Spoilers: Set at beginning of season 4 but AU with some callbacks to episodes in season 4 onwards.
Rating – PG13PrologueJor-el knew the time was not right. It was not meant to have happened yet, but it had. And there had been consequences. He knew he had to act, make things the way they had to be. At least until he knew his son was ready...
-
Lois opened her eyes, totally oblivious to where she was. Everything was fuzzy. Last thing she remembered she was driving along the road when her hire car was hit by some kind of lightening. Now here she was in a place, unfamiliar to her.
It took her a while to process where she was, but soon the presence of nurses and doctors running past her room and the constant annoyance of bleeping machines betrayed the fact it was a hospital.
Sitting by her bed was a tall dark stranger, and a gorgeous one at that.
"Are you ok?" the stranger asked.
Lois pulled herself to sit up in bed. "Where am I, and who are you?"
"I don't know. I thought you might know."
Lois just stared at him in disbelief. "Great two people with amnesia. Not much hope of remembering is there. Although I do have one up on you. At least I can remember my name." Lois managed a smile.
The stranger managed to smile. What a gorgeous smile, Lois thought herself and then scolded herself for the thought. No doubt it was the knock to her head making her feel that way.
"What is your name then?"
"It's Lois...Lois Lane. I was driving into Smallville to see someone who may have known what happened to my cousin, Chloe Sullivan and I was hit by a flash of lightening. Next thing I know I am here with you."
Lois started to cry. "I'm sorry..."
The stranger grabbed her hand to comfort her. Lois lifted her eyes to meet his and they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
"Lois, I wish I could help you..."
Lois was in a trance, those big blue eyes had her fixated, her body's wiring was on the fritz and was behaving in ways it shouldn't.
The electricity was broken by the sound of the door.
"Clark...I can't believe you are ok."
Lois saw a middle aged woman with auburn hair, approaching the stranger to hug him.
Clark looked lost. Lois could see the frustration and confusion in his eyes. He obviously wanted to remember but couldn't.
"Do I know you...?" Clark asked this woman.
"Yeah, its me mom."
"Who am I?"
"You are Clark Kent. You disappeared three months ago and a miracle has brought you back to us."
Lois interrupted. "Did you say Clark Kent? You're the one who may hold the key to what happened to my cousin Chloe."
Martha had barely acknowledged Lois's presence, too tied up with Clark's reappearance to notice.
"You're Lois Lane?"
"How do you know?"
"The nurse on the desk told me you had brought my son in after you found him naked in a field." Martha explained.
"Naked, a field... I have no recollection of what happened after my car left the road."
"Listen, Lois. I need to get my son home. I have arranged to take him out."
"Well, I'm coming to. I hate to impose but could I stay with you. I do not know where else to go. I would go to Uncle Gabe's house but it would be too painful. And to be honest I don't want to let my only link to Chloe out of my sight." Martha could see the tears in Lois's eyes.
"Of course, dear. You come with us." She put her arm around Lois as they walked out of the hospital.
Once back at the farm, Lois asked if she could have a shower. Martha told her to make this like her home. It also gave Martha a chance to take Clark to the barn to see if she could jog any memories.
Clark looked at photos of Lana and his dad but nothing meant anything to him. Out of nowhere a blue light engulfed Clark.
Martha panicked but was pushed back by the force of the light beams. She fell to the floor and could only watch what was happening.
Then Jor-el spoke. "Martha...I have restored Kal-el memories but not the events of the past 24 hours."
"What has happened to him, Jor-el?" Why have you wiped his memory?"
"Martha, Something for which I am responsible and I have had to take measures to deal with the consequences. I cannot say anything more. Kal-el will discover the truth when he is ready... Jonathan Kent is out of danger..."
Then the light flashed and disappeared. Clark fell to his knees
"What the hell has just happened." Clark said as he got up...
Lois went down to the kitchen after her shower to the sight of Clark and Martha running out of the door.
"Lois, we have to go. Jonathan has woken up..." Martha shouted excitedly,
"Who's Jonathan?" Lois asked.
"He's my dad." Clark beamed.
"How do you remember that? Do you have your memories back? Wait I'm coming with you."
They all jumped in the truck and headed to the hospital.
"Look, mom. You go in first and tell him I'm back. I don't want to stress his heart by seeing me without warning."
Martha hugged Clark and headed down the corridor to his room.
Lois looked at Clark. "Fancy a coffee, then I can grill you."
Clark smiled. "Are you always this persistant, Lois?"
"Yep. Nothing gets past Mad Dog Lane. Now what can you remember."
Clark lied, "The last three months are still a blank, but I will help you find out what happened to Chloe."
"How about we check out this safe house."
"Let me see my dad and then I will come with you."
Clark walked up to his father's room and knocked on the door. Lois had gone to get everyone a coffee.
"Hi dad." He sat on the bed and hugged his dad tightly.
"Son, I'm so happy to see you. What happened?"
"Jor-el put in some alternate dimension and turned me into Kal-el so as he put it, I would not be distracted by humans. He gave me the job to find three stones to prevent the Earth's destruction. But now he has given me back my human side, why I am not sure."
Martha interjected. "He said something about something happening that would have consequences and that is why he needed to wipe your mind of the events of the past 24hrs."
Clark looked confused, "what could have happened? Obviously Lois has had her mindwiped as well. Maybe she witnessed something."
"Lois? Who's Lois?" his dad inquired."
"Where shall I start?" Clark told his dad.
Lois appeared at the door. "Did I hear my name mentioned?"
Later that day, Clark and Lois headed up to the remains of the safe-house but first Lois wanted to go to Chloe and Gabe's graves to pay her respects. For some reason he x-rayed the grave. There was nothing in it.
Everything screamed at him that Chloe was still alive. He told Lois of his suspicions but she just looked at him in disbelief.
They went to the safehouse. It was obvious that no-one in the house could have survived that explosion.
"Oh, my God, Chloe. What did they do to you? What exactly do you expect to find here?"
Clark was deep in thought, " I don't know, but the FBI sealed the case, even the autopsy reports. Doesn't that sound a little odd?"
Lois commented. "Remind me if I'm ever a witness not to put my life in the hands of the FBI."
" Well, maybe she got out before the explosion."
" They said she walked inside, Clark. I don't know how anyone could survive this. Look, you may be in denial thinking Chloe's alive, but I'm gonna find out who did this to her. Let's get out of here, Clark."
Clark was just about to x-ray underneath the safe house but he was interrupted by a sound of a helicopter. Soon they were running down the hill, being shot at by people in the chopper. Lois dived into a ditch. Whilst she was not looking Clark brought the chopper down and it exploded.
Clark finally got his chance in the bathroom after Lois's 73 minute shower, not that he was timing her. He was mid-shower when he heard Lois enter the bathroom.
Clark peaked from behind the curtain. " Um... we usually take turns in the bathroom."
Lois just smirked. " Oh, don't start with me, Smallville. You're the one taking the marathon shower. Besides, my delicate feminine sensibilities aren't offended by the sight of Clark Junior. I'm not a nun, you know. I have seen it all before."
" My parents kind of missed the whole Woodstock phase. Besides, they freaked out the last time they caught me in a co-ed situation."
"Last time? So the eagle scout does have a few secrets in the closet."
" Just forget it, all right? That's my shirt."
Lois said. "It's the only thing I could find that was clean."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was his mom with towels. She must have arrived home with his dad from hospital.
"Hi Clark. I just got some fresh towels. Your dad is home."
Clark gave his mom a distracted smile. Lois could not help herself, she appeared from behind Clark.
"Hi, Mrs. Kent." Lois said as if it was the most normal situation in the world.
Lois and Clark came down stairs like two guilty children who had pinched some sweets.
Lois fought her corner, " I don't understand what the big deal is here. We just took a shower."
"Showers. We took separate showers." Clark offered in defence.
" At noon?"
Clark did not want to lie. "We went to Chloe's safe house. These guys showed up and chased us into a field, and there was all this dirt."
Jonathan was disappointed. " Clark, that is a federal crime scene. And the last thing that we want is for you two kids to get involved with the FBI."
The lecture was over. Against his father's advice Clark and Lois decided to go and chase some more leads which could help them find Chloe or if not what happened to her..
Clark and Lois went out to get in the truck when Clark noticed a familiar face pulling up in a car.
"Lana," His face lit up.
Lois noticed immediately. "Are you going to introduce us?" she asked nosily.
"Sorry, Lois. This is Lana, one of my best friends from school."
Lana piped up. "He means ex-girlfriend of the past 3 years."
Clark did not appreciate Lana snappiness at Lois. "Well, not exactly three years, more like on and off."
Lois smiled at the way Lana was defending her territory, even though they weren't together it was obvious she still had major feelings for him.
"Sorry for sounding short. I am just tired. Just got back from Paris this morning." Lana explained.
"You're back from Paris. You must've found what you were looking for." Clark suggested
Lois interrupted. " I'll say! Who wouldn't want a hot summer fling in the most romantic city on Earth?"
Lana looked at Clark with a guilty expression that answered Clark's question. " I was going to tell you."
" It's okay, Lana. We aren't together so who you see is none of my business."
Clark would not believe how he had reacted Lana to the fact she had met someone else. He always thought it would be one of the hardest things to deal with when it happened, but it didn't sting as much as he thought it would.
Lana was taken aback. "I can see it bothers you Clark, but I have a right to be happy."
Lois could see that Clark was not that bothered. Maybe they just broke up because they fell out of love.
"Look, Clark, if you really think that Chloe's alive, I want to help find her."
" Uh, Lana... Look, I don't want to get your hopes up, but we don't know anything for sure."
"We were just going to chase a lead, why don't you ask around town to see if they know anything." Clark looked at Lana.
Clark and Lois found out that her father, who had just arrived in town unannounced was working with Lex Luthor and that Luthorcorp had paid for the funerals.
"Lois, I don't like rifling through your dad's office. He doesn't seem like the sort of man who will take to snooping kindly."
"Value your life Smallville, well you better make sure we don't get caught." Lois whispered.
They found an address which could give them more leads to Chloe. Clark sped out of the office when Lois was not looking.
He found Chloe and Gabe at the address.
"Chloe, Lois will be stoked." Clark hugged her.
It all became clear that Lex had hidden Chloe so she could testify against his father. The main thing she was safe and well and now Lois would finally be leaving town, much to Clark's relief.
Lois told her dad to come and pick her up that night. She wanted to spend the afternoon with Clark to say thanks for helping her find Chloe. She found him working on the tractor.
"Clark, can you do me one last favour." Lois asked.
"Okay, since you will be getting out of my hair tonight." Clark smiled.
"Come on a picnic with me. We have never had a chance to talk and I thought it might jog our memories."
Clark was worried about this because he hated lying to Lois about his memory loss, but then again she was his only link to his lost 24 hrs. What Jor-el had told his mom made him determined to find out what had happened.
"Ok, Lois. Shall we take the horses."
"Sounds like a plan." Lois smiled. "As long as I don't get the slow nag."
"Lois, they are not thoroughbreds." Clark laughed.
Soon they were galloping across the fields. Lois was leaving him for dust. She was one hell of a confident rider but unlike Lana she had no finesse in the art of horse riding. Her approach to riding was to have as much fun as possible in a 'who gives a damn' sort of way. Clark loved it.
He urged his horse to catch hers. He had never had so much fun in a long time and for first time in ages he had forgotten all about Jor-el and his so-called destiny.
Finally Lois stopped in lovely spot on top of Marchland Hill. She had prepared a lovely picnic, which Clark and her ate whilst reminiscing about their childhoods.
"So Clark, now you're fully tanked up on food, can we talk about our memory loss."
Clark nodded. "So you still can't remember anything."
"No, the last thing I remember was driving along, getting distracted trying to find my nicorette gum and then looking up to a flash of light in the sky. And then everything goes blank."
"Apparently the tracks showed that your car left the road and ended up in a field next to a newly formed crop circle." Clark continued. "I spoke to the sheriff."
"How about you? What is the last thing you remember 3 months ago?"
"Being in the Kawatche caves and then that's it." Clark did not want to give anything way.
"Can you show me these caves?" Lois pleaded.
Clark could not see the harm so agreed.
They arrived to the cave entrance and he grabbed Lois's hand to lead her down in case she lost her footing. Lois looked at their hands and felt secure. Then again she began to feel the electricity building up between them as it had done at the hospital.
She soon snapped out of it when she heard Clark's voice.
" Lana. What are you doing down here?"
Lana smiled, but could not help but notice Lois holding his hand. " Probably the same thing you are. It's peaceful."
Clark noticed Lana's uneasiness so let go of Lois's hand. Lois excused herself and wandered off to see the paintings. She ensured she could still hear what was being said.
Clark looked at Lana. "You're two for two. You keep showing up when I least expect to see you."
" I'm not trying to surprise you, Clark."
" I know. It's just when you left, I wasn't sure when I'd see you again."
"Clark, It's funny, isn't it. After everything we've been through, I thought it would take us longer to get over it. "
Clark looked puzzled. " Us? "
" You and Lois."
For some reason Clark agreed. "Yeah me and Lois."
"How long have you two been together?" Lana asked trying not to sound jealous.
"just a few days." Lois walked in and announced. " but I feel like I have known him all my life. It was destiny." She said cuddling into Clark's arm and looking at him adoringly.
"Well, I have to go." Lana excused herself.
Clark looked at Lois with a look of panic. "What have we just started?"