Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Learning to Love, 15/?

Ack! Get back here! That sounds so promising; you can't possibly make me wait until Sunday/Monday!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Don't you dare stop there! You're evilly toying with us LOL.

Point of interest: it's nice that Jimmy knows Clark's not interested in Mayson. That could be his one saving grace with this all blows up in their faces.

I probably had other thoughts, but you left me in screams and shambles till next time.
Great part!
JD

So is there a link between these?
I'd like to say this isn't what Clark meant but he did say it and it isn't unfair of Lois to think he would do judt that.

AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!! What an evil Tank ending!!!! (What? It wasn't a Tank ending? Okay, but it was a VERRRRY evil cliffhanger!!!!)

A few small details - and speaking about small things....

"Lying by omission" about his Kryptonian nature wasn't a small thing! Yes, I understand that he couldn't just pop in between pizza deliveries or newspaper rounds and blurt out,

No, he couldn't do that, but they did play that game that night when they asked each other all those questions, and the fact that he didn't tell her that night was no small thing! I'll keep insisting it.

Listen to Jimmy, Clark. You should be able to get it by now that Mayson isn't having lunch with you all the time just because she is being friendly or likes to keep you company or something.

Besides, Clark should probably ask himself why Lois seems to be so unhappy in their marriage. The most probable reasons would be these:

* Lois just doesn't like Clark very much, and she is sad that she has to stay with him out of necessity. (If that was true, it would be heartbreaking for Clark! )

* Lois is sad and weary because they are so poor and have to work so hard and because they just can't find the time to bond with one another. (But it that was true, why wouldn't she take the chance to try to bond with him a little more when they were alone together, like when they went to Colorado?)

* Lois is really worried about the fact that he is seeing Mayson so often. Why not think about that possibility, Clark? You can't think that Lois is unaware of the fact that you have lunch with Mayson so often. How about Lois has misunderstood the situation? Wouldn't that go a long way towards explaining your marital difficulties?

I think Clark should have told Mayson that he didn't wish to have lunch with her, for his wife's sake. And, of course, I so wish that Lois could have voiced some of her fears and suspicions to Clark, so that he had a better chance to understand what was wrong!

This was heartbreaking! Both Clark and Lois have been so scared that Lucy's eighteenth birthday would lead to a separation between the two of them, when Lucy didn't need them as legal guardians any more!

And yet thay can't talk about their fears, and Lois has begun fearing that Clark will leave her as soon as he has graduated!

Oh, sniffle, and then you left us with the evil cliffhanger!!!!

Ann

No time for decent feedback, but I loved this part. You even fastforward with style.


Elisabeth

Grr... Carol, how could you do this to us? What a cliffhanger!

Glad to see that Clark is making more of an effort, even if Lois still doesn't quite get it. And I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next part!

I was going to quote a certain line and procede to complain, but everyone else beat me to it.

I only hope it's a change for the better. They need something good/positive to happen in their lives.

Carol,
you manage to put a whole year in one part, and when it really becomes interesting, you leave us with a cliffhanger??? Now, that isn't very nice!! ;P

I have been pretty down since I found out about Anita's passing yesterday. So I am going to believe that the night that changes everything , will be a good thing! Please cheer me up some.

Natascha

I know everybody has already quoted this, but I can't help it. It's the evilest cliffhanger ever!

Andreia

It's been quoted enough in this thread, so I won't... oh, hell, I guess I will...
Wha? Whe.. Don't leave it like that!

I have to say that I felt that *I* was the one on pins and needles throughout that part. I enjoyed Clark's attempt at reconnecting with Lois by joining her study group (mostly I liked that Dan had to back off). I want Clark to keep knocking up against Lois's walls - eventually he'll get through again. Dare I wish that the 'night that changed everything' have something to do with barrier breaking? *sigh* probably not.

I'm also glad that Jimmy is there as a witness to Mayson's determination. I fear that with Lois's suspicions going on for so long, it's going to do some deep damage. Hopefully she won't hold on to it for too long after the [truth] finally hits the fan. I keep wanting to lock them in a room together - or maybe a warehouse where they are chained to a post - so they can talk. I felt so bad for Clark that he hadn't been able to go the ship in two years, *and* that Lois was so indifferent to his secret hopes that she would come back with him for the last message. BTW- I loved the switcheroo you threw in with Jor-El talking to Clark telepathically.

I'm glad that they are finally going to be at the Daily Planet, but I found it strange that they 'each thought the other might find something else'. I guess I can see this more from Lois's POV than Clark's, as he knows the DP has been her dream forever. With Lois's insecurities, it's natural (unfortunately) that she would assume that Clark would want to ditch her asap. I'm still hoping that Lois pulls one of her characteristic moves and blurts out what's been bothering her. Even if it makes things worse for a while, I'm all for it because it will mean it gets dealt with! Hey... maybe *that's* what happens on the 'night that everything changed'.

Actually, I would rather Lois have a heartfelt revelation about her husband on the 'night that everything changed' but progress in any form would be wonderful. Who am I kidding? I just want to know what happened on the 'night that'... well, you get the picture.

~s

Everything? You sure? Like Lois gets a haircut, Lucy becomes Goth, Ryan and Molly get sex-changes, Perry becomes a rock star...or am I going a bit too far? Maybe it's just "the night that changed a whole bunch of things." Please continue so my mind doesn't go crazy with the possibilities.

LOL woody!!!

Okay - everything might be a BIT of a stretch [no sex changes involved ], but a very lot of things.

/me wonders why, out of 5493 words in this segment, everyone focused on those 7.

I peaked in here [okay, okay, several times] and was kind of shocked by that. There's so much more in this section than that, but I guess the last sentence pushed the rest of it out of mind? I figured someone would want to know what the stipulations on Aunt Louise's inheritance were, etc.

I may post tomorrow morning. Let me see if I can get part 22 done tonight or tomorrow morning. MIL is coming over tomorrow though and the basement isn't close to clean so...

As for good or bad... sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can climb up. Rock bottom is coming up.

Several of you commented about 14 months passing in about a page worth of text. That's about to slow WAAAAAAAAAAY down for the next few segments as one of those pivotal events in a person's life takes place.

Thanks again - I'll respond more later.

Carol

Carol, of course there was so much more to this part. I just hate to think that they went another 14 more months without talking to each other! I find it extremely difficult to go just a day without having someone to talk to.

I think I know what the stipulent is. It most certainly has to do with Lois and Clark having a real marriage. I also wished that Aunt Louise had left them some money for now because I am really worried about them over-exerting themselves. They are still so young!

I am relieved though that nothing changed to the worse after Lucy's birthday!
Bring it on,
Natascha

I didn't get exactly why Lois was so reluctant to go to Colorado with Clark. I mean, I can think of a ton of reasons, but what was the big one? Upset about Mayson? Upset about not telling her he was an alien? General mistrust? I wish we'd seen just a little more of her point of view there.

On the other hand, the mystery surrounding the "requirements" is a good one. They're obviously to do with the deepening of Lois's and Clark's relationship, but I'm having trouble coming up with requirements whose achievement would be discernible to a random lawyer halfway across the country.

Lois! You should know Clark wouldn't leave you to be questioned by Perry. Except you should probably be thinking of it as, "He wouldn't let me stay and risk blabbing his secrets."

Lucy turned 18 over the summer, but isn't going to college yet?

Lois misses not having lunch with Clark in the fall? Signs of hope! Itty, bitty, teeny, tiny, weensy ones, but signs!

My guess is Mayson is going to show up and kiss Clark.

nice part... explained a lot.. although I think not disclosing the terms of the will can be advantageous as well as disadvantageous...

So will Mayson and Dan join forces to split them up?

Okay, fine, I'll comment on the rest of the story now that I've had time to get over that cliffhanger :p .

I didn't find Lois' hesitance to go to Colorado with Clark odd at all. I can see why she would be, since she makes it clear that she believes he's living a double life. Hmmm, funny how our Lois never thinks of Clark living a double life and he is, but this Lois thinks he is and he really isn't. Interesting sidetrack, but totally not relevant to the story, I know. Point being, given what Lois thinks Clark is doing, I can understand why she's wary of him.

As for Aunt Louise's stipulations in the will? I'm really trying not to put too much thought into that. I have some guesses, but I could be way off base so I'm going to avoid over-analyzing it and wait until we get to the part in the story where we find out what those stipulations are (we will, won't we?).

As said in other comments above, I do like how you incorporated Jimmy into Clark's college life, so he's a witness who knows nothing is going on between Clark and Mayson. I sense this could possibly be important later, although maybe not in a good way. I also liked seeing Clark trying to be a little more actively involved in Lois' life wherever he can be.

I was a little surprised by the way you fast-forwarded through an entire year. I'm used to you skipping ahead just by the dates on the pieces, so it threw me off a little when I realized you were actually giving a brief narration of what went on that year. It works well in the story, though.

As for this changing-everything night...I didn't really expect it to be a good life-changing night. I anticipated it to be bad. I can completely see your "It has to get worse before it gets better" viewpoint. Just as long as some day, at some point, it does get better. I want poor Lois and Clark to at least be friends again! I feel so sorry for them with all of their miscommunication and struggles. Speaking as someone who works full time in the day and goes to school full time at night on top of family responsibilities, I know how hard this is(I still haven't figured out why exactly I decided I needed another degree). I can't imagine doing everything they do with the work, the school, the responsibilities.

Hmmm, would this night that changes everything have anything to do with this A-plot you've been speaking of...?

- Rona [who is on to your evil diabolical scheme]

Natascha - I know - and I knew you guys knew that and, in all honesty, if I'd been one of you, I probably would have done the same thing .

Amy - see Rona's comments for the reasoning behind Lois not going to CO. She's got walls built so high and is avoiding spending time with him as much as possible [though they don't have a whole lot of time during this period anyway]. Good catch on Clark/Perry . I did the math [repeatedly]. Lucy turns 18 before her senior year in high school. This may not be strictly accurate for someone who started school in the 70s as the cut off birthday date has gotten progressively earlier, but right now - at least in our area - the cutoff date is Aug 1. So someone born July 31 would go to school a few weeks after turning five and someone born Aug 1 would go to school a few weeks after turning 6. Lucy's birthday is early Aug. Lois has a Dec birthday but also did high school in 3 years instead of four. She would have been two grades ahead of Lucy until high school when she graduated 3 years ahead of her.

AnKS - you are evil!

Rona - have *you* been reading *my* notebook? Yes, it does have to do with the A plot that's still plaguing me. You're right on the nose about Lois' reluctance. She's distancing, I think Dr. Friskin would call it... or something. As for the fast-forwarding, nothing 'big' happens in those fourteen months [except Lucy's bday which will be covered in LtL: Lucy's Story] and I really didn't want to write something just to have something in that year, you know?

The stipulations: good guesses. There's 3 stipulations total - each for 1/3 of the cash inheritance or 25% of the total [the brownstone is *just* the lease being up]. We'll see at least two of them before the fic is over; I'm not sure if we'll get to the third. As for how... that'll be explained too eventually.

This segment I'm working on is almost done so I will likely post tomorrow morning.
Carol

My take on things: Lucy has a late graduation date because she didn't start talking at a normal age.

As for the stipulations in the will, if she modeled her letters after Martha's she might have a few set aside for events instead of for dates. One of the letters might contain further instructions.


Elisabeth
who loves guessing even if it does make her look a little nutty

I, too, seriously doubt that Aunt Louise would force Lois to show physical evidence that she is sleeping with Clark before the two of them gets the money, but it is interesting to consider that Aunt Louise might have thought of something else to make sure that Lois and Clark have a "real" marriage before the inheritance is theirs.

I, too, am not surprised at all that Lois didn't want to go with Clark to Colorado, since she believes that he is cheating on her.

What Lois must do now is voice her suspicions to Clark. Kryptonians may or may not be telepathic, but Clark clearly can't read Lois's mind. But I was so moved to see how Lois hung on to her marriage at the same time as she was distancing herself from Clark. I was extremely moved by how Lois was bracing herself for the day when Clark would inevitably leave her. This Lois is so alone in the world, and what will happen to her if Clark walks out on her? Who will be there for her if that happens? Lucy and Jimmy, of course. Ah, but it's not nice for a young woman to have no one in the world to rely on but her younger sister and the sister's boyfriend.

Clark may be similarly alone, but I don't feel his fear of abandonment in quite the same way.

What Clark can do is make even more of an effort to shake off Mayson, even going so far as to tell her that he would prefer not to have lunch with her, for his wife's sake. And he can ask Lois to please talk to him, assuming the find the time to be alone.

Well, all this feels like moot points when we are all on pins and needles waiting for whatever it is you will spring on us!

Ann

Elisabeth - you're close, but it's mostly the age thing above. Good guesses!

Ann - You're right about the exam. The stipulation with the graduation portion of the money will revealed 'soon' [by that I mean time wise from the beginning of the next segment]. You're right - Clark doesn't have the abandonment issues Lois does. Yes, his parents [both of them] left him, but there was no choice involved in the matter. The accident, while not the Lanes' fault, was only the last in a very long line of abandonments [including the fact that they were on the road at all that weekend, even if the accident wasn't their fault].

Thanks again .
Carol