Lois could not concentrate on her work that morning, her mind kept wandering off. Martha soon noticed.
"Lucy, are you ok this morning?" Martha asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I've just got some things on my mind." She paused. "I don't know why but I am having doubts about my relationship."
"Oh honey….Don't let the trouble between Jonathan and me put you off. I can see fireworks between you and Tom, and I am not talking about bad ones. It is not the outward gestures you make to each other that tell me you are meant to be - it is the little moments I have witnessed between you two, the touches, the looks, the playful banter – all the signs of true love."
Lois was amazed and puzzled as to how everyone could see these signs except her and Clark. "Do you really think so?"
"I have always had a sixth sense for that type of thing. Trust me!" she smiled. "Maybe you are putting too much pressure on yourself."
Lois decided to open up a little more about her concerns. "The problem is that he came out of a serious relationship just before getting together with me, and everyone always thought that they would stay together forever."
"Lucy, I cannot speak for other people. I can only tell you what I see. Why don't you tell Tom your concerns." She asked.
"I suppose I should, but I am worried that he won't give me the answers I want."
"Love is a risk!" Martha smiled. "But it is worth it!"
Just then Clark walked in. "Hi…" he said in a weird sheepish way.
Lois went all coy. "Hi…"
Martha looked at them both. "Look why don't you go to the Talon to see the new Ghostbusters movie which opens today. It is supposed to be good. It starts in 20 minutes."
Clark smiled. "Sounds like a good plan." He waited for Lois to get ready and they headed to the cinema.
He noticed how quiet and nervous she seemed about this, almost like they were on a first date. He was starting to believe what Rokk had told him. Maybe Lois did have feelings for him after all, making him wonder what he should do about it. His heart started to race a little faster at the thought.
Lois noticed Clark's face was starting to flush, and he seemed distracted. He had barely said a word since they left the café.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah fine…why wouldn't I be?" He replied in a defensive manner.
"You just seem distracted." She replied.
"I just have a few things on my mind, that's all." He commented.
They headed in to the cinema and grabbed some popcorn. It was quite busy for this time of the afternoon; in fact the only seats were at the back and a few right at the front.
He stopped her. "I think there are some seats in the front."
"Do you want me to get a crick in my neck? I promise to behave if you agree to sit at the back." She blew a kiss at him.
He froze and looked at her in terror. "Look maybe this is not such a good idea. I don't think I am in the mood for a movie."
"What is wrong with you today? I was kidding with you. You know like we do all the time." She said, as she could see him relax a little. She wondered if there was some truth in what Imra had told her.
They took a seat in the corner and Lois started to tuck into the popcorn. "I will leave you some. Have you seen this movie before?"
"Of course, hasn't everyone!" he replied, and seemed to calm down more.
"So how was it at the farm today? Did you find out anything?"
"No not really but I have convinced Jonathan to come to the dance tomorrow night. I told him that it may be a good chance to talk to Martha."
"Well that is a start! I did not find out anything at all." She lied, not wanting to tell him about Imra's visit.
However much she tried to convince herself, she could not envisage a long term future for Lana and Clark. She was suspicious about why Imra had suddenly broken the rules of not giving any information about the future.
Lois had eaten most of the popcorn but decided to leave a little for Clark. She passed it to him but ended up dropping it all over the floor.
"What did you do that for?" he said abruptly.
"Clark, what is up with you?" she snapped back.
"Just leave it!" he got up and left the cinema without saying another word, leaving Lois sitting there in shock.
She followed him across the road and back to their apartment. She found him sitting watching the TV. He did not even look up to acknowledge her presence.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing…" he replied without even looking at her.
"It must be about something." Lois pushed, knowing it was probably going to back fire.
"Leave it."
"Clark, is it something I have done."
"Why is everything about you?" he shouted back. "If you must know it is about Lana."
Lois wished she hadn't asked. "I am going back to work now to see if Martha needs help."
"Fine." He snapped.
She walked out slamming the door, leaving Clark to wonder what the hell was going through his mind. It was about Lana but not in the way Lois thought. As he imagined his future, his thoughts about Lana seemed to be fading, only to be replaced by Lois…
Clark got up to follow Lois to the café but decided against it. He needed to sort his own complicated feelings out before he started to mess with her head. He chastised himself for losing his temper with her. Why had he done it? She had always poked fun at him, and it had never bothered him before. It was almost as though she was getting under his skin.
Martha could see how upset Lois was when she arrived. "What happened?"
"We just had a row and he mentioned his ex-girlfriend." Lois replied, still trying to work out why she was upset.
"Oh sweetheart. Are you sure he did not just say it in the heat of the moment?" Martha said trying to calm her down.
"I am not sure. It feels like if we go ahead with a relationship that we will never escape from his memories of her."
"Well there is only one way to deal with that. Give him some new memories so she becomes a ghost of his past. Do you mind if I go and talk to him?"
Lois looked at her and smiled. "Of course not!"
Martha took her apron off and headed over the road. She knocked gently on the apartment door, and Clark soon answered it.
"Mrs Kent!" Clark said surprised.
"Can I come in? I need to talk to you about Lucy." She said.
He paused before standing back and signalling for her to come in. "Can I get you a coffee?"
"Ok…that would be great!" she smiled.
Minutes later he joined her on the sofa. "Is she ok?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I think she is just feeling the spectre of your ex-girlfriend in your relationship." Martha explained. "If you think I am interfering, tell me."
"No, I appreciate your input." Clark replied honestly. Although he had rebelled numerous times against his parents over the years, he did value their opinion much more than he ever admitted to them. "The last thing I ever want to do is hurt her."
"I think Lucy needs to know that you have closure on your old relationship. She feels as though she is competing with your memories of your past."
"It is hard for me because all I had ever thought or had been told is that my ex and I were meant to be. To break away from that is hard. It took me by surprise when I realised I could have feelings for someone else. When Lucy came along it was like a breath of fresh air. She never questions me or pushes me, and most importantly of all she accepts me as I am. I think when she first came into my life, we just annoyed each other but deep down we were great friends, not that either of us would have admitted that." He smiled thinking back to some of their greatest confrontations, and how much he enjoyed winding her up.
"I have only known Lucy and you for two days, and I am willing to stake my life that you two are meant to be. Don't ask me how I know… I just do." Martha announced. "I can see how much she loves you and you love her."
This was confirmation for Clark. Over all the years with Lana, his mom had never commented about his future with Lana. Her comments were very much about the present state of their relationship.
He trusted his mom's intuition enough to challenge what Rokk had told him. This was going to be the biggest leap of faith he had ever made, but he was willing to risk everything on the opinion of this woman he had always loved and respected.
His heart started to race in anticipation of what could happen in the coming days and weeks. He just hoped Lois was willing to give it a try. "I really appreciate your advice." He said honestly.
"I am just want to see you two happy." She smiled.
"Since I took your advice, can I offer you some?"
Martha looked at him, and nodded. "You know that love you mentioned between Lucy and me, I think we will be lucky if we can get anywhere near the bond you have with your husband."
"I think you must be seeing things. Jonathan and I are not meant to be, we never were." She started to tear up.
Clark sat back, shocked by the anger and emotion in his mom's eyes. He knew that Lois and he had their work cut out to fix the timeline.
"Anyway I had better get back to the café." She got up and hurried out.
Clark followed Martha back to the café, where Lois was serving a couple and their child.
She saw him, and busied herself in her work. As soon as she had finished serving, she headed into the back room. Clark followed her…
"Lo… we need to talk." He said once he knew they were out of earshot of anyone else, but she continued to ignore him.
"Lo…please hear me out."
"Whatever it is, I am not interested. You can't snap my head off, and then come back all apologetic and expect me to forget it happened. Let's just get our job done, and you can go back to your nice cosy life with the Pink Princess. But one thing when she does break your heart again which she undoubtedly will, don't come to me for a shoulder to cry on." She said with definite anger in her voice.
He walked towards her, as she started to put some dishes in the sink. Without warning, Clark placed his hands on her waist and spun her around so she was facing him.
He looked at her… leaned towards her, and pressed his lips onto hers. Before he could find out what her reaction was, there was a loud clatter and then a scream from a child. Lois broke away from Clark, and ran to the counter to see what had happened.
"Don't you ever do that again!" the young woman shouted as she grabbed the child's hand. The young girl looked at the shattered glass on the floor and then up at Lois. Those eyes were unmistakable, and so were the crocodile tears.
Lois sighed. Even in this timezone, Lana had managed to come between Clark and her. She could see the look of shock on his face when he realised who the little girl was….
Clark could not believe the face staring at him right now. However it was not the same face that had haunted him from the cover of Time Magazine published just after the meteor shower. This was a happy and healthy child enjoying time with her parents, not aware of the horrific tragedy that would befall her and her parents in four months.
He could not take any more, he needed to leave. "Lo, I am sorry. I need to leave."
Lois watched him storm out the door. Martha had also noticed. "Go after him…"
She followed him home. "Clark, what is it?" she asked concerned by the upset on his face.
"Lo, how am I supposed to look Lana in the face knowing full well that I can save her parents from dying?"
Lois looked at him. "The same way I stop myself from picking up that phone over there to call my mom in Germany and warn her she needs to stop smoking to save her life." There were tears forming in her eyes.
She continued. "We need to change time in order to save millions of lives, but we cannot pick and choose who we save. We are not Gods!"
He hugged her tightly. "I know you are right but it does not make things any easier."
"If I made that call or you warned the Lang's about the meteor shower, the repercussions on the future could be huge."
She clung to him for a few moments before pulling back to look at him. "Why did you kiss me?"
"Because I wanted to." His eyes fixed on hers. "I wanted to know how it felt."
"So how did it feel?" she asked him.
"I don't know since we were interrupted before I could find out." He smiled.
"I'm waiting…" she smiled back, and she placed her hands on his cheeks to gently pull his face to hers.
Their lips met gently before turning into a deep and sensual kiss. After a moment or so, Clark pulled himself away to gauge her reaction.
"Are you ok?" he asked not knowing what else to say.
Lois was blushing. "Yeah…you bet. Are you going to regret this?" she asked.
"I don't know what is going to happen in the future." He joked.
"Very funny! What about Lana?"
"I know you may have trouble excepting the 180 I have just pulled, but every time I think of us, I get butterflies. Let's face it, Lana and I were never on solid ground; something always came between us. I really want to see where the next few weeks take us, and then when we return to the present we will have some decisions to make about the future, and whether we have one together. So let's just forget about Lana and our life in 2006. At the moment, all that matters is the here and now."
"I couldn't agree more." She smiled before gently kissing him again. "There is no rush! Let's take our time to explore our feelings."
Lois suddenly had a flashback of what Imra had said. "Clark, there is something you need to know. Imra came to see me and told me that we could not let our feelings for each other develop as your future was with Lana."
Clark smiled. "Rokk told me exactly the same thing, but something did not quite ring true. All along, we have been told that we must not find out anything about our futures or destinies so why the sudden change of heart."
"I felt that too. Why would they lie?"
"I don't know, but I am not going to base the rest of my life on what I have been told to expect of my future. Our future is not written yet, and there is no way I am going to let anyone else write it for me. I am going with my gut feeling, and at the moment it is drawing me to you. Mom told me that we were meant to be together and I value her opinion more than most."
"Your mom always was wise. What are we going to say to Rokk, Imra and Garth when they come visiting again?"
"Nothing! This does not have anything to do with them. Our mission is to ensure that my parents find me, and then we can go back to our lives in 2006." He said confidently.
"Can we go on our first date tomorrow?" Lois asked excitedly.
"Lo…shut up, I am an old fashioned gent. " he paused. "Ms Lane, would you do me the honour of coming with me to the dance tomorrow night."
She put on a posh voice. "I would love to, Mr Kent."
Lois changed her expression. "Mind you, don't think that this change of status in our relationship means that you will getting off the sofa."
"Perish the thought, Lois!" He joked but she noticed he seemed genuinely nervous at her suggestion. "I thought we were taking it slow."
"Don't worry, we are." She replied, not entirely convinced they would be able to keep to their plans…