that he had handwritten this one.
‘Still dreaming about that night in the clouds. Take all the time you need – I’ll always be here for you. Yours forever, Clark.’
A soft sob escaped from her lips as she read the words to herself. How could she have lost the memory of a night in the clouds? What did that mean, anyway? Had he taken her flying with him? Just for fun and not because he was rescuing her? Had they kissed?
She felt hollow at the loss of that memory, whatever it was. She read the card again. ‘Take all the time you need.’
Time? Time for what? To do what?
‘Take all the time you need. I’ll always be here for you.’
The words seemed to imply that she had something to think about. That she was contemplating something. What?
A knock at her door startled her out of thought and her heart soared at the hope that it might be Clark.
No. No it probably wasn’t Clark. If it were Clark, he most likely would have come via the window, not the door.
She got up from the couch and headed towards the door, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. A quick look out her peephole told her that she didn’t know the woman on the other side of the door.
Her hand hesitated at the knob. She was tired, frustrated, and she didn’t feel like talking to a stranger, even if the woman did have a pleasant smile on her face. She let her hand drop and was about to turn around when the woman’s voice came from the other side of the door.
“Lois, it’s Star. I know you’re in there. Open up. I brought ice cream.”
Star. That name sounded familiar. Star...? Oh, yes, Clark had mentioned the name to her that morning. She was Lois’s new neighbor, the one who had given her the plant.
Lois started to wonder how Star knew she was in here and then remembered Clark mentioning something about her being psychic. She rolled her eyes. This was bound to be interesting.
She opened the door. “Hi, Star.” Lois was about to tell her that she was very tired and had lost her memory and wasn’t in the mood to talk, but Star came flouncing into her apartment talking a mile a minute before Lois could even form her words.
“Hi, Lois. I’m sorry to barge in on you like this but I’ve been out of town visiting my sister for the past two days and I wanted to check on you. How’s your head?”
“Um, okay, but I...”
“Oh, good. That was a nasty little spill you took. I was worried,” Star interrupted her. “Anyway, I just got back tonight and I ran into Clark as he was leaving. He looked pretty upset and he didn’t want to talk. Are you two still having problems? I thought after we talked the other night that you were feeling more comfortable about marriage and commitment. Where do you keep your spoons? Nevermind, I know.” She smiled at Lois giving her a little wink. “I always know.” Star headed off into the kitchen in search of the required silverware.
Lois’s head spun from the influx of information. Is this how other people felt when *she* went into babble mode?
Wait...
<’Take all the time you need...’>
Lois caught up to Star and grabbed her arm to catch her attention. “What do you mean by 'marriage and commitment'?”
*********
To Be Continued...
