Sorry, for the delay in posting. A few FDK's got me wondering if maybe I should flesh this story out a bit more. I toyed around with a few ideas for a couple of days but ultimately, I've decided to leave it as is. I have other stories to get back to and I'm looking forward to working on something for ficathon. Maybe someday I will come back to this and give it an A-plot. For now, I hope you enjoy a little more B-plot fun.
The More Things Stay the Same
Part 4
“Perry, I can handle more than this!” Lois stood in the editor’s office, waving a sheet of paper with her latest assignment on it.
It had been two weeks since her accident. Her doctor had given her the go ahead to resume light duties at work a few days ago. After being cooped up in an unfamiliar townhouse for a week, Lois was chomping at the bit to get back to her job. But Perry was giving her only the simplest assignments – mostly research and catching up on recent events which she had forgotten. She’d come into his office to ask for something more challenging and he’d handed her an interview with Metropolis’ resident centenarian. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy.
“I know you can, darling,” Perry replied pacifyingly. “I’m just working you back up to the harder pieces. There will be plenty of award-winning articles waiting to be written when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now! Why can’t I work on that murder story?”
“Clark’s working on that.”
Lois crossed her arms petulantly. “Of course he is,” she muttered. “Give me something else then – a dishonest politician, gang wars, something!”
“Now, Lois – your doctor only wants you doing light work for a few weeks,” Perry reminded her gently.
Lois frowned. “How do you know what my doctor wants?”
The editor looked confused for a moment. “Well, Clark said – ”
“Clark!” Lois exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Of course! Clark needs to butt out.”
“Lois, he’s your husband.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s allowed to run my life.” Lois stormed out of the editor’s office and cast her eyes about the newsroom for her husband, ready to give him a piece of her mind. Unfortunately (or fortunately for him), he seemed to be out at the moment.
Lois stormed over to her desk, glaring at those who dared to look her way – all of whom promptly found themselves very busy with their own work. She was fed up with people treating her with kid gloves. She just wanted to get back to her old life.
That was the problem though. Her old life didn’t exist anymore. The new Lois was happily married and apparently okay with being bossed around by some man she barely knew.
Okay, that was unfair. Clark hadn’t really been bossing her around. He’d just been… looking out for her, she supposed. He was kind and sweet… and meddling and overbearing and irritating. She honestly couldn’t fathom why she had ever married the man.
She still couldn’t remember anything about him aside from their first few weeks working together at the Planet. She’d spent hours poring through the photo albums of their time together as children, their wedding, and their lives since then. She kept hoping for some glimmer of memory, but there was nothing.
She’d asked him questions and listened to him tell stories about things they had done together – but some of it simply didn’t line up right with the things she did remember. And whenever she tried to get him to explain the inconsistencies, he changed the subject or found a reason to leave.
He was hiding something. She knew that much. But she couldn’t figure out what.
Obviously, it had something to do with why her mind had blocked out nearly all her memories of him. She’d mentioned this to her doctor, who had agreed that sometimes people blocked out painful or harmful memories. Dr. Barger had then asked many questions about whether or not she felt safe in her home.
Lois couldn’t say for sure one way or another. She didn’t think Clark was abusive. He seemed very loving – bordering on smothering sometimes. It was hard to imagine that perhaps he had another side – a scary side that he was hiding from her right now and which her mind had chosen to block out. But then, she supposed it could be possible.
He was definitely hiding something from her and that had her suspicious. She just didn’t know if what he was hiding was actually harmful or if perhaps, he was hiding something for ‘her own good’ as he seemed want to do.
Clark seemed so hesitant to share anything with her and he had admitted to being afraid that some information or other would be too much for her to handle. She got the distinct impression that he’d dealt with something like this before – a loved one losing their memory and reacting badly to reminders of things they’d forgotten. Maybe he’d had a grandparent with dementia or something.
But she wasn’t senile. And she wasn’t sick. She wasn’t even really injured anymore. The wound on her head had healed. Okay, so the damage to her brain was apparently still in play but Dr. Barger said that it was possible the memories might never return, even after she was fully healed. She may simply have to get used to living her life as it was now – without the memories she had forgotten.
It was a scary thought in some ways. In other ways, it was comforting. It meant that the rest of her life didn’t actually hinge upon things she couldn’t remember. She was healed and mentally stable. She could move on with her life and make her own decisions. If the memories did return one day – great! If not, it would be okay too. She didn’t need to remember to go on living.
She just wished that everyone else would realize that - particularly Clark and Perry who were apparently in cahoots about keeping her playing desk jockey for the foreseeable future.
Someone turned the sound up on a nearby television and the news broadcast caught Lois’ attention. An accident involving a semi-truck had snapped one of the cables on a nearby bridge. Superman was already on the scene, securing the unstable bridge while first responders worked to get people off the bridge, including those who had been injured in the accident.
Lois jumped to her feet and grabbed her purse which was already packed with her notepad, pen, and tape recorder. Just because Perry wouldn’t assign her a decent story didn’t mean she couldn’t find one on her own. She was waiting for people to get off the elevator when the editor, himself, stepped out of his office and hollered for someone to get down to the bridge accident.
“On it, Chief!” Lois hollered back.
“What? Lois – ”
But Lois was already stepping into the elevator and the door was shutting out Perry’s words. She smiled to herself as she hit the button for the lobby. It was going to be a good day, even if she had to make it so herself.
********
The cab driver took Lois as close to the accident as he could get before traffic slowed to a crawl. Lois jumped out and walked the rest of the way. By the time she got there, most of the excitement was over. All the vehicles had been moved off the bridge and the people who were injured had been taken to nearby hospitals. The bridge itself had been stabilized for the time being but was blocked off pending repairs. Superman was speaking with the fire chief so Lois made herself busy, interviewing first responders and eyewitnesses.
She managed to get the full story and some really good quotes but she kept one eye on the superhero at all times. A Superman quote was a sure way to push a story onto the front page. Besides, she’d been wanting to talk to him.
She finished up speaking to one witness just as Superman stepped away from the fire chief and looked like he was getting ready to leave.
“Superman!”
His eyes darted to hers and, for a moment, she thought he might have smiled at her. Then the moment passed and he assumed his usual friendly but detached expression as he approached.
“Lois,” he greeted her. “How are you?”
“I’m good. I was wondering if I could get a quote for the Daily Planet?”
“Of course.” He gave her a brief overview of what had occurred at the bridge and the part he had played in the rescue.
Lois jotted down a few notes and then tucked her pad back in her purse. “Thank you. Um… before you go…” she began nervously. Superman tilted his head to the side in interest and Lois took a breath to steel her nerves. “I was wondering if I could ask you a personal question?”
The hero nodded and Lois launched into what she wanted to say before she could chicken out. “I guess you already know that I was injured a few weeks ago – they said you were the one to bring me to the hospital – but, well, I ended up losing some not insignificant portions of my memory and I’m just trying to figure out a few things about my life. One of the questions I’ve had is… well… are we friends?”
Superman looked surprised at the question and Lois rushed to explain before he could respond. “Because, you know, I don’t remember much of the past three years but I do remember when you first showed up and that interview you gave me and I guess it just seemed to me that maybe we were becoming friends. That is, I’d like to be. And I hope we are and – ”
Superman held up his hand to stop her rambling. Now he was definitely smiling – and what a smile it was! But Lois blushed and hoped he wasn’t laughing at her. But, when he spoke, his voice was kind and gentle and almost… familiar!
“Of course we’re friends, Lois.”
Lois tucked away her surprise at the familiarity of his voice. She’d examine that later. For now, she returned his smile. “I’m so glad. Because… well, you’re the kind of person I’d like to be friends with. You know?”
Superman nodded. “I’m glad we’re friends too, Lois.” He glanced off to the side suddenly, as though he were listening to something far away. When he looked back at her, his smile had faded. “I have to go.”
“Of course. Go. I’ll see you around.”
“See you around, Lois.” And with that, he shot up into the sky – off to save the day somewhere else.
Lois watched him go and couldn’t help the smile which spread across her face. She had butterflies in her stomach and, for the first time in weeks, she felt like her old self again.
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