---- Chapter 39
"I've told you, Smallville, I'm awesome."
"Won't hear my argue the point, Lo."
"You still haven't earned that nickname."
Clark coughed through his smile. "Right, of course."
---
"And that's how you got us out of the warehouse with me on your back before the fire engulfed us."
"Seriously?"
"You know it. Was quite the harrowing experience, and you still didn't know I was Superman at the time, so I had to try and hide the fact that I'd been taken out of commission by kryptonite. You thought I'd just been hit over the head with... I don't even remember what you thought it was."
Lois scratched at her neck, thinking about the story he'd just told her. Truth be told, she was always sure that she could get out of pretty much any situation she got into, but that one... wow. She'd impressed even herself with that escape, doubly so having to carry Clark. He could slouch all he wanted, but that didn't make him weigh any less.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm famished."
"I could go for some lunch."
"I think it's a nice restaurant kid of day. How about Stinson's for a dressy kind of lunch?"
"Whatever you want, Lo. I'll call Chloe."
Lois snapped her fingers, breaking out into a smile. "That's right! She's out here in Metropolis to do some work. What time was her plane getting into the airport?"
Clark looked at his watch. "About five minutes ago. She said that she'd call so that we could set up a place for lunch. Stinson's is still one of her favorites in Metropolis, so you'll only get praise out of her for the choice."
"Good, she still has taste. Sometimes with time, people stop liking things, and it just would have made me sad."
"No sadness necessary." Lois's phone started ringing, and she pulled it out of her pocket, finding it was Chloe calling. Smiling, she flipped open the phone.
"Hey there, cousin. How does Stinson's sound?"
"Like a dream, Lo. The twins decided that this morning was one where mommy didn't need to have breakfast because she was busy with them, so I'm a very hungry pregnant woman right now. And I'm really showing now, too. Not just kind of, but more like an in your face 'There's a baby in here!' declaration by my stomach."
"Welcome to my world. I like the visual evidence of my son existing, but really, I could do without the off balance stuff. I've tripped like three times today, and it's barely noon."
"Yeah, well, aside from already being more achy in my hips this time, it's still easier than when I was carrying the twins. The last seven months were one long stint of clumsiness that included me almost and actually falling over, knocking things over and just generally exploring all concepts of unintended physical comedy."
"Sounds enjoyable."
"Yeah, it was a blast. So, Stinson's in fifteen?"
"Yes, ma'am. See ya then."
Lois flipped her phone shut, grinning. "Let's hit it, Smallville."
Fifteen minutes later they were sitting in a booth munching on some breadsticks when Chloe walked up to them. Lois got up out of her seat and pulled her into a hug. When her stomach bumped into her cousin's, she rolled her eyes. Clark just sat back and laughed a second before chiming in.
"It's the pregnant woman's chest bump, now with no chest necessary."
"Ah, pregnancy humor," Chloe said while she looked at Lois. "I get it from Bruce too, believe it or not."
"It's funny... they get us pregnant..."
"This one was my idea, Lo."
"Ok, so Clark gets me pregnant..."
"Hey now, you started the whole thing by calling me Clarkie and then saying if something happened, you were ready to have another baby. Almond Joy is a barely planned venture on both our parts."
Lois spun around, eyebrows up near her hairline. "That's the first time you mentioned that little statement of mine, Smallville. Didn't feel like sharing details previously?"
"Well, since you knew you'd forgotten when pregnant with Jordan, I didn't know if you were going to think that you were being careless about your amnesia. Also, I didn't think it mattered."
"Well, it doesn't, really, but I just like to know these things." Lois sat back down on the booth, scooting in so that she was next to Clark and Chloe sat down next to her. "Anything else you aren't telling me?"
Clark shook his head as he handed her a menu. "Not that I can think of."
"Good."
Thirty minutes later, they were all delving into their food. Lois and Chloe had both ended up with steak, which had sounded good to Clark as well so it had made ordering easy. Lois, of course, had been the first to speak, ordering for all of them, handing the waiter the menus and shooing him away so that he could get their orders in.
Lois scooped up a bite of the vegetables that came on the side, and after a quick smell, chomped on them with some fervor. She wiped at her mouth with her napkin as she finished chewing, and decided that the meal had become far too quiet.
"All right, so... who wants to tell me a story about the past."
Lois took another bite of steak and watched as Clark and Chloe exchanged looks, with Chloe finally shrugging and speaking. "I guess I can offer one, since Clark does most of the telling. How far along in things have you gotten?"
"The day Clark asked Bruce to buy the paper."
Chloe thought for a second. "Well, the next big event after that, I guess, was the first date, version two."
---
Stretching, Chloe stepped out of the taxi she'd taken from the airport and walked up the steps to the apartment building. Smiling at the door man, she walked in without him saying anything to her. She figured Lois must have let him know she was coming. Either that or the place really needed a better door man. Why was that thought so familiar?
The ride up to her floor on the elevator was brisk, but had surprisingly good music going. She played air guitar along with Jimi Hendrix as All Along The Watchtower played, mouthing the words along with the song too. Yay for nobody else being in the elevator with her. The door opened and she got out, walking up to the door of Lois and Clark's apartment and knocking a couple times. Shaking off a felling of deja vu, she waited a moment, and was raising her hand to knock again when the door was flung open and she was pulled in by Lois.
"Chloe, thank God you're here. I'm freaking out, and it's just..."
"Slow down, Lo. I can count on very few fingers the number of times you've freaked out, so what's going on?" Chloe kicked the door shut and sat her purse on the floor next to the door, again shaking off the feeling that she'd done this before.
"It was just another day! I was minding my own business... well, getting into people's business because that is my business, but then I was blind sided! No warning, just a straight out of the blue whack upside my head. And I said yes! Why did I say yes?"
Ok, she KNEW that she'd heard Lois say that before, almost verbatim. This was like a freaking replay of the time Clark had asked Lois out for the first time... wait, what was today? Thinking about it, she realized that it was May 5th. Clark had asked her out on Cinco De Mayo. The man was asking for another incident!
"Ok, so, Clark asked you out, right?"
Lois spun around to face her. "How did you know?"
"Because your reaction? Basically identical to the last time Clark asked you out for a first date. Eerily similar, actually, including your wording." Running a hand through her hair, Chloe took a deep breath. "I gotta give Clark credit, though. It took guts to ask you out again."
"What? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means that you two went on the worst first date ever last time around. It led to awkwardness and you two barely speaking for months on end that I had to solve because I didn't want the tension around Jack."
"Ok, so that's like super evidence for why this should NOT happen."
Chloe guided Lois over to the couch, where they sat down. "No. You can't possibly have a first date that bad again. Also? You two got engaged the night you forgot, remember? I'm sure he's told you all this, but Clark was actually going to propose the next day, ring and all. You beat him to the punch and did the proposing at dinner that night, though, and..."
"I DID WHAT?"
Chloe winced. "Ok, guess he hadn't told you that yet. Good job, Chloe."
"I proposed to HIM?"
"Yes. Down on one knee and everything. So despite the fact that you two had the first date that could put people off dating for good, you ended up engaged, albeit it briefly."
Chloe watched as Lois chewed her lip, mulling it over. She knew that she needed to go in for the kill to convince Lois of this being a good thing. She didn't want Lois to go in so doubtful about it all that she sabotaged it and claimed it wasn't meant to be. She couldn't take another round of them not speaking to each other.
"You two were special, Lois. You had a love that most people can only dream of. This isn't meant as bragging, but Bruce and I are really good together and love each other like crazy. You and Clark were such naturals together passed us quickly on being good together. Everything you two did was seamless; the way you moved from friends to a relationship and from separate apartments to living together was smoother than anybody else I've ever known. It just worked.
"But more than all that, you found a man that would do anything for you. You found a man that loved you for you. I know that with the scarring you've probably thought that dating isn't something that would happen. I know it was the first time, and you actually kind of brooded about it. But Clark... he doesn't see the scars. He just see's Lois Lane, intrepid reporter, the woman he loves."
Lois stood up and started pacing, gesturing with her hands but not actually saying anything for a second.
"That's the problem, Chloe. Clark already loves me. He's fallen in love with me once, lived with me and had sex with me. When I look at him, and God it hurts to say this about him because I know he doesn't do it on purpose, but I see expectations. I see hope in his eyes that I'll remember the feelings that I had. I see fear that he'll never regain what he once had with me. It's too much, Chloe."
Chloe stood up, and waiting a second, intercepted her cousins pacing. She grasped Lois's arms to keep her from escaping while she spoke.
"Not to take a side, but can you really blame him? After the love you guys had, which my description poorly captures since I'm a journalist and not a romance novelist, it's only natural for him to look at you like that. He and I talked when you were going to quit the Planet because I called your desk and you weren't there, and he was about ready to curl up in a ball and weep.
"When it came right down to it, you'd broken up with him. He finally had the love of his life, and was going to marry her, then WHAM, it's yanked out of his grasp without so much as a hope of getting it back anytime soon. He didn't even get any closure because he lived with the woman that had loved him one day and couldn't remember any of it the next.
"You, of course, have it the worst, losing your memory every two or three years; nobody will argue that. But Clark is a solid second this time, because he had to suck up his feelings real quick and try to help you adjust without piling expectations on you. I think he did a damn good job, and I'm a little shocked that he's been able to go this long without trying to win you back. I wonder if this even counts as winning you back since you didn't leave him purposely..."
"That is so not the point, Chlo."
"Right, sorry."
Lois pulled away from Chloe and sat down again, but after a second of fidgeting, was back up and pacing again. "It's just... it's a lot to live up to, ya know? I don't think most people are told that they had the perfect love, something most men and women apparently dream about, but can't remember it. What if I'm different? What if I don't react the same way to things and it causes him to not want to be with me?"
"Let me ask you a very simple question: how do you feel about Clark?"
Lois scoffed, crossing her arms as she stopped in front of Chloe. "That is far from simple."
"Forget everything that I've told you about the past and just focus on the here and now. How do you feel about Clark?"
"I, uh... he's my best friend. He's the person I tell all my secrets to, even if he's heard them before. He's someone that treats me like I'm the most special person he's ever known." Lois frowned. "Jesus, I think about it like that and I can't figure out why I'm stressing out over this."
Chloe pulled Lois into a hug, smiling from ear to ear. "By George, I think she's got it! Feel better about having said yes now?"
"Damn right I do. This... this could be something special. Something I never thought I'd have, especially not after waking up without seven and a half years of memories."
After that, they enjoyed some ice cream, eating it straight out of the carton with individual spoons. They were in the midst of conversation when a thought struck Chloe.
"Lois, just a random question here. How do you feel about Superman?"
Her cousin went silent for a second, staring off into space before shaking her head a couple times. "Great guy. Has a thing for saving my life, I've noticed. Gorgeous like I've never seen before, too."
Chloe's shoulders slumped, and it must have been noticeable as Lois frowned. "What's with the posture change?"
"It's just... well, you were kind of in love with Superman last time around when Clark asked you out for the first time. It certainly didn't help things between you two, because when the date went poorly, you kind of got convinced that Superman was who you were meant to be with, and he had to turn you down too."
"Don't worry, Chlo. I don't love Superman, and any potential love I have is aimed straight at Clark, a man that wears decidedly fewer sets of tights."
Chloe laughed with her mouth closed, and realizing it, quickly made it seem as though she were coughing.
"You ok?"
She nodded. "Just fine. Swallowed funny."
"I didn't think you could swallow ice cream funny."
"I guess the image of Clark in tights just struck me as funny and prompted it."
Lois stared off into space again for a second before she chuckled. "Yeah, that is a pretty ridiculous thing to think about, isn't it?"
- - -
Lois forked a piece of cake into her mouth. "How is it that I never see the whole secret identity thing?"
"Nobody does, unless they already know. I could tell Bruce was surprised when Clark and I told him, despite his insistence he had his suspicions. Then later that night, when it was just he and I, he admitted that Clark was very good at being the exact opposite of what people would expect, especially with his face in plain sight all the time."
"Every day. I was with him every single day and I never saw it. If he hadn't told me this time around I'd be in blissful ignorance again!"
"Blissful? You spent every waking moment trying to figure out who Superman was for about two months. You were in fairly annoyed you didn't know ignorance."
Lois finished off her cake, sitting back and resting her arms across her stomach. That sounded a lot more like her than the woman who just accepts that she gets saved by an alien and doesn't try to figure out who he is, if anybody, especially if she thought she loved him. She looked over to Clark.
"What are your thoughts on all this?"
"I was scared out of my mind that you would find out on your own, be hurt and then be angry. I did everything I could to keep the truth from you without ever actually lying to you. I hoped that if you did figure it out on your own, you wouldn't just... I don't know, disown me as a friend as I guess."
"And so you told me when it was apparent that thing were changing between you and I, not he and I."
"I didn't think you'd forgive me... haven't we been over this before?"
"Yes."
"Then I stand by my previous answers."
Lois smiled, sitting up. "Fair enough. We ready to blow this popsicle stand?"
Chloe scooted out towards the side of the booth. "We just have to pay, and I would like this lunch to be on me."
"No way, Chlo," Clark said. "You're in Metropolis, which means we get to pay for things."
"I also have a veritable mountain of money at my disposal. I've tried to not let having all the wealth at my disposal change me, but seriously, if I wanted to I could probably get a Scrooge McDuck swimming in his money thing going with all the coin I have at available. It makes paying for lunch very easy. Plus, you guys are in the process of buying a house! You wouldn't let me help with that, so at least let me buy lunch."
Lois watched as Chloe reached for the bill, which very suddenly disappeared. Both women looked over to Clark, who was already reading the total. Lois looked back to Chloe, suddenly realizing what she'd said.
"You wanted to buy us a house?"
"Again, mountain of money. And I wasn't going to buy it for you, technically. It was going to be a gift in honor of Almond Joy. It wouldn't have been a big deal, just a gift."
"And we appreciated the gesture, Chloe, but all lunches and houses to be purchased in Metropolis will be done so by us. Well, the houses we're going to live in, anyway. Feel free to buy your own house, though."
"How did you know about that?"
Clark looked up at her, confused. Lois felt the same way.
"How did I know about what?"
Chloe looked away, actually blushing in what Lois thought was embarrassment. She hadn't seen Chloe do something like that in all the time since the memory loss. She wanted to hear what this was about.
"Out with it, Chloe. AJ hates suspense."
Chloe smiled, then sighed. "It was supposed to be a surprise when you guys moved into your house. Bruce and I... a house came up for sale on your street, and Bruce knew that I've missed Metropolis for a while now, so he asked me if I wanted to have the option of spending more time here. It sounded great to me, and so... we bought a house four doors down from you."
"Really?"
"Really. We were going to move in quietly a couple weeks before you guys and surprise you. It's currently in the process of undergoing some renovations so that it's big enough for all of us, this new one included."
"Wait. What does this mean? How much time are you going to be spending here?"
"Well, let's just say that our children will be going to school together, once Jordan and the twins are old enough to go. Bruce will still spend a lot of time in Gotham, for obvious reasons, but I'll be here most of the time. It was his idea, and he says that he's fine with it, so I'm not going to complain. I get to come home again."
Lois pulled Chloe into a hug, grinning like a madwoman. "You have no idea how much I've missed seeing you every day."
"What are you going to do for a job?"
The cousins released each other and looked over to Clark, who was signing a receipt for the lunch. "I'm actually headed to The Daily Planet with you guys to finalize things with Perry. I asked him about my returning to the paper when Bruce and I decided to do this, and he was all for it. Said something about never having too many good reporters in this day and age."
"When do you start?"
"Tomorrow."
"Holy crap!" Lois pulled Chloe into a hug again. "My cousin's back, and the Chlo-Lo connection shall ride again!"
"Great. Not only have I been discarded, but I'm going to be saving you two on a daily basis again. The Chlo-Lo connection is going to give me gray hair."
Lois looked to Clark, smirking as they all got out of the booth. "You're going to have to save us?" She looked over to Chloe. "Have you ever heard the story of the time I carried him out of a burning warehouse on my back? It even surprised me at how cool I am in it, while saving him." She looked pointedly at Clark, who just rolled his eyes.
"Can't say that I have."
"Well, there was this warehouse..."
---
"I'm going down there, Clark. Are you coming or not?"
Clark rolled his eyes. Was she ever going to stop rushing into things? "Yes, Lois. Like I could ever let you run off to do something crazy without me."
