Blame it on the aftermath of moving, and on a certain French visitor who was here for a week! <g>
Hey, how come I get blamed?
Actually popping back in because Gabriele's comments aroused my curiosity and brought me back to the story file.
I mean that the emotional tension between Clark and Lois was solved *too* early, in the chapters 24-25. After that, the story was a little too flat and it could have ended there.
The beginning of the story is *much* better than the end. There should be some big - preferably the biggest - problems in the end, also.
I don't think I can agree, and here's why. After I read your comment, I went back to the story file to check why I hadn't found the final parts flat at all, but on the contrary thought they were just as exciting, enthralling and insightful as the rest of the fanfic.
Part 24 and 25 both had a very emotional content indeed, with Lois and Clark's confessions of their previous experiences, Lois with Claude and Clark with Lana. However, to me, that scene didn't wrap up the fanfic, but it opened a new can of worms:
Clark admitted that he was insecure about his alien heritage because of something that happened to him in the past, and even if his relationship with Lois was going well, she hadn't truly realised the extent of what he could do, and what he was. This, imho, was solved very progressively throughout the end of the fanfic, first with Superman's big debut and his realisation that no-one took him for a freak, but welcomed his help instead; then there was Lois saving herself from Lex before he got involved as Superman (and what it involves for their relationship: he's Superman and involved with her, yes, but she can still deal with danger without him having to fear that one day he might be too late).
It was important for me as a reader to see Clark as Superman (and it brought another unexpected insight into Superman's role when Clark was patrolling and wondering how he was supposed to deal with his new status and whether it was best to be seen by criminals or take them by surprise), and I believe it was important for him to see that even appearing as an alien didn't make anyone (and especially Lois) reject him or be afraid of him. It was the final proof that Lois loved him for who he was, not just the Clark Kent part of him, but also the Superman part of him. I found this aspect of his insecurities very interesting, because it was exactly the opposite of what we saw on the show (Clark afraid that Lois only loves him for the Superman part of him).
So this is why, to me at least, the parts after their confessions were just as enthralling as the rest: they showed aspects of Lois and Clark's characters that couldn't be brought up earlier, and they wrapped up the problem of Clark's insecurities as far as his alien state is concerned.
Kaethel
