Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Ten Years in the Making (6/?)

This is wonderful. There are so many emotions here. Thank you for continuing on with your story direction. Poor Clark, always thinking of others before himself. Clark is trying so hard to make peace with Lois. He is putting her before his own health. He's almost offering her himself as some sort of peace offering. She seems to be softening a little. WOW! Dean...I mean Clark...in a towel. Yum!

I'm glad that Martha and Lois got to talk. It's like therapy. Maybe as Lois says things, she will listen to herself and get on the road of healing and forgiving Clark. yes, I'm probably the only one out here who wants Lois and Clark to get past their demons and move on. I want Lois to forgive him. I'm guessing that there will be a way to bring back Clark Kent...like Professor Hamilton brought back Al Capone and his crew after how many years?

Nicely written and I'm just waiting for the next part when Clark wakes up.

~Sheila

Glad you posted a new part, anonpip!

And there were certainly things I liked in it. Most of all I was glad to see that Clark had been checking on Lois during at least some of the time when Clark was "dead". It made a lot of sense that Clark would come to see her as Superman, and that he would care about her well-being. That way, he proved that he did care about her and that he did love her.

I was less happy with this:

This isn't right. I understand and like that Clark is concerned about Lois, but I don't think he has the right to make decisions for her. After all, it's not as if he was her fiancé or anything!

I like him much better this way. Unfortunately, because he has just told Lois that he prepared to take her to a doctor against her will, she isn't ready to listen to him.

Oh, how I wish that he had told her his secret right then and there! Why didn't he?

This, unfortunately, has me groaning. But it's not your story in itself that makes me groan, but rather the fact that it reminds me of a million other situations that I have come across, in the comics and movies, ever since 1969, where I have wanted to prick Superman's shapely behind with a kryptonite trident for lying to Lois about himself again. Occasionally, like here, he has even made her a deal which he knew or suspected that she wouldn't accept, so that he could tell himself that it wasn't his fault that he had to keeping lying to her, because he really had given her a chance to find out the truth.

But you know what? Superman/Clark was never forced to lie to her. Never. It was a choice he made all over again every time he fed her a new lie about himself, or every time he hedged and avoided being honest with her.

Anyway, if he had told her right then and there that Clark wasn't physically dead because he was Clark, wouldn't that have lessened Lois's guilt and depression? Ah, well. Clark couldn't know that it would. One thing I really like about this chapter is that I do feel that Clark cares about Lois. He certainly doesn't want her to feel bad.

Of course she felt blackmailed. She was blackmailed, even if Clark did it to her for a good reason.

This had me physically flinching. I don't like the fact that Clark was going to force Lois to see a doctor against her will, but I realize that it was something he did because he cared about her. I understand and accept that Lois would put up a fight to make him see that he had no right to force her, and I also realize that she could win such a fight only if she used the right words.

But would she call him "Alien"?

As I've told you, I have been reading Superman comics since 1969. With all the back issues I've also bought, I must have read far more than a thousand Superman comics. And I've seen all the movies, and even though I haven't seen the LnC show, I have read a lot of LnC fanfics, too. And as far as I can remember, I've never seen Lois call Superman an "alien" before.

Lois has always been totally supportive of Superman. She has always believed in him and always trusted his motives. She has always regarded his superhuman powers as a blessing. And she has always been attracted to him, even though she has "always" known that he was from another planet. She has always been happy and comfortable with who and what he is. So would she tell him to his face that he shouldn't touch her because he is an alien?

I don't believe it. That isn't Lois.

Yes, this Lois is clinically depressed. She isn't herself. So maybe, maybe, maybe she would tell him something horrible, something she absolutely, totally didn't mean, just because she wasn't herself right then. I still don't like it, but I can - just barely - accept it.

But I think that if Lois had said something so horrible to Superman, she would regret it almost immediately. And she would need to apologize to him as soon as possible.

I agree that if Lois had called Clark an alien, he would be discouraged from trying to see her again. And he might even tell himself that it was a good thing that he didn't tell her that Clark Kent is Superman, because Lois obviously dislikes Superman just like Becky and Lana did. Better to let her believe that Clark was just an ordinary human being and that he is really dead. Because clearly she is going to recoil in horror if he tells her that Clark, too, is an alien, because Lois hates aliens!

Except she doesn't! No way she hates them just because they are aliens! And she has never thought badly of Superman because he is an alien! She has never thought badly of Superman, period.

Yes, in her confused state of depression, she might blame Superman for not being there in time to save Clark. So yes, she could be angry at Superman for failing to save Clark Kent's life, and she might very well be angry at him for trying to force her to see a doctor. And I guess she might want to take a cheap shot at him to hurt him. But if she actually called him an alien she would feel so totally bad about it afterwards, and she would apologize to him the first chance she got.

I've never found it hard to believe that Clark would allow Lois to believe that he was dead for ten years. It all boils down to his absolute paranoia about revealing his secret to Lois. Goodness, with all the comics I've read, with the movies I've seen, and the fanfics I've read, I totally believe that this scenario is a possibility. There are many precedents for it. There have been so many stories where Clark has kept his dual identity a secret from Lois in absurdum. For example, he proposed to her both in the ABC show and in the comics without telling her that he is Superman. And there are many, many other examples. But to my knowledge, there have been no other stories where Lois has regarded Superman spitefully because he is an alien.

Let me add that there have been so many stories where Clark has been terrified that Lois would be furious if he told her that he is Superman. Sometimes he rationalized his fears by telling himself that Lois wouldn't want him if she knew he was an alien. But that was never the case. Yes, Lois was usually furious when she found out about his secret, but she was angry because he had lied to her, not because he was an alien.

I don't mind Lois being angry at Superman. I don't mind her saying hurtful things to him. She might call him a bully, she might call him an idiot, she might even call him pond scum and she might tell him that she never wants to see him again. But I can't accept that she would call him an alien.

So far your story has made sense to me. Clark's behaviour, awful as it has appeared to me, has nevertheless made sense. It has seemed like another example of how unreasonably scared he has been of telling Lois his secret identity, and I sure recognize that from many more stories than I care to remember. But a Lois who would call Superman an alien is a woman I don't recognize and a woman I can't accept. She isn't Lois Lane to me. And therefore, suddenly, this story isn't a Lois and Clark fic to me.

This is how I feel about a Lois who would call Superman an alien. For all I know, I might be the only one who would find her out of character.

Ann

Well, I thought of editing my post, but I decided that it might be just as well to post another one.

First I want to say that it wouldn't have been okay for Lois to call Superman pond scum. And I don't think she would have done that. My Lois wouldn't. She wouldn't have called him an idiot, either. But she might very well have called him a bully.

Second, I agree with something you said in our comment to our latest comments. It's Lois's own responsibility to look after her own health. It's far too easy to say that her life went to hell because Superman made her think that Clark was dead. And like you said, what if Clark had really been dead? Would it have been his fault if Lois became clinically depressed because of that? Of course not - that goes without saying. But allowing someone to grieve terribly over your own supposed death, when you are not dead at all - that must be another thing! Would it be all right for Clark to say that he doesn't have to inform her that she is grieving for a man who isn't dead, because it is her own responsibility to look after her own health anyway?

There have been some Lois deathfics posted on these boards, where it was hinted that Clark lived in a state of clinical depression ever since Lois died. What if she had somehow survived but kept her survival a secret from him, so that he just kept grieving, year after year? Would her secrecy have been all right?

Ahhh gaaah. Are you at all interested in how I think that your story could work out all right? Remember that there are so many other people here whose opinions count as much as mine. Anyway, if you to hear what I think, I would actually advise you to scrap that "you are an alien" line from Lois. To me, that would be as bad as calling a black person a horribly racist name. You just don't do that sort of thing, not if you have any respect for that other person's humanity. Make Lois say something else, something hurtful, something that has to do with the fact that Superman seemingly wasn't there for Clark when Clark was shot, and now he is acting like a bully by trying to force Lois to see a shrink. Make it sufficiently hurtful for Clark to stay away and decide that it is Lois's own responsibility to look after her own health. Then you should probably go back and edit the first parts of your story to make them more consistent with the idea that Lois has hurt Clark deeply by saying something really bad to Superman. Remember that part when Clark saved Lois and her little niece Sammy from that burning building? Lois and Clark didn't act as if they were nursing old wounds when they saw each other. Think - how would they react? Maybe Lois would say that she was really grateful that he had saved her and Sammy this time, even if she had been so angry with him the last time she saw him. And maybe Clark would say that that was all water under the bridge, and he was happy to see her.

I admit that I would still be happy with an ending where Lois moves on, because she has just had it up to here with Clark. But if you want to make them end up together, please don't make Lois say that the whole thing was her own fault just as much as it was Clark's!

Ann

Thanks for the kind words, Sheila and TOC!

TOC - just some small insight into what I was thinking:

I agree, but this is shortly after Clark has died and I think this action is in keeping with the character of Clark that I've written - he has Lois' best interests at heart and has decided that this justifies making decisions for her. I wouldn't be happy if someone did this to me, but I could see Clark (my Clark, anyway) doing this.

I didn't see this as Clark feeling it wasn't his fault that he didn't tell her. I saw it as him not caring if he told her if it would persuade her to do something she needed. Of course, when she doesn't, he feels no need to tell her, but it remains a choice he's made.

I agree, there are few instances where calling Superman "alien" are in character for Lois given her feelings towards Superman.

But Lois on LnC could be mean - and often was mean to Clark saying really awful things to him. So I think Lois has the capacity of saying things that she knows will be hurtful. Typically, she doesn't do this to Superman as she idiolizes him. But in this instance, she's angry at him for not saving Clark. She's stopped seeing him as a hero, he's just another guy who has disappointed her, so she treats him like a regular guy. And sometimes, for Lois, that means saying things that are really cruel if it serves a purpose (like getting her way).

I don't think that she meant it anytime she said it - she said it as it was a way to get what she wanted. It doesn't matter that she doesn't think it, what's important to her is that it gets Superman to back off.

And again, I don't view her as doing so in my story either. She's not spiteful because he's an alien, she's spiteful because he didn't save Clark and so she's trying to hurt him like he hurt her. Whether or not she actually believes what she's saying is unimportant to her.

I can promise you, while Lois does feel some guilt over this now (as she expressed to Martha) at no point will she think this "evens out" with Clark's wrong. I view what she did as the type of things kindergartners do. She called him a name - yes it was one that hurt him deeply (as do some of the names kids are called in grade school), but these are not usually life altering awful things.


For the few of you still reading, I wanted to apologize for not posting for awhile. I've been both insanely busy and sick, so haven't done much writing lately. I am still sick and leaving for a long weekend vacation tomorrow. I have quite a bit written, but it's not where I want it to be yet and thus I have more writing to do, but won't have a chance to even do so until the middle of next week.

I'm aiming to get the next part up by the end of next week, although it is taking an awful long time for me to get where I want with this part and probably requires me finding to the time to get the sleep necessary to kick this stupid cold (which my weekend does not promise to do at all)...

Thanks for the patience!

Hello...? Where are you?

~Sheila