Missing Lois - TOC Where we left off on in Chapter 2: Part 2...Clark stopped just inside the lobby; she knew how to use his super hearing to her advantage. He rubbed his face and sighed, waiting for her to catch up. When she was standing next to him again, he murmured, “I’ll stop by S.T.A.R. Labs after work today, ok?”
“Thank you.” She smiled.
“But you need to stop all this sister talk. Jax already half believes you’re Lucy Lane,” he said in the privacy of the elevator.
“My sister!” Lois struck herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. “Why didn’t I think about that…”
“Lucy!” he warned as the doors opened. “Don’t do anything rash.”
She grinned at him with an innocent expression he didn’t believe. “Who? Me?”
***
Chapter 2: The Twilight Zone - Part 3 Jaxon ambushed Lois as soon as she sat down at her desk. “What was that about?”
Clark kept an ear on their conversation.
“He accused me of cheating at cards.”
Clark sighed. That woman could lie on a dime.
“You two spend a lot of time together,” Jax continued. “At work and off. Is there something going on there?”
Lie, Lois, lie. He guided her with his mind. And then he realized that, if she did lie, she would say they were involved. He glanced over at her and found her staring at him.
“Jaxon,” she said, turning her back on Clark and lowering her voice. “Jaxon. Jaxon.” She shook her head. “Do you think I would ever speak about my friend Clark, here, at the office? Especially when he’s standing less than thirty feet away.”
Jaxon gulped. “Oh, right.”
Clark grinned. Super hearing, score one.
“Anyway,” she continued. “I don’t date.”
“Oh?” Jaxon’s curiosity was peaked.
What was she up to? Clark wondered.
“I gave it up for lent.”
Clark cracked a grin. Lois was too hilarious.
“You did?” Jaxon seemed shocked.
“No.” She raised a brow at him. “Jaxon, was there something you needed?”
“I just thought…” He looked nervous. “That we could maybe have lunch sometime, Lo… Lucy.”
Clark couldn’t believe he had just asked her out. Lois didn’t seem overly surprised. Was there more to the Jaxon Xavier story in her dimension that she didn’t mention?
“I eat lunch. You eat lunch. I’m sure someday we’ll eat lunch together, Jaxon. But not today, I have plans.”
“With Clark?” Jaxon whined under his breath.
“No, not with Clark. With a source.” She grabbed her notepad and headed toward the conference room. “Some of us, here, still talk to those.”
Both Clark and Jaxon followed her with their eyes. How had she heard him? He must have spoken louder than Clark thought, but Jaxon had the same startled expression on his face.
As Lois passed Clark’s desk, she whispered, “Stop it. I don’t need you listening in on all of my conversations. You’re acting like a stalker ex-boyfriend and it’s creepy.”
“Sorry.” Clark grabbed his notebook and followed her into the conference room. “How did you hear him say, ‘with Clark’?”
Lois rolled her eyes. “He was standing right next to me.”
“Right.” He tapped his pen to his notepad. “Who are you having lunch with today, if it isn’t me?”
Lois turned and faced him directly. “If you must know I’m meeting with a doctor.”
Good, he smiled. Then Clark wondered if she would want him to go with her. Before he could ask her, she continued, “Alone.”
“Right.”
***
Ralph entered the conference room. Lois still couldn’t believe he was their editor. Clark suddenly turned his head to the left and looked up as he listened. Strange, she could hear it too. Security alarm. He stood up and Ralph looked at him questioningly.
“Sorry,” Clark apologized grabbing his stuff. “First National Bank of Metropolis is being robbed.”
Ralph waved him off. After Clark left, he pointed to another reporter, “Barry, go cover the robbery.” Barry grabbed his stuff and rushed off after Clark.
That must be hard on Clark. To always be the first one on the scene and not get the scoop.
Ralph continued, staring straight at her, “So, research assistant, what’s Clark working on?”
Lois gulped. He had finished a story about the president’s upcoming visit yesterday. She had no idea if he had another story in the works.
“Nothing. Great. Glad he convinced the higher ups that you were worth it.” Ralph’s sarcasm struck her across the face. Lois wasn’t going to let her mistake damage Clark’s career.
“Actually, sir.” She threw the ‘sir’ in for good measure. “Clark and I have a source about some employees or former employees at S.T.A.R. Labs doing some dangerous and illegal experiments on the side. Clark said he wanted to go to S.T.A.R. Labs to confirm the story with Dr. Klein.” She and Clark hadn’t had time to compare their lists of names, but she bought him some time and got him an excuse to talk to Dr. Klein. She would get a name off her list, if it took all day. She would even put off talking to Sam Lane for another day.
Ralph looked surprised. “Have Clark check in with me after he talks to Dr. Klein.”
“Will do.” Lois made a note on her pad. She started writing down names of all the former crazies she could think of off the top of her head. She would check the archives after the meeting. She had been reading all of Clark’s stories from the past year until late last night and already had his preliminary list started.
When Clark returned Lois noticed he went directly to his desk without even a glance her way. He quickly wrote up his notes about the bank robbery and then he dropped the legal pad on Barry’s desk with a sigh. Not Clark’s notes, she realized, Superman’s notes. Nobody would ever try to steal the
Daily Planet from James Olsen with Superman’s alias on the payroll; Lois betted it was a money making machine. It pained her to see Clark forced to be such a team player. He obviously was resigned to the fact.
Lois gave him a few minutes to unwind and check his messages, then she grabbed her notes and purse and headed to his desk.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” He glanced up to her and smiled for the first time since returning from the robbery.
“You want to talk about it?”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m available, if you ever need to talk. You know that, don’t you?”
He glanced up at her with love, not desire or longing, love. No, it couldn’t be love, it must be appreciation. “Thanks.”
“We need to talk.”
Clark winced. “I’m sorry about his morning, Lucy,” he started to say before noticing the slight shake of her head. “What’s up?”
“Have you heard back from Mr. Olsen since our lunch the other day?” she asked casually.
“No, why?”
This Clark did not pick up on her clues like her Clark. But then again, her Clark had three years of practice on him. “Take me out for coffee.”
He raised a curious eyebrow at this request. “You shouldn’t be drinking coffee.”
Lois shifted her weight, crossed her arms, and stared at him. Clueless. “Then take me out for a fruit smoothie.”
The light bulb turned on in his eyes and he grabbed his jacket. “Did you eat breakfast?”
“No…”
“You can’t be skipping breakfast, anymore, Lucy,” he said as they walked to the elevator. “Your blood sugar will get too low and you’ll pass out.”
That sounded familiar. “You skimmed my books.”
Clark smiled. “This is all new for me, too.”
She shook her head. “If I promise to eat three squares a day, will you promise to lay off?”
“Kal will thank me, even if you don’t,” he said as the elevator doors shut.
“Now, it’s two against one, is it?”
They argued until after they had their fruit smoothies and had sat down at a café table outside to drink them.
“Mmmmm,” Lois moaned. “That’s good.” Her drink was gone within a minute.
Clark just stared at her and handed over his cup. “Is your appetite back?”
“Not really,” she said, taking his drink happily. “You’re right, though. I’m starving.”
“So, what’s up?”
Lois brought forth her notes. “Work. We never touched bases on you current stories, so when you…” She motioned upward with her hand. “… at the meeting this morning, I didn’t have a response for Ralph on what you were working.”
“He couldn’t wait until I returned.” Clark shook his head.
“He was gunning for me,” Lois replied.
“Why you? You’re new. He’s usually gunning for me.”
“He doesn’t like the idea of me – that someone else made him hire me – and threw me a curveball to make me look bad.”
“I’m sorry. Do you want me to talk with him?”
“No, I don’t want you to talk with him. I doubt it would do any good anyway. But I jumped the gun trying to stay on his good side.” Lois took a big sip of his smoothie and explained what she had told Ralph at the meeting.
“You really want me to talk to Dr. Klein, don’t you? I don’t know what the rush is, we know what the outcome of his tests on me will be,” Clark said, indicating her.
“True. But you need to get a rapport started now, in case we need to consult with him later. Should complications develop.”
“OK.” He held up his hands. “You win. You always win, don’t you?”
She smiled and showed him her notes about the dangerous people she and her Clark had come across in the three years they had been working together. “See if any of the names seem familiar. The ones you’ve put behind bars can be marked with a star. And we’ll cross reference the rest with S.T.A.R. Labs employee files when we get back to the office.”
“Wow! This is quite a list.” Clark glanced at the list. “What are the plus signs for?”
“The ones I put away before or independently of Kal, who when released or escaped came after me.” She finished off Clark’s smoothie and tossed the cup in a nearby trashcan.
“Do you want another?”
“Probably shouldn’t push my luck.”
“The quickest way to get results would be to pass this list to Jaxon,” Clark began.
“You are kidding, right?”
He sighed. “Right.” He stood up.
“I wouldn’t give him more than three names at a time. See what he gives us on those before we give him some more.”
“You’d still give him names off our list?”
“Sure. You promised to still give him computer research to do and as long as we don’t let anyone see the list as a whole or both our lists…”
“True. We could give him three names off the Lois Lane pluses that correspond with my Lois’s stories.”
She grinned.
His Lois. “Good idea, Clark.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll try to star as many of the other names. Which will leave us with everyone else.” He stopped at the red traffic light; Lois plundered onward to be pulled back by Clark. “No more jaywalking.”
“Nobody’s coming.” She waved at the empty intersection.
“It sets a bad example.”
“For whom?” Lois asked. “Superman?”
He glanced down at her tummy. “You know who.”
“Oh.” She frowned with a sneer. “I’m a role model now, huh?”
He nodded. “To someone you’re super…”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Ultra Woman. And she doesn’t jaywalk.”
“No, she leaps over intersections in a single bound,” Lois murmured.
“Truth and justice…”
“I penned that phrase, you know.” She grinned.
“Regretting it now?” he asked as the crosswalk light changed to green.
“Not yet.”
Five minutes after they had returned to
The Planet Clark handed back her notebook with the list of names. He had already starred his names. Strangely, there weren’t that many stars. She wondered if it was because Superman had only been around in this dimension for four months or if it was the absence of Lois Lane. Was she a magnet for crazies? Lois thought about her ex-boyfriends and decided she might be. She remembered her Clark even called her a jinx once.
Clark might be fast, but she had already decided on two out of the three names she would be having Jaxon check out. The Prankster and her old Irish friend, Patrick Sullivan. She would come up with a third eventually, after the latest crisis was past.
Most of the bad guys from her list came from old Lex Lab employees who had to go on their own after their boss nose dived off of Lex Towers. In this dimension that event never happened. Something stopped Lex Corp from developing here in Metropolis. She wanted to do a search for the name Lex Luthor, Luthor Industries, Luthor or Lex anything, but without Jimmy’s help and without alerting Jaxon, it made it all but impossible. When she got back to her dimension she would insist that Perry give Jimmy a well deserved raise. His job wasn’t easy.
By noon she had one firm name to give to Clark: Dr. Alfred Carlton. She had been able to ascertain that he was still a neuroscientist, who had worked for S.T.A.R. Labs, but had left under some kind of cloud and currently had a job as the doctor at the Beckworth School. She pulled Clark into the conference room and told him about Mentamide 5 and the Beckworth School. The story would be perfect for Clark’s style – it dealt with abandoned and orphaned children. Nobody brought someone to action or tears like Clark when he wrote about neglected children. From what she had read of this Clark’s stories, he might have an even stronger edge in that department than even her Clark.
“This is great, Lois,” Clark told her. “After lunch, I need…”
“Lucy,” she corrected him.
He blanched. “What?”
“It’s nothing, Clark. What do you need?”
“You said this Beckworth School stuff happened soon after you and Kal started working together, right?”
“Yes, two… two and a half years ago.”
“Why do you think it hasn’t been exposed before now?”
Lois explained to him her missing Lex link-in-the-chain theory. “Many of the names on my list once were funded by Lex Labs. Remove Lex, the funding and those experiments either don’t happen or don’t progress as fast.”
Clark nodded. “I need you to check the Beckworth School’s records for any unexplained or unusual deaths since Dr. Carlton started working there, while I go talk to Dr. Klein.”
“And I’ll also see if I can find out who is funding his research, now.” She hesitated a moment and then plowed ahead with her question. “Do you know what you’re going to ask him?”
Clark sighed. “Probably best to approach him about routine stuff first. Feel him out.” He glanced at his watch. “Hey, you want to grab… Wait, when’s your doctor’s appointment?”
Lois shifted her gaze to gathering her notes, so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye as she lied. “One o’clock.”
They headed out of the conference room. “Why don’t I grab us some lunch…”
She turned to face him. What was she going to do with him? He needed a hobby. Something to distract him from following after her like a puppy. “What you need, Clark Kent, is a girlfriend.”
Clark stopped dead in his tracks.
Ralph was passing by when she said this and he started chuckling. “You can say that again.”
“Very funny,” Clark stated, not amused.
“You would think with all the guns Tempus put on the streets of Metropolis that you would be too busy to count my calories…”
Clark winced. “I’m sorry. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
She nodded.
He grabbed her elbow and led her over to his desk. “I can’t help it, Lucy,” he said, speaking softly. “I worry about you.”
“And I appreciate it, I do.” She placed a hand on his chest. “Which is why I think you need a girlfriend to distract you from me. You worry too much.”
His face fell as he sighed. “It’s not that easy.”
“I bet women are throwing themselves off bridges to get a date with a charming, handsome guy like you.”
“Exactly.” He plopped himself down in his chair.
“Oh.” Lois had forgotten that everyone else knew he was Superman, too. “Well, just think about it. Maybe a name will jump out at you.”
“There is only one person I’m interested in, Lucy, and she’s unavailable,” he murmured, looking away.
“I know, Clark. I feel it too. Another reason you need a distraction.”
He looked up at her. “I don’t feel comfortable discussing this with you.”
“Tough.” Lois grinned, heading back to her desk. “You don’t have a choice. If you are going to meddle with my life, I’m going to mess with yours.” She grabbed her purse, dropped her notebook inside it, and headed toward the elevator with a wave of her hand.
She could hear him chuckling behind her.
***
Clark was unsure exactly how to approach Dr. Bernard Klein. It wasn’t every day that he went up to a scientist and asked him to poke and prod him and delve into his deepest physical secrets. He had spent half of his life fearing and avoiding such an occurrence. Lois said that Kal went to his Dr. Klein as Superman, but he couldn’t ask him questions about Dr. Carlton, for his article, as Superman. He decided to stick with his Clark Kent persona.
He found Dr. Klein in his lab mixing up some turquoise blue liquid in beakers.
“Ah, Clark Kent,” Dr. Klein greeted him with enthusiasm. “What can I do for you? Any more trouble with Kryptonite?”
“No. I had some questions about Alfred Carlton.” Clark had decided to lead with the story first and then go back to the personal stuff later. He pulled out his notebook and asked the scientist all about his former colleague. Lois had been spot on. Dr. Carlton had done some experiments that violated S.T.A.R. Labs policy on human experimentation. He had developed Mentamide 1, 2, and 3, while at S.T.A.R. Labs, but then was let go when he went around protocol and started testing number 3 on human subjects instead of primates. Luckily, no one was hurt.
“He left here, roughly, four years ago. Clark. Why all the sudden interest?” Dr. Klein swirled the blue liquid around and then smelled it.
“Off-the-record?”
The doctor nodded.
“I’ve got a source that thinks he might be using Mentamide 5 on children. How dangerous would that be?”
Dr. Klein’s eyes widened. “Extremely. When testing a new drug on anyone, children are the last people we would ever use as lab rats. Their bodies and brains are still developing and introducing a new compound could do damage to them at a cellular level. As I told you earlier Mentamide was supposed to be a intelligence boosting formula and kids brains are still learning and developing. It could backfire on him and turn them brain-dead. Don’t quote me on that. Without the data, this is all conjecture. I wouldn’t want to jump to any conclusions.” He shook his head and took a sip of the blue liquid.
Clark looked at him with concern.
The doctor chuckled. “Decongestant.”
“Oh.” Clark folded up his notebook and thanked the doctor for his time. He hesitated, not quite sure how to broach the next subject with the doctor. He liked the man well enough, but still his abilities had always been his own private business.
“Was there something else?” Dr. Klein asked, glancing up and noticing that Clark was still there.
Clark looked around the lab room to make sure they were alone and shut the door to the hallway. “I don’t know quite how to ask this…”
Dr. Klein quietly waited for him to find his words and continue.
“I need a doctor.”
The scientist looked at him in alarm. “I don’t know who to recommend, Clark. You aren’t quite like any other human I’ve ever met.”
“Exactly.” Clark nodded. “I’m not human. I’m Kryptonian. So, I need a doctor with more knowledge than a regular medical doctor.”
“What’s seems to be the problem? Maybe I can help.”
Clark smiled. Obviously, modesty was not in Dr. Klein’s vocabulary. “Well, I’m not in need of a doctor at the moment, per se…” He paused again, trying to find the correct term.
“Should we discuss this in my office?”
“Thank you.”
A half hour later, Clark was on his way back to the
Daily Planet with an extra skip in his step. He had the beginning to his story and he had a doctor. Dr. Klein had been humbled and excited that Clark had thought of him to test his physical abilities and limitations. They discussed what tests they would run first and most importantly to Clark, privacy. Dr. Klein agreed to keep all their conversations and his findings as secret as doctor / patient confidences. He would be working for Clark, not S.T.A.R. Labs or the city.
Clark did not bring up the possibility of him ever becoming a father. That would just be too much, too soon. They did set up an appointment for the following week to start on his tests. And they agreed if they were going to be testing his super abilities, it would be better if he came as Superman. Dr. Klein did have him sign some liability paperwork. He listed Lucy El as the person to contact should anything go wrong. She was as close as he could get as a next of kin.
He stopped at a phone booth to call her. He got her
Daily Planet voicemail. Strange, he assumed she would be back already from her doctor appointment. Then, he remembered something she had said that morning. She hadn’t called any doctors from the phone book. To which doctor was she referring when she said she had appointment? He got a cold chill down his back. She had also mentioned Lucy Lane’s name. She wouldn’t. He winced. Stubborn, stubborn Lois. He knew that the doctor she had been referring to had been his Lois’s father.
Clark wanted nothing more than to fly down to the Fifth Street Shelter and drag her out of there, kicking and screaming if he had to, but he didn’t. If she wanted to chance her and the baby’s survival on some drunk, depressed man’s ability to be the doctor had once been that was her decision.
Lois was right. He had been interfering too much. Let her deal the with consequences of this decision. He knew she was going to drag him down with her. He sighed, resigned. There was no way Sam Lane was going to believe that Lois was his daughter Lucy. Clark had met Lucy while interviewing everyone in Lois’s family; she was an actress in Hollywood with shoulder length brown wavy hair and the opposite of Lois personality wise. And Sam Lane would once again blame him. Even if Sam fell for Lois’s story, he still would never forgive Clark, especially, when he discovered about the baby. Oh, no, Clark was doomed. He flagged down a taxi and headed back to
The Planet.
“Clark! Clark!” Lois waved him down outside the
Daily Planet.
He paused and waited for her to catch up. “How was the doctor?”
“My mistake. My appointment was tomorrow, not today.”
“Great. I can come with you. I am Kal’s substitute, you know.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Clark. If I show up with Superman on my arm, too many questions will be asked. Better I go alone.”
“Whatever you say, Lucy.”
She clicked her tongue against her teeth. “You know I lied, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
“Do you know what I did instead?” she asked.
“How is Sam?”
“He’s fine. Actually, he’s going to come and stay with me for a while, so I won’t be alone. Isn’t that great?” She smiled.
Clark sighed. “Did you tell him that you’re working at the
Daily Planet? Did you warn him not to contact you here? Did you tell him why? Did you mention that your only other friend in this dimension was the one man he hates?”
“No. No. No. And no, he doesn’t hate you. I thought we could explain the Lois Lane trap plan thingy to him over dinner tonight. Together.”
“Not we, darling. You. This was all you. You deal with it. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t want to have anything more to do you. I’m hands off, remember.” He turned and entered the building.
“Clark!” She followed and caught up by the elevators. “You’re mad at me.”
He ignored her.
“I don’t like it when you’re mad at me.”
He got into the elevator. She followed and stood behind him.
“Please, Clark. I need you.”
He smiled. It was nice that she admitted that, but he wasn’t going to cave. Not on this.
“At least tell me how your interview with Dr. Klein went.”
The elevator chimed.
“Too late, Lucy. Another time.” The doors opened. “And, Lucy, I need that information on the Beckworth School.” He returned to his desk.
She returned to her desk and sat down with a huff. “I’m sorry, Clark,” she whispered.
He didn’t turn her way, but he smiled. He pulled out his notepad and flipped through the phonebook. “No, you’re not, Lois,” he murmured under his breath. “Not sorry, one bit.”
She gasped and he glanced up. Lois was staring right at him, her eyes wide with shock. It was a strange expression for her to have on her face. It looked almost like she had heard him. He shook away that feeling. There was no way she could have heard him. She was at least six desks away and the bullpen was loud and noisy as usual. He glanced around to see if anyone else could have heard him. Nobody had been near enough. Even Jaxon was on the other end of the room at the coffee machine.
Clark found the number he had been searching for and jotted it down on his notepad. Then he glanced back at Lois. She was still staring at him, almost frozen. When she caught his concerned expression, she shook her head and started typing on her computer. That was strange. Wonder what spooked her?
***
Day 6
Concubines, really! Clark, what am I going to do with you? But you do look regal in those black tights. You can bring a pair of those back home when we… sorry, you finally get rid of Lord Nor. Oh, how I hate him. And what’s up with these Kryptonians? Have they never heard of privacy? Knocking? Tell me, again, how these people are civilized? Well, at least, we are together. Even if I’m on a leash, Lord Kal-El. It was Ching’s idea to make me your concubine, but you figured that out, didn’t you? Or did you send him to me?
The horrible day I had yesterday seems to pale after dreaming about yours. Kal isn’t speaking to me. I went behind his back and told Sam Lane that I was his daughter, Lucy Lane. I hated lying to him (Sam), but how else was I going to get him to trust me. I know what you’re thinking, Clark, ‘Lois Lane, how are you ever going to have anyone trust you by being dishonest?’ Well, you’re the expert on that, why don’t you tell me?
Sorry, that was nasty of me. I love and miss you so much. I feel more alone in this world more than ever. I need a doctor I can trust. And not just any doctor. I don’t want to worry you, but I don’t know who else to tell. I’d be discussing this with Kal, if he were speaking with me… I know you’ll think I’m being paranoid. It’s hard to live this life during the day and the younger me with you at night in my dreams. I wake up more exhausted than rested. Now, I’m hearing things. I could have sworn I heard Kal muttering across the noisy bullpen yesterday afternoon. Am I going crazy? And I don’t have you to hold me and tell me everything will be all right, except in my dreams.
Well, time to get up and eat breakfast. Let’s hope it stays down. Kal is worried that I’m not eating enough for two. Sometimes, he’s an insufferable Mother Hen. I’ve decide to get him a girlfriend. Any recommendations? Don’t answer that! I don’t want to know.
Miss you, Clark. Stay safe. Yours always, LLLois set down her notebook next to her bed. Six o’clock. Ugh. Morning meeting was at seven o’clock sharp, so she needed to shake her tail feathers. She ran and took a quick shower. It was Friday, again. Exactly one week since she had found out she was pregnant. She exhaled pulling a comb through her hair. And what a week it had been. She looked at her stomach. It was still as flat as it had been a week ago, if not more concave. Maybe Clark was right and she needed to eat more. She pulled out the toothbrush he had given her and sighed. She didn’t want to do this.
She missed Clark. He was her Kal-El proxy. Not seeing Clark, made her miss her Clark more. She quickly brushed her teeth, without toothpaste, and was able to make it out of the bathroom without praying to the porcelain god.
She got dressed in her last outfit. Time to either go shopping or do laundry. The couple of hundred that Clark had left for her on that first day had been quickly been depleted by books, bananas and yogurt, and secret identity costume items. She wondered when she would get her first paycheck. How in the course of one week had she alienated the one person she needed in this dimension more than any other. Her Superman. She had to figure out a way to get him on her good side again.
Lois went into the kitchen and found Sam Lane sitting at the dining room table, drinking coffee. She wondered where the coffee came from; she hadn’t bought any. Had he found it on shelf from his Lois’s stash? Ugh. Three year old coffee. She convinced him at lunch that she was his daughter, Lucy Lane – not too difficult her obvious similarity to his Lois. Perry had been correct. He hadn’t seen Lucy since she left when she was seven. She convinced him to move in with her at Lois’s old apartment. He was shocked that it was still intact, just as she and Clark had been.
Actually, Clark had wandered around the apartment on that first visit like it had been a shrine to Lois Lane. Trying not to touch anything, but not being able to resist examining everything. He had picked up a picture of Perry on skis and had correctly identified it as the ski trip they had made before she had disappeared. He knew more about his Lois than he had revealed before. Perry had mentioned on her previous visit to this dimension that he talked about Lois daily.
She was beginning to suspect that she was just a stand-in for his one true love, as well. It would explain his removal of all of the other Lois’s personal items, before she moved in. He didn’t want her wearing his Lois’s clothes, going through her papers, looking at her photographs.
Lois touched Sam on the shoulder on her way to the refrigerator. “Good morning, Daddy.”
Their conversation the night before had gone weirdly. At dinner – cheap microwave TV dinners – Lois told Sam in secret that she was working undercover at the
Daily Planet with Clark. He hadn’t been happy about that. He did not want her to have anything to do with “that man.”
Maybe Clark was right; he had gotten on Sam Lane’s bad side. She wondered how. Sam told her to her relief and amazement that despite appearances, he actually had been sober for four months. He had said it was seeing Lois at the debate which had jolted him out of his compliancy.
With tears in her eyes, Lois admitted to him that it wasn’t his Lois that he had seen on the TV that night, but her. Then she watched as the little flicker of hope that she had lit in his eyes, die again. Then she relit that hope by admitting him that there was a man at the
Daily Planet who they think might have information about Lois.
It was a lie, but it was the same lie they had given Perry White and James Olsen. It was the basis of Lucy El being in Metropolis and for her getting the job at the paper. Why should Jaxon have any information on Lois? She figured he was really there to spy on Clark. Lex would consider Superman the only real rival he had. Lex would have no idea that he wasn’t even a blip on Clark’s radar, hiding out where ever he was. But Superman posed a challenge that Lex would not be able to resist.
Lois had told Sam Lane that nobody in Metropolis, except Clark, knew her real identity and they wanted to keep it that way. So, he was not allowed to call her at the paper, unless it was a dire emergency and, even then, not to reveal his identity to whomever answered the phone.
She pulled a vanilla yogurt out of the fridge and as she turned around found a bag of groceries on the counter.
Lois was surprised; she thought he was broke as she was. “Did you go shopping, Daddy?”
“No,” he answered tersely. “It was sitting on the counter when I came in this morning.”
Ah, Clark. He must of known they would need more food and were short on cash. That was where her father had found the coffee. She saw the can sitting on the counter next to the coffee machine. She unpacked some granola, crackers, orange juice, baby carrots and more yogurt. She poured out two glasses of orange juice and put one in front of Sam.
“Does that man have a key to this apartment?” her father asked.
Lois sat down next to him at her breakfast bar. “No, Daddy. He comes in through the window.”
He turned and looked at the six foot tall windows that lined her living room. “I don’t like this, Lucy. That man in untrustworthy. You shouldn’t let him into this apartment at all.”
She cut up a banana into a bowl and covered it with yogurt and granola. “I trust him, Daddy. He would do anything to find Lois. And he has my best interest at heart. Look, he brought us food.” She pushed the bowl towards him and started preparing another for herself.
“Anything to find your sister? Like run around in tights? Like marry that blonde woman? Like expose you to that Tempus fellow? I don’t see how we are any closer to finding Lois now, then we were two years ago, when he promised never to give up searching for her.”
Lois nicked her thumb with the knife. “Clark promised you what? When?”
*** End of Part 3 *** Comments Chapter 2: Part 4/8
