OK, I promise I won't turn into Sara
but I just have to quote a few parts for this one.
Lois felt Clark go slack against her. She slipped an arm around his waist, and he leaned in close enough for her to feel his shaking. “I’ve got you,” she whispered, her face blushing hotly even as she registered the words, hoping suddenly he hadn’t heard them.
Well, I hope he heard them, because I stopped breathing, then sighed, then had to mop up the puddle of WAFFy goo I'd melted into before I could read on. Just ... loved that. So much.
This whole scene, really. The way she realizes how affected both the men are. The way Clark cried! And she wiped his tears! Oh, God! I can die happy right now. Well, except then I'd miss the rest of this story, so I'll somehow manage to stay alive.
She understood him in a way she might never have if she hadn’t been here to witness this. Or maybe she understood him in a way she one day would, was destined to, given years to know him, to know them, to learn his heart. She understood they fit, just as their hands did.
More melting ... my heart did this funny achey-happy thing ... so great. Had to pause a moment to reread that a couple times, just to savor it.
Lois opened her eyes, looked into the face of Clark’s father, and before she could talk herself out it, she decided. She silently promised Jor-el to be family to the son he had been forced to abandon to the stars. To help him as he steered his course.
And to love him as she did so.
She loves him ... she feels it ... she knows. Again, this is just so gosh darn wonderful. And we're not even halfway through the story yet! Yay!
(And the hairbow rejection was priceless. Had to add that. <g>)
OK, skipping the quoting now to summarize ...
Andrus looking for Herb -- LOL! And how Madge puts the double meaning in her words. Yes, Andrus, there is truly no one better to leave Utopia at this critical juncture.
L&C's banter while Silas is regaining consciousness -- brilliantly done. Just fabulous dialogue. Funny and charming; you hit it perfectly. And, of course, Silas's wonderful, "OK, I'm finished freaking out. What can I do for you?" LOL. I think that was his Lois gene coming through loud and clear. <g>
But back to quoting, for one final note ...
“That isn’t possible. Tempus isn’t real. He’s just a... a... fictional character. Like the boogeyman or... the Loch Ness Monster. The bad guy in one of those stories told around the campfire to scare little kids. There is no such thing as a Tempus.”
OK, so ... my mind is spinning furiously here. Which is probably a really bad idea, because I have this fear that by mentioning this I'm either going to screw up the story completely or guess some big plot twist from later in the story which will piss CC off ... or I'll be totally off the mark and thus expose myself as a really bad guesser. Decisions, decisions. Hmm ... OK, I'll say it anyway.
See, I'm thinking *not* that the real man Tempus has been erased from Utopia by being written off/dismissed/propaganda-ized into a comic book character. I'm thinking that instead, the real man we know as Tempus has just chosen to go by this name out of a keen sense of the ironic because he sees himself as a crusader (or a bad guy, take your pick
). After all, we know Tempus is *from* Utopia -- he grew up in it, assuming what he's said about himself to Wells is true.
Which would mean that the real man we know as Tempus has another name, a secret identity ... like John Doe (heh) ... or John (dare I say it?) Kent ...
OK, I didn't really say that out loud -- you just dreamed it -- but if I had ... wow, talk about your black sheep.
This is really getting fun. And I'm totally going to die having to go two weeks without it.
Kathy
