----Chapter 9
Lois was taken aback by the emotion he let through in his voice. He'd barely spoken and yet she could tell exactly how he felt about her. God, she was Lois Kent. Or maybe Lois Lane Kent. Either way, she apparently had a different name than she remembered and was on the shortlist of never going to happen as best she remembered.
She was about to speak when she saw Cark had turned and looked to be listening to something. "Lois, somebody needs help. I'll be back soon." With a gust of wind following him, he was gone. With exits like that, they probably kept the paperweight business on its feet by themselves.
Lois had barely had time to get to another thought when there was a knock at the door. She was starting to make her way over when Jordan raced out from her room and beat her to the door. She opened it and squealed in delight, launching herself at the person walking into the apartment. "Hey cuz, heard you were pulling a forgetful act on your husband and thought he might need some backup."
"Chloe!" Lois ran over to her cousin and embraced her in a hug as best she could while Chloe held Jordan on her hip. "You have no idea how good it is to see you right now." Lois looked at Chloe and noted that she'd changed, which seemed to make sense with the day she was having. Her hair had grown out, down to the middle of her back and her hips seemed rounder than they had been. To be expected with three kids and a fourth on the way, she figured.
"Gee, had I known I was this popular around here I'd be around more often." Chloe gave a wide smile, the same one Lois was used to. At least that hadn't changed. "So, how are you feeling?"
Lois shrugged, not knowing how else to convey her day. "It's been... I don't know if disquieting or freaky is the better word. But I know it's been one of those. How did you even know to come over?" Chloe put Jordan down and watched her take off back to her room. She turned back to Lois, her smile smaller but just as sincere.
"Clark called me when you thought he was ordering Chinese earlier and let me know you'd lost your memory again. Bruce was already at a judo tournament with Jack and Alfred was happy to watch Aly and Liz, so I had the Wayne jet fueled up and came on over. Figured a familiar face couldn't hurt things any."
Lois chuckled a moment before speaking. "The Wayne jet... seriously Chloe, did you ever imagine having your own personal jet for use when you needed it? I mean, we both seem to have that apparently, though yours is a bit more standard."
She saw Chloe's eyes widen a bit. "What'd I say?"
"No, nothing. Clark just didn't tell you so quickly last time, or ever really." She saw Lois's shoulders slump and followed her into the livingroom where they both sat down on the couch. "Overwhelmed?"
With a sigh, Lois brought her face up out of her hands and looked at Chloe. "Only a lot. Seriously, me and Smallville married? How does that happen? And he's from another planet? And for God's sake, a daughter? That's asking for disaster BEFORE I go all forgetful, let alone afterwards like now."
She felt Chloe pull her into a hug and started to breathe a little more evenly. She hadn't realized how upset she'd been getting.
"Lo, I can assure you that you're a great mother to Jordan. She is want for nothing and may quite possibly be the happiest child in history."
"That's all Smallville, Chloe, not me."
"No. She looks like Clark, a lot, but she is in every single way a little Lois Lane in personality. Almost a little you with a side of young child giddiness involved. Truthfully, I think she figured out how to roll her eyes before she could walk."
Lois laughed a little at that. At least her genes hadn't been totally overwhelmed by the Kryptonian genes. It didn't last long, though, and the negativity returned. "I don't feel anything when I see her, Chloe."
"What do you mean?"
"I see a little person that I'm told is my daughter, a little girl that is supposedly half me, and I don't feel anything. I remember all these women saying that they see their child and they can feel it, can feel the love as soon as they're in view. Even Mrs. Kent felt that way when she first saw Clark. She told me that she saw him and just knew he was her little boy.
"I see Jordan and I get zip. There was almost something earlier, when she gave me a hug, but it was so quick I account it to speaking before thinking."
Chloe tried to interject. "Lois, I don't think..."
"This isn't about thinking, Chloe. This is about me lacking basic maternal instincts that even a chimp can probably feel. I'm not feeling anything. I lack the innate love that apparently every other mother has and it... it hurts. I can't even really be sure that she's mine but I want to love Jordan, for her sake, and I can't, and I don't know why."
"Lois," Chloe said softly. "Please don't beat yourself up about this. How can you lack something you never thought you had? I remember you saying that kids were most likely not in your future before the incident, which I knew was ridiculous, but you had yourself convinced. Now you're basically right back in that frame of mind but have a kid shoved in your face, are told she's yours and expect to just feel like a mother?
"It doesn't work that way, Lo. You don't remember any of the process or the girl and you expect for it to just click in your head and your heart that she's yours? I see a flaw in your Lane logic of expecting things to happen as you want them to.
"You know what makes things click? Time. It works wonders, aside from this whole getting older thing we're doing. At least you're young at heart." At Lois's glare, Chloe lost the smile she was wearing. "Right, too soon for jokes."
"I don't want to be a bad mother, Chloe. I also don't want to be a mentally absent mother. What, with every time I forget I get a free reacquaintance with her? That'll be great when she's getting married. 'Who are you?' 'I'm your daughter, sit here and be happy like you know me.'" Lois saw Chloe fighting back a smile and rolled her eyes.
"The only reason I'm holding myself together right now is for her. I don't want her to be exposed to the meltdown I feel like I'm going to have. It's not fair to her, mine or not." Lois saw Chloe start to smile and frowned a little more. "What?"
"I told you you're a good mother."
"And I'm stating as to why I'm not a good mother. Are you paying attention?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Lois, you just described the ideal mother in a way. You're doing what's best for Jordan because it needs to be done. It's not innate feelings, it's doing the right thing for the little girl that's in the other room. That's more than enough, and everything else will come with a little time. Who knows, you could fall deeply in love with your daughter tonight."
"I seriously doubt that, Chloe. And I'm not buying this whole good mother thing either, but whatever."
Chloe looked at her with an unamused glare. "I'm not saying this for my health, Lois. I've got three kids of my own with which to compare and I would do everything exactly the same." Her face softened as she continued. "Please, trust me when I say you are a great mother to Jordan and will be just as great with Almond Joy."
"Oh good lord," Lois mumbled. "He told you about that?"
"Yes ma'am, and you're second child shall always be known as Almond Joy in my book."
"Fantastic," she said as she sat back and stared at the ceiling a moment. "So, to forget my feelings of ineptitude for now, how long have you known Clark had powers and isn't exactly who I thought him to be?" Lois recalled Clark saying sixteen years earlier but wanted to hear Chloe's version of things.
Chloe sat back with her and laid her arms across her stomach. "I found out in early 2005, so I guess it's coming up on seventeen years now. Can't believe it's been that long. He's only been Superman since a few months before Jack was born, though, so I guess that's why it seems shorter than it is?"
"He's been what?"
"Superman. It's the name he goes by when he's using his powers to help people."
Lois rolled her eyes and snorted a laugh. "And here I thought the powers hadn't gone to his head. I can't believe he was arrogant enough to name himself 'Superman.'"
"Well," Chloe said, "he didn't name himself. You named him in his first interview."
"Oh. Well, at least Clark's staying humble."
Smiling, Chloe patted Lois on the back and stood. Why did people feel the need to keep patting her on the back?
"I think Martha would have given him a good thumping had he gotten too big for his britches, so to speak. But really, that could never happen. Clark lives as his dad taught him to, and uses his memory as a moral compass."
Chloe was in the kitchen by this time and pulled a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water, taking a big drink. "You want a glass, Lo?"
"No, thanks. So he flies around in a costume and people call him Superman? How did I even come up with that?"
"Well, he wears his family crest on the chest of his costume. As it happens, the crest of the Kryptonian House of El looks like an S, of all things. Man with numerous super powers wearing a big 'S' on his chest and suddenly the logic is clear, isn't it?"
"I think a more fitting name would have been Smallville."
Chloe broke out into laughter as Lois finished speaking. "You said that the last time you forgot as well."
"It means that I'm right."
"Yeah, well, you go naming him after a town and suddenly everybody that's not all that fond of him is going to be combing the town for information on him. Clark has a lot of unexplained appearances in police reports and unfortunately somebody out there would put two and two together and get Superman. That would lead straight to a certain little girl in the other room."
"Good point. Safety first, even if she wasn't even a twinkle in her fathers eye when he started doing his thing."
"Exactly. One of Clark's biggest fears is and always has been people getting hurt because of his powers. It's the reason he was so secretive about them for so long. When he told Pete, the friend I've told you about and you've met but don't remember, it worked for about a year. Soon after that, though, it led to a world of trouble for Pete and he chose to leave Smallville and live with his mom in Wichita."
"Are you serious?" Lois watched Chloe sit back down with another glass of water and sip at it a second. "I mean, Clark's secret really drove this guy Pete out of Smallville?"
"Yeah. He tells his best friend and it drives him out of town. Needless to say he wasn't going to tell anybody his secret willingly after that unless he really felt strongly it wouldn't tear them apart. Sheds some light on his reasons for brooding, doesn't it?"
Lois was about to answer when something dawned on her. "That's what drove him and Lana apart, isn't it? He never told her about his heritage."
Chloe nodded. "You got it. Well, mostly anyway. According to Clark he did actually tell her once, when Mr. Kent got elected state senator. He actually proposed to Lana and told her everything, even showing her his fortress and popping the question in it. She accepted, but something happened between her and Lex that led to her dying in a car accident."
"Hold on there, Chloe. That's a day I actually remember and there wasn't any Lana drama. Well, no more than usual, anyway."
"By Clark's account, that was the first time that day happened. After Lana died, he went to the fortress and had Jor-El point out a crystal that would allow him to have the day back and change things so Lana didn't die. He did so and never revealed his secret to her. As a result, she didn't die that day..."
"But Mr. Kent did," Lois finished. She felt her eyes widen of their own accord. "Oh god," she whispered. "He must have thought that his fathers death was his fault."
Chloe nodded sadly. "It took him a long time to come to terms with that. During his grief, though, Lana leaves him because of his secrets and turns to the one man he trusted less than anybody else."
Lois sighed as they sat in silence. She felt so bad for Clark. He'd been given such great gifts and they'd only caused him hurt, at least in his mind, for so long. Being alone with only his mother to talk to... "Hey, wait a second," she said. "If Clark never told anybody how did you find out?"
"I'm just that good."
"No, Clark's that good at keeping it hidden. Tell."
Lois caught Chloe rolling her eyes and gave her a friendly push on the arm. "Fine, fine. Remember when Alicia was with Clark and accused of attempted murder? Well, she thought that if Clark let his special traits out for all to know, people would see that not all people with powers are homicidal maniacs. Clark said no, of course. Alicia decided that she'd put my journalistic tendencies to use and tricked Clark into catching a car while she and I were hidden about twenty feet away."
"What does that have to do with your journalistic tendencies?"
"She wanted me to know the truth so I could spread the news that Clark had powers and helped people. Or, as she put it, 'use my poison pen to enlighten Smallville for a change.'"
"She never was quite right, was she?"
Chloe gave a small smile. "No, but I'm kind of thankful for that actually. It allowed me into a part of Clark's life I may not have ever been in otherwise."
Lois found Chloe's statement hilarious and didn't bother to hide her laughter. "Leave it to you to value insanity." Chloe returned the push that she'd recently received and continued on.
"Anyway, back to the how I found out about Clark story. What with all the people in Smallville effected by the meteors, I originally assumed that Clark was changed by them as well. It was when he had to take me to a hospital in the Yukon after he found me in the fortress that he told me he was an alien. He didn't have to tell me about his powers but the from another planet revelation was another shock in itself, as you can currently attest."
"Clark really has a fortress in the arctic?"
"You have to see to believe, my friend. I'd describe it to you but I think you'd end up calling me some hack tabloid reporter." Chloe stuck her tongue out slightly to punctuate the jab at Lois's former profession.
"Ha ha, little cousin. Smallvilles's fortress may well be just a middle of the road item in the weirdness of my day. Hell, nothing beats waking up thirteen years after you don't remember going to bed. Well, maybe me with a daughter beats that, along with the fact that every fiber of my being is worried about screwing her up and putting her into fifteen years of therapy. Saying the wrong thing, doing something differently..." Lois shook her head, frowning and looking at the floor.
"I can handle a new year. Adjustments can be made and I'm still the me I know because I'm not big on change. 2021, doable. But knowing how Lucy turned out after I had to raise her, it kills me to think I could do that to the little girl in the other room." She pulled a hand through her hair to keep it from falling into her downcast eyes. "How is Lucy, by the way? What did she do with her life?"
"First violinist in the Paris orchestra. Has a husband, Paul, and a couple munchkins of her own, both boys. She claims they're as much of a handful as she was, but I think I can boldly say that's in no way true."
"I think I'll join in on your bold statement." Lois ran a hand over her face and smiled to herself a second before she found the words she'd been afraid to say all day. Now seemed as good a time as any to say them.
"The future never scared me, Chloe. How could it when it was just a concept and not something I was ever sure I'd face? It was no guarantee with the trouble I got into. I didn't... I couldn't know what was coming, so I rarely thought about it. Occasionally I would daydream just like the next person, but it was always about my professional life, never anything personal. Something like a husband... I thought I might end up married one day, but it'd be more of a settling for a guy so I wasn't alone. Nobody wants to be alone, right?
"All this, though... I'm not going to be proud and say that it doesn't scare me, because it does. You know I'd never admit that lightly. Not ever, really, before I woke up in the year 2021 without a bunch of memories. A brave face and sarcasm to cover my fear; don't let the walls down and you're safe. But now there's more on the line. It's not taking care of Jordan that really scares me, Chlo. I'm a quick study and will figure it out.
"No, what really scares me the most is that I don't know if this is real. What if this is really just some elaborate hoax or a trick my mind is playing on me? The more I'm here, Chloe, and the more everything confuses me, the more things makes sense, and you know how much things like that annoy me.
"I'm scared because I really, really want this to be real."
They sat in silence for a few minutes after Lois's confession. Lois didn't know where to go after baring her heart, and she figured Chloe didn't have any idea as to how to proceed. How do you respond to somebody telling you that they're afraid reality isn't real?
Chloe finally broke the silence. "I don't know what to tell you, Lo. I guess you'll just have to trust me. If it helps, I can recount the first time you lost your memory , maybe clue you in on some things that are similar."
Lois smiled slightly. "Sounds like a plan, cuz. Fire away."
"Ok then. I woke up and got ready for work, while you were doing your best to put it off and sleep until noon. When you got up, well, I think today was a pretty good indicator of how you felt."
---
Chloe yawned and banged on Lois's door. "Hey, you going to get up or are you going to make us late, yet again?" She heard a grumbled reply from inside the room and shook her head. Always the same with Lois.
Walking into the kitchen, Chloe heard her cousin's door squeak open as she poured coffee into a couple mugs. She held one for herself and handed one off to Lois, receiving a grunt of acknowledgment as she trudged back to her room.
Some mornings it took a cup of coffee for her cousin to be awake enough just to take a shower without falling asleep. This appeared to be one of those mornings. She watched her take a big gulp of the near steaming liquid and disappear into her room which was followed by the sound of a shutting door.
Sighing, Chloe walked back into the living room and sat down, sipping at her coffee and turning on the local morning news. It appeared to be a slow morning as the channel she liked was leading with the mayor announcing some new taxes he'd like to implement for school and street improvement. It always seemed to be one of the two, if not both, when tax hikes were involved because both were always in need of repair in Metropolis.
She muted the television when she thought she heard her phone ring and grabbed her purse, which she had set down on the coffee table on her way to get Lois up. She pulled her phone out and checked the caller i.d., which lit up her face instantly. She flipped open the phone, her morning instantly better.
"Good morning, oh ye of the night."
"Good morning, Chloe. Headed to work?"
"Well I would be, but my partner subscribes to the philosophy that punctuality is something that doesn't apply to her. Once again, Lois is barely awake, which probably means I should call to tell Chief we'll be late again. Seriously, if we weren't as good at what we do as we are, I think we'd have been thrown out on our collective ass ages ago."
"I think they keep you around for all the modesty you exhibit, personally. You two have enough to hand out extra to those with a large ego."
"Oh very funny. I'll have you know..."
Chloe trailed off as she watched an utterly confused looking Lois walk out of her room. She turned up the volume on the television and checked every station she could find with news on it. After running through another couple channels, Chloe watched her turn and motion for her to hang up the phone.
"Bruce, can I call you back?"
"Yes, of course. Is anything wrong?"
"I don't know yet. Love you."
"Love you too."
Chloe closed her phone and set it down on the couch, then gazed up at Lois, expecting her to say something since she'd just had her hang up the phone, but was only greeted by silence. After another second, she finally did so.
"Chloe, what's today's date?"
Confused, she didn't hesitate to answer since it seemed important. "April 4th."
Lois's eyes widened a little before she spoke. "What year?"
"Same year it was yesterday, Lois."
"What. Year."
"2013, Lois, on its way towards 2014. What's going on?"
Chloe didn't receive a response as Lois simply spun slowly, looking at their apartment. They had lived there going on six years, originally for Met U being nearby and eventually sticking with it because it was cheap and cab fare to the Daily Planet rarely exceeded twenty dollars, which was a steal with current cab rates.
"This isn't right," Lois said out of the blue.
"Not right? How is this not right, Lois? It's the same place we've lived for nearly six years now. We haven't even moved the furniture around for four." She found it an odd fact that they hadn't moved their furniture around since Clark had gone to do his training, but filed the thought away for another time.
"Years? Chloe, we've barely even been in this place three months yet. It's not 2013, it's 2008 and this is a practical joke gone way too far."
Chloe finally stood up from the couch and walked over to Lois, standing a couple feet away. "Are you serious?" Lois simply responded with a glare, so Chloe dug deeper. "Lois, what do you think today's date is?"
"June 8th, 2008."
Chloe felt like she'd been hit. Her eyes were as wide as she had ever felt them and it took her a good ten seconds just to get them to blink again. She stared at Lois, not knowing what to say. That was the after day she'd been attacked. The only day worse was the day that had preceded it.
"Chloe, why are you staring at me like I kicked a puppy? What the f-ck is going on?"
Snapping out of her shock, Chloe forced herself to turn away from Lois and walk to the kitchen. She needed a second to think, but Lois wouldn't allow it if she saw Chloe's face. She spotted the coffee pot and wondered if Lois just needed another cup of it to fully wake up, but doubted it would be that easy. She turned and faced her cousin, bracing herself on the counter in front of her.
"How can you joke about that day, Lois," she asked softly.
"Joke? Chloe, you're the one pulling the joke! You probably have Smallville stashed in a closet filming this entire thing to use at a party for everybody to get a good laugh or something."
"Lois, what's the last thing you remember?"
"We had dinner at Bambino's last night. Good food, tasty and fairly inexpensive. You forgot an interview tape at the Planet and were hoping you could get it so you could work on making notes for an interview I was doing the next day. You grabbed a cab, I assured you I'd be safe and you left. I walked home and apparently went to bed, though I don't remember the actual laying down and falling asleep.
"Then, it's this morning. I wake up to a room that contains pictures I don't remember taking or posing for with strange dates on them. Then I get on the 'net to check some of the mornings news before I hit the shower and all the web sites are saying it's the wrong day, not to mention they all look completely different."
Chloe watched Lois look around at the apartment as she spoke, seemingly not recognizing some of the stuff. "So then I come out here and check the news broadcasts and they're saying the same thing. Color me a confused cousin, Chloe. Props on hacking the sites and changing the dates, though I don't know how you got the tv news to show it too."
Chloe felt her legs wobble a bit and walked as quickly as she could over to the nearest chair, plopping herself down on it. She was at a complete loss. Either her cousin was the worlds best undiscovered actor or she really believed what she was saying. "Lois, I didn't hack those sites. It would take me ages to do something like that, let alone do anything to alter the dates on the morning news.
"It's April 2013, Lois. For God's sakes, Clark hasn't even been in the country since August of 2009. You know he's been traveling around the world for three and a half years." Since he'd never told Lois about his heritage, Chloe figured she should probably not let it out now, no matter what's going on.
"He was in our Ethics in Journalism class yesterday, Chloe. I admire the commitment to the joke, but seriously, how did you do all of this?"
Chloe decided this was too much. She obviously wasn't getting through to her cousin and needed some backup. She got up and grabbed her phone off the couch and dialed Bruce's number.
"Hey, that didn't take long. Everything ok?"
"No Bruce. Not even close. I need your help."
"You have it. What can I do?"
"Come to Metropolis. There's a problem with Lois."
"I'll be there as soon as possible. Hang in there. I love you."
Chloe usually smiled when she heard him say those words, but couldn't get her mouth to work that hard. "I love you too. See you soon."
She never thought she'd be one that could do a long distance relationship, but Chloe found that when your boyfriend was a billionaire who could fly to Metropolis anytime he wanted it made up for things.
"Love? Bruce? Chloe, who the hell were you talking to?"
"That was my fiancé, Bruce. Bruce Wayne, the billionaire you never mentioned knowing years ago." She held up her left hand, which was adorned with a large diamond ring. "Come on, you KNOW this. We talked about he and I getting married last night over pizza from that mom and pop place down the block. The boxes are still in the fridge!"
Chloe saw Lois throw her hands up in the air. "How? How the hell could it be 2013, Chloe? What, did I time travel in my sleep or something? Pull a Quantum Leap into my own body? I won't accept this without some damn proof, and I'm talking hard proof."
"Have you looked in a mirror?"
"What? No, I haven't had the chance yet but hey... HEY!"
Chloe grabbed Lois by the arm and dragged her into the bathroom, turning her to face the mirror. She didn't think she could have done that if Lois hadn't been so surprised by the move.
"Chloe, what the... hell..."
She watched Lois's eyes go wide with a mixture of confusion and shock as she saw her reflection for the first time and Chloe could tell it really wasn't what she'd expected to see. She watched Lois run a finger over the scar covering her left jaw bone before moving it to scar that ran along the area where the left side of her nose and face met. She didn't touch the one over her right eye.
"Lois, you were attacked by what is presumed to have been a group of men after I left you to go pick up the interview tape at the Planet. You're unbelievably lucky to be alive right now, and were you a lesser person I don't think you would be. You were in a coma for six months and almost every doctor we talked to by the end thought you were as good as gone."
Chloe watched her cousin slowly turn and face her, eyes still wide as they could be. "My hair's back to its natural color, Chlo."
---
"Unbelievable," Lois muttered. "I was surprised by my hair being its natural color this morning as well. Of course, when it was somewhat blonde the night before, I guess that's easy to fixate on along with everything else. So, what happened after that?"
"We went back out to the living room, talked in tones not steeped in exclamation points and bided our time until Bruce got there. When he arrived, we explained the situation and he had top specialists flown in from around the world to examine you and try to determine what was going on."
Lois found that she was sitting on the edge of her seat but was too curious to sit back. "Well? What did they find, Chloe?"
"An astounding amount of nothing."
