I should probably wait until Sheila has posted her response, but…

Well, there really were many things her that I liked! Loved, even! smile

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A faint buzzing sound woke Lois what seemed like moments later. She was disoriented for a moment before she realized she was lying awkwardly on the bed, curled up on the mattress, with Clark's fingers moving slowly through her hair. She glanced up at him and was surprised to see that he appeared to be asleep. This was further confirmed when she slowly pulled away and Clark turned over to lie on his side.
Lovely! I just love it! The way his fingers slowly combed through her hair, even when he was asleep. He sure loves her! clap

And then I loved how Clark was cooking for her! That was an adorable scene. And speaking of adorable, this was irresistible:

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Lois moved toward the cabinets, singing softly under her breath. Clark moved over to help her remove plates and glasses from the cupboards, but stopped helping as Lois' voice got louder. Suddenly, Lois realized Clark was staring at her and stopped singing. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Clark smiled at her. “Just enjoying the free concert.” Reaching out, Lois grabbed a dish towel and swung it at Clark's hip. “What?” he asked, the picture of innocence.
Aaaaaawwww!!! sloppy

All right. You knew there was a catch, didn't you? Because I didn't much like this:

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Clark did not answer and Lois looked up from her plate to see him blushing fiercely. She reached over and placed a hand on top of his. “Clark?” she prodded.

“Letters to you, mostly,” he said softly. “Some were just telling you how much I cared about you and how happy I was to have known you. Some were from Superman, letting you know how sorry I was not to have saved Clark. How much I wished I could help you with your depression. I guess in the end, also just about how much I cared about you. Others, most of them, really, told you about … well, you know, that I wasn't dead. But I knew I could never send any of them. And I got worried about someone finding them. So I burned them all and stopped writing.”
Okay. Imagine another guy, not Clark, who needs to pretend to the world that he is dead. He is not strictly forbidden to contact his girlfriend (or the girl he has been seeing), but he decides, all on his own, that he won't contact her. He hears, from far away, that she appears to be going to pieces over what has happened to him. In response, he writes long letters to her, wallowing in the bitter-sweetness of writing romantic letters and enjoying his own sweet tender heart… but never sending her even one of these letters, and never once doing anything else to let her know that he is alive and alleviate her suffering! Is this really a nice sort of guy? No, in my opinion, it is a conceited guy who loves his own ability to love, but who doesn't really care for his girlfriend.

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“I'm sorry you were so lonely,” she said. “And while I still feel very much like I had a right to know your secret, I want you to know that I do realize now what you did for me and I appreciate it. Even if it didn't literally kill you, it was a really amazing thing you did stepping in front of that bullet and giving up Clark Kent. I'm glad it didn't end up being permanent.”
Yes, Lois should be grateful to Clark for what he did for her. However, what if Clark had made a different decision? What if he had thought to himself, “Hey, I can't put myself in front of that bullet, because that may blow or destroy my secret identity! Better let Lois get shot. It's not my fault that she is getting herself into trouble all the time! Let her die if she must. Maybe I should look up Mayson tomorrow… or Lana… or Rachel…”

That's impossible, isn't it? Clark really didn't have a choice. He had to risk his secret identity by taking the bullet in his chest, and it didn't even have much to do with the fact that it was Lois who was in trouble. He would have had to do the same thing for almost anyone who was about to be shot. How could he live with himself if he didn't? How could he tell himself afterwards that his own secret identity was more important than the other person's life?

Personally, I believe that if Lois had been faced with a similar situation, where she had to make a split-second decision about whether or not she should take a bullet in her chest in order to save Clark, I believe that she would have chosen death for herself so that she could save Clark. And in her case, it would really have been a true, physical death, so that she would have had no chance to start over again. So yes, Clark was unselfish, but Lois would have made a choice that was even more altruistic. (Of course… I have to admit that it is pretty remarkable that Clark spends his life being so altruistic all the time, and putting pretty much everybody's well-being above his own.)

Ah well. I was glad to hear Lois say this:

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“Enough!” Lois said, her voice strong, as she pulled away. “Look, you screwed up. There's no question about it. And you screwed up in a big way. But while it's not the type of thing I think I can ever really forgive you for, that doesn't mean I'm going to be angry about it forever. I understand why you did it. I don't agree with your reasoning and I think you're an idiot,” she smiled slightly at this, “but I do understand what you were thinking. And I do believe that you are sincerely sorry and wouldn't be such a lunkhead as to make the same mistake again. So, I'm ready to move past this. But both of us need to be ready to move forward, Clark, not just me. You have to stop beating yourself up over this. You've learned from your mistakes, now it's time to let them go.”
Good! Well said, Lois.

Part 22 out of 25, eh? I'm looking forward to the rest of this fic!

Ann