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Synopsis of Chapters 1 - 9 Missing Lois - TOC ***
Where we left off in Part 10...“Lara had been born at that point, right?” he asked, knowing the answer. Lara had shown him that bonding scene from her birth. Lois had seemed fine, he could tell that even if she had not been completely in focus. “He could have flown you to a hospital where a team of doctors could have stopped the bleeding.”
Lois blanched. “No. No, he couldn’t, Clark. I made them promise that they wouldn’t take me to a real hospital.”
A chill went down his spine. “Why would you do that?”
“Because that’s how they found us the first time,” she snapped and then gasped covering her mouth.
“They who?” he asked. She froze in his arms, not answering. In the silence, his mind went to work. Perry wrote the article of her death. Perry didn’t write anymore. It had to be big if Perry had written about it. The paper was dated February 26th, almost two weeks after Lara’s birthday in the other dimension. Why would the paper report her death so late after the fact? Unless… “Lois, what did Perry’s article say?”
She shook her head adamantly.
Baby steps. “What was the headline on the article?”
“Lois Lane Funeral Held Today,” she murmured.
Part 11OK, his wife wasn’t in shock, anymore. Good. “Lois. Did Perry’s article mention why it had taken so long after Lara’s birth to bury you?” Clark spoke slowly, calmly, unlike how he was feeling inside.
“They had only just found my body,” she whispered.
Clark stiffened. He had to remain calm or he knew he wouldn’t get any more answers from her. “Where did they find your body?”
“Metropolis County Landfill.”
Lois had died at the hospital, but then someone, some group, had taken her body dumping it at that landfill. He knew the answer before he even asked the question. “Lois, who took your body from the hospital?”
“You know who,” she replied softly.
Bureau 39.
“What did Perry’s article say they did to you?”
“Autopsy.” Lois pressed her lips together. “Dissection.”
Clark winced and held her closer. They had mutilated his wife and then dumped her body at the dump. He took a deep breath. “And Lara?”
“I don’t know. They never found her body.” Her voice was so low he almost had to use his super hearing to hear her.
“So she had died at birth?” Clark asked. At least, there was that consolation. If Bureau 39 had gotten a hold of his living baby… He shuddered.
“Of course,” Lois said, pulling back to looking at him. “Superman wasn’t there to cut her umbilical cord.”
He swallowed, his heart constricting. “Lois, did the article state that Lara had died at birth?”
“No. It just stated that she was still missing.”
Clark stumbled to the sofa and sat down. “So, she could have been alive when they took her?” No wonder Lois was having Trask dreams. He was probably going to start having the nightmares, too.
“No. Clark. Don’t even suggest that. You weren’t there to cut her cord… she probably bled to death like that first baby in Smallville.”
Clark took her hand and kissed it. “Lois. That baby did not bleed to death because the umbilical cord was still attached. The cord had wrapped so tightly around her neck and it choked her to death. That’s why Pete wanted me there for Peter’s birth. In case something similar happened. I might be able to remove it with my heat vision in time to save him.”
“But the cord…”
“Lois. If an umbilical cord is not cut, the child does not bleed to death. It just dries up and falls off about a week later.”
She stared at him. “Why cut it off then?”
“Convenience. A small nub is easier to take care of.”
“No! That can’t be right,” she stammered, her hands shaking.
“Lois. I grew up on a farm. I know a little about these things.”
“But if she had survived…” His wife’s eyes flashed to his as she gasped. “Clark!”
He nodded. “I know.”
“Mr. Wells was wrong.”
OK. He wasn’t expecting that analysis. “Wrong about what?” he asked.
“He said that you had moved back to Smallville because your friends had abandoned you and Perry had fired you from your job. That’s not why at all. You abandoned them; you went looking for her.”
“Perry and Jimmy would never abandon our friendship,” he said, looking at her unbelievingly, hurt that she could have believed that.
Lois shrugged. The weight of the secret wasn’t holding her down anymore. “Well, you didn’t return until the day of my funeral, stating you had no idea about the baby. I had adamantly claimed you were the father of my child until my death; yet, of course, obviously to Perry in the article, it was Superman’s baby to which I gave birth. I figured that they thought you had deserted me once you learned I was pregnant with Superman’s child. I could see that happening… Not you deserting me, but them abandoning you, especially with your denials of all knowledge of the baby. I’m sure I would have told them that you knew all about it and were excited.”
Clark shook his head. “Lois.”
“What?”
“You don’t think Perry would have worked out that I was Superman instead?”
“Well, perhaps,” she admitted with a chuckle. “He didn’t become editor because he could yodel.”
Smiling, Clark leaned over to his wife and kissed her. “There. Now, don’t you feel better having gotten that off your chest?”
She rested her head against his. “Yes.”
“I wish you had told me from the beginning, it would have saved us a ton of heartache.”
“Oh, really?”
“If I had known what really would have happened to you, if you had stayed here, I would have been more inclined to forgive a little infidelity… especially with another me.”
Lois sat up and stared him in the eyes. “You mean I could have had
more than the one night with Clark?” She sounded way too excited by that idea.
“What? No!” he growled.
Lois laughed clearly in jest and leaned against his shoulder again. “Don’t ever try to bluff a poker player, Clark. You’ll never win.”
Clark’s heart was racing, adrenaline pumping through his veins. She was just teasing him. She had seen right through that lie. He cradled her in his arms laughing as he stood up. “You saucy minx. You caught me.”
“Shall we head back to Smallville, then?” his wife asked quietly.
“I was thinking a detour first,” he said, turning toward the stairs. “I believe you mentioned something about new lingerie, Mrs. Kent?”
Lois giggled. “I might have.”
“I love you, wife.”
“And I love you, husband,” she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck with a kiss that floated them all the way upstairs.
***
“Clark,” Lois said some time later as they lay in their bed.
“Hmmm.” Clark ran his fingers over the top of the strawberry red teddy.
“You’re never going to forgive me, are you?” she asked.
“What?” His eyes moved from the teddy up to her eyes.
“You said once that you wouldn’t forgive me until I forgave myself. And I can’t do that.” Her voice was rough as if she were on the verge of tears.
This was unexpected. He thought they were good after her latest confession. “Lois, what’s wrong, honey?”
Lois sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. She took a deep breath. “Can you promise me something?”
He nodded, sitting up as well.
“Stay and listen to what I have to say, all of it. Don’t fly off into a rage or go off moping like a gargoyle. Can you promise me that?” Lois asked, glancing over at him.
“I don’t mope,” he replied defensibly, her words hitting too close to home.
His wife pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow. “I know you, Clark Kent, better than you know yourself. And you certainly do mope.”
Clark looked away and rolled his eyes, so she wouldn’t see him. “Fine. I won’t leave. I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
Lois took his hand in hers. “Thank you, Clark.”
Clark waited as she rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand, gathering her thoughts. “Why can’t you forgive yourself, Lois?” he finally asked.
She swallowed. “I hate the New Kryptonians for taking you away from me, for what they did to you and the people of Smallville, but I cannot wish that they had never done that or we wouldn’t have Lara and Pete wouldn’t have Peter.”
He nodded in agreement. They had gotten the two kids together for a play date that afternoon. Lara and Peter had instantly bonded – best friends at first sight. He wondered if they could communicate telepathically as well.
“I would like to say I wish I never went to the other dimension, but I cannot say that either, knowing what would have happened if I had stayed here,” Lois said, her voice growing softer and hoarse again.
Clark glanced over at her. A tear dripped down her cheek as she spoke, “I cannot even say that I regret sleeping with the other Clark, because a part of me doesn’t.”
His teeth started to grind, but he did not move. He had promised he would stay and listen.
“I regret cheating on you. I regret hurting you. And if that were all, I would wish it away if I could, but I can’t. If I had the opportunity to do it all over again, standing at the precipice of that decision, knowing what I do know now, I still would have slept with him.” The tears were falling in streams down her cheeks, her voice shaking. “And that is why I cannot forgive myself.”
Clark squeezed his eyes closed, the pain of her words piercing his soul.
“It’s not because I love him. I don’t think I do any more. He’ll always be dear to me as a friend, but that’s all. And don’t you go thinking it’s because he was so good in bed.” She tried to make her words sound light, but they fell flat.
He hadn’t been thinking that, of course, until she told him not to. He promised to stay and listen but her words were killing him. Clark started to grind his teeth again.
“Clark,” she said, reaching out and touching his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
Instinctually, he pulled away.
“Please listen to me, Clark.”
“I am listening,” Clark replied, gruffly.
“Really? I think you would find it difficult to hear me – even with your super ears – over all that loud grinding noise you’re making with your teeth.”
“I’m listening,” he repeated, tersely. “Say what you have to say, Lois.”
Lois took a deep breath, pressing her lips together. “I wanted nothing more than to come home to you, Clark, but now I can’t even say I wish H.G. Wells had shown up after our honeymoon to pick me up. Do you know why I didn’t run off with you last Christmas with the time machine when you begged me to?”
Clark couldn’t even gaze at her. He hadn’t promised to look at her, only to listen. He shook his head.
“Because when I slept with the other Clark I became…?” She paused long enough for him to actually look at her. “Infected I guess would be the correct term? Yes,
infected by his soul mate curse.”
Clark’s gaze became sharper. “So the curse that almost killed you in childbirth wasn’t
our curse, but
his?”
Lois nodded. “And that’s why I can’t say I wish it never happened. Do you understand?”
“No! You wanted to be cursed? By him? Why?” Clark’s head was starting to pound in pain from his heartache.
“Because his Lois would have died if I hadn’t slept with him.” Her bottom lip started to shake and the sobs escaped as Lois buried her face into her hands.
“What?!” he stammered. Surely his wife couldn’t believe that?
Gasping for air between sniffles, Lois tried to explain. “H.G. Wells told us that the only reason I didn’t die when you and I made love before you left for New Krypton was because I had already made love to you as your wife. It confused the curse, delaying it somehow, so I didn’t die right away, giving you time to fix it in the past. The same thing happened over there. If I hadn’t slept with the other Clark, his Lois would have died in the Smallville house that weekend he rescued her from Luthor. And he wouldn’t have been there to save her as he was doing search and rescue in Singapore. Instead the curse was confused again and she wasn’t fated to die until the day of the car accident, when she became Ultra Woman by mistake.”
Clark stared at her.
“That is why I can’t forgive myself, Clark, because try as I might to want that night never to have happened, I can’t wish her dead.” She buried her head in sobs once again.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.
“I saved her life and then she turned around and saved mine,” Lois whispered, when she was able to talk again, running her fingers over his chest.
“Lois,” Clark whispered, kissing the top of her head. “How did Ultra Woman save your life?”
She snuggled closer to him, taking his hand in hers. “I told you.”
Clark racked his brain, but for the life of him could not remember her telling him that part of the story. Perhaps she told him one of those times she claimed he hadn’t been listening, but he couldn’t believe he had not heard her. Not about this. “Could you tell me again?”
She laced her fingers with his. “I told you, I’ve got Ultra Woman’s blood running through my veins.”
Clark pulled her back so he could look her in the eyes, a chill causing the hair on his arms to stand up. “Excuse me?”
“Ultra Lois donated a pint of her blood.”
“What?” What she was saying made no sense. Ultra Woman couldn’t donate blood any more than he could.
“Her blood kick-started my immune system allowing me to heal and my blood to clot,” she explained, simply, like this was an everyday occurrence.
“Yes. I got that part. How did she donate a pint of blood? My guess is that she has the same problem with needles I do.”
“Yep.” Lois glanced away.
“Lois.”
“She and Dr. Klein flew back to S.T.A.R. Labs after I started hemorrhaging and he exposed her to Kryptonite to weaken her invulnerability so he could draw her blood.”
Clark shook his head. “She did
what?”
Lois repeated, “She exposed herself…”
He waved his hand. “I heard you.” He just needed to wrap his brain around that information. “Why? Did she know that you had saved her life with the curse confusion?”
Lois shook her head. “I don’t think so. Clark and I didn’t know about that until H.G. Wells brought me home.”
“So, why did she do it?” he asked again.
“I’m pretty loveable, Clark. People tend to go overboard to help me,” she replied.
Clark looked at her with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
Lois sighed. “She did it for Clark. She knew my death would cause him more pain than he could handle. And she was willing to do anything to protect him from pain, even if it meant helping me.”
“Because he loves you,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
“And she’s okay with that?”
Lois frowned. “No. Not really, but all that stuff between us happened before he found her. She knows that Clark loves her more than anything, that he’s
her soul mate. She knew that helping me survive was the best way to insure I’d get out their lives faster.” She tittered. “In a way, it was quite selfish.”
Clark shook his head. “Exposing herself to Kryptonite was not selfish, Lois.”
The laughter died on her lips. “I know, Clark.”
“We owe her your life.”
“Scary thought that.” She laughed softly to herself. “Sorry. But you don’t know her, Clark. She acts before she thinks. Dives into danger. Tunnel vision when it comes to her stories. Completely reckless. Why are you laughing?”
Clark pulled her back into his arms with a kiss. “You’re right, Lois. I don’t know anyone like that.”
She socked him in the arm as she pouted. “Clark Kent, what are you saying?”
Clark kissed the pout off her lips. “That I love you, Lois. Only that I love you.”
***
It was late, very late, way past midnight late, by the time they returned to the Smallville farm house.
As they crept through the living room on the way to the stairs, Clark paused and pointed at the dark shadow that was the Christmas tree.
“What?” Lois asked him. Not all of them had super night vision.
“Santa,” he murmured.
Lois spun around towards the tree. She still didn’t see anything. “What? Where?”
Clark laughed, wrapping his arms around her with a kiss before picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder. “Tomorrow, Lois.”
“Clark, if we got an interview with Santa…”
“Listen to yourself, Lois. An interview with Santa?” He chuckled, walking up the stairs. “Santa does not grant interviews.”
“Clark, set me down,” she squealed.
“Quiet, Lois, or you’ll wake the whole house.”
“Clark!” she hissed.
He set her down outside his old bedroom. She instantly calmed down. He opened the door and they crept to the side of Lara’s crib. Clark wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. Lois put her arm around his waist.
“She’s so beautiful,” he whispered.
They both spoke at the same time. “She looks like you.” Then they laughed.
***
Early the next morning Jack came into their room, without knocking, ringing a loud bell and wearing a Santa hat. “Rise and shine, sleepyheads. Christmas morning.”
Lois picked up her pillow and threw it at him. She missed. Clark’s aim was better.
“Animals have been fed, coffee made, and Lara is already awake,” he informed them as he dashed out, shutting the door behind himself in order to dodge another pillow.
Lois pulled the covers over her head. “I liked him better in the city,” she grumbled.
Clark kissed her cheek. “Merry Christmas, Lois.”
“I hope your parents aren’t expecting me to be dressed when I go downstairs,” mumbled Lois, then her fingers slid over Clark’s chest. “Mmmm. You got me my favorite present.”
Clark’s brow furrowed. “What’s that?”
“Being here.”
He smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. “Who knew you were so easy to shop for?”
They came downstairs to the living room a little while later. Martha was passing out coffee. She held up the tray to Lois who gratefully took a mug.
“Thanks, Martha.”
“You two were out late last night,” her mother-in-law replied.
“Sorry. We had a lot to discuss,” Lois told her with a sideways glance at her husband.
Martha nodded as if she understood. Did she understand?
Clark swooped up Lara and kissed her. “Merry Christmas, Pumpkin.” Then he walked over to the stockings hung from the fireplace mantel.
“Ooh. What did you get?” he said, sitting down next to Lois with their daughter.
Lois set down her coffee mug, then leaned over to hug her daughter. “Merry Christmas, Baboo.”
Lara looked up at her and smiled. “Mama.” She had no interest in the stocking at all. She picked up one end of Lois’s robe belt and stuck it in her mouth.
Lois gently pulled it out of her daughter’s mouth. “Eww, Baboo, not that.”
Clark pulled a red rubber ducky out of her stocking and squeezed it. Squeak. Squeak. Lara glanced over at the duck and took it out of his hands, still not interested in the rest of the stocking.
Clark smiled at Lois and she sighed. This was going to be a long day.
***
Jack handed a package to Clark with a chuckle. “It’s from Ultra Woman.”
Lois wrapped the scarf from Martha about her neck as she glanced over at her husband.
He was staring at the gift. “Lois?”
“Not me,” she replied. “She
loves Christmas, so I’m not surprised.”
Clark raised a brow. “Loves Christmas? A Lois Lane?” Then he ripped opened the paper. Inside was a bright blue souvenir Superman t-shirt with the words ‘Lois Lane’s Personal Hero’ written across the back.
Lois laughed. “Clark told her he would never wear it. I guess she didn’t want it to go to waste.”
He held up the t-shirt. “She gave this to her boyfriend last Christmas?” his voice was incredulous. Nothing like a hand-me-down gift.
“Yes, but that was before she knew Superman’s secret identity.”
“Right.” He set down the gift. “I’m not going to wear it either.”
Lois pouted. “What? Aren’t you my own personal hero?” She wrapped her arms around her husband with a smile.
“Ha-ha.”
“You could wear it around the farm,” Martha suggested.
He nodded. “Yes, we’ll keep it here.” Glancing at the box that Jack had just handed Lois with the same wrapping paper.
“I think she’s upset I didn’t bring these back with me,” Lois said laughing. “I’m betting mine says ‘Not Lois Lane’ on the front and ‘Not Lola Luthor’ on the back.”
“You’d think she would have kept that one for herself,” said Martha.
Lois was still getting used to the fact that Martha remembered. She kept expecting the woman to say something about her and the other Clark. Her brow furrowed. “Clark, if your Mother was able to get her memories back, do you think it’s possible my Mom and Dad…”
Clark’s eyes widened. She knew what he was thinking. The last thing Ellen Lane realized before being zapped by the Bummer-B-Gone was that her daughter was married to Superman. “Let’s hope not.”
“She’s already guessed that Superman is Lara’s father.”
“You want to tell her that you were once Ultra Woman and that you spent a year in another dimension, pregnant with my child. Go right ahead.”
Lois pointed at him. “I told you not to try to bluff me, Clark.”
Clark grabbed her finger and kissed it. Then he gave her that nervous, unsure look that always melted her heart. “I don’t know about re-telling your parents, honey. The last time didn’t work out so well for us.”
She scooted over to his lap and wrapped her arms around him. “How about this. Why don’t we readdress this topic the next time I get pregnant?”
Clark’s jaw dropped. “Lois, you aren’t trying to tell me something, are you?”
Lois kissed him. “See, minty fresh. Freshly brushed. No hurling.”
“OK.” He swallowed.
“Breathe,” she reminded him. Clark released the breath he had been holding and suddenly the Christmas tree had a distinctive frosty look to it.
Lara glanced over at her Daddy from where she and Jonathan were playing on the rocking horse he and Jack made for her in Santa’s workshop, and giggled.
“Don’t look now, but I think you might have a fan,” said Martha.
Clark grinned, moved Lois off his lap and scooped Lara into his arms. “I don’t mind a little hero worship from this one.”
They laughed.
“Yo, Supes. There are more gifts here,” said Jack, pulling out a large rectangular one and setting it in front of Lois.
She knew what it was and who it was from without opening it. The photo album James had made for her of her year in the other Metropolis.
“Well? Who is it from?” Clark asked, but then the humor from his expression melted away. “Oh.”
Lois sighed and tore open the paper. Yep. The photo album. He must have found the stuff she had asked Ultra Woman to destroy for her. Thanks, Ultra.
“What’s this, honey?” Martha asked, moving closer.
“Photo album.”
“Really?” Clark was by her side in an instant. “Pictures of you while you were pregnant? Newborn pictures of Lara?”
Lois nodded.
Clark went to open the book and Lois slapped her hand on top, glancing at him.
“Most of the pictures are of me. James got a little obsessed, but there are photos of Clark and me, too. No.” She shook her head, pulling the book away from him. “I don’t think you can handle it.”
Clark pressed his lips together. “Lois, trust me. There is a whole year of your life I missed out on.” He held out his hand. “Please.”
Lois really didn’t want him to see the photos, but she had promised herself she wouldn’t keep anything from him anymore. She set the photo album back in her lap and opened it up. The first photo, the cover page photo, was the one they took of her and Lara shortly after Lara’s birth.
“Is this…?” Clark asked, pulling the book out of her hands.
“Yes.”
Clark looked at her with such love. “I wish I could have been there for you.”
She reached out and took his hand. “Me, too.”
He glanced up and noticed everyone looking at them and shut the book. “We’ll look at these later.”
Lois smiled, relief filling her. “OK.”
“Come on, Supes. At least let us see a photo of this other Ultra Woman.” Jack grinned, raising his brows. “Since I never got to meet the real McCoy.”
Lois held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Jack.”
“Hey!” Clark snapped. “That’s my… my… my sister-in-law you’re drooling over.”
“Technically, they aren’t married yet,” corrected Lois, flipping open the book and moving quickly through it. “Clark won’t marry her until her divorce from Luthor is finalized.”
Clark jammed his hand between the pages, stopping her. “But Lois Lane is legally dead.”
“He’s a stickler for legalities. He refuses to marry another man’s wife. The divorce is still going through the channels. She had it in the will Moonbeam dreamed up for her that her divorce be finalized even post mortem.”
“Is that even possible?” Jack asked in disbelief.
Lois shrugged.
Clark opened the album to the page where his hand was stuck in. “Is that her?”
She glanced down at a photo of her double with her hair all the way down her back, standing with Sam Lane. “Yep. The other Lois. Christmas, last year.”
Jack was standing behind them now. Martha and Jonathan moved closer as well. Jack whistled.
Martha chuckled. “That’s the woman who stepped into Clark’s shower? I said it before and I say it again. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“Nope.” Clark grinned with merriment. “Not a chance.”
“What?” Lois gasped. “She did
what?”
“They didn’t tell you?” Clark asked. “No, I guess not. That first night, after he rescued her from Luthor, she joined his shower without invitation.” He chuckled, looking like he was imagining what he would have done if she had done that to him way back when she had been under the influence of
Revenge.
Lois punched his arm. “And you didn’t believe me when I called her a slut?”
Clark smiled, sheepishly.
“She can join my shower any time.” Jack grinned.
Clark covered Lara’s ears. “Jack!”
Lois flipped to the back of the book. There was a photo of Lois holding Lara with Superman and Ultra Woman on either side of her. “That’s what she looks like now. You want to ask her boyfriend if he won’t mind, go right ahead.”
Jack shook his head, quickly. “No, that’s okay.” He whistled again. “And with super powers, too. Too bad about the hair.”
“Lex wouldn’t let her cut it the entire time they were… she was his prisoner.”
Jack grimaced with a shake of his head again. “What a waste. Married to Lex Luthor.”
“A bald Lex Luthor.”
Jack snickered, running a hand through his thick locks. “Thank God for small miracles.”
Lois closed the book again. “That’s enough for now.”
Clark cupped her jaw in his palm and kissed her. “Maybe you should let your hair grow out again, honey.”
Lois saw heat in his eyes that had nothing to do with his heat vision and raised a brow. “Down boy,” she murmured under her breath. “This isn’t the time to comment on my hair length.”
He swallowed and looked toward the ceiling innocently.
“A couple more with that same wrapping paper,” called Jack from behind the tree.
Great. What else, Clark?Jack handed her a CD sized package and a larger one to Clark.
“Me? Another one for me?” He was surprised. “You open yours first.”
Lois added a fake smile to her lips.
To UW from SM. She was going to kill that other Clark. She tore the paper, making sure she ripped through the tag. The Elvis CD Perry had given her.
Ha-Ha. Very funny, Clark.“Do you want to put it on?” Martha asked.
“No!” Lois and Clark said at the same time.
“We can’t,” Lois explained, opening the case, showing them the broken compact disc.
Clark was staring at her, but she couldn’t read his expression.
“Perry gave me the CD before I left, which is when it got broken.” She had broken it. The heel of her shoe had accidentally smashed it. Thrice.
Her husband’s lips were pressed together. “I’m surprised he didn’t just throw it out.”
Lois sighed. She wasn’t. He was telling her that he hadn’t forgotten, but he hadn’t known she had told her Clark about their Elvis night. She pitied the other Clark if ever those two were to meet. “How about we do that now?” she suggested standing up.
Martha followed her into the kitchen, taking the broken CD from her. “You never opened the birthday gift he sent you.” She reached to the top shelf of her hutch and pulled it down. “He really loved you.”
“I know,” replied Lois, looking at the palm tree wrapping paper. Palm trees. Key West. He was reminding her of her birthday dinner on the beach. Sending messages that he hadn’t forgotten her without words which could be read by Ultra Woman or her Clark. She closed her eyes and sighed.
She hadn’t forgotten him either. Not only because her Clark had unintentionally not allowed her to forget him, but she missed their friendship. Their walks to and from work. Working with him. Laughing over smoothies. Making fun of Editor Ralph together... OK, that had been mostly her. Discussing story ideas and talking over her life with her Clark, her Superman, and all the mad scientists and crazy criminals they had encountered together. The other Clark had been a real friend… when the sexual tension wasn’t bogging them down.
Lois sighed and tore open the paper. Ella Fitzgerald. He had remembered how much she had enjoyed listening to her music at Perry’s during Thanksgiving. Lois smiled. Other Clark could be very thoughtful. Opening the case, she noticed a note tucked inside.
You are the ocean to my sky. I could only see myself as I reflected upon you. Never the two should meet, except in beautiful water spouts or lightning or rain. How I longed to be a man swimming in that ocean, but it was not destined to be. She is my missing puzzle piece. She fits in my odd shaped hole. Now I am whole. And for that I have you to thank, my stormy ocean.Lois shook her head.
Oh, Clark.“Tell the boys that lunch is ready, if they are,” said Martha, pulling a platter of sandwiches out of the fridge.
Lois folded the note back in the case and walked into the living room. “Lunch!”
“I’m starved,” said Jack, jumping to his feet.
Jonathan slowly pushed himself to his feet. “I hope it’s not something non-fat,” he muttered under his breath.
Clark watched her but didn’t move. “I thought you were throwing out the CD?”
“This is the one he sent me for my birthday.” She held it up.
“Isn’t that the same CD you gave Perry?”
“Yes,” she murmured and waited. She heard the question before he asked it. It was echoing in her head. She decided to nip it in the bud. “Ella Fitzgerald reminds me of Perry… Mayor White played Ella Fitzgerald, when we went to his house for Thanksgiving. Clark must have remembered that I enjoyed her music.”
“Mayor White?” asked Jack, glancing between the two of them. He picked up Lara and set her on his shoulder.
“Perry is the mayor of Metropolis in the other dimension,” Clark explained.
“How confusing that must have been for you, jumping between the two dimensions,” said Jonathan with a shake of his head, following Jack and Lara into the kitchen.
“Extremely,” she murmured, walking over to the stereo. She opened the case and a piece of paper fluttered out from inside. She set the CD in the stereo and picked up the paper as the music began to play.
Lois closed her eyes and started to sway to the music, singing along, “
The way we danced 'til three… No. No. They can’t take that away from me…”
She heard Clark approach and opened her eyes. He was holding out his hand. She put her hand in his and he pulled her into his arms. Slowly, he danced with her.
*** End of Part 11 ***Ella Fitzgerald & Lois Armstrong -
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