Missing Lois - TOC Author’s Note: The “Lois” in Chapter 5 and 6 refers to alt-Lois. Canon Lois will be called “Lucy” to help lessen the confusion between the two characters.
Story Notes: This story is mostly set in alt-dimension, although visits to the canon dimension do happen from time-to-time.
- Clark = Alt-Clark unless otherwise noted (such as when we are in the canon dimension, then 'Clark' is canon Clark)
- Lucy El = pregnant canon Lois avoiding the curse by hiding out with alt-Clark, aka Lois's secret identity
- Kal = Lucy El's husband's name, or what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark
- Lois = alt-Lois, wife of Lex Luthor
- Lola Luthor = ‘wife’ of Lex Luthor; alt-Lois, if not referring to Clois (Cloned Lois)
- Mr. Amazing = alt-Lois's nickname for Superman
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lucy’s doctor & Clark’s roommate
- Ultra Woman = originally the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party; now, alt-Lois.
- Martha and Jonathan Kent = canon Clark's parents
- Mayor White = aka Perry White, former Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- James Olsen = owner of the
Daily Planet, Lois-Lucy's friend
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always, this time bald
- Jaxon Xavier = Lex Luthor's son and spy at
The Planet, does website design and research for the paper
- Gareth McTinney = new EIC at the alt-DP.
- Barry Balson = Superman beat reporter for DP
- Mayson Drake = police detective, partner to Detective (in alt-world) Henderson, alt-Clark's ex-girlfriend
- The only people who know canon Lois's true identity are alt-Clark, Sam, Moonbeam (alt-Star), Dr. Klein and alt-Lois. Alt-Clark told Mayson Drake that Lucy El is his sister-in-law and that he has a twin brother, but not about the other dimension.
***
What happened in Chapter 6: Part 9...Lois announced during the morning meeting, one that Clark wasn’t attending, that she heard that Ultra Woman had returned. This set off a news firestorm, especially when Jaxon confirmed her rumor by telling everyone that the superheroine visited him in search of his father.
Lex Luthor told Lois that if she went forward with the divorce he would draw in Clark / Superman and accuse them of marriage infidelity. If she agreed to stay married to him, Lex would allow her her freedom as long as she never had contact with Clark again. So, Lois decided that for Clark's best interest she should leave Metropolis and him behind. Then when Gareth McTinney asked her, in private, how she (her secret identity she, as in Lucy El) met Clark, Lois suddenly had to come up with a story on the spot, so she pulled one from her past.
Lois told the EIC of the
Daily Planet that she (Lucy) had met Clark back in college when he rescued her from being gang raped when they both were visiting another university. It was only after the whole true story spilled out that Lois realized that was indeed where she had met Clark – she had only pushed the whole ugly event deep into memory bank. After stumbling back to her desk, Lois decided she couldn't leave Clark, because he was the man she had been searching for all her life. She needed to come up with another plan.
***
Part 10Clark returned to the office a couple of hours later. There was a robbery at one of the scientific labs. Computer chips had been stolen. Whoever the thief was, they were fast. All the video camera caught was a blur; even slowed down to a split second frame, he saw nothing but a shimmer of gold. Something was wrong he could tell, when he came into the office. Gareth was standing next to Lois, talking to her, waving a hand in front of her face. She looked catatonic.
Gareth looked up at his approach and appeared relieved. He grabbed Clark’s arm and took him into his office. “Thank God, Clark. Maybe you can do something. I think I broke her. Sorry.”
“What happened?” Clark asked. He doubted it was Gareth; it probably had something to do with her meeting with Luthor.
“I apologized for the other day.” His editor blanched. He still hadn’t told Clark about the other day when he had told the newsroom about Lucy’s pregnancy.
Clark raised a brow.
“I misspoke, so I wanted to apologize, again,” Gareth stammered, brushing over the incident. “She seemed uncomfortable, so I asked about when the two of you met. Usually, there’s a funny story when best friends meet. It becomes an anecdote and everyone laughs. I didn’t realize your story wasn’t one of those.” He swallowed, nervously.
“What did she tell you?” Clark asked hesitantly, glancing over at Lois, who still hadn’t moved since he had entered the newsroom. Was that what Gareth meant, when he said he had broke her?
“The truth, I’m afraid.”
Clark’s attention was riveted back to him. What had she told him? Had they met before Singapore? Did she remember and told Gareth? “Go on.”
“I can’t repeat it, Clark. You were there, you know.”
No, he didn’t know. He had not the foggiest idea what Gareth was talking about. But he had to fake knowledge of this story that Lois told their boss.
“I knew she must have a reason for covering herself up like that, I thought she was pregnant, but it stems back to that night, doesn’t it? That kind of terror scars a woman for life. I saw it countless times back in London.”
What had Lois told him? Had she made up a story or had she told him something true from her past? He knew her life like the back of his hand. Had he missed something? All Clark could do was nod. He patted his boss on the shoulder. “It’s probably just low blood sugar, she’ll be fine,” he reassured him.
“Clark, she hasn’t moved in over an hour.”
“I’ve seen this before. She’ll be okay.” Clark went out to Lois’s desk and sat down next to her. “Lois?” he whispered, so only she could hear. She still didn’t react. He took hold of her hand. “Honey?”
She blinked, once and then once again. Clark turned to Gareth and smiled. His boss looked relieved.
“Lois, are you all right?”
“It’s just a job, right? It doesn’t mean anything, really? A person is more than what they do,” she said in reply.
What was she talking about? Had Lois figured out about him and Superman? Was that the job she was talking about? “Of course.”
“A person can start over, become someone else, if the motivation is strong enough. It’s that or death, because that life would be worse than death.” He saw an epiphany light up her eyes. “I could die.”
Clark squeeze her hand. “Lois, you’re scaring me.”
She glanced over at him, noticing him for the first time and smiled. “Hi, Clark.”
“Are you okay? You freaked out Gareth.”
“Oh?” Lois turned and waved at her boss who was still staring at them from his office. Hesitantly, he waved back. She looked at Clark once more.
“What did you tell him?” he asked, hesitantly. He wanted to know, he needed to know.
“I told him about that night we met,” she replied.
“So, he told me.”
“I hadn’t thought about that night in years. Pushed it to the back of my mind. How come I never saw it before?” Lois cupped his jaw with her hand. “Here you were, right in front of me the whole time and I never saw you. Of course, it’s you. Same jaw, same caring eyes. That’s why I felt what I did; why I recognized your touch. It’s you. Perry knew; that’s what he was trying to tell me.”
Clark swallowed. Did Perry tell her about Superman? “How mad are you?”
Her brow furrowed. “Mad? Why would I be mad, Clark?”
OK, Lois didn’t know about Superman; that would certainly make her mad. She was talking about something else. He shook his head. What was she talking about, then?
“This changes everything, Clark. I know what I have to do, now.” Lois kissed his cheek. “Thank you. That’s long overdue, I know.” She picked up her purse. “I’ve got to go. I’m having lunch with my uncle.”
“You can’t go,” Clark stammered.
Lois smiled at him. “Of course, I can. I can do anything. Oh, tell Barry I’ll have that data for him when I return.”
“What data? You’re working with Barry on something?”
Lois grinned. “Just tell him.” She waved and was gone.
Clark stared after her. Why did he feel like he had just experienced his first hit and run? They had met? Years before? When? Something that terrified her? His mind was blank. He went back to his desk and picked up his phone and dialed.
“Lucy?”
“
Hi, Clark. What’s up?”
“How did you meet Kal?”
She laughed. “
Perry was interviewing him for a job and I barged in, like I always do, and he introduced us.”
“You didn’t meet him before? Years before?”
“
What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. Nobody will tell me. Did something terrifying happen to you?”
“
Clark, terrifying things happen to me all the time. What’s going on?”
“You remember how Jaxon was saying that Lois remembered me when she had her amnesia.”
“
Yeah.”
“She told Gareth some story about us about how we met – Lucy and Clark, that is – which he would only describe as terrifying. Thinking about that story did something to her, Lucy, she was lost in her mind, Gareth said for more than an hour.”
“
It was probably that meeting with Luthor.”
“That’s what I thought, too, but it wasn’t. When she snapped out of it, she looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time. I thought she had figured it out, about Superman, but it was something else. I think she remembers meeting me in her past, only I don’t remember her.” Clark ran his fingers through his hair. “
How could I forget her?”
Lucy thought about this. “
Maybe you haven’t forgotten about her, Clark. Maybe she’s still there in your mind, you just don’t know that she’s her.”
What? “That makes no sense.”
“
Sorry, that’s the best I’ve got.”
“Do you know what research she’s doing for Barry?”
Lucy chuckled. “
Gareth put them on the Ultra Woman story.”
Clark’s head was starting to spin. “What Ultra Woman story?”
“
Sorry, that’s all I have.”
He growled. “You’re a mountain of information.”
“
You’re the investigative reporter, Clark. You figure it out,” Lucy told him, hanging up.
“Lois Lane,” he growled. Every one of them.
***
Lois walked into the apartment after lunch, wearing a Kansas State letterman jacket. Lucy watched as she went over to her room and returned with a box of chocolates.
“You still have some left? I thought we polished them off the other day.”
Lois smiled. “Not yet. He really outdid himself.”
“Nice jacket. Is that Clark’s?”
Lois nodded, cuddling inside of it. “I made a decision. I’ve come up with a plan.”
Lucy sat up and set down her parenting book. “Great! Let’s hear it.”
“Not yet. I’ve got some kinks to work out. Let’s just say, it’s a contingency plan, if Clark continues to be stubborn.”
“Oh.” Lucy picked up her book again with another glance at Lois. “Where did you get his jacket?”
“He gave it to me.”
Lucy raised a brow at this information. “When?”
“The night he rescued me,” Lois replied.
Lucy nodded. Oh, it must have been at the Smallville house when he brought her back from Singapore. “And you didn’t figure out the connection between him and Superman?”
Lois shrugged. “Sometime you just can’t see what’s right in front of you.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. It took me two years to figure out that Kal was Superman.”
“Two years?” Lois laughed.
Lucy pressed her lips together sourly. “In our dimension, nobody knows his secret identity.”
“Two years, though, Lucy? Come on. Didn’t the wow factor kind-of give him away?”
“Wow factor?” Lucy shook her head, confused.
Lois mouthed the word ‘Wow.’
“Oh.” Lucy chuckled. “That wow.” She cleared her throat and pretended to read her book. “Kal and I didn’t until after I knew.”
Lois’s jaw dropped. “Two years?” She patted Lucy’s arm in sympathy. “I’m so sorry.”
Lucy shrugged. “You can’t miss what you didn’t know existed.” She sighed. “And it was more like three years before we... I do miss him now, all the time.” She smiled weakly. “Thank God for my dreams.”
“Three years!”
Lucy raised a brow. “I’m not you and Kal’s not Clark. We wanted to wait until our honeymoon.” She looked back down at her book.
Lois grabbed it away. “Oh, no you don’t. This conversation isn’t over. You waited? You were a…”
“No, I wasn’t,” Lucy said trying to grab her book back. “But I’d been burned before, so I wanted to wait. And he…”
“And Kal what?” Lois hovered just beyond her reach.
“Give me back my book, Lois.”
“Oh, my God!” Lois giggled. “You mean, he was.”
“Lois! You want to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Lois dropped the book on the coffee table, sat down on the sofa and put her chin in her hands, all attention.
“This was our first time,” Lucy told her pointing at her stomach. “The night before he took off for New Krypton to help with their civil war.”
Lois handed her a chocolate. “You had only one night together before you came here?”
Lucy nodded. “The curse. If I hadn’t come here, he’d still be gone and I’d die in childbirth.” She bit into the chocolate. “He was supposed to return on the day of our funeral.”
“Oh. I thought Clark’s and my life sucked, but you win.” Lois handed her another chocolate. “At least, I got two nights. And I see him every day.”
“But you really did die,” Lucy told her. “I’m hoping to avoid that part.”
“And sometimes it feels like he’s punishing me for dying… or perhaps it’s because I lived.” Lois sighed. “That’s why I’m angry. Do you know, I haven’t seen Superman, not even as a blur in the sky, since the accident. It’s almost as if he doesn’t exist, he never existed.” She rubbed her arms and smelled the collar of the jacket. “If I still didn’t know that they were one and same, I wouldn’t be making excuses for Superman any more, would I? I’d have moved on.” A hint of a smile graced her lips. “Moved on to Clark Kent.”
“He’s been resisting you as well,” Lucy reminded her.
“But him I can locate.”
“The outcome is the same, though.”
“I think my plan should include a little bit of pain for our Mr. Kent.” Lois rubbed her hands together. “I was going to tell him, but I think it would be little more believable if he didn’t know the truth. Just let the truth of his feelings hit him square in the face.”
“Lois!” Lucy gasped, shocked. “We aren’t trying to become evil, remember.”
Lois waved off her worries. “Not physical pain. Emotional pain. Just a little payback for all the pain and suffering he’s caused me.”
“He’s in pain, too. He misses you. He’s already suffering.” Lucy shook her head.
“And, yet, he still stays away.”
“You both are being pig-headed and stubborn.” Lucy picked up her book. “You are making him chose between you and Superman. With Lana, the choice was easy. You keep making him feel that he’s made the wrong decision. You want him to tell you the truth, you need to let him know he can have both his cake and eat it, too. The cake, right now, although sweet and delicious is full of poison or Kryptonite, in this case.” She flipped open her book. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work researching Intergang or something?”
“Intergang!” Lois said, hitting herself in the forehead and then jumping to her feet. “That’s what I was missing. I need to get them involved. Clark’s right. You are a genius.” She zipped into her room and left the jacket behind, then she took off through the living room window.
Lucy shook her head, waddling over to shut the window and take another chocolate from the box Lois left on the coffee table. “Won’t Clark be surprised to learn he’s married to an evil genius?”
***
Lois opened the door to Bobby Bigmouth. “Lucy El?”
Lois nodded. “Bobby Bigmouth?”
He looked at her outstretched hand and ignored it, stepping into the apartment. “I’ve heard rumors about you. That you don’t even know how to boil water. I expect to be treated better than… What’s that smell?”
“Beef bourguignon. Lois has been giving me a few cooking lessons.”
Bobby started to drool. “Lois? Lois Lane? Do you know when she left town, I lost thirty five pounds in the first month alone?”
“You are looking a little undernourished, Bobby.” She smiled, pulling out a chair at the dining table. “And if you have some good information, her uncle gave me a chocolate raspberry torte for desert. But, if not…”
“A chocolate raspberry torte from Mike Lane? I’ll give you my mother’s social security number for a slice.”
Lois laughed. “I don’t want your mother’s social security number, Bobby. I want Intergang on a silver platter.”
He rubbed his hands together. “For beef bourguignon and chocolate raspberry torte, I could give you a few details.”
A ding went off in the kitchen and Lois ran to pull something out of the oven.
He sniffed. “Is that fresh baked baguette?”
Lois smiled, holding it up. Bought from Lucy’s favorite boulangerie in Paris.
“Yep. If you have anything else, I’ll give you their social security…” Bobby stopped speaking as she set a steaming bowl of potato bacon soup down in front of him.
“I’m just putting the asparagus on now,” she called returning to the kitchen. She turned around to the sound of him weeping.
“Marry me, Lucy El,” he said on his knees.
She patted his face. “I’m already married, Bobby. Go and eat. And don’t burn that tongue.”
“What do you want to know? Birthdays? Anniversaries? Kid’s names?” He took a sip of soup. “Bank account numbers?”
She set the baguette and some brie on wooden cutting board down next to him. “Businesses they own? Businesses they want to own?”
She popped open a new bottle of wine and poured him a glass. His eyes teared up. “I thought you were a recovering alcoholic?”
“I’m not having any, Bobby. So, make sure you drink it all or take it with you when you go.” She set the bottle on the table.
He looked at her suspiciously. “Do you want to know who Ultra Woman is?”
Lois raised a curious eyebrow at him.
“Fine. I don’t know that one, but I could find out for you.”
“Intergang, Bobby.”
“Which politicians are in their back pocket? Which are under negotiation? What they are planning to do next? Hired assassins?”
She sat down next to him with a glass of milk and her notepad. “All of it.”
“You feed me like this, every week, and I just might start to feel full again.” He sighed, taking another sip of soup. “Speaking of assassins, they’ve put a hit out on you.”
A smile flashed across her face. It was just what she wanted to hear. Then she frowned. “What? What have I done?”
“Besides feed me the best homemade dinner I’ve eaten in four years? They don’t like how close you are to Clark Kent. They want to put a tear in his cape.”
She pouted. “And here I was hoping it had to do with my research methods.”
He tore off a piece of baguette. “Those, too. They don’t like some of the questions you ask.” He sipped his wine. “Lex Luthor’s been asking questions about you, too. About your husband and rumored baby.”
She poured him more wine. “Tell him nothing about Kal El and you can take the entire torte home with you.” She stood up and removed her heavy sweater and put on an apron, tying it tightly around her.
“You have a waist!” he gasped, coughing on his soup. “A thin waist!”
She looked down. “So, I do. And, here I thought I’d been born without one.” She grinned at him with a wink. “Just wanted to put those darn pregnancy rumors to rest. But you can leave out the thin part. I don’t mind being known to have a little chunk; otherwise, all sorts of rumors might develop and that would upset Kal. He and Clark being so close and all.”
Bobby waved his hand to wipe that gossip away. “Nah. Nobody’s thought that about you and Clark Kent for months, now, since that whole mental breakdown at The Planet and at S.T.A.R. Labs. Although there are still rumors that you didn’t exist before last summer.”
Lois put the asparagus on to cook and sat back down next to him. “Clearly, I exist, Bobby.” She chewed on that information about Lucy having a nervous breakdown. She would have to ask Lucy about that. Maybe her father knew something about it. “So, what do you have for me on Intergang? I hear that they’re joined at the hip with Lex Luthor.”
Bobby smiled. “More than just at the hip, Lucy…” Bobby’s big mouth didn’t stop talking throughout the hour it took him to eat all the food that Lucy kept putting in front of him.
***
Monday, January 27, 1997
Dear Martha:
I’m so sorry about wreaking havoc between your Supermen. I hope they didn’t cause you too much trouble, when they returned there. I’m sorry, if it seemed like I dumped that in your lap.
My life has completely changed since our meeting. My divorce attorney has finally heard back from Lex’s lawyer. Apparently if I continue with my divorce petition, Lex plans on announcing to the world that we were a perfectly happy couple until Superman kidnapped his wife and that our marriage dissolved due to marriage infidelity on my part with Superman as the co-plaintiff. If I drop the divorce, Lex will let me have my freedom and won’t say anything against Superman, so long as I never see my hero again. So, it looks like I’m going to be married to Lex until one of us dies.
I have been spending a lot more time with Clark Kent, ever since the accident when he sat at my bedside all night. And then he held me when I broke down, realizing that I was all alone. He tells me funny stories and whenever he’s around, I find I can have such a good time, hours will have passed without me even thinking of Superman.
We’ve also been spending lots of time at work together. Lucy has gotten so huge, I’ve had to take over her job at The Planet.
Clark said that she didn’t really show until after her sixth month, then boom! Clark loves that baby so much, it breaks my heart when he looks at her. Does he wish Lucy and Kal’s child was his own or is he just paranoid that something will happen, complications that we can’t handle? Only Lucy shows no fear. She said that if I could beat the curse, so can she.
Nobody but Mr. Olsen has noticed the switch at work and he did only because she and he are such good friends. Even Clark didn’t notice it was me instead of her working by his side the first few days. Boy, was he mad when he found out I interviewed his ex-girlfriend, Mayson Drake.
The more time I spend with Clark, the more I realize why your Lois married her Clark. If only I had met him before Superman… my life wouldn’t be any different. I’d still be married to Lex and unable to be with the man I love.
Tell my Clark that I love him. I love him so much, it hurts not to be near him. He doesn’t listen when I try to tell him. If you are reading this letter, it means he has once again rejected me. I can take it no longer. Someone other than him needs to take control of our relationship, and I’m afraid it falls on me to make the hard decision, alone, because he will not admit to me how I know he feels. Life would be simpler for everybody, if I were dead. Then I could finally be free of Lex Luthor, able to love the man I want. This will make things better for everyone. Superman will finally be able to throw away that line he’s been hiding behind for so long. He’ll be free, same as me.
Thank you. And I’m sorry to put you in this position.
Sincerely, LL
PS: Tell Kal El to keep his x-ray vision out of a woman’s body. He’s not a doctor. He was wrong to tell me what he did. I wonder each day, if he had been right instead of wrong, would it have made a difference? Would it have made him fight for me instead of abandon me? Would he have had the courage to tell the world that he loved me or would he have hidden me away in shame? Daddy says I’m lucky Superman can’t have children. Strange, I don’t feel lucky.*** End of Part 10 *** CommentsChapter 6: Part 11
