-- Chapter 12
"Do you know how many good bands are touring the country and belting out amazing tunes right now, Smallville? Do you know how much I want to track down when Whitesnake is playing its next show in Metropolis and use this handy dandy time machine on my back to take us there?"
"No, but I have a guess."
Lois shook her head at him, patting him on the chest. "I don't think you do. I would sell my left middle toe to see Whitesnake live."
Clark raised an eyebrow. "Well that's not at all strange and slightly disturbing." He paused and exhaled. "It does raise an interesting question, though, in what people would do with this technology."
"I have no doubts that in the hands of the wrong people time could be changed over and over again, probably completely by mistake more than purposefully. Hell, there's a chance we could change things by being back here."
"Should we go back?"
Lois scoffed at him. "Are you kidding me? We're in 1986, Smallvilleཀ It's not like we're going to have limitless use of this time travel technology after we write an article and tell everybody that we went back to 1986. How exactly we're going to prove that, I have no idea, but I'm sure people will take our word for it. We really should have brought a camera or something."
"Being the Scully of this relationship, I didn't think it was going to work. However," he said as he fished around in his pocket, "I have my cell phone. As you well know, it does everything except cook dinner and put the kids to bed, so filming a bit of the past should be no big deal."
"That'll do," Lois said as she got up on her toes and kissed him lightly. Taking a step back, Lois turned and looked at the city, crossing her arms over her chest as she made observations. "So, what do you think the 1986 hotspot is in Metropolis?"
"No idea. I wasn't even on Earth at this point in time."
"Yeah, and I'm not born yet. Wow, a world prior to Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Call me crazy, but I don't think I like it as much. Well, aside from the music. In that, things are decidedly downhill after this."
"Actually, I'd say they were already headed downhill at this point. After Frampton Comes Alive became the first album, or maybe it was the first rock album... anyway, after it was the first of something to go platinum back in 1976, things became all about the money. It was the turning point, really, of rock being about making music to rock being an industry about making money."
Lois slowly turned her head, making sure that her husband hadn't been replaced by somebody that sounded like him. Finding that she was still looking at Clark, she could only find the ability to say one word. "Huh?"
"You assuming I know nothing about the history of music doesn't make it true."
"But... what?"
Clark frowned, tilting his head a little as he spoke. "Did I cause you to fry the nerves in your brain that allow you to speak complex sentences?"
"How do you know that?" Lois asked, still not believing what she'd heard.
"Well, with your obsession with all things hair bands I figured I should try listening to some classic rock so I could ease myself into the stuff you like. This was a while back, before we had even been together a year, and when I was in my 'Let's have a lot of common interests' phase. I didn't really like the music you had me try, so I figured I needed some background to it, maybe know its roots so as to understand it better. I started out with Black Sabbath, and that was... well, let's just say I haven't listened to it since. I stepped away from that kind of classic rock and tried Led Zeppelin."
Lois snapped her fingers, smiling as she remembered that. "So THAT'S why you were one day all of a sudden obsessed with themཀ God, that bugged me for monthsཀ You never explained your sudden Zeppelin love, and with how much you were into the blah rock of the early 2000's and old, old country singers, I was quite confused."
"Yeah, that basically opened my eyes. From them I went to Pink Floyd the David Gilmour years, The Rolling Stones before they went on ninety-three farewell tours and The Doors. There were other bands, of course, but those were the biggies that stuck with me the longest."
"I know; you still listen to them."
"Very true. So after that I went back to hair bands. I wanted to like them because you liked them, and they couldn't be that bad if you liked them, right? Unfortunately, things did not work out as such. I couldn't get into them. I mean, they're not awful, but as you well know, I just never liked them all that much." Clark shrugged at her. "What can I say? Once I got into the real classics it was hard for me to move on to their not-as-good followers."
Lois ran a hand back through her hair, exhaling loudly as she readjusted the backpack she was wearing. "How is it we've been married ten years and I didn't know all this about you?"
"To be fair, I was gone for four years and a month of that, which translates to us only being with each other for six years and a month, since it's been a month since our anniversary."
Oh, so he wants to play the specifics game, did he? She could do that. "That doesn't include the fact that we were together for three years and two months before we got married, though, so you take out the couple months where you didn't listen to classic rock and you've got nine years and one month of me not knowing the why of you adding classic rock to your musical library."
"That does make our communication sound a little shoddy, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it really does." Lois bit her lip and thought about it for a second. "Of course, all things considered it seems to have worked out for us pretty well."
"I wouldn't change a thing," he said as he leaned down and kissed her before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "But hey, now you know. Can't say I didn't try to like your music."
"No, I can no longer say that."
"I was actually kidding with that little statement."
Lois nodded and grinned at him. "I know."
Clark rolled his eyes before turning his head and looking at the city skyline. Lois mimicked his action, letting the scene take her in for a moment. Metropolis really was a beautiful city. "Is it weird, Smallville, that it took us going back to 1986 to get into a serious discussion about why you listen to the music you listen to?"
"Not at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this is the norm for most couples."
"Really? I didn't know other couples time traveled."
"Oh, are we talking in the present? I was thinking more along the lines of the distant future, when time travel will probably be a little more accessible to the public."
"Very helpful," Lois said, shaking her head. "So, how about we stop talking about the past like we're in the future and start being in the past since we are, in fact, in the past. Does that make sense?"
Clark nodded slowly, turning to face her. "When one has listened to you speak as long as I have, it's easy to discern what you're trying to say from what you actually say. Usually. Well, sometimes it's pretty tough, but you usually end up doing what you attempt to say you're going to do which generally clears things up."
Clark moved quickly and swept her up in his arms, bringing about a feeling of giddiness in her that Lois always felt was kind of cliché of her. Her big, strong man sweeps her up into his arms and she gets all melty inside? What's that about? He knew it happened, too, so he tended to sweep her up more than necessary, but that didn't mean she had to like the fact that she liked him doing it. Of course, whenever he did it in the bedroom...
Shaking her head, Lois wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's go, Smallville."
The world around her turned into a blur, and before she had the chance to close her eyes against any dizzying effects they were stopped in an alley, with Clark putting her down on her feet. Giving herself the post-windy pat down, she smoothed out all her clothes. Clark volunteered himself to smooth out the fabric over her butt, but she nipped that idea in the bud. Just because they were in 1986 didn't mean they needed to get frisky in 1986. Had she really just thought the word frisky?
Walking out of the alley with Clark at her side, Lois gave the area he'd brought them to the once over. Smiling when she recognized their location, her eyes quickly widened at what she saw. A woman walked by them wearing glasses roughly the size of Vermont, with shoulder pads in her attire and hair so big Lois thought it might qualify as a mountain. She couldn't tear her eyes away as she spoke. "Sometimes, Smallville, I really wonder how some fashions got started."
"I can't explain the glasses or the hair, but the shoulder pads are just attempts to look more masculine and thus be taken more serious in the workplace. To even things out, as it were."
Lois rolled her eyes. "I know that, Smallville. I want to know who first thought that such a thing was a good ideaཀ Given the fact that we have a time machine, were I able to find that fact I would go back in time and smack him or her upside the head and promptly ask why the person was on drugs."
"Ah, gotcha."
Pulling off the backpack, Lois handed it off to Clark and cracked her back a couple times. With one last stretch, she straightened out. Pulling her sunglasses out of her pocket, Lois slipped them on. "So, where do we want to go?"
"Considering we have no money that's viable in the year 1986, I'm going to say somewhere that doesn't require us to spend money."
"That does seem to limit our options."
"We could always go places and peruse, if nothing else. It would give you ample opportunity to make fun of the clothes, along with pretty much everything else sold in this year."
Lois reached over and clasped her hand in his, smiling at him. "We could always just go for a walk. We don't do that nearly enough in 2016."
He smiled at her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "A walk it is then."
Lois sat down on a bench, crossing her legs as she looked out at the park. "Now I remember why we don't go out on walks. Walks suck."
"I like going for walks with youཀ"
Lois gave Clark a reassuring pat on the leg as he sat down next to her. "It's not the company during the walk, it's the utter lack of activity. I'm kind of accustomed to not having much in the way of downtime when it comes to my free time, and while I like relaxing, I'd rather curl up with a book than just go walk. What the hell does walking accomplish? Oooh, I got exercise, except not really because it doesn't get the heart rate up."
"Ya know, this may just be the oddest rant I've ever heard you go off on, and that's saying something after the steel toed boots rant of 2008."
"This isn't a rant, Smallville, it's an observation about how there could be no more useless task than getting up and going for a walk. I understand it if you're an old couple that wants to get out and do something together, but being the ripe old age of 30, I'm just not a big fanཀ If I have time to kill, I'll do something with Casey and Ryan, or if I want to get away from them for a while and you're available I'll sequester myself and read a book, an activity I previously mentioned. At least then I feel like I'm accomplishing something.
"I mean, if it's just once in a while and you don't live in the middle of the city, I get it. Fresh air and all that. Or perhaps one does live in the city but is out in the country for a little while, such as us when we go out to the farm. I've been there a million times and there are still things out on that land that I haven't seen, which is a good reason for a walk. If I tried to do this every day, though, it would drive me nuts. It's similar to why I don't get people that go to a track for exercise. How do the people that do that not get bored of looking at the same thing over and over?"
Clark scooted closer to her and she leaned over, resting herself against his body. "I think it's the focus to get into or stay in shape that allows them to run around in endless circles, Lo. Don't quote me on that, since I don't have to do that, but I imagine that would be a reason."
"Hell, I work to stay in shape, but you don't see me doing something ridiculously monotonous to stay trim."
"Lois, you swim laps in Chloe's heated pool to stay in shape. With your fear of drowning, I have no idea why you chose that way to exercise, but whatever. On topic, how is that any better than running for exercise in terms of monotony?"
"I have Chloe there to swim with me or keep me company."
"Well, that would certainly keep the monotony from happening," Clark said as he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her a little closer to his body. "I don't know how you two actually get any swimming done, though, as much as you always converse. I'm also not sure how you haven't run out of things to talk about yet."
Lois smiled, watching some people walk by. "Chloe and I tend to race a lot, and since we swim together most of the time while her part-time nanny keeps an eye on the kids, we have a good amount of time to do it. This generally culminates in things like who can complete forty laps first."
She heard Clark chuckle. "Do I need to ask who wins?"
"Actually we tend to split pretty evenly. You've seen the dry erase board by the pool with all the marks on it, right?"
"It's huge, so it's hard to miss."
"Right. That's our tally board. The marks on the left are her wins, the marks on the right are mine. I think she's ahead in the total count right now."
Clark shifted a little bit, and Lois just sat still as he got himself situated again. "There are a ton of marks on that board, Lois. How long have you two been keeping track of your pool races?"
"Uh, well, let's think. Ryan was born January 3rd, 2014. I started doing laps to lose the baby weight a couple months after that. Despite using swimming to keep from gaining too much weight while pregnant, my endurance was crap, so Chloe didn't start racing me for another few months so that it would actually be a challenge. That puts us in June of 2014, and since it's September 2016, that would make it 27 months worth of races."
"What? You've been keeping track that long?"
"Why do you think she bought the big board, Smallville?" Lois bit her lip as she went deeper into thought. "Let's see, when we first started we did one race a week. We're now up to two races three times a week. The highest number of weeks was two races twice a week, and the 6 races a week is only a last fifteen weeks thing, so given that..." Lois let her voice trail off as she did the math in her head. "I'd say 475 is a good, if rough, estimate of how many times we've raced. I'd say the count is about 255 to 220 in her favor, mostly because she won a lot at the beginning. I've been catching up, though."
"What happens when Chloe gets pregnant?"
Lois frowned. She hadn't thought about that since she'd found out Chloe and Bruce were in active procreation attempts. "I imagine that she'll want to cut back from six races a week to two or three. Of course, once her stomach starts getting a pronounced bump, I guess the races will have to be put on hold until their little Batbaby is born. It won't be her wanting to do less, I bet, so much as the extra weight, not to mention the drag a bump sticking down into the water would create."
Sighing, Lois sat up away from Clark's body and proceeded to slouch down against the bench. "Damn, that's too bad. On the upside, I'll definitely gain some ground once we start up again. Another upside is that we'll have another niece or nephew. Downside? Now I'll be swimming laps all by my lonesome again."
"You still have some time before that happens, at least. Since Chloe seems to think it doubtful that she'll be pregnant after just the one time she and Bruce got together this month, that gives you more time."
"True. Hopefully this happens sooner rather than later for them, though." Standing up off the bench, Lois stretched a second. "I'm bored. You want to do some more exploration?"
"I thought the monotony of walking was annoying you."
"It was, but now I've vented my pent up annoyance and can therefore do more walking without blowing a gasket."
Clark stood up and smiled at her. "Fair enough."
Walking with her hands in her pockets, Lois stopped in front of a department store, turning her head and looking at the display in the window. "Let's go in here, Smallville."
He came and stood beside her. "Did you rethink my earlier perusing suggestion?"
"Well, since I'm tired of walking again, I figure it can't hurt anything to go in here and take a look around, see what I'm missing out on by being 30 in thirty years."
Heading inside, Lois walked slowly as she passed some clothes on her right. She reached out and ran her hand across the fabric of the last few pieces before going deeper into the store. She grinned as she saw a big display of dustbusters in front of her, claiming to be the best dust busters on the market. Jeez, how long would it be until those things went out of style? Well, not out of style so much as just falling out of favor. There was still the occasional late night infomercial for one that she'd see if Ryan couldn't sleep.
She picked one up and waved it at Clark. "Your family ever have one of these, Smallville?"
"Yeah, my mom had one for a few years when I was young. My dad kept one near his workbench until he died because it was good for cleaning up after he had to work on something."
"We never had one," Lois said, "at least not until Lucy and I moved in with Chloe's family. My dad was never going to use one, and my mom may have used one but I don't remember it."
Stepping onto the escalator, Lois turned her back towards where they were going and smiled at her husband. "So, how are you enjoying your time in 1986?"
"It's very enjoyable. I always like to see a planet before I land on it, anyway, so this is like a scouting trip for me."
"Very true. Too bad you won't know that you went on a scouting mission until about 29 years after the fact, but those are the breaks." Turning around as she came off the elevator, Lois bumped into somebody, knocking them both to the floor. Embarrassed, she picked herself up and offered a hand to the guy that was on the floor. "I'm so sorry. Are you all right?"
He took her hand and she helped pull him up. He smiled at her and Lois had to fight against going slack jawed. It was Gabeཀ Of all the people to run into, literally and figuratively, she wouldn't have bet on him. Good lord did he look youngཀ
"Don't worry about it. Mistakes happen and nothing's broken, so everything's cool."
He started to walk off, but Lois couldn't help herself. "Gabe, right?" She glanced at Clark, who was frowning, but she shrugged and looked back at Gabe. He turned and faced them.
"Have we met before?"
Crap. What could she use? Ohཀ Had a class together in college always worked. If you did it with enough conviction, people always believed that they'd forgotten you. "I'm Tanya. We had a couple economics classes together in school, remember?"
Gabe shook his head. "Sorry, I don't. What professors?"
This was one of those times where she really wished she had listened better. "God, uh... what was his name? I think it started with a V..."
"You're thinking of Vandenburg, aren't you?"
"Yesཀ" she said as she snapped her fingers and remembered him telling stories about how boring those classes were. "Vandenburg. God, were those classes boring!"
He smiled and laughed a bit. "Yeah, but in the end it was worth it. Boring as they were, they were some of the more informative classes during all my school years. So, what have you been up to since then?"
"Well, I got married," she said, pointing back to Clark. "This is my husband Craig." They shared a quick handshake before she continued. "We've got two kids and are living out in Smallville. We're in town for a long weekend. His mom is watching the kids so we're just exploring the city, seeing how it's changed." Never hurt to throw some truth into the lie.
"Oh, you'll never get me away from Metropolis. I love it here. Nothing against Smallville, but I don't think I could take the small town quiet, ya know?"
Lois laughed. "Quiet? Smallville is the loudest small town you'll ever hear of." She remembered that this was pre-meteors, and decided to add on to that statement. "I know you don't hear a lot now, but if you keep your eye on it I bet the town will explode into the headlines in the next year or two."
"Really? Odd place for headlines to come out of, isn't it?"
"You'd think so," Lois said, remembering her time in the town. "Anyway, how about you? Married? Kids?" She knew the answer, but one had to keep up appearances.
"Married," he said as he held up his left hand to show his ring. "My wife and I have actually been trying to get pregnant recently, so we're hoping this is the month."
Lois did some quick math in her head in regards to Chloe's birthday, and figured it would still be a few months before they got pregnant. "Well then I wish you all the luck. Kids are great."
"Yeah, that's what I hear. I've never had much experience with them, but my wife Moira used to babysit and some of her older cousins had kids that she would look after when with family. I think the positive side of kids got played up in her mind because she only took care of them for a couple hours at a time."
"Understandable. I think a lot of people go into having kids with a lot of idealized visions of what it will be."
"And it generally turns out completely different," Gabe said, nodding as she smiled. "But, what are you going to do? Never know unless you try, right? Anyway, I should be going. Moira is waiting for me at home. I just stopped by here to pick up a present for her. Oh, and I'll be sure to keep an eye on those Smallville headlines. It was nice seeing you again."
"Good to see you too, Gabe. Take care, and good luck."
She watched as he walked off, smiling. Turning to Clark, she noticed his frown and sighed. "I couldn't help myselfཀ The man virtually raised me after my mom died."
"I know, and I respect that, but don't you think it's a little dangerous doing something like th-"
"Have you ever felt like you're saying things that you've already said?"
"How do you mean? Like deja vu?"
Lois sat forward, scratching at the back of her neck. "No, not like that. Like you've had a conversation before... maybe not with the same words or even the same person, but you've had it and you're just saying something you've said once, twice or a dozen times before. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Not really."
Letting her arms rest on her legs, Lois tried to figure out how to explain this better. "You know how we often come back to our old argument of is a hamburger a sandwich or not?"
"It's not."
"It really is. Anyway, it's like that. We always use the same arguments and logic to explain why we think what we think, no matter how wrong your logic and choice of argument is, and so it's like we're repeating ourselves. Sometimes I feel like I'm in that situation, except I'm not even having the argument with the same person, yet somehow the same words are being used."
"First, a hamburger is not a sandwich and you'll never convince me otherwise because my logic and reasoning is sound. Second, Lo, if you feel like you're having the same argument or conversation over and over again, maybe you need to make some new friends."
Lois rolled her eyes. "Very funny."
"I like to think so. And it's probably true. We both work way too much and play far too little."
"You have a fianceཀ How is that working too much and playing too little?"
Lois watched as Chloe sat up in her chair, pulling the pencil she'd been balancing on her face off and dropping it on her desk. "Yeah, ok, that's true for me. What's your excuse?"
Lois stuttered for a moment, trying to find something to say. "I, uh... I'm focusing on my careerཀ It's hard work being the best reporter at a world renowned newspaperཀ"
"Well I'm in the same boat, yet here I am, six months from my wedding. Speaking of which, are you going to have a date for that?"
"It's six months awayཀ I think I have time before I need to find a date for that, Chlo."
"Yeah, well, since I haven't seen or even heard about you going on a date in months, I wanted to see if you were planning ahead on not having a date for that." Sighing, Chloe got up and walked over to her, leaning on the desk. "I'm worried about you, Lois. You're hung up on a man that you're never going to get."
Lois swallowed, looking down at the ground. She didn't have any words to respond to that.
"I know that he's kind of weird, but Clark and Lana are really happy together. They were happy when he got the job as your partner here, and two years later they're still happy, plus they're now engaged. I still don't get how you even got hung up on him in the first place, knowing he was already taken."
"He's just..." She trailed off and sighed. "You know the kind of guy I always find, Chloe. Line up a few dozen and I'll always pick out the clingy guy, the annoying guy or the asshole. Hell, probably the one that's all three. Clark's the exact opposite of that. I wish I could change how I feel, but I can't seem to move on."
"And you never will until you request a transfer to the London branch like I suggested. I love you, Lo, but if you never get away from him you're always going to be this sad, lonely woman that can never have the guy she wants. You need separation from him."
Sighing and slumping back into her chair, Lois ran a hand over her face. "I know. Once you're married and I've done all my maid of honor duties, I'm going to put in the request to transfer to London." Chloe gave her a look, and Lois made an X over her heart. "I promise."
"Good. I'll miss you around here, cuz, but you need that to happen. I wish you wouldn't wait, but I appreciate that fact that you're going to."
Being honest with herself, Lois knew it wasn't because of Chloe that she was staying that long. She'd be true to her word and get the transfer after the wedding, but until then she had six months of getting to be around Clark Kent. She wouldn't trade that for anything.