My apologies - I'm working without a beta so I spend a lot of time second-guessing myself and dithering over inconsequential details. I will try to be more punctual in posting. 
TOC Previously:
"Well, uh, good night, Lois." Clark turned away and shut the door softly behind him. Would she still be there in morning? What would tomorrow look like without Lois by his side?
You'll never know the difference, he told himself.
Unable to resist, he peeked through the wall. Lois had picked up the framed picture that sat on her dresser and was looking at it. The candid shot of him kissing Lois had been taken in the newsroom after the fiasco with Leigh-Anne Stipanovik and her briefly "super" son, Jessie. Clark looked away, unable to bear the thought that he would never have that kiss.
Please, he thought, don't let me know the difference.
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Ricochet 4/10
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1998
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Lois couldn't sleep.
At first she had wandered around the room, looking at the framed pictures on the bureau and poking around in drawers and the bathroom cabinet. She kept coming back to the picture that had most caught her interest. It was her and Clark kissing, apparently oblivious to the fact that they were in the newsroom. His left hand was cupping her cheek and there was no ring on his finger so it must have been before they were married.
Just like the picture downstairs she had seen earlier, they seemed to be head-over-heels in love. Clark had said that they were happy together - were they still that happy? She looked around the room and wondered at their life together. That was Clark's jacket on the bed, his shoes on the floor, those were his toiletries in the bathroom mixed in with the familiar brands she used. It was odd, but somehow reassuring, to see how effortlessly their lives had intertwined.
Every time she looked at the bed she started feeling almost panicky. Did Clark honestly think that she could crawl under those covers and fall asleep? Sleep seemed completely out of the question. No, what she really wanted was some answers. Frustratingly, Lois couldn't find her journal. There was nothing in the drawers of the night stand or on the bookshelf at the far end of the room.
She tried to read one of the novels on the bookshelf, but it couldn't hold her interest. A quick glance at the alarm clock revealed that almost an hour had passed since Clark had gone to bed. Would he be asleep yet? Did she dare to leave the room?
Two more achingly long minutes ticked by before she decided that she couldn't stay in there one more second. She opened the door cautiously and peeked into the hallway. The door opposite was closed. Lois waited for a few seconds, but couldn't hear any movement in the room. The door remained firmly closed.
Lois tiptoed out of the room, wincing when a floorboard creaked. She froze, but the door across the hall remained shut. She let out the breath she'd been holding and worked her way stealthily down the stairs. In the shadows of the room downstairs, she could just make out the outline of a lamp on a side table so she turned it on. The soft click of the switch seemed overly loud to her ears and she looked up at the ceiling, waiting to hear footsteps.
There still wasn't a sound. Was it possible that Superman was a deep sleeper? The odds didn't seem very good on that one, but she wasn't about to squander the opportunity to do some unsupervised snooping.
Lois turned in a small circle, looking around the room. Some of the furniture was new, but she could see pieces from both of their apartments blended together. Her fish tank. His desk. Her curio cabinet. Lois moved closer to the cabinet. There were more than three Kerths in it now.
Hers. Hers. Hers. His. Theirs. She squinted at the etching on the award and read that it had been presented to Clark Kent and Lois Lane for outstanding reporting on "The Kryptonian Invasion". Next to the award was a picture of the two of them holding their shared Kerth. They were beaming at each other and she rolled her eyes, a little irritated by how saccharine she must have become. It couldn't possibly be never-ending sunshine and lollipops in the Kent household. No man, not even Superman, could be that perfect.
Her attention shifted back to the award. Kryptonian invasion? Was that in reference to Superman? Or had other people like Clark invaded Earth? There had been nothing during her crosstown trip to indicate that the world was under new management.
She sensed movement to her right and looked over to see Clark coming down the stairs. "Hi!" she blurted out nervously. "I hope I didn't wake you."
He shook his head. "I couldn't sleep."
"So, uh, I was just, you know, here." Lois took a step away from the cabinet and hoped he wasn't going to be upset that she was clearly snooping. "What I mean is that I'm still here. In 1998. I just came downstairs to get a drink of water."
Clark thought about calling her on that one, but decided to let it go. It had been foolish on his part to assume that Lois would just call it a night when there was investigating to be done. Then again, she was so cute when she backpedaled that he couldn't help teasing her. "We keep the sink in the kitchen, not the trophy case."
Her head swung to look at the swinging door leading to the kitchen. "So you do," she said and took another step backwards. "I just got a little distracted."
"How about some coffee?" Clark asked. "I doubt either of us is going to get much sleep tonight."
His earlier smile faded as he spoke, leaving him looking rather sad and lost, and Lois didn't have the heart to turn him down.
"Uh, sure. Why not?" Lois gestured for him to lead the way.
She followed him into the kitchen, wondering as she went about why he couldn't sleep. If he was so worried that she'd be looking around his house, he never should have left her alone. Was that why he was having trouble sleeping? And then it dawned on her. The reason why Clark looked like he had lost his best friend was because he
had lost his best friend. All those smiling pictures were of Clark and the woman who wasn't here tonight.
"Where do you think she is?" Lois asked and leaned back warily against the counter closest to the door.
Clark didn't answer right away, instead concentrating on measuring the coffee and starting the pot brewing.
"I don't know," he said as he took two mugs from a cupboard. "I've been going over it again and again in my mind, and I still can't figure out what happened. I keep hoping that it's a swap. That you've switched places with yourself."
"So you think the me from now is back in 1995?"
"I have to believe that," he answered, his voice soft. "Otherwise…" He shrugged and Lois felt a stab of pity for him.
"I'm sorry," she said reflexively.
"It's not your fault."
A minute or so went by as Lois thought furiously. She was, undeniably, still here. There had to be a reason. She cleared her throat before saying, "So, maybe, I'm supposed to learn something else by coming here? Something besides you being Superman? Maybe you should be telling me what's happened over the past three years?"
He smiled faintly and shook his head. "Nice try."
"What?" she asked, deeply offended that he was keeping the details of her own life from her. "You're seriously not going to tell me anything?"
"Lois, one thing I've learned from the other occasions where we've skipped time is that we have to be careful."
"Still," she persisted, "there's got to be a reason why I'm here. You don't have to tell me everything, just, uh, just tell me the one thing that you would change, if you could. Maybe you're supposed to warn me about something?"
"If we change anything, even something small, who knows what it will change going forward?"
"But it's already changed!" she told him impatiently. "Hello? I know that you're Superman. The least you can do is tell me how you told me the first time."
He sighed and she could sense that his resolve was weakening. "Come on, Clark. How did you tell me?"
The coffee had finished brewing and Clark poured it into the mugs. He put one down next to her and then set to work sweetening the other. "I didn't," he said finally. "You figured it out."
Relief washed over Lois. After dating him for a couple of months, she surely must have seen right through him. "How? How did I figure it out?"
"You had your eyes closed and I touched you, as Superman, and you recognized me."
His answer sent an unexpected blush to her cheeks, but she had to know more. "How did you touch me?"
Clark reached out to cup her cheek. "Like this."
His hand quickly dropped away, but the ripple of excitement his touch started continued to vibrate through her. He was touching her just like that in the photo upstairs, too. What were the circumstances that caused him to touch her like that as Superman?
"What did I say when you did that?"
"Nothing. You didn't say anything." Clark's expression flickered and she was convinced that he was still holding back.
"Nothing? Then how do you know that I knew?"
"You told me the next day."
"Why not just tell you then? What else was going on?"
He shrugged.
Lois rolled her eyes. "What if I promise not to change anything? Okay? I won't not marry you when I get back."
"Lois--."
"And another thing, if you're so keen to keep from saying too much, then why did you tell me - practically to the hour - how long we've been married? You do know the day, don't you? The day I found out?"
Clark stirred his coffee, uncertain what to say. She might not be his wife yet, but she was definitely Lois. And Lois was never going to let it go. He had never been on this end of her single-minded pursuit of the truth before, but he knew very well that she wasn't about to give up. It was one of the reasons he had first been drawn to her.
"Yes," he finally admitted.
"So why not tell me when I found out?"
"You seemed so upset, when I told you how long we'd been married, I didn't want to make it worse."
"I wasn't upset," she said defensively. "I was just overwhelmed. Now that I've a little time to let it all sink in, well, it's not that bad. My future, I mean." Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "I marry Superman, so it can't be all bad."
To her relief, he laughed. "No, not all bad."
Lois sipped at her coffee and went through her mental list of answers she needed to get out of him. How long had she known about him? How did he ask her to marry him? What was the Kryptonian invasion? Who else knew that he was Superman? Was their life together really that idyllic? Direct questioning had yielded her very little, she was going to have to be more subtle.
"Do we ever fight?" she asked.
"Fight?"
"You know - disagree? Exchange words? Raise our voices?"
Clark sipped at his coffee. Was he stalling or just giving the question some thought? Finally he sighed and admitted, "Sometimes."
Lois nodded, happy that he was being honest. "That's good. Because all these pictures of us looking so happy - well, it just seemed creepy."
"Most people smile and look happy for pictures." Clark's head tilted, as if he had heard something. She had seen him make that same gesture countless times before, but now it made sense to her.
"Do you need to go?"
Clark listened for a moment or two longer before shaking his head. "No."
"Maybe that's when it will happen? I came here while you were gone; maybe I return once you leave?"
"Maybe."
The thought made her just the teensiest bit sad. It seemed unfair to leave just as she was truly getting to know him. She had imagined being with Superman in all manner of steamy scenarios and, occasionally, had even wondered what it would be like just to casually hang out with him like she did with Clark. Now that she knew his secret, how different would her life be?
"Should I tell you that I know, when I go back?"
For once, Clark answered without hesitation. "Probably. I wanted to tell you for so long. It was such a huge relief, once you knew."
In spite of the novelty of standing in a kitchen with Superman in the middle of the night, Lois yawned.
"Sorry," she mumbled and then yawned again.
"It's understandable," Clark's elbow companionably nudged hers. "You haven't slept in three years."
Lois rolled her eyes at his lame joke. "Would it be okay with you if I took the guest room? I feel weird, kicking you out of your bedroom."
"That's fine--." His head turned, listening to something she couldn't hear.
"Just go," she told him. "I promise I won't snoop around while you're gone."
"It doesn't sound really urgent," Clark explained as he set his mug down on the counter. "But I should probably go check it out."
Lois held out her hand. "Well, it was nice really meeting you, Clark."
His hand took hers and their eyes met. "It was May 19," he said.
May 19? And then it dawned on her - that was
the day. The day she figured him out.
His fingers squeezed hers softly and then he stepped back. There was a red and blue blur in front of her that spun towards the outside door. He stopped for a moment at the door and gave her one last nod and then he was gone.
"May 19," she repeated to herself, treasuring that nugget of information.
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The next morning Lois woke up in an unfamiliar room. It took her less than a second to realize where - and when - she was. She got and opened the door to the room, seeing immediately that the one across the hall was open and empty.
"Clark?" she called out.
There was no answer. Was he still out as Superman? The clock on the bedside table read 8:30 - had he gone to work? She went downstairs, calling out his name at the bottom of the stairs as a precaution. When there was still no answer, she went into the kitchen.
There, propped on the counter in front of the coffee pot, was a note.
"Lois -- I had to go to work for a few hours. I've told Perry you weren't feeling well today, so please stay at the house until I get back. -- Clark"
Was he kidding? She was supposed to sit here and wait for him to come home? Did he expect the laundry to be done, the bathroom cleaned, and dinner on the table when he got back? Lois tapped the note a few times on the countertop while she fumed.
Then she crumpled the note and picked up the phone to make a call.
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Clark was coming out of the conference room when he caught sight of Lois walking down the ramp into the newsroom. Relief surged through him; she was back and she was--. His eyes narrowed and he looked at her more closely. That blue silk shirt was stretched tighter across her chest than it had been last week when she wore it. His gaze dropped to check her left hand - no wedding ring.
"I thought you weren't coming in today," Jimmy called out as he waved to her.
"You thought wrong. I'm fine," she said breezily, watching Clark carefully for his reaction. His eyes narrowed and he started walking purposefully in her direction.
Busted, Lois thought. As Clark stalked toward her, she wondered at her own daring, goading Superman like this. She had just reached her desk and was starting to sit down when he caught her elbow to stop her. "Lois, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," she said and calculated how big a scene she was willing to make.
"Somewhere private," he clarified.
"People will talk," she teased, but gave in and let him lead her into the copy room.
"What are you doing?" he asked as soon as the door closed.
"Working." She tried to sound baffled by his question, but failed.
"I thought we agreed you were going to lay low."
"What?" Lois exclaimed. "When did I agree to that? What if I'm supposed to find something out here at work? I doubt that your HG Wells brought me here so I sit around waiting for you to come home. No one else suspects a thing. Don't make me have cut my hair for nothing. Incidentally, how did you know?"
"No wedding ring." He gestured at her hand. "How are you supposed to work? You don't even know what stories you're working on."
"Well, I saw notes about Dudley Michaels--."
"Bad idea," he cut her off. "Even with your notes, you won't have a clear picture of what's happening with Michaels. It's probably best if you don't interact too much. Okay?"
"But I have you," she said and gave him what she hoped was her most beguiling look. "You'll help me. We are still partners, aren't we? I bet you know almost as much about which stories I'm working on as I do."
"This is such a bad idea," he muttered.
There was a knock on the door. "When you two are done in there, I want you in my office," Perry shouted through the door.
"What's it going to be?" Lois asked. "Either you partner with me or I go out there and ask Jimmy to pull every story I've written for the past three years."
Clark looked up at the ceiling like he was appealing for help from on high. Then he held up one finger in warning. "Let me do most of the talking, okay?"
Lois grinned in triumph. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
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1995
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Lois shifted unhappily in her seat and tried yet again to remember where Lex's underground hideout had been. She kept drawing a blank, so she had convinced Clark that their best bet for tracking down Lex was to follow Ramin. They had followed him the first time, surely it would work again?
They had been sitting outside of Ramin's apartment for nearly two hours without sighting him. As tempting as it was to ask Clark if Ramin was in there, Lois didn't dare. She comforted herself that Clark would have suggested another tack by now if Ramin hadn't been home.
A muted chirp interrupted her thoughts and Lois searched through her purse for the cell phone. "Hello?"
"Where are you?" Perry asked without preamble.
"Outside Ramin's apartment."
"So Bender is inside, meeting with Ramin?"
Lois cringed, remembering now that they were supposed to be sticking to Bender 'like flies on a t-bone'. "Uh, no. Not exactly. Bender is supposed to contact us today."
"How's that again?"
"Superman told Bender last night that he needed to go into hiding. He promised us that he'd--."
"Superman promised? Or Bender promised?" Perry interrupted.
"Bender promised Superman?" Lois answered hopefully.
"Judas Priest! You believed that? Are you telling me you let Bender walk away?"
"Superman never lies…"
"Lois, tell me something. Are lawyers known for their integrity?"
"Some of them," she shot back. "A man's life was on the line, Chief!"
"And now yours is too, if you come back here--."
At that moment Ramin came out the front door of his building. "Gotta go." Lois hung up on Perry in mid-bark.
"You'd better be right about Ramin," Clark told her as he opened the car door to get out.
Lois didn't answer him, instead concentrating on tailing Ramin as he walked briskly down the street. He turned left around a corner. By the time they reached the corner, Ramin had disappeared.
Clark looked around, clearly astonished. "Where did he go?"
"There." Lois pointed at a grate in the sidewalk. "I bet he went underground."
Clark lifted the grate and held it open. "Ladies first."
Lois descended the stairs and looked around. It was just like she remembered - slick concrete, running water and a dim string of lights leading along a footbridge. She crossed the bridge and climbed the slippery set of stairs on the other side, holding tight to the rope railing to keep from falling. At the top of the stairs was a dank but well-lit room. Rope and netting hung along the back wall and a chill shot through her when she caught sight of the oubliette where she had been swarmed by rats.
Clark moved past her to examine the large crate fashioned into a makeshift desk. Four folding chairs had been set up around the crate.
"You were right," he told her, holding up a map. "They were going to free Vale en route to the courthouse."
"Of course I was right." Lois looked around uneasily. The room seemed to be a dead end, but there was no sign of Ramin. Where had he gone?
"But you're still not going to tell me how you knew?" Clark asked.
"Not a chance." Lois smiled to herself at the thought of telling him the truth.
"Someone's coming," Clark whispered.
"Who?" she asked him and he shrugged elaborately. Liar, she thought. Still, he didn't seem too upset, so it must not be Lex.
Lois could hear the footsteps now and she straightened her shoulders, ready to brazen her way out. Gretchen Kelly let out a gasp of surprise when she reached the top of the stairs. Then she grinned and pulled a small revolver from the pocket of her jacket.
"Lex told me to find you," she sneered at Lois. "Thanks for making it so easy." She gestured with the gun at the folding chairs. "Over there, both of you. Sit down."
After a quickly shared glance, both of them complied. Gretchen sighed and seethed for a few seconds and then waved the gun at the pile of netting and rope. "Change of plans. Tie him up," she ordered Lois. "And I mean tight, don't think you can trick me, because I'm going to double-check the knots."
Lois shrugged and went to grab a length of rope. It really didn't matter how many ropes she used or how good the knots were, so she was perfectly willing to accede to Gretchen's request. She found the thickest rope and bound Clark's hands tightly.
"Happy now?" she asked Gretchen sarcastically.
"Sit." Lois did so and Gretchen swiftly began securing her wrists together. The rope dug into her skin and itched terribly.
"Now what?" Clark asked.
"Now you shut up and don't give me a reason to shoot you." Gretchen looked at her watch and then moved behind Clark to check Lois' handiwork. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere, she pocketed the gun and walked over to the edge of the oubliette.
"What does he see in you?" Gretchen pondered aloud, peering down thoughtfully into the dark hole. "I've never been able to figure that one out."
Lois swallowed reflexively, wondering if Gretchen was planning to toss her into that hole. Please, she thought, let her at least untie my hands first.
"You should let us go," Clark said. "The police know that we're here."
At that, Gretchen let out a genuine laugh. "If the police knew about this place, do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe they'd send you two down to check things out first?"
Clark looked at Lois and shrugged slightly as if to say it had been worth a try. Then his attention shifted to the stairs.
"Who's coming?" Lois whispered but he only shrugged again in answer.
Gretchen turned toward the stairs and nervously combed her fingers through her hair.
Lex. It had to be Lex. Lois took a few calming breaths and steeled herself to have to see him again. Where was HG Wells when you really needed him?
"Well, well," Lex said as he paused at the top of the stairs and surveyed the scene before him.
"They were here when I got here, Lex," Gretchen told him.
Lex tossed away the baseball cap he'd been wearing. "It didn't have to be this way, my love." He strode confidently toward Lois, a cold smile on his face.
Deeply uneasy at this new version of events, Lois twisted her hands and the rope dug deeper into her flesh. She heard a soft snapping sound next to her and realized that Clark had broken at least one of the loops of his bonds. The only thing more disastrous than having to face Lex would be to have Clark reveal himself in front of Lex, so Lois forced herself to relax and not flinch when Lex grasped her chin and made her look up at him.
"Was ever woman in this humor wooed?" Lex mused aloud as his eyes wandered to ogle her chest. "Was ever woman in this humor won?"
Clark shifted restlessly in his chair. "Leave her alone."
Lex shook his head. "Why did you do it, Lois? Why are you deliberately sabotaging all my carefully laid plans?"
"What plans?" Lois asked with more bravado than she actually felt.
"I just want to know how you knew." Lex sat down in the empty chair on her left. "You're going to tell me how you knew to warn Bender last night."
"Bender?" Lois repeated, horrified that Lex knew about that.
"Superman," Clark blurted out. "Superman overheard you."
A flicker of annoyance crossed Lex's features before he said, "If Superman had known where I was or what I was up to, why didn't he stop me himself?"
"Do you see, Lex?" Gretchen's voice was high-pitched with tension. "Do you see how she lies to you? Just leave her to me, Lex. I'll make sure she never lies to you again."
Lex ignored Gretchen and grabbed Lois' face between both his hands. "Tell me."
Lois wanted to spit in his face, but her mouth was too dry so she had to settle for turning her head fast enough to be able to bite Lex before he could move his hand away. He pulled his hand away and then lunged for her.
"Bitch!" she heard Gretchen shriek and then the room was filled with an earsplitting roar.
At the same moment she was thrown off her chair and onto the cold damp of the floor. Lois was pinned down, her wrists throbbing from ropes and the weight of whatever was pinning her down. The weight lifted and, just as suddenly, her wrists were free.
Lois pushed herself up so she was sitting and then froze.
Lex was lying next to her with sightless eyes and a gaping, bloody hole in his throat. Clark was kneeling next to the body, his expression stunned as he slowly said, "She was aiming for you but Lex moved..."
From the depths of the oubliette, Lois heard Gretchen begin to shriek Lex's name.
"He's dead?" Lois asked in disbelief. Not wanting to touch the blood on his neck, she leaned down and shakily pressed her ear to Lex's chest. Nothing - the only sound she could hear were the wails from Gretchen.
She lifted her head and whispered, "He's dead." Clark nodded.
Lois closed her eyes as a wave of dizziness overcame her. For half a second she hoped that it was Wells, coming to take her back. Just as quickly she realized that might never happen.
The future was going to be different now.
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End 4/10
