Hello everyone! I just wanted to briefly say a huge thank you again to everyone who's come along for the ride with Sue and me. We've loved every single piece of fdk. Thank you and enjoy!
Table of Contents From Part 19:
Lois let him hold her, snuggling a little closer to him as she realized what he said was the truth. Even if nothing else made sense, she knew she could trust in that feeling. She had always turned to Clark and he had always been there for her. "I know. It's the weirdest thing, but I still trust you."
Clark pulled away from her, softly kissing her forehead as he reluctantly withdrew from their embrace. "I'll be back in half an hour to pick you up, okay?"
"Okay." She nodded as his hand dropped away and he turned back to the door.
There were so many more questions that she wanted to ask him. So much more she needed to know. And yet, just knowing that Clark was Superman was revelation enough to deal with for today. Something told her she had a good fifty revelations left to go – maybe more – before she really understood what had happened in her life.
So it would be good if Clark left for a while. It would give her a chance to clear her mind and quiet her thoughts so she could make sense out of things.
And then she could figure out where that left her.
***********
PART TWENTY
***********
She had forgotten.
Clark flew as fast as his body would carry him – trying to outrun the truth.
But he couldn’t. He had to face it. Lois had forgotten him... them. She hadn’t just forgotten the proposal – she had forgotten everything. Everything she had managed to remember – it was all gone. Clark wanted to scream – a trip up to the Arctic sounded pretty appealing - but he didn’t. He had to find his strength... for her. He had to be there for her, help her find her way... help her to remember. There was no other choice. No other option. He had promised her last night that he would be there for her, even if her memories never came back. She may no longer remember that promise, but he did.
Something had to have happened to her last night, when her apartment was broken into. Maybe she fought with the intruder and she had hit her head again? If that was the case, then there was a good chance that her memories might still come back. She had been making good progress under Dr. Peterson’s care.
They had to come back.
Clark was about to land on his balcony when he heard voices coming from his apartment. He stopped short when he realized that the voices belonged to Jimmy and Inspector Henderson. He peered inside to see them standing in his bedroom – in the middle of a huge mess.
His stomach tightened abruptly into a knot – someone had broken in here, as well. What had they found? Clark dropped down into the alleyway before Henderson or Jimmy saw him. He changed clothes and then made his way to his apartment on foot.
He reached out to open his front door and realized that one of the doors had been relieved of its glass in the middle section – the pane next to the door handle.
“CK! You’re all right!” Jimmy yelled at him from inside.
Clark pushed the door open and went in. “Jimmy? Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, glancing around the room and raising his eyebrows – as if he hadn’t already seen the mess before, “which is more than I can say for my apartment. What happened?”
“What happened to you?” Jimmy asked in turn. “I was afraid... well, where were you? I’ve been here half the night.”
Clark grasped for a believable excuse. “I was with Lois. We were working on the story.” That was at least partially the truth. Clark nodded a greeting at Henderson. “Any idea what happened? Or who did this?” Before Henderson could answer, Clark turned back to Jimmy. “And what were you doing here, anyway?”
Jimmy began his explanation first. “I came by to give you the results of...” he broke off and glanced over at Henderson, “that little project you had me working on.”
Clark had asked him to find out who had last accessed the other lab that shared the cold storage area with Dr. Klein’s. “You could have called me...”
“I tried. I called and you didn’t answer. I also sent you a page.” Clark grimaced guiltily as he remembered turning off his pager last night - when he had been talking to Lois. He had been afraid someone might call and interrupt him while he was pouring his heart out to her, so he had turned it off. He reached into his pocket and turned it back on. It began to vibrate immediately – alerting him that he had a missed page.
“Sorry, Jimmy, I must have forgotten to turn it back on.”
“Yeah, well, when I couldn’t get you, I just decided to swing by here when I left the Planet to see if I might catch you at home.” Jimmy frowned and glanced up at the front door. “But when I got here, the door was wide open and there was glass everywhere. I came inside to check things out and there was a guy in a black ski mask fiddling with your answering machine.” Jimmy glanced towards Clark’s machine on his nightstand and then grimaced as he looked around at the mess. A bunch of Clark’s books had been knocked off their shelves and were lying strewn across the floor, loose papers were scattered in the mix, knick-knacks and trophies also laid amongst the mess, and Clark winced when he realized that a couple of items had been broken.
Jimmy sighed and continued, “I yelled at him and asked what he was doing, and he took off running for your balcony. I chased him, but he was fast. He was out the door and half-way down the fire escape before I got out there.” He gave Clark an apologetic look. “Sorry.”
Clark squeezed Jimmy’s shoulder lightly. “It’s all right, Jimmy. I’m just glad you’re okay. That guy could have had a weapon...”
“Yeah,” Jimmy continued, brushing away the concern, “Anyway, I stayed here last night. I didn’t want to leave with your door like that - where just anyone could come in. Plus, I was afraid that the guy might come back.” He glanced up towards the door. “I cleaned up the glass a little.”
Clark squeezed his shoulder again. “Thanks.” It was almost too simple of a word to say. He appreciated what Jimmy had done more than his friend would ever know. If that thief had been allowed to continue his search... Clark turned and eyed Henderson pointedly. “Why did it take the police all night to get here? I’m sure Jimmy called right away.”
“Yeah, he did, Kent. But the news that Superman was over in Japan was splashed all over every cable news channel available. Every time that happens the criminal element in Metropolis act like Christmas has come early.” Clark could see Henderson’s eyes darken even through the tinted lenses of his glasses. “I had every man I could spare out on the streets, and some I couldn’t... including me.” Henderson let out a noisy sigh. “It was a busy night. I wasn’t able to get here until this morning.”
Clark could hear a buzzing sound and reached automatically for the pager in his pocket, but it wasn’t his. Henderson pulled his pager off his belt and looked down at it. “Mind if I use your phone, Kent?”
Clark waved his hand in invitation towards his phone on the nightstand. When Henderson walked over to use it, Clark pulled Jimmy aside and whispered quietly, “So what did you find out?”
Jimmy’s face fell. “I’m sorry, CK... nothing. No one has accessed that other lab in over a week. Whoever broke into that cold storage vault, had to have done it from Dr. Klein’s lab.”
Clark frowned. Things were not looking good for Dr. Klein. Then he did a double-take. Had Jimmy just admitted that he had come by here to give Clark... nothing? “Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m glad you were here when *this* happened... But you could have just told me when I saw you later today.”
“Well you weren’t supposed to see me later today. I had a party I was going to last night. That’s why I stayed so late working on this for you – I have the day off today.” Jimmy shrugged. “Your apartment was on my way. If I didn’t get you, I was just gonna leave you a note.”
Clark smiled. The poor kid had to waste his entire night babysitting Clark’s apartment. He was fairly sure Jimmy had given up a date with a girl too, truth be told. There was no one quite like Jimmy. “Thanks, Jimmy.” Clark gave his arm a pat and then turned back to look at Henderson just as he was getting off the phone.
“That was the precinct,” Henderson explained. “Apparently we can add Lane’s apartment to the list that was broken into.” He paused and raised an eyebrow at Clark. “That seems highly coincidental.”
Dan was on top of things... for once. “Yes, it does. That’s because it wasn’t a coincidence. I was over there this morning and helped Lois clean up. That wasn’t a random break-in. They went there with a purpose.” Clark gestured around him. “And I imagine this wasn’t just an accident either.” He sighed and then decided to probe Henderson a little. “Did you get that warrant for Dr. Klein’s house?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you find anything?”
Henderson frowned and didn’t answer for a moment. “No. We didn’t.”
“And yet you still think he’s guilty?” Clark could tell from Henderson’s body language that he did.
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss the investigation any further with you, right now.” Henderson glanced at Jimmy and then gave Clark a pointed look that he couldn’t miss.
“I see, well then I guess we don’t have any more to say then.” Clark turned back to Jimmy. “Jimmy, I really appreciate what you did, but you don’t need to stay here any longer. You’ve already wasted enough of your day off. You should go on home...”
Jimmy shrugged. “Nah. I’ll probably just head on into the Planet. I’m too keyed up to go home now.”
Clark nodded at him. “Perry’s probably about to blow a gasket. Would you let him know what’s going on? I’ve got to run Lois to her doctor appointment and then we’ll be in shortly.”
If Jimmy felt like he was being given the brush off, he didn’t let on. “Sure thing, CK. I’ll see ya later.” He turned and nodded to Henderson. “Inspector.” And then he walked up the stairs and went out the still open front door.
“So, what’s the real story?” Clark asked, looking back at Henderson. “Why are you still so sure that Dr. Klein is your man?” To be truthful Clark was beginning to wonder if Dr. Klein might actually be involved. He still couldn’t get past the fact that Dr. Klein was the only one, other than Mandy, who even knew they had the sample and notes.
Henderson sighed noisily. “Okay, Kent. Here’s the deal, and this can’t leave your apartment.” Clark nodded. “There’s another tape.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Clark exclaimed exasperatedly. “Why didn’t you let me see it?”
“Because I was under instruction from the board of directors at STAR Labs not to. The tape comes from a security camera inside the cold storage vault. The materials and experiments in the vault are highly confidential and some of them are government contracts. I wasn’t allowed to let anyone see that tape.”
“But you could have told me about it,” Clark said, trying to keep his voice level and not really succeeding.
“I was trying to be cautious, and I thought that we would find what we were looking for at Klein’s house. But we didn’t.” Henderson was scowling in frustration.
“Then why are you still so sure that Klein is guilty? What was on that tape?”
“Klein. That tape showed Klein removing the sample. It was date and time stamped. I know you like him, Kent,” Henderson paused to sigh quietly, his face softening a little, “but Klein is guilty.”
So what Jimmy had found out was true. Whoever had taken the sample had come from Dr. Klein’s lab... and that person appeared to be Dr. Klein himself. “Well that explains a lot.” Clark shook his head. “I didn’t understand how you could be so adamant about Dr. Klein’s guilt. That certainly doesn’t leave much room to argue and I don’t know if I even want to continue pleading his case after what happened last night.”
Henderson eyed him cautiously. “What happened last night?”
“The thief who broke into Lois’s apartment – he was looking for something specific.” Clark ran a hand through his hair nervously. Henderson wasn’t going to be happy with his answer. “He was looking for Nirvana.”
“Nirvana? At Lois’s apartment?”
Clark nodded and winced. “Yeah, and probably here too. Dr. Klein had asked me to talk to his assistant, Mandy, at STAR Labs. She was able to get me a sample of Nirvana and a copy of Dr. Klein’s notes.” Clark began picking up books and papers off the floor while he was talking, stacking them on his bed. “What bothers me is that only she and Dr. Klein knew that Lois and I had those notes and that sample.”
“I should probably send someone to STAR Labs to question his assistant then.”
Clark’s stomach tightened again. Could Mandy be involved? She had been there that night they had been shot at – she had been in danger. And she really seemed to care about Dr. Klein. But did that really mean anything? Clark let out a sigh, disgusted with himself. “Don’t bother. If Mandy was involved, she’s probably long gone by now. The day she gave me the sample and Dr. Klein’s notes, she told me that she was going out of town to stay with relatives for a while until everything calmed down.”
As Clark continued to talk, he picked up more papers. When he set them down on his nightstand, he noticed the light blinking on his answering machine. Then he remembered something Jimmy had said earlier – the thief had been messing with his machine when Jimmy had come in.
“Kent, you know I could charge you with obstruction of justice for keeping this information from me – not to mention that sample of Nirvana and those notes.”
Clark ignored him for the moment, opening the cassette holder – the tape was still in there. He pushed the cassette back down and pressed the play button.
“Did you hear what I just said?” Henderson asked, his voice riding the fine edge of control.
Clark understood that Henderson was upset, but something told him this was important. “Yes, I heard what you said. Give me just a minute here... Jimmy said the thief was messing with my answering machine when he walked in on him. Maybe there’s something...”
Jimmy’s voice cut Clark off in mid-sentence, “CK? Are you there? Pick up, it’s Jimmy. Okay, I guess you’re not there. I’ll try you again later.”
Clark heard Henderson walk up behind him, and then the answering machine beeped – signaling the next message. When the voice began speaking, Clark’s heart jumped in his chest...
“Hi, Clark? This is Lois. I’m not sure if you’ll come back here first or not and this can’t wait. I need you to know something about Nirvana. I was looking at Dr. Klein’s notes... I think it’s the drug that Dr. Peterson has me taking. I can’t be sure and I know it sounds crazy but they’re both the same color. I think they are, anyway. We need to have Dr. Klein take a look at the sample we have and compare it to my pills. So if you get this message before you come here... just... please come as soon as you get this. I love you. Bye.”
Guilt washed over him. He should have been there last night. If he had stayed with her, this wouldn’t have happened. Lois had discovered the truth last night... Clark realized with a start that he had almost washed it down the drain. That’s what that substance had been on the plate from her table. She had put together a sample to inspect.
“Who is this ‘Dr. Peterson’? Is he an associate of Dr. Klein’s?” Henderson was now standing next to him, staring down at his answering machine.
“He’s a doctor that Lois is seeing right now – long story. Does he know Dr. Klein? Honestly, I don’t know.” Dr. Peterson was behind this, or at least involved. He had to be if he was giving Lois the Nirvana drug. But was he working alone? Was he working for Intergang? Or maybe for Knox’s company – Omnicorp? And was Dr. Klein working with him? Had someone bugged Lois’s phone line? That would explain how they knew the sample was at Lois’s house and that’s why they had someone break in here – to get rid of the message - only Jimmy had interrupted him before he could finish the job.
Clark popped the tape out of the answering machine and handed it to Henderson. “I need to get back to Lois’s apartment to check on her. There is one sample of Nirvana left at her apartment. Lois was right in her message - we need to let Dr. Klein compare the sample of Nirvana to the drug she was taking. That will prove Dr. Peterson’s involvement. I’m going to head on over there. Why don’t you... ”
“Come with you? Sure. I’ll even drive.”
Clark grimaced. Not exactly what he had in mind. This was going to slow him down considerably, but what excuse did he have? Henderson didn’t look like he was going to take no for an answer.
“Okay, let’s go.”
**********
Lois stared at herself in the mirror and sighed... again. She had stared at herself in amazement for a minute or two before finally stepping into the tub for a quick shower. Once she had gotten out of the shower, she had stared some more. She had stared after brushing her hair and drying her hair. And now that she had done the best to style her hair, she was still staring.
What in the world had possessed her to cut her hair like this?
She frowned at herself. And not just cut her hair, either. She was engaged! To Clark! One minute they were sharing their first kiss and now, suddenly, they were engaged. It had been a good kiss – she had to give him that much credit. It was the first time they had kissed when it wasn’t a diversion or because of some drug-induced fit of passion, but a real honest-to-god kiss.
And it had been incredible. That much she did remember.
But now... now she had woken up to find herself engaged, seemingly after just one kiss – with no memory of how any of it had happened - and to a man who she apparently didn’t really know as well as she had thought. Oh, she knew the separate sides of him. She knew him as her partner and friend and, conversely, as her super hero. But none of those were truly him – they were all just parts of him. Clark had to be in there somewhere – a combination of all of them.
She was sure that she had *learned* who he was over the past few months and had come to terms with everything, but she had lost that precious knowledge. And now she had to start over.
*They* had to start over. Lois sighed and picked at a piece of hair that just didn’t want to lie down right. She realized as awful as all of this was for her, it was probably pretty awful for Clark as well. She could still see the sad smile he had given her before he left her apartment. He was engaged to a woman who no longer remembered not only the proposal but everything that had led up to it.
Lois looked down at the ring on her finger. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t taken it off yet. She knew she should. That ring stood for a commitment that two people had made to one another... a commitment that she didn’t remember making.
And yet... something inside her just didn’t want to take it off.
Lois looked up at her reflection again in the mirror. “Mrs. Clark Kent,” she mumbled softly. “Mrs. Lois Lane... Kent.” She remembered uttering those words when she stood dressed in a wedding gown about to marry Luthor. She remembered how right they had sounded to her.
But she still wasn’t sure how she felt about that, or about wearing the ring... really about any of it. Maybe she should take it off for now – just keep it somewhere safe until she could figure things out...
The sound of her phone ringing jarred her out of her thoughts. Maybe that was Clark. He was probably calling to tell her they had ransacked his place too. She sincerely hoped that they hadn’t, but she prepared herself for the worst as she picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Lane?” asked an unknown male voice.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“This is Dr. Peterson. I was trying to reach you to see if you could come in a little earlier this morning. I had something personal come up and need to leave the office early today.”
“Oh. Um, when did you need me to come in?” Lois found herself glancing at her window. Where was Clark? He had said a half an hour and it was past time for him to be back.
“Actually, right now.”
“Now?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I know it’s an inconvenience. If you’d like to reschedule...”
“No. Umm...” Lois paused for a second. She didn’t think it was a good idea to reschedule. “I’ve had some further memory regression.”
“Oh? Then I definitely should take a look at you today. Can you come now?”
Lois dithered. She really should wait for Clark to get back. But Clark had said she really needed to see Dr. Peterson. Although Clark probably wouldn’t be happy if...
She frowned suddenly. Wait a minute!
Since when did she feel the need to let Clark advise her on her every move? She was a grown woman and could take care of herself just fine. She didn’t need a man – even if he was Superman - to lead the way.
“Ms. Lane?”
“Oh, yes, sorry Dr. Peterson. You’re at the Neurology Clinic, right?” Lois guessed.
“That’s correct.”
“I’m leaving right now. I’ll be there shortly.”
Lois hung up the phone and grabbed her purse. She was on the way out her door when she realized she should at least call Clark and tell him to meet her there. It would be rude to run off to her appointment without at least telling him what had happened. Plus, she admitted to herself, she really did need him there. He knew more about what was going on in her life than she did.
The thought irritated her just a little.
She grabbed her phone and dialed his number. No answer. His machine picked up and she hung up the phone. Should she wait? Did that mean he was on his way here? If he were on his way here, he could be here in mere seconds.
On the other hand, if he had been called away to an emergency, there was no telling when he would get here.
She reeled again at the thought that Clark was Superman. It was still a little hard to wrap her mind around.
She hesitated another ten or fifteen seconds before finally deciding that she would just leave him a note. When he did get here, he would see the note and he could just meet her there. It’s not like it would take him any extra time... not really.
She quickly scrawled a note and left it taped to the outside of her door.
Dr. Peterson called, needed me to come in early. See you there – Lois.**********
To Be Continued...
