Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Ten Years in the Making (22/25)

I should probably wait until Sheila has posted her response, but…

Well, there really were many things her that I liked! Loved, even!

Lovely! I just love it! The way his fingers slowly combed through her hair, even when he was asleep. He sure loves her!

And then I loved how Clark was cooking for her! That was an adorable scene. And speaking of adorable, this was irresistible:

Aaaaaawwww!!!

All right. You knew there was a catch, didn't you? Because I didn't much like this:

Okay. Imagine another guy, not Clark, who needs to pretend to the world that he is dead. He is not strictly forbidden to contact his girlfriend (or the girl he has been seeing), but he decides, all on his own, that he won't contact her. He hears, from far away, that she appears to be going to pieces over what has happened to him. In response, he writes long letters to her, wallowing in the bitter-sweetness of writing romantic letters and enjoying his own sweet tender heart… but never sending her even one of these letters, and never once doing anything else to let her know that he is alive and alleviate her suffering! Is this really a nice sort of guy? No, in my opinion, it is a conceited guy who loves his own ability to love, but who doesn't really care for his girlfriend.



Yes, Lois should be grateful to Clark for what he did for her. However, what if Clark had made a different decision? What if he had thought to himself, “Hey, I can't put myself in front of that bullet, because that may blow or destroy my secret identity! Better let Lois get shot. It's not my fault that she is getting herself into trouble all the time! Let her die if she must. Maybe I should look up Mayson tomorrow… or Lana… or Rachel…”

That's impossible, isn't it? Clark really didn't have a choice. He had to risk his secret identity by taking the bullet in his chest, and it didn't even have much to do with the fact that it was Lois who was in trouble. He would have had to do the same thing for almost anyone who was about to be shot. How could he live with himself if he didn't? How could he tell himself afterwards that his own secret identity was more important than the other person's life?

Personally, I believe that if Lois had been faced with a similar situation, where she had to make a split-second decision about whether or not she should take a bullet in her chest in order to save Clark, I believe that she would have chosen death for herself so that she could save Clark. And in her case, it would really have been a true, physical death, so that she would have had no chance to start over again. So yes, Clark was unselfish, but Lois would have made a choice that was even more altruistic. (Of course… I have to admit that it is pretty remarkable that Clark spends his life being so altruistic all the time, and putting pretty much everybody's well-being above his own.)

Ah well. I was glad to hear Lois say this:

Good! Well said, Lois.

Part 22 out of 25, eh? I'm looking forward to the rest of this fic!

Ann

I have to admit that the whole spandex thing has always been something I kind of wondered about in some back corner of my brain. Of course his aura means that is fits perfectly, but when he doesn't have that, will it sag or wrinkle in parts? That little exchange answered some of my questions.

And now only a few parts left! While I'll be sad to see this go, I'll also be glad to see these characters get some closure after ten year years of all this angst.

Yeah! You posted and I finally got to read it! Another lovely part. And what's this 22/25 thing??

Ann, you did just fine starting the thread. But I wont disappoint, I promise! Even in his sleep, Clark knows that he loves Lois and unconsciously softly seeks contact with her. I was so sure that Lois would wake up with CLark holding her and struggling with what to do about it, but this was just as sweet. And neither of them seemed to be uncomfortable with it, though neither of them addressed it later. I think they are coming to terms with how much in love they are with each other but just letting things happen, naturally. Lois has been privy to a side of Henderson that I'm willing to bet not many have been! LOL! Funny that Agent Perrelli's first name is Dan. And I think he may be on to Superman's identity which made him treat him as an ordinary guy. Yep. Dan knows that Superman is really Clark and he knows that he is in love with Lois.

Clark seeking contact with Lois for comfort is just so natural and so sweet and sometimes he isn't even aware that he is doing it. Clark just confirmed both of Dan's suspicions; that he is Clark Kent and that he is in love with Lois. But I don't think Clark has to worry about his secret getting out. Henderson trusts this guy and I think he is okay to be trusted. Clark is clearly so in love with Lois and if she is honest with herself she is in love with him, too, still. If she would just concede, she could have this with Clark for the rest of their lives. And pasta? Neither of them would survive pasta...and wine? That would surely be Clark's undoing. This is such a sweet scene and they are acting like the newly weds that they should be right now. Funny how everything about Lois just takes Clark's breath away. This just breaks my heart even though it was Clark's own fault. Lois is offering her love and forgiveness. In spite of everything Lois realizes that Clark's only intention was to protect her. Clark is continually chastising himself. I think he regrets destroying his chance to have more than friendship with Lois more than anything else. He just cannot get past that. There, now Lois has said it. She's ready to move past this, but to what? And this is so like Lois...to break it up before she reveals more than she's ready to.

Nicely done, but you've got to hurry up with the next part. Lois and Clark are making progress and as much as I don't want this story to end, I want to see our favourite couple get together.

Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! Brava!

~Sheila

For reasons I do not understand, feedback when I’m exhausted seems ever sweeter. So, thank you for all the feedback! It energizes my tired brain…

Ann,

You had to know that comment was going to scare me. I furiously thought about what I had written that would make you hate the chapter. So, it was good to hear that you didn’t hate all of it.

I do, too. I don’t really deal with who Perrelli is too much, but the other old TV show I’m really fond of is Scarecrow and Mrs. King. If you have any idea of what that is, I imagine Agent Perrelli being quite a lot like Lee Stetson.

I think my best answer to this is that this is a memory of the old Clark. I still don’t view him as conceited so much as stupid, but whichever it is, he has learned his lesson and the new Clark would not make the same mistakes again.

I agree with this, which is why Lois says this. She knows what he did was partly because that’s just who he is and it has nothing to do with her. But it also serves as a reminder of all Clark is willing to do for her that is just because she is Lois.

I agree, but while it’s not exactly like Clark, it’s not completely dissimilar. Clark would stand in front of a bullet for anyone, even Lex Luthor. Lois wouldn’t go that far, but I don’t think Lois’ list would just have Clark. I think she would do this for Perry as well and Jimmy… The issue here is that both Lois and Clark are selfless people. The consequences for Lois are greater, but I also think it’s important not to minimize the consequences for Clark. In this instance, he really did give up his life. And in the instance where his identity is discovered he risks the lives of Lois, his parents, … basically everyone he cares about is now in danger of being used as leverage against Superman.
Beth,

Wow, Beth, you are just the queen of unfortunate images, aren’t you? First an aging Superman in Fidelity and now Superman in a saggy suit. Eww!

You know, I think I have mentioned before now how eager I was getting to finish this story. But when I finished the rough draft last week, I felt a mixture of emotions. My immediate reaction was elation. This is the longest thing I’ve ever written and ended up being much more complicated than I had planned, so it feels good to have finished it and feel like I’ve ended in a decent place (at least I hope everyone else agrees). But then I was a bit sad. It’s amazing how much time I’ve spent working on and thinking about this in the past several months. It’s a bit sad to see them go.

But given the amount of editing left to do, I’ve been able to slowly wean myself off.

Sheila,

You know, when I read that in your feedback to the last chapter, I considered changing the beginning of this chapter to incorporate it. But I decided not to primarily as this had a nice mental image in my mind. And it symbolizes a lot of what Lois is feeling right now. She’s not relaxed enough to fall into Clark’s arms, thus she is huddled into a ball, but she can’t quite seem to stay away either.

I struggled with this a lot, worried that people wouldn’t like Perrelli simply by association with the other Dan. But for some reason, the name Dan just really suits the character in my head and in real life we meet people with the same name as someone else we once knew all the time. So, I kept it.

So, I need to ask Sheila – why the instinctive suspicions about John, but the trust in Dan Perrelli?

Oh, I don’t think she knows yet.

Well, my break from work is nearly over and I need to refocus. But once I get back home this weekend, I’ll post the next part.