“Well, that went well,” she said with forced cheer, dismal at how quickly the atmosphere was solidifying. Soon I’ll be unable to breathe.
“It did,” he said uselessly. Lois, what do I do? How do I fix this?
“Cat should be here in about a half-hour.”
“Great.”
“So we’re agreed that we’re just going to come clean with her?”
“As long as you feel okay about it. Cat’s shrewd and relentless. I don’t want to give her half-truths and then have her … catch us out. It’s better if she’s on our side, and she can help us spin a better story.”
“Right. And you really don’t think she’ll be likely to tell others about the existence of other universes? That’s information we really don’t want getting out.”
“I doubt it. I think she’ll realize that most people will think she’s gone off the deep end if she talks about it. In fact, that’s our big problem – I don’t want her thinking we’re insane – especially me… for obvious reasons.”
“Well, Perry and Bill can corroborate if it comes down to that, and I’m guessing they would to forestall her creating world-wide panic about the mental state of the most powerful guy around.”
He looked at her uncomfortably. “Yea.”
“So… what do you want to do while we wait?”
“Well…”
“Maybe this?” She walked over to him, trying to make her movements seem natural and languid. She snaked her arms around his waist and moved in to kiss him.
He returned her kiss gently, not wanting to trigger any bad feelings in her – especially after her dream.
She increased the pressure of her lips on his as she deepened the kiss, trying to reach a different level of intimacy. Instead of responding, he gripped her shoulders very gently and broke the contact.
“What’s wrong,” she said, her voice hurt.
“I feel… I don’t know. Like… you don’t really want to be doing this.”
“That’s not true! I do – “ She was vehement in her protest. She had wanted to kiss him. Hadn’t she? She had initiated it, and as usual, kissing him had started to evoke a lot of warm and pleasant feelings.
“I just feel like something is bothering you,” he said nervously. Had he misread her?
“Well – I mean – I did tell you I had that dream…”
“Yeah, and I can understand how that would bother you – I guess I feel like it still is bothering you – I just get that feeling. Maybe it’s an empathic thing – since we can communicate telepathically. I don’t know…”
“It is on my mind still, Clark. I can’t just shake it out… but that doesn’t mean I don’t want us to do this… and – it doesn’t mean that I didn’t just enjoy what we did. I do… I did… despite the fact that I had a bad dream or two.”
“Right,” he said, trying to sound convincing in his assent.
“You don’t believe me.”
“Not… so much that,” he said, rushing to reassure her. “I do – I just… I just… feel like something is off. I’m sorry. I – I’m just making a big deal out of nothing.”
“No… no… you aren’t. I do… feel a little… off today. You’re picking up on that. I’m sorry.”
“Do you want to - do you regret – “
“No!”
“If you did, I’d want to know – “
“I do not regret anything in terms of our decision to marry. I want this. I want you. I love you. I really love you, and I really want to marry you…. Please - if you believe anything – believe that!”
He grinned at her warmly. “Okay. I do. I do believe that.”
“Good! So… can I kiss my fiancé without getting the cold shoulder?”
”I never gave you the cold – “ He stopped talking as she moved into his space with fluidic grace and pressed her lips to his. She broke off slightly. “Shut up and kiss me,” she said throatily.
He brought his arms around her, this time pulling her closer into the embrace. “I don’t need to be told a second time,” he responded with laughter in his voice. He kissed her back, this time not holding anything back.
A knock at the door broke the haze of passion that was starting to develop, and Lois reluctantly pushed at him to end the kissing.
“Cat’s here, “ she murmured.
“Damn the timing,” he said with a sensual growl.
She grinned at him. “She won’t be here for long. There’s plenty of time for this… later. Today.“
“Later… later… okay. Later. I can do later.”
She went and opened the door.
“Hi Cat! Thanks for coming over!”
“I would walk miles for this interview, Lois!”
“We would have come to you,” said Clark, “But…we’ve decided to fill you in on the whole story, and that’s not something we wanted to do in a public surrounding.”
“Well – that sounds kind of ominous.”
He winced. “It kind of is. We’re going to tell you a lot that’s print worthy – and a lot that isn’t. You may want to talk with Perry White after this to get some perspective on some of this stuff.”
“Cat, would you like some coffee?”
Later, coffees in hand, they sat companionably in the living room.
“First of all. Lois and I are getting married – we haven’t set a date or anything, but we’ve made the decision and… the rest… it’s just details.”
She smiled broadly at them. “Oh. Oh. Congratulations! I figured as much – but still. I’m very happy for you both.”
“Thanks,” said Lois. “I appreciate it. I know a lot of people are going to find it pretty disturbing that Clark has agreed to marry the horrible reporter who wrote such horrible things about him.”
“Well. I know you, Lois,” she said carefully. “You wouldn’t have written this stuff if you didn’t believe it…which is something I’d like to talk to you about. I have to ask some of the hard questions – if I don’t – others will – and I’ll look like a schmuck.”
“We know, “ said Clark. “We do get that. As I said – we want you to know everything, and then – once you’ve been reassured - hopefully - that we aren’t crazy – you’ll help us with the whole public spin on things.”
“Why would I think you’re crazy?”
“Here goes nothng...” Lois paused and took a deep breath, releasing it in a sigh. “That… other Lois… she… she wasn’t me. But she was Lois Lane. She was my doppelganger from an alternate universe. The man who exposed Clark was a dimensional traveler named Tempus who had forced her into this world to prevent her from marrying Clark’s counterpart in her home universe.”
Cat sat silently for a few minutes. Then she grinned. “Okay … hah hah. Now come on - “
“You can call Perry and ask him about this,” said Clark. “Not only does he believe it – he’s seen both Loises in the same room – as well as my own doppelganger with me. Lois and Clark from that other world helped Lois stop my clone.”
“You’re… you’re not kidding…”
“And we aren’t crazy. Especially – Clark. He’s not insane. I know it sounds – “
She shook her head. “No. You aren’t crazy. You both couldn’t … hide it this well. So – the only other … you either believe this thing to be true – or it really is true – and… I guess – go on… tell me more…”
“This guy – tempus – he kidnapped Lois – this Lois… and brought her into yet a different universe. She was there the three long years she was missing.”
“You were in another universe.”
“Yes.”
“Like… um… like this one?”
“Kind of. With some differences.”
“Like…?”
She looked at Clark her eyes haunted.
“Clark… didn’t come here as a baby. He never became Clark. He was nothing LIKE Clark. Probably no matter what the circumstances of his life, he would never have been anything like Clark.”
“What was he like?”
“A monster,” said Clark bleakly.
“Can… uh… can you elaborate?”
“He and the other Kryptonians – there were a lot of them – they conquered earth – enslaved humanity.”
“Oh my god…”
“Kal-El – Clark’s doppelganger – he was the leader. He was one of the worst of the lot. He… he - I became his slave. Tempus told him about me – you see… he had enslaved my doppelganger, but ended up killing her… I guess he didn’t really mean to – and when he found out about me…”
Cat looked horrified. “Are you serious? You were a … a slave? I mean – in what way - ?”
Lois closed her eyes. “I think you could use your imagination on that one, Cat.”
“Oh my god! You… you lived like that? For three years?”
She nodded. “I didn’t think I’d ever get free of him. It was hell. Pure hell. He wasn’t a - good man… he was vicious – sadistic… took great delight in hurting me – in my fear of him… and… “ she shook her head. “It was a nightmare.”
“Oh my god… Lois – I’m sorry – about being so rude to you –making that crack about – “
“It’s okay,” she said hurriedly, not wanting to hear the chastity belt crack again. “I – you didn’t know.”
“I just… I’m sorry!”
“It… it was horrible. But then – a different dimension traveler – a good one – he had gone looking for me – it’s along story as to why – but he did – and he found me. He brought be back home.” She went silent a few moments remembering the extreme joy she had felt to be home, only to have that joy crushed when she found out about Clark.
“And… you found out Clark was here… in this world. Oh. God – that explains everything.”
“It does – but… if we tell people the truth – it might cause panic worldwide. Fear of Clark, and then the whole existence of alternate worlds. It – it could have far reaching and disturbing consequences. So – we kind of don’t want to do that. At the same time – we don’t want to have to lie too much. Well – Clark doesn’t want to lie at all – but – you get the idea.”
“I’d stick with the amnesia story.”
“But then, if someone asks Clark if he knew where I was - he'd have to lie - and -”
“Just say that you know what Lois has told you. That would be the truth.”
“It’s shaky ground though,” said Clark.
“Sometimes – just sometimes – these things have to be done. Lois’s comments about the world’s reaction are not so far from plausible. “
“Right…”
“What about my utter hatred of Clark when I first showed up?”
“You could just say … well – that you were once the victim of a violent attack - and it caused you to …”
“See that’s why the amnesia won’t work. Before I disappeared, I was not likely to turn on a man like Clark. If anything, I probably would have been singing his praises.”
“So you want to tell people you were kidnapped and held prisoner by a powerful man? And that it taught you to fear men with too much power – whether it be financial or … superhuman strength?”
“Mmmm – yeah, but then – what if people ask Clark about it…”
“Clark, you’ll have to go the no comment route. Just say – this topic is upsetting to Lois, and I can’t talk about anything without her consent.”
“That would work…”
“You believe us?”
“Yes… yes… I do…. And … what you’ve been through Lois – it’s heinous. I’m glad you’re back and that you’ve moved onward…. And I guess that’s what I need to get as far as something I can print – the story of how you two went from worlds apart to betrothed.”
“Thanks, Cat,” said Clark. “This is a huge relief.”
“Anytime. I owe you about a billion. “
“So… want to get started?”
“Okay. We’ll start at the beginning. When you started your articles – were you aware at all that Lex Luthor was really a criminal?”
“No. But soon afterwards I began to see a disturbing side of him… and after awhile – I realized that he made me really uncomfortable. I severed ties with him once I figured it all out.”
“I heard rumors that he was after you romantically.”
Lois shuddered. “Lex liked to … possess… things. He saw me as a challenge. His charm… I guess I was invulnerable where he was concerned. I think that … spurred him on to want to change that.”
“It… it didn’t seem to work.”
“No. “
“You had a huge change of heart about Clark after the asteroid. What happened?”
“I had a change of heart long before that. Even before I stopped my articles… I felt that I was … I felt uneasy with what I was writing. And I would never have felt that way if deep down I didn’t think Clark was really innocent of all the things I accused him of. I knew I was hurting an innocent man, and that bothered me. Once I was consciously aware that my fears about him were … unfounded… I stopped writing. I still felt … embarrassed… and uncomfortable… about the whole thing, about interacting with him… but I knew… he wasn’t a threat.
“And then – the asteroid happened … and he disappeared. I… I actually went to his apartment, intending to see if somehow I could get up there…Clark had amassed a lot of information about Lex and his dealings… with help from some friends, and… I – I wanted to have it, so if I needed to use it to protect myself against Lex…I could. Without Clark… I guess I felt very much… in danger of Lex.
“Clark had left word with the security of his building that I could have complete access to his place.” She smiled over at him. “I guess he trusted me, despite all the horrible things I had said about him. So – I went up there… and there he was.” She flushed again at recollection of how she found him and how she reacted.
<Clark. I’m going to leave some details out. Is that okay?>
<Yeah. More than okay! You’re doing great!>
“Wow! That must have been quite shocking to you – thinking he was dead, and then – him being there.”
“Huge understatement there, Cat. But yes. I was… shocked. I soon found out he had no memory of who he was. Initially he was really wary of me - he didn't know who I was, and he had woken up in a molten crater... so he had figured that maybe someone had tried to kill him. I think that my showing up like that, and then being so shocked to see him was evidence that I had something to do with the supposed attempt on his life. I did eventually manage to get the truth through to him - with help from the news reports on TV."
“Clark, how did all that make you feel? I mean – did you think you were just an ordinary human being before she told you who you really were?”
”Yeah. I … felt pretty shocked. It was hard to believe – and it was pretty upsetting.”
“I can only imagine.”
“Once she told me - I knew I had to get my memory back. I needed my memories to access how to … use… my powers… how to fly – that sort of thing. So – I asked her to help me. I guess – I trusted her… I needed that – that trust – to relax enough to let the memories come back.”
“How long did it take?”
“Hours. Long… hours,” he said, giving Lois a wide smile. “Of course, spending hours with Lois – that’s a good thing, but it was stressful and frustrating. Scary too – because that asteroid was getting closer every second.”
“How did your memories come back?”
He winced.
“Well. I kind of started badgering her about ... I felt that she was holding back something – some piece of knowledge that was important. I wouldn’t… let up – I guess – and finally – I…” He broke off and looked at her, seeking her direction.
“I had the panic attack to end all panic attacks… and – that triggered a memory cascade.”
“Wow. That must have been pretty horrible.”
“Oh. It was.”
“What about for you, Clark?”
“It was heart-wrenching.”
“Well.. I can print that you had a cascade while talking to her – that’s sort of the truth.”
“Yeah…”
“How did you even – guess that she was holding something back. Did you even know that she had launched this huge fear-campaign against you?”
“Well… I did… she told me to check the internet for information about myself… to try to create a memory cascade, and… I did … find her articles.”
“That must have been a betrayal. You trusted her, but then – you found all this. How did you react?”
“I felt really confused… and scared. I guess I figured if I could make her feel that way, maybe I was the dangerous person she thought I was. I … did… tell her… ask her… about why she wrote them.”
“Lois – what did you tell him when he asked you about this?”
“I told him that I’d been wrong. That I’d projected my own … issues onto him… he didn’t really believe me. I think that’s really what started him thinking I was holding back key information.”
“So his memories returned, he saved the day – and then… you wrote the story of his encounter with the asteroid,” she said to Lois.
“Yes.”
“Why her, Clark? Of all the reporters to give that story too – why Lois Lane?”
“I owed it to her. She had given up what could have been her last moments alive to try to help me. Instead, she could have been off with her family, or living it up – or whatever…“
“And after that? Romance bloomed?”
Lois was unable to stop the grin from popping up on her face.
“After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about him… but he managed to disappear off to Europe for three whole months. Never once coming by to say hello, even though it would have been easy for him to do so.”
“Lois, had I known you wanted me to do that I’d have done it in an instant!”
“Right. Instead of hanging out with the most attractive women on the planet…”
“Not true. You weren’t there.”
“Good save, Clark,” retorted Cat with a grin. “So - when did you become more than friends?”
”I think we were never ‘just’ friends. I think it took me a little while to realize that I had always been drawn to him, and that my longing to have him around after our shared asteroid experience was really a bad case of having fallen in love.”
“What about you, Clark?”
“I fell in love with her the moment I saw her,” he said.
“Her, or the … other Lois?”
“Oh. her. Definitely her.”
“You loved her even when she was afraid of you?”
“Yes.”
“Lois – did you know how he felt?”
She shook her head. She smiled ruefully. “Probably a good thing, given my … conviction that he was dangerous. I don’t think I would have … been too happy with the idea. After I got over that, however… “
“Loving her as you did, how did you deal with her being so afraid of you?”
“I tried to stay out of her way.”
“Is that why you left the Daily Planet.”
“It’s one reason. One big reason.”
“Lois, would you have come back to the Planet if he had still been here.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“At the time, did you think his leaving had anything to do with you?”
She furrowed her brow. “It’s hard to tell. I was so sure he meant to conquer the world that all my suppositions as far as motivation were just really … extreme. Later though, I guessed that he must have left in order to make it easier for me to come back. That was exactly the kind of thing I could see him doing.”
“Any regrets about making that choice, Clark?”
“None.”
“Oh come on! You don’t miss all of us? Your old friends.”
“Okay. One regret.”
“Her articles were pretty… harsh. Did you at all feel angry at her – for writing them?”
“No.”
“Not at all? Not even the slightest bit? I mean – here you are helping people out with the best of intentions and this woman is writing these articles that are so negative towards you. You didn’t feel any anger at all?”
“No. She had good reason to be afraid – to feel this way.”
“Well – this is quite a love story. You’ve gone through hell to be together, really – and I think if anyone can make it work – you both can. Thank you… for sharing this with me. I feel honored.”
“Cat – it’s a pleasure. I knew we could count on you.”
“Yeah. I guess it’s a burden I’ll take to my grave – knowing that there are these other worlds. Clark. There’s no chance of the other … Kal… coming here, is there?”
He paled. “I don’t know… I don’t know if he… he would try. It does worry me… but if he ever did – I’d do everything in my power to stop him.”
“I’m sure you would. Just give me heads up if you ever think it’s going to happen. I want to find a good hiding place…”
Lois shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about that happening.”
Cat looked at her thoughtfully. She was a prisoner to a man who looks and sounds just like her fiancé. She was probably raped, based on her description of her captivity… probably more than just a few times. And yet – they seem so easy together. I wonder if they’ve gotten intimate. You’d imagine that would be a difficult thing for her. But of course – I can’t ask that. I guess – they know what they are doing.
She took a deep breath and stood up. They both got to their feet as well. She gave them both warm hugs, and walked towards the door.
“This will make the evening edition. Enjoy, I guess – what’s left of your peace and quiet for a while.” She said this last with a rueful smile. While it was true that she was outing them by their own consent, she wasn’t sure if Lois was really ready for the barrage of publicity that would soon be hers. Oh well. She knows the score.
After she left, Lois stood watching the door a few long moments. Oh my god. We did it. We really did it. No turning back now.
[tbc]
