Chapter 5.

Clark got back to the farm in the early evening and saw the light on in downstairs. Stepping into the house, Lois was on the couch watching M*A*S*H reruns and petting Shelby who was lying on the couch beside her. Upon hearing Clark walk into the room, Shelby leapt off the couch and over to him.

"Hey boy," he said as he petted the dog. "Hey Lois, how you feeling now?"

Lois looked over at him and smiled. "Better actually. I still don't have my memory back, but this little guy is stopping me from worrying about it."

"Well, he'll be glad to hear it. You normally complain that he makes you sneeze all the time. I guess you like Shelby after all."

"Yeah. It's just like I said to Chloe. How could you not love a dog as cute as him?" said Lois before adding, "It was really nice of your parents to agree to keep him after I'd found him."

Clark had to smirk as he decided to fill Lois in on how Shelby came into their lives.

"Actually Lois, you didn't find him. You hit him with your car."

Lois' jaw dropped in shock.

"Don't worry. He didn't seem to be hurt and we had him checked out by the vet who gave him the all clear. He was an experimental dog who escaped. Lex didn't know the company was experimenting with dogs but when I spoke to him, he said he didn't mind if I kept Shelby because he would have either had to find him a new home or have him put down. Mom and dad agreed that we could keep him."

"We?" asked Lois. "Your parents included me in that decision?"

"Yeah," sighed Clark wearily. "They were happy to have you staying here and they'd become fond of Shelby too."

Lois noticed his tone of voice and was reminded of what Chloe had said about her bickering with Clark all the time.

"You not so much, huh? I mean, by me staying here."

Clark nodded, hands in pockets. "You have your moments. Lois, you have a tendency to do what you want when you want. It's why I can never find my stuff in my own room, and why there's never any hot water when I need a shower after my chores, and why I always find the cereal box empty when I want some cereal."

"OK, maybe I do all those things. But having me around can't be that bad, can it?"

Clark grimaced, implying that it could be that bad sometimes. Lois felt the need to change the subject.

"Well, I think I need to take a shower right now. Don't worry, I'll leave some hot water Clark."

Clark nodded. As Lois was heading up the stairs, he called out. "Mom left some fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. I can warm that up or we can order a pizza or something if you prefer."

Lois stopped on the staircase. "Chloe tells me your mom's food is the best in the state. I might regret missing out on it if I choose takeout."

While Lois was in the shower, Clark took the opportunity to head over to his loft. He was still tackling the problem of finding all the Kryptonian stones and hadn't been paying much attention to it lately, what with school, the farm, his on-off relationship with Lana, his on-off friendship with Lex, as well as Chloe's recent strange comments to him. He couldn't work it out but she was being very cryptic over something she knew. He wasn't going to be hypocritical and try to prise it out of her given how much he'd been guarding his own secret, but he had a suspicion that she might know something about his secret.

Tonight wasn't the night for pondering all of this though because his normally loudmouthed house guest was suffering from amnesia after an incident that had also robbed him of part of his memory. Who was this person? Were they a meteor freak?

Stepping back into the house and knowing Lois' penchant for marathon showers, he figured he had ample opportunity to head into his room and get changed. Removing his shirt as he walked up the stairs, he saw Lois step out of the bathroom while towelling her hair as she made her way into his bedroom. They both stopped as neither had expected the other to be standing there - Clark shirtless and Lois in just her bra and panties. They both gulped.

Clark had always made a point of staying out of Lois' way when she was using the bathroom, especially after she'd walked in on him when he was in the shower. Both had an agreement to avoid going near the bathroom when the other was using it, just to avoid mishaps. As a consequence, he'd never actually seen Lois - even by accident - in just her underwear. He knew she had an eye-catching figure from her regular clothes but this was something new and unexpected. It wasn't a vision that was ever going to leave his head now he'd seen it - all tanned skin, curves and cleavage. Beneath the tomboy veneer and the bravado was a stunning young woman.

He cleared his throat. "Lois I'm sorry. I thought you'd still be in there."

"Don't be sorry," she replied, equally nervously. Looking at his upper body and taking in the muscular chest and abs she commented, "I can tell farm work really is good for keeping in shape."

"Right. Well I'll just change into my t-shirt and I'll be out of your way. I'll get dinner on if you're hungry."

Lois smiled and nodded as he went to grab his t-shirt before leaving her to it. Unbeknownst to them, they'd each been taken aback at the sight of the other wearing so little clothing.

They sat at the table eating and Lois loved the fried chicken, even commenting about how much better the reheated and less crispy leftovers tasted compared to the ubiquitous fast food chain variants. She thought she could demolish an entire bucket of Mrs Kent's chicken, it was that good. Clark told Lois about the card they'd found and that Chloe would check it out at school in the morning. He also suggested Lois come along so she wasn't cooped up in the house all day.

"If anyone can find this person, Chloe can. My cuz is a computer whizz. Although I still don't get how somebody can just make your memories disappear like that."

Clark felt he ought to explain a few things about Smallville.

"Well, for that you need to understand a few things about this place. In 1989 as you might know, Smallville was hit by the world's biggest meteor shower. Some of the meteor rock is still lying around and a few people were affected by it in an unusual way. They suddenly developed the ability to do unbelievable things so the idea of one of them being able to make your memory disappear isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. When you speak to Chloe tomorrow, make sure she shows you her Wall of Weird. She can explain this theory better than I can. It might even jog your memory."

"Were you one of the ones affected Clark?" she asked, intrigued.

He nearly choked on his water. He couldn't very well explain that he came to Earth with the meteor shower. "No, none of us were. A lot of the people that were affected went a bit crazy, even homicidal. Chloe refers to them as 'meteor freaks' because of how much trouble they caused."

As they finished, Lois offered to help clear up, to Clark's surprise.

"Don't tell me, I never clear up either? Wow, I must be a real pain in the ass!"

Clark smirked and nodded in agreement, causing Lois to retort.

"I'm used to clearing up from looking after my sister. And anyway, just because I lost my memory doesn't mean you get to take advantage of me. I can still kick your ass if I need to!"

"The old Lois is slowly coming back then!" said Clark, so Lois socked him on the arm playfully.