Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: On The Other Hand, 36 and 37/?

FDK goes here.

Posting schedule [ET]:

Sunday: Chapters 38 and 39, sometime after 3pm

Tuesday: Chapters 40 and 41, 4-5pm

Thursday: Chapters 41 and 42, 4-5pm

Thanks .

Carol
[who edited the post after reading Michael's and realizing her numbers were wrong - and LOL Michael! Have a safe trip!]

Okay, I'm reaching out here in blind faith but as I'm going to read 36/37 on my way to the airport tomorrow morning, let me just say

Michael

...interesting... so they talked... and relieved some of the tension... but the trust still isn't there at *all*.... misunderstandings are still building... and Lana and Lois still have not run into each other... hmmm.... it'll be interesting to see where this leads....

Nice parts. I don't know how you have Laura Lang written, from what we've been told nasty, but think about this.

Someone, at some point might give Clark or Lois and Clark the "Making Your Marriage Real" lecture.

I know it is out of style in our modern world but it is still worth saying in circumstances such as these will appear to the outside world.

What is the "Making Your Marriage Real" lecture?


It has a few basic points

• for thousands of real people married for other reasons than romantic love.
• Common Greek of the first century has four words translated as "Love"
• éros,
• storgé,
• philéo
• agápe.
• In the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) only three of these four Greek words are used.
• storgé,philéo and agápe.
• éros, which is the root of the word erotic is what is often considered romantic love, love between the sexes.
• Yet marriages built only on éros, fade and die. For marriage to grow and last it must be built on more than that a rapid heartbeat, and that warm tingly feeling, because these don't last.
• Arranged marriages can grow to include all four and so forth and so on.

The point being made is many a successful marriage started out in most of human history from someplace other than romantic feelings.

BTW I still believe the baby is going to turn out to be Clark's!!!

I keep being moved by this Clark, probably because he is so honestly trying to do the right thing, and yet so acutely aware that he is at least half-failing. I think that the reason why the 'generic Clark' so often irritates me is that he keeps being so hurt by Lois and keeps blaming her for his own misery. Here, he is doing nothing of the sort. I don't mean he is absolving her of any responsibility. He isn't doing that at all. It's just that, for a change, he is far more preoccupied with her well-being and his responsibility, instead of his own well-being and her responsibility.

This Clark isn't perfect. Far from it. But he is so honestly trying to do the right thing. You have even managed to touch me with the way you portray his love for Lana. You just melted my heart when you made me see that he not only fell in love with Lana when he was six, but he still loves the little girl that Lana used to be when he originally fell in love with her.

Your Lois is somewhat harder to like. I don't mean that I don't sympathize with her, because I really do. It's not hard to feel for her in view of the horrible situation she finds herself in. Remember, too, that she probably saved Clark's life when he was powerless and sick with Kryptonite poisoning, and he might well have succumbed to hypothermia if she hadn't half-dragged him to her father's cabin. Still, Lois comes across as a bit more selfish than Clark, at least to me. Clark feels horrible not only for his own sake but almost as much for Lana, whereas Lois is wallowing almost exclusively for her own sake. (Bonus points to her for worrying about her father, though!) Also, there is something about Lois's combination of jealousy and a refusal to reach out to Clark that is not very pretty, at least to me.

Still, though, your Lois and Clark are so human. They are not cardboard chararacters, which is part of the reason why they are so fascinating to me.

Ann

P.S. Nana and Pop Pop, eh? So they were Martha's parents after all. So Martha had such a domestic, quilt-making mother! Imagine! And Martha and Clark - and Jonathan? - spent some time living with Martha's folks. Why was that? Did it have any long-term effects on Clark's relationship with his parents, Martha and Jonathan?

I liked these parts.

I don't see Lois as 'selfish'. Being pregnant and terribly sick, and thrown into this situation gives Lois a few reasons to be focussing on herself. She's showing signs of jealousy. She's starting to see a human side of Clark she wishes was her, and even worse, has to pretend is hers. So the idea of Lana, or Clark with Lana, combined with hormones... I have to forgive her for that. I also feel like she wants a connection. Something to ground her perhaps.. and maybe she thought Clark would be that connection... but thus far it hasn't come to be.
Clark became more endearing in these parts. He is 'trying' to play the role of husband. He is trying to do things to avoid breaking his vows. I was a little surprised the listening in to the heartbeat of the baby wasn't more of a focus for him. I expected his ears to start wandering back to the baby during class and have his concentration distracted, but it didn't happen. It shows me he isn't on the job yet with caring completely for Lois and bub.
I'm wondering if reality might hit him hard if he is caught making out with Lana because he hears the baby's heartbeat close by at some point....
Or maybe he just won't feel the emotional attachment because he doesn't believe it is his child.

Loved the Mindy references... very nice homage to the show.

Looking forward to more.

Good points, Lisamaree! And I don't dislike Lois's behaviour. Like you said, she has many reasons to act the way she does. In any case, I find this story so engrossing partly because I so like these very 'human' versions of Lois and Clark!

Ann

Intriguing as always... I too wonder if there'll be a confrontation between Lana and Lois.

Navance's nephew.. nice addition to the cast. I'm wondering if he is just an observer or will actively take part in causing general mischief AND he's not even lying about where he disappears to! (Pity Lois doesn't know that). Absolutely loved how Clark is affectionate towards Lois which is different from his affectionate ways towards Lana!

Hey, we haven't seen much of Joe lately.. not that I'm complaining but does he have any common classes with Lois? Or maybe Lana will snitch to Joe about what she knows...

Lana... I'm just worried that her quiet simmer might reach its boiling point soon... and that'd be disastorus especially with the evil nephew on scene ... loving it!

Plus, even though Clark is now actively playing his "husband" role, I'm still not sure if push comes to shove and he has to take sides... will he choose Lana / Lois. He definitely needs more time to come to terms with his situation but then circumstances don't always wait for you to adjust / orient.

Hmmm, more clues w.r.t. Clark's slightly different background? Just what significance does the name Christopher have? I might be totally off base but I'm thinking that Martha "found" Clark either before she married Jonathan or while Jonathan was away at war. Just speculating...

Enjoyed it a lot, Carol. The heartbeat was a great touch. I didn´t even felt tne urge to show Clark my special tool for teaching him right and wrong.

Michael

Thanks everyone .

Lieta - a Lana/Lois confrontation... hmmmm....

Framework - in our married couples Sunday School class, someone made this point about arranged marriages. That they tend to be looked at as a partnership and that each person is a whole person, that they don't rely on the other one for fulfillment. Problems can be worked out through negotiation etc. That 'romantic' love may or may not ever come in those relationships but they can still happy and fulfilling none the less. And, yes, it's official . The girlfriend is Mindy [but not Church because she's never been married to Bill - not a clue what her maiden name is...].

Ann - they are far from perfect. I don't enjoy stories about perfect people [generally] because I'm not perfect and perfect is boring or can be and people with flaws are more interesting. As Lisamaree pointed out [and you agreed with], sometimes people - men and women - are deservedly selfish. When DS was so sick, he demanded so much of me that I didn't have anything left for DH [after doing the bare minimum for the other kids]. It *was* pretty... selfish of me [though I'm not quite sure that's the right term]. I *needed* him to take care of me because I simply *couldn't* take care of him or even myself sometimes. I had to give and give to DS and the other kids [we're talking making sure diapers were changed and everyone survived the day with something to eat - nothing 'overboard'] which meant I could only take from him. Long term, that kind of relationship won't work. In a good relationship, there will be times that each person ends up taking and the other giving but most of the time there's give and take from both. Not long after DS' surgery, DH had a kidney stone so bad that he literally couldn't move much at all for a couple weeks and the roles were somewhat reversed [the house went to that hot place in a handbasket b/c he couldn't do it and they were both very intensive in their needs]. Anyway... I'm glad you can see them as human - that's a good goal . Oh and Nana and Pop Pop? Who? /ducks and runs/ Seriously, I thought the chapter where a lot of that is explained was going to be right before I head out of town the first week of November, but I think I may have counted wrong. If I can get enough done this week [pre Nano], I'll do a bonus post before I leave .

Lisamaree - I think you've hit Lois on the head here. I remember with DS I was so tired and so sick and I couldn't help but be a bit selfish [see comment to Ann above too]. I think Clark is trying - but it's hard...

AnKS - why does everyone want a Lois/Lana confrontation? /looks puzzled/ hehe I love that he tells her the truth about where he's been. Life doesn't always wait and Clark will be confronted with that question at some point... More details? AH! Will have to RAFO . I said to Beth last night that no one mentioned the Christopher thing, but I must have overlooked it when I read this the first time. Interesting speculation...

Michael - glad you enjoyed it! Safe trip!

More momentarily...
Carol

I'm sorry it took me so long to offer any feedback to your - once again - fabulous story. I loved the way Clark tried to do the right thing (like carrying Lois' backpack or rearranging his schedule to fit hers instead of Lana's). I especially loved the way Clark told her the truth about his whereabouts (e. g. the Great Wall) even if he said it in a way Lois didn't believe.

Eagerly waiting for more.

You're in luck. Posting...

Carol