Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Learning to Love, 12/?

As you couldn't fail to notice, Carol, I was really angry at Clark in the previous chapter. I thought he was a jerk. I liked this part so much better. Here, I really felt the awesome responsibility Clark had taken on at age eighteen or nineteen. He would be the husband of a seventeen-year-old girl who liked him, but didn't dare to trust him with her body. He also had to be the father of his wife's sixteen-year-old sister. That in itself is an awesome task. On top of that, he and Lois had to work so hard to keep their little household afloat financially, while at the same time he and Lois had to study hard to be able to graduate with good grades. Clark is working so hard for the Lane sisters, and he isn't getting a lot of thanks for it.

Generally, I just understood Clark so much better in this part than in the previous one. Of course, I still felt even more sorry for Lois, the way I almost always it do. Well, Lois misunderstands Clark completely, because he is absolutely nothing like her father whatsoever. But she can't know that if she and Clark never spend any time together, and if they never really talk to one another.

This almost broke my heart:



I hated Mayson and Paul in this chapter!!! Scheming people....gaaahh!!!

Poor Lois and poor Clark! I hope things will get better for them soon, but I suspect, instead, that things will get worse before they get better!

Ann

So painfully beautiful.

But Mayson...
/me takes a baseball bat, whacks the wannabe home-wrecker over the head, puts her into a duffel bag and mails her off to Luthor's alpine fortress, labeled *for personal use*

Michael, who wonders if Lois was awake when Clark whispered to her this night.

Ah Carol, you're breaking my heart- but I think you knew that already, and may even have planned it all along *sigh*

I think it was nice to get into Clark's inner workings in this part. I agree with Ann that the perspective gave us an insight on just how much pressure his life is amassing right now. I'm glad he got some enlightenment about Mayson's desires, and I have a little faith reawakened in the fact that there was a slight realization that she might not have been swayed as forcefully as he'd like... Maybe, just maybe, he will be able to head her off at the pass when she starts her campaign to 'help him' get over Lois. He doesn't need your help, Mayson! *shakes fist*

And now Prof Paul with the sympathy, Linda with the pictures, Mayson with the cleavage, Clark with the nonring, Lois with the stress/jealousy/pessimism, and 'Call me Daniel' with the impending return ( )... What we've got here is a failure to communicate.

And miscommunication between our two favorite characters is indeed the issue - and such a real one at that. From the start, they came at this marriage thing from two different ends, and even though they seemed to be in agreement at the start (expectations wise, I guess) things have evolved, and they need to revisit the issue. Wow, a year has gone by already? What an anniversary.

As far as the letters, they are so bittersweet. I can't imagine Martha's own mindset as she was writing them, preparing her child for a day when she would not be there. Her continuous warning for Clark to 'Guard [his] heart' has me worried. I understand where she's coming from, but I'm scared about what will happen when he decides to actually do that.

Great part- can't wait for more!

~s

Although Clark realizes now the danger of spending time with Mayson, I don't think he's taking this seriously enough. He and Lois are going through a rough patch and the last thing he needs is to see an attractive member of the opposite sex on a regular basis, no matter how out in the open it is.

Carol, I can't help but cringe a little at where I see this is going. But I'm going to trust that everything will work out fine in the end. (fingers crossed)

Awww, I really feel for Lois. Like I said, even though -we- know that Clark isn't doing anything untoward, I can easily see how she thinks and feels the things she does.

I personally don't have a whole lot of beef with Clark lunching with a female. All except one of my friends are male, and if I had to have my fiance with me every time I wanted to eat lunch, go shopping, etc with one of them, I'd just have to spend all of my time alone. Clark is making sure they are seen together in public so there is no suspicions, which I find fine. However, I do think he should have been upfront with Mayson and let her know at the start exactly who Lois was to him.

This story is a prime example of why I don't like to read WIPs. I have patience issues with waiting for the next part I can't wait to read more!

Up front I wish to say that I've enjoyed this fic so far and have appreciated the high quality of the writing.

But now the angst fans are getting their money's worth. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of this type of angst. I like angst that is a natural extension of the actions of the plot. The angst fueled by misunderstanding always bugs me somewhat. I mean all they'd have to do to clear all this up is to... talk to each other.

The ways that are used to prolong this type of misunderstandings sometime seem a bit stretched and even artificial.

I will say, that the conditions that Lois and Clark find themselves in (their incredibly busy schedules)could easily contribute to such misunderstandings, but for how long?

As I said, this is a well-written story and I have confidence that Lois and Clark will see the error of their ways... eventually. I just hope that we don't have too many irritating type hurdles to overcome before they decide to just talk to each other.

Tank (who thinks that Mayson needs to come to a sudden tragic end)

Snicker, preaching to the choir, but I could cite volumes of incidents in my life where talking doesn't happen.

Why do I see a big wrecking ball aiming for their home?

Mayson...I'd deck her. I think a 3rd or 4th season Lois would deck her, but I guess we're not to the, uhh, Comfortable Enough With Things To Pick My Moments of Violence stage yet, heh. Far from it.
JD

Tank, I disagree. Angry people tend to "talk" to each other much easier than hurt people do. There has been more than one occasion in my marriage where it has taken James and I weeks or even months to talk things through. The rebuilding part isn't always that fun, since you have to peel back layers of hurt. However, once you're on the other side you have a deeper foundation of trust, respect, love and gooey emotions.

Rona, the issue isn't of Clark lunching with a female, it's of him lunching *alone* with a female. Yes, they're in public but he hasn't made it a habit to either invite along a third party or decline the invitation. Longterm, it's a big deal. For one thing, when people are alone they tend to talk. Since Clark is spending more time with Mayson, she knows more about his day-to-day stuff, hopes and frustrations than Lois does. Worse yet, he has made an investment in his friendship with Mayson that he hasn't made in his relationship with Lois.

He needs to rekindle that friendship. He needs to remember what it is to be her friend first, and then remember what it is to be her lover. Honestly, he says that he loves her, but he hasn't realized all of the facets of what love is. One part of love is forsaking all others, even if it means pulling back from some friendships. In the long run, marriage is worth that.

We live in a transient culture, but I know that no matter what happens to me, James will always be at my side. No matter where I move, James will share my bedroom. Clark can't say the same thing for Mayson.

I wasn't sure of what Paul's motivation was. It was curious, to say the least.

For that matter, I couldn't figure out what Clark was doing with the picture.

It's too bad that Martha and Jonathan aren't still there. An older, wiser couple can do so many things to ease the pain of the first few years of marriage. Perhaps Perry and Alice will visit sometime soon.


Elisabeth

Just finished the second group of Martha letters. I like how curious she is. She wonders who her boy will be when he becomes a man. I thought it was cute if she wondered if he still had a curl on his forehead.

BTW, James has a theory for your story. He figures that it will end with Lois in the white negligee. I told him that was a good theory but it would be better if in the last scene Clark said, "I have loved you from the beginning," and Lois responded, "and I will love you to the end, Clarkie." Hokey, I know, but it made for a fun conversation.

Elisabeth

Hello again! I know I'm not supposed to post until tomorrow, but I will post shortly. More on that later...

Ann - you were angry with Clark? Really? I understand Clark better generally - not sure why, just do. I wouldn't say I'm a 'country girl' at heart - and he isn't truly a 'country boy' at heart either, but I'm certainly not a city girl [heck, three houses down is a hay field and my dream is to have a house that backs up to a national park]. I too had a lot of responsibility at a young age. My mom died when I was 10 and, even though my dad remarried 2 years later, they separated 2 years or so after that and remained apart until a couple months before I moved out at 17. I've been on my own since then. I remember the February my electric bill was $13 and my take home pay wouldn't pay the rent [thank God for tips]. I think I mentioned some of that earlier. Because of all that - I relate to this Clark - and this Lois - but I think Lois has a lot more going on and a lot of this falls on Clark.

Michael - Still looking for that bat - if you just want a regular one for Mayson, that's easier to find .

Sonia - breaking hearts? Why on earth would I plan that? . Guarding Clark's heart goes back to what Jor-El told Martha and Jonathan [that we haven't read yet in the letters - and no that's not because I haven't written it yet *uses biggest, most innocent eyes*] - there's a good reason for it and she just wants him to be careful. But, as Clark already told us [but not Lois], Kryptonians generally know their soul mates at first sight so... while that doesn't mean she doesn't have real power to hurt him, he also knows that she's the only one for him... does that make sense?

Beth - Why is it that no one likes Mayson? Even Clark thinks she's a nice girl.

Rona - I can easily see both sides of it. There are certain men I would - and have - had lunch with without DH. His best friend, for instance. he's also a dear friend of mine and we don't see him often. When he's in town, we could easily have lunch together while DH is working. Heck, we were alone at our house for a while on several different occasions while DH was working, but there's a significant degree of trust - between me and DH and DH and his friend [and his friend and his wife too]. DH has a friend from work he has eaten with regularly [though not recently because of very hectic work week schedules for both of them]. I'm always welcome to go with them, though I rarely do [3 kids to take with me or find a sitter for, live much farther from DH's work than I used to be, etc.] She's one of my best friends [now, I didn't know her at all at first] and is getting married this week to another friend. The ONLY time I was ever concerned was after the worst nightmare of my life about a year ago. I was 5 months pregnant or so, completely hormonal, feeling incredibly unattractive, still sick almost daily, exhausted, etc. and I dreamed that they were together. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. There was absolutely nothing to indicate to me that anything was going on, but pregnant hormonal women aren't always rational. When his alarm went off and he found me still freaked out [3-4 hours after I woke up], he was wonderful and I know that I know that he would never betray me like that [I never would him]. Lois and Clark however... are at a completely different place in their relationship and Clark is still more than a bit naive.

Tank - /me is glad she's seated already. From one of my favorite [retired?] authors, that is high praise indeed. Thank you. As for the misunderstandings... DH and I have been together for nearly 15 years and married for 11 later this month. In the year or so before we married and a couple years after, we were in the same place as Lois and Clark here. Broke, in school, struggling to make ends meet and rarely home at the same time long enough to have a real conversation - one or both of us gone from 6am - 10pm most days. I distinctly remember talking to my MIL one day and asking her to guess who I'd talked to last night - DH. It was so unusual for us to have a REAL conversation of any kind, that it was that significant. Granted, we didn't rush marriage etc., but if we hadn't been committed to each other and our marriage, it could easily have devolved into months or years of misunderstandings. Lois and Clark just aren't there yet.

JD - /me loves the vision of Lois decking Mayson /me emails image to muse

Elisabeth - I hope Clark's views about Mayson/lunch become more clear as we go on - as well as Lois' role, if any, in it. You've sparked the muse with a couple of your comments and the muse thanks you - with chocolate, if that's acceptable . As for Paul, it will become clear eventually. As for the picture, I didn't know what he was doing with it until later either.

Interesting theories on how it will end. Which one of you is right? Neither? Both? Ah... only time will tell .

Thanks again everyone. Look for part 13 on a message board near you sometime tonight.

Carol

I'm with Tank and not surprisingly, with Elisabeth.

Yes, I hate this kind of angst(will skim these sections) but I understand how it can happen.

I still want Lois to and get some sense.

Love the line

Certain she was asleep he whispered, "I've loved you since the beginning, Lois. I'll love you till the end."

James