Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic That LUNKHEAD! or FDK on This is Your Life part 8

No, of course he still isn't telling her the whole truth. Naturally!

I expect she'll figure it out soon enough. They're going to Lana's house to investigate, surely she'll find & open a certain lead box, & the cat will be out of the bag?

I'm not sure it really matters at this point anyway. He's coping with so much right now; it is neither realistic nor necessary to try to solve all of the issues at once. I am hoping that he gets to remain in his own universe at least for the duration of the investigation of the house. He really does need to be the one to make these discoveries.

Edit to add:

It took me two years to move from "this relationship isn't very healthy" to "I've got to get out NOW," and it was the barest hint of potential physical violence which triggered the paradigm shift for me. Clark has only relatively recently discovered how unhealthy his relationship is. Giving up hope on a relationship is a very difficult thing to do. I find it very realistic to believe that his recognition of the existence of the physical threat is what it took to actually trigger the break for him.

Lois has been warning him to, in effect, "get out before she hurts you." Admitting that he waited too long, that he stayed long enough to get hurt, is NOT going to be something he can do right up front; he's far to fragile for that right now. He's blaming himself for not recognizing the risk, and for staying long enough to get hurt.

They're on the right track, though, and I can see everything working out in the end. Yvonne, you're doing a TERRIFIC job with this whole story; thanks.

It makes perfect sense that he cannot/will not tell her. Still frustrating.

I hadn't seen it that way, Onaleia, and yet it makes such perfect sense! Yes, it's never easy to leave an abusive relationship. And, of course, I know how difficult it was for Clark to admit to anyone in the first place just how unhealthy his marriage was. This latest development - whether or not he realises that Kryptonite can kill him - has to be even harder for him to come to terms with, let alone tell Lois about, especially when once again he has to concede that she was right.

The poor guy has little enough self-esteem left as it is... Lana's just about destroyed him.


Wendy

Oh, man, Yvonne, this Clark is so broken. We're accustomed to seeing abused women in this condition, but it's really hard to see a strong man in the same place. Actually, he's so fragile and dependent and needy that I almost wonder why this world's Lois ever fell in love with him. He's certainly going to need her strength. Which reminds me--I was delighted to see her go with him to investigate the house. I think he needs to see what's there, too, so I hope you leave them in their own worlds long enough for that.

I was going to say, "Good, that'll give our L&C a chance to do some snuggling," but then I remembered that Lois was being very smart and realizing that these shifts happen with so little warning that it could happen mid-lovemaking. The thought made me go "ewww," as I had a Woody Samms flashback. Same body, different soul, and boy, we don't want to go there. Our L&C haven't experienced it yet, but we have, so I hope that's the reaction you were after.

With their lovemaking on indefinite hold, that'll give our L&C a little added incentive to find out what's causing the shifts and stop them.

On a different note, I don't like the other world's Perry very well. I can see that he has reasons for what he's doing, but I'm feeling too sympathetic toward Clark to like it when yet another person treats him badly. Especially when it happened after he finally started taking steps to help himself.

BTW, when Lois noticed that he looked like he'd gone 10 rounds with the world's heavyweight champion, I was surprised that she didn't ask him what had happened. For someone who is basically invulnerable, that would be like me showing up at work with bruises and cuts all over. Since she noticed, I was surprised that she didn't follow up on it.

I also think you've done a good job with Lana. She is acting the way I would expect the alt-Lana to act if Bureau 39 had gotten to her as a kid and convinced her that they were going to kill Clark out-right if she didn't keep an eye on him and keep him from using his powers. She was too much of a control freak, even as a girl, to think of telling Clark what was going on so he could help her maintain the masquerade. Either that, or she's really afraid of this alien thing. I haven't decided yet.

Darn, I just realized I'll be out of town on Monday, so I won't get to read the next section until Thursday.

Sheila goes to the top of the class this week.

I meant it more in the sense that he looked stiff, in pain and bone-weary - a bit like he was after Metallo attacked him. On the other hand, I will shortly get to the part where she follows up.

Yes, he's not quite as nice and easy-going as our Perry. That was semi-deliberate; since L&C are different in this world, it seemed logical that others would be different, too. That said, I think Perry is quite justified in his actions towards an employee who is quite clearly not pulling his weight and whose mind seems to be constantly elsewhere. Perry also doesn't approve of the affair, which he's aware of even if he doesn't exactly acknowledge it.

On the switch mid-lovemaking - fear not, I have no intention of making this happen. Like you, Sheila, the 'ewwww' factor is just too high for me.

This was a concern of mine when writing the story - that I haven't documented the romance leading up to this point, and so readers have no information on why Lois might love Clark and vice versa. However, I decided that it wasn't unreasonable to expect my readers to take that aspect of the relationship on trust: the relationship is a given, and it's what happens after that which is the story I'm telling.

As for Clark being broken - yes, he is. Trust me, I didn't start out intending to write such a broken man, but as I followed through the logic of that first scene I'd imagined, it seemed inevitable that he should be this way. His journey to strength and happiness is what this story is all about.

Onaleia, I could hug you. In fact, you can go and sit next to Sheila at the top of the class. Thank you for your personal insight; I can't tell you what it means to hear from someone who has first hand experience of these things. Even better when it turns out that I'm on the right lines regarding Clark's reactions to Lana's abuse.

It's been said that Clark ought to simply walk out of his marriage, especially as he's also conducting an affair with Lois. I, however, am of the opinion that a relationship which has lasted between 15 and 20 years isn't so easy to walk away from. Some people may be able to snap out of such a long-standing connection immediately, but I think more of us would need a certain period of time in which to work through all the emotions necessary to make the break. In extreme, I believe that even if you reached the point where you hated your partner, you wouldn't necessarily walk out immediately. You've got too much invested in the relationship; your habit for the last 15 years has been to try and patch things up. To make the marriage work.

I wish I had time to waffle on a bit more, but lunchtime is over and I have to dash to a meeting I'm already 5 minutes late for. Back later, maybe...

Yvonne

Absolutely! The man who could simply walk away from a long-tern marriage -- even such a flawed one -- without a great deal of pain and self-discovery is not any Clark (alt-Clark or no) that I would recognize.

Still reading, still enthralled, shocked, in awe.

Yvonne, don't you dare consider playing 'dead' after reading Mary's little bad-fic. Post the next part already!

NOOOOOOO! I think Mary really killed her!

*twitches*

Don't worry... if Yvonne is dead, we'll just have to get her ghost to give us the rest of the story

(hint, hint!)

PJ