Author’s Note: From now on all action takes place in canon dimension. The Clark in this first scene is alt-Clark come to return the substitute Lois to her rightful place in time. This first Lois we see is the canon Clark's wife who just spent the past year in alt-dimension.
For a plot summary, please click here:
Synopsis of Chapters 1 - 7 Missing Lois - TOC ***
Where we left off in Chapter 8, Part 2...Lois slapped him on the chest, gently. “I’m nervous about seeing Kal… Clark, again. It’s been a year. We weren’t even married yet when I left. What if he suspects I’m not the same woman he kissed before heading off to the
Planet this morning?”
“You promised me you would tell him, everything,” Clark said, holding her. “Well…”
She smiled. “I will. Almost everything. I won’t tell him what would have happened; I can’t.”
Clark nodded. Kal wouldn’t want to know that, didn’t need to know. He wished he didn’t know it himself.
“And I won’t tell him about us.”
Clark held her tighter. “What
us? There’s only me and you and Ultra Woman.”
“And Clark Kent. You can’t forget him.”
“And Lucy El, Kal-El’s wife.”
“How many of us were there in this relationship?” Lois laughed. “It was a crazy year.”
“It was.” Clark loved it when Lois laughed. She hadn’t done much of that lately. He kissed the top of her head. “Ultra and I are going to take a vacation when I get back. Try to get used to the peace and quiet of you being gone.”
“You mean Lara. I’ve been pretty quiet lately,” she whispered, leaning her head against his ‘S’.
Clark ran a hand over her hair. Lois was better, not so depressed. But the sadness was still there. He had hoped going home would cure her, but now he wasn’t sure. What was eating her up inside? “I don’t know if we’ll ever get used to Lara being gone. She’s been a part of our life for so long now. There will always be a hole where she belongs.”
Lois stepped back and touched his face. “You’ll be a great Dad someday, Clark. I can just picture you and Ultra and baby Wow Amazing flying through the air together.”
Clark laughed as only she could make him laugh, taking her hand in his. “Wow Amazing, huh?”
“That’s pretty awful, I admit.” Lois chuckled. He loved to see her smile. He picked her up and kissed her. He hadn’t meant to. He had told himself specifically not to, not with the substitute Lois in the house. She resisted a moment, then kissed him back. It was a last kiss, a kiss goodbye and they both knew it. He set her down and she leaned against his shoulder. “Thank you for everything, Clark.”
Part 3Clark and Lois heard substitute Lois coming and stepped apart. Neither of them wanted her to know what her future held for them. She might change her mind.
As substitute Lois came around the bend of the stairwell, she looked at them. “Can I ask another question?” Then she dove right in without waiting for an answer. Lois turned to face her stand-in. “What was it like to be pregnant with Lara?”
Clark released a breath. That wasn’t the question he thought she was going to ask.
Lois glanced at him with a smile. “Amazing.” The minx.
“Different from a normal pregnancy?”
She shrugged. “A bit, but not in a bad way.”
“Would you do it again?”
“Maybe, someday, we will.”
Clark swallowed. “But, Lois…” He didn’t want to worry the stand-in about the complications, but how could she even consider that again? What if she died?
“Lara will need a sibling.”
Clark cleared his throat. He didn’t want to start thinking about that. “We should go. Wells said he would give us five minutes with Lara. He’s afraid we might bump into Clark.”
The stand-in turned to them. “Clark doesn’t know about this?”
Lois shook her head. “How could he? He was with Zara and the New Kryptonians when I left.”
“Right.” The substitute Lois nodded. “Are you going to tell him?”
Lois stared at her as if she was contemplating the answer. Clark stepped forward. “Of course, she’s going to tell him,” he said, giving Lois a sharp look. She nodded in agreement.
“I have nothing to hide,” Lois murmured.
That’s right, Clark nodded. If she wouldn’t tell Kal, he would. He didn’t know how or when, but Kal should know the truth about his daughter. He took Lois’s hand in his. “Goodbye, Lois.” He didn’t shake her hand; he just held it in his.
Lois looked him in the eyes. “Goodbye, Clark.”
They stood there for a moment, just holding hands and staring at one another, before she stepped away. Lois always stepped away first. “I better call Kal… Clark and make sure he’s still at the office.”
As she dialed the
Daily Planet, her stand-in silently pulled off her wedding and engagement rings and handed them to her. Sighing, the substitute Lois then went to open the window. “My fortune cookie the other night said I was ‘about to embark on an adventure’. And here I thought it was parenthood.”
Clark smiled, scooping her up into his arms.
Lois turned towards them with a thumbs-up signal. She mouthed a ‘Thank You’ to him. Clark nodded, took an extra moment to gaze upon her for one last time, before he and the stand-in took off through the window.
They landed at the park, a few feet behind the Kents and Lanes and the stroller. Lois jumped out of his arms and ran up to the stroller. “Hi, sweetie.” She unbuckled her daughter and held her tight.
“Lois!” gasped her mother. “What are you doing here?” Then she noticed him. “You!”
Superman swallowed. “Lois wanted to introduce me to her daughter,” he said. “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Lane. Dr. Lane.” He turned to the Kents. “Martha, Jonathan.”
Martha looked at him with a raised brow, but said nothing.
“You know who I am?” Ellen Lane asked, dumbfounded.
Superman smiled. “Of course, Mrs. Lane. I haven’t forgotten how you and Sam…” Ooops. “Dr. Lane saved my life a couple of Christmases ago.”
“Right, of course.” Ellen nodded.
Lois turned to him. “Superman, this is Clark’s and my daughter, Lara Lucia Kent.”
Clark snapped his attention back to the substitute Lois from Lara. “Her middle name is Lucia? Lucy?” Did Clark know? He looked at Martha, who was gazing at him curiously. Had she told him?
“That was Clark’s idea. After my sister, Lucy.”
Superman nodded, holding out his arms. Lara was reaching for him. “Hi, there, beautiful.” She reached up and touched his face. “No, beautiful. Your Daddy’s at work. It’s your Uncle Super.” Clark closed his eyes and told her telepathically how much he and Aunt Ultra missed her. She started filling him with images and emotions. “You’ve had quite a weekend, I see. But your Mommy wants you back now. We just stopped by to say ‘Hello’.”
While Superman was holding her, the stand-in Lois had hugged her Mom and Dad. She gladly took her daughter back, hugging and kissing her, again. “I love you so much.” She turned to Martha. “Thank you, Martha. I know this couldn’t have been easy on you.”
Martha was at a loss for her meaning. “What, dear?”
The substitute Lois stared at her. “Oh, my God. It’s gone. You don’t remember.” She glanced at Superman. “She doesn’t remember. The Bummer-B-Gone wiped it away.”
Clark had no idea what the Bummer-B-Gone was. He glanced at Martha. Did she no longer remember him? No longer remembered Ultra? His fight with Clark? Lucy? Her own grandchild? He felt so bad for her that he wanted to hug her, but didn’t think that was something Kal’s Superman would do.
Martha just stared at them.
“What are you talking about, Lois?” asked her mother.
“My Bummer-B-Gone works?” said Sam. “Really?”
The substitute Lois shook her head. “It’s broken, now, Daddy. Fat Head fried its circuits.”
“Oh.” He seemed disappointed. “No more colds?”
“Fit as a fiddle,” Clark replied.
Jonathan’s brow came together as he stared at him. Had Jonathan figured out he wasn’t his son?
“We should be going, Lois.”
She nodded, setting Lara back in the stroller. “You be good for Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, and Pops.” She took a deep breath and released it. “I’ll see you when you get home, sweetie.” Lara took hold of her finger and smiled. “Oh, she’s smiling at me, again.” She kissed her daughter’s cheek. “I love you, too, my sweet baboo.”
Lois grabbed the Kents and hugged them, quickly. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“We’re going to your Uncle Mike’s café for lunch. Do you want to join us, Lois?”
The substitute Lois pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’d love to, Mom, but I’ve got to go do something. Maybe another time.” She nodded to Clark.
He caressed Lara’s cheek, one last time. “Bye-bye, little one. Take care.” Then he scooped Lois up and disappeared into the air.
The substitute Lois wrapped her arms around his neck. “Promise me I won’t remember any of this.”
“I promise.”
The substitute Lois took a deep breath. “Lara is wonderful, isn’t she? And to think Dr. Klein told Clark he couldn’t have children.”
“What?” Clark stammered.
“Daddy double checked his results and everything. I’m going to have Clark’s baby. Wow.” She smiled, resting her head against his chest.
Dr. Klein messed up Kal’s test results, too? He told Kal that he couldn’t have children? Why didn’t Lois tell him that earlier? That could mean that his Dr. Klein may have made a mistake as well. That he, too, could father children? That someday he could have a Lara of his own? He spun them into the air with a whoop of delight.
“Clark!”
“Sorry, Lois. My Dr. Klein told me I couldn’t have children, either. Perhaps he was wrong, too. Ultra will be thrilled.” He grinned.
“Ultra?” The substitute Lois raised a brow. “Do you mean Ultra Woman?”
“My Lois,” he corrected.
“Right. Your Lois is also Ultra Woman?”
He shrugged. “Lightning.”
“Oh. Resplendent Man syndrome. Wow! This is going to be quite a year for us.” She laughed.
Clark set them down in the alley behind the
Daily Planet next to the time machine.
Mr. Wells released a sigh of relief at their appearance. “Cutting it a bit close. Ready?”
The substitute Lois nodded. Clark sat down next to Wells and patted his knee for her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said.
“Clark, do you know what you need to do?” Mr. Wells asked.
“Yep. You explained everything on the walk to the townhouse.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
“Lois,” Clark whispered, so Mr. Wells couldn’t hear. She leaned closer so he would be speaking directly into her ear. “There was something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. When we were together, it was
you I made love to, not my Lois.”
The substitute Lois’s eyes grew large as she turned to him. “
What?!”
Then they dropped into that jello feeling and were back in time.
Clark watched as Lois got bumped by the car and hit her head against the lamppost. She would no longer remember. There was the clone and the gun. Then Lois escaped and jumped into the plumbing truck. He sighed and floated down to the time machine.
“Mr. Wells, I believe I owe you a glass of champagne.”
Wells grinned. “We did it, Clark. We saved Lois, the baby, and Superman.” He exhaled. “I could use that drink.” He pushed some buttons, turned a knob and pulled the lever disappearing them into the future.
***
Clark had arrived into the
Daily Planet newsroom that morning with a big smile on his face. He was happy. He wanted to float through the air and tell everyone about his terrific weekend and his wonderful new daughter. He greeted everyone he passed with a friendly smile and a warm, “hello.”
“Clark.” Perry stopped him. “You seem to be in a good mood. I hope it’s because you’ve got a hot lead.”
“Nope.” Clark smiled. “Great weekend though.”
“Oh?” Perry said, clearly expecting details. “Where’s Lois?”
“She told me to tell you she was too sick to come into work this week. Coughing, flu, highly contagious stuff.” He beamed.
“Really?” His boss raised a brow. “What’s she
really doing?”
That stopped Clark short. He had never been good at the lying thing. He should have known that Perry wouldn’t buy an illness. “She was still in bed, asleep, when I left this morning, Chief. She hasn’t slept well all weekend and was up half the night last night.” All that was true. She was up half the night with Lara. He sighed. Lois and Lara. He had the best family. His grin slipped back on his face.
Clark had wondered at first how Lois was going to take to motherhood and those first twenty-four hours were tough for her. He had had months since his epiphany and discussion about Lucy El with his folks to mentally prepare. Lara was basically dropped in Lois’s lap.
On Sunday, he had caught Lois sitting on their bed talking to her daughter. She had turned and had beamed at him. “Clark, she smiled at me.”
He knew she would be fine from that point onwards. Lara had captured her heart. It was harder with Lois, since they couldn’t connect telepathically. Lois couldn’t feel her daughter’s strong bond between them, like he could. He almost pitied human parents who would never be able to feel with their children emotionally from the first touch what he had felt with Lara. He sighed again, before he realized that Perry was still watching him.
“You gonna explain this one, son? Your wife was so sick that she spent the weekend in bed and…” Perry stopped himself. “And you had a restful, quiet weekend for a change. No wonder you’re so happy.” He chuckled.
“Not really. It’s pretty noisy and hectic at my house right now.” Clark grinned. “Both my folks and Lois’s folks are still visiting.”
“Lois is sick. The in-laws and folks are visiting and you had a
good weekend?”
“The best.” Clark grinned.
“Want to explain that one?”
Clark wanted to tell Perry. He had begged Lois to let him share their news at work, but she wanted him to make sure nobody else had lost a baby and tried to claim Lara as theirs, before they introduced her around. He agreed to keep mum for Lara’s safety. “No, not really.” He moved on to his desk.
Perry followed him. “What are you working on?”
“Lois wanted me to do some research on this piece we were thinking about, but I don’t really want to discuss it in case it doesn’t pan out.”
“Uh-huh,” responded Perry, suspiciously. “Want to give me some idea?”
“Not yet, Chief.”
“Okay.” Perry wandered off. Clark knew that wasn’t going to be the end of his inquiries.
Later, after the morning meeting, Jimmy came up to him. “So, CK, go anywhere fun this weekend?”
A-ha! Perry had put Jimmy on the case. “Nope. Stayed home mostly. How about you? Did you and Penny do anything?”
“Yeah, We caught the new art exhibit at the Met.”
Clark leaned back. “Chinese art, right?”
Jimmy nodded. “Penny loved it.” He shrugged. “Not my sort of thing, but it made her happy.”
So, Jimmy was finally learning what it took to make a relationship work. Clark grabbed his briefcase. “She’s not still searching for Superman’s secret identity, is she?”
Jimmy chuckled. “I hope not. That’d put a little crimp in our relationship. And I really like her, CK.”
Clark pulled a roll of film out of his briefcase and palmed it in his hand. “Jimmy, if I asked you to do something for me, would you be able to keep the results from everyone else? Just for the time being.”
“Sure! What are you talking about, CK?”
Clark handed him the roll of film. “Personal and private.”
Jimmy lowered his voice. “How personal?”
“Very.”
Jimmy sat down in the chair next to his desk. “Does everyone have their clothes on?”
Clark thought about that. “For the most part.”
Jimmy cleared his throat and looked at the roll of film as if it contained ooze. “How private?”
“Very.”
Jimmy raised a brow at him and set the film canister back on his desk. “CK, what kind of photos are these?” His voice was down to a whisper, now. “Do they have anything to do with the story you’re working on?”
“A little,” Clark replied cryptically.
“Just tell me that both you and Lois are clothed in the photos and I won’t ask any more questions.”
Clark laughed. “No, Jimmy, they aren’t
those kind of photos.”
Jimmy sighed in relief, grabbing the canister. Clark set his hand on top. “Very private, Jimmy. No one can know.” He stared at his friend.
Jimmy nodded.
“Even Perry.”
Jimmy’s eyes opened wide. “But your story?”
“We’ll tell him when we’re ready. I’m trusting you with my life here.” If Jimmy told anyone, Lois would kill him.
“Okay, CK. Whatever you say.”
Clark lifted his hand and Jimmy took the roll of film. “And I want all the negatives back,” he called. Jimmy nodded.
He hoped Lois wouldn’t be too angry with him involving Jimmy. He was dying to have photo of Lara to put on his desk and Jimmy was his best friend. He sighed. Two hours and he already missed her.
Clark spent the next few hours checking the wire service and the archives of the last three months. The only missing children were the orphans the Toyman had stolen and the children of the S.T.A.R. Lab board of directors. And they had all been recovered. After lunch, he would broaden his search outside of Metropolis.
That phone call from Lois still weighed heavily on his mind. She seemed sad. She missed him.
She missed him? Clark sat up. She had some time to herself? He gulped. Had the missing Lois called him? Was she back? Had she returned to him at last? He was about to call her back, before he realized he had no idea how he would be able to tell one from the other, especially over the phone. He couldn’t ask her point blank, because if he was wrong, the stand-in Lois would think he was crazy. And if she had never gone to the other dimension at all, if his Mom had been wrong, then she would be right.
A beautiful blonde woman walked by his desk. He glanced up. Penny. He turned toward Jimmy, who was watching her go with a satisfied smile on his face. So, his girlfriend had stopped by to see him. Good for Jimmy. He wondered if she was still out of work since the CEO of her company was arrested for Steve McBride’s murder / disintegration and Diticom closed its doors.
Ralph stopped next to Clark’s desk and whistled. “I’d like that covered with whipped cream, eh, Kent? Come to Daddy, sweet thing.”
Normally, Clark would just roll his eyes at such a comment from Ralph, but suddenly he saw red. He picked Ralph up at the knot of his tie.
“Penny is a nice, intelligent woman. She is hard working, well educated, and accomplished. She is a human being and deserves more respect than your asinine comment afforded her.”
Ralph gasped for air as his feet dangled off the floor.
“CK,” Jimmy called. “Lois, line two.”
“Tell her, I’m busy,” he growled.
“Okay, CK. It’s your life.”
“Lois,” Ralph gasped. “Should talk…”
“She can wait, Ralph. There are those of us, who would appreciate it if you would stop treating women as fodder for your sick fantasies. Actually, if it isn’t relevant to a news story we don’t want you to talk at all. I want you to apologize to every, and I mean,
every woman at the
Daily Planet from Mona at the switchboard to my wife and partner, Lois Lane. Or I will tie you up and hand out tomatoes until every woman, lady, and girl in Metropolis who you’ve ever insulted has had a chance to show you how you’ve made her feel.”
“Kent…” Ralph gasped.
“Wow, Lois,” Jimmy laughed from across the room. “How much cough medicine are you on?”
Clark’s brows came together.
“Oh, now, you remember her name. It only took you almost a year.”
Clark dropped Ralph and said, “And I’m betting Jimmy’s girlfriend would like an apology as well.”
Ralph looked up at him from the floor, rubbing his throat. “Channeling Lois today, Kent?”
He raised a brow and Ralph scurried away.
“CK, line two, still holding.” Jimmy laughed. “She’s cracking me up today.”
Clark picked up line two. “Lois!”
“
Too busy to speak to me, eh, Clark Kent?”
“Ah…” He didn’t know what was going on with him. Honesty was the best policy. “I was explaining to Ralph how unwelcome his comments about women were.”
“
About time,” she said. “
But I don’t want to talk about him. I want to know why you didn’t tell me why you can communicate with Lara telepathically.”
His jaw dropped as he fell into his chair. “How?” Had his Mom said something?
“
Because she can with me, too, Daddy,” she whispered.
Clark’s heart filled with warmth. “She spoke to you?”
“
She’s only three months old, Clark. I wouldn’t call it speaking.”
Lara telepathically communicated with Lois. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”
“
Magical.”
“What did she say to you?”
Lois paused. “
Actually, she played me a memory of you, saying you loved me.”
Clark smiled. “Well, she’s right. I do.”
“
I love you, too, handsome. My parents and your folks have taken her for a walk in the park, so I’m here all alone,” she murmured.
“Good. You need to catch up on your sleep.”
Silence. “
Clark, I want to try something. I want to see if I can connect to you like I did with her.”
“Right, now?”
“
Of course, Clark. If she can hear me from across town, why not you? Close your eyes.”
Clark swallowed. “I don’t think this is the best…”
He heard his wife going up the stairs. She must be on the cordless phone. “
Humor me, Clark.”
Clark sighed. “My eyes are closed, Lois.”
“
I want you to see if you can sense what I’m feeling.”
“OK.”
Lois was silent for a few moments as he heard her going through the dresser drawers. “
I’ve found it.”
“Found what?” Clark asked.
“
The image I wanted to communicate with you.”
“Image?” He thought she was going to talk to him.
“
Are your eyes closed?”
“Uh-huh.” Clark could sense her smiling, but not telepathically.
“
As a backup plan, I want you to picture me wearing that black teddy that I didn’t have a chance to wear for you in Atlantic City.”
Clark swallowed, remembering the one.
“
And I want to repeat again that I’m by myself at our house. No parents. No baby. Just me and the black teddy. The clock is ticking and every minute we continue talking on the phone is a minute closer to the time they return.”
“Lois, I don’t think that…”
“
Are your eyes closed, Clark?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, without hearing a word, Clark sensed Lois’s desire. She wanted him at home, immediately. He pictured her running to him at the newsroom, jumping into his arms and tearing off his clothes in uncontrollable passion. Not caring that she was revealing his blue suit underneath. Not caring who saw them. Lois wanted him and she wanted him naked now. The phone dropped out of his hands as he gulped.
As Clark picked it up he heard his wife whisper, “
You have five minutes,” before she hung up. He hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket.
“Kent!” Perry yelled.
“Not now, Chief,” he said loosening his tie.
“Yes, now, Clark. What’s this about you throttling Ralph?” Perry stood outside his office like thunder.
Clark shrugged. “I overreacted. Sorry.” He pointed over his shoulder. “Lois has a hot lead. I’ve got to go before…” He ran out of the room.
“
Kent! I want you in my office with that hot lead when you return!” Clark could hear Perry yelling as he dove out the storage room window.
A minute later he landed in his living room. He spun into his business suit and ran up the stairs. “Lois! I’m home.”
His wife – dressed only in that black teddy – jumped into his arms, kissing him. “Clark.”
“Lois. Wow! That’s…”
She kissed him, again. It felt almost like an Ultra Woman kiss. Jerking off his jacket, Lois started loosening his tie. “Don’t know the next opportunity we’ll have to be alone,” she murmured. “Could be weeks.”
Clark set her on the bed and took a step back. Instantly, he spun out of his clothes and into his PJ shorts.
Lois smiled tugging him back to her.
“I always loved your spontaneous side,” he whispered as she pulled him onto the bed.
*** End of Part 3 *** Comments
