This is a very beautiful part, Rac. These are my three favorite quotes:
Clark still couldn't believe it. The little boy he'd held in his arms, the beautiful, brown haired, wide eyed child was his son. His flesh and blood. His only biological relative. He'd gone to New Krypton in part to find some ties, something on a visceral level that told him he belonged, that he was with people like himself. And the irony, of course, was that he belonged on Earth, not on New Krypton. He'd left behind not just everything and everyone he'd ever loved, he'd left behind his only biological tie in the universe.
Yes, how ironic that Clark went to Krypton to find some biological ties, only to leave his only biological tie behind on the Earth. Of course, your Clark didn't go to Krypton
primarily to find his own kin, but primarily to help. I'm so strongly reminded of two Superman movies, Superman II and Superman returns, where Clark makes love to Lois, erases her memory of it, and probably only a month or so afterwards flies away to Krypton. And not because anyone has asked him to do so, but because he is just so curious about his "birth planet" and because he wants to look for "his own kind". It apparently never occurred to him to stay around and make sure that Lois was physically and mentally all right after what he had subjected her to, so that there were no long-term effects from their lovemaking and from the mindwipe she had undergone. Clark was so, so much more selfish and thoughtless in the movies than he ever was in your story, but one thing is the same: Clark goes to Krypton to look for people like himself, only to leave the only person like himself behind on the Earth.
"You're strong. You always have been. And in order to love you, I had to learn to be strong, too. Because I always knew that you were never really going to belong to me. I was always going to have to share you with the world and live with knowing that the world might one day take you away from me." Every fiber of his being yelled at him to deny it. To tell her it wasn't true. But hadn't he already proved that it was? He'd left her for four years and even though he'd come back, he could very well have died on New Krypton and he'd known that from the start.
This is so true. Lois and Clark's love is so strong, but it faces so many obstacles. Lois and Clark are pulled in different directions, and they really shouldn't be together at all. They were born light-years apart. They are from different planets. Destiny decrees that they should do different things, leading different licves, away from each other. Their love is strong enough to draw them together anyway. But they can never hope to be able to live only for each other, turning their backs on their respective worlds.
"I'm sure of two things. That you and I love each other more than any two people have ever loved each other before. And the world is better for it."
This is
exactly how I want to think of Lois and Clark myself. I want their love to be stronger and more enduring and more far-reaching than any love between two people on the Earth before. And I want their love to be a force for good that lights up the world around them. Thank you for putting it so beautifully, Rac.
Otherwise, this part was, too me, slightly less emotional than the previous one, and that is how it must be, too. The previous chapter was like a shock of joy, and you can keep your central nervous system shocked for only so long. Afterwards you have to step back, take a deep breath, and contemplate.
The most emotional aspect of this part was Clark reacting to having a son, and it was beautifully done. I also loved how Clark began to realize what Lois's life had been like while he was gone, and what kind of mother and what kind of columnist and what kind of heroine she had become.
Now Lois needs to understand what happened to Clark on New Krypton. All in all, his ordeal was definitely harder than hers. Unlike her, he had to deal with horrible physical pain, which must have been even more horrible considering the fact that he had been physically invulnerable for so long.
So Clark needs to tell Lois about what happened to him on New Krypton. He is going to remain permanently scarred from his experiences, and Lois has to understand that and know why. But all in good time, Rac. Clark has really only just come back home.
Ann
