Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic A Future Reborn - (Lois' Story III) - part 6

Previously on AFR...

"Bye," Lois said as she moved toward the door. "Don't wait up. I don't know how long I'll be."

Cat waved at Lois, not looking at her. Her eyes were still riveted on the small computer. "Don't worry about me... I'll find something to occupy my time."


And Now...
A Future Reborn - (Lois' Story III) - part 6
by Tank


Clark let Lois into his apartment. She walked through the door briskly and handed her wrap to him to hang up. He noticed her looking around. He could guess what she was looking for.

"Jenny is over at a girlfriend's. I told her we would be working over some details on our story for awhile. She'll be back later." He directed Lois to the couch. "I figured it might be easier to have this discussion in private. Afterward, you can decide what to tell Jenny, or not."

She gave him what appeared to be a nervous smile. "Thanks," she said.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he offered.

She shook her head. "So, how's the costume design coming along? You and Jenny work out what you plan to where as a disguise?"

Clark knew Lois' comments were merely delaying tactics. She wanted to avoid the real reason they were there. The reason she agreed to earlier today. He wasn't going to let her off the hook this time. No more stalling, no more procrastinating. It was time for her to come clean with him.

"We'll talk about that later, once Jenny comes back. Right now we need to deal with some other issues."

"Oh?"

He almost smiled at her attempt at an affected innocence. She knew, as well as he did, what this conversation was going to be about. He moved over and sat in the chair directly across from her. He leaned forward, his arms on his knees, and stared into her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Lois Lane." She had answered immediately, without hesitation.

"Really?" He watched for any signs of indecision or awkwardness.

"Yes," Suddenly there was a slight waver in her voice. "But I'm not the Lois Lane you think I am."

Clark made sure he showed no surprise or confusion at her statement. "Then which Lois Lane are you?"

She stared at her hands for a few moments, then took a deep breath. "Clark, do you trust me?"

This forced him to stop and think for a few beats. Since he'd known her she'd been nothing but a help to him. Her support and guidance had done wonders for his skills as a reporter. He wasn't under any illusion as to his abilities when he first joined the Planet. He'd thought he had made significant progress, but in the few months that he and Lois had worked together he had learned more than in all the previous months prior.

To his knowledge, she had never lied to him. She'd shown an uncanny skill at evading questions she didn't want to answer, but he knew that she was avoiding answering them rather than telling him a lie, or leading him on. Even his assumption that she might have seen him in the Congo way back when was such a case. She had merely said nothing, allowing him to think what he wished rather than confirming his hypothesis, which he now was certain wasn't true.

Did he trust her? That was the 64 thousand dollar question, wasn't it? "There are some issued yet to be resolved, which I hope can be cleared up here, tonight. But, over all, I'd have to say that I trust you." He added a grin. "I don't always understand you - but I guess I trust you."

Lois sighed. "Well, that trust is going to be put to the test. I'm going to tell you a pretty fantastic tale, and I'm going to need you to believe me. I'll have no way to prove what I say is true. You are going to have to take it on faith. Accept my word."

Clark frowned at his hands. He hated it when people said stuff like that. He hated the idea that there would be no way to support what the other person said. It was one reason why he was a reporter. He liked to get beyond the words that people threw out in public in there daily lives. He wanted to know the hard core, iron-clad, provable facts.

He was always ready to believe the best in people. It was the way he was raised. His investigations always seemed to be pointed in that direction. But he rarely just accepted things at face value. He wanted to prove that most people were generally good, and had good intentions. He was often disappointed, but he felt that was preferable to being gullible, or pessimistic.

"I can promise you I'll listen to what you have to say with an open mind. As far as believing on faith, I - I'll try."

Lois gave her head a sharp nod, as if accepting his conditions but not being too happy about it. "Okay, I'm not from around here... not from this world, exactly."

Clark raised his brow. "Not from this world?"

Lois shook her head and sighed again. "I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of alternate dimensions. You know, the science fiction convention of multiple realities all coexisting at the same time, but separated by some sort of barrier?"

Clark felt a sense of disappointment. Was this woman really going to try and convince him that she was from some alternate dimension? What did she take him for? He held back a sigh of disgust. He had promised to hear her out. He just nodded.

He could tell by the look on her face that she knew he was having trouble with her tale. "Look, I told you that this would be hard to swallow, but the truth is, I'm from another world. I'm the Lois Lane who worked at another Daily Planet for another Perry White partnered with another Clark Kent. The reason that I seem to know so much about you, and about what is going to happen, is that I've already lived through the Nightfall asteroid situation."

Clark's mouth firmed into a tight line. "I take it that your world wasn't destroyed. Or is that why you're here now? Because your world is essentially gone."

Lois shook her head. "No, our world was spared. We were saved by... Superman."

Suddenly some of Lois' actions made sense to him. Of course, that would mean that he had to accept her story, which he wasn't quite willing to do. "So, that's why you are so hot for me to become this Superman, as you call him? You think that I can fly out into space and take care of this asteroid that's threatening us?"

"I know you can. It's just... it's not without some risk."

Clark nodded. "Okay. Maybe you'd better tell me what happened on *your* world."

Clark sat silently as Lois filled him in on what supposedly happened on her world when threatened by the Nightfall asteroid. He almost broke into her narrative when she spoke of the part where her Superman was hurled back to earth bereft of his memory. He frowned during the part where the Asgard rocket launched by the military failed to impact the asteroid. He couldn't help but think that her tale sounded like a movie or television plot, with this Superman regaining his memory just in time to save the day. While it was true that she had known about who he was and about his powers. it was still very hard to accept what she was saying, and being the perceptive reporter that she was, it seemed she was able to read him.

Lois' look bordered on anger. "Okay, I realize how far-fetched this other dimension stuff sounds, but really, is it any more hard to believe than a strange visitor from another planet who can bend steel in his bare hands and fly?"

"Look, Lois, I'm not saying... what do you mean, strange visitor from another planet?"

Lois, leaning forward hands on her thighs, chewed on her lip. "Back home my Clark found a globe in his space craft that crashed in Schuster's field that night. It told him that his birth world was a planet called Krypton. He was rocketed to earth to save him from the impending destruction of his home world. He was found by the Kents and raised as their own."

Clark had to take a deep breath. What she'd said was easily as fantastic as what she'd told him about parallel dimensions, but it did make a certain amount of sense. As unbelievable as beings from another planet may be, it was actually a more logical explanation of the what and why he was than some scientific experiment gone awry.

He also hadn't missed her reference to 'my Clark'. There was more to that relationship than she was telling. Given the age difference between He and Lois, he had to wonder if the Clark Kent/Superman on her world was her age, or his. If he believed what she was saying he'd have to guess the former since it seemed Superman had existed on her world for some time now.

"Do you still have your space craft?" Her question jolted him out of his musings.

"No, but I know where it is." He took a moment to think about it. "Wait here. I'll only be gone a few minutes."

*******************

Lois watched as Clark got up and strode over to the doors leading to his balcony. It was late enough so it was already quite dark outside. He stepped out onto the small porch, and in a classic whoosh of wind, he was gone.

She knew that things weren't going well with Clark. It was obvious to her that, despite his assurance that he'd listen with an open mind, he clearly wasn't buying into her parallel dimension story. Not that she could blame him much. She'd been there, several times, and she still had trouble believing in it. That was why she'd been forced to reveal his extra planetary origin. If he still had that globe, and if it revealed his true origins as the one her own Clark had, then she had a shot at convincing him. If he had to accept what she'd just told him about himself, then maybe he'd have to give a bit more credence to her own story.

She wasn't sure what she'd do if he didn't believe her. She hadn't wanted to tell him the truth about her at all. It was a complication she had hoped to avoid for just the reason she was seeing tonight. She gave him credit for not throwing her out as a lunatic right from the start. But the look in his eyes told her how he felt, even if he hadn't come out and said anything.

Not quite sure what to do with herself, Lois got up and began to look around. She'd been to Clark's place several times in the past few months, but had never really allowed herself to see it. At first glance it looked very much like Clark's place on Clinton Street. It had the step down from the outer door to the main living areas. It was an open plan with the bedroom being separated from the main room by a partial wall. She knew the bedroom was larger and held more furniture than her Clark's ever did. After all, Jenny was there too. Lois purposely stayed away from that room.

This Clark had a bookshelf full of his mementos just like her own husband had before they were a couple. She wandered over and really looked it over for the first time. She saw some things that she remembered; his football trophies from Smallville High, some weird tokens and artifacts that he'd picked up in his travels. She lifted the strange little wooden carving that occupied one corner of a shelf. She'd never figured out what the thing was back home and this version gave her no clues as to what it was supposed to be either. Putting it down, she moved to the books holding center position on the bookshelf.

Many of the books were the same. A few were different but Lois recognized the titles. And there were some that she'd never heard of. Moving down the shelf, she came across a somewhat familiar picture. The frame was the same as were the poses of the two people in the picture. Clark's smile was typically incandescent, but the woman he had his arm around wasn't her. It was Jenny.

She felt the slight burn at the back of her eyes. No! She wasn't going to wallow. Not tonight. It wasn't just her own new future that was at stake here. The world needed a Superman, and it was up to her to make that a reality. She didn't have time to indulge in a bout of self pity now. She would allow herself to succumb to the pain when she always did. When she was back at her place, in the dark, in bed... alone.

Suddenly a draft caused her to turn back toward the balcony doors. Clark was coming into the room, closing the doors behind him. The look on his face was hard to read. It was serious, but she couldn't tell if he was angry, or just conflicted. She moved back over to the couch, biting on her lower lip as she went. This would tell the tale. Had he found the globe? Did it 'talk' to him as her Clark's had? Would he believe her?

His gaze fastened on her. His eyes locked with hers. She could almost feel the intensity of his stare boring into her soul. She continued to chew on her lip as she waited for him to speak.

"My name is Kal El."

A sigh of relief escaped from her as she nodded. "I know."

********************

His mind was a tumultuous jumble of new sensations and information warring with preconceived notions and assumptions. His world had literally been twisted into a shape he wasn't sure he was capable of handling. And she just sat there with that calm look on her face. She had known! She had known all along who he really was.

He'd flown out to the old Kent farm outside of Smallville. The land was still under cultivation by neighboring farms. The rent money he received from that had been what had allowed him to travel for several years. But the old homestead, and the immediate out buildings were still vacant. Left as they were when his parents died. It was the first time he'd been back since shortly after their deaths.

He had quickly found the spot under the big oak next to the barn that was the burial site of his ship. Under the cover of the darkness, but with little to fear of discovery, he'd swiftly uncovered the tiny vessel which he now knew was a space craft. Just as Lois had mentioned, there was a globe nestled into an indentation in the front of the interior of the small capsule. As he reached for it, a weak green glow appeared to emanate from it. The glow got stronger as his hand got closer. Finally, he clutched the object and drew it from its resting place.

The globe first took on the appearance of earth as seen from space. Then the colors seemed to liquefy and flowed into a different configuration. It had an earth like appearance, in that it had shapes that could be considered land masses and seas or oceans. But it definitely wasn't a representation of Earth. Suddenly a name sprang into his head... Krypton.

He had been mesmerized by the glowing globe. He'd taken a few steps away from the ship as he continued to stare into its luminous depths. He was so startled by what happened next that he almost dropped the object.

What could only be described as a hologram was abruptly projected into the clear night air in front of him. For the next several minutes he was subjected to a nearly unbelievable tale of his birth on a far distant doomed world, and his biological parents' desperate plan to save their infant son by sending him to another planet. A planet that could sustain him. A planet called earth.

She had known. Lois had known the truth. How could she have known unless the other things she'd been saying were also true? His logical mind rebelled at the idea of multiple dimensions and counterparts, but no more so than it had against alien visitors from other planets. Yet now that he had irrefutable proof of the one, how could he deny the possibility of the other?

As he sat he saw the calm expectation in her eyes. There was a touch of nervousness there also, but it was clear she knew what he'd found out about himself, and counted on that to bring him around to belief in the rest of her story.

"I'm sorry for doubting you," he began.

"Don't be." She smiled at him. "I would expect any rational person to doubt the story I had to tell. I'm just glad that we can go forward without any more need to keep secrets from each other."

"Does anyone else - know?"

"About you? No. Just myself, and what you told Jenny, of course." Lois sighed and cocked her head to the side as one brow rose in a look of uncertainty. "About me? Just Cat, and now you."

Clark was sure that his surprise showed on his face. "You told Cat Grant?"

Lois shrugged. "Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and I'm not sorry I did. I'm not sure she actually believes me, but I don't think she really cares one way or the other. She's just happy to have an old friend back. Even if it's just a substitute for the real thing."

Clark couldn't help the slight crooked smile. "From what I've heard, I think we've gotten the better end of the deal with you rather than the Lois original to this world."

Lois' smile was wistful. "Thanks, but don't be quick to judge that poor woman too harshly merely from the rumors and innuendoes. The more I've delved into her past the more I'm finding that contradicts the pictures that have been painted of her."

Clark just nodded. He was only too familiar with people making snap judgments about others with little or no information. First impressions weren't generally very reliable.

"So," he said, changing the subject. "How exactly do I go about keeping a seventeen-mile-across chunk of rock, hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds, from crashing into our fair planet?"

********************

Lois was pleased with the discussion they'd had, and felt that Clark had a good grasp of what needed to be done and what risks were involved. She was particularly happy with the method they had worked out as to how to deal with the asteroid. Rather than smashing into the giant rock head on as her Clark had done, which resulted in his being hurled back to earth, dazed and bereft of his memory, they had come up with a different approach. Neither she nor Clark were physicists, but they each felt that Clark would probably not be able to stop the momentum of such a large object traveling at such a high rate of speed head on.

The fact that on her world a large chunk of the asteroid continued on its collision course with earth after Superman had initially smashed into it had shown her that. Instead, they'd decided on coming at Nightfall from the side. Clark could angle in, using his incredible strength to add an additional momentum vector tangent to Nightfall's course. He should be able to force the asteroid far enough off its present course such that it would miss the planet entirely.

If it turned out that he wasn't able to divert the asteroid enough, there would still be time for a head on strike as her Superman had done. And, Lois grudgingly had to admit, the government's rocket strike was still an option. Just because they had missed on her world didn't necessarily mean they would miss here. It just wasn't an option she wanted to have to count on.

Knowing that he couldn't hold his breath long enough to fly the immense distance out to the asteroid, execute their plan and fly back, they'd discussed possible options. Lois told Clark about the air supply that the government had provided Superman, along with the radio set up. They agreed that they would be able to come up with something to allow him to breathe.

Just then Clark's head perked up as he looked toward the front door. "Jenny's just parked the car. She'll be here in a couple of minutes." He looked to Lois. "How much should I tell her?"

Lois sighed. She knew this was coming, and was torn as to what she should say. After hesitating for only a moment, she gave him a warm smile. "Tell her whatever you think she should know. I trust you."

Clark frowned. "Well, I have to tell her about me. About who I really am. It wouldn't be fair to keep that from her." He stared at Lois for several heartbeats. "But I think there's no need to tell her that you're from another dimension. It's going to be hard enough to tell her that her boyfriend is really a little green man from outer space. Telling her the truth about you will only confuse her." He shrugged. "Besides, there's no reason she needs to know. You have a right to your privacy. If a situation arises where I think she needs to know the truth about Lois Lane, I'll ask you first."

Lois smiled. "Thanks."

"So," Clark began. "About this costume thing. You don't have any pictures of your Superman, do you?"

Lois couldn't help but chuckle. "No, I'm afraid I quit carrying photos of Superman years ago." The fact was once she was married she only carried pictures of her and Clark... and one of Lucy. It didn't seem quite proper for a married woman to carry photos of super hero.

"So how am I supposed to know how a Superman is supposed to look?"

Lois chuckled. "Be yourself. I'm confident that you and Jenny will come up with something appropriate." Lois shrugged. "The only advice that I'd give you; capes look very sharp while you're flying, the tighter the tights the better," she grinned at his raised brow. "And, use this shield as your chest emblem." She quickly sketched out the famous 'S' pentagram.

His eyes widened as he looked over her quick drawing. "That emblem was on the ship. Do you know what it means? I find it hard to believe that my Kryptonian parents knew about my eventually becoming someone called Superman."

Lois smiled. "I didn't know it at the time, which is why I dubbed him Superman, but apparently it's the emblem of the royal house of El. It just looks like an 'S'."

"Royal?"

Suddenly the knob turned and Jenny came through the door. She bounded over to where Clark was now standing and gave him a hug and a fierce kiss. Lois had to wonder if that was normal for the couple or if it had been for her benefit.

"So," she said, a big smile on her face. "What did I miss?"