I owe a huge debt to Rivka who gently nudged me earlier this week to check the PG boards because I'd received some FDK on my story. So I wrote my thank you and figured the topic would then slip back into obscurity and only be visited by me in a fit of self-doubt days/weeks/months from now when I needed a boost.
I know for a fact that I'm not the first author to write about Lois and Clark engaging in pre-marital sex. I doubt that I'm even the first one to write about them engaging in a no-strings-attached arrangement, so I can only sit in open-mouthed amazement that this story has generated this kind of debate. It's humbling, it's exciting and it makes me actually chortle when I check the boards and see what's been said.
I know I'm going to sound wishy-washy, but I have to agree with both sides of the "waiting for marriage" issue. I was raised in the most ultra-conservative of homes. I was taught in no uncertain terms that sex was to be saved only for marriage. It was heavily implied by my religion, my parents and pretty much everyone around me that good little girls DIDN'T and that any girl who gave in to temptation was damaged goods. I believed it (and to some degree, still do). So, even though I had a few encounters with my high school boyfriend in the back seat of his car, I maintained my "virtue" more through peer pressure and the fear of being one of those girls everyone whispered about than any real moral conviction. Cut to me at age 22, still a virgin and curious beyond all belief about what the hell I was probably missing out on. So after a drunken party one night I went home with a guy I really liked but knew I didn't love. I still have mixed feelings about the whole thing - would that I had waited six more freakin' months because that's when I met my husband. Did he wait for me? No. (To be fair, he was 31 at the time).
We had been dating for about four months and he was constantly teasing me about being such a goody-two shoes. He would call me on a daily basis to see what the "righteous scale" was. If it was anything higher than a six he'd tell me to call him back when I got to a two. It was a joke - and it was a very fun part of our relationship. Until the night that I actually DID get to about a 1 (or lower) on the scale and was full-on ready to sleep with him. He backed off (totally pissing me off and confusing me in the process) because our relationship meant more than just sex to him. Much, much later I would love him even more for that. At the time I was really angry. How dare he pursue me for months and then not follow through?
My point (did I have one?) is that, yes, I did regret sleeping with someone else before Mark. When we actually did finally "give in" to the attraction between us it was completely spontaneous and totally unexpected and better than any fanfic ever could be. I've never regretted not waiting until we were married to sleep with Mark (especially that first time). I wouldn't tell our son that, at least, not until he's much older and married himself. Neither would I want my son to think that pre-marital sex is okay - in general I don't think it is.
But it sure is fun to write about.
Especially in the case of Lois and Clark where, while it may not happen within the bonds of holy matrimony, it still *means* something beyond just scratching an itch or gratifying a base desire. In Faustian, Clark entered into the agreement because he thought it might be what Lois needed to "ease" into loving him. Lois couldn't acknowledge to herself that it meant more, but she sure got upset when Clark reminded her that it wasn't supposed to be real. Because it was real to her. It meant something beyond just sex. If it didn't, the PG version would have been really short indeed.
In the case of them deciding to wait at the end of Virtually Destroyed, I think it was because they were supposed to get married in a few more weeks. How could they (or we) have known of the horrors the writers were about to throw at us?
