Bakasi, I'm glad you liked the mistletoe scene. And thank you for the compliment. Colloquial expressions like "poke-the-bear" aren't uncommon in flyover country (the middle states in the US), so I like to drop them in occasionally just to see if anyone is paying attention. You obviously were. And I'm glad you liked the understated humor. I didn't want their relationship to rebuild on anger and sharp exchanges, so the hesitant and tentative moves on both their parts seemed appropriate.
Blueowl, I'm glad you liked seeing Dana Friskin. The show never, to my knowledge, gave her a first name, so I landed on Dana a few stories ago and I really think it fits her. As far as Lois and Clark becoming friends and stopping there - well, this is a Lois AND Clark board, after all. The few stories of mine where they have not ended up together have created lots of heated feedback, so we'll have to see what happens in the next chapter and the epilogue.
Cuidadora, thanks for the thumbs-up for Inner Rachel. I worked really hard on those introspection scenes, and they felt best to me when the inner character "spoke" to the outer one. Internal dialogues are hard, y'all. I'm very glad they came across as I intended.
Final chapter coming up! And, of course, an epilogue follows.
