Almost Whole (Chapter Two)

Pammie stood, her hands smoothing her skirt. "I'm sorry to bother you at work, but your house was empty and I had to..."

"No. It's fine," Lois cut in. "I'm so sorry... I'm so glad..." She found herself hugging Pammie. "It's good to see you." It wasn't just guilt. It was someone so associated with this story, with this world... "Are you okay?" she asked pulling back. "I mean, we just left and we didn't know if..."

"I'm fine," Pammie said quickly. "But this isn't about me." She glanced at Doris, who was watching them from the doorway. "Can we... talk?"

"Sure." Lois nodded, leading into the newsroom. "There's been so much happening and I meant to call you once things settled down and... What?"

Pammie was stopped, staring at her. "It's just weird seeing you here, this is just..." She looked around her. "Just a little loud."

Lois looked around, too. "Really? I never noticed." To an outsider, the clacking of keyboards and cacophony of voices might be off-putting. "We can go somewhere. It's just past eleven, but I guess we could get some lunch or..."

"Lunch?" Lois turned to Perry behind her. "You just sail in a few minutes ago and now you're off to lunch. Bad enough Kent is MIA, but now you..."

"Oh, Perry. I'm so sorry," she said in a rush. "I never introduced you. This is Pamela Sharp. She was one of my neighbors during my... vacation, as you call it. And she and I were just about to..."

"Pamela Sharp," Perry cut in. "You mean the wife of Senator Michael..."

"Just the one." Lois linked her arm through Pammie's. "We were just heading off for somewhere quiet to talk."

Perry smiled. "Sure. Don't let me stop you. I mean... Okay."

Lois turned, taking Pammie with her. "Walk fast," she hissed.

"Now wait just a second!"

Lois stopped. "Damn." She turned back. "Yeah, Perry?"

"Listen, I promised our readers more tomorrow and I kind of want to know what that more will be. You can work on other pieces all you want, but I want you and Kent in my office by two... and my damned jelly donut."

"Got it, Chief," Jimmy said, rushing up.

"Good work, Olsen," Perry said, taking a wrapped donut from Jimmy. He bit into into it, then pointed it at Lois. "I mean it, Lane."

"Don't let him fool you," Jimmy said as Perry stormed back to his office. "He's pretty happy with you and CK. He just wants more time to go through it all. I mean, the shape you two were in yesterday... He feels a little out of the loop. That's all."

Lois sighed. "Yeah. I get that." She knew the feeling. Added to that, she could do nearly nothing for Perry as far as getting him in the loop as she didn't know how far in she and Clark were supposed to be. What exactly could they say? To pile it on further, she had no idea where her erstwhile partner was and had no idea if she could produce him for the meeting.

"Lanie..."

"It's Lois," she said quickly, possibly a little sharply.

"Oh, sorry. I meant Lois."

"It's fine. Just..." only so many identities I can deal with in one day. "It's fine," she finally finished lamely. Of course, it really wasn't. Nothing about her was. But that wasn't Pammie's problem. She led Pammie out into the street.

"So... Kent. I heard that name. But he's not your husband, I take it."

"No. He's just... my partner." And, for all intents and purposes, that's all he was. Nothing more. In this life, he was just her partner. The fact that they happened to have mind-blowing sex could be put aside, maybe indefinitely.

"I can just add it to the list. Like how your boss.... He knows who I am."

Lois stopped and turned towards Pammie. "Pammie, I only said that so I could be free to run along. You have to know, after everything, you have to know I'm not planning to..."

"I know." Pammie nodded and walked on. "I guess I should know that now. I read the paper today. I just... I'm still a little... I don't know what I am. I just wanted to tell you about Marcy."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine. I managed to get someone in to clean up her place and I finally got a hold of her daughter. She's staying with her. She's thinking of packing up the house, taking her home with her. Not much else that can be done. The hospital released her into her care, considering she didn't seem to be a danger to herself or anyone. They're brushing it off as senile dementia."

"Yes." Lois pursed her lips. "Because that always comes on so suddenly. Did they test her blood?"

"They did find something in her blood. They couldn't exactly identify it and they're still testing. I don't think they're working very hard. They think it's just an overdose on meds, that it's common with senile dementia and I don't know how to tell them without sounding absolutely nuts..."

"They wouldn't know what to look for." Lois took a pad and pen from her purse. "Can you give me her daughter's number, Marcy's home number as well?" Pammie took the pad and pen. "I can get her blood taken to someone who can test it right. And tell her daughter to stay put. Someone will be contacting her, today if possible." Lois sighed and took the pad back. "I'm afraid the police are going to want to interview you, Marcy as well if they can... Well, she's a part of this."

Pammie blanched slightly. "But I..."

"Pammie, I swear I'll keep your name out of the papers. I can call you a witness or a neighbor or whatever you..." Lois stopped, suddenly wanting to spend time with her, possibly pour out every detail, even ones Pammie didn't need to know. Just to have a friend... "Listen, I still owe you lunch from before." She smiled sheepishly. "Going to lunch seems kind of a trivial activity after the last few days, but I know there's a few million things you'll want to know now that I've involved you in..."

"I really can't stay long," Pammie said quickly.

"Got it." It was possible Pammie didn't want to exchange pleasantries. It hurt, considering Pammie was about the only person in Metropolis Vista she'd care to see again. "I understand if you don't want to..."

"It's not that." Pammie put her hand on Lois' shoulder. "I just couldn't find a sitter. Dodie's with the little ones."

Lois nodded, nearly laughed. "Wow. You really can't stay long."

Pammie shook her head and smiled. "No."

Lois put a hand to her stomach. Skipping breakfast might have been a bad idea. She still wasn't a hundred percent after the last few days. Going to lunch suddenly seemed of paramount importance. She nodded to a cart by the news stand. "How about a hot dog? Won't take long."

They walked across the street with their hot dogs, finally settling on an empty bench.

"Pammie, I..."

"No. Lois, I've been..."

The both stopped, smiling.

"You go," Lois said. "I've been talking your ear off enough."

Pammie looked down. "I think you possibly deserve an explanation for me biting your head off at La Salette."

"No. You don't owe me anything. I'm just glad you..."

"I want to tell you," Pammie cut in, looking over at her. "I think that... keeping so much inside just... It gets too big, you know. It makes you almost bitter and secretive because you start to think you're abnormal or something and maybe just saying it... Well, maybe it will make it dissipate."

Lois nodded. She knew about keeping things in, alright. "If you want to talk about it... I mean, God knows I sometimes need someone to talk to..."

"Needless to say," Pammie went on, "this is off the record."

"Oh, Pammie. Of course it..."

"I know. I know." Pammie looked upward, sighing. "It's just... God, I'll just say it." She took a deep breath. "I'm not Pamela Sharp. My name's not even Pamela."

Lois just stayed quiet. She wasn't sure what to say to that. Yeah? Me too! Didn't seem like the right thing, exactly. When Pammie didn't go on, however, she felt some kind of reaction was needed. "Well... Don't tell me you were with Manson's gang or..."

"No." Pammie chuckled slightly. "God, no. I'm a bit young for that, don't you think?"

Lois laughed as well. "Well, yeah. Just a little tension-breaker."

"Nothing so big. I'm not a wanted fugitive or anything. Just a petty thief, drifter, part-time druggie. It's an expensive habit, you know. Couldn't always afford it back then." She lifted her head. "I could now. Could be a high-society pill-popper. God knows I met a few at those tedious fundraisers and..." She shrugged. "I like that I never have. It shows I've changed. I've... I've become exactly who I want to be, whether that was always me or not." She smiled. "I'm a mom. A cookie-baking mom right out of a wholesome family sitcom. Kind of mom I wished I had." She smiled again. "To give you the short story, I didn't have the best life, growing up. I made some bad choices. Ended up in Granville with some jerk who ditched me there. I was broken-hearted over it then." She shook her head. "I don't even remember his name now. Ah, well... Then I met Mikey. Just a sweet, lonely slob who inherited his parents' diner and took his civic duty very seriously. A nice, trusting guy. He gave me a job, you know. I was at that very diner, about to run out on my check when he stopped to talk to me. He offered me another piece of pie on the house. Told me I was too skinny." She laughed. "I was just a skinny kid back then. I just... I don't know what I was doing. I told him I was new in town. I told him my name was Pam, which was a lie. I told him my boyfriend left me there, which was true. And what did that idiot do? He gave me a job."

She sighed, then took a bite of her hot dog. "I worked there a full month before I got itchy. I felt like I had to go. I had to look up what's-his-name. He'd told me I could be a showgirl in Vegas or something stupid like that." She shook her head again. "I was such a dumb, skinny kid. Anyway... I came in after hours. And I thought I could just take what's in the register and get out, but then in comes Mikey. Asks me what I'm doing there and I... I said I was hoping he'd be there. Thought maybe we could... spend some time together. Basically, I was going to try to get him naked in that little apartment above the diner and then leave him and take the money. I actually got him upstairs. Started on his clothes, but then he... he stopped me. He said he'd rather take things slow. He said he wanted to spend some time together, too. But not like that. Wondered if I wanted to go to dinner, somewhere nice. 'Maybe next Friday,' he'd said with this goofy kind of smile. And there was something about that goofy smile that made me stay. I went to dinner. I thought about robbing him again, but I thought we'd go for just one more nice meal. I mean, Mikey would spring for a very nice steak, always wanting to fatten me up..." She laughed. "Eventually. I didn't want to go. I just... I wanted to be everything he thought I was. And.. It's not hard to fake certain documents. If you think about it, you can be whoever you want to be. And... I did. And I fattened up, alright. I think, if those monsters who raised me are still alive, they wouldn't know me now. I think that's one of the reasons I never lose that weight I keep saying I'll lose. That skinny kid... I don't know who she is anymore. But I know who I am now. And maybe the weight's a part of it. God knows Mikey doesn't mind. He likes a bigger girl." She turned fully to Lois. "So you see... I thought... When I found out who you were, that you weren't Lanie Cameron, I thought you were going to do some sort of expose and then... Well, what would be the point? Who was I hurting? Not Mikey. It would hurt him more to know. Not my kids. Believe me, they're better off thinking I don't even have an extended family." She shook her head sadly. "So... There it is. My sad story. It has a happy ending and that's all that matters, really."

Lois nodded, dumbstruck.

"I'm telling you this, not because you're a reporter, but because... I guess... I just want you to know you're my friend. I mean, if you still want to..."

Lois quickly leaned forward and grasped her, causing Pammie to drop what was left of her hot dog. "Oh, I'm sorry... I mean, I am your friend."

Pammie laughed and leaned back. "Good to know." She stared hard at Lois. "But it goes both ways. If you have anything you want to talk about... I'm up for a longer lunch, you know."

"Well... Same thing, really. My name's not really Lois Lane. Sordid past and all that..."

Pammie slapped her arm. "Oh, stop. I'm serious."

So am I. Lois took a deep breath. "Pammie, I think we need to leave your kids with someone other than Dodie if you want to get into my stuff. Believe me." Lois stood and pitched the rest of her cold hot dog into the trash. She turned to Pammie. "How about Monday?"

Pammie grinned. "Monday sounds good. Oh! As long as it's before two. Dorothy and I have Mommy and Me pottery and I wouldn't want to skip out."

"An early lunch, then." Lois nodded and threaded her arm through Pammie's.

"Friends with a reporter." Pammie shook her head. "If you were anyone but you, I'd think there was an ulterior motive."

"Well, I'm not saying an interview is out of the question. A nice puff piece on your family and your lovely home in Metropolis Vista might not be a bad idea, just to keep that HOA happy with some good publicity after all the bad has died down. It's... not so bad a place."

"Oh, it is. I've had citations over the length of my grass there."

"Well, the immediate danger is gone." Lois chuckled as they walked along. "So you were walking buddies with Janice? What was that like?"

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Chapter Three