Chapter 28

"Hey, How's my favorite brain-injury patient?" Chloe asked brightly as she came out to where Lois was absent-mindedly swinging on the Kent's porch swing. Lois had been sitting there so long that her coffee was ice-cold. Lois was so lost in thought that her cousins' greeting didn't register.

"Lois. Hello? Are you in there?"

"Wha--? Oh, hi Chloe."

"Penny."

"Huh?"

"For your thoughts, penny--nevermind." Lois continued to stare blankly at her cousin. "You were a million miles away. What has you so preoccupied?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah." Lois' replied in a stilted fashion.

"Wow! You're not just preoccupied, you're catatonic. What's goin' on Lo?"

"Chloe, we're pretty close, right? I mean you know me pretty well. Even if I didn't always tell you everything, you know my character. You know what kind of person I am." The questions leapt out of Lois' mouth in a jumble. Now that Lois had started on this course, she couldn't get the questions out fast enough.

"Of Course. Lois, what's got you so wound up?"

"I know the doctors were concerned about my being traumatized and unable to recover my own memories if I was overtaxed, but I am getting sick of everyone tiptoeing around me, especially Clark. He treats me like I am so fragile, as if I were made of glass. I have so many questions. Please just be honest with me."

"Sure, whatever you need." She rubbed over the back of Lois' hand with her thumbs, giving her support.

"You won't hold back? No matter how appalling or wickedly I have behaved in the past—you'll give it to me straight. I really need to know."

"I will Lois. I have to say, you at least sound like the old Lois when you talk like this."

Lois took a deep breath, encouraged by Chloe's sincere smile.

Ok, here goes:

"Was I unfaithful to Clark with Oliver Queen?"

"What?" Chloe blinked. Twice. This was the last thing she had expected Lois to say.

"Chlo, ever since my accident I have been having flashes. I thought they were memories, but they are all a jumble. I had a few dreams about someone named Oliver while I was in the hospital. None of it made any sense—like puzzle pieces from four different puzzles all mixed up. Earlier today, Clark and I sorta had an argument. At the end of the argument he said something about 'Queen'. At the time, I didn't have any idea what he meant. I noticed a slight shift in his mood, but I thought he was just tired, y'know?"

Chloe nodded, urging Lois to continue.

"Then I found a scrapbook in the desk in our bedroom. Newspaper articles, mostly, written by you and by me. And then I found these."

She handed her cousin a news item; "Billionaire playboy Oliver Queen and his newest playmate" It was a picture of Lois in the arms of Oliver.

"After I saw this picture, I immediately remembered being in some . . . intimate situations with him, and then I realized that what I heard in Clark's tone was pain. I've hurt him Chloe. How could I have cheated on him with his friend? How could I have done that to him? What kind of a woman am I, that I could do that to a man that loves me as much as he does?"

"Di-did Clark tell you that he loves you?"

"He doesn't have to say it with words, Chloe. I can see it in his eyes. I can feel it in his touch." Chloe was speechless. She was still reeling from Clark's recent inadvertent confession.

"I heard you and Martha talking in the hospital about an argument that Clark and I had the day of my accident. You told her that I talked to Clark about Oliver. I keep trying to remember it, but I can't. I've been wondering if this is the very reason why I can't recover my memories.

"I'm not following you."

"Clark's been reading all these books on amnesia, trying to figure out how to help me. Some of the texts say that when a patient is repressing a memory, it makes it more difficult, if not impossible to recover their memories. I'm saying, that maybe I am repressing—subconsciously, because I don't want to have to face this. I don't want to have to look into Clark's eyes knowing how I have betrayed him."

"Okay, before you say anything else, I need to clear some things up. First off, you have never been unfaithful to Clark."

"How can you say that? I have proof!" Chloe, took the article out of Lois' hands and it set it aside.

"No, you have a picture taken when you and Oliver were dating. He broke it off, and it was a bad break-up. When I was talking to Martha, I was talking about how you had confided in Clark about the break-up."

"But-"

"Let me finish. I thought it was strange that you would go to him and not come to me. I didn't realize then how close you'd become. I see that now."

"So, if what you are saying is true, then why was Clark angry? And what did he mean when he said I should invite Queen to our wedding?"

"I think you need to tell me about the whole conversation, from the top. And I think we're gonna need some fresh coffee. C'mon inside."