Chapter 11

Scene I

Chloe waved to Clark as she passed him on the way into the house. She climbed the steps to Clarks room and was shocked to find the room looked like a tornado had whipped through.

"LOIS, WHAT THE HELL . . .?"

She spied Lois sitting on the closet floor in tears.

"Chloe! Oh God Chloe, I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can help me find it. I've looked everywhere for it and I can't find it. It must be here, or maybe I lost it the day of the accident or maybe they stole if from me in the hospital. You know I bet that happens all the time, people are sick or unconscious and they don't know where they are even and then thieves prey on them unbeknownst to them. I bet that is exactly what happened. What am I gonna—"

Chloe sat on the floor next to Lois. She took her hands in to hers and looked into Lois' eyes.

"Lois. What. Are. You. Talking. About?"

"Clark is going to be so angry with me."

"Lois, tell me what happened?"

"It's gone, Chloe. I've lost it."

"You keep saying that, but I don't know what you are talking about. What have you lost?"

"I can't find my ring."

"Your ring? Okay, that's easy. I'll help you look for it. What does it look like?"

At that she burst into fresh tears.

"I don't know what it looks like."

Chloe's eyebrows came together in confusion.

"How do you know that it's missing if you don't even know what it looks like?"

"Well, I have to have a wedding ring if Clark and I are married, don't I?"

Chloe was stunned speechless. This was so much worse than what Clark had said to her last night about Lois' behavior. Lois began to get alarmed by Chloe's silence.

"This is bad isn't it?" Chloe nodded—but not for the reason that Lois thought. "He will be angry, wont he? Was it an heirloom, or something that can't be replaced?"

"Lois, don't cry. Clark is very understanding. He won't be angry. Why don't you let me talk to him first."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course, you're my cousin." Lois almost knocked Chloe over when she threw her arms around her in an enthusiastic embrace.

"Thanks, Chloe."

Scene II

"SHE WHAT?" Clark bellowed.

"Clark, lower your voice or Lois will hear you and think that you are angry about this."

"Well I am angry. Chloe, this is a disaster. You just told me that my 'wife' is upstairs in my room crying because she thinks that she has lost her wedding ring. How am I supposed to react?"

Clark ran his hands through his hair for the third time and finally looked at Chloe asking once again, "Married?"

"Yeah-huh." Chloe would be laughing hysterically if not for the look of sheer horror in Clarks' eyes.

"How? Why? How?"

"Three excellent questions! Try to think about it from her perspective. You found her, took her to the hospital, stayed with her in the hospital, took her home to a house you share. Your mom treats her like family. You've been cooking for her and taking care of her. What else was she supposed to think?"

Chloe had a point, he hadn't thought about what Lois must be going through.

"Well, I'll have to go and clear this up."

"Oh no you won't. You're just gong to have to go along with it for the time being."

"Are you crazy? I can't. I won't."

"Why not?"

"Because . . .I can't."

"As compelling an argument as that is, it's not going to hold up. You really have no choice. You heard what the doctor said, that if we don't go along with her and let her naturally regain her identity she might never regain her memory, or worse. Do you want that?"

"Of course not, but this is a disaster!"

"So you keep saying. I swear I think you like to worry. It's only temporary. How bad could it be?"

"I don't want to lie to her. What's gonna happen when she regains her memories and she finds out that we have both been lying to her?"

"I see what you mean. Okay, so we try to tell as few lies as possible. We both try to answer truthfully about details, and try to gloss over the big glaring lie."

"I can't believe we are even having this discussion--about what kind of lies we are going to tell. I hate this."

"I know. I'm sorry about it, but I don't see another way."

Clark grunted out a response and they began walking back to the house.

"Clark, one more thing"

"Yeah?"

"If you are going to sell this, you need to be a little more gentle when you talk to her. She told me you seem distant. She's supposed to be your wife, not your dog."

"You are just loving this, aren't you?" He whispered to her as they climbed the stairs.

"You know, I bet someday we look back at this and laugh." Chloe grinned mischievously back at him.

"Lois." Clark called to her as he rounded the corner.

"Remember: softer, nicer." Whispered Chloe.

Clark glowered at Chloe. He then turned his attention to Lois. He took her by the upper arm and pulled her up off the floor so that he could look into her eyes when he spoke to her. I'll show Chloe that I can pull this off. He began again, lowering his voice a bit more, and gently said. "Honey, don't worry about the ring anymore. It's not important."

"How can you say that it's not important? Are you saying our love isn't important?"

"That's not what he meant to say—"

"Thanks Chloe, but let me try and tell Lois what I meant."

Chloe nodded, and Clark continued.

"Sweetheart," He wanted to choose his words carefully so that what he said wouldn't be construed as a complete lie later. "What I mean is that rings are just tokens of love. Marriages aren't based on jewelry. If you wear a ring or not, it doesn't change the way we feel about each other."

She smiled then, looking up at him through her lashes, still spiked from the tears she'd recently shed.

"Now I have to ask you a small favor. You have a doctors' appointment today to check your sutures, and I have something I have to do here at the farm, so Chloe has agreed to take you. I need you to get dressed and go with Chloe. Will you do that for me?"

"But what about this mess? I have to clean it up."

"Don't worry about it Lois, I'll take care of it."

"Bu-"

"Shhh. No buts. Now go get ready or you'll be late."

Lois nodded. She grabbed a fresh shirt off a pile on the bed and headed for the bathroom. Then she turned back around and wrapped her arms around Clark's waist and hugged him. She smiled at Chloe and asked; "Isn't Clark one-in-a-million, Chloe?"

"Yeah, they sure don't make 'em like that anymore."