This part is a little different from the last ones and I hope you'll relax and enjoy. It is not to be taken seriously, well not completely anyway.

Usual disclaimers apply...

Thanks to Tahu for betareading.

I should add one thing, though. Like me, Tahu is not a native speaker. I really did my best to eliminate my mistakes. But I'm pretty sure I left some, despite my efforts. I'm sorry. [Linked Image]

TOC


From Part 9:

Lois mind whirled, trying to find an explanation that would suit her gut feeling as well as what she knew about Superman. And suddenly the answer came to her, just like that. She could have sworn that she had thought about it earlier, but had put that idea aside. Red Kryptonite!

Lois felt positively giddy. Her momentarily cluelessness had all of the sudden become a plan. She grabbed Clark’s sleeves and pulled him with her, heading for the nearest taxi stand.

Separate Lives or Till Life Do Us Part

Part 10


“I don’t think so,” Dr. Klein muttered absent-mindedly and started to search his files.

Lois Lane’s idea was just too exciting. The really interesting point in her theory though was how to prove it. His mind was already working at full speed and every new idea was more fascinating than the previous one. But instead of doing a series of tests, he was flipping through papers. It was an annoying job, but unfortunately it was necessary. How could he get started if he didn’t look over the things he already knew? A rush of excitement filled him. Heavens! When had he last started a trial in these dimensions?

“You don’t think what?” Lois Lane’s voice fought its way through to him.

For a moment Dr. Klein considered to just ignore her. Grateful as he was for her input, her further presence in his lab was rather inconvenient. He would need hours to think of some way to determine the effects red kryptonite or drugs would have had on Superman without having tested this previously. But Dr. Klein knew better than to make himself a target of an angry Lois Lane. With a sigh, he interrupted his musing and focused on the conversation. He realized that he didn’t know what her question had been, but judging from the confused expression on her face his muttered answer hadn’t quite fit.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that question?” he asked, his voice impatient because of the unwanted interruption. He really had better things to do than answering reporter’s questions.

“You don’t think what?” Clark Kent gently helped out.

“No, the one before that,” Dr. Klein said, blushing at that.

“Have you listened to anything we told you?” Lois asked, obviously about to lose her temper.

Dr. Klein flinched and shrunk visibly. He rarely wished to be somewhere else than in his lab, but this most definitely was one of those moments. Why couldn’t Lane and Kent just leave and let him work on this problem? Once caught up in his work it took more than a Lois Lane to stop him. But right now there was nothing he could do against her. She was irritating him as she paced through the room, wringing her hands as she realized that he hadn’t paid attention to her. Even though Clark Kent laid a hand on her shoulders in a futile attempt to calm her down, Dr. Klein knew that he could no longer leave her question unanswered.

“I guess, I’ve lost you as you asked me if I could find out if Superman had been drugged or something, if his strange behavior might have been caused by red kryptonite,” Dr. Klein admitted uneasily. This must have been quite some time ago.

“And what do you think?” Lois repeated what she must have asked after that first question. Dr. Klein was almost sure it had sounded a little friendlier then. The way she said it now, he wouldn’t have been able to drift away and get lost in thought as he had.

“Uhm, the idea is interesting, Ms. Lane. I’ll start working on this ASAP, but I don’t actually know how red kryptonite influences Superman’s body. We never actually tested it and I guess it’s too late now. You said he was dead, didn’t you?” he asked full of concern.

Dr. Klein kind of remembered his co-workers talking about Superman earlier this day. But ever since he had woken up, his face dipped in a nutrient agar, he had been working. Right now he didn’t really recall what he had been researching on. Everything paled in comparison to the challenge he was faced with. He had no idea how he was going to do it, but he had to find a way to determine if red kryptonite had been used on Superman. Of course he knew it could be something else, like a kryptonite enhanced drug. But Superman had still had his powers, hadn’t he? Dr. Klein dreaded it could be something as boring as a drug. A short run in the gas chromatograph and the fun was most likely over. Unfortunately, the fact that, according to Lois Lane, Superman was dead was an obstacle that he shouldn’t underestimate.

“Yes, he’s dead,” Lois confirmed sadly.

She almost wished she could switch places with the strange scientist. He had had a happier morning than she, or hadn’t he? Lois thought back to the kisses she had shared with Clark and was ashamed of such thoughts. Would she really rather wake up, embracing a Petri dish? No. After all, things were different with Clark since she had found him in Suicide Slum. He hadn’t run off ever since. Lois knew that it was most likely thanks to his amnesia, but at least that meant it wasn’t her driving him away. Or was he just afraid of getting lost in a world in which he didn’t recognize anything and thus endured her presence? The thought sickened her. But why had he told her he loved her? He had done it, hadn’t he? Or was she starting to imagine things, not willing to be confronted with the cruel truth ever again?

She looked at him. He wasn’t like Claude. Clark didn’t tell things he didn’t mean. He was honest and…as she thought about it – still injured.

“Are you okay?” Lois asked worriedly as she walked over to Clark and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked a little pale as he stood in the corner of Dr. Klein’s lab, his arms folded in front of his chest.

“I was thinking,” Clark admitted, looking towards his feet. “I’m trying to remember more of what happened in the alley or before that, but that only gives me a headache.”

“You’re in pain?” Lois remembered that the wound in his side had been quite nasty. She shouldn’t have dragged him through half the city without allowing him to rest for at least a moment.

“It’s okay,” he replied and as he saw that she didn’t believe him, he added. “Really, Lois! I’m not that much in pain. Another good night’s sleep and I’ll be fine.”

“I’d rather have you see a doctor, Clark. What about him?” she asked, obviously speaking about Dr. Klein, who busily ran through his files. She didn’t wait for Clarks answer, but raised her voice. “Dr. Klein?” When he faced her, she continued, “Can you please have a look at Clark? He’s got an injury and he doesn’t look too well.”

“Lois,” Clark tried to object, but to no avail. Lois silenced him with an impatient gesture of her hand.

Dr. Klein groaned. This couldn’t be true. Lois and Clark were still there. He had almost forgotten about them since Lois hadn’t asked any further questions. But now it was pretty obvious that they hadn’t left. He wasn’t going to be lucky, today, was he? Why should Clark Kent’s health be his problem?

‘Because you absolutely had to become a physician,’ Dr. Klein silently reminded himself. ‘Why didn’t you just stick with the physicists or the chemists? Oh, yeah, but medicine was so much more interesting, wasn’t it? See where this leads you!’

“Oh, Ms. Lane, please take him to another doctor. When I agreed to be Superman’s physician I made an exception. I’m doing research for some reason. I’m not that good at dealing with patients,” Dr. Klein said.

He could only hope that Lois would change her mind. After all, weren’t she and Clark friends? Surely she’d rather make him go to someone who was more practiced. What was it that everyone was asking him for his medical skills? After all, people usually ran away as fast as they could when confronted with an inexperienced physician. But this eternal rule of medicine obviously didn’t apply for him. Dr. Klein sighed. Life wasn’t fair. And Lois didn’t seem eager to get away from here. She would insist on him having a look at her partner. And of course there had to be something as the Hippocratic Oath she could nail him down to.

“He’s lost his memory!” Lois lured him, smiling sweetly. Clark Kent shot her an angry glance, but he obviously wasn’t the one who made any decisions here. Amnesia definitely sounded more interesting than a mere injury. Dr. Klein felt his lines of defense weaken. “And if you help him, he might be able to give you information you might need to find out what has happened to Superman.”

Dr. Klein knew that any further protest was pointless. She had him and she was aware of it. What was it that women always seemed to know how to make a man grant their every wish? But it was no use complaining about this now. His research would have to wait. He should invent something that would spare him from being persuaded in the future. Right now he was trapped. With a sigh he dropped the folder he had been flipping through.

“Okay, sit down on the examination couch,” he gave in and watched as Lois practically pushed Clark towards it. This was worse than he had thought. It was bad enough having to deal with a patient at all, but why did he have to be reluctant? This was more than he could bear. “I won’t bite,” Dr. Klein added a little grumpily.

“We didn’t think so, did we, Clark?” Lois shot her partner a warning glance and he relaxed somewhat. “I don’t know why, but for some reason he is afraid of physicians.”

Had he really assumed this couldn’t get any worse? Dr. Klein hadn’t thought he would be that naïve, but obviously he was. Was it his particular luck or was it a problem of tall, impressive men in general? Dr. Klein couldn’t help but notice that Superman had kind of looked the same way when he had first visited him. Even during his internship he had hardly seen anyone this nervous except for a few children maybe. But compared to the haunted look Clark Kent was displaying now they had been pretty brave, actually.

He approached Clark and started searching his lab coat for a light. However little he thought of it, he would have to start with an examination. He wasn’t sure the light would still be there, but he knew he had put one inside several months ago and once something had made its way into his pockets it hardly ever left them again. Whenever someone gave him a new coat all his things were transferred to it, so he didn’t really have to worry about anything like that.

“I promise this won’t hurt,” Dr. Klein said as he realized that Clark was still tense. Then he started a brief examination, doing it without the light because he hadn’t found it yet. “Did you hurt your head anywhere? Any bleeding injuries?”

“I had a pretty bad headache yesterday after I came to, but that faded as soon as I could rest,”
Clark replied.

“What about nausea, dizziness or vertigo?” the physician continued.

“I felt a little dizzy and a bit nauseous, too, but that quickly *faded* as well,” Clark emphasized the word faded as if it was going to save his life. There was most definitely fear in Clark’s eyes as Dr. Klein had finally found the light. So far he hadn’t used any tools. That glance made the poor doctor pretty nervous and he needed to remind himself that amnesia was an interesting case. He checked if the light was still working and noticed with relief that it did.

“Did anything else occur? Like double vision for example?” Dr. Klein asked, before he tested the reaction of Clark’s pupils.

Clark shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

“Mmmhh,” the doctor muttered vaguely and stopped his examination to ponder if he might have forgotten something. But he couldn’t think of anything. After all, everything seemed pretty normal to Dr. Klein and he was afraid that this wasn’t something neurological after all. The immeasurable beast called psyche raised its head and evilly grinned at the scientist. He had always hated diseases he couldn’t find in imaging and blood tests. And this looked just like one of those cases. Dr. Klein’s motivation fell by the minute. “I don’t think he’s injured his head. Clark might have had a mild concussion, but I doubt it could explain amnesia.”

“But what could it be, Dr. Klein?” Lois asked. “I mean, you don’t become amnesiac for no reason, do you?”

Dr. Klein harrumphed uneasily. He wouldn’t necessarily say that it was for no reason.

“How much do you remember of what happened before you came to?” Dr. Klein decided to continue his interrogation rather than to answer difficult questions. Besides, he didn’t know enough to be certain of his diagnosis. Silently he prayed that Clark’s answer would bring the immeasurable beast to rest.

“Nothing. I don’t remember who I am. Everything I know about me is what Lois told me.”
Clark destroyed the last hope Dr. Klein could have clutched at.

Complete amnesia was an extremely rare condition and it almost never occurred due to a head injury. Dr. Klein had heard that sometimes amnesia set on spontaneously, but it wouldn’t have lasted for more than a few hours. Excluding this, the only possibility seemed to be that Clark’s was something psychogenic. Needless to say that this was something he couldn’t cure. Dr. Klein sighed. He wanted to go back to his predictable cells. They didn’t have enough brains for psychic problems.

“I don’t think your amnesia is caused by any kind of injury,” Dr. Klein said carefully and watched Clark. Usually people didn’t like it when someone told them that their problems were all psychic. But Clark seemed almost happy to hear his opinion, maybe because no injury meant also no hospital. “Maybe you have suffered from some emotional shock or anything like that. Your memory should return, but I can’t tell you when that will happen.”

“That’s all very nice, Dr. Klein,” Lois interrupted him, very obviously returning to Mad Dog Lane mode. For a while she had just silently watched him, but of course she couldn’t have remained calm, Dr. Klein mused unhappily “But his amnesia is not his worst problem right now. Do you remember that I asked you to look at his wound?”

“A wound?” Dr. Klein asked incredulously. “You didn’t say anything about a wound!” he complained.

His heart sank. He wasn’t going to get back to his work anytime soon. Instead it only got worse! For a few wonderful moments he had really thought that he could get rid of those reporters now. He really shouldn’t have underestimated Lois’ stubbornness. This was exactly the reason why he had fled working in a hospital as soon as it had been possible. And for years he had been a happy scientist. Aside his colleagues nobody had paid any interest in his work. Those had been paradisiacal days. His world had been perfect until a gentle alien had offered him the unique chance to study his physiology. What a fool had he been to agree!

Dr. Klein shot a longing glance towards the microscope and all the other things that were sitting on several shelves throughout the lab. Literally everything looked inviting, seemed to whisper a promise to help him solve the kryptonite problem. Instead of giving into the seduction, he was stuck here with a man who was hurt. Dr. Klein realized that he needed to put his impatience aside for a moment. He had to concentrate on what mattered now. Actually it wasn’t that bad to know that someone needed his help, hard as he always tried to ignore this side of his job. Dr. Klein swallowed hard and noticed that he was nervous as well. He hadn’t practiced in a long time and it wasn’t like checking on injuries was just as easy as the small examinations he had done before.

“There… there is no need to be afraid, Clark,” Dr. Klein said and tried to give the younger man what he considered a reassuring glance. “That I haven’t done this lately doesn’t mean I can’t do it.” Oh yes, this was certainly helping his patient to confide in him!

“I… I’m not afraid,” Clark muttered, his voice betraying his words.

“Would you please lie down?” Dr. Klein asked. “Uhm, we could ask Lois to wait outside if you’d rather not have her around.”

“No, no, I’d like her to stay,” Clark sputtered as if the mere thought of being left alone with a crazy scientist was the last thing he needed now.

“All right, then, where exactly is your injury?” Dr. Klein asked and prayed silently that it was nowhere embarrassing. He wasn’t actually used to deal with sense of shame. The mice in his lab didn’t know such issues and he was more than grateful for that.

“On my left side,” Clark replied and lifted up his shirt. Dr. Klein breathed a sigh of relief.

“How did it happen?” he asked, turning into a physician now.

“I don’t know. There must have been glass in the alley where I woke up yesterday,” Clark explained. “I found some pieces of glass and removed them from the wound.” His eyes wandered to Lois, trying to find out what she would think now that she learned there had been pieces of glass. Clark could see her grit her teeth in anger.

‘Pieces of glass?’ she mouthed and her eyes sparkled dangerously. The glance she shot him left little doubt that they were going to talk this through this evening. Guiltily, he wondered if there was anything else he hadn’t told her yet. He couldn’t think of anything, but that didn’t mean much.

In the meantime Dr. Klein had made Clark lie back and was working on his shirt. He drew back the fabric and looked at the bandage. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good. Clark had been afraid that blood might have soaked through it, but it was all white. Carefully, the physician started to remove the white cover in order to have a look at the wound. Clark held his breath, rather because he was afraid that Dr. Klein would want to stitch it, than because of pain.

“Uh uh,” Dr. Klein muttered and looked at Lois, uneasily.

“This bad?” Concern was written all over her face.

“Oh, no, actually. I seem to have forgotten – um, Ms. Lane could you bring me some bandages and maybe something to clean the wound? There has to be a first aid kit out in the corridor.” The physician blushed, obviously afraid to get a taste of Mad Dog Lanes famous wrath.

“Outside?” Lois asked incredulously. “Do you mean you don’t have anything here?”

“I’m a scientist, not a surgeon, remember?” Dr. Klein replied testily.

Reluctantly, Lois turned to leave the lab, but didn’t forget to look at the poor scientist with daggers in her eyes. Even though he didn’t know much these days, Clark could have warned Klein. Lois didn’t exactly like it to do what someone else wanted. She was top banana, not low woman. Clark blinked. Top Banana? Where had that one come from? He decided to think about that later.

Just in this moment, Dr. Klein finally removed the bandage and had a close look at Clark’s wound. Clark lifted his head despite the mild protest of his abdominal muscles. But it was not half as painful as he had thought it would be. Truth to be told, Clark wouldn’t have recognized the wound, hadn’t he known that it was his skin and the only wound he had had. The gash wasn’t gone, but the word nasty was no longer appropriate. In fact, it didn’t even look like it would leave a scar.

Dr. Klein had a careful look at his abdomen. “That’s what you couldn’t show a real doctor?” he asked Clark, obviously having trouble to believe that such a rather faint mark could scare anyone.

“Well, uh…” Clark muttered noncommittally.

Dr. Klein replaced the bandage and shook his head. “That’s nothing I need to take care of. All you need to do is wait and it will heal. Just have an eye on it. If it get red, hot or particularly sensitive come back, or rather go to a doctor.”

Shaking his head, Dr. Klein returned to his folders. While Clark was buttoning his shirt, Lois returned with an armful of medical equipment. Clark wondered if she might have found all this outside in the corridor or if she had asked someone else for help. As she saw Clark fixing his tie she stopped dead in her tracks.

“What?” Lois spit out and with a thud all the things she had carried fell down to the floor. “Clark, are you insane?”

“Shh, Lois,” Clark replied. “Calm down, I’m fine.” He reached for his jacket and went towards Lois, gently reaching for her elbow to usher her outside. Strangely she allowed him to do so. Maybe that was because he muttered, “Let’s go. The poor doctor is so eager to do his job that we shouldn’t disturb him any longer.” But maybe she was just too surprised to put up a fight. However, that changed as soon as they had made it outside.

“Clark, you can trust Dr. Klein, really. There is no reason to make a drama out of this,” Lois admonished him angrily. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Lois, I don’t know, somehow my injury looks a lot better than it did yesterday. Dr. Klein saw no reason to treat me,” Clark replied under his breath.

“Clark, I…”

“I can hardly show you here, can I?” Clark asked and gestured around. There were a few scientists on the corridor of STAR Labs, some of them already watching the fighting couple. “I’m not lying, nor am I trying to win more time. I can’t explain it, but somehow the injury seems to have healed. Here, touch my abdomen, it’s barely even sensitive.”

“But how?” Lois asked, while Clark urged her to go. “I saw it yesterday, it just can’t look so much better today!”

to be continued...


It's never too dark to be cool. cool