Selective Memory (4/?)
Part IV
Lois made her way downstairs, a migraine sitting heavy on her forehead. She had spent a majority of the night staring into the blackness of her eye-mask, willing herself to sleep. Her mind, however, had been hijacked by thoughts of a certain amnesiac farm boy.
She’d come really close to breaking down and telling him everything, but her cousin had talked her off that ledge once again. It’s not that she wanted to fry his brain and leave him in a vegetative state but…the whole doting fiancé act had her really creeped out. It was random, weird, and most importantly, distracting.
That night she had been driven to counting imaginary sheep, a last ditch effort so pathetic that under normal circumstances she would have rolled her eyes at its mere suggestion.
But if it had meant at least a few hours of sleep, she would have happily gone outside and counted the actual ones penned up behind the barn.
“Clark?”
He was at the stove, already dressed in trademark jeans and red flannel. “You’re up,” he said, flashing her a wide smile.
Lois looked around the kitchen. The table was set, and a virtual banquet - pancakes, pastries, bacon, fresh fruit - had been set out on the counter. “What is this?”
“An apology.”
“Funny, it looks like breakfast.”
She yawned. He had a cup of coffee in her hands before her mouth closed.
Eying him uncomfortably, she managed a weak smile. “Thanks.”
He grinned broadly and went back to his post, flipping a blueberry pancake onto an already enormous stack.
Lois sunk into a seat at the table and tried to process this new carefree Clark. The Clark she knew skulked around like he had some kind of incurable disease. She had always figured he was just a moper by design but this little experiment in nature versus nurture had shot that theory to hell.
During one of her many sleepless hours a bizarre thought had struck her, and it continued to nag at the back of her mind. She had never paid much attention when Chloe or Lana would talk about the mystery surrounding their friend, but she was beginning to wonder;
What if Clark Kent really did have some deep, dark secret?
“Over easy, right?”
Lois’ head snapped up. “Huh?”
Clark was holding up two eggs. A goofy smile played on his lips.
“Oh,” she shook off her last thought. Clark Kent, deeper than a shallow puddle? Not likely. “Yeah.”
He cracked the shells and the yolks met the hot pan with a hiss.
After washing up, Clark made them each a plate and joined Lois at the table. He watched her carefully as she took her first bite. He smiled when she let out a long “mmmmmmm” and began to dig in.
After a few minutes, Clark broke the silence.
“So, I remembered something.”
“About your parents?” She hoped.
“No, about us.”
Lois couldn’t get a handle on how his brain worked.
“What is it this time?”
“When we got engaged.”
Lois choked on her eggs.
Clark reached over to pat her back. “I took you on a picnic out next to the lake. I had everything set up when I brought you there, I had even bought a truck load of white lilies… Those are your favorites, right?”
Lois blinked in surprise. She hadn’t ever told him that. “Yeah… they are.”
Clark nodded confidently. “I made a path with the flowers and I made you guess what was on the menu as I fed you blindfolded.” He laughed at the memory. “Then, when were getting ready to go, I kneeled.”
Lois’s breath hitched. She could almost see the scene he had described… it was sweet and romantic. People didn’t do that kind of thing for her.
Clark noticed that she didn’t look too happy and reached out for her hand. “Did I get it wrong?”
Lois met his eyes and sighed. “You didn’t pro…” She immediately cut herself off. She wasn’t supposed to correct him but it had almost slipped out.
Clark slowly released her hand. A look of confusion contorted his face. “I didn’t…?”
Lois shook her head and watched as Clark ran a hand over his face and dropped his shoulders. She waited curiously to see what would happen now that she had contradicted something he remembered. Going from Chloe’s theory, she wondered if his brain would implode or something. Guilt crawled up her back and settled on her shoulders as she imagined explaining to the Jonathan and Martha how she put their son in a coma.
The twinkle in Clark’s eye when he looked up caused her babbling thoughts to stutter to a halt.
“Oops,” he offered with a wide grin.
Lois frowned. “Oops?”
“I let the cat out of the bag didn’t I?”
Let the cat out of… How does he remember stupid sayings like that and forget his phone number? She arched an eyebrow. “What?”
Clark laughed. He liked it when she did the eyebrow thing. “I didn’t propose, did I?”
Lois slowly shook her head. Why would he be grinning about that?
“That whole scene…” he explained without missing a beat. “I think that was what I was planning. It was going to be a surprise.”
She dropped her head into her hands and groaned silently. She was starting to fear that this would never end.
Clark reached over and ran a hand lightly over her hair. Sure, he had ruined the surprise, but he didn’t understand why she was so upset.
“Ooh! Pancakes!” Chloe exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. She was a bit perplexed about what she had just walked in on. Clark’s hand now rested on the back of Lois’s chair. She shot her cousin a look. What the hell is that all about?
Lois returned a look of her own. I told you!
Sliding out of her chair, Lois forced a smile. “Chloe! Join us! There’s plenty.”
“Yes, I made a lot…” Clark gestured to the spread on the table.
Lois nodded and stepped toward the door Chloe had just passed through. “I need some air… I’m going to go for a walk.”
Clark sadly watched her dart outside. He turned back to face Chloe. “I hate that this is so hard on her.”
Chloe’s eyebrows rose as she munched on a slice of bacon. “Well, if having someone cook a breakfast like this is too much for Lois, you can cook for me anytime.”
Clark smiled. Considering the tense circumstances, he was grateful for her humor. “I think I did something to hurt her.”
Chloe frowned. “You mean just now?” Okay, there was the possibility that he might not know his own strength, but it wasn’t like he’d been all ‘pet the rabbits, George’ to Lois’s head when she walked in.
“No, I mean before…” Clark sighed and rose to take his plate to the sink. “Do I need to be worried about this?”
Chloe turned to see Clark holding a picture of Lana. “Um, what do you mean?”
“Lois seemed really surprised that I didn’t recognize this girl, and she kept getting edgy when I’d ask.” So, he had stopped asking, but he was starting to suspect something. “Did she come between us?”
Chloe choked back a laugh. She was starting to feel some sympathy for Lois… but not a lot. It was too good. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s your ex.”
Clark looked at the picture skeptically. “Really?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I mean, she’s pretty but…” Clark trailed off. He frowned at his next thought. “I didn’t…?”
Chloe tilted her head, not following.
“Cheat, Chloe.”
Chloe fought to keep her strait-face. “I can honestly say that you have never cheated on Lois.”
Clark let out a quick breath of relief. “Good. I mean, I didn’t think I could have.” He shook his head. “You’d have to be a complete idiot to take her for granted.” Satisfied, he folded the picture and put it away in one of the drawers.
Chloe joined him at the sink. “Clark,” she hedged, cautiously. She had her own ideas, but she was dying to get a better understanding of what exactly was going on in that newly-scrubbed mind of his. “Don’t you think it’s a little strange that you’ve forgotten everything about your life, but you remember Lois?”
Clark shrugged and looked out the small window. In the distance he could see Lois staving off Shelby’s playful advances, and sneezing when she failed. “I love her. How could I possibly forget her?”
Chloe didn’t have an answer. For numerous reasons.
He turned back to her, his expression serious. “There’s something else we need to talk about.”
Chloe quirked an eyebrow.
“The door.”
****
“I’m an alien?”
“No!” Chloe corrected quickly. And then just as quickly, she corrected her correction. “Well, yes. Technically.”
Clark shook his head in disbelief. “An alien…”
“Terran-ly challenged.” Chloe argued, sitting next to him on the couch. “Look, Clark, it’s okay. It doesn’t change anything.”
She had taken him to the loft with the hopes of avoiding Lois. She knew that the conversation would be difficult enough; she really didn’t need her cousin thrown into the mix.
Chloe had done her best to narrate his story. She was still a little fuzzy on some of the details herself, but she knew the big stuff. Meteor shower, Krypton, an arsenal of superpowers. She was jut grateful that he had managed to get this far without another … mishap.
Clark stared blankly at the clapboard floor. “Yesterday when I pulled the door off its hinges, you lied to Lois. You said the wind did it.” He stiffened. “She doesn’t know.”
Chloe bit her lip. “Well, no.”
“How could I keep this from her?”
“Clark, it’s complicated.”
Things were suddenly beginning to make sense for Clark. He rubbed a rough hand over his face. “I could tell that she was pulling away from me. At first I thought it was just hard for her to see me like this. And then I thought maybe it had to do with that Lana girl. But it’s this isn’t it? It’s the secrets.” Flooded with determination, he shot up. “I have to tell her.”
Chloe was right behind him, maneuvering herself between him and the staircase. “Whoa there, cowboy.” She put her hands up. “You can’t do that.”
“She's my fiancee - or she's supposed to be, no, she will be... She has a right to know who I am.” He made another move for the stairs.
Chloe sidestepped, blocking his exit. “Look, you had reasons for keeping this a secret. You may not remember them, but that doesn’t make them any less valid. It’s best if we figure out how to fix this first. Once you’ve got your memory back, you can make all the declarations you want.”
Chloe’s hip buzzed. She looked down and flicked off her pager.
“That’s my source at the MPD. He’s emailed me the information on the owner of that day pass.” She looked at him and placed a comforting hand on his forearm. “Please, Clark. Just trust me, okay?”
He looked into the petite blonde’s eyes and was struck by how deep that trust seemed to run. “Okay.”
“I know this must be hard, but it’ll all work out.” She squeezed his arm. “I promise.”
He managed a small smile that she could tell was for her benefit.
“Thanks, Chloe.”
***
Lois caught up with Chloe just as she reached her car.
“Where’s Clark?” she asked, scanning the driveway.
“He’s in the loft,” Chloe said. “He’s going through some… scrapbooks.”
“Please tell me you’ve got good news on the memory retrieval front,” Lois pleaded.
She was getting desperate. After ducking out on Clark, she had managed to walk all the way to the Kent’s mailbox before realizing that she was still in her pajamas.
It was becoming all too clear that she was starting to crack.
“Define good,” Chloe said.
“Any.”
“Oh. Then no.”
Lois threw up her hands. “What have you been doing for the last 24 hours?”
“I was hunkered down in the Metropolis public library trying to get a handle on this amnesia thing,” Chloe defended. “I tried calling. You never answered.”
“I lost my phone hiding in some bushes.” Lois stopped Chloe’s next question with a hand. “Don’t ask.”
“Well, I called to let you know that I made some headway.”
“Are you telling me you know why Clark is acting this way?”
A beat. “I think so, yeah.”
“Well?”
Chloe took a deep breath and then launched into what she hoped was some kind of explanation. “Memories are divided into two categories: declarative and nondeclarative. Declarative is memory of facts - name, date of birth, telephone number - all the things that Clark lost. Nondeclarative works on an unconscious level. It’s why he can still walk and talk and do all the things that a person does naturally without thought. It’s actually really fascinating the way the cognitive map is laid out. There are distinct types of memory for place and response, which are distinguished by their performance characteristics as well as -“
“Get to the point, Chlo.”
“Clark’s subconscious has the hots for you.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Lois groaned, hiding her face in her hands.
“Sorry, Lo. But the science isn’t on your side this time.”
Lois peeked through her fingers. “This isn’t science. It’s science fiction.”
Chloe smirked. If her cousin only knew…
“I know the situation is a little awkward.” Lois’s eyebrows flew up and Chloe tried again, “Ok, a lot awkward. But imagine how this is for Clark. He doesn’t remember anything about his life. His fiancée is avoiding him like the plague -“
“I am not his fiancée!” Lois shrieked.
“But as far as he’s concerned, you are.”
“Actually, he thinks I’m his girlfriend.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the semantics. “Same difference.”
“For you maybe,” Lois countered. “As if subconscious Lois would ever agree to a proposal after two months of dating…”
“Subconscious Lois?”
“I mean, what is she? Desperate?”
Now Chloe was intrigued. “Just how long would it take ‘Subconscious Lois’ to accept a proposal?”
“From Subconscious Clark?”
“So there is a difference?”
“Oh yeah…” Lois caught herself and backpedaled. Fast. “You know, because Subconscious Lois doesn’t sell herself short.”
“Riiiiight,” Chloe drawled, amused. “You are aware, dear cousin, that you are talking about yourself in the third person?”
Lois sighed. “It’s been a long day.”
Chloe eyed Lois’ sleepwear. “I can see that.”
Indignant. “What? Motley Crue rules.”
Chloe shook her head. They were getting off track. “Lois, I know this is hard but you have to do a better job of keeping up appearances. He thinks he did something wrong.”
“He did! God, Chloe. He has us built up to be some epic romance! We aren’t even friends!”
Chloe shot her a skeptical look. “Now who’s the one with the selective memory? You know you and Clark care about each other,” she argued. She never had bought that mortal enemies bluff. And then she added, “He feels really guilty.”
Lois sighed. And now she did, too. Perfect. “Well, what do I do?”
Chloe shrugged. “Give the guy a break.” She pulled her cousin into a hug, hoping to settle her nerves. Or maybe to just keep her from bolting when she made her next suggestion. “And if you can stomach it, a kiss wouldn’t hurt.”
Lois made a face. Things just kept getting better and better. "It could," she admitted under her breath. "Why is it that you get to run in, say 'ooh pancakes,' drop some science and then run out on me?"
Chloe fought to hide her amusement. "I'm not running out on you. I'm trying to find a way out of this for you." She held up her pager. "I think this is the break we need."
"Here's an idea. I'll do the investigating and you watch him." Lois reached for the pager while Chloe deftly kept it out of her reach.
"That wouldn't work," Chloe said with a smirk.
Lois bracketed her hands on her hips in frustration. "Why not?"
"Because it's my lead... and you're still wearing pajamas."
***
Clark turned the paper over in his hands. None of the symbols looked even remotely familiar. He wondered how something that was so much a part of him could feel so foreign.
He reached into the large manila folder and pulled out more pictures of the Kawatche cave wall, idly flipping through them. He stopped when he reached yet another snapshot of Lana.
He let out a groan of frustration and crumpled the photo, tossing it in the trash bin.
Clark raked his hands through his dark mop of hair, and looked around his supposed sanctuary. It was filled with objects that held no sentiment. Pictures of strangers.
Nothing about this world made sense to him.
Except Lois.
Or, at least she had. He had flubbed the status of their relationship. She wasn’t his fiancée.
He wondered what else he had wrong.
Clark walked to his desk and began to rummage through it. He owed it to Lois to do his best to regain his memory. Once he had it back, he could tell her everything. No more secrets. No more lies.
They could have a fresh start.
Clark stopped when he saw something hidden way back in one of the drawers. He reached in and pulled it out.
It was a small lead box.
Lois made her way downstairs, a migraine sitting heavy on her forehead. She had spent a majority of the night staring into the blackness of her eye-mask, willing herself to sleep. Her mind, however, had been hijacked by thoughts of a certain amnesiac farm boy.
She’d come really close to breaking down and telling him everything, but her cousin had talked her off that ledge once again. It’s not that she wanted to fry his brain and leave him in a vegetative state but…the whole doting fiancé act had her really creeped out. It was random, weird, and most importantly, distracting.
That night she had been driven to counting imaginary sheep, a last ditch effort so pathetic that under normal circumstances she would have rolled her eyes at its mere suggestion.
But if it had meant at least a few hours of sleep, she would have happily gone outside and counted the actual ones penned up behind the barn.
“Clark?”
He was at the stove, already dressed in trademark jeans and red flannel. “You’re up,” he said, flashing her a wide smile.
Lois looked around the kitchen. The table was set, and a virtual banquet - pancakes, pastries, bacon, fresh fruit - had been set out on the counter. “What is this?”
“An apology.”
“Funny, it looks like breakfast.”
She yawned. He had a cup of coffee in her hands before her mouth closed.
Eying him uncomfortably, she managed a weak smile. “Thanks.”
He grinned broadly and went back to his post, flipping a blueberry pancake onto an already enormous stack.
Lois sunk into a seat at the table and tried to process this new carefree Clark. The Clark she knew skulked around like he had some kind of incurable disease. She had always figured he was just a moper by design but this little experiment in nature versus nurture had shot that theory to hell.
During one of her many sleepless hours a bizarre thought had struck her, and it continued to nag at the back of her mind. She had never paid much attention when Chloe or Lana would talk about the mystery surrounding their friend, but she was beginning to wonder;
What if Clark Kent really did have some deep, dark secret?
“Over easy, right?”
Lois’ head snapped up. “Huh?”
Clark was holding up two eggs. A goofy smile played on his lips.
“Oh,” she shook off her last thought. Clark Kent, deeper than a shallow puddle? Not likely. “Yeah.”
He cracked the shells and the yolks met the hot pan with a hiss.
After washing up, Clark made them each a plate and joined Lois at the table. He watched her carefully as she took her first bite. He smiled when she let out a long “mmmmmmm” and began to dig in.
After a few minutes, Clark broke the silence.
“So, I remembered something.”
“About your parents?” She hoped.
“No, about us.”
Lois couldn’t get a handle on how his brain worked.
“What is it this time?”
“When we got engaged.”
Lois choked on her eggs.
Clark reached over to pat her back. “I took you on a picnic out next to the lake. I had everything set up when I brought you there, I had even bought a truck load of white lilies… Those are your favorites, right?”
Lois blinked in surprise. She hadn’t ever told him that. “Yeah… they are.”
Clark nodded confidently. “I made a path with the flowers and I made you guess what was on the menu as I fed you blindfolded.” He laughed at the memory. “Then, when were getting ready to go, I kneeled.”
Lois’s breath hitched. She could almost see the scene he had described… it was sweet and romantic. People didn’t do that kind of thing for her.
Clark noticed that she didn’t look too happy and reached out for her hand. “Did I get it wrong?”
Lois met his eyes and sighed. “You didn’t pro…” She immediately cut herself off. She wasn’t supposed to correct him but it had almost slipped out.
Clark slowly released her hand. A look of confusion contorted his face. “I didn’t…?”
Lois shook her head and watched as Clark ran a hand over his face and dropped his shoulders. She waited curiously to see what would happen now that she had contradicted something he remembered. Going from Chloe’s theory, she wondered if his brain would implode or something. Guilt crawled up her back and settled on her shoulders as she imagined explaining to the Jonathan and Martha how she put their son in a coma.
The twinkle in Clark’s eye when he looked up caused her babbling thoughts to stutter to a halt.
“Oops,” he offered with a wide grin.
Lois frowned. “Oops?”
“I let the cat out of the bag didn’t I?”
Let the cat out of… How does he remember stupid sayings like that and forget his phone number? She arched an eyebrow. “What?”
Clark laughed. He liked it when she did the eyebrow thing. “I didn’t propose, did I?”
Lois slowly shook her head. Why would he be grinning about that?
“That whole scene…” he explained without missing a beat. “I think that was what I was planning. It was going to be a surprise.”
She dropped her head into her hands and groaned silently. She was starting to fear that this would never end.
Clark reached over and ran a hand lightly over her hair. Sure, he had ruined the surprise, but he didn’t understand why she was so upset.
“Ooh! Pancakes!” Chloe exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. She was a bit perplexed about what she had just walked in on. Clark’s hand now rested on the back of Lois’s chair. She shot her cousin a look. What the hell is that all about?
Lois returned a look of her own. I told you!
Sliding out of her chair, Lois forced a smile. “Chloe! Join us! There’s plenty.”
“Yes, I made a lot…” Clark gestured to the spread on the table.
Lois nodded and stepped toward the door Chloe had just passed through. “I need some air… I’m going to go for a walk.”
Clark sadly watched her dart outside. He turned back to face Chloe. “I hate that this is so hard on her.”
Chloe’s eyebrows rose as she munched on a slice of bacon. “Well, if having someone cook a breakfast like this is too much for Lois, you can cook for me anytime.”
Clark smiled. Considering the tense circumstances, he was grateful for her humor. “I think I did something to hurt her.”
Chloe frowned. “You mean just now?” Okay, there was the possibility that he might not know his own strength, but it wasn’t like he’d been all ‘pet the rabbits, George’ to Lois’s head when she walked in.
“No, I mean before…” Clark sighed and rose to take his plate to the sink. “Do I need to be worried about this?”
Chloe turned to see Clark holding a picture of Lana. “Um, what do you mean?”
“Lois seemed really surprised that I didn’t recognize this girl, and she kept getting edgy when I’d ask.” So, he had stopped asking, but he was starting to suspect something. “Did she come between us?”
Chloe choked back a laugh. She was starting to feel some sympathy for Lois… but not a lot. It was too good. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s your ex.”
Clark looked at the picture skeptically. “Really?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I mean, she’s pretty but…” Clark trailed off. He frowned at his next thought. “I didn’t…?”
Chloe tilted her head, not following.
“Cheat, Chloe.”
Chloe fought to keep her strait-face. “I can honestly say that you have never cheated on Lois.”
Clark let out a quick breath of relief. “Good. I mean, I didn’t think I could have.” He shook his head. “You’d have to be a complete idiot to take her for granted.” Satisfied, he folded the picture and put it away in one of the drawers.
Chloe joined him at the sink. “Clark,” she hedged, cautiously. She had her own ideas, but she was dying to get a better understanding of what exactly was going on in that newly-scrubbed mind of his. “Don’t you think it’s a little strange that you’ve forgotten everything about your life, but you remember Lois?”
Clark shrugged and looked out the small window. In the distance he could see Lois staving off Shelby’s playful advances, and sneezing when she failed. “I love her. How could I possibly forget her?”
Chloe didn’t have an answer. For numerous reasons.
He turned back to her, his expression serious. “There’s something else we need to talk about.”
Chloe quirked an eyebrow.
“The door.”
****
“I’m an alien?”
“No!” Chloe corrected quickly. And then just as quickly, she corrected her correction. “Well, yes. Technically.”
Clark shook his head in disbelief. “An alien…”
“Terran-ly challenged.” Chloe argued, sitting next to him on the couch. “Look, Clark, it’s okay. It doesn’t change anything.”
She had taken him to the loft with the hopes of avoiding Lois. She knew that the conversation would be difficult enough; she really didn’t need her cousin thrown into the mix.
Chloe had done her best to narrate his story. She was still a little fuzzy on some of the details herself, but she knew the big stuff. Meteor shower, Krypton, an arsenal of superpowers. She was jut grateful that he had managed to get this far without another … mishap.
Clark stared blankly at the clapboard floor. “Yesterday when I pulled the door off its hinges, you lied to Lois. You said the wind did it.” He stiffened. “She doesn’t know.”
Chloe bit her lip. “Well, no.”
“How could I keep this from her?”
“Clark, it’s complicated.”
Things were suddenly beginning to make sense for Clark. He rubbed a rough hand over his face. “I could tell that she was pulling away from me. At first I thought it was just hard for her to see me like this. And then I thought maybe it had to do with that Lana girl. But it’s this isn’t it? It’s the secrets.” Flooded with determination, he shot up. “I have to tell her.”
Chloe was right behind him, maneuvering herself between him and the staircase. “Whoa there, cowboy.” She put her hands up. “You can’t do that.”
“She's my fiancee - or she's supposed to be, no, she will be... She has a right to know who I am.” He made another move for the stairs.
Chloe sidestepped, blocking his exit. “Look, you had reasons for keeping this a secret. You may not remember them, but that doesn’t make them any less valid. It’s best if we figure out how to fix this first. Once you’ve got your memory back, you can make all the declarations you want.”
Chloe’s hip buzzed. She looked down and flicked off her pager.
“That’s my source at the MPD. He’s emailed me the information on the owner of that day pass.” She looked at him and placed a comforting hand on his forearm. “Please, Clark. Just trust me, okay?”
He looked into the petite blonde’s eyes and was struck by how deep that trust seemed to run. “Okay.”
“I know this must be hard, but it’ll all work out.” She squeezed his arm. “I promise.”
He managed a small smile that she could tell was for her benefit.
“Thanks, Chloe.”
***
Lois caught up with Chloe just as she reached her car.
“Where’s Clark?” she asked, scanning the driveway.
“He’s in the loft,” Chloe said. “He’s going through some… scrapbooks.”
“Please tell me you’ve got good news on the memory retrieval front,” Lois pleaded.
She was getting desperate. After ducking out on Clark, she had managed to walk all the way to the Kent’s mailbox before realizing that she was still in her pajamas.
It was becoming all too clear that she was starting to crack.
“Define good,” Chloe said.
“Any.”
“Oh. Then no.”
Lois threw up her hands. “What have you been doing for the last 24 hours?”
“I was hunkered down in the Metropolis public library trying to get a handle on this amnesia thing,” Chloe defended. “I tried calling. You never answered.”
“I lost my phone hiding in some bushes.” Lois stopped Chloe’s next question with a hand. “Don’t ask.”
“Well, I called to let you know that I made some headway.”
“Are you telling me you know why Clark is acting this way?”
A beat. “I think so, yeah.”
“Well?”
Chloe took a deep breath and then launched into what she hoped was some kind of explanation. “Memories are divided into two categories: declarative and nondeclarative. Declarative is memory of facts - name, date of birth, telephone number - all the things that Clark lost. Nondeclarative works on an unconscious level. It’s why he can still walk and talk and do all the things that a person does naturally without thought. It’s actually really fascinating the way the cognitive map is laid out. There are distinct types of memory for place and response, which are distinguished by their performance characteristics as well as -“
“Get to the point, Chlo.”
“Clark’s subconscious has the hots for you.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Lois groaned, hiding her face in her hands.
“Sorry, Lo. But the science isn’t on your side this time.”
Lois peeked through her fingers. “This isn’t science. It’s science fiction.”
Chloe smirked. If her cousin only knew…
“I know the situation is a little awkward.” Lois’s eyebrows flew up and Chloe tried again, “Ok, a lot awkward. But imagine how this is for Clark. He doesn’t remember anything about his life. His fiancée is avoiding him like the plague -“
“I am not his fiancée!” Lois shrieked.
“But as far as he’s concerned, you are.”
“Actually, he thinks I’m his girlfriend.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the semantics. “Same difference.”
“For you maybe,” Lois countered. “As if subconscious Lois would ever agree to a proposal after two months of dating…”
“Subconscious Lois?”
“I mean, what is she? Desperate?”
Now Chloe was intrigued. “Just how long would it take ‘Subconscious Lois’ to accept a proposal?”
“From Subconscious Clark?”
“So there is a difference?”
“Oh yeah…” Lois caught herself and backpedaled. Fast. “You know, because Subconscious Lois doesn’t sell herself short.”
“Riiiiight,” Chloe drawled, amused. “You are aware, dear cousin, that you are talking about yourself in the third person?”
Lois sighed. “It’s been a long day.”
Chloe eyed Lois’ sleepwear. “I can see that.”
Indignant. “What? Motley Crue rules.”
Chloe shook her head. They were getting off track. “Lois, I know this is hard but you have to do a better job of keeping up appearances. He thinks he did something wrong.”
“He did! God, Chloe. He has us built up to be some epic romance! We aren’t even friends!”
Chloe shot her a skeptical look. “Now who’s the one with the selective memory? You know you and Clark care about each other,” she argued. She never had bought that mortal enemies bluff. And then she added, “He feels really guilty.”
Lois sighed. And now she did, too. Perfect. “Well, what do I do?”
Chloe shrugged. “Give the guy a break.” She pulled her cousin into a hug, hoping to settle her nerves. Or maybe to just keep her from bolting when she made her next suggestion. “And if you can stomach it, a kiss wouldn’t hurt.”
Lois made a face. Things just kept getting better and better. "It could," she admitted under her breath. "Why is it that you get to run in, say 'ooh pancakes,' drop some science and then run out on me?"
Chloe fought to hide her amusement. "I'm not running out on you. I'm trying to find a way out of this for you." She held up her pager. "I think this is the break we need."
"Here's an idea. I'll do the investigating and you watch him." Lois reached for the pager while Chloe deftly kept it out of her reach.
"That wouldn't work," Chloe said with a smirk.
Lois bracketed her hands on her hips in frustration. "Why not?"
"Because it's my lead... and you're still wearing pajamas."
***
Clark turned the paper over in his hands. None of the symbols looked even remotely familiar. He wondered how something that was so much a part of him could feel so foreign.
He reached into the large manila folder and pulled out more pictures of the Kawatche cave wall, idly flipping through them. He stopped when he reached yet another snapshot of Lana.
He let out a groan of frustration and crumpled the photo, tossing it in the trash bin.
Clark raked his hands through his dark mop of hair, and looked around his supposed sanctuary. It was filled with objects that held no sentiment. Pictures of strangers.
Nothing about this world made sense to him.
Except Lois.
Or, at least she had. He had flubbed the status of their relationship. She wasn’t his fiancée.
He wondered what else he had wrong.
Clark walked to his desk and began to rummage through it. He owed it to Lois to do his best to regain his memory. Once he had it back, he could tell her everything. No more secrets. No more lies.
They could have a fresh start.
Clark stopped when he saw something hidden way back in one of the drawers. He reached in and pulled it out.
It was a small lead box.