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Drabble 46 | Memories
A/N: I wrote a much expanded version of this drabble called "Remember Me". I would recommend reading "Remember Me" first and then reading this one for fun. Or completely skipping it.
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Lois opened her eyes slowly, feeling the harsh lights prick against them as she first cracked one open, then the other. She immediately closed them again and let out a soft groan, lifting her hand to her pounding skull. She sat up a bit, licking her dry lips and swallowing back another moan as pain shot through her head at the slightest movement.
When Lois finally managed to opened her eyes all the way, she immediately noticed that the throbbing in her left hand was from an IV and, looking around, she saw that she was lying on a bed in one of those generic Metropolis General rooms she was becoming increasingly familiar with.
“Lois? Oh, thank God, you’re awake,” Chloe exclaimed, causing Lois to wince in reaction to her cousin’s voice.
Lois winced again when she was engulfed in Chloe’s hug. “Chlo,” she said, hoarsely, “I love you, but you’re killing me, here.”
Chloe immediately let her go and said, in a softer voice, “Sorry!” She reached out and grabbed the water next to Lois and poured her a cup. “Here, drink up. This should help.”
Lois accepted the cup gratefully and drank down the contents in two quick gulps. Taking a few deep breaths, she surveyed her surroundings once again. Cringing a bit, she asked, in a somewhat wry tone, “What I’d do this time?”
Chloe grinned slightly. “You were researching a story and someone hit you over the head with the end of a gun. Then, there was a fire and you barely made it out alive. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Lois thought for a second, mentally reviewing the events of the past week. “Well, I’d just come back from following Lex to Detroit - of all places – and ended up finding Kara….”
“Wait, WHAT?” Chloe interjected, her voice rising again. “Lex? Kara? What are you talking about?
Lois looked at her curiously. “You know, I told you about my trip, Chloe. Why, did something happen to Kara again? Did Lex do something?”
Chloe’s eyes widened even more and she sat down, abruptly, on the chair next to Lois’s bed. After several seconds, she finally said, “Lois, Lex is dead. And Kara is gone….” She paused and then finished, “Lois, you took that trip two years ago.”
Lois stared at her incredulously for a moment and, then, burst out laughing. Something she immediately regretted, when it resulted in a sharp shooting pain permeating through her head. “Chloe…” she finally managed to get out, “That’s not funny. What is this, make fun of the girl with the head injury day?”
Before Chloe could answer her, Oliver burst into the room. “Legs! You’re all right!” He came in, bearing flowers and a teddy bear. He quickly reached her side and bent down to kiss her on the forehead. “What is it with you and hospitals? I’m thinking of buying this wing and just having them name it after you.”
With more than a little surprise, Lois accepted the gifts. “Ah, Oliver? What are you doing in Metropolis?”
Oliver blinked down at her and then glanced at Chloe. “Why wouldn’t I be in Metropolis? After all, I do live here.”
Chloe gave him a look. “She doesn’t remember, Oliver.” She turned to Lois and asked, “What date do you think it is?”
Shaking her head a bit, Lois refused to answer. “Chloe, give it up. You are not going to convince that I’ve hopped on a DeLorean and woke up two years later.”
“Humor me, Lois,” Chloe commanded grimly. “Just tell me.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “OK, fine. It’s February 19, 2008.”
Oliver and Chloe exchanged a worried look. Chloe responded, evenly, “I’m going to be right back. Oliver, stay with Lois. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere,” she ordered, over her shoulder, as she practically ran out of the room.
When they were alone again, Lois focused her attention on Oliver. “So, what date does Chloe think it is?”
Oliver frowned and perched on her bed. Lois shifted a bit to allow him more room. “It’s March 23, 2010.”
Letting a huff of air that blew her bangs away from her forehead, Lois shook her head. “No way. You guys are putting me on. Next you’re going to tell me you hung up the green leather and we’re married with three kids.”
Oliver winced at that. “No. Well, I did hang up the green leather for awhile. But I’m back – mainly because of you, Lois.” He gazed at her with a look that was clearly full of affection and admiration. With a hint of something more in their green depths. After a moment, he looked way and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I… I went down a dark path, Lois. But you brought me back.”
Lois considered him for a moment. She still didn’t believe what her cousin and Oliver were trying to convince her of, but she knew that there was no way he could fake the pain that she felt coming from him. Almost as a reflex, she took his hand, noting how well they still fit together. She linked her fingers in his with one hand and let her fingers trail over his jaw line with the other. “Oliver – I’m sure that whatever happened, it happened for a reason. What’s important is that you’re fine, now.”
With some surprise and gratitude, he looked at her and captured her wandering hand with his own. “Lois… I…” He paused and then added, uncertainly, “You haven’t looked at me like that in a long time.”
Her heart raced a little as she stared at the man she’d loved so deeply. It had hurt like hell when they broke up, but maybe…. She couldn’t help but ask, a little breathlessly, “I… I… Ollie, why did you move back? That’s why we couldn’t be together… did you,” she held her breath, wondering if she should dare to hope. “Did you move back to be with me? So we could be together?”
“Lois….” Oliver answered, not meeting her eyes. He still kept his other hand encased in hers, as though he couldn’t bring himself to pull away completely. “I can’t….” Oliver looked at her and let out a sigh, as he admitted. “Yeah, a part of me moved back here because of you. But you never….”
“Oliver,” Lois interrupted, with a slight smile. “I can’t believe it. You know,” she added in a soft voice, and trailed her fingers down his shoulder, “I told you that I didn’t want to be left behind. And you came back for me… now, that’s commitment.” She took a deep breath and then admitted, “I still have feelings for you. I tried to get over you, but…”
“Lois, wait!” Oliver cut in nervously. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hear you say this, but the truth is that we’re not together. A lot has happened in the past two years.”
“You’re in Metropolis now, and the reason we broke up was because we couldn’t handle the long distance relationship.” Lois knew she wasn’t reading him wrong. It was clear he still had feelings for her. And she still had feelings for him. So, if he was living in Metropolis now, what kept them apart? Her eyes widened in dismay. “Is it because of the hero thing? Did I not handle it well?”
Oliver let out a deep sigh. “No, actually, you’ve been really cool about it. Really supportive. The fact is that I love you, but you don’t love me.”
Lois studied him for a moment. “I don’t believe that. I know my own feelings, Ollie, and I know what I feel for you.”
“What you used to feel for me,” Oliver corrected gently. “You made a choice. And you didn’t choose me.” He leaned closer to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Lois, you’re the first woman I ever fell in love with. You’re my first love. So, trust me when I say I remember the night you chose another man over me.”
“I’m your first love?” Lois asked, softly, biting her lip. She considered him for a moment, and then leaned in closer, bridging the distance between them. Before she could stop herself, she acted on the pent-up emotions from the past few months and kissed him. Oliver hesitated and pulled back, but she let her hand slide up to his neck and pulled him in closer, her fingers tangling up in his hair. After a second, he must have given up, because he began kissing her back just as urgently.
“What the hell is going on?” A deep, male voice demanded, cutting into the haze that had surrounded Lois.
Oliver immediately broke away, jumping off the bed and taking several steps back from Lois’s bed. His breath was uneven and his cheeks were flushed. “Clark! It’s not what you think!”
Disoriented by Oliver’s sudden departure, Lois blinked at Clark in confusion. “Smallville?” She squinted at him, her head tilted to the side. “What are you doing here? Did Chloe call everyone in her phone book?” She rolled her eyes and reminded herself to chastise Chloe for being so overly dramatic later. Then she blinked and her eyes travelled up and down Clark’s length, taking in his attire, and her brow rose in surprise, “Wow, Smallville. What are you so dressed up for? Where’s the plaid?”
Oddly, Clark didn’t respond. He completely ignored her comment and appeared to be trying to check in a deep rage. He was glaring at Oliver, who’d gotten strangely silent, and when he finally spoke, he ground out, “I don’t even know where to begin.” He glanced between Lois and Oliver and added, “OK, wait, I do. WHAT do you mean, it’s not what I THINK? How could this NOT be what I THINK it is?”
Before Oliver or Lois could respond, Chloe came bursting back into the room, following closely by a short, dark-haired man with black glasses, who was wearing a lab coat. She carried a bundle of newspapers under her arm and a small laptop in her hands. Without ceremony, she tossed the papers onto Lois’s legs. “Here, Lois. I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I just brought you one. So, I brought you the top five.” She pulled up the latest Daily Planet and added, “See, your name. You wrote the article that made it above the fold in today’s paper.”
Lois took the paper from Chloe and gazed at the headline. The Blur Saves the Day… Again Sure enough, that was her name on the byline. Lois felt a flicker of pride at the sight, which was fairly short-lived because the magnitude of what Chloe was saying started to hit her. She looked up at Chloe with horror, “I can’t… Chloe… there’s no way….”
Chloe let out a sigh and put the laptop on her lap. “Google the date, Lo. Look up anything. You’ve lost your memories of the past two years.”
Clark spoke again, for the first time since Chloe had made an appearance. “What? How is this possible?” He asked, fear and worry clouding his blue-green eyes.
Lois’s brows furrowed in confusion as she took in the amount of concern he seemed to have for her. She couldn’t help but feel touched. She and Clark had been friends for awhile, but she had no idea he actually cared about her well being that much. Then again, she had to remind herself that they’d actually been friends for two years longer than she remembered. Maybe they’d gotten closer, for some reason.
“Fine, Chloe, I believe you,” Lois finally said, realizing that everyone in the room was looking at her like she was a bomb ready to explode and someone had to break the silence. “I lost two years worth of memories. In my mind, it’s 2008, but – in reality – it’s 2010.” She considered cracking a joke, but even she wasn’t that strong.
The doctor (or who she assumed was a doctor) cleared his throat. “Yes, well, Ms. Lane, I’m glad you believe Ms. Sullivan, but that’s really only the first step. My name is Dr. Hamilton. May I?” He stepped closer to her and pulled out a small flashlight and began examining her eyes. “Hhhmm….”
“What does that mean?” Lois asked, starting to panic again. “I hate it when doctors do that.”
Dr. Hamilton smiled at her reassuringly. “Nothing, it doesn’t mean anything.” He glanced at Clark and asked, “What’s the last memory she should have?”
Clark, for some strange reason, seemed to know the answer to this question, because he immediately said, “She was in a lab when there was an explosion. Someone hit her in the back of her head and, then, the Blur managed to get her out before the fire got out of hand. The last thing she should remember is downloading the information from the computer onto a flash drive.”
Lois blinked in surprise. For two reasons. First of all, it was beyond bizarre that Clark had been with her when she was working on a story. (They’d barely hung out in the past few months, let alone been close enough that Clark would tag along with her while she worked.) And, secondly, she was kind of impressed that she was doing such a bang-up job as a reporter. She glanced at the headline of her front page article again. “Who’s the Blur?” Lois asked, to the general room as a whole. “And why is he front page material?”
Chloe, Clark, and Oliver exchanged one those non-verbal communications that drove Lois batty. Apparently, some things never changed, even two years down the line.
Oliver cleared his throat. “Well, it looks like you’ll just have to catch up on your own articles, Lois.” He gave her a half-grin. “Something tells me you’ll enjoy it.”
Lois grinned back. “Oh, Ollie, you know me so well.”
They stared at each other for a moment, like that, and Lois forgot anyone else was in the room. For a second, it was like it used to be between them. Back when she thought Oliver was the one. The guy she’d been waiting for her whole life.
Clark cleared his throat and asked, in a really loud voice, “All right. Emil, we know what’s wrong with Lois, but how do we fix it?”
Clark stepped closer to Lois’s bed and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. With more than a little consternation, Lois stared down at their linked fingers and then back up at him. For some odd reason, she felt at home in that position… his hand felt warm and comfortable. She resisted an urge to squeeze back and hold onto him more tightly. In fact, that kind of freaked her out, so she tried to pull her hand away, but he just tightened his hold. Lois gave him a dirty look. Sure, she liked Clark and all, but there was no reason to be so touchy feely with each other.
“I don’t know the answer to that, Clark,” the doctor responded calmly. “Memories are tricky things. The fact is that her head injury – one of many, I might add,” he pointed out dryly, “Seems to have caused this and I won’t know anything further until I analyze her CAT scans and take some more tests. Chances are that her memories will come back once the swelling goes down, but I can’t make any guarantees.” The doctor looked at Lois and said, gently, “I know its small comfort, Ms. Lane, but at least you only lost a couple of years. I’ve had patients who’ve lost whole decades.”
Lois let out a slight laugh. “If you knew what my past decade had been like, doctor, you wouldn’t say that.”
The doctor smiled in return and then turned back to Clark. “She’ll be going home with you, I presume? We’ll need to talk about her pain medication and….”
“Whoa, wait, you presume WRONG, doc,” Lois interjected. She yanked her hand out from Clark’s, registering the hurt and confusion in his eyes before she turned to Chloe. “Chloe, as much as I love the Kent farm, I’m going home with you to the Talon.” She paused uncertainly, “We do still live at the Talon, don’t we?”
Chloe glanced at Clark and then cautiously explained, “I live at the Talon. We lived together until a few weeks ago – then you moved into the farm with Clark. Because you were sleeping on the sofa in our apartment and you couldn’t find a place in Metropolis.”
Ironically, out of all the things she’d learned, this was the hardest for her to believe. “You mean, you let me move in with the love-birds?” She burst into a peal of laughter. “No way.” Then she glanced at Clark, who was frowning at her, and added hastily, “I mean, no offense to you and Lana, of course.”
That, for some reason, made Clark grin. “Trust me, none taken.”
“Wow, Smallville, you’ve developed a sense of humor about you and Lana,” Lois shot back teasingly. “Now I definitely know I’ve sustained a head injury.”
His smile faded and Clark let out a sigh, his brows furrowed in concern as he stared down at her intently. “Lois… we need to talk.”
Lois winced. Nothing good ever followed that phrase. And, in this case, she was right, because Chloe and Dr. Hamilton immediately made themselves scarce before Clark had even finished saying the words. Oliver was the only one who remained behind and Clark sent him a look that made it clear he expected Oliver to follow the others out the door. Oliver ignored him and turned his attention back to Lois.
“Lois, I’m going to head out now, but I’ll be back,” he said, studiously avoiding Clark’s gaze. “I just want you to remember what we talked about – just….” At that point, he glanced over at Clark and finished, “Just keep an open mind.”
Lois looked between the two men curiously, because they seemed to be having some form of a staring contest. Lois blinked – for a second there, she actually thought she saw a flash of red in Clark’s eyes. But that was impossible. But, still, there was no denying that Clark, for some bizarre reason, really looked like he wanted to tear Oliver’s head off. Oliver, for his part, looked apologetic. The tension was palatable.
Finally, Lois couldn’t take it anymore and she exclaimed, rather loudly, “That’s GREAT. Ollie, why don’t you go and I’ll call you?”
Oliver forced a grin to his lips and glanced down at her. “Sure. See you later, Lois. Clark.”
When he left, Lois found herself alone with Clark and the room felt really quiet. Lois wasn’t sure, exactly, why she felt the need to banish Oliver instead of Clark, but something inside her told her that it was more likely that Oliver would walk away maimed if they both stayed in the room. Which was odd, because Oliver was the Green Arrow and Clark was…. Well, he was Clark. Farmboy couldn’t hurt a fly. She eyed him speculatively for a second, and then silently revised that opinion when she saw the way he filled out his suit. Lois wasn’t sure how she hadn’t notice it before, but Clark was huge.
As the silence lengthened between them, Clark considered her and seemed to weigh what he was going to say next. Lois, who had never really felt comfortable with silences, jumped in before he could speak. “So,” she asked in a light tone, “How goes things with Lana? I hope that me living with you doesn’t impact your domestic bliss too much.”
“Lois, Lana and I broke up a year ago,” Clark answered, after a slight hesitation. He started to add something, but then seemed to decide against it. “It’s a long story.”
Lois smiled at him. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You two have a tendency to do that a lot.”
Clark sat down on the chair next to her bed. “No, this time was different.”
“You both have a tendency to say that a lot, too,” Lois answered, her smile turning into a full-fledged grin.
He let out a soft groan and dropped his head into his hands. After a second, he glanced up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Lois, you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Lana and I done.”
Deciding that there was nothing wrong in being cooperative, Lois nodded agreeably. “Sure, OK.” She studied his bent head for a moment, frowning a bit. It was so unlike Clark to not take an opportunity to talk about what went wrong with Lana and go into detail about all the things that made Lana wonderful, but they couldn’t be together. Things must have a changed a bit since the last time they spoke (the last time she remembered, anyway). Finally, not really having any idea what to say, she blurted out, “So, what did you need to talk to me about?”
His answer surprised her. “Why were you kissing Oliver?”
“Uhhh….” Lois let out a nervous little laugh and adjusted the sheets and thin blanket covering her legs. “I don’t know....He’s my ex-boyfriend and I just suffered a head trauma? He’s hot?” Lois suggested. And then, she flushed a little and added, “God, Smallville, I don’t really see why it’s any of your business.”
“See, that’s the thing,” Clark answered evenly, “It kind of is.”
Lois’s brows rose in surprise. “Oh? And why would that be?”
“Because you’re my girlfriend,” he answered flatly.
Her jaw dropped in shock and confusion for several moments. And, then, she answered, succinctly, “No way in hell, Smallville.”
***
The rest of the day was spent taking tests and trying to get Dr. Hamilton to stop poking around the sore spot on the back of her head. At one point, he gave up and just decided it was easier to discharge her than it was to try to keep under observation at the hospital. He released her into Clark’s care (something Lois wasn’t exactly happy about) and made her promise him that she wouldn’t get addicted to her painkillers. Lois’s head still had a tendency to throb when she made sudden movements, but she thought his warnings were overkill and kind of paranoid.
So, here she was, two days after the accident and she was sitting in the Kent living room, trying to figure out how the hell she got there. Not just in the past two days (she knew that) but what had happened to her in the past two years to get her to this point. She’d originally balked at the idea of coming to the farm, but Dr. Hamilton had pointed out that the best way to assure she’d get her memories back would be for her to stay in familiar surroundings and try to follow her normal routine as much as possible. Personally, she thought he was making this stuff up as he went along, but who was she to argue with a guy with a medical degree? And even if she wanted to, the collective efforts of Clark, Chloe, and Oliver made it impossible for her to do anything but follow the doctor’s orders.
Sick of resting on the sofa, she got up and began to pace around the familiar living room. After a second, her eyes strayed to the very mantle she’d been trying to avoid. Almost involuntarily, she picked up the picture that rested on the mantle and traced her fingers across the glossy surface. It was a picture of her and Clark at – of all things – a picnic. It appeared that it had been a day in the late fall – the blanket they were resting on was surrounded with red, orange, and yellow leaves and Lois was wearing a sweater and jacket. Lois was looking into the camera, but Clark was looking at her. It was rather bizarre to see a picture of herself and Clark on the mantle (where Lana’s picture from high school used to hold the place of honor) but that actually wasn’t the reason Lois kept going back to study this particular picture. What captured her interest was the way Clark was looking at her. Like she was the only person in the world and he didn’t have eyes for anyone else. And, again, she just had to ask herself, How the hell did that happen??
“That’s a nice picture, huh?” Clark asked, from the entryway.
With a thunk, Lois put the frame back down and whirled around in surprise. She’d been so focused on the picture, she hadn’t heard him come in. “Um… well…” Lois began and then stopped. She didn’t really know what to say. “Yes, I guess,” she finished lamely.
Clark had just come home from work – which was the DP, go figure – and so he still wore his work clothes. It was, amazingly enough, a very good look on him. Lois couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on his very broad shoulders and the way the cut of suit accentuated what a great body he had. And, of course, there was the way the dark blue of the suit reflected off of his eyes and turned them into a deeper blue-green than usual. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw that his silver-blue tie was crooked. Some things, apparently, never changed.
He caught her smile. “What’s so funny?” Clark asked, his own lips curving up in response. She did that to him – no matter how bad things were, one smile from her and he was grinning like an idiot.
Lois told him the truth. “Your tie. It’s crooked.”
Not taking his eyes off of her, he loosened his tie and tugged it off, tossing it onto the chair. “There, better?” Clark asked and then he walked closer to her. He put his hands on her waist and tugged her closer. “I’m used to you fixing it for me.”
Lois stared up at him and swallowed. “Aahhh…. Okay.… well…” Lois pulled back and stepped around him and almost ran to the other side of the room, putting the sofa between them. “I’m going to pretend you didn't say that," she informed him.
Clark let out a sigh of frustration. “Lois…”
“Clark…” Lois responded, with a sigh of her own. “Look, Smallville, we’ve been through this,” she reminded him. “You and me – never going to happen.”
“Except it’s already happened,” Clark pointed out, for what he considered to be the hundredth time. “You keep overlooking that.”
“In your world. Not mine.”
“In your world, too, Lois,” Clark countered. He studied her for a moment and tried to figure out what to do next. He had thought, perhaps foolishly, that she’d get her memories back the second she came to the farm. Then, he’d tried the DP, the Talon, and – finally – even the phone booth. That last one had elicited a look from her like he’d lost his marbles. He had considered calling her as the Blur, but since she had no clue who he was, he didn’t think it would make much of an impact.
“Lois, a long time ago, I lost my memories, and you told me to go with my gut,” Clark finally said. He put his hands in his pockets and looked across the room at her. “What’s your gut saying?”
Lois mulled it over for a second and then grinned. “That I should pack my bags and go to the Bahamas until this blows over.”
Clark wasn’t amused. “I meant, about me.”
Lois blinked a bit and then studied him, as though seriously considering what he was saying. “Smallville, my gut is saying that there is no way in hell I would ever sign up for a ride on the Clark Kent express.”
Clark couldn’t help but feel a little offended, even though he knew that – two years ago – he would have probably said the same thing about her. “Why?”
“Honestly? Because I had a front row seat to the Clark and Lana Rocky Horror Show. Any girl would be insane to want to be the follow-up act,” Lois answered, after a second of hesitation. “And, frankly, I’m not insane.” She paused and added, as she had the day before, “No offense.”
“None taken,” he answered dryly, as he’d answered before. What was he supposed to say? From her perspective, he supposed his relationship with Lana did look pretty crazy. Not that they ever talked about it. Ironically, Lois was a lot more candid about her feelings about his past relationship with Lana when she had memory loss than she was without it.
Lois was looking at him with some surprise. “Since when did you stop taking offense at things I said? Where’s the come back? The whole bit where you call me rude, arrogant, annoying and pushy? Ask me when I’m leaving so you can get your bed back?”
Clark couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that. He knew he shouldn’t push her, but she looked so cute standing there, in her jeans and t-shirt, using the sofa as a barrier between them. And the doctor did say that they should try to keep things as normal as possible. Using that to justify it to himself, he quickly closed the distance between them and came to stand next to her.
“Fine, you’re rude, arrogant, annoying and pushy,” he complied, in a mock serious tone. He couldn’t help but touch one of the curls that fell over her shoulder, twirling the silky strands around his finger, and Clark looked down into her eyes as he finished, teasingly, “And I don’t need you to leave to get my bed back. I’ll join you whenever you want.”
Lois sucked in her breath and he heard her heart begin to race in response to his words. Which meant that she wasn’t an unaffected as she let on. At least, he hoped that’s what it meant.
The hope was quickly extinguished when she scrambled away from him and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ewww, Smallville!”
Clark rolled his eyes and let out a groan of frustration. “Lois….”
“No, seriously,” Lois insisted. “I really don’t know what you’ve been smoking these past couple of years, but Clark Kent and Lois Lane? C’mon!”
“Lois, you know I’m not making this up,” Clark answered patiently, for the hundredth time. “Chloe, Oliver, everyone at the DP – in fact, you even called my mother. Why would they lie to you?”
“Because I didn’t really lose my memories and I’m in some alternate reality?” Lois asked hopefully.
Clark’s brows furrowed in concern and he gave her words some serious thought. “Yeah, but for what purpose? And if you’re a different Lois Lane, then where’s my Lois Lane? And, really, what would be the point of you being from a different reality where you’re two years behind?”
Lois stared at him in confusion. “Okay, I was kind of joking, but yeah, I guess I see your point,” she conceded.
Clark decided to take another tack. “Lois, did the thought ever occur to you that, maybe, you should go with it? Embrace it?”
Lois let out one of her typical laughs. “Embrace what, Clark? You? Because, I hate to beat a dead horse, but the last time I saw you, you were living with Lana. And I was crying on your shoulder after breaking up with Ollie. Pardon me if I’m having problems absorbing that I’m now the object of your desire.”
“I already told you that I’m over Lana,” Clark answered immediately. “We broke up a year ago and you and I started dating four months ago.” He considered adding in that they pretty much acted like they were dating for a full month before that, but thought it would probably make her run for the hills.
“Yeah, do the math, Smallville,” Lois shot back. “Clearly, I’m your rebound girl.” She paused and then added, with an uncertain look, “And who knows? Maybe you’re my rebound guy?”
“Rebound guy? From who?” Clark asked her grimly, even though he had a pretty good idea of who she was going to say.
“Oliver,” she said softly and crossed her arms, looking right past him, as though she were somewhere else.
“No, you already had your rebound guy,” Clark replied flatly. “His name was Grant.”
Lois blinked. “Oh yeah. Maybe I needed a second rebound guy,” Lois suggested. “I mean, I still have….” Her voice trailed away and she stopped.
Clark studied her. “You still what, Lois?” If she said she still had feelings for Oliver, he was going to have to blur away to go fry something with his laser vision. Preferably Oliver.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she glanced back at him and kind of smiled. “OK, so let’s say I had my rebound guy. This would still make me your rebound girl, Clark. I know you and I bet you didn’t date anyone after Lana.”
With some hesitation, Clark admitted, “Yes, I didn’t date anyone after Lana and I broke up last time. Until you.”
For some reason, this seemed to get Lois really excited. “See, that’s what this is,” Lois exclaimed triumphantly. “You were trying to get over Lana. You said so yourself that we got close when we started working together. So, yeah, you were trying to get over Lana and I happened to be there… one thing probably led to another.” She paused and then added, with more than a little confusion, “But I don’t get why I’d go along with it.”
Clark gazed at her and asked, somewhat ruefully, “Because you actually cared about me? Because you had feelings for me?”
“No, that’s not it,” Lois’s brow furrowed in confusion and shook her head absentmindedly as she chewed on her lip. She was clearly trying to think of another reason she’d be crazy enough to date Clark. “No, really, that can’t be it.”
Clark rolled his eyes. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but you actually did want this relationship.”
“Stop calling it that!” Lois ordered. “We talked about this!”
“Right, sorry,” Clark answered, not feeling even remotely apologetic. He walked up to her, so they were only a few feet away. “Look, Lois, I’m not sure I can explain exactly why we started feeling differently about each other. When things changed. But they did. And we’re happy.” He gazed into her eyes, willing her to the see the truth in his words. “I promise you, we’re good together.”
Lois stared back up at him and then snorted in derision. “Clark, I get that you think that, but you have to understand – in my world, you’re still the geeky farm boy that my cousin used to have a crush on and the guy who follows Lana around everywhere. I mean, you were in love with her when she was married to another guy and pregnant!”
Clark considered her for a moment and then offered, “You wanted to know if you’re my rebound girl? Well, you’re not, because Lana was my rebound girl.”
“What? How does that work?”
Clark shook his head slightly, letting out a tired sigh. He hated thinking about that time in his life, but he did owe it to Lois to be truthful to her. It might make a difference and actually snap her out of this. “I told you that Lana and I broke up a year ago, but that’s not the whole story. We actually broke up six months before that. She left me a break-up DVD.”
Lois blinked in surprise. “She broke up with you on a DVD? Wow, that’s….” Lois stopped and then kept silent.
“In the end, it turned out Lex forced her to do it,” Clark explained briefly. “But I didn’t know that, so I thought she really left me.” Clark wondered what the best way was to explain how his feelings changed. “I got over her, but it was almost like I didn’t even know I got over her. I moved on.”
“And then what happened?” Lois asked curiously.
“She came back,” he answered succinctly, not wanting to get into a detailed discussion about how much of a moron he’d been to walk away from Lois then.
Lois was studying him intently. “Yeah, well, like I said: you two have a tendency to do that a lot.”
“This was different,” Clark replied, knowing, even as he said it, how incredibly cliché that sounded. “Lana was… well, she was different. And, because it turned out that she hadn’t really wanted to break up with me, we gave it another shot.” He stopped and then took responsibility for his actions. “I gave it another shot.”
“And?” Lois prompted him, when he’d fallen silent again.
“It didn’t work,” Clark explained. “We should never have tried. The fact is – we were already ready to move on even before she left me the DVD. In fact, I….” he looked at Lois and told her something he’d never admitted to anyone before, “The night you and I talked about Oliver? When he left for Star City? I was going to end it that night, but something you said convinced me to try again.” Clark shook his head regretfully. “I made a mistake."
Lois swallowed and said gently, “I’m sorry, Smallville. Looks like the past couple of years haven’t been that easy for you.”
“Some parts have,” Clark countered. “The parts where I have you.”
Lois’s lips curved up, even though she looked like she was trying to hold back the smile. “That’s sweet, Clark, but that Lois Lane you think you have? She’s not me.”
Clark felt a shot of fear race through him. “What do you mean? Of course she’s you.”
“For better or worse, I don’t have memories of the past two years, so those parts you’re talking about? They didn’t happen to me, so, I’m not that girl. Until I get my memories back, this is the Lois Lane I am,” Lois answered, indicating towards herself. Then she glanced at her watch and added, “And this Lois Lane has a date in an hour, so I have to get ready.” With that, she ran towards the stairs.
“What?” Clark frowned. “What do you mean, you have a date?” he called after her, following her up the stairs. “With who?” Clark demanded.
“Oliver.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Well, it’s not technically a date. I guess it’s like a date.”
Clark swallowed back the flash of pain he felt at her words. She didn’t even know it, but the words had pierced him as though Oliver had just stabbed him with a Kryptonite arrow all over again. Actually, he mentally revised that. It felt worse.
He captured her arm, pulling her back around to face him. “Lois, you can’t go out on a date with another guy.” Clark put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. “We’re in a relationship and you’re going to regret this. You don’t love Oliver.”
Lois looked up at him and gave him an understanding smile. “Look, Smallville, I know this is weird. But you have to understand. 2010 Lois is the one who’s in a relationship with you. 2008 Lois?” She looked him straight in the eye and finished, “I’m still in love with Ollie.”
Blindly, Clark let her go, feeling his heart break at her words. And he knew - for the first time, perhaps - that what he felt for Lois was stronger than anything he’d ever felt for Lana. Because, for all those times he and Lana had these same sorts of conversations, there was always a part of him that felt relieved when she’d end it. But, this time? There was no relief. Only pain. What had his future self said to her? Lois, I died when you left. Maybe that was the irony. Maybe he was destined to have Lois leave him and he would die inside whether he managed to defeat Zod or not.
Clearly concerned by his lack of response, Lois reached out to touch his shoulder tentatively. “Clark? Are you okay?”
Clark let out a mirthless laugh at that. “The love of my life just told me she’s in love with someone else. Yes, Lois, why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Lois let out a shocked gasp, but Clark didn’t stay to wait for her response. He stepped out of their bedroom and then super-sped to the furthest place he could think of. The Fortress.
***
“Oliver told me I’d find you here,” Chloe said cheerfully as she placed a greasy paper bag full of fast food on Lois’s desk. “Thought you might be hungry, since you skipped your dinner with him.”
Lois glanced at the bag and shook her head. “Not hungry, but thanks.”
“Lois Lane turning down a Fat Joe burger with all the trimmings?” Chloe asked, in amazement. “Now there’s a first.”
Lois didn’t laugh in response. She looked back at the computer and clicked on the mouse. “I’ve written a lot of articles these past two years.” Her brow quirked as she glanced at her cousin. “What did I do? Live at the DP?”
Chloe pulled up a chair from the nearest desk and sat down. “Well, you are pretty ambitious, Lois. Are you really that surprised?”
“No, I’m not,” Lois answered, with more than a hint of pride. “But I am a little bummed out that I’m still in the basement,” she added, as she looked around the nearly empty bullpen.
“Not your fault. Tess Mercer runs the Daily Planet and she hates you,” Chloe explained. “Let’s just say she’s a minion of Lex Luthor.”
Lois nodded in understanding. “Oh, now I get it. Figures the new boss would hate me as much as the old one. Lois Lane charm. Gets ‘em everytime.” She hesitated and then pursed her lips. “Speaking of Lois Lane charm…. Chloe, I have a question.”
Chloe’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No way. I know that look.”
“What look?” Lois asked curiously.
“The look everyone gets before they ask me for romantic advice,” Chloe shot back. “There is no way I’m getting dragged into this Shakespearean triangle. Besides, I wouldn’t even know who to advise here: Blast from the past Lois or contemporary Lois?”
“Don’t you see, Chloe, we’re the same,” Lois answered miserably. “We occupy the same space. I have no clue who I’m supposed to be, anymore.” Lois shook her head a little and gazed into the distance. “I… the last time I went to bed, my dreams were about Oliver. And, now, they’re coming true. He’s here, in Metropolis, and he wants to make a life with me. But my thoughts?” Lois turned back to Chloe, who was listening intently. “My thoughts, they keep going back to Clark. The guy who…” she faltered and then finished, “He called me the love of his life, Chloe. The love of his life. Who says that? And how the hell did that happen?”
“Clark does that,” Chloe reminded her. “He’s not the sort of guy who just falls for the closest girl available. God knows, we would have hooked up a long time ago if that had been the case.” Chloe smiled slowly and added, “And as to how did it happen? I think, Lois, that sometimes love doesn’t just happen with a bang. It grows every day. Like a plant. And, I think, you guys’ love grew and grew until it finally blossomed. When it did, you were both happier than I’ve ever seen you before.”
Lois looked at Chloe in surprise. “That’s what Clark said. That we’re happy.”
“Look, I have no clue what your feelings for Oliver are,” Chloe admitted, with a shrug. “But I do know that you’re madly in love with Clark. At least, you were yesterday.”
Lois stared at the empty desk across from hers, where Clark’s nameplate was prominently displayed. She tried to imagine them, working together every day and then going home together in the evenings. For some reason, the image didn’t freak her out as much as it should have. She turned to tell Chloe this, but the sudden movement made her head hurt. She winced and put her hand to the back of her head and when she moved her finger away, she saw that they were bloody.
Chloe gasped, “Oh no! Did you rip your stitches?”
“I guess so.” Lois felt dizzy and somewhat faint. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to skip all the meals in a day when you’d just suffered blood loss and a head injury. She saw spots start to form around her and the last thing she heard was Chloe calling someone on her phone before she blacked out.
***
“Well, is there anything we can do?” Oliver asked Emil impatiently.
“No, there isn’t. She’ll wake up when she wakes up,” the doctor replied patiently. He glanced down at Lois’s chart and added, thoughtfully, “It’s insane the amount of time Ms. Lane spends unconscious. I’m amazed she’s still functioning.”
“That’s not funny,” Clark answered, glaring at the doctor a bit.
Oliver’s lips twitched. “It’s kind of funny, Clark.”
Clark shot him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, so we’re doing the silent treatment thing?” Oliver asked. “Really mature, Kent. I didn’t realize we were still in elementary school.”
“Did you steal other people’s girlfriend’s in elementary school?” Clark retorted. “For some reason, I could see you doing that.”
Oliver let out a long suffering sigh. “I already told you that I didn’t ask her out. She was confused and had just suffered a head trauma. And we’d had plans to go out to dinner for weeks. When she saw it on her calendar, what was I supposed to do? Turn her down?”
“Yes,” Clark answered shortly.
Oliver thought about it for a second and then nodded. “OK, you’re right. Maybe I should have. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Clark glanced over at him and then around at the hospital lobby they sat in. “You thought you had another shot with her. And that she might choose you this time around,” Clark told him wryly. “And, I have to say,” he hesitated and then finished, “I'm not happy about it, but I don’t blame you.”
Oliver stared at him in surprise. “How can you say that?”
“Because if I lost her, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to get her back, too,” Clark stated simply.
Oliver kept silent.
Clark stood up and said, grimly, “Enough of this. I’m just going to do what I should have done to begin with.”
Startled, Oliver looked up at him. “What’s that?”
“I’m taking her to the Fortress.”
***
Lois tried to open her eyes and then closed them as the sunlight hit them from the open window in the bedroom. Her head was pounding. She must have over-indulged the night before. But, try as she might, she couldn’t remember being anywhere near alcohol so that didn’t really make any sense.
She sat up and lifted her hand in front of her eyes to block out the light. “Ugh, Smallville, close the drapes!”
“Lois? You’re awake,” Clark said, coming to sit next to her on the bed, completely ignoring her edict. He looked at her with concern. “How are you feeling?”
Lois looked at him curiously. “Other a headache the size of Texas, I’m feeling fine. Why?” She rubbed her temples and then realized the pain was coming more from the back of her head. She frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Lois, do you remember…?” Clark looked at her uncertainly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Um… let’s see….” Lois thought about it for a second. “We were following that lead about the towers – we went to RAO labs and then there….” Try as she might, she couldn’t see anything beyond that. “I have no idea,” she said, giving up. “What happened?”
“We took you to the hospital and then, when you woke up, you didn’t remember…” Clark began.
“Oh, wait!” Lois cut him off. She stared at him for a second, her fingers against her temple and then she went two shades paler than usual. “Oh my God, Clark. Did I….” She went from white to flushed pink. “I remember… I thought it was 2008.”
Clark smiled, with relief. “Yeah.”
Lois didn’t look relieved. Instead, she closed her eyes and groaned. Flopping back on the bed, she put her pillow over her face. “Oohamalogoaodio juoos kalksow mle nnaowo.”
Even with his super hearing, he had no clue what that meant. He sat down on the bed next to her and, gently, grasped a hold of the pillow and pulled it away from her head. “What?”
Lois sat back up. “I said, just kill me now.” She looked very embarrassed. “Did I seriously try to hook up with Ollie? Oh my God.”
“Well,” Clark tried to shrug and make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “Two years ago, you did love him, Lois. It’s understandable, I guess.” Clark looked down at the blanket as he conceded this point, unable to look at her while he said it.
Lois was silent for a minute and then she shifted closer to him. “Hhhmm… that’s true.” Then she smiled wickedly. “But guess what? It’s the year 2010 now.” And then she grabbed his tie and tugged on it until they were a mere inch apart. “And I haven’t kissed the love of my life for a whole two days now. Let’s fix that, shall we?”
Then she linked her hands behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss, her lips soft and inviting, her tongue tracing his bottom lip. Clark responded immediately, his arms wrapping around her, as he pressed her back onto the bed, hungry for more.
She broke away much too soon and Clark almost groaned in disappointment. Lois smiled in response. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
He looked down at her. “So are you.”
“I’m wearing a nightgown,” Lois protested. “You’re wearing a suit!”
In response, he kissed her and said, against her lips, “Welcome back, Lois.”
Lois pulled away long enough to say lightly, "Why, thank you, Clark."
Then, all conversation ended while they tried to make up for the past two days.
----------
Lois opened her eyes slowly, feeling the harsh lights prick against them as she first cracked one open, then the other. She immediately closed them again and let out a soft groan, lifting her hand to her pounding skull. She sat up a bit, licking her dry lips and swallowing back another moan as pain shot through her head at the slightest movement.
When Lois finally managed to opened her eyes all the way, she immediately noticed that the throbbing in her left hand was from an IV and, looking around, she saw that she was lying on a bed in one of those generic Metropolis General rooms she was becoming increasingly familiar with.
“Lois? Oh, thank God, you’re awake,” Chloe exclaimed, causing Lois to wince in reaction to her cousin’s voice.
Lois winced again when she was engulfed in Chloe’s hug. “Chlo,” she said, hoarsely, “I love you, but you’re killing me, here.”
Chloe immediately let her go and said, in a softer voice, “Sorry!” She reached out and grabbed the water next to Lois and poured her a cup. “Here, drink up. This should help.”
Lois accepted the cup gratefully and drank down the contents in two quick gulps. Taking a few deep breaths, she surveyed her surroundings once again. Cringing a bit, she asked, in a somewhat wry tone, “What I’d do this time?”
Chloe grinned slightly. “You were researching a story and someone hit you over the head with the end of a gun. Then, there was a fire and you barely made it out alive. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Lois thought for a second, mentally reviewing the events of the past week. “Well, I’d just come back from following Lex to Detroit - of all places – and ended up finding Kara….”
“Wait, WHAT?” Chloe interjected, her voice rising again. “Lex? Kara? What are you talking about?
Lois looked at her curiously. “You know, I told you about my trip, Chloe. Why, did something happen to Kara again? Did Lex do something?”
Chloe’s eyes widened even more and she sat down, abruptly, on the chair next to Lois’s bed. After several seconds, she finally said, “Lois, Lex is dead. And Kara is gone….” She paused and then finished, “Lois, you took that trip two years ago.”
Lois stared at her incredulously for a moment and, then, burst out laughing. Something she immediately regretted, when it resulted in a sharp shooting pain permeating through her head. “Chloe…” she finally managed to get out, “That’s not funny. What is this, make fun of the girl with the head injury day?”
Before Chloe could answer her, Oliver burst into the room. “Legs! You’re all right!” He came in, bearing flowers and a teddy bear. He quickly reached her side and bent down to kiss her on the forehead. “What is it with you and hospitals? I’m thinking of buying this wing and just having them name it after you.”
With more than a little surprise, Lois accepted the gifts. “Ah, Oliver? What are you doing in Metropolis?”
Oliver blinked down at her and then glanced at Chloe. “Why wouldn’t I be in Metropolis? After all, I do live here.”
Chloe gave him a look. “She doesn’t remember, Oliver.” She turned to Lois and asked, “What date do you think it is?”
Shaking her head a bit, Lois refused to answer. “Chloe, give it up. You are not going to convince that I’ve hopped on a DeLorean and woke up two years later.”
“Humor me, Lois,” Chloe commanded grimly. “Just tell me.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “OK, fine. It’s February 19, 2008.”
Oliver and Chloe exchanged a worried look. Chloe responded, evenly, “I’m going to be right back. Oliver, stay with Lois. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere,” she ordered, over her shoulder, as she practically ran out of the room.
When they were alone again, Lois focused her attention on Oliver. “So, what date does Chloe think it is?”
Oliver frowned and perched on her bed. Lois shifted a bit to allow him more room. “It’s March 23, 2010.”
Letting a huff of air that blew her bangs away from her forehead, Lois shook her head. “No way. You guys are putting me on. Next you’re going to tell me you hung up the green leather and we’re married with three kids.”
Oliver winced at that. “No. Well, I did hang up the green leather for awhile. But I’m back – mainly because of you, Lois.” He gazed at her with a look that was clearly full of affection and admiration. With a hint of something more in their green depths. After a moment, he looked way and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I… I went down a dark path, Lois. But you brought me back.”
Lois considered him for a moment. She still didn’t believe what her cousin and Oliver were trying to convince her of, but she knew that there was no way he could fake the pain that she felt coming from him. Almost as a reflex, she took his hand, noting how well they still fit together. She linked her fingers in his with one hand and let her fingers trail over his jaw line with the other. “Oliver – I’m sure that whatever happened, it happened for a reason. What’s important is that you’re fine, now.”
With some surprise and gratitude, he looked at her and captured her wandering hand with his own. “Lois… I…” He paused and then added, uncertainly, “You haven’t looked at me like that in a long time.”
Her heart raced a little as she stared at the man she’d loved so deeply. It had hurt like hell when they broke up, but maybe…. She couldn’t help but ask, a little breathlessly, “I… I… Ollie, why did you move back? That’s why we couldn’t be together… did you,” she held her breath, wondering if she should dare to hope. “Did you move back to be with me? So we could be together?”
“Lois….” Oliver answered, not meeting her eyes. He still kept his other hand encased in hers, as though he couldn’t bring himself to pull away completely. “I can’t….” Oliver looked at her and let out a sigh, as he admitted. “Yeah, a part of me moved back here because of you. But you never….”
“Oliver,” Lois interrupted, with a slight smile. “I can’t believe it. You know,” she added in a soft voice, and trailed her fingers down his shoulder, “I told you that I didn’t want to be left behind. And you came back for me… now, that’s commitment.” She took a deep breath and then admitted, “I still have feelings for you. I tried to get over you, but…”
“Lois, wait!” Oliver cut in nervously. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hear you say this, but the truth is that we’re not together. A lot has happened in the past two years.”
“You’re in Metropolis now, and the reason we broke up was because we couldn’t handle the long distance relationship.” Lois knew she wasn’t reading him wrong. It was clear he still had feelings for her. And she still had feelings for him. So, if he was living in Metropolis now, what kept them apart? Her eyes widened in dismay. “Is it because of the hero thing? Did I not handle it well?”
Oliver let out a deep sigh. “No, actually, you’ve been really cool about it. Really supportive. The fact is that I love you, but you don’t love me.”
Lois studied him for a moment. “I don’t believe that. I know my own feelings, Ollie, and I know what I feel for you.”
“What you used to feel for me,” Oliver corrected gently. “You made a choice. And you didn’t choose me.” He leaned closer to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Lois, you’re the first woman I ever fell in love with. You’re my first love. So, trust me when I say I remember the night you chose another man over me.”
“I’m your first love?” Lois asked, softly, biting her lip. She considered him for a moment, and then leaned in closer, bridging the distance between them. Before she could stop herself, she acted on the pent-up emotions from the past few months and kissed him. Oliver hesitated and pulled back, but she let her hand slide up to his neck and pulled him in closer, her fingers tangling up in his hair. After a second, he must have given up, because he began kissing her back just as urgently.
“What the hell is going on?” A deep, male voice demanded, cutting into the haze that had surrounded Lois.
Oliver immediately broke away, jumping off the bed and taking several steps back from Lois’s bed. His breath was uneven and his cheeks were flushed. “Clark! It’s not what you think!”
Disoriented by Oliver’s sudden departure, Lois blinked at Clark in confusion. “Smallville?” She squinted at him, her head tilted to the side. “What are you doing here? Did Chloe call everyone in her phone book?” She rolled her eyes and reminded herself to chastise Chloe for being so overly dramatic later. Then she blinked and her eyes travelled up and down Clark’s length, taking in his attire, and her brow rose in surprise, “Wow, Smallville. What are you so dressed up for? Where’s the plaid?”
Oddly, Clark didn’t respond. He completely ignored her comment and appeared to be trying to check in a deep rage. He was glaring at Oliver, who’d gotten strangely silent, and when he finally spoke, he ground out, “I don’t even know where to begin.” He glanced between Lois and Oliver and added, “OK, wait, I do. WHAT do you mean, it’s not what I THINK? How could this NOT be what I THINK it is?”
Before Oliver or Lois could respond, Chloe came bursting back into the room, following closely by a short, dark-haired man with black glasses, who was wearing a lab coat. She carried a bundle of newspapers under her arm and a small laptop in her hands. Without ceremony, she tossed the papers onto Lois’s legs. “Here, Lois. I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I just brought you one. So, I brought you the top five.” She pulled up the latest Daily Planet and added, “See, your name. You wrote the article that made it above the fold in today’s paper.”
Lois took the paper from Chloe and gazed at the headline. The Blur Saves the Day… Again Sure enough, that was her name on the byline. Lois felt a flicker of pride at the sight, which was fairly short-lived because the magnitude of what Chloe was saying started to hit her. She looked up at Chloe with horror, “I can’t… Chloe… there’s no way….”
Chloe let out a sigh and put the laptop on her lap. “Google the date, Lo. Look up anything. You’ve lost your memories of the past two years.”
Clark spoke again, for the first time since Chloe had made an appearance. “What? How is this possible?” He asked, fear and worry clouding his blue-green eyes.
Lois’s brows furrowed in confusion as she took in the amount of concern he seemed to have for her. She couldn’t help but feel touched. She and Clark had been friends for awhile, but she had no idea he actually cared about her well being that much. Then again, she had to remind herself that they’d actually been friends for two years longer than she remembered. Maybe they’d gotten closer, for some reason.
“Fine, Chloe, I believe you,” Lois finally said, realizing that everyone in the room was looking at her like she was a bomb ready to explode and someone had to break the silence. “I lost two years worth of memories. In my mind, it’s 2008, but – in reality – it’s 2010.” She considered cracking a joke, but even she wasn’t that strong.
The doctor (or who she assumed was a doctor) cleared his throat. “Yes, well, Ms. Lane, I’m glad you believe Ms. Sullivan, but that’s really only the first step. My name is Dr. Hamilton. May I?” He stepped closer to her and pulled out a small flashlight and began examining her eyes. “Hhhmm….”
“What does that mean?” Lois asked, starting to panic again. “I hate it when doctors do that.”
Dr. Hamilton smiled at her reassuringly. “Nothing, it doesn’t mean anything.” He glanced at Clark and asked, “What’s the last memory she should have?”
Clark, for some strange reason, seemed to know the answer to this question, because he immediately said, “She was in a lab when there was an explosion. Someone hit her in the back of her head and, then, the Blur managed to get her out before the fire got out of hand. The last thing she should remember is downloading the information from the computer onto a flash drive.”
Lois blinked in surprise. For two reasons. First of all, it was beyond bizarre that Clark had been with her when she was working on a story. (They’d barely hung out in the past few months, let alone been close enough that Clark would tag along with her while she worked.) And, secondly, she was kind of impressed that she was doing such a bang-up job as a reporter. She glanced at the headline of her front page article again. “Who’s the Blur?” Lois asked, to the general room as a whole. “And why is he front page material?”
Chloe, Clark, and Oliver exchanged one those non-verbal communications that drove Lois batty. Apparently, some things never changed, even two years down the line.
Oliver cleared his throat. “Well, it looks like you’ll just have to catch up on your own articles, Lois.” He gave her a half-grin. “Something tells me you’ll enjoy it.”
Lois grinned back. “Oh, Ollie, you know me so well.”
They stared at each other for a moment, like that, and Lois forgot anyone else was in the room. For a second, it was like it used to be between them. Back when she thought Oliver was the one. The guy she’d been waiting for her whole life.
Clark cleared his throat and asked, in a really loud voice, “All right. Emil, we know what’s wrong with Lois, but how do we fix it?”
Clark stepped closer to Lois’s bed and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. With more than a little consternation, Lois stared down at their linked fingers and then back up at him. For some odd reason, she felt at home in that position… his hand felt warm and comfortable. She resisted an urge to squeeze back and hold onto him more tightly. In fact, that kind of freaked her out, so she tried to pull her hand away, but he just tightened his hold. Lois gave him a dirty look. Sure, she liked Clark and all, but there was no reason to be so touchy feely with each other.
“I don’t know the answer to that, Clark,” the doctor responded calmly. “Memories are tricky things. The fact is that her head injury – one of many, I might add,” he pointed out dryly, “Seems to have caused this and I won’t know anything further until I analyze her CAT scans and take some more tests. Chances are that her memories will come back once the swelling goes down, but I can’t make any guarantees.” The doctor looked at Lois and said, gently, “I know its small comfort, Ms. Lane, but at least you only lost a couple of years. I’ve had patients who’ve lost whole decades.”
Lois let out a slight laugh. “If you knew what my past decade had been like, doctor, you wouldn’t say that.”
The doctor smiled in return and then turned back to Clark. “She’ll be going home with you, I presume? We’ll need to talk about her pain medication and….”
“Whoa, wait, you presume WRONG, doc,” Lois interjected. She yanked her hand out from Clark’s, registering the hurt and confusion in his eyes before she turned to Chloe. “Chloe, as much as I love the Kent farm, I’m going home with you to the Talon.” She paused uncertainly, “We do still live at the Talon, don’t we?”
Chloe glanced at Clark and then cautiously explained, “I live at the Talon. We lived together until a few weeks ago – then you moved into the farm with Clark. Because you were sleeping on the sofa in our apartment and you couldn’t find a place in Metropolis.”
Ironically, out of all the things she’d learned, this was the hardest for her to believe. “You mean, you let me move in with the love-birds?” She burst into a peal of laughter. “No way.” Then she glanced at Clark, who was frowning at her, and added hastily, “I mean, no offense to you and Lana, of course.”
That, for some reason, made Clark grin. “Trust me, none taken.”
“Wow, Smallville, you’ve developed a sense of humor about you and Lana,” Lois shot back teasingly. “Now I definitely know I’ve sustained a head injury.”
His smile faded and Clark let out a sigh, his brows furrowed in concern as he stared down at her intently. “Lois… we need to talk.”
Lois winced. Nothing good ever followed that phrase. And, in this case, she was right, because Chloe and Dr. Hamilton immediately made themselves scarce before Clark had even finished saying the words. Oliver was the only one who remained behind and Clark sent him a look that made it clear he expected Oliver to follow the others out the door. Oliver ignored him and turned his attention back to Lois.
“Lois, I’m going to head out now, but I’ll be back,” he said, studiously avoiding Clark’s gaze. “I just want you to remember what we talked about – just….” At that point, he glanced over at Clark and finished, “Just keep an open mind.”
Lois looked between the two men curiously, because they seemed to be having some form of a staring contest. Lois blinked – for a second there, she actually thought she saw a flash of red in Clark’s eyes. But that was impossible. But, still, there was no denying that Clark, for some bizarre reason, really looked like he wanted to tear Oliver’s head off. Oliver, for his part, looked apologetic. The tension was palatable.
Finally, Lois couldn’t take it anymore and she exclaimed, rather loudly, “That’s GREAT. Ollie, why don’t you go and I’ll call you?”
Oliver forced a grin to his lips and glanced down at her. “Sure. See you later, Lois. Clark.”
When he left, Lois found herself alone with Clark and the room felt really quiet. Lois wasn’t sure, exactly, why she felt the need to banish Oliver instead of Clark, but something inside her told her that it was more likely that Oliver would walk away maimed if they both stayed in the room. Which was odd, because Oliver was the Green Arrow and Clark was…. Well, he was Clark. Farmboy couldn’t hurt a fly. She eyed him speculatively for a second, and then silently revised that opinion when she saw the way he filled out his suit. Lois wasn’t sure how she hadn’t notice it before, but Clark was huge.
As the silence lengthened between them, Clark considered her and seemed to weigh what he was going to say next. Lois, who had never really felt comfortable with silences, jumped in before he could speak. “So,” she asked in a light tone, “How goes things with Lana? I hope that me living with you doesn’t impact your domestic bliss too much.”
“Lois, Lana and I broke up a year ago,” Clark answered, after a slight hesitation. He started to add something, but then seemed to decide against it. “It’s a long story.”
Lois smiled at him. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You two have a tendency to do that a lot.”
Clark sat down on the chair next to her bed. “No, this time was different.”
“You both have a tendency to say that a lot, too,” Lois answered, her smile turning into a full-fledged grin.
He let out a soft groan and dropped his head into his hands. After a second, he glanced up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Lois, you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Lana and I done.”
Deciding that there was nothing wrong in being cooperative, Lois nodded agreeably. “Sure, OK.” She studied his bent head for a moment, frowning a bit. It was so unlike Clark to not take an opportunity to talk about what went wrong with Lana and go into detail about all the things that made Lana wonderful, but they couldn’t be together. Things must have a changed a bit since the last time they spoke (the last time she remembered, anyway). Finally, not really having any idea what to say, she blurted out, “So, what did you need to talk to me about?”
His answer surprised her. “Why were you kissing Oliver?”
“Uhhh….” Lois let out a nervous little laugh and adjusted the sheets and thin blanket covering her legs. “I don’t know....He’s my ex-boyfriend and I just suffered a head trauma? He’s hot?” Lois suggested. And then, she flushed a little and added, “God, Smallville, I don’t really see why it’s any of your business.”
“See, that’s the thing,” Clark answered evenly, “It kind of is.”
Lois’s brows rose in surprise. “Oh? And why would that be?”
“Because you’re my girlfriend,” he answered flatly.
Her jaw dropped in shock and confusion for several moments. And, then, she answered, succinctly, “No way in hell, Smallville.”
***
The rest of the day was spent taking tests and trying to get Dr. Hamilton to stop poking around the sore spot on the back of her head. At one point, he gave up and just decided it was easier to discharge her than it was to try to keep under observation at the hospital. He released her into Clark’s care (something Lois wasn’t exactly happy about) and made her promise him that she wouldn’t get addicted to her painkillers. Lois’s head still had a tendency to throb when she made sudden movements, but she thought his warnings were overkill and kind of paranoid.
So, here she was, two days after the accident and she was sitting in the Kent living room, trying to figure out how the hell she got there. Not just in the past two days (she knew that) but what had happened to her in the past two years to get her to this point. She’d originally balked at the idea of coming to the farm, but Dr. Hamilton had pointed out that the best way to assure she’d get her memories back would be for her to stay in familiar surroundings and try to follow her normal routine as much as possible. Personally, she thought he was making this stuff up as he went along, but who was she to argue with a guy with a medical degree? And even if she wanted to, the collective efforts of Clark, Chloe, and Oliver made it impossible for her to do anything but follow the doctor’s orders.
Sick of resting on the sofa, she got up and began to pace around the familiar living room. After a second, her eyes strayed to the very mantle she’d been trying to avoid. Almost involuntarily, she picked up the picture that rested on the mantle and traced her fingers across the glossy surface. It was a picture of her and Clark at – of all things – a picnic. It appeared that it had been a day in the late fall – the blanket they were resting on was surrounded with red, orange, and yellow leaves and Lois was wearing a sweater and jacket. Lois was looking into the camera, but Clark was looking at her. It was rather bizarre to see a picture of herself and Clark on the mantle (where Lana’s picture from high school used to hold the place of honor) but that actually wasn’t the reason Lois kept going back to study this particular picture. What captured her interest was the way Clark was looking at her. Like she was the only person in the world and he didn’t have eyes for anyone else. And, again, she just had to ask herself, How the hell did that happen??
“That’s a nice picture, huh?” Clark asked, from the entryway.
With a thunk, Lois put the frame back down and whirled around in surprise. She’d been so focused on the picture, she hadn’t heard him come in. “Um… well…” Lois began and then stopped. She didn’t really know what to say. “Yes, I guess,” she finished lamely.
Clark had just come home from work – which was the DP, go figure – and so he still wore his work clothes. It was, amazingly enough, a very good look on him. Lois couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on his very broad shoulders and the way the cut of suit accentuated what a great body he had. And, of course, there was the way the dark blue of the suit reflected off of his eyes and turned them into a deeper blue-green than usual. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw that his silver-blue tie was crooked. Some things, apparently, never changed.
He caught her smile. “What’s so funny?” Clark asked, his own lips curving up in response. She did that to him – no matter how bad things were, one smile from her and he was grinning like an idiot.
Lois told him the truth. “Your tie. It’s crooked.”
Not taking his eyes off of her, he loosened his tie and tugged it off, tossing it onto the chair. “There, better?” Clark asked and then he walked closer to her. He put his hands on her waist and tugged her closer. “I’m used to you fixing it for me.”
Lois stared up at him and swallowed. “Aahhh…. Okay.… well…” Lois pulled back and stepped around him and almost ran to the other side of the room, putting the sofa between them. “I’m going to pretend you didn't say that," she informed him.
Clark let out a sigh of frustration. “Lois…”
“Clark…” Lois responded, with a sigh of her own. “Look, Smallville, we’ve been through this,” she reminded him. “You and me – never going to happen.”
“Except it’s already happened,” Clark pointed out, for what he considered to be the hundredth time. “You keep overlooking that.”
“In your world. Not mine.”
“In your world, too, Lois,” Clark countered. He studied her for a moment and tried to figure out what to do next. He had thought, perhaps foolishly, that she’d get her memories back the second she came to the farm. Then, he’d tried the DP, the Talon, and – finally – even the phone booth. That last one had elicited a look from her like he’d lost his marbles. He had considered calling her as the Blur, but since she had no clue who he was, he didn’t think it would make much of an impact.
“Lois, a long time ago, I lost my memories, and you told me to go with my gut,” Clark finally said. He put his hands in his pockets and looked across the room at her. “What’s your gut saying?”
Lois mulled it over for a second and then grinned. “That I should pack my bags and go to the Bahamas until this blows over.”
Clark wasn’t amused. “I meant, about me.”
Lois blinked a bit and then studied him, as though seriously considering what he was saying. “Smallville, my gut is saying that there is no way in hell I would ever sign up for a ride on the Clark Kent express.”
Clark couldn’t help but feel a little offended, even though he knew that – two years ago – he would have probably said the same thing about her. “Why?”
“Honestly? Because I had a front row seat to the Clark and Lana Rocky Horror Show. Any girl would be insane to want to be the follow-up act,” Lois answered, after a second of hesitation. “And, frankly, I’m not insane.” She paused and added, as she had the day before, “No offense.”
“None taken,” he answered dryly, as he’d answered before. What was he supposed to say? From her perspective, he supposed his relationship with Lana did look pretty crazy. Not that they ever talked about it. Ironically, Lois was a lot more candid about her feelings about his past relationship with Lana when she had memory loss than she was without it.
Lois was looking at him with some surprise. “Since when did you stop taking offense at things I said? Where’s the come back? The whole bit where you call me rude, arrogant, annoying and pushy? Ask me when I’m leaving so you can get your bed back?”
Clark couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that. He knew he shouldn’t push her, but she looked so cute standing there, in her jeans and t-shirt, using the sofa as a barrier between them. And the doctor did say that they should try to keep things as normal as possible. Using that to justify it to himself, he quickly closed the distance between them and came to stand next to her.
“Fine, you’re rude, arrogant, annoying and pushy,” he complied, in a mock serious tone. He couldn’t help but touch one of the curls that fell over her shoulder, twirling the silky strands around his finger, and Clark looked down into her eyes as he finished, teasingly, “And I don’t need you to leave to get my bed back. I’ll join you whenever you want.”
Lois sucked in her breath and he heard her heart begin to race in response to his words. Which meant that she wasn’t an unaffected as she let on. At least, he hoped that’s what it meant.
The hope was quickly extinguished when she scrambled away from him and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ewww, Smallville!”
Clark rolled his eyes and let out a groan of frustration. “Lois….”
“No, seriously,” Lois insisted. “I really don’t know what you’ve been smoking these past couple of years, but Clark Kent and Lois Lane? C’mon!”
“Lois, you know I’m not making this up,” Clark answered patiently, for the hundredth time. “Chloe, Oliver, everyone at the DP – in fact, you even called my mother. Why would they lie to you?”
“Because I didn’t really lose my memories and I’m in some alternate reality?” Lois asked hopefully.
Clark’s brows furrowed in concern and he gave her words some serious thought. “Yeah, but for what purpose? And if you’re a different Lois Lane, then where’s my Lois Lane? And, really, what would be the point of you being from a different reality where you’re two years behind?”
Lois stared at him in confusion. “Okay, I was kind of joking, but yeah, I guess I see your point,” she conceded.
Clark decided to take another tack. “Lois, did the thought ever occur to you that, maybe, you should go with it? Embrace it?”
Lois let out one of her typical laughs. “Embrace what, Clark? You? Because, I hate to beat a dead horse, but the last time I saw you, you were living with Lana. And I was crying on your shoulder after breaking up with Ollie. Pardon me if I’m having problems absorbing that I’m now the object of your desire.”
“I already told you that I’m over Lana,” Clark answered immediately. “We broke up a year ago and you and I started dating four months ago.” He considered adding in that they pretty much acted like they were dating for a full month before that, but thought it would probably make her run for the hills.
“Yeah, do the math, Smallville,” Lois shot back. “Clearly, I’m your rebound girl.” She paused and then added, with an uncertain look, “And who knows? Maybe you’re my rebound guy?”
“Rebound guy? From who?” Clark asked her grimly, even though he had a pretty good idea of who she was going to say.
“Oliver,” she said softly and crossed her arms, looking right past him, as though she were somewhere else.
“No, you already had your rebound guy,” Clark replied flatly. “His name was Grant.”
Lois blinked. “Oh yeah. Maybe I needed a second rebound guy,” Lois suggested. “I mean, I still have….” Her voice trailed away and she stopped.
Clark studied her. “You still what, Lois?” If she said she still had feelings for Oliver, he was going to have to blur away to go fry something with his laser vision. Preferably Oliver.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she glanced back at him and kind of smiled. “OK, so let’s say I had my rebound guy. This would still make me your rebound girl, Clark. I know you and I bet you didn’t date anyone after Lana.”
With some hesitation, Clark admitted, “Yes, I didn’t date anyone after Lana and I broke up last time. Until you.”
For some reason, this seemed to get Lois really excited. “See, that’s what this is,” Lois exclaimed triumphantly. “You were trying to get over Lana. You said so yourself that we got close when we started working together. So, yeah, you were trying to get over Lana and I happened to be there… one thing probably led to another.” She paused and then added, with more than a little confusion, “But I don’t get why I’d go along with it.”
Clark gazed at her and asked, somewhat ruefully, “Because you actually cared about me? Because you had feelings for me?”
“No, that’s not it,” Lois’s brow furrowed in confusion and shook her head absentmindedly as she chewed on her lip. She was clearly trying to think of another reason she’d be crazy enough to date Clark. “No, really, that can’t be it.”
Clark rolled his eyes. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but you actually did want this relationship.”
“Stop calling it that!” Lois ordered. “We talked about this!”
“Right, sorry,” Clark answered, not feeling even remotely apologetic. He walked up to her, so they were only a few feet away. “Look, Lois, I’m not sure I can explain exactly why we started feeling differently about each other. When things changed. But they did. And we’re happy.” He gazed into her eyes, willing her to the see the truth in his words. “I promise you, we’re good together.”
Lois stared back up at him and then snorted in derision. “Clark, I get that you think that, but you have to understand – in my world, you’re still the geeky farm boy that my cousin used to have a crush on and the guy who follows Lana around everywhere. I mean, you were in love with her when she was married to another guy and pregnant!”
Clark considered her for a moment and then offered, “You wanted to know if you’re my rebound girl? Well, you’re not, because Lana was my rebound girl.”
“What? How does that work?”
Clark shook his head slightly, letting out a tired sigh. He hated thinking about that time in his life, but he did owe it to Lois to be truthful to her. It might make a difference and actually snap her out of this. “I told you that Lana and I broke up a year ago, but that’s not the whole story. We actually broke up six months before that. She left me a break-up DVD.”
Lois blinked in surprise. “She broke up with you on a DVD? Wow, that’s….” Lois stopped and then kept silent.
“In the end, it turned out Lex forced her to do it,” Clark explained briefly. “But I didn’t know that, so I thought she really left me.” Clark wondered what the best way was to explain how his feelings changed. “I got over her, but it was almost like I didn’t even know I got over her. I moved on.”
“And then what happened?” Lois asked curiously.
“She came back,” he answered succinctly, not wanting to get into a detailed discussion about how much of a moron he’d been to walk away from Lois then.
Lois was studying him intently. “Yeah, well, like I said: you two have a tendency to do that a lot.”
“This was different,” Clark replied, knowing, even as he said it, how incredibly cliché that sounded. “Lana was… well, she was different. And, because it turned out that she hadn’t really wanted to break up with me, we gave it another shot.” He stopped and then took responsibility for his actions. “I gave it another shot.”
“And?” Lois prompted him, when he’d fallen silent again.
“It didn’t work,” Clark explained. “We should never have tried. The fact is – we were already ready to move on even before she left me the DVD. In fact, I….” he looked at Lois and told her something he’d never admitted to anyone before, “The night you and I talked about Oliver? When he left for Star City? I was going to end it that night, but something you said convinced me to try again.” Clark shook his head regretfully. “I made a mistake."
Lois swallowed and said gently, “I’m sorry, Smallville. Looks like the past couple of years haven’t been that easy for you.”
“Some parts have,” Clark countered. “The parts where I have you.”
Lois’s lips curved up, even though she looked like she was trying to hold back the smile. “That’s sweet, Clark, but that Lois Lane you think you have? She’s not me.”
Clark felt a shot of fear race through him. “What do you mean? Of course she’s you.”
“For better or worse, I don’t have memories of the past two years, so those parts you’re talking about? They didn’t happen to me, so, I’m not that girl. Until I get my memories back, this is the Lois Lane I am,” Lois answered, indicating towards herself. Then she glanced at her watch and added, “And this Lois Lane has a date in an hour, so I have to get ready.” With that, she ran towards the stairs.
“What?” Clark frowned. “What do you mean, you have a date?” he called after her, following her up the stairs. “With who?” Clark demanded.
“Oliver.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Well, it’s not technically a date. I guess it’s like a date.”
Clark swallowed back the flash of pain he felt at her words. She didn’t even know it, but the words had pierced him as though Oliver had just stabbed him with a Kryptonite arrow all over again. Actually, he mentally revised that. It felt worse.
He captured her arm, pulling her back around to face him. “Lois, you can’t go out on a date with another guy.” Clark put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. “We’re in a relationship and you’re going to regret this. You don’t love Oliver.”
Lois looked up at him and gave him an understanding smile. “Look, Smallville, I know this is weird. But you have to understand. 2010 Lois is the one who’s in a relationship with you. 2008 Lois?” She looked him straight in the eye and finished, “I’m still in love with Ollie.”
Blindly, Clark let her go, feeling his heart break at her words. And he knew - for the first time, perhaps - that what he felt for Lois was stronger than anything he’d ever felt for Lana. Because, for all those times he and Lana had these same sorts of conversations, there was always a part of him that felt relieved when she’d end it. But, this time? There was no relief. Only pain. What had his future self said to her? Lois, I died when you left. Maybe that was the irony. Maybe he was destined to have Lois leave him and he would die inside whether he managed to defeat Zod or not.
Clearly concerned by his lack of response, Lois reached out to touch his shoulder tentatively. “Clark? Are you okay?”
Clark let out a mirthless laugh at that. “The love of my life just told me she’s in love with someone else. Yes, Lois, why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Lois let out a shocked gasp, but Clark didn’t stay to wait for her response. He stepped out of their bedroom and then super-sped to the furthest place he could think of. The Fortress.
***
“Oliver told me I’d find you here,” Chloe said cheerfully as she placed a greasy paper bag full of fast food on Lois’s desk. “Thought you might be hungry, since you skipped your dinner with him.”
Lois glanced at the bag and shook her head. “Not hungry, but thanks.”
“Lois Lane turning down a Fat Joe burger with all the trimmings?” Chloe asked, in amazement. “Now there’s a first.”
Lois didn’t laugh in response. She looked back at the computer and clicked on the mouse. “I’ve written a lot of articles these past two years.” Her brow quirked as she glanced at her cousin. “What did I do? Live at the DP?”
Chloe pulled up a chair from the nearest desk and sat down. “Well, you are pretty ambitious, Lois. Are you really that surprised?”
“No, I’m not,” Lois answered, with more than a hint of pride. “But I am a little bummed out that I’m still in the basement,” she added, as she looked around the nearly empty bullpen.
“Not your fault. Tess Mercer runs the Daily Planet and she hates you,” Chloe explained. “Let’s just say she’s a minion of Lex Luthor.”
Lois nodded in understanding. “Oh, now I get it. Figures the new boss would hate me as much as the old one. Lois Lane charm. Gets ‘em everytime.” She hesitated and then pursed her lips. “Speaking of Lois Lane charm…. Chloe, I have a question.”
Chloe’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No way. I know that look.”
“What look?” Lois asked curiously.
“The look everyone gets before they ask me for romantic advice,” Chloe shot back. “There is no way I’m getting dragged into this Shakespearean triangle. Besides, I wouldn’t even know who to advise here: Blast from the past Lois or contemporary Lois?”
“Don’t you see, Chloe, we’re the same,” Lois answered miserably. “We occupy the same space. I have no clue who I’m supposed to be, anymore.” Lois shook her head a little and gazed into the distance. “I… the last time I went to bed, my dreams were about Oliver. And, now, they’re coming true. He’s here, in Metropolis, and he wants to make a life with me. But my thoughts?” Lois turned back to Chloe, who was listening intently. “My thoughts, they keep going back to Clark. The guy who…” she faltered and then finished, “He called me the love of his life, Chloe. The love of his life. Who says that? And how the hell did that happen?”
“Clark does that,” Chloe reminded her. “He’s not the sort of guy who just falls for the closest girl available. God knows, we would have hooked up a long time ago if that had been the case.” Chloe smiled slowly and added, “And as to how did it happen? I think, Lois, that sometimes love doesn’t just happen with a bang. It grows every day. Like a plant. And, I think, you guys’ love grew and grew until it finally blossomed. When it did, you were both happier than I’ve ever seen you before.”
Lois looked at Chloe in surprise. “That’s what Clark said. That we’re happy.”
“Look, I have no clue what your feelings for Oliver are,” Chloe admitted, with a shrug. “But I do know that you’re madly in love with Clark. At least, you were yesterday.”
Lois stared at the empty desk across from hers, where Clark’s nameplate was prominently displayed. She tried to imagine them, working together every day and then going home together in the evenings. For some reason, the image didn’t freak her out as much as it should have. She turned to tell Chloe this, but the sudden movement made her head hurt. She winced and put her hand to the back of her head and when she moved her finger away, she saw that they were bloody.
Chloe gasped, “Oh no! Did you rip your stitches?”
“I guess so.” Lois felt dizzy and somewhat faint. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to skip all the meals in a day when you’d just suffered blood loss and a head injury. She saw spots start to form around her and the last thing she heard was Chloe calling someone on her phone before she blacked out.
***
“Well, is there anything we can do?” Oliver asked Emil impatiently.
“No, there isn’t. She’ll wake up when she wakes up,” the doctor replied patiently. He glanced down at Lois’s chart and added, thoughtfully, “It’s insane the amount of time Ms. Lane spends unconscious. I’m amazed she’s still functioning.”
“That’s not funny,” Clark answered, glaring at the doctor a bit.
Oliver’s lips twitched. “It’s kind of funny, Clark.”
Clark shot him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, so we’re doing the silent treatment thing?” Oliver asked. “Really mature, Kent. I didn’t realize we were still in elementary school.”
“Did you steal other people’s girlfriend’s in elementary school?” Clark retorted. “For some reason, I could see you doing that.”
Oliver let out a long suffering sigh. “I already told you that I didn’t ask her out. She was confused and had just suffered a head trauma. And we’d had plans to go out to dinner for weeks. When she saw it on her calendar, what was I supposed to do? Turn her down?”
“Yes,” Clark answered shortly.
Oliver thought about it for a second and then nodded. “OK, you’re right. Maybe I should have. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Clark glanced over at him and then around at the hospital lobby they sat in. “You thought you had another shot with her. And that she might choose you this time around,” Clark told him wryly. “And, I have to say,” he hesitated and then finished, “I'm not happy about it, but I don’t blame you.”
Oliver stared at him in surprise. “How can you say that?”
“Because if I lost her, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to get her back, too,” Clark stated simply.
Oliver kept silent.
Clark stood up and said, grimly, “Enough of this. I’m just going to do what I should have done to begin with.”
Startled, Oliver looked up at him. “What’s that?”
“I’m taking her to the Fortress.”
***
Lois tried to open her eyes and then closed them as the sunlight hit them from the open window in the bedroom. Her head was pounding. She must have over-indulged the night before. But, try as she might, she couldn’t remember being anywhere near alcohol so that didn’t really make any sense.
She sat up and lifted her hand in front of her eyes to block out the light. “Ugh, Smallville, close the drapes!”
“Lois? You’re awake,” Clark said, coming to sit next to her on the bed, completely ignoring her edict. He looked at her with concern. “How are you feeling?”
Lois looked at him curiously. “Other a headache the size of Texas, I’m feeling fine. Why?” She rubbed her temples and then realized the pain was coming more from the back of her head. She frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Lois, do you remember…?” Clark looked at her uncertainly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Um… let’s see….” Lois thought about it for a second. “We were following that lead about the towers – we went to RAO labs and then there….” Try as she might, she couldn’t see anything beyond that. “I have no idea,” she said, giving up. “What happened?”
“We took you to the hospital and then, when you woke up, you didn’t remember…” Clark began.
“Oh, wait!” Lois cut him off. She stared at him for a second, her fingers against her temple and then she went two shades paler than usual. “Oh my God, Clark. Did I….” She went from white to flushed pink. “I remember… I thought it was 2008.”
Clark smiled, with relief. “Yeah.”
Lois didn’t look relieved. Instead, she closed her eyes and groaned. Flopping back on the bed, she put her pillow over her face. “Oohamalogoaodio juoos kalksow mle nnaowo.”
Even with his super hearing, he had no clue what that meant. He sat down on the bed next to her and, gently, grasped a hold of the pillow and pulled it away from her head. “What?”
Lois sat back up. “I said, just kill me now.” She looked very embarrassed. “Did I seriously try to hook up with Ollie? Oh my God.”
“Well,” Clark tried to shrug and make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “Two years ago, you did love him, Lois. It’s understandable, I guess.” Clark looked down at the blanket as he conceded this point, unable to look at her while he said it.
Lois was silent for a minute and then she shifted closer to him. “Hhhmm… that’s true.” Then she smiled wickedly. “But guess what? It’s the year 2010 now.” And then she grabbed his tie and tugged on it until they were a mere inch apart. “And I haven’t kissed the love of my life for a whole two days now. Let’s fix that, shall we?”
Then she linked her hands behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss, her lips soft and inviting, her tongue tracing his bottom lip. Clark responded immediately, his arms wrapping around her, as he pressed her back onto the bed, hungry for more.
She broke away much too soon and Clark almost groaned in disappointment. Lois smiled in response. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
He looked down at her. “So are you.”
“I’m wearing a nightgown,” Lois protested. “You’re wearing a suit!”
In response, he kissed her and said, against her lips, “Welcome back, Lois.”
Lois pulled away long enough to say lightly, "Why, thank you, Clark."
Then, all conversation ended while they tried to make up for the past two days.