Well Angel, I don't have to tell you how awesome this chapter was! I mean I recognized things that we discussed...the medical stuff...and making suggestions...but...wow! You made it all flow so effortlessly...and flawlessly! I just couldn't be more impressed with your ability to do that!
Again, thank you for including me! You have no idea how much it means to me.
Dr. Dunn entered the room at that moment. “Good, you’re awake, Ms. Lane.” The doctor sighed tiredly as he shut the door behind him and sat down in a chair, his eyes settling on everyone in the room. “Look, I wish that I had good news, but Clark’s condition is deteriorating. We’ve put him on a ventilator, and at this point, it’s the only thing that’s keeping him alive. He won’t likely regain consciousness, and soon his vital organs, such as the liver and kidneys, will shut down.” The doctor paused, and Lois sensed that he was giving them a moment of silence to think about what he’d said. “I know how difficult this must be for all of you. I know how difficult this is for me, and I’m only his doctor. But I must tell you that by keeping him on the ventilator, we’re only prolonging the inevitable—prolonging his suffering.”
If you only realized how realistic and heart wrenching this scene is. I've witnessed it more times than I needed in one lifetime. Just...wow!
Lois crossed the room and sat down beside Clark’s hospital bed. Taking his limp hand in her own, she watched the rise and fall of his chest. She tried to ignore the fact that the use of a ventilator was the only reason he was still breathing at all. Lois swallowed past the lump in her throat as her eyes took in his pale face.
He would never open his beautiful eyes again.
This is just so sad. Even if Lois had never verbalized to Clark that she loved him, this scene said it all.
“Martha, you know what Clark would want,” Jonathan spoke quietly, almost reverently. “He wouldn’t want…this. He wouldn’t want for us to see him like this. He would hate the thought that we were suffering while waiting for the end.”
Though we often know what our suffering loved one would want or has expressed, sometimes legally, it is still so hard to actually carry through with it.
Lois searched Martha’s tear-filled eyes, and her heart dropped at the look on the other woman’s face. “No…please, not yet,” Lois pleaded.
“Lois…it’s time.” Martha’s softly spoken words tore at her heart. “We have to let him go.”
Ooooh...
<sniff, sniff> “No, Honey. Lex was just as obsessed with Clark—or more accurately, Superman—as he was with you. No one is to blame except Lex Luthor. Clark wouldn’t want you to go on carrying this guilt around.”
Martha is just extraordinary! Any other mother would certainly be pointing the finger at Lois. But Martha is able to see beyond appearances and understand what really happened, even in probably her most down state.
“Am I in your universe?” She wanted to laugh the moment the words left her mouth. Was she actually buying into this bizarre story of parallel universes and a dead fiction writer who could leap through time? Was she losing her mind? “I mean, is there a Lois Lane in your world?” Obviously, she *had* lost her mind. Then again, no one had believed that men could fly until Superman arrived on the scene.
This is so Lois. Going off on something that doesn't really apply to the present situation.
“Yes, although, she’s Lois Lane-Kent now. We were married three years ago.”
So, Lois now knows that she and Clark are meant to be together.
“Positive. It will be like doing an autologous transfusion—donating my own blood to myself—Clark and I have the same blood.”
Angel, you stated this so...perfectly.
“If I may ask…how many people besides you know that Clark is Superman?” H.G. Wells asked the doctor.
“Well, I haven’t disclosed that information to anyone else. But it has been all over the news for a week now.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that media fiasco, another matter to be taken care of,” H.G. Wells murmured. “But right now, Doctor, we must focus on getting Clark healthy again. You must proceed with the utmost discretion. No one can know that Superman is donating blood to save Clark’s life.”
“I don’t understand. Clark *is* Superman…right?”
H.G. Wells smiled, and Lois suddenly saw where he was going with this. He was going to save Clark in more ways than one.
“Not anymore, Doctor. Clark and Superman are very much two separate individuals.”
“Excuse me?” the doctor asked, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “I was told just today that Clark and Superman are one and the same.”
“What H.G. Wells is saying, Dr. Dunn,” Jonathan chimed in, “is that as far as the public will know, Superman is *not* Clark Kent. But we feel that we can trust you. At least, we hope that we can.”
Ah, HG Wells will fix the problem of the world knowing that Clark is Superman. But will he take away Lois, Henderson, Dr. Dunn, Perry and Jimmy's recollection of this fact as well?
If Metropolis saw Clark leaving the hospital...assuming that he does...and Superman at his side, then that would discredit the report that Clark is Superman.
She realized that it was the only way, though. “I can get it. Lex has a chunk of it in his safe,” Lois told him. “But I’m not going to let you go through this alone. I want to be present, so you can…you know, squeeze my hand, or whatever else you might need. You’re doing this to save Clark, it’s the least I can do.”
I'm glad that Lois is going to be at Superman's bedside. Even though she is not his Lois, she is still Lois, and right now Superman needs Lois. He always does when he renders himself vulnerable, physically or emotionally. She is always his rock
Angel, I hate you for being able to use your right brain so well!
You are awesome girl!
~Sheila
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OK, I'll admit it--this whole section had me fighting back tears. The thought, as a parent, of having to "pull the plug" as Lois put it is just heart rending. ![[Linked Image]](http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Nature/sun-006.gif)
Hold on Clark, help is on the way.
Hi, everyone!
Thanks for reading!