Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Comments: Family Hour 13

Sorry about the delay. Real life occasionally interferes...multiple family members visiting, birthdays, other things.

Let me know what you think.

Delightful. Clark is being stupid and he is setting up Lois but it is so well done. He is being the classic lunkhead Kent.

And clearly Lois is going to be grabbed by Lana's minions and need help. Joy.

It feels relieved that Lisa understands Clark.
But I was thinking how wonderful Clark explains Lois
Given to Lisa’s thoughts, all of things are very easy.

Always you put bomb in the ends of story.
Lana has been greed very much. And Lana Luthor!!
So Does Lex know Clark Kent = Superman?
It’s very terrible.

I am anxious next part.

LANA LUTHOR?!?!?!?!?!?!

Andreia

Lana Luthor? I'm a bit stunned myself. I didn't expect that one either.

Has Lana worn the green bracelet for so long that it has finally affected her mind? Is that why she's scaring her evil minions? And who's the traitor? Maybe the chubby guy who was washing the car when Lois first arrived, maybe the butler, maybe the gardner, but it sure wasn't Joshua.

And if Lana Luthor is the one in charge, where's Lex? Did she kill him (or have him killed)? Was she the way she is now when she married Luthor? Or is her state of mind the result of hating Clark for so long? By the way, we still don't know exactly what she did to "betray" Clark. Maybe it was a misunderstanding - although, given his musings about her attitude towards him changing as his fortune grew and about how she liked him better "under the influence," then it's more probable that she was the one who was mainly at fault.

This is a very good monkey wrench to throw in the works, and it's coming at the worst possible time for Lois and Clark's future relationship. I think Lisa's going to cut him some slack for a while, but she's still young and idealistic and won't wait forever. Watch out for those young girls with stars in their eyes, or for those who want a daddy so badly that they'll accept one who's not quite what she needs. Clark's not ready to be a daddy yet, but I believe he really wants to be one. But he's right, he'll have to gain Lois's trust and allow her to set the pace.

Great story, Shayne. Keep it up, okay?

Shayne! Ugggg! What are you doing to us? I am so frustrated with Clark. He wants Lisa to keep this from Lois. Well, Lois isn't Lana! I understand where he's coming from...I really do but if anyone can be trusted, it's Lois. She has his child for heaven sake. She would not even tell Clark Kent what she needed to see Superman for! Lois stands to suffer the brunt of publicity and I don't think she's willing to take that chance with Lisa. Lois in NOT Lana!

And by the way, what did that hussy do? Lana? Oh, Clark had better tell Lois before Lana does in the midst of trying to destroy him. Maybe Lois will use the information to help Clark when he gets his *** in such a mess with things that she has to bail him out. Exactly Clark! Think about what you're saying here. Clark you are a good person or you would not have offered Lois and Lisa to visit. He cannot see that Superman is just Clark in a change of clothes. The good person is in there. He wants so badly to be Lisa's father--a good father but at the same time afraid that he'll screw things up. If he'll just let them, Lois and Lisa will help him. Wow, this Lana is the female version of Lex!

I get the feeling that Lois will not be going back to Metropolis.

Well done Shayne! Absolutely fabulous! Loved it!

~Sheila

Ah gaaaah, Shayne, that was pretty evil!

I always hate it when Clark is keeping his double identity a secret from Lois. But now that he enlists Lisa's help in keeping Lois in the dark, I like it even less! And for what?

So now he thinks that everyone is like Lana?

Come on! Clark, you tried to buy Lois off, so that she would give up her search for Lisa's father altogether. But even though Lois is dirt poor - you know that she is - she refused to let herself be bought off. And you think she is like Lana?

Like Sheila already pointed out... exactly, Clark.

This was very intense, Shayne. You made me feel Clark's pain. But I wonder what part of the truth Clark wasn't telling Lisa.

This sounds just too much the excuses Clark used to justify his lies to Lois in the show. He couldn't tell her, because then she would have gotten the wrong idea of who he really was.

There is definitely something he is keeping from Lisa, too.

Clark couldn't tell Lois because she would be disappointed... he couldn't tell her because she would be angry... ah gaaaah, I hate this, and it is so typical of lunkheaded Clark!!

I love the Beauty and the Beast reference. How perfectly appropriate this is for a twelve-year-old girl, who has finally met her rather strange father, whom she needs to be good. Whom she would love to save.

Small nitpick - I think you mean that "all her mother would have to do was to love him". Anyway, I love the childish pop psychology of Lisa's reasoning. (I even agree that there may be some merit to it! Although I don't believe that the best way to make Lois love Clark is to lie to her about who Clark really is.... )

Again, I love how you use Lisa's unfulfilled childhood wishes to make us understand why she would go along with Clark's wishes and lie to her mother.

I've got to quote this bit of Lisa wisdom, too:

The Gospel and Tao according to Lisa...

+ as the theory of relativity and happiness according to Lisa...

Getting parents back together as the cure for the world's pain according to Lisa...

The President of the United States of America according to Lisa...



(Sorry, got a little carried away there...)

The last part of this chapter was a shocker. Of course, me the life-long non-smoker couldn't help giggling at how cigarette smoke has come to signal evil and depravity:

The rest of it was just shocking. Lana Luthor???? How and in what capacity is Luthor involved with this? Has Lana got green K? What is she going to do with it? (Uhh.. kill Clark? And Lisa?) Why is she so hung up on Lisa? Did something happen to her so that she herself couldn't have Clark's child? (I seem to remember that you hinted something...) Why does she need one of Clark's employees as a spy? And who is this hapless fellow anyway?

So many questions! Please be back with more of this amazing fic soon, Shayne!

Ann

Interesting.

Combined FDK for 1-13:
Lois screwing up her life: Oh boy.

Coach through wall: Oh BOY. Definitely interesting seeing a story where Lois learns about her child's father after the powers kick in.

Some parallels:
Lois emotionally black mailing her daughter and not even knowing it.
Clark *flying* around and not knowing that he should be home with his family.
Lois and Clark not trusting each other.
Well it's less conscious than what Sam and Ellen Lane did to their family, but still.

Luthor:
Clark owning Luther Labs. What exactly happened to Lex. Did he meet an ethically challenged Clark and found him self on the squishy end of a Luthor business deal.

Lana:
Lana *Luthor*? Step one: use Red K to seduce Clark. Live rich of his powers. Get thrown out for Red Kaying him. Sucking up to Luthor next. Becoming a widow. through some unfortunate accident.

Well there have been lives more messed up in the LnC-fandom. But not many. At least Lois found herself a way of not getting lost in the Congo.

Shayne, I adore this story.

Your Lois is so heroic and Lisa is so brave to try to deal with the life they've had. I have some sympathy for Clark, but wish that he had a little more courage to give Lois the whole story (yeah, I know. That would sort of untwist the majority of your plot, I suspect...) so that they can work together on solving the Kryptonite problems and Lois can watch out for Lana.

It's almost as if you've given the characters a role reversal in the relationship department. While Lois isn't involved with any man, it's more because of her role as a single mom, working hard to raise her daughter and make a living. Clark, on the other hand, has been royally burned by Lana. One could almost label that relationship as a 'federal disaster' . So now Clark is the one with trust issues. Interesting.

Oh, and the ending cliffhanger was awesome.
I'd say she probably has quite a stockpile of both red and green K and is the one who borrowed or found most of what Clark's people can't locate.

/me wonders if Lex succombed to Kryptonite poisoning, after losing his hair, of course... So that's how Lana came to be in charge of the Luthor fortune and Clark came to be the owner of Lex Labs.

BJ

Another twisty part! That was so fun--I liked that Lisa is keeping the secret and that I could follow her logic. It's so heartwrenching how much she wants things to work out, to have a dad and a home where her mom will be happy.

I'm still really curious (like everyone) about the Lana thing. I hope we'll get to thank soon.

alcyone

Shayne...Shayne...

I've been thinking about this story and the portrayal of the Clark/Superman dichotomy. In L&C:TNAOS, Clark was the "real" character and Superman was merely an extension of his personality combined with a chance to use his powers to help others without losing himself in the process. But this Clark does NOT consider himself to be a good person. So he puts on the blue-and-red suit to "be" the person he deeply wants to be.

Clark is a real person in this story, but then so is Superman. And they're different people, or at least Clark treats them as different in his own mind. As Clark explained it to Lisa himself:

Here, Clark is putting on the suit so CAN be the great hero, not because he's already a heroic person inside. He's afraid that if his real identity becomes public knowledge, his past deeds would tarnish the image of the super-hero. He's probably right, too, given the way Clark cheated a number of people out of riches which were rightfully theirs (even if they didn't know the riches were on their property). But now I suspect that Lana might have had a great deal to do with that side of Clark's personality, and if that's true, then she almost surely used the red K bracelet on him. And if that's true, then his culpability is reduced somewhat by Lana's influence.

Contrary to the stated preferences of some FOLCs, I still maintain that, in this case, Clark is justified in keeping his true identity from Lois at this point. She doesn't know him very well, only what little she's seen in the media or in person, and that disclosure at this point would probably put more roadblocks between them than bring them closer together. She has to learn to trust him as a person. Of course, he doesn't know her that well either, so he's having to learn to trust her, too. And it's not a choice he'd make if Lisa weren't involved. I seriously doubt that he'd give Lois a second appointment if she hadn't borne his daughter, and that's another problem they'll both have to deal with.

He cannot - and should not - keep that information from Lois for very long, and he'll have to be sensitive to her needs instead of just his own insecurities. On top of that, there's Lisa to consider. I wonder what she'll do if she thinks Clark is waiting too long. And I wonder what evil scheme Lana will dream up. Will she settle for making their lives miserable, or will she try to use lethal force on Lois or Lisa?

It's interesting that Lana's fury was triggered by the mention of the nursery. I wonder what that means to her? And she doesn't appear to realize that Lisa has inherited her father's abilities, or that they're beginning to bubble to the surface.

Ooh, how about a Lisa/Lana confrontation? That would be most interesting, Shayne. Of course, I think anything you come up with next would be interesting.

He has to lie to her until she has learnt to trust him for his lies?

Terry, I must point out, this Lois has her daughter to consider. Would she out Clark Kent when she knew that that would completely ruin her daughter? Also, would she decide that because Clark told her the truth about his double identity he had to be a dangerous nutcase, and she had to keep her daughter as far away from him as possible? (Never mind that Lisa is his daughter too, and that Lois can't force Lisa to stay away from him?)

There may be all sorts of narrative reasons for the story-teller, Shayne, to keep Clark's double identity a secret from Lois. And it makes good sense that Clark himself, a lonely, fearful and suspicious man, would truly believe that he needs to keep Lois in the dark about his identity for a lot of reasons. So I'm not saying that the logic of the story is crying out for a quick revelation, but I'll never admit that it is Lois's lack of trustworthiness that is the true reason for why Clark can't tell her the truth about himself!

One person who can be trusted is Shayne, though. We can sure trust you to deliver a fantastic story! Thank you for this gem of a tale, Shayne!

Ann

Ann wrote:
I'm not saying that. Lois is indeed trustworthy. My point is that Clark doesn't know it yet. He will see it soon, I'm sure, if Lana doesn't gum up the works. And I agree that Lisa must be considered in any such decision. Of course, she may take that decision out of her father's hands before long.