Memories

By Jennifer L. Adkins (jladkins@iglou.com)

Summary: An amnesia story with a twist: this time it's Superman who's had a bump on the head. Not only does he forget he's married to Lois Lane, he forgets there's even a person named Clark Kent.

Well, it's been months since anyone on L&C has had amnesia, so I figured, what the heck. :) If you're looking for A-Plot, you won't find *any* here. It just doesn't interest me. Story setup: Something (I don't know what) has caused Clark to lose his memory while helping Dr. Klein at S. T. A. R. Labs. Dr. Klein calls Lois, and she rushes to Clark's side. All characters and locations are the property of Warner Bros., and no infringement is intended.

\ = thoughts

\\\ = radio broadcast

***

"Superman?"

Clark smiled crookedly. "That's what they tell me."

"My name's Lois. We're close friends. You can trust me."

"I guess that I'll have to trust someone."

"Dr. Klein tells me that you can't remember where you live. Would you like to stay with me and my husband for a while? We have a spare bedroom, and you can stay for as long as you need."

"I hate to impose ... "

Lois stood and held out a hand to help Clark to his feet. "Nonsense. What are friends for?"

After thanking Dr. Klein for his help, Lois drove Clark home.

"I know that you're tired, Cl ... Superman, but there's something that we need to talk about. Do you feel up to it tonight, or should we wait until morning?"

"Would you mind if we waited?"

Lois bit her lip. "Not at all. I'll get some things so that you can take a shower and get some sleep."

"When will your husband be home?"

"I have no idea. Not tonight. He's ... on assignment. We're reporters for the Daily Planet." \The Planet! What will I tell Perry?\ "I'll let you sleep in the morning when I go to work, but feel free to make yourself at home." \Oh, Clark. When will you come back to me?\

"Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs ... "

"Ms. Lane." \He doesn't even feel comfortable calling me by my first name. Maybe he just doesn't remember.\

" ... Ms. Lane, but I'll leave as soon as I can get some sleep. I need to figure out what my life involves, besides rescuing people, and I won't learn anything sitting around."

"No! I mean, please, don't. I know things about you that I need to tell you. You should rest before we discuss things, but I can tell you everything that you need to know. Rest tonight, then we'll talk."

While Clark was in the shower, Lois decided to fix him something to eat in order to keep busy. \Clark, you didn't tell me how hard it was to talk to me when I didn't remember. I want to hold you and make everything better, but I can't even touch you.\

Clark walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. He was wearing his robe and drying his hair with a towel. "Don't go out of your way for me, Ms. Lane."

"Oh, I'm always cooking for you. You always pretend that you like it. It's a game we play."

Clark smiled. "I eat dinner with you?"

"Regularly. Oh, and you also keep some spare suits here. Would you like me to wash the suit that you were wearing?"

"I washed it out in the shower, but thanks." \If I keep suits here, and eat here, does that mean that I don't even have a home?\

Lois cleaned the kitchen as Clark finished eating. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he asked, "Where do I sleep?"

\With me.\ "I'll show you the guest bedroom."

"I don't know how I'll ever pay you back. I have no idea what I would have done tonight if you hadn't offered to let me stay."

"I don't want to hear one more word. Clark and I consider you family, and you feel the same way about us. Think of this as your home." \Please.\ "Now, go get some sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow."

After a Friday at work making excuses for Clark, Lois was eager to try to help her husband regain his memories. As she had feared, Clark wasn't home when she arrived. \He just heard someone calling for help. He'll be back.\

Lois turned on the radio so that she could listen to the news while she cooked dinner.

\\\ ... Superman hasn't stopped today. The latest rescue involved a near collision of two planes over Kansas.\\\

\Kansas! Clark's parents are going to be at the airport any minute, and I forgot!\

Lois turned down the heat on the stove, left a note for "Superman", and went to pick up the Kents.

"Jonathan, I can't believe that we got our flights early two times in a row."

"I guess that it's all those frequent flyer miles that we get."

While Jonathan got their luggage and paid the cabby, Martha went to knock on the apartment door. \Mmm, not home from work.\ Luckily, Martha had a spare key.

Martha stuck her head into the apartment and yelled, "Anybody home?" \I want to give them fair warning, since they are still newlyweds. I'd rather stay in a hotel again, but they really should have enough privacy even with us here.\ The food cooking in the kitchen smelled appetizing, so she figured that Lois and Clark had gone to the store to get something that they forgot.

"I'll put this luggage in the guest room, Martha, and you check to make sure the food isn't burning."

When Jonathan opened the guest room door, he saw Clark's robe and a clean change of clothes laid out on the bed. \Uh oh, they must be fighting again. Maybe a hotel would be better.\ He took the luggage back downstairs and laid it near the door.

Jonathan joined Martha in the kitchen. "I think that they may be fighting again. He had some of his clothes in the bedroom."

A familiar swoosh came from the living room. "Let's go ask him."

They found Clark sitting on the couch in his Superman outfit, his head in his hands.

Martha went to sit on his left, Jonathan on his right. As she sat down, Martha placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, "What's wrong, honey?"

Clark jerked away and stood. "I'm so sorry, I must have the wrong apartment. I was looking for Ms. Lane's home." Two jaws dropped simultaneously.

At that moment, the front door opened and Lois saw that she had even more to deal with now than she had had when she left the house.

"Lois?"

"Lois?"

"Ms. Lane?"

Lois held up her hands in surrender, then dropped them to her sides. "I'll try to explain everything while we eat."

After everyone settled at the table, Lois decided to start with Clark's parents. "I should have called you last night, but Superman wanted to wait and talk today, and I was afraid that he would overhear our conversation. Superman was injured yesterday, but he has recovered everything but his memory. He wanted to wait until he was rested to talk, so he doesn't know yet."

"Know what?"

Lois turned to face Clark, held both of his hands, and looked him straight in the eye. "You were worried yesterday because you didn't know if you had any kind of a life beyond rescuing people. *This* is your life. These are your parents, I am your wife, and this is your home. I wanted to tell you last night, but you weren't ready to hear it. You still aren't, are you?"

Clark stood up and backed away a couple of steps. "I ... you ... we're married?"

"Yes."

Clark turned to his parents. "Do you have powers like me?"

Jonathan had tears in his eyes. "No, son. You are from a planet called Krypton, and we found you as a baby when your ship landed near our house. We adopted you and raised you as our own."

Clark sat back down at the table. "What is my name, again?"

Martha smiled. "Clark Jerome Kent."

"Jerome? Mmm. That name just does *feel* like me, you know?"

"Does Superman?"

"I don't know."

Lois saw that Clark was looking almost as tired as he had the night before. "This is a lot for you to think about, Clark. Why don't you get some sleep?"

Martha squeezed Jonathan's arm. "We need to get going, Lois, but we'll be back in the morning to spend the day, if that's all right."

"Oh, I forgot that we'd planned for you to stay here. Have you called the hotel?"

Clark realized what the problem was. "You had planned to stay in the guest room, since Ms. Lane and I share a room, hadn't you?"

"It's no problem, Clark."

"Yes, it is. The couch will be just fine for me. I insist that you stay."

Lois walked into the living room, drying her hair with a towel. Clark was fixing the couch in preparation for sleep.

"Clark, why don't you sleep with me? I won't try anything, I promise."

Clark sighed, placed the pillow on the couch, and motioned for Lois to sit with him to talk. "I'm still so confused, Lois. I don't know if I'll ever get my memory back, and I don't want to hurt you."

"It hurts me to see you hurting."

Clark lowered his voice. "To tell the truth, Lois, I'm very attracted to you. I'm afraid that I might reach for you in my sleep."

Lois matched his tone. "Would that be so bad?"

Clark slowly reached out to caress her cheek. "Are you sure that you want to sleep with a stranger?"

"You're not a stranger, you're my husband."

The Kents went home Sunday night, worried because Clark didn't seem any closer to regaining his memory than he had on Friday.

Lois and Clark decided that he could fake his memory at work, after Lois gave him a little coaching. "Clark, when we get to the office, I'll point out the people we've talked about."

"What about my job, Lois? I have no idea how to be a reporter."

"I think that it will come back to you. The last time that you had amnesia, you did just fine at work."

"I've had amnesia *before*?"

"A few years ago. You recovered after a few days, and we have no reason to believe that this time will be any different. I know that you're scared, angry, confused."

"You sound like you've been here."

"I had amnesia myself last year."

"Sheesh!"

Lois smiled. "Yeah, we do lead interesting lives."

"Did you recover in a few days?"

Lois' smile disappeared. "No. We were separated, and the man that I was with manipulated me ... I'd really rather not discuss this right now. I recovered. You will, too."

"I hope so."

As Lois had predicted, Clark had no problems at work. He was afraid that the excuse that he had used to go to a bank robbery had been too lame, but Lois assured him that she had heard worse.

Days passed, and Clark's memories started to come back a little at a time. Lois was relieved that he would get his old life back, but she realized that she and Clark would have been just fine even if he had never remembered anything. They had each other, and that was all that they really needed.

THE END

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