The Dream

By SilvrBrwne@aol.com

Rated G

Submitted April 1999

Summary: A stranger reveals Clark's secret — or was it all a dream?

***

"Yes! I finally figured it out! Lois Lane is going to remember what she should have remembered a long time ago," said the strange man.

"You can't do that. You can't change history!"

Looking at the man tied in the chair, he said, "I can do anything I want. It seems you're not in any position to stop me."

"You *can't* ruin Utopia. All the other times you failed and you're going to fail again."

"That's what you think. She's going to figure out. Actually, I am going to make sure she figures it out by telling her *again*! She's going to realize that she can't trust him. Then there will be no Utopia." He laughed, loud and sinisterly.

***

Lois had been seeing nothing but blackness. As light began to filter through, her eyes focused and they fell upon a strange man dressed in black.

"Who are you?" Lois asked.

The strange man asked, "You don't remember?"

"No, should I?"

"I'll give you a hint." All the man did was put glasses on and say, "Mild-mannered reporter." Then he took them off and put his hands on his hips, "Now, I'm Superman."

Lois still had a confused look on her face.

The man saw this and said, "Duh! Clark Kent *is* Superman!"

The strange man kept repeating, "Clark Kent *is* Superman," over and over.

"What?!? No, no he's not Superman, Clark Kent is my partner," Lois mumbled, deep in sleep. "No! Stop! Leave me alone, stop saying that! You're making a big mistake!" She kept repeating the same thing over and over until her alarm went off.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Automatically, Lois’s arm swung over and turned the alarm off. What she didn't know was that she shut off the alarm altogether.

***

Clark was beginning to get worried that Lois was not in yet. He called her apartment, her cell phone and paged her. No answer from Lois at all. So, he decided to go find her. He went to her apartment, scanned it and saw that she was still sleeping and mumbling something. Even *he* couldn't understand what she was saying. Clark knocked on the door a few times and when Lois still didn't answer he used the spare key that she had given him and let himself in.

"Oh, my God! You're right. No! It can't be," Lois was now mumbling.

Clark walked over to Lois’s bed and gently shook her. "Lois. It's time to get up, you're late for work."

"No! It's not possible, they're not the same person."

"Lois, honey, you're having a nightmare. Time to get up!" This time Clark shook her a little bit harder.

"Clark? Huh? What are you doing here?" Lois said as she slowly opened her eyes.

"I came to get you. You're late for work."

"Oh God! What time is it?"

"It's about 11. What were you dreaming about, anyway?"

"11?!?" Lois jumped out of bed and sat back down again.

"Honey, are you OK?"

"Clark, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired and I got up too fast."

"Since it's late, I'm going to call Perry and tell him that you're not feeling well and that I'm going to stay with you."

"Clark, that's not necess…"

"Lois, it's not like you can't afford *a* day an…"

"OK, I'm not going to argue with you. We have to talk anyway." The line that Clark is Superman kept replaying it over and over in her head.

"About?"

"Call Perry first, so we don't have any interruptions."

Clark called Perry and told him the story.

"Lois, Perry said he hopes you feel better soon."

"Sit," Lois said as she patted a spot next to her on the bed.

"Lois, what do we have to talk about?"

"Clark, is there something you're not telling me?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we begin to have an intimate conversation you always make up some excuse to leave. Why is that?"

"Umm… I knew I was going to have to tell you sooner or later. I've been trying to work up the courage to explain everything to you, but the longer I took the worse is seemed."

"Clark, I had this really weird dream before, which could explain why." Lois stared into Clark eyes, lifted her hands to his face and took off his glasses. "Wow!"

"Are you mad?"

"No, I'm not mad. I feel a little dumb about not figuring it out sooner, though."

"You shouldn't feel dumb Lois."

"I know but…"

"No buts." Clark pulled Lois closer and kissed her. It was a kiss that would change the rest of their lives. The kiss ended a few seconds later and they were both in awe.

"That was great."

"Yes… it was. Wow."

"Lois, I'm really glad that you know I'm Superman. I have no secrets from you now, and I know there will never be any more."

"Clark, I'm glad I know. I was beginning to believe that you were two different people."

"I'm sorry."

"Clark?"

"Yes, Lois?"

"I'm really happy that the alarm didn't go off and I overslept. Otherwise I wouldn't have realized any of this. This is the first time I'm happy that I missed work." Lois and Clark laughed.

"Clark?"

"Yes?"

"Can you take me flying?" Lois said with a smirk on her face.

Clark grinned, "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere, as long as I'm with you." Lois pulled Clark closer and kissed him which lifted them, literally, off their feet.

THE END

:-)