Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Every Time We Say Goodbye (2/12)

Comments here, please! The full story can be found here.

The sad part about catching up? Waiting a week to read more! ...

Wow...yeah, 'loving this' would be far to inadequate of a thing to say. So so great. So so excited for more. And a really good solid week to go till another post? Settling in for a long wait.

I hate that Clark needs to collect 'local color'. Time kill to keep Clark away from Lois, huh? Argh Lex and his power over the paper. The fact that Clark's cell is at his desk only adds to the distance--nice touch, Lex.

But, at least Lois seems to be feeling the distance. She's missing Clark. Needs Clark. Is feeling what we all want her to feel in Clark's absense.


Lois, you have no idea what this little bit of the story did for me!

I mean yeah, sure, she did try that last ditch 'perfect world' scenario with Superman--try one last time to bring them together--but really, she went to 'Clark'. What she needs. I'm so glad that Clark heard this, straight from her mouth. That he does matter. That she does miss him. That she is feeling some of what he is feeling at the moment.


Ding, ding ding. Irony! Saving money at the Planet...An exclusive interview in Miami (complete with extra days of 'color'). Makes no sense. At all. No way to 'spin' this. Love that Clark calls Lois out on this inconsistancy.


This part of the conversation was A+. Perfect. A-mazing!

The yuck that was Clark's room was such a funny back and forth. And yeah, I'm sure Lex is having a lot of fun knowing the type of place Clark us spending multiple days in. How it turned the discussion light-hearted, made them laugh, though...that was pretty special. They needed that moment.

I loved that Clark used the term 'fiance'. At first I was surprised to see it there...BUT--after I reread this part (a few times --it's really, really great), it hit home with me. Having Clark say that term...to Lois...when she is missing him. It's a biggie. It puts distance between Lois and her best friend, coming from her best friend. That does things. Hopefully it has some effect on Lois. Her first thought was to rebuff him, his statement. I liked that .

And to re-quote a quote ...



Okay. Favorite lines from Part 2. / / / !!!

Yeah, it's when they are teasing. Yeah, it's meant to be light-hearted. Yeah, this bit of conversation is just one BIT of a whole lot of conversation. But...it was there!


Lois had the thought. Clark gave probably his most honest statement of the story so far. BIG.


Did/does Lois gloss right over Clark's statement?!? Can she pretty, pretty please revisit the thought next chapter?


Clark's letting something slip right there. There's definite interest--which, thinking of those looks he gives Lois with those chocolate eyes of his repeatedly in the series--she'd be blind to not know something along those lines right from when they first met.

Lois, you ARE that girl Clark is in love with!

Watching the clock tick by. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Laura

......................................(yeah, still waiting ).

I really enjoy your writing, Sue, and I'm excited to see a story from you! Even when I don't read much L&C fic anymore, you are always someone that can draw me back. Something about your writing reminds me what I love about these characters.

Plus, there are these beautiful descriptions that draw me into the story, like this one:


So pretty. I wanted Clark to show up on the balcony, too, and whisk her away from the dinner. Did like her conversation with Superman, though, especially when he was surprised when she asked how long it would take to fly her to Miami. So many layers, so many half-truths at this point in their relationship... it's frustrating, but I love this late S1 time period.

Best line for me? This one, because it's so very telling:


I mean, that says it all, doesn't it? Millions of people, but the one person she needs to be in Metropolis isn't there anymore (well, to her knowledge, anyway). The city is empty without Clark.

I'm so glad that they talked, though, and I loved their banter. Lois being jealous of Andrea flirting with him and when she missed his overprotectiveness... aw. Here's hoping that Lois starts to see Luthor for who he is now that Clark has planted the seed.

Sad that we need to wait until next week for another part, though! What if I plead the teacher-going-back-to-school card? I may need another part to help me get through the first week of school with 24 second graders!

Can't wait to read more!

Tracey

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...Lois is going to start realizing why she's missing Clark so much, but it remains to be seen when she figures out her own feelings. It was great that she's irritated at Lex's possessive touching and that she's irritated on Superman's behalf at all of the strangers who touch him.
That she's not devastated at being shot down is perfect...even she knows in her heart that a relationship with Superman really isn't in the cards. But then her thoughts shift to Clark, and while she's only seeing him as the best friend she's potentially losing as a result of their broken partnership, I have hope that she'll eventually see him in a new light.

Their phone conversation is fabulous. It has the zing and banter that I remember from the first season - Clark willing to call her out for things, Lois not backing down. It's the equality of their partnership that makes it special. It's somehow easier to be honest on the phone or online, when you don't have to look the person you're confronting in the eye. I think that being on the phone for this conversation allows both of them to speak honestly about their opinions. Sad that she hung up the phone, but first season Lois probably would have marched off in a huff anyway, even if they were having this discussion face to face.

Waiting for more!

Ooh! Part Two!


A person can tell when someone is really affectionate or if it is an act. Luthor was never a touchy feely kind of person so Lois sensed right off the bat this was more about possession and competition than genuine love. It also says a lot about her feelings for him. His touch was annoying. If she was as deeply in love with him as she should be his touches would have been the prelude to something greater.


Oh Clark! I feel your pain! Go back to Metropolis and tell her who you are and how you feel! Maybe this time she won't be a lunkhead!


Despite the fact that they were mad at each other this conversation give us an understanding of the openness of their relationship. Could Lois have this kind of honest communication with Lex? Never.

Loving this story! Keep posting!

I love seeing Lois' thoughts before her conversation with Superman. She's personally debunking all of her reasons to accept Lex's proposal. Financial security? That her job and those of her friends are saved should make her happy, but it doesn't. Enjoys Lex's company? No, his touch is annoying her.

No, Lois. You would not be crazy to turn him down. Marrying him will make you miserable.


This is huge at this stage in the story. To have Lois realize that Clark was right about her relationship with Superman before she accepts Luthor's proposal will [hopefully] give her the space she needs to see Luthor for what he is.

/me giggles. Love that. And Clark kind of knows it too. His flexing for Tiffani (?) in the red Kryptonite episode comes to mind.

Oh, you are a master of the little details, like when Superman's cape brushes against Lois' ankle. It brings so much richness to your stories.

Yay. Keep this up, Lois. The thinking, I mean.

Argh! I wanted her to voice those thoughts, but we're back to not being able to communicate. Of course, this is with Superman, not her best friend, so I guess I shouldn't expect her to spill her inmost thoughts. Plus, it might have cut several chapters off of your story.

I also loved the banter and the subtle revelations throughout Lois and Clark's phone call. Surely, if Lois is astute enough to catch Clark using the present tense when talking about the woman he fell in love with, she can catch his declaration here and put the two together!

Okay, true to canon, Lois got off the call in a huff. But the best part happened after:

A rational, thinking Lois is exactly what Luthor is trying to destroy. So glad to see he isn't getting what he wants.

It made me giggle though as she argued in her own mind. I got an image of stalker!Clark hovering outside her apartment window, using his telepathic powers to convince her that Luthor isn't what he seemed.

It’s called ‘having a bad feeling about this’. Just like on Endor. On an unrelated note… /marks 3 1/2 months on calendar/ It had better be good…

/cocks eyebrow/

Mayhaps cause she will see him again in postcard form a couple of weeks after her honeymoon and then again when he is returned in a shoebox after he does an undercover assignment in the Congo?

Okay, maybe ‘safe and cherished’ isn’t the right word. Maybe more like Leia did in Jabba’s palace?
CLARK: She does have a golden bikini!

Aaaahh…I was wondering. Lex does want to keep her cherry safe.

CLARK: I prefer to have Superman not throw up in public during charity events. Makes people think Superman’s imbibing too much.



CLARK: I’ve had plenty of experience with Lois getting close and personal with me.

CLARK: It’s torture. But I do manage.
ICEBERGS:

Rubbing a Kryptonian’s chest is good fortune.
TYRION: Yeah, Kryptionian’s get their bodies rubbed and dwarves their head. Life just isn’t fair.
PROSTITUTE: I’ll rub your body for a silver stag.

Yes. And he’s back already.

Maybe if she offered her spare bedroom?

RALPH: Hey! When I used that excuse during the sexual harassment hearing, the judge almost slapped me before having me hauled off in attempt of the court.

Hmm… ‘gropies’?

She had a benefactor. And so did he.







Maybe she needs a subtext dictionary? He basically admitted that he’d love nothing more than to show her how to behave in this rooftop park if they were over yonder.

Like Lex trying to secure outside funding for his name-branded charity efforts?

I guess it’s like it’s for a stripper, huh? It’s part of the job and like most strippers, he probably doesn’t have many alternatives.

To be fair…

*Un*fortunately?



Isn’t it great how well those two communicate?

Maybe Superman and Clark Kent are more than just friend? Maybe Lois is just a beard for them?

One might almost think that Lex is deliberately trying to keep them apart. Nah…

She’s now the official coffee fetcher for Chip?
http://tvline.com/2015/01/01/marvels-agent-carter-premiere-video/

Is the devil ‘people’?

But he already got a tan?



No, those spots aren’t ‘color’.

Because she imagines the bedspread looking like a steamroller flattened one of Clark’s ties?

Hit on his fiancée?

And I’m guessing she’s going to not take that one seriously.

She didn’t mention ‘and well’ though. So Lex *could* carry her off into his alpine fortress and…well…

Lex Luthor.
CLARK:

Huh, who’d have thunk…

CERSEI: Just like me!
JAMIE: To be fair, she’s older than me, so it’s more like the little brother she always sorta wanted.



LEX: Cross-state calls are expensive with mobile phones and the Planet must save money.

It’s not paranoia if there really is someone out to get you.

What if Lois calls him while Superman’s standing next to her?
CLARK:

So it’s just a meaningless office fling on the side?

Easy promise?

And no, he’s talking about using protection since Lex has been who knows with whom.

But isn’t that against the law?
LEX:

NOR: See? Defective heir.

Because he’s better than Lex.
LEX: Now, wait a minute. That’s just plain *rude*. Besides it not being true. He’s *not* better than me. He just got more brute strength. Like a gorilla. Would I be jealous of a gorilla?
GRODD:
LEX: Oh, shut up!

TRASK:
LOIS: Fine, anyone still *alive*!

/points at title/

CLARK: To be fair, ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’ are two very different things.

LEX: She’s right. I don’t kill people just because. I do it for sport. Or because they’re in the way. Or because it’s an accident. But I always have a good reason, not just because someone’s a random dude out on the street and I want to test out my new gun. Which would be a good reason, actually…

Foreplay?

LEX: Sometimes it’s the most efficient way?



Michael

Howdy, howdy!

Laura - A week is nothing. It'll go by like <snaps fingers> that!
Lex always has a plan. Always. And a contingency for everything in that plan.
Well, since they don't have the conversation in the park when she hands Clark his heart on a platter, she has to find another way to sound out her favorite superhero on his feelings.

There is no way to spin that -- and it's going to become more and more obvious to her as their enforced separation goes along.
Part of the fun in writing this was having them truly be friends and getting to hang out with them (so to speak). We infer all the time in stories that they're best friends but we never really get to see much of it. This story is, at its most basic, a series of conversations between our heroes as they rely on that friendship to strengthen them through the hard times.

Also, no kidding, I've stayed in that hotel room! It was in Las Vegas in 1988 or '89, at a place that has long since been torn down called the Bali Hai. It was the absolute worst hotel room I've ever been in (and I've stayed in some real dives over the years). The box springs were on cinder blocks, the tub was rusted, the TV had pliers clamped to it to turn it off and on, and all night long there was a pink and blue neon sign just outside the window that blinked over and over. No use shutting the blinds, they were mangled beyond repair. Good times!
I think Clark liked hearing her say that Lex wasn't her fiance. He needled her on purpose, just to get a rise (and a protest) out of her.
I'll end your suspense -- she doesn't brood about it at all.
She does recognize (privately) that he was attracted to her when they first started working together, but that's turned into a comfortable friendship and he's now in love with someone else (she thinks). Which is another reason why it doesn't register when he teases her that he'd fly back that night if he thought she was in love with him. He's teasing, and she knows it, so she doesn't examine it for deeper meaning.

Tracey - Another blast from the past! Welcome back!
Wow! Thanks! Seriously, that is very sweet of you to say.
He couldn't show up as Clark, but he did the next best thing. All those layers and half-truths are what makes writing fanfic so much fun! I love late S1 and early S2 precisely because they've truly become friends at that point (and there's all that unresolved sexual tension (UST), too!).
Yes! And, to her way of thinking, it's not really going to get any better when he returns and starts hanging out with his secret love. It feels like the end of an era to her.
She's really going to miss Clark (and his overprotectiveness) as we get further into the story -- possibly as that seed starts to take root…

Good luck with your second graders!

Susan - You get a medal for how many frickin' times you've read this part (and all the others) and yet you're still enthusiastic. Thank you!
You can't blame a girl for trying, though.
That's what I loved most about the first season -- they both had a lot of backbone, especially when it came to dealing with each other.
Oh, yeah. She definitely would have marched away in a snit if they'd had that conversation face to face.

Morgana - Ooh! More feedback from you!
Exactly!
Until he's more certain about her feelings for Luthor, and for himself, I can't see him saying anything. It's kind of a Catch-22, isn't it?
It does rather strain the imagination to try and picture it.

Brenda - And you're back!
We can only hope that she reaches that same conclusion.
That's all I have to say about that.
LOL! Yeah, like that.
Thank you! It only occurs to me now that it should have occurred to Lois to realize that, while everyone at the party is trying to get close to Superman, she's the only person with whom he deliberately gets close. Close enough that his cape ends up brushing her ankle.
I'm all for cutting off chapters! The shorter, the better, IMHO. But since she's realizing that she doesn't really know Superman that well, it would be wrong to have her start confessing everything.
Like I told Laura, she thinks he's kidding so she doesn't examine that statement for deeper meaning. Sometimes sarcasm hides the truth, it certainly did for Clark.

Not in my story, he won't!

Michael - Hey! It's cruel of you to tease me with Star Wars and GoT when they're both MONTHS away from any kind of resolution!
Ah, the elusive spare bedroom. It was there in S1, and then seems to disappear in S2. Very odd. Someone should alert Rod Serling about it.
LOL! Lois could definitely be the president of that club.
OMG! Suddenly I have this mental image of Superman arriving on the arm of Arthur Chow…
Yeah, you gotta love how all of Lex's good deeds involve a great deal of publicity.
Bwaaaa! He's not earning any tips, either, the poor guy. It's too bad someone didn't take a young Superman aside and explain to him that he should stay in school so he'd have more options.
At this point he doesn't know yet that a large electrical current can transfer his powers. And his "unfortunately" was meant as sympathy for all those deluded souls who might actually be hoping that his powers could rub off on them.
Not Lex! He believes in share, and share alike.
I laughed and I cringed at the same time! And then again when you implied that Lois was currently "working" on Lex. Yikes!
It would have been cheaper to call her on his cell, but Owen lifted it. Nope, Clark is calling directly from the room, and that's going to rack up some charges.
LOL!

Thank you all for the kind comments! They are very, very much appreciated!

I was going for shared suffering? Didn’t realize that lead to anger it would But I *am* thinking of making a chocolate calendar for the remaining wait period. Sadly, I’m not sure there’s enough chocolate out there.

Maybe Lois played a little Cask of Amontillado with Lex?


CHOW: What? He looks just like some of the strippers I date. What with the skintight outfits and all that.

They never do teach royal heirs real world job skills, do they? Aside from being in the military.

LEX: One part for me. One part for yours truly. One part for me. One part for yours truly.



On to part 3!
Michael

Sue- No, I'm not waiting for a month. I, too, wanted Lois to pick up on Clark's remark about flying back, although I understand why she didn't. I have faith that missing her friend and feeling jealous of his mystery love will lead Lois to, as they say in Jane Austin novels, examine her own heart.

Michael-I need to stop reading your feedback on my iPad in bed; I'm liable to wake my husband up with my giggling.

Michael - Geez, I apologize! I thought I had replied to your reply.

Ha! Now there's a story idea!

No, I guess they don't. And he is top of the list to rule New Krypton…

HappyGirl - So glad you decided not to wait!

Indeed! I believe his absence will make her little heart grow much fonder.

Thanks, guys!

Yeah, I know that feeling. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of everything
...and marry their princess.
LOIS:

Michael

Another great chapter! The Superman banquet was perfect and well thought out. Clark had to hear those things from Lois, and I think that's going to help him a lot when dealing with Lois and his feelings for her more in the future (at the very least, it's far less hurtful way to deal with her feelings for Superman here in this context than in the series).

Also again got blech feelings towards Lex after learning the bodyguard pick-pocketed Clark's phone. Lex is evil, I know this, but that's so dastardly.

Love that Clark still found a way to call, and hopefully that thought about Lex going after Superman is enough to get Lois' investigative brain into gear.

Ready for part 3!

Hi again, Mouserocks!


Yes, they're both letting each other down easier.


Heh. Lex is just warming up...


She'll get there. It's always hard to admit you were wrong or your judgement was off (especially for Lois).

Thanks for the comments!

Part 2 is full of goodies! Love how Lois doesn’t like Lex’s possessiveness and her conversation with Superman about touch totally nailed it! Sorry, I can’t use quotes as I’m writing this from my phone. I just love Lois and Clark’s phone call even though she walks away thinking he’s jealous, there’s lingering doubt. Could he be right?

Full of goodies, indeed! I'm glad you enjoyed the Superman and the Clark conversations with Lois. Imagining dialogue between them is my favorite way to waste time and it's always nice to know that someone else enjoys reading it.

Thanks!