I like Lois without her memory. She's just so sharp and interesting. I see glimpses of first season Lois (and I don't get tired of mentioning how much I like that claws out characterization). She's so indomitable and fascinating. That aside I like how she's willing to seriously dig at her past. I always think Luthor got the short end of the stick in the show. He always seemed a bit of a caricature there (dude that snake scene, please). So, I like for instance this moment in the fic:

I know a bunch of readers are probably shuddering at this and they're right on some level, but all the same even knowing who Luthor really is, Lois is willing to face up to stuff that's not exactly pleasant in her own perception. She does actually go see him and this really goes far in showing how deep she wants to go into her past. It wasn't something easy either, you have her here:

And protective/jealous Clark:

Amazing scene. It's just so intense for those brief moments!

Is it just that Clark fears for her? I get the feeling it's more than that. And I do agree that he's being controlling. Again the situation is such that I don't know if I can expect anything else from him (how far can he trust a Lois without memories?), but he annoyed me a little (and I love how she put him his place asap). Hmm. Let's see if he shapes up and finds a better way to relate to her.

Good stuff!

alcyone

PS

You know which one I'm waiting for...

Wonderful start!

I felt so sorry for Clark! I didn't see him as controlling as much as I saw his worry. Lois doesn't remember anything, and Luthor could really play on that. It's a scary thought!

I hope you post the next part soon!

Oh, yaaay! Another Sue story!

Thank God! No Deterathon and no Let's Let Lois Run Off With a PsychoKiller.

*grins and waves*

No, I get it, I really do. Doesn't mean I have to like that Lois remembers it.

My awake quota is used up for the night, but it'll be interesting to see where this goes. Lois may be an amnesiac, but those inherent qualities that make her question everything are still there (yay).

JD

Good start to the story. I'm interested in seeing how you resolve the many issues that the clone aaarrrgghhh dealt with so poorly!

Hi Sue,

I have to say that I was always disappointed with the clone/amnesia arc. So much so, that I wrote 'It's Not The Seconds', which is my take on these particular episodes of the show. My story has been on the archive for years (excuse the blatant plug )

You've taken a totally different path and one which I find very interesting. Lois seems even more fiesty than before, as if she's lost her softer side which falling in love with Clark brought to her.

Poor Clark. I did feel sorry for him and your story brought to mind the picture of him in the hospital at the end of the wedding arc, when Lois is wheeled away from him, completely oblivious to the fact that he's her fiance.

Only this time it seems a little harder, as Lois has been told she was about to marry Clark and must know she was once in love with him.

I wait with interest to find what happens next.

Yours Jenni

This is already better than how the show wrote it.
I'm glad Lois knows that she and Clark are supposed to be married. It's funny though because it's like a first season Lois trapped in a third season body. She's still very pig-headed. Very nice written!!

While I was surprised she went to visit Lex I can understand it. It must be so weird to not remember you past and being in love with someone for one moment and not remembering it the next. But ofcourse I prefer her visiting him in jail than going away with him underground!!

And poor Clark this (like in the show) must be so hard on him.

I'm very much looking farward to discovering Lois' memories with her

-Camy

Sue! I love it! As soon as I got to work, I checked to see if you had posted yet! You know I said I hated how Clark just stood there like a moron and let Lois go with Lex. For being such a powerful man, he sure was a wimp at that moment!

I love how you're writing Lois. She doesn't have her memory, but she still has that knack for observations and sharp wit.

I loved these lines:

I love that she doesn't remember Superman as being the object of her affections for so long. I think it says something about how much she loves Clark.

I was sitting here totally cracking up at that one! And I wish him luck, too.

This is a fascinating Lois. Very first season, judging from my own great knowledge of they show. Ah, but everyone who has seen it says that first season Lois was sort of bitchy and hard-hitting, whereas season three and four Lois was soft.

Anyway, even I know that during the first season Lois accepted Lex's proposal and turned down Clark's. She almost seems to be doing something similar now.

I shudder slightly at the thought that Lois wants to meet Lex. Not that I exactly blame her. Anyone who is amnesiac would want his or her memory back, and I don't blame Lois for wanting to see if meeting Lex could somehow jolt her memory. Also, I don't blame her for wanting to find out what kind of man Lex Luthor really is. Why had he fallen in love with her? And why had she fallen in love with him?

Does she realize, though, what kind of a criminal he is? Does she really understand it? And if she were to feel herself responding positively to Lex again, as she must have done before, would she be willing to give him another chance?

Would she?

There is something disquieting about this Lois. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating start.

Ann (who wonders at the fact that Luthor's bail has been set at only half a million dollars)

Here's the deal with Lois in this story - she's still "Wandaesque". The Lois that the good Dr. D. manipulated was a different amnesiac than the one who thought she was Wanda. So she's gonna be a little sharper around the edges and willing to take some risks that, on the face of them, look stupid. Like going to see Lex. Or mouthing off to Clark.

alcyone caught on to one of the things about this new Lois that is going to eat at Clark - how far can he trust her now?

Both of my betas are out of commission temporarily (Lara is zonked out on cold meds and DJ is visiting family). I do have the next three parts written and the last two sketched out. Hopefully I'll have the next part out in a couple of days.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad we can all gripe together about the amnesia arc.

Oooh, I'm so interested in this story! I was so anti-clone arc, I hardly ever read stories based on them, but eliminating Lois driving off with Lex (AND CLARK JUST LETTING HER GO! ARGH!) I can't wait to follow this one. I like the new, sharp Lois even though I want to throttle her. Great job, Sue! You've been busy lately, jeez. Three stories all rapidly out. We're not complaining.

Laura

anotherfolc mentioned (italics mine) and I could not agree more. If my wife-to-be had said those things to me, I would have shoved Lex under the wheels of the car he was driving and put it in gear while I forcibly carried her away with me. It was just about the worst plot point of the show (except maybe for the "Bummer-be-gone").

Interesting that the clone is still alive. I wonder how large a role she'll play in the next few chapters? And I also wonder about the half-million for bail. Is it because the judge knew that Luthor didn't have much more than a half-dollar on him at the time? Or is this a way to get good ol' Lex out of jail and back in the middle of our favorite lovers' lives?

I agree that this is already better than the Dr. Doofus episode arc. Keep it up!

Before getting to the fic...

I was watching my sister's DVDs of JAG and Mac [the female lawyer starting in S2 for those of you not familiar with it] started dating this lawyer. I wasn't a big Mac/Harm fan [and still aren't, but I've only seen the first four seasons]. This other lawyer seemed perfectly nice at first, but somehow he still made my skin crawl but I couldn't figure out why, until I looked him up on imdb... You know who else he played?

DETER!!!! He made my skin crawl from the first!

While not rewriting the whole argh, I did take out Deter in "In Sickness and In Health" [which I have apparently not submitted to the archive!].

Okay - on to the fic...

Loved it and can't wait for more! I think Lois needs to go to the morgue [the one at the paper that is!] and start digging up stories. Surely she'll believe herself... though Lex did implicate Perry...

So when is the next part going to be up?!?!?
Carol

*peeks into thread*

I know I'm late, but can I still come in?

I don't know that I've ever read a story in which Lois is returned to her real life before her memory comes back. I really like the realism you've shown so far, like not knowing her PIN.

I love "weirdo in tights" line, and I'm looking forward to see how you play out her relationship with Superman as well as Clark. It seems that this Lois, while having all the edge of her S1 self, has a completely different attitude towards men - she doesn't fall all over Superman like she did before but she doesn't go all gooey over Clark either, despite the fact that she knows they were going to get married and he's, well, hot (certainly crush-at-first-sight worthy for your average woman). And she wants to know more about Lex despite knowing about all his crimes. I can definitely see that she's more, as you said, "Wanda-esque".

This is going to be fun!

oh I thought I left fdk for this story. I read it today between breakfast.

Great and interesting start and I hate Lex for doing this to Lois.

Lois should have let Clark stay with her and let them both heal.

Great start, can't wait to see how this will continue.

Oh love the title. like the set up too. But it always bugged me somewhat that the attraction seems to have disapeared. If it were me, and I forgot that I was a hard bit reporter with a wall up to guard against people, I imagine that seeing Clark and knowing he was my fiance, would make me go week in the knees just a little. Hell if I lost my memory to open my eyes to that reality, I think I'd do a jig and find out how intimate we were already. Even if he is a stranger, he is a safe one if she is engaged to him. Imagine seeing that face and body as if it were the first time seeing it but only knowing it was yours to do with "as you wish". HMMMM, I'd have made him stay and confess everything and then I'd have attacked him sexually<g> But you know, that is just me<g> More soon! Laura

Oh, Laura! I promise, she's still attracted to him. And she's wondering about him - a lot. It's deceptive - most of what I'm posting now has been on my hard drive for months and months. Thanks, Terry! I'm thrilled that you're reading. Lex implicated Perry *and* Clark. And Lois is going to spend some quality time with past stories on Lex - and her notes for the interviews. You won't have to wait too long, Lisa. I'm hoping to post either later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the comments more than you know.

You're posting part 2 either later tonight or tomorrow????

<jaw drop>

But... but, but, but... I've been out of town!!! And "I" haven't even seen part 2 yet!!!

<checks inbox>

Nope... not there.

<g>

Anyway... I thought I'd give you some fdk...

This totally made me "awwwww". <g>

And that garnered an "awww" too... but more of an "awww, poor Clark" kind of awww... <sniffle>

Darn it! You made my eyes twinge!

Awww... cute. But does this mean that you aren't going to kill the clone off??? As much as I didn't want to see Clark married to the clone, I also felt sorry for her, and hated to see her die... but, of course, that wasn't your fault...

*ahem*

Back to fdk...

Good question... <g>

Eeeek! She went to see Lex??? ACK!!!

OUCH!!! A thousand daggers pierced my heart...

Okay, maybe that was a little overdramatic, but I truly did wince.

<weeps> Oh, the poor baby. Sue! You meanie!

Oooooh, I know that expression <and it breaks my heart> it's like the one he gave her when he tried to kiss her in the clone-arc and she pulled away. <more weeping> Poor Clark.

Poor, poor, Clark...

So....

Where's part 2?



-- DJ

Yes, WHERE IS PART 2


I WANT PART 2
especially if it has been days since the first was posted....


I WAND part 2


OH, and PS. (as if it wasn't obvious enough already)
Good job

Sue, you've gone and dragged me into the sunlight so's I can gush on your writing even without the hope of some LNC "happy" time(Transformers ref, you figure it out)

If I could get a time machine, I think I'd have to retaliate for making me read clean fic by dragging you back in time and getting you hired to write for LNC. The fans might have had a shot at a 10+ year series if they'd had writers like you on board.

Seriously. You've even made Luthor seem cooler than the show did, snakier.

Anyhow, keep it coming. I'll be reading.

TEEEEEJ

Okay Sue, because I trust you I am going to read this. I know you pretty much hold the same exact views that I do on why I hated a good chunk of season 3 and 4. To me the magic of the show died once they got the two of them together. I know a lot of people loved how they reacted as a married couple but I missed the snark.

I am treading into the unknown waters of “I know what happens because I read about it but never actually watched it (or skimmed through it) because I thought the whole thing was happening to fast.”

So I’m going with you on this one in hopes you really do come up with a better solution. Although rest assured I know with you I don’t have to worry about Lois or Clark turning into bland unsnarky versions of themselves if they get together.

*sigh* *gets off her soapbox*

Poor Lois, I guess I could imagine that it would be a shock to be thrown into the life of Lois Lane and not understand how crazy it is. When you think about it… Lois is a pretty strong lady to be able to deal with everything that comes her way. As much as we all wished we were her I don’t think many of us could handle her stress.

Awww poor Clark.

Aww he is so cute. I can just imagine him in my mind doing this with that little bashful smile. I think half the time that innocent little personality attracted be was because I wanted to be the one to corrupt him. RAWR.

Makes you wonder if he saw her coming toward the door as he was peeking in and he took off before she could see him. ^_~

Gah Lois. I’m going to be easy on you because I know not all of your instincts and memories have come back yet. However, what a silly idea.

Ug it is one of the things I hated about him. I could never see how she fell for it. It was always so non-genuine.

That is pretty unfair. He is just trying to warn her. You would think she wouldn’t snap at him so. Lois if you don’t want to corrupt him… I’ll take the job.

Very interesting premise. ^_^ Let’s see where you take it. *scampers off to read part 2*