Thank you all for the reviews. I have to admit, I was more nervous posting this than nearly all the other parts. I think before now I always thought that if there was something that really didn’t go over well, I could probably find a way to fix it in the next part, but this time there was no going back. So, I’m glad not to open this to see that I had failed to bring this to a reasonable close.
Ann, your picture is exactly how I felt when I finished writing this. I think this is the longest piece of creative writing I’ve worked on since college. Actually, it’s probably the longest piece of writing (fiction or non-fiction) since then, too – I don’t typically write documents more than 30-40 pages for work (and those usually contain a fair amount of graphics) and I don’t recall having to write anything all that long for grad school that wasn’t a group project. I think my husband was surprised when I mentioned finishing it to him – he could not figure out why I thought this was newsworthy.
But you stuck it out and turned your story into a moving tribute to enduring love.
I liked your way of resolving parts of the A-plot using flashbacks, instead of "forcing us" to see every little detail of how it all happened.
This was one of the things I was most nervous about. I was sure there would be some (several?) complaints about things that didn’t get shown. But I’m no good at resolving A-plots without things falling flat, so this way of dealing with it worked within my ability. At first, there was actually very little in there, but over time I added more and more detail in the flashbacks in until I felt like there was enough there. It was a bit like taking bitter medicine a bit at a time, so I’m glad it worked.
I guess I like it better when Lois and Clark are in Metropolis
Typically, I do, too. They just seem to belong there. But I think it’s unrealistic to think that Clark’s pretending to be dead for 10 years had no impact on either of them. And I saw this as a nice impact it had on Lois – it made her somewhat more family oriented. So, moving across the country was not an option for her as she’s too close to Lucy and Sammy. It also makes sense in that (and it’s asking a lot that anyone remembers this) when Lois was talking to Martha she mentions that the first time she started to feel like she had a life that wasn’t nearly defined by Clark’s absence was when she moved to San Diego. Lois may be willing to move past things with Clark, but she doesn’t want to revert to who she used to be.
Tank, I’ll try not to be too offended by this:
I guess I can almost accept the happy ever after ending, since they are to be expected in this fandom and you did a good job of almos making me believe it.
Hmmm… I guess I can forgive you.
Honestly, I’m sure you are not alone in finding it hard to believe that Lois forgave Clark. For a very long time, the plan was not for Lois to forgive Clark. I thought I’d have a somewhat happy ending where Lois and Clark were friends again, but Lois was with John. But somewhere along the way, Lois insisted that she and John were just friends and then she wouldn't let me put them together. She insisted on ending up with Clark, and we all know how Lois can be when she sets her mind to something. I really had no choice.
who can't really blame Lois for wanting to stay in San Diego vs. a New York-like Metropolis
While this isn't why Lois made this choice, as someone who flew yesterday from a very chilly New York to a very warm Los Angeles (and in general thinks San Diego is a whole lot nicer than LA), I can completely understand this. If we had family in San Diego, we never would have moved back to the east coast.
