PREVIOUSLY IN LOST...
“Yes,” Philip replied on a chuckle. “This is David Shultz. He’s a friend of Lois Lewis. We’re sorry we took so long, but we just got your letter - or, well, letters. The receptionist at Klein Labs is an idiot.”
Bernard chuckled. “Well, you might have been delayed. But we didn’t notice. After all...” He glanced at his watch. “...you’re right on time here. Glad you made it. Lois is...” He glanced over his shoulder, through the window into the adjoining room. “Well, she’s around here somewhere. She just took a little walk. I’m sure she’ll be back any minute. She’s been anxious to get back to her own time.”
“Speaking of that,” Philip said. “I discovered something quite unusual. I think it explains why she jumped to 1999 instead of coming back to 2157.”
Bernard’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been wondering about that. I wondered if you might have, perhaps, found a way to overcome your ‘time protection’ issue. Although, to tell the truth, I don’t think that is something you should do. After all, time protection is very important if...”
“Dr. Klein!” David interrupted. His failure to identify which one caused both Dr. Kleins to turn and look at him. “Can you just tell us where Lois went?”
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 11
* * * * * * * * *
The street was deserted - a normal state of affairs one would assume for a residential city street at three o’clock in the morning. But this wasn’t any normal city street. It was his street. And this was the first night in a long time when no one was camped outside on his doorstep.
A cab stopped in front of the well-known address and Lois stepped out. She stared at the darkened windows of his apartment for a long moment before walking towards the steps that would take her to his door. The butterflies in her stomach were making her feel almost ill. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t heard the cab leave, as if the driver was waiting to see what she would do - probably intending to sell the story of a woman showing up at Superman’s apartment in the middle of the night to the tabloids. Assuming, of course, the tabloids were sill buying. She turned and glared at the cabby until he pulled away from the curb and disappeared into the night.
She turned back around, swallowing hard when her eyes landed on the door to his place. Dealing with a noisy cab driver had been easy. Far easier than dealing with what lay on the other side of that door. Still, that was why she was here, wasn’t it? Or had she lost her nerve?
Lois Lewis never lost her nerve! Stiffening her spine, she continued climbing the stairs, although her steps seemed to get slower and slower as she approached the small landing outside his apartment. Why did she suddenly feel as if she was a prisoner taking her last few steps on her way to the guillotine? She sighed. She knew why. It wasn’t so much that she thought he’d be unable to forgive her for leaving him the way she had - although, in truth, that was a small concern - it was more that she was terrified that he would think she had lost her mind.
Time travel. She almost snorted as she imagined the look on his face when she told him she was from the future. ‘I’m supposed to go back to the future. That’s why I left. But I want to run away with you instead.’
‘That’s fine, Lois. Why don’t you just have a seat while I call those nice young men in the white coats?’
Or worse...
‘Run away with me? That’s why I’m leaving - to get away from lunatics like you!’
Or even worse...
‘Run away with me? Lois, we’ve only known each other for twenty-four hours. I mean, don’t get me wrong, last night was nice, but I think you took it a little more seriously than I intended.’
‘But you said you loved me?’
‘Lois, men always say that to get laid. Did you really think it meant something? I mean, come on, you’ve got a hot body, but... please! What did you think would happen? That we would fly off into the sunset? I think you’ve read one too many cheep romance novels.’
No. No! He was Superman. Man of truth and justice. He would never... Never what? Behave like a normal man? She growled. This wasn’t helping.
The building, she noted in an attempt to distract herself, was of an unusual design. Although it was an apartment building, the steps were outdoors, winding between the various apartments. It was probably, in the days before Superman, a quaint and quiet place to live. A large window adorned the front door. She noted that, although when she’d been here back in 1996 the window had been clear with only a sheer curtain blocking curious neighbors, now the window was made of beveled glass - making it impossible to see inside. Without a doubt she knew what had caused that change.
She stopped mentally casing the place when she finally set foot on the landing in front of his door. The moment of truth. Would he accept her proposition? Or would he write her off as a complete nut? Or had she misunderstood the importance of what had happened between them the previous night? Only one way to find out. Gathering all the courage she had, she raised her hand and knocked.
Then the unthinkable happened. He didn’t answer. Almost relieved that she didn’t have to face him, she briefly considered running back down the stairs and back to Star Labs where she had no doubt Dr. Philip Klein was waiting to take her back to the future. After all, Philip had to be here now - now that she desperately wanted to stay.
No! No, she was at Clark’s place. She had to know. Even if he laughed in her face, at least she’d have her answer. And it wasn’t as if she was going to get a second chance. She knocked again, louder this time. Still, there was no answer. Was he sitting inside, watching her with his x-ray vision, just wishing she’d go away? Well, she wasn’t going away! He was going to hear her out! Then if he wanted to tell her to go to hell, he was free to do so. Not before.
“Come on, Clark. I know you’re in there. It’s three o’clock in the morning. Let me in before I wake the neighbors,” she yelled through the door.
“Too late, lady,” a man yelled from a nearby window.
She ignored him. He was obviously not a romantic - wanting to see two lovers get together in the last chapter and live happily ever after. She pounded again on the door.
But... what if he wasn’t inside? Either way, she had to know. She looked at the locks. They were more sophisticated than his earlier lock and there were more of them than had been on his door in 1996. Still, none of them looked to be the type her palm computer would open. She fiddled with the door for a moment, testing it, ensuring she was familiar with each of the various locks. She considered and quickly rejected the idea of trying to crawl out on the balcony this time. Too many people to see her. Still, that meant she’d have to be careful so that no one could tell what she was doing to the locks. She reached into her pocket to remove a couple of paperclips she’d taken from Dr. Klein’s office. Coming from an almost paperless society, she’d never seen anything like them. She was surprised to discover how much fun they were to play with. So she’d taken a couple. She figured they’d be perfect for what she had in mind.
She smiled when a few moments later the door swung open. Easy as pie. Stepping inside, she closed the door behind her. “Clark?” she called out into the darkened apartment. When there was no response, she carefully made her way down the stairs and looked into his bedroom. Still no sign of the man in question. Not knowing what to do now, she sunk down onto the side of his bed.
What if she was too late? She knew what day this was. May 11th, 1999. Could he have already disappeared? What if she had risked going back to her own time to have lost him anyway? Or worse, what if Philip found her here before Clark returned - assuming he was even coming back? In the back of her mind all day had been the possibility that she could change her mind. It was the only thing that had kept her sane. Well, she had changed her mind. But... what if she was too late? How could she live with that?
She dropped her head into her hands as the tension, the fear that he’d laugh in her face, the fear that he’d reject her plan, and even the fear that she was too late to even present her plan was released in tears. She’d risked it all. Her home. Her friends. Her future. All on a crazy scheme to be with a man she’d spent only one night with. And yet he was not here. Might never be here again. There was nothing left to do except wait for them to come to get her. And they would. She had no doubt that it was just a matter of time before Dr. Bernard Klein would figure out where she’d gone.
* * * * * * * * *
Had minutes passed? Or hours? Or even days? Lois didn’t know. Had she cried herself to sleep or had she even been sleeping at all? All she did know was that she was lying on Clark’s bed - his former bed, she corrected - when she was aware that she was no longer alone. Had she locked the door? She didn’t remember doing so. She stiffened when she heard a single set of footsteps slowly making their way into the apartment. Dr. Klein. But which Dr. Klein? It could be either one of them. Either way, he’d found her.
She stayed perfectly still, hardly breathing when the footsteps stopped, as if the owner was straining to hear if someone else was in the apartment. Lois closed her eyes, knowing it was crazy, but somehow hoping somewhere in the grogginess that was her brain that if she didn’t see the intruder, didn’t acknowledge the intruder, then he wouldn’t see her either.
The footsteps began again. This time more deliberate - as if the intruder had realized his target was only a few feet away from capture. She closed her eyes more tightly. Time. She just needed a little more time. They couldn’t find her yet.
“Lois?”
Her eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Clark,” she whimpered, scrambling up on the bed to practically throw herself into his startled arms. “Oh, god, Clark. I thought it was them.” She began planting kisses over his face. “I couldn’t do it. When it came right down to it, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave. And then I got here and you were gone and I thought they were going to take me away and I’d never have a chance to persuade you to take me with you. I don’t care where we’re going. Just take me away before they come for me.”
“Lois...” Clark carefully untangled her arms from around his neck to step back slightly. “Slow down a bit. What are you talking about?”
“We don’t have time for this, Clark. They’re looking for me. If we don’t leave now, they’re going to find me. They’re going to take me away from you.” As she spoke, she tried to pull Clark towards the balcony.
“I won’t let anyone take you anywhere you don’t want to go,” Clark insisted, resisting her attempts.
“You don’t understand,” Lois said in exasperation. “If they get here, they’ll make sure I go with them.”
“I’ve got really good hearing, Lois. I’ll tell you what. I’ll listen and if anyone gets anywhere near this apartment, I’ll have you out in seconds. But you have to tell me what’s going on.”
She stared into his eyes for a long moment. She realized that he was humoring her, but it wasn’t as if she could make him fly her to whatever deserted island he’d decided to live out the rest of his life on unless he agreed. And explaining what was going on seemed to be his condition. “Do you promise?” she asked. “If anyone gets close to this apartment before we talk, you’ll take me with you wherever you’re going?”
“I promise. But I don’t understand. Why do you think I’m going anywhere?”
She stepped forward, laying a hand on his arm. He stepped back, dislodging her hand. She cocked her head to the side. She hadn’t noticed it until now, but something had changed. Had she hurt him too much with her disappearing act? Maybe he’d figured everything out on his own and realized that it was too dangerous to let her stay here with him. After all, her presence could change the future. But surely if she disappeared with him the future would be safe. Maybe it was her behavior he was reacting to. Did he think she’d lost her mind? She quickly evaluated everything that had happened since he had entered his apartment. She’d thrown herself into his arms, kissing him. He’d caught her but hadn’t kissed her back, removing her from his embrace almost immediately.
“What’s wrong, Clark?”
He sighed, turning and heading back into the living room. She followed, watching as he finally turned on a light. “Why don’t I make us some coffee?” he asked. “Then we can talk.”
“No!” she was in front of him in an instant, blocking his way to the kitchen. “Is it that you don’t want me anymore? Because if that’s the case, if my little disappearing act today has changed your mind, or maybe you didn’t really mean it last night when you told me you loved me, then just tell me. I’ll leave right now before...”
Her voice was cut off when he pulled her to him, his lips landing hard on hers. She responded immediately, returning his kiss with the same intensity he was showing. It was a minute before he released her, causing her to stumble back, fighting the lightness in her head to retain her footing.
“Okay, so maybe that isn’t the problem,” she said, licking her lips. “But something’s wrong. I can feel it, Clark? Just tell me what it is?”
He let out a breath. “Fine. What’s your real name? Has anything you told me about yourself even been true?”
“What?”
“I visited the Sisters of Metropolis Convent today, Lois! They’ve never even heard of you! No baby was ever left on their doorstep! The entire heart-wrenching orphan story was lie, wasn’t it? Why? Were you trying to trick me into believing that we had something in common? Was it to make me feel sorry for you? Maybe let you into my heart easier? Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, is that all that’s wrong,” Lois said suddenly immensely relieved.
“Is that all?” Clark gasped in disbelief. “Everything I know about you is a lie and you ask if that’s all that’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just... Oh, god. You’ve got it all wrong. What I told you was the truth. All of it. What I didn’t tell you was... Okay, Clark, this might be a little hard to believe but... well, what I didn’t tell you was exactly when I was left on the steps of the Sisters of Metropolis Convent.”
“You said August 17th,” Clark corrected.
“Yes. But what I didn’t tell you was the year.”
“What difference could that possibly make? They still have no record...”
“That’s because I was left on their steps on August 17th, 2125.”
Clark stared at her blankly for a long moment.
“Okay, flyboy,” said Lois, taking his arm. “Why don’t you have a seat on the couch? Let me make the coffee. And then, I promise, I’ll tell you everything.”
* * * * * * * * *
It made sense. As hard as it was to believe, it still all made sense. Although Clark had more experience with alternate dimensions than time travel, he knew from his conversations with the other Lois that Tempus had also been capable of traveling in time.
So for Lois to come to 1996 in order to investigate Tempus and a woman who looked exactly like her... it made sense that she had traveled through time to get there. But still...
“I still don’t understand how you could have been born in the future,” he said. “I would have thought... well, how could things be so different between our dimension and the other one?”
“Are you saying you believe me?” Lois asked, sounding as if she couldn’t quite trust that he was accepting her story as easily as he seemed to be.
He let out a long, slow breath, looking for other possibilities. Still, the look in her eyes was so sincere. So either he wrote her off as a complete nut or... “I believe you,” he said softly.
She let out a breath of absolute relief. “Thank you, Clark.”
Still, if she was from the future... “So I guess I understand now why you told me we could only have last night. When do you leave?”
She looked down, studying her hands. “I imagine they’re looking for me now.”
His breath caught in his throat.
She looked up then, meeting his eyes. “I don’t want to go, Clark. I don’t. That’s why I’m here.”
He moved a little closer to her on the couch. “You’re not leaving?” he asked hopefully.
“I’m not sure I’ll have any choice. But... well, there is a solution - a way we can be together.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Clark, I don’t understand how this all works. But apparently time has the ability to protect itself.”
“What do you mean?”
“If someone from the future tries to change the past, he will be sent back to his own time.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. Tempus has tried... and almost succeeded... in changing the past in the other dimension. Surely...”
“He must have found a way around the time protection thingy. But haven’t you ever wondered why I disappeared from 1996?”
“Of course, but...”
“I tried to change the past. I tried to prevent you from going out onto the stage.”
“So you disappeared - went back to 2157?”
“Not exactly. Something went wrong and I came to 1999. But... yeah. That’s the idea. But... Clark, there is a way we can be together without the fear that I’ll do something that will take me away from you again.”
“How’s that?”
She took a deep breath, shifting positions on the couch so that one leg was under her allowing her to look directly at him. Her hand came up to his face, gently stroking it. “I know you’re planning to leave, to just pick up and... well, I assume you must have decided to live out your life somewhere a little less... crazy.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You disappear in 1999. May 11th to be exact.”
“Sometime today?”
She nodded. “Take me with you, Clark. If you have no further impact on history after today, then surely I won’t either. Not if I go with you. I don’t care where we go, or what we do. I love you and I just want us to be together. Please... take me with you.”
His breath caught in his throat. “Lois,” he whispered. ‘Where you go, I will go. Where you die, I will die. Your God will be my God. Your people, my people.’ The passage from the book of Ruth he had heard when he was a child unexpectedly came back to him. He’d never understood the cost that those words must have held until he’d heard Lois’ request. She was willing to give up everything. Not only her own time. Her friends. Her life in the future. But she was also willing to give up a normal life in 1999. And given the skill he’d seen in her writing when he’d read her story, he realized exactly how good she was. And she was willing to give it all up to be with him.
He buried his hand in her hair, pulling her in to kiss her. Tasting her. Pouring his entire heart into the kiss. She seemed to take a moment to respond, as if she really wasn’t entirely sure this was actually happening. Then it seemed to sink in that he was kissing her. She moved, climbing into his lap so that she was straddling him. His arms went around her waist, pulling her closer. She finally broke the kiss, continuing to play with his hair as she looked into his eyes.
“So you’ll take me with you?” she asked, still looking slightly insecure.
“Lois, I’d take you anywhere you want to go...”
* * * * * * * * *
He’d take her anywhere. That was all she needed to hear. She instantly attacked his mouth, his face, his neck, kissing every open spot she could find as her fingers slipped between the buttons on his shirt.
She groaned in frustration when she felt the hard fabric of his Superman crest. She was slightly stunned when, a rush of wind later, she realized that the chest under her hands was bare. She pulled back to study his face. She noticed his smug look and then instantly wiped it off his face by running her hands down his chest as she leaned in to kiss him once again.
Clark growled. She squealed when he flipped her over onto the couch, settling between her legs. She ran a foot up the back of his leg before settling both legs around him, hooking her feet behind him as they continued to kiss.
His hands slipped beneath her sweater - a sweater that she figured she’d either frame or burn as soon as she had something new to wear. Wiggling slightly, she got enough distance between them to pull the well-worn sweater from her body, dropping it on the floor. Her bra was the next item to go, almost as quickly. He followed it up with the flannel shirt he’d been wearing.
When their shirts were gone, Clark leaned in, kissing her throat.
Lois felt conflicted. They had to leave now and yet... Oh, god, she wanted him to continue. She’d thought she’d never feel this again. She moaned, closing her eyes as she allowed him to continue for a moment. Then she forced herself to pull his head back so that she could look into his eyes. Her insides turned to jelly when she saw the dazed passion in his eyes.
“Clark, we have to talk,” she said, each word a labored breath.
A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “You talk. I’ll listen,” he said, breaking her grip so that he could return to nuzzling her neck.
“Where are we going?” she forced herself to ask.
“Going?” Clark asked, hardly raising his head from her neck long enough to get the single word out.
“Where were you planning to go today?” When he raised his head, looking slightly confused, she continued. “You know, when you disappear. Where do you go?”
“Lois, I don’t have any plans to disappear to some tropical island or something,” he said, finally giving her at least part of his attention, even as his hand slipped down to trace circles over her stomach.
“No. No, you have to disappear. It’s what happened. Unless...” She paused slightly. When she started again, her voice was somewhat panicked. “Oh, god, Clark. I must have changed history. If you aren’t planning to leave today... Meeting me must have messed everything up.”
“What are you talking about, Lois?” he asked, lowering his head again so that he could run his tongue down the vein in her throat.
“The time line! I must have changed the time line. If you don’t leave... can you imagine the amount of damage that will do to the time line? How can...” Her voice trailed off into a moan when his tongue found her pulse point. And suddenly, there was nothing but passion, driving every other thought from her mind as his hands began to explore her body. Her head dropped back onto the couch as each touch became bolder as he explored her.
A sudden knock on the door startled them both. Lois sat up, the panic increasing when it sank in who it must be. “Clark, you were supposed to keep your ears open! They’ve come. We’ve got to get out of here now before they can take me away from you! We’ve got...”
Clark quickly pulled her into his arms to kiss her, calming her slightly. “I won’t let them take you,” he promised. “We’ll find a way to work this out.” He grabbed her shoulders, looking intently into her eyes. “I won’t lose you. I swear, Lois. They won’t take you away from me. But... don’t you think we should at least tell them where you are? Or do you want them searching, wondering what happened to you?”
“I...” God. She hadn’t thought of that. David would go crazy if she just disappeared off the face of the Earth. He would think she was lying dead in an alley somewhere. But it was such a risk.
“We’ll work it out. I swear,” Clark added.
She looked into his eyes for a moment, breaking contact only when the knock was repeated. Finally, she let out a breath and nodded. Either way, David had a right to know what had happened to her. And if Clark was wrong and they were separated... No. No, he’d promised he wouldn’t let them take her away. She had to trust him. She still couldn’t quite look at him as he broke away from her.
He gave her one final light kiss before rising to his feet. She couldn’t help but smile when he gave himself a blast of freezing breath, leaving small traces of ice pellets on the front of his trousers.
“Oh great. I don’t suppose you have a way to calm me down as well,” she muttered.
He smiled, bending down to pick up their shirts. He went to hand hers to her when she suddenly reached out, taking his. He smiled, tossing her sweater back on the couch before disappearing in a flash. She had just finished doing up his shirt on as Clark approached the door.
“You ready,” he asked, turning to look back to her, wearing a fresh shirt.
Running her hand through her hair to provide some semblance of order, she nodded. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, her heart in her throat when he finally opened the door and she saw the last person she was expecting to see standing outside Clark’s apartment.
David.
Beside him, she vaguely noticed the two Dr. Kleins. The air around her seemed to solidify as David’s eyes took in her current disheveled state.
She shouldn’t feel guilty. She had nothing to feel guilty for. After all, she and David weren’t a couple. However, as she watched the happiness she’d seen in his eyes when he’d first observed her dim, she did feel guilty. She knew David had a huge crush on her. And even though she’d never done anything to encourage him, seeing her in what could only be interpreted as a compromising situation had to be hard for him.
Or... maybe it wasn’t so compromising. After all, they were both... Her thought trailed off as she noticed Clark quickly doing up the buttons on his shirt as Dr. Bernard Klein introduced his companions. He looked over at her, giving her a nervous smile and she fought the urge to groan. Even from here, she could see some lipstick on his neck. And without looking in a mirror, she knew her makeup had to be at least somewhat messy.
She quickly looked away when David was introduced to Clark. Although quite polite, David seemed more than a little subdued for someone who was meeting his idol. She heard Clark invite them in and looked up again as David made his way into the living room while the two Dr. Kleins detained Clark by continuing to talk to him.
“So...” David said, reaching out to feel the soft material of the sleeve of the flannel shirt. “Nice.”
She shrugged nervously. “My sweater was about to get up and walk away on its own. Clark was nice enough to let me wear one of his.”
His eyebrow rose and he bent over to pick her sweater off the couch. It had obviously just been tossed aside. He handed it back to her.
“Thank you,” Lois said, taking the sweater as her face began to flush.
“Oh, and...” He stepped around her, picking up something else. “...you wouldn’t want to forget this,” he said, handing her the red bra.
She cringed. How could she have been so careless? Flaunting what had happened between her and Clark in David’s face. Although, to be fair, she hadn’t known David would come. She wished she could just crawl under the couch and pretend none of this had ever happened. Still... She forced herself to meet David’s eyes. “David...” She began, intending to apologize - although she wasn’t entirely sure what for.
However, her comment was cut off by Clark and the two Dr. Kleins entering the living room.
Her eyes flitted to Clark who was looking at her somewhat quizzically. He gestured his guests to take seats before sitting on the sofa, placing his arm across the back as if inviting her to sit beside him. Taking a quick peek at David, she settled into a single chair while everyone else sat down as well. Realizing she was still holding her sweater and bra, she quickly stuffed both behind her back.
“So Clark here was saying that you’ve told him where you’re from?” Philip Klein said, as if trying to gage for certain that the comments Clark must have made to him were true and he wasn’t about to let any cats out of the bag.
“Well, if you can’t trust Superman...” Lois said, hoping to inject a little humor into a very tense room.
“Yes, well. You shouldn’t have told him,” Philip continued. “The more people who know...”
“You told Bernard here,” Lois interrupted, glad to have anger to overcome her embarrassment after her conversation with David.
“Yes, well. I guess you’re right,” Philip amended. “If you can’t trust Superman...” He gave a nervous laugh. “Still...”
“Philip, just tell them your theory,” Bernard said, obviously impatient to get on with... something. Something that had his eyes dancing, as if he were completely enthralled with this new knowledge... whatever it was.
“Oh, right,” Philip said. He suddenly looked much more animated, too. “Well, I have a theory. I think I know why you jumped to 1999 instead of 2157.”
“Why?” Lois asked, for the first time seriously interested in the discussion. If she knew that, she might be able to figure out how to make sure she wouldn’t end up disappearing on Clark.
“Lois, David said you were left on the Sisters of Metropolis Convent when you were a baby? Do you remember anything before that?”
“I was only a couple of days old,” Lois said. “How am I supposed to remember before then?”
“Okay. But you’ve never been able to find out where you were born or who your parents are? How hard did you look?”
“Very. I looked everywhere, but what does this have to do with me jumping to 1999?”
“Oh, right. Well...” He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a single piece of paper. “I want you to take a look at this.”
Curious, she reached over and took it from him. Clark was leaning over, trying to see it as well as she opened it. She looked at the birth certificate, confused. Then her eyes focused on the name. Lois Lane.
“What is this?” she asked, her heart beginning to race.
“I think that’s you,” Philip said.
Clark reached out, taking the paper. “I’ve seen this before,” he said.
“When?” Lois asked.
“When I was looking for you,” Clark said. “And I found something else.” He got up, making his way into his bedroom for a moment. When he returned, he had a newspaper article. He handed it to Lois.
She stared at it for a moment.
“Is that the article about Lois Lane being stolen from the hospital?” Philip asked.
Lois’ eyes snapped up to look at Philip. “How did you know?” she asked as Clark nodded.
“Lois, look at the date of birth on the birth certificate?” Philip said.
“October 7th, 1967?” Lois looked over at Clark before scanning the faces of everyone else, trying to figure out what they were trying to tell her.
“So you think she was kidnapped from 1967, taken to the future and... what? Left on the steps of the convent?” Clark asked.
“Are you nuts?” Lois said, not entirely sure who she was addressing.
“And why is this relevant to why she jumped to 1999?” Clark asked, directing the subject to the question at hand.
“Lois, did you do something in 1996 to try to change the past?”
Lois nodded. “I tried to warn Clark not to go out on that stage with Tempus. Tempus!” she said, when something clicked inside her head. “That’s what he was talking about!”
“What?” Clark asked.
“In 1996. Before he tied me to that chair where you first saw me,” she said, addressing Clark, “Tempus made a comment about it being too bad I’d come back. Even commented that I was a cute baby. I kept wondering what he was talking about. But... if he could jump dimensions...”
“He could travel in time too,” Clark completed for her. “Of course. He had to be the one who kidnapped you in the first place.”
“I suppose it would explain why you kept dreaming about him,” David said, sounding anything but excited.
“Jump dimensions?” Bernard asked, unlike David, sounding incredibly excited about this new possibility. “There are other dimensions? Other universes? Like ours in so many ways and yet different?”
Lois cringed. She probably shouldn’t have mentioned alternate dimensions.
“Dr. Klein,” Clark said, interrupting him. “Could we get back to the why Lois jumped to 1999 instead of going back to 2157 when she tried to change the past?”
“Oh, right. Well, David said you were a couple of days old when you were left on the steps of the convent. So I started my calculations from August 15th, 2125. When you left the future, you were 31 years, 212 days old. Now, there are 31 years, 212 days between the date Lois Lane was born on October 7th, 1967 and May 7th, 1999. So I guess the question is did you jump ahead to May 7th?”
“I did, but...”
“You jumped forward to your own time - which is exactly what it is supposed to happen if you try to change the past. But the reason that you didn’t jump to 2157 is because that isn’t where you’re supposed to be.”
Lois and Clark stared at each other in disbelief.
“So you’re saying that... what? I could change things in 1999 because this is my time?”
“Exactly,” Philip responded. “In fact, it seems you have been changing things. The article about Superman. Perry White’s announcement. Oh, and David said he found a picture of Superman smiling - which he seemed to think was significant.”
Lois glanced over at Clark who was looking somewhat confused.
“But if I’ve been changing the past... Oh, god. I had no idea.”
“No,” Philip said immediately. “What you’re doing here has been completely proper. Even my instrumentation which picks up any anomalies in time hasn’t been finding the changes you’ve been making. What Tempus did was to change the past. You’re only setting things right.”
“But your past?” Lois said, looking between David and Philip.
“It will possibly change with you back here. But I trust time,” Philip said. “Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”
“So then... well, that explains why you had no intention of disappearing even though it’s May 11th, 1999,” Lois said, looking at Clark. “Meeting me must have changed things. That’s why you don’t disappear!”
She noticed David and Philip share a look.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Lois said triumphantly. “Superman doesn’t disappear, does he?”
“Well...” David started.
“It’s not healthy for you to know about the future,” Philip interrupted. “We can neither confirm or deny...”
“But I’m from the future?” Lois objected.
“Well, technically...”
“I already know a lot about the future,” Lois said, interrupting what Philip had obviously been about to say.
“And that’s a bit of a problem. But there’s nothing we can do about that. Unless... well, I suppose we could go back to 2125, get you off the steps of the convent before they found you and take you to 1967. That would be the most logical solution. But it would change everything in your past as well.”
Lois felt as if the walls were closing in around her. They wanted to erase everything in her life, everything she knew, everything she was. Would the new her even like Clark Kent? Would he like her? Surely they would meet since she had no doubt she would still get a job working for the Daily Planet, but... She was suddenly struck by another thought. Her night with Clark would never have happened. It felt as if all the air was being sucked out of the room.
But if Klein was determined to go through with this, how could she even stop him? He certainly had right on his side. After all, he was simply correcting the mess Tempus had already made out of the past. But she couldn’t lose what she had with Clark. She couldn’t lose it - not even to another version of herself. And that’s what she’d be if she was returned to 1967 as a baby.
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
