By Cristina <crisdccks@hotmail.com>
Rated: G
Submitted: August 2003
Summary: In this response to Hazel's plot untwist challenge, Clark is determined to get Lois back… And if talking doesn't work, then maybe it's time he turns back time.
Remember Hazel's untwist challenge? Well, I too gave it a shot a few months back, but never got around to sending it to the archive. So, this is my untwist for the ep Just Say Noah.
Before I let you on to it I have to say two things. First, I need to thank my wonderful BR, Tricia, for her help and encouragement, and also Jose, for his support. I wasn't sure about posting this and they gave me the encouragement I needed. And, last, I must also thank all the FoLCs who nominated this fic for this year's Alt-Kerths. I never thought I had any chances of making it into the short list. It was an honor to be nominated among so many great authors and for that I thank you all.
Btw, did I mention all feedback is more than welcome?
As usual, all disclaimers apply (I don't own the characters, they're property of DC Comics and December 3rd productions. I just want to have a little fun with them and make my contribution to this great community known as FoLCdom)
***
As she walked out of the theater, Lois wondered when it was that going to the movies had become so boring. A small voice in her head broke in, <<When you started going on your own. >> How was it her conscience always teamed up with Clark? <<Well, if he hadn't been such a fool, we'd still be together. I am definitely not to blame for this. And that's the end of it. >> After all, it wasn't just that she'd been alone; the movie was unbearable. As she dumped her popcorn in a nearby garbage can, a familiar face approached her.
Feeling her anger boil up, Lois turned to him. "What are you doing here?"
Trying — though doing a lame job at it — to look innocent, Clark replied, "Seeing a movie."
"Because it's oddly coincidental that of all the movies playing in all the movie theatres we end up at the same one. At the same time."
Casually, Clark said, "Maybe it shows we have the same tastes."
After that last comment, Lois started walking briskly down the street. "Except I walked out."
Clark indicated himself. "Yo."
"Well _I_ walked out because the plot was just warmed-over 'Bambi' without the political subtext. You?" She stared at him with the I- demand-an-answer look she had used so often before she let herself in on his secret, every time he ran away.
"I fell asleep! What difference does it make why I walked out?!" This was turning out to be much harder than he expected. It seemed he wasn't groveling enough.
On the verge of losing her patience for good, she eyed him. "Because it shows how we look at the same thing differently!"
Unwilling to get down on his knees and start begging, Clark kept trying to convince her. "I think we're completely in synch!"
She smiled wryly. " Yeah, we're so 'in synch' that when you broke up with me, for 'my own good,' you figured 'Why bother talking to Lois about this life-altering decision, she probably knows it's best because we're so _in_ _synch_!! We're about as 'in synch' as the English in a Japanese horror film."
<<Ok, time to kneel and beg.>> "Lois, I was wrong and I admit it. C'mon, you can't stay mad…"
"Yes I can. You can fly, I can stay mad. It's a gift." She paused briefly to consider what she was going to say next. "Look, Clark. I'm sorry, but this isn't the way things work. If you really want to solve this, we're going to have to do things my way. I mean, you can't just go back in time and change what you did and pretend nothing happened."
Her words snapped him out of his thoughts. "Whoa, hold on a second. What did you just say?" Could it be…? He started to speak, under his breath, making his voice barely audible for Lois, "Maybe… I mean, if I could reach Herb… and then just… poof! But it might take a little long, there has to be a better way to do this…"
A little confused by her partner's behavior, Lois shouted, "Clark, what are you talking about?" At his lack of response, she called again, "Clark!"
Hurrying to the middle of the road, he said, "Wait right there, Lois. Don't move."
There was a faster way. Standing in the pavement, he addressed someone, "Hey, you! You! Hello?" A little louder, he tried again, "Hey, FOLC, I'm talking to you… Thanks! Ah, would you mind doing me… us, actually, a little favor? Could you please rewind your tape up to the closing scene in Contact? I guess I was a little lunkhead, wasn't I? Ok, fine, a lot of lunkhead. Would you mind making sure I don't behave the same way all over again? If I do, just fast-forward and let me know so I can try to fix it. I'd really appreciate it!"
With those last words, he walked back to Lois. When she stared at him questioningly, he gave her his wait-and-you'll-see look.
Less than a minute had gone by when something startled Lois. "Clark… I know that weird happens to us more than every other day, but, until today, no part of my body had ever disappeared!! I can't see my bottom half! And look, my hands are fading too?" She saw his smile and snapped at him, "Clark Jerome Kent! What is so funny?"
"It worked!" he shouted, staring at his own hands. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and ran to the spot where he'd been standing before, just in time to say a quick 'Thanks, FOLC' before the rest of him, Lois and everything that surrounded him disappeared with a poof.
THE END