SG2788: Thanks! I hope you still like me even after the loooonng delay. And I hope you like this chapter as well :)

Guest #1: I know! Finally! Haha. Thanks for reading! :)

imhooked: Yes, real life has really caught up. I decided to study again, so almost no time for my stories :) I still have Atonement, and two more stories with outlines already! Thanks for sticking with me and the story :)

Guest #2: Really sorry for that :( Hope you like this! :)

Without further ado, the next chapter of No Other You :)

Chapter 18

Lois was sorely tempted to cause a ruckus; charge at him, throw stones at his horse, hit him on the back of his head, anything just to get his attention, but decided against it when she realized that this was not the proper moment to throw a wrench at his concentration in solving the current situation they were in.

However, the desire still lingered as he continued to ignore her, and Lois had to admit, rather unhappily, that this cold shoulder started the morning she woke up after they have made glorious love the night before.

Was she just a passing fancy? Lois discarded the thought, not once had Clark treated her like a piece of meat. In fact, he had treated her with utmost care, even when he was still belaboured by his belief that she was the harridan that he had married. She honestly believed him when he told her that she was a test to him, and Lois was certainly glad that he failed his test. She was glad; until this morning when she woke up, Clark already dressed, telling her that they needed to head to Smallville immediately.

It was as if nothing had happened. Were all men like this? She vowed to ask Chloe once everything was over, but retracted the idea. Deep down Lois knew that she was not ready to share that intimate information, which she only wanted to share with the man who was part of it who, at the moment, seemed not too intent in engaging any kind of conversation with her.

Lois sighed and spurred her horse to move so she can ride beside him, but Clark had other ideas. He increased his gait, and Lois knowing the power of his Arabian, could only curse inwardly because she knew that her horse would never be able to equal the pace. She was now resigned to the fact that at least for today, she would never be able to talk with Clark.

They were at the last leg of their journey back to Smallville, and if eyes were truly like daggers, Clark knew that his back would already be pierced with a hundred. He could feel her eyes on him since the ride started, knew that she was itching to speak with him, but he was not ready.

Confound it, she was a virgin. Clark had asked himself while he ate breakfast alone, if he would have the same reaction if Lois had not been one. What terrified him was he did not know the answer.

The guilt that was pounding him kept him awake the whole night. He should not have stayed in the room when she told him that she needed to change. He should not have touched her. He should not have succumbed to the desire when she stood naked in front of him.

Was this the proper approach in ensuring that he would not lose her? Would she think of him as a predator, ready to pounce at one's sign of weakness? He has to make this right, but he knew that the action needed would have to be done once they are clear of the danger.

A short while after, the gates to the estate were in sight, but dread filled Clark as the guards on the gates motioned for them to halt.

"Your Grace," the guard started. "The staff has assigned me to be the bearer of bad news. They told me the sooner you know, the better —"

"Out with it!" Clark roared.

The guard cringed, but bravely answered. "Your mother, the dowager duchess, is missing since evening yesterday, my lord."

Clark's eyes widened, shock reverberating through him. The only thing that brought him back was a soft hand on his shoulder.

"But we have requested the Duke of Gotham's presence here to give protection." Lois voiced out.

"He has gone missing as well."

Clark, seemingly thinking clear now, pulled his horse to face the direction they came from. "I need to see the doctor." At which after the statement, he prodded his horse into a full run, leaving Lois by the gates.

"Clark!" Lois shouted, and gave chase, but with desperation at his every move, Lois lost him at the cross on the road after a winding path. She cursed heavily, and had no choice but to return to Smallville, only to gather clues as to where Martha and Bruce might be.

Back at the gates, Lois stopped to interrogate the guard. "Tell me everything you know."

The guard obliged. He had told her that each member of the staff was told the same story, in the event that someone asked them about it.

"The Duke of Gotham arrived a couple of hours after noon, and he immediately went to see the dowager duchess. They even shared afternoon tea." The guard added. "Everything seemed well, until Lord Wayne had to step outside to go to the stables to check on his horse. All that was left are his clothes."

Lois' eyes bugged. "And what about the duchess?" she asked.

The guard took longer to answer. She felt the hesitance on his part to continue, so Lois urged him.

"Like I have said, my lady, we know of the same story, but there was a part of it which seemed incomprehensible for someone who did not witness it first-hand."

Lois had an inkling what the guard had meant. "Go on."

"It was time to prepare for the evening meal, and the duchess and cook are in the kitchen doing so, when cook's little daughter arrived, telling her that her husband has fainted and that she is needed at their home. The duchess of course, allowed cook to leave. It is at this point that the story has now baffled us: when cook arrived, she found her husband, alive and well, playing with the daughter who moments ago had informed her otherwise. Cook was frightened, alright. She returned to the kitchen scared out of her wits, only to find a bubbling pot, wooden spoon on the floor and no dowager duchess in sight."

Lois immediately knew that it was Linda who was behind this. Linda, by some weird enchantment, had pretended to be the cook's daughter in order to lure her away from the duchess, so she can abduct Martha, herself.

"You said that only the Duke's clothes were left in the stables?"

"Nobody has touched them, my lady. I'm afraid they only tried to search for him when the dowager duchess went missing, and were real scared to touch the clothes after they heard cook's tale."

Lois just nodded and headed immediately to the stables. Dismounting, she grabbed her horse's reins and headed to the entrance. The minute she slid the door open, something went flying past over her head. Thinking it was just a bird, Lois continued on inside, led her horse to her box before stepping beside the clothes lying on the floor.

Worry etched on her face, Lois crouched down beside the clothes the Duke of Gotham left behind. She prayed fervently that both the Duchess and the Duke sent to guard her are still alive and were just held somewhere.

Lois stood up, and again was startled when something flew past by her, this time closer to her head than before. Paying no heed, she stepped out of the stable and headed to the kitchens.

Arriving at her desired destination, Lois saw the expressions the maids and the servants held while they went about their work. It was clear that they were worried and they care about the Duchess greatly.

Lois approached one to start her inquiry. The maid gave the same story the guard had given her. She asked about cook after she finished.

"The cook is at her home, miss." She answered. "She has been mighty shaken after what happened yesterday."

Suddenly, shrieks filled the room as the females scurried about and the males grabbed hold of something within their reach. Looking around, searching for the root of the chaos, she saw perched, or rather, hanging upside down, a huge bat on one of the wooden trusses. What was unnerving was the fact that the bat seemed to be staring directly at her.

"Do not fear it." Lois said. "They are nocturnal creatures, they are just looking for shelter." Her statement somehow abated the other occupants in the room, but she noted that the men did not lower their brandished "weapons".

Shaking her head, she went to the stables again. "Clark, I need to borrow one of your horses again." She said to the air. As if granted the permission, Lois proceeded and saddled another horse, the cook's home her next destination.

"Emil." Clark said, feeling as if he'd waited almost an hour for the doctor, when in fact it was just a couple of minutes after he'd arrived at his friend's home. Clark thanked the heavens above when he was informed that the doctor has just arrived from a call.

"My man said it was urgent." Emil said.

"I need Zatanna." Clark said. "My mother is missing, so is Bruce, and I know only Zatanna can help me now."

Emil did not need further explanation. He barked out orders to his lackey, and soon enough, they were on their way to Zatanna's.

They reached Zatanna's current dwelling in no time, being a sorceress meant that she was not meant to stay in one place. But Clark was ready to blow up when Emil's apprentice informed them that Zatanna was still in meditation and that she was never ever to be disrupted whenever she was in one.

"I do not need this, Emil." Clark said, seething from the frustration. "Time is of the essence, I need to find my mother!"

Emil looked torn. Clark saw the doctor look at his apprentice, who just shook his head sadly.

"What is all this commotion?" Zatanna asked, looking mighty annoyed that she was interrupted.

Clark pounced. "Please Zatanna, I need you to find my mother. Help me find her."

"I'm sorry if we barged in, but we cannot waste time. We need to find the Dowager Duchess." Emil added.

Zatanna seemed to contemplate on her answer. Without a word, she turned her back to them and went inside the room she came from.

Clark let out a bellow of rage and started to follow her inside. Emil tried to stop him, but he was dragged by the duke's superior strength. They were about to enter when they heard Zatanna's voice. "Esaec!"

Rooted to the spot, Clark knew that he was hexed. Refusing to feel helpless, he tried to fight it off, and eventually broke free of the spell.

Zatanna was impressed. "No need to show off your power, your Grace. I will help you." Turning around once more, Zatanna closed her eyes, and started her spell. "Wohs em erehw eht regawod ssehcud saw nekat!"

Clark saw Zatanna pick something up from the table beside her, and threw it high up in the air. He looked at Emil, who seemed to tell him to trust the sorceress. As of this moment, it was the only thing he can do.

"Thank you for your time. My gratitude for welcoming me into your home." Lois said as she stepped out of the house.

The cook graciously bowed, and as their eyes met, Lois saw a myriad of emotions in the cook's eyes: fear, guilt, hope. Fear of the unexplained, guilt for her unwanted role in the dowager duchess' disappearance, and hope that she would be found again.

Lois wanted to address all of those, but who was she to do such? She was but an intruder in their lives, albeit not of her own desire and doing.

Weighed with everything that has been happening, she headed to her horse tied to a nearby tree, only to find him fidgeting nervously. She went over and rubbed his muzzle, but the fretting did not stop.

"What has gotten into you?" Lois whispered, along with other soothing words so as to calm the horse. She looked around, thinking some naughty child decided to tease the horse, but she found no evidence of such. Another animal might be a reason, so she started scanning the ground. Finding nothing, she looked up, and realized the source of the horse's anxiety. It was a bat, again hanging upside down, and she was certain it was the same bat from the kitchens.

For some reason, Lois knew that it was also the one that flew from the stables when she entered it. She was not mistaken this time, it was looking straight at her. Her eyes narrowed at it, and the bat was suddenly airborne, but instead of leaving, began circling overhead.

Lois decided to ignore it, and once the horse was calm, she mounted and headed back to the estate, when the bat flew past the horse's front, which spooked him once more, rearing on his hind legs.

It was a good thing that Lois was a seasoned rider, that the move did not unseat her. Leaning down, she whispered calming words to the horse's ear once more. Achieving her goal, she lifted her head to see the bat circling again.

"This is insane." Lois said to herself, and guided the horse to the opposite direction, which made the bat stop circling, flying ahead of her.

"If not for everything that I have seen and experienced, I will not be doing this." Lois said, instinct now overruling common sense and followed the direction where the bat was headed.

Clark dismounted from Sultan, and quietly tied him to a safe distance from the clearing near the church grounds that Zatanna had told him. Clark the son wanted to barge in and immediately save his mother, but Clark the spy knew that in order for both of them to live, he has to be patient, methodical.

Years of training and serving the kingdom has now taken over. Crouching low, being as humanly silent as possible, Clark crept towards the clearing. Brushing away leaves slightly, the sight of the hut had his heart hammering wildly. His mother was here. He was certain.

Suddenly, the door of the hut opened, and Linda stood on the doorway, seemingly older than he last saw her, cheeks hollowed, looking gaunt, but with a sinister smile on her face. She turned her head to speak to someone inside the hut. "The son has come to save his mother. The question is, will he be successful."

Clark knew that hiding would be of no help. He stepped out of the bushes, and once Linda saw him, her smile grew more ominous and Clark could not help but be disturbed. "Give me back my mother."

"You thought it will be that easy? Did you ever return my sister back to me? Alive? Eye for an eye, you reckon?"

"Sister?" Clark queried, a calculated move on his part, keeping Linda talking while he assessed the situation so he could save his mother without losing lives.

"Maxima was my sister. What wrong did she ever do to you? All she did was love you. What way to repay that love!" Linda shouted.

"That was not love, Linda. That was obsession. And to involve an innocent woman in your schemes? Let me ask my question now: What wrong did Lois ever do to you? For her to be a pawn in your games?"

"Games? You think this is a game? This is for my sister! The sister you took away from me!"

"I never took her away from you. You were there when the hut burned down. You are a powerful being Linda. I know what you are. You are not the first of your kind that I have witnessed. Why can you not save your own sister from that fire?" Clark said, all the while looking at possible ingresses and egresses of the hut.

Clark could see the guilt in Linda's manic eyes. Her whole demeanor changed, from aggressor to the guilt-ridden. "Fire was my only weakness. I could not save her, would not be able to save her." Linda said softly, as if recalling the events of that night.

The silence that engulfed them was broken by the sound of flapping wings, followed by the sudden appearance by one Lois Lane.

Linda's eyes danced with delight, and at that instant Clark knew that Linda was already insane. "Maxima? You came back?"

Clark and Lois exchanged glances, and Lois knew instinctively what Clark wanted her to do.

"Yes." Lois said, taking careful steps towards Linda, who was walking slowly straight to her, joy evident in her face.

"You came back." Linda said, and touched Lois' face as she reached her. "My sister. You are alive. You are safe."

"I am." Lois said, as her eyes darted from Linda's face to Clark's stealthily moving form. "So cease all this. This is not right."

Linda's eyes steeled once more. "But Clark has to suffer, after all the suffering we both experienced in his hands."

"Enough with the hurt, sister." Lois said, trying to buy Clark time in finding the dowager duchess. "Let us walk away from this, live together as sisters, away from all this hate."

"You would do that sister?" Linda said, continually stroking Lois' face. "Yes." She finally said. "We will escape from all this. But I want to turn you back to your own face, for this face will forever remind us of our dark times."

Linda touched Lois' arm, but seeing as nothing changed, she looked at Lois confused. She shook her head, as if clearing cobwebs in her mind, and touched Lois once more.

Lois could see the anger now forming in Linda's eyes. Is it because of her inability to revert her back to Maxima or Lois' deception, she would soon find out.

"You are not Maxima!" Linda shouted, and a jet of water burst out of her palms, pushing Lois off her feet throwing her to her back a few distance away from Linda.

Linda hurried back to the hut, and she met Clark carrying his still unconscious mother in his arms. "You will never get out of here alive. No one will ever get out of here alive!" Linda then grabbed the lamp on the table beside the door and smashed against one of the wooden columns of the hut, fire instantly spreading.

"This is not right, Linda. Maxima brought her fate upon herself. She was having an affair with Wes, not the right thing for a married woman to do, even if the marriage was a sham."

"No, Maxima would never do that to you. Maxima would never betray you!"

"But she did." Clark said, noting that direction of the spread of the fire. "I truly am sorry for your sister, but Wes admitted as such. He told us the truth."

Linda grabbed the hair on her head, not wanting to accept the information. "She told me they were friends." Linda addressed no one in particular. "She told me they were friends."

Linda kept repeating the phrase, and Clark knew that this was the time to escape. Moving quickly, Clark went to the window opposite the door still untouched by the fire, and leapt out of the burning hut.

"Clark! Martha!" Lois shouted, trying to reach the hut, but the flames kept dancing wildly, making it impossible for her to even get near it.

"Lois!" Clark shouted, and Lois cried out in relief at the sound of his voice. Relief turned into worry however, when she saw the unconscious dowager duchess in his arms. Clark carefully set his mother on the ground, and Lois sat down beside her, taking her head in her lap.

"I have to save Linda." Clark said, and at this Lois only nodded as she started stroking the older woman's face.

Clark approached the hut, but Linda's booming voice reverberated from it. "I am now to join my sister. My beloved sister."

Clark knew that it was no use saving Linda. She has already accepted her fate, ready to join her sister in death.

"Maxima!" It was the last sound they have heard from the hut, and in that instant, Martha took a deep gulp of air and gained consciousness.

"Martha!" Lois said, hugging the older woman.

Still breathing heavily, her eyes danced around her before settling on Lois' face. "What happened?"

"You are safe now, your grace. We are all finally safe." Lois said, tears streaming down her face as she kissed the dowager duchess' forehead.

Clark drank in the sight before him, and was about to approach them when suddenly, something fell out of the sky. That something was a very naked Bruce Wayne.

Both Lois and Martha lifted their heads, two different reactions to the sight before them. One was laughing, the other's face was burning.

"Damn it." Bruce cursed, trying to hide his manhood from the women, lying prone on the ground. "I would never wish this on anyone."

Lois' eyes closed and her face averted, she heard Clark tell Bruce that he still has his satchel by the horse, and that he will retrieve it for him. A few minutes later, Lois heard Clark telling her that Bruce was already dressed.

Clark reached Lois and Martha, and helped his mother stand up. "Are you alright mother?"

Martha smiled as she leaned to his son's strong body. "Nothing that a rest would not fix."

Clark smiled, and this time turned his attention to Lois. "How did you know my mother was here?"

"How did you know your mother was here?"

Clark sighed as Bruce chuckled. "I had help from Emil and Zatanna."

Bruce was now downright laughing. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Clark asked in consternation, peeved that he was the reason for Bruce's amusement.

Bruce gulped in large breaths, but still was not able to talk.

Clark ignored Bruce and returned his attention to Lois. "The answer to my question please."

"I asked a lot of questions." When Lois received a pointed look from Bruce, Lois added. "And Bruce helped me."

Clark was to ask another question, when Martha interrupted him. "I think it is best that we have this conversation back home. This would make for a good story over tea and biscuits."

Clark smiled at her mother, ever so regal. "Of course mother."

With one last look at the now burned down hut, Clark knew that the danger was finally over. Now, there was only one matter that he needed to resolve, and somehow, it was more daunting than their recently tackled debacle.

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