Author's Note: This is a sequel to "Convincing Lois" and "Come to Terms", and takes the place of "Abyss".
Been This Way Before
"Lane! My office."
Lois rolled her eyes at Clark when Tess's bellow came across the newsroom. She got up slowly from her chair and sauntered over to Tess's office, poking her head through the doorway to find the other woman bent over her computer, typing furiously.
"You yelled?" Lois asked.
"Shut the door and sit down," Tess snapped, without looking up from her computer screen.
Lois did as she was ordered, her curiosity peaked, and the office practically hummed with tension. Finally, after nearly five minutes of sitting in silence, Tess saved whatever she was working on, and pushed herself away from her desk to stare at Lois.
"Care to explain yourself, Lane?" she asked, her voice hard and angry.
"I would, if I knew you were talking about," Lois replied.
"This," Tess snapped, shoving a folder hard across the desk so that it skidded to a stop in front of Lois. "What is your explanation for this?"
Lois looked down at the pictures she and Jimmy had captured of the not-so-honorable Howard Steckler, Mayor of Metropolis, and Robert Guiardi, mob boss and suspected second-in-command of the shadowy organization known as Intergang. Accompanying the pictures was a carefully-organized report Lois had written up, detailing phone conversations, meetings, and a series of e-mails sent back and forth between the two men concerning Metropolis's criminal element. It was the result of over a month of careful, diligent work by her and Olsen, and Lois was immensely proud of it.
Apparently, Tess wasn't so impressed.
"It's our esteemed mayor, in bed with the wrong kind of people," Lois told her. "Funny thing is, I don't remember writing up the article about this. In fact, I don't see an article at all. I only see my research, which I do distinctly remember locking up in my desk."
She gave Tess a bland smile, but the other woman's expression never changed a bit.
"Mayor Steckler is a powerful man, and a very big contributor to the Daily Planet," Tess told her, coldly. "And the Daily Planet will not engage in a smear campaign against the man who holds our future in his hands."
"More like in his wallet," Lois retorted, sharply. "And it's not a smear campaign if it's true."
"You are not going to write this article," Tess snapped.
"Whatever happened to freedom of the press?" Lois asked, challengingly.
"You are not writing this article," Tess repeated. "And, you're going to tell me who took these pictures."
"Sorry," Lois replied, giving her a tight, humorless smile. "I'm afraid I can't reveal my sources. Reporter's prerogative, you know."
"Give me the name, Lane," Tess spit out, clearly determined to win their little power struggle.
Lois simply crossed her arms and stared back, not saying a word. Tess glared at her for several seconds before finally realizing that Lois wasn't going to budge, and then, with a frustrated snarl, she turned back to her computer and typed furiously for a minute. Then, she turned back to Lois, a triumphant smile creeping over her face.
"You like New York, Lane?" she asked, curiously.
"Love it," Lois shot back, refusing to be intimidated by anything the other woman could dream up.
"Like dog shows?" Tess pressed, insistently.
"There's nothing I like more," Lois retorted, sarcastically.
"Then you'll love a little trip out of town," Tess replied, smugly. "There's a little dog show being held in a village called Groton. And you're going to cover it. The entire week-long shebang. Unless, of course, you'd like to give me the name of your photographer."
"New York sounds like a blast," Lois said. "I'll get packing. The Daily Planet's going to cover my airfare, I assume?"
"Out," Tess snapped, pointing at her door.
Lois sauntered out, with the same nonchalance she'd come in with, shutting the door quietly behind her. As soon as the door shut, Lois heard the hum of a shredder, and blessed Jimmy for his compulsiveness in having them triple-backup their research.
Speak of the devil…
"What did Tess want?" Jimmy asked, in an urgent undertone, when Lois walked out into the bullpen.
"She wanted to talk about the stuff we put together about Steckler," Lois murmured back, keeping her voice quiet so as not to be overheard.
"Did you get in trouble?" Jimmy asked, clearly concerned.
"Nothing I can't handle," Lois assured him.
"What about our research?" Jimmy asked, looking around, nervously, as he spoke.
"Fed to Tess's shredder," Lois said, shortly. "If she thinks that's going to keep me from going after this story, she's got another thing coming."
"Who's got another thing coming?" Clark asked, curiously, as he joined them.
"Just the person I wanted to see," Lois told him.
Grabbing Clark by the arm, she began towing him toward the elevator. Inside, she jabbed the button for the top floor, and Clark looked over at her, quizzically.
"What are we doing?" he asked, and Lois gave him a smile that she hoped looked coquettish – and completely unlike her.
"Do I need an excuse to want to sneak away and spend some time with my favorite guy?" Lois cooed, and she batted her eyes at Clark.
"Are you drunk?" Clark demanded, incredulously, as he leaned closer, more than likely to try and smell alcohol on her breath.
Lois took advantage of their sudden proximity to get up close next to him, and Clark swallowed, hard, clearly uncomfortable with the illusion that they were presenting, of making out in the elevator car.
"Lois, what are you doing?" he demanded quietly, and then he looked down in surprise when Lois put a hand on his chest.
"Shut up and play along," Lois hissed suddenly in his ear, glaring at him. "Put your arms around my waist," she continued, in that same undertone. "And put your hand on my butt."
"Excuse me?" Clark squeaked out, his face gone adorably, brightly red. If he kept that up, he'd never be able to do undercover work.
"Grab my butt," Lois repeated, with what for her was considerable patience. "Act like you can't keep your hands off me, like we're wildly in love."
A strange look passed over Clark's face, at her words, and Lois filed his reaction away for future reference. The elevator dinged open, just then, and Lois pulled Clark out into the hallway, and over to the fire stairs. They went up the two flights to the roof, and then, when the door closed softly behind them, Lois breathed a sigh of relief.
"You," she informed Clark, with an arched eyebrow, "are completely horrible at improvising."
"Would you care to explain exactly what all of that was about?" Clark asked, clearly flustered, his face still bright red.
"We know that Lex put cameras in the elevators," Lois informed him, "and I wouldn't put it past Tess to be using them for the same spying purposes."
"So, that little performance was all for the benefit of anyone who might have been watching us?"
Clark's voice was doubtful, and Lois thought, for a second, that he looked disappointed, but she quickly filed it away as her imagination. There was no way Clark Kent was feeling anything romantic towards her.
"Of course it was," she replied, briskly, walking away from him so he wouldn't see the disappointment cross her own face. "What else would it be?"
"There are no cameras up here, right?" Clark asked, looking around cautiously as he followed her across the roof.
"None that we've been able to find," Lois told him.
"Who are we?" Clark asked, curiously.
"Me and Jimmy," Lois answered. "We've been working on this story for over a month, now-"
"The one Tess killed?" Clark asked. At Lois's raised eyebrow, he elaborated, "I heard you and Jimmy talking."
"What she doesn't know is that wasn't the only copy of our work," Lois told him, triumphantly.
Then, as Clark gawked openly, Lois pulled a slim flash drive out of her blouse, where it had been tucked into her bra. She handed it over to Clark, who took it, numbly.
"And this is?" he asked, and Lois almost laughed at the shock on his face.
"This," she told him, "is everything that proves that Mayor Steckler is dirty. He's got ties to Intergang. Jimmy's got a copy, as well."
"Steckler?" Clark repeated, incredulously. "I voted for that guy!"
"Yeah," Lois grumbled. "So did I."
"So, why give me this?" Clark asked, looking down at the flash drive.
"Someone needs to keep looking into Steckler and Guiardi while I'm gone," Lois told him. "You're elected by virtue of not having been temporarily evicted from the Planet. Just don't get caught."
"What happened to not sharing a byline?" Clark asked, and there was a teasing note in his voice that Lois suspected they were both more comfortable with.
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "Just keep an eye on things while I'm gone," she told him. "We'll talk bylines when I get back."
XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
"Chloe!" Lois called out as she entered the apartment above the Talon. "Hey, cuz, I'm home!"
Dumping her duffel bag on the couch, Lois grinned when her cousin appeared in the bedroom doorway.
"You would not believe the week I've had," Lois told her, flopping down on the couch with a relieved sigh. "First, the plane almost couldn't land because of a freak snowstorm that blew in over New York, and then on the way home, my flight was cancelled because someone phoned in a bomb threat.
"Turns out it was real, and they grounded the plane for four hours while they practically took it apart on the runway. I bribed the details out of a rookie Fed, I've got interviews with some passengers and crew, and I've got one hell of a story to write up. Hey, can I use your computer to type up my notes? My laptop battery died."
Lois smiled, charmingly, at Chloe, who still hadn't moved from her spot in the doorway, but her cousin scowled at her.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice flat and her eyes emotionless.
"Well, excuse me for driving all this way from the airport just to see you," Lois retorted, hurt by the younger woman's lack of reaction. "Next time, I'll just call, how's that?"
"What are you doing in my apartment?" Chloe repeated, a little more insistently, and this time there was a bit of fear in her voice that made Lois look at her in surprise. "Who are you?"
"Who-" Lois echoed, stunned. "Chloe, it's Lois." She went from anger to worry in a heartbeat, and took a step toward Chloe, but she backed up, holding her arms up, defensively.
"I don't know you!" Chloe insisted, angrily.
"I'm your cousin," Lois said, soothingly. "You're a year younger than me; you're like a sister to me. Closer, sometimes."
"Prove it," Chloe snapped, still not coming out into the room.
"Okay," Lois said, agreeably, willing to do whatever it took to keep Chloe calm.
Reaching for her duffel bag, she pulled her wallet out of a side pocket and took out a picture of her and Chloe trying on their wedding finery. They had their arms around each other's shoulders and huge grins on their faces as they were mugging for the camera that they'd passed off to a hapless employee at the boutique.
She held the photo out to Chloe, who inched her way out of the doorway, arms wrapped protectively around her waist. She took the photo, silently, lips compressed in a tight line, and she studied the picture for almost a minute before giving it back to Lois.
"You could have faked this," Chloe said, insistently.
"It's not a fake photo!" Lois told her, trying very hard not to lose her patience. "Why would I do that? Chloe-"
She broke off, suddenly, when her cousin's eyes rolled back in her head, and she leapt up from the couch and shoved the coffee table aside to catch Chloe as her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor. Lois lowered them both to the floor, cradling Chloe against her chest and fumbling with her phone with her free hand. She dialed blind, thankful for speed dial, and listened to the phone ring a couple of times before Clark picked up.
"Clark Kent," he answered, his voice brisk and professional.
"Clark, it's Lois," she said, quickly. "I'm at Chloe's; she's collapsed."
There was no answer on the other end, and for a second, Lois thought they'd been but off, but a second later, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she just about jumped out of her skin.
"What happened?" Clark asked, as he knelt next to her and Chloe.
"I don't know," she told him. "I came in, and Chloe didn't recognize me. She didn't remember me. She got upset, and I was trying to calm her down, and then she passed out.
Lois looked up at Clark, worriedly. "We need to get her to a hospital," she said, "and I figured you'd be faster than any ambulance, so I called you."
"A hospital isn't going to be able to do Chloe any good," Clark told her, and Lois stared at him, incredulously.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Chloe's been having memory lapses," Clark admitted, quietly. "They've been going on for a while now, apparently."
"She didn't tell me any of this," Lois said, shocked.
"She didn't tell anyone," Clark told her.
"We should still take her to a hospital," Lois argued. "Maybe she won't remember anything when she wakes up, but at least she'll be somewhere safe."
"The hospital can't help Chloe," Clark repeated. "She's been infected by Brainiac."
"Brainiac," Lois echoed, slowly. "That's that supercomputer that you told me about." When Clark nodded, she continued, "How does a computer even infect a person in the first place?"
"Brainiac isn't just a computer," Clark explained. "He's a lot more powerful than that."
"So, we're screwed," Lois said, tears choking her voice.
"No," Clark said. "I think there's a way to fix this."
"Then why the hell didn't you use it, before?" Lois snapped at him.
She wasn't really mad at Clark; it wasn't his fault that Chloe was hurt. But, he was there, and she needed to lash out at someone.
"I couldn't," Clark said, and it was easy to see that he was just as upset as she was. "I – I just – I couldn't. Chloe asked me not to."
"Yeah, well she's hurt now, because of it," Lois said, ruthlessly ignoring the little stab of pain that shot through her heart at the sight of Clark's pained expression. "We're going to fix this. How are we going to fix this?" she asked.
"With this," Clark told her, pulling a very familiar blue crystal out of his shirt pocket, and Lois recoiled, instinctively.
"Put that thing away!" she snapped, furiously, trying to shield Chloe as best as she could. "The last time you touched that thing, it went haywire, and we wound up in Hell!"
"Lois, it's been fixed," Clark reassured her. When Lois still scowled, suspiciously, at him, he added, "It's Chloe's only hope."
"How is it going to work?" Lois asked.
"It's going to rebuild the Fortress," Clark told her. "I think Jor-El can get Brainiac out of Chloe and get everything back to normal."
"Then, let's get going," Lois said, decisively. "Where are we going?"
"The Kawatche caves in Smallville," Clark told her. "There's a portal there that will take us where we need to go."
"Which is where?" Lois asked, insistently.
"The arctic," Clark answered, scooping Chloe up into his arms.
XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
Lois parked the car, ignoring Clark's frustrated sigh and impatient foot tapping.
"You're putting dents in the floor of my car," she informed him.
"I could have run us here a lot faster," Clark gritted out, as he pulled Chloe out of the backseat and started through the woods toward the caves.
"And risk you dropping Chloe?" Lois asked, rhetorically. "I don't think so."
She lengthened her stride, outpacing Clark rapidly.
"Shake a leg, Smallville," she said, briskly.
Behind her, Clark sighed, quickening his pace. They reached the caves a short while later, and Clark led Lois to the small antechamber in the back, where the portal resided. Shifting Chloe over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, he wrapped his free arm around Lois's shoulders and, after fishing a small piece of metal out of his pocket, placed it on the altar. There was a bright flash of light, and then they found themselves standing in the middle of endless white. Lois gawked openly for a second, before turning to Clark, briskly.
"What now?" she asked.
Lois watched as Clark heaved the crystal away as hard as he could, and then turned to him, eyes flashing.
"If you just threw away Chloe's one chance of survival," she threatened.
"Just watch," Clark insisted, cutting her off before she could finish her thought.
Lois followed his gaze, waiting with what she considered to be immense patience, and then, just when she was about to rip Clark a new one, the ground beneath her feet began to shake, slightly. There in the distance, enormous spires of what appeared to be crystal shot up out of the ground, and Lois felt her jaw drop in astonishment.
"Holy crap," she whispered, and Clark nodded in understanding.
"That was kind of my reaction the first time I saw it, too," he admitted.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lois asked, changing the subject, abruptly. "Looks like we've got one heck of a walk ahead of us."
"Lois," Clark told her, "there are several miles between us and the Fortress."
"So, let's get going," Lois said. "The sooner we get there, the sooner Chloe gets cured."
"Exactly," Clark said, and right when Lois was about to smack him for being obtuse, he added, "I can get us there a lot faster."
"How?" Lois demanded.
"I'll carry you and Chloe," Clark told her.
Lois eyed Clark, doubtfully, when he shifted Chloe in his arms so that she was cradled against his chest, again, and then he waited, patiently.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked, skepticism in her voice.
Clark heaved an exasperated sigh. "Lois, if I can catch a speeding truck without being budged, then I think I can handle you and Chloe without falling over."
Still less-than-reassured, Lois nonetheless reached up and wrapped her arms around Clark's shoulders. As he crouched down slightly, trying to be helpful, Lois jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Then he straightened, slowly, giving her time to adjust and settle herself.
"Don't let go," he warned her, and then he started running.
Lois didn't know what she'd been expecting. Something like riding a motorcycle, maybe, with the bite of the wind hitting her exposed face. Or, perhaps, a particularly fast horse. But, this was nothing like either of those things.
She was sitting entirely wrong, for one thing, and with each step, Lois was acutely aware of just how little was keeping her on Clark's back. Just the strength of her own arms and legs, since Clark had his hands full with Chloe, and if either failed, she'd find herself left behind in a heartbeat. And Lois had no illusions about it being a soft landing. Snow or not, at the speed they were traveling, if she fell, she'd more than likely be seriously hurt.
With each step, she could feel Clark's sides heaving as he breathed, could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest. And when she tightened her arms around his shoulders, he shivered, slightly. Lois tucked her face into the space between Clark's shoulder blades, to hide from the biting wind that made her cheeks numb, and she caught a whiff of a scent that could only be uniquely Clark: earthy, spicy, and faintly like ink. His body was warm beneath her hands, keeping her from becoming cold despite the freezing temperature.
Far too quickly, Clark stopped running, and Lois lifted her face from his broad back to find them in the same, glittering palace that she and Mrs. Kent had landed in two years ago after their plane crashed. She slid off Clark's back and wandered the length of the room they were in, aimlessly, while Clark placed Chloe on a slab of crystal in the middle of the room. Then, one of the crystals lit up, brightly, and Lois joined Clark when he turned to face the crystal.
"My son," a voice boomed, and Lois remembered that voice all too well. "Why have you brought these humans here?"
"Chloe's sick," Clark spoke up, quickly, before Lois could say something to get herself in trouble. "She was infected by Brainiac, and now she can't remember the people she loves. You can fix her, I know it."
"I can remove the danger the Brain Interactive Construct poses to this human," Jor-El said. "But, it may prove dangerous to others, in turn."
"Jor-El," Clark began, and Lois could see pain on his face. "Father, I brought Brainiac down on this planet. It's my fault he was able to become so powerful. Don't punish Chloe for my mistake."
"There is more at stake than just the life of one human," Jor-El said, and Lois had had enough.
"Maybe the whole world is in danger," she snapped, "but that doesn't mean you can just sacrifice Chloe like she's some sort of pawn. She's a good person, and the world needs more people like her."
Out of the corner of her eye, Lois saw Clark's jaw drop in shock, and she shrugged off the restraining arm he'd placed on her shoulder.
"That may be true," Jor-El began, "but-"
"No but," Lois said, sharply, and beside her, Clark dropped his head into his hands with a quiet groan. "If you kill Chloe just because there might be danger, just because you can't think of a different way, then you're no better than this Brainiac character, in the first place."
The tension that filled the room was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Clark glared at Lois.
"Just once, can't you play nice?" he demanded.
"Nice isn't in my vocabulary," Lois told him.
"You just called him-"
"I am well aware of what your friend called me," Jor-El said, breaking into their conversation before they could start fighting. "And she is right."
"She is?" Clark asked, surprised, while Lois smirked at him.
"I will remove the Brain Interactive Construct from the human," Jor-El continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "And I will attempt to restore her memories, although I may not be able to restore all of them."
"Chloe's getting married in a week," Lois spoke up. "She and Jimmy love each other, and she can't lose those memories of him, of what they've shared, together. So, if you have to take something-"
"You are offering your own place in her memories, instead?" Jor-El asked.
"If that's what it takes," Lois replied.
"I believe I can find other, less destructive memories, should it come to that," Jor-El answered. "Now, stand back, please."
Clark tugged Lois back several steps and a bright light surrounded Chloe, completely obstructing her from view. When it faded nearly a minute later, Chloe looked unchanged, and Lois stepped to her cousin's side, looking up at Jor-El's crystal, doubtfully.
"It is done," Jor-El said, and Clark gathered Chloe into his arms, quickly, before Lois could protest.
"Thank you, Father," he said, quietly.
"You have matured, my son," Jor-El said, and Lois could hear pride in his voice. "You are a boy no longer."
"I'll try to make you proud of me," Clark promised. Turning to Lois, he asked, "You ready to go?"
Lois jumped onto Clark's back, again, confident that he wasn't going to drop either her or Chloe, wrapping her legs snugly around his waist.
"Let's go home, Smallville," she said, and Clark laughed.
XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
"So, is this what it was like when you and Kara were waiting for me to wake up, a couple of weeks ago?" Lois asked, as she got up from the kitchen table to pace the length of the small kitchen in the Kent house.
She stopped at the humming coffee pot to pour herself another cup, gesturing at it as she nodded at Clark, but he shook his head. Lois took a long pull from her coffee mug, thinking back over everything that had happened. Jor-El had transported them instantaneously back to the caves, an experience Lois vaguely remembered and still couldn't believe was real. Clark had run them back to her car, where they'd driven straight back to his house, and then Clark had tucked Chloe into the guest bedroom, and now they were waiting for her to wake up. Waiting, and waiting…
"Pretty much," Clark said, breaking into her thoughts as he sipped at his own cup of coffee.
"I don't like it," Lois decided. "It's too much like waiting at a hospital, and that's just downright depressing."
"Have you done a lot of that?" Clark asked, curiously, trying to keep his mind off worrying about Chloe, and when she was going to wake up.
"Mostly waiting around army hospitals," Lois answered, "when Dad's men or his colleagues were sick or hurt. And then there was when my mom – but that wasn't as long as this. I honestly don't know which is worse."
"Chloe's not dying," Clark said, quickly, trying to reassure her.
"But we don't know how much she's going to remember when she wakes up," Lois reminded him. "She might not remember any of us. We could be strangers to her."
Clark started to say something, but was cut off by the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and then Chloe popped into the kitchen, trying to comb back her unruly, sleep-tousled hair with her fingers.
"I remember not remembering anything," she said, by way of greeting, as she took the chair Clark pulled out for her. "How weird is that?"
"You'd rather have amnesia about having amnesia?" Lois teased her, and Chloe rolled her eyes at her, before dropping her head to the table with a quiet groan.
"I shouldn't have done that," she muttered. "Now I've got a headache."
"You want some aspirin?" Lois asked, concerned, but Chloe shook her head.
"You know," she remarked, "not that I'm complaining, but how did I get my memory back?"
"We took you to Jor-El," Clark told her. "He fixed everything?"
"Jor-El?" Chloe repeated, a puzzled look on her face.
"My father," Clark prompted her, gently, unease on his face.
"Oh, right," Chloe said, quickly. "How could I forget that you found him? He's some sort of doctor, right?"
"More like a miracle worker," Lois interjected, when Clark simply sat, staring at Chloe in shock. "And he says you're going to be just fine."
"That's great," Chloe said. "And, now, if you don't mind, I need to get back home. Jimmy's probably frantic."
"I'll drive you," Lois said, "I've got to get back, too. I've still got a story to write up for tomorrow's morning edition."
"Lois, wait," Clark said, quietly, before she could follow Chloe out the door.
"She's going to be fine," Lois said, immediately, understanding what Clark was getting at. "She's alive and she remembers us. Isn't that enough?"
"I guess it'll have to be," Clark said.
"You did everything you could," Lois told him. "And, speaking of doing your all, how'd your Mayor-watching go?"
"Jimmy Olsen, of all people, thinks that I need to work on my poker face," Clark replied, shaking his head in exasperation. "But, I think we got some good stuff to use on him."
"In that case, you want to come with?" Lois asked, nodding her head at the open door. "We've got a politician to bring down."
"We?" Clark repeated. "I thought you didn't share bylines."
"I said we'd talk about sharing bylines when I got back, and we are," Lois told him. "Partner."