Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: On The Other Hand, 48/? and OTOH: He Didn't Have To Be, 1/2

Bonus points to Elisabeth who had the best guess to this point!

This half of 'He Didn't Have to Be' was written a while ago - after the first three chapters of OTOH, but it wasn't till I got into the plotting of the Latislan stuff that I realized it made a great back story for OTOH. It was originally written in third person but I think we managed to edit all that nasty third person stuff out .

This is going to be posted to the archive as a stand alone fic without Lois' thoughts in it. It also, of course, is not the version Clark's going to actually turn in, but he'll get into that later.

There was something else I wanted to say, but I've not got a clue what it was

FDK goes here...

Posting schedule [ET]:
Saturday: Chapters 50 and 51, 10-11am

Monday: Chapters 52 and 53, 1-3pm

Wednesday: Chapters 54 and 55, 1-3pm

Thanks .
Carol

Kent Farm:

Wow... I loved "He didn't have to be"

*On the other hand*, Saturday?! =P

I also like how you chose to handle the revelation... it somehow fits Lois and Clark to have it come out in writing.

and again I'll say *ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH*
It's 11.30 pm here, and I should be in bed, since my DH is not in the country and I'm dealing with the kids on my own, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read more OTOH to make my night.

But instead I'm pulling my hair out with another cliffhanger.
ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH

I knew Chris was the first husband.. brilliant stuff. I love this back story, especially from Martha's perspective. I think the Lois thoughts are significant in there too... for obvious reasons...
It gives her an insight into Clark people rarely get into their partners. But we haven't been introduced to Jonathan or the super aspects of Clark... are the in the next part????

Funny how Clark, who I understand is nervous about his secret, lacks the confidence in his youth to accept where he is and bring the truth up with Lois before she reads his essay. It's an interesting side to Clark... the man who would rush to save Lois from an evil dictator (even if it meant revealing his powers) yet he can't sit down and just say to Lois 'I can fly'.

I want to see where this all goes, and how Lois reacts to it all.
I am going to go out on a limb and hope that given the background she is reading (and her innate investigative skills) she will accept Clark and his super-ness in a logical discussion (and maybe ask him to take her flying under that moon just to prove to herself he really CAN fly).... Who wouldn't after reading that kind of compassion from Martha....

Can't wait for more....
really... I can't....

Anyone know if there is a support group for fanfic readers who can't get enough of a Carol story.......

You know, Carol, there are a few icons I'm missing here. Like this one: Come back here!

I loved the way the revelation was realized in your story. It's rather typical for Clark to do it in writing, and it's even better with Lois' thoughts in there. It just makes the whole scene so much more... life-like, I guess.

Of course, Clark's avoiding tactics aren't so bad, either. (Loved Martha's threat, btw.)

WOW!
What a great revelation scene. Totally unique. I am really blown away. I feel for Martha and baby Clark. And grown-up Clark too! I dind't have any theories on who Christopher might have been, I was waiting for you to tell me. And what a great, sad story it is!

Lois is taking the news extremely well. Of course there have been no mentions of "powers" yet. That might freak her out at least a little...

I too loved that Clark chose to let her read his story rather than tell her, no interruptions here plus we get to hear Lois's thoughts.

They promised to be better friends from now on!! That's something for now.

I adore Granny!

Natascha (who, despite a really crappy day at work, is a lot more cheerful now)

dang it. your not supposed to make a grown man tear up over lunch!

I thought Elisabeth was blowing smoke with her wacky thoughts. Guess I'd better start listening to her crazy ideas...

Very well done.


And did I mention just how annoyed I am that I have to wait until SATURDAY!?!

James

I have to say I don't understand Lois's reasoning here. I can understand that she's upset that the reason why he's telling her is because his mother told him he had to. But I don't understand how that translates to "he doesn't trust me."

I'm glad he did tell her rather than making more excuses why he can't. It is nice that he did it in writing.

/whew

Sitting down for a minute. DH got to vote about 1103 and was number 651 or so - two years ago there were only about 500 in our precinct. We're going at 4...

/dances/

Glad you guys are enjoying it! The first part of Saturday's post will be the second half of HDHTB.

I will say this - *if* my FIL remembers his network password, I will be on the boards and will post on Thursday but I DON'T anticipate that. Beth and Nancy both said they'd email me any FDK from tomorrow on so I'll get it . Willing to check my [password protected] email from their desktop... Boards... not so much.

Sara - I don't think Lois gets the magnitude of what he's telling her at that point. She would prefer he tell her because he trusts her not because his mom threatened him. He *does* trust her, but if Mom wasn't threatening, he wouldn't tell her at all - not anytime soon probably. But at least he was being honest with her about the reasons why he's telling her.

Back to getting ready for tomorrow...
Carol

Well that certainly clears some things up... and complicates some other things as well! Clear as mud, I should say, right?

We now know who Christopher is, and the significance of the name for the baby. We also get an idea about why Martha is often the main voice from the parental unit, and understand the multiple grandparents. Also, this explains the 'whole-naming' issue for Clark and the story behind the quilt. Whew!

I enjoyed HDHTBp1 and sense that it's warming up into a love story between Martha and Jonathan. There has been subtle urgings toward the 'raising/loving another man's child' arena, and I think I'm also getting an underlying heroism vibe there too. As it might turn out to be revealed, Clark is a product of both of his fathers (I'm guessing that he doesn't know about the Kryptonian one yet). Ingenious back story.

I also enjoyed Lois's thoughts interspersed throughout the narrative essay, but it was kind of an awkward tradeoff (personally) because I was trying to remember that I was reading the POV of someone else reading a POV. It was only a minor mental adjustment but I was wondering if there could possibly a different way to present it. Please disregard the following if it holds no merit: You could potentially put the parts where Lois is reading in italics, using her thoughts in the same way you have been to preface and break in where needed. Of course, this would be different when HDHTB is it's own story... but anyway.

I am anxious to see what's going through Clark's head as he watches the expressions flit over Lois's face while she reads. She was close to tears a couple of times, and I wonder what Clark makes of that. Knowing these two, they always seem to misconstrue something. Having 'heard' part of Clark's foundling story, I'm starting to rethink my position on Martha knowing the truth about the marriage/baby. From what she went through, she might turn out to be a much needed ally in Lois's corner. That said, I'm going to keep my vote in the 'her not knowing' box for now, because I really want Lois and Clark to have to do some things on their own before other people help out. They need some emotional foundation for when things start getting harry down the road... unless everything's roses from here on out! Is that possible, Carol? Do we have only roses to look forward to?

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm sure I'll be back to comment later since the lot of us will be feigning for something to discuss until the next part. *sigh* Exactly when is Saturday again?

~Sonia

Carol, I was all about going to hunt you down and drag parts 50 - 100 out of you for splitting where you did. And then you pulled this one on us...


Or perhaps it's because I'm sort of tired right now that I don't have the energy to really get mad over the cliffhanger.

And loved the whole working up to it stuff. Oh, before I forget: I really did expect Lois to introspect that Clark was going to tell her that it's over.

I hope you'll have a great time at your ILs

Michael

Sonia - I agonized [okay, that might be a bit strong ] about the Lois thoughts thing. It won't matter when it gets to the archive anyway... If I have a chance, I'll go italicize the text and unitalicize Lois and see how it looks. Originally, I just had the story, but Nancy convinced me we needed to see Lois' reactions.

Saturday is that day after Friday...

At least this week anyway.

And Michael... 100? Really?

/runs for cover/
Carol

Edit: I edited HDHTB italics.

Thoughts on which is better?

Sure. You will surely need that many to get Clark and Lana back together happily married raising his love-child, no? And Lois could be their maid after Mindy clears out Sam's money, sends him to prison and Lois ends up needing help

Michael, who really does think it's funny to make such comments.

LOL @ Michael and his blasphemous thoughts.

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, I was convinced Chris was some long-lost brother or something. This is freaking fascinating!! Can't wait for part two; I'm dying to know when Jonathan comes into the picture!

Hell of a part,
JD

Wow! A lot revealed, both to Lois and to the readers, in this part. It's good to have a backstory like this even if it's not canon. Will Jonathan still propose to Martha four or five times, and will he keep on plowing the fields (in winter) when she turns him down?

Also: DH = Dear Husband? I've been wondering.

What a poignant story, particularly because Martha loved Chris so very deeply. Much of her story with Chris resembled Clark's relationship with Lois.

I love how deeply honest Clark is with Lois, even as he avoids her. I also appreciate how Lois reads through to the end without flipping a cog mid-story.


Elisabeth

And yes, DH means Dear Husband or Darling Husband or Da Hubby, as I prefer

I had *that* kind of day yesterday, when I had a very long day in school and then there was a major power outage when I was supposed to finally take my train home, and I had to wait for hours....

Absolutely fascinating back story, Carol! That explains Chris, grandma Davis and Clark Jerome Davis Kent. Your portrait of Martha was splendid. Now I'm very much looking forward to finding out what kind of father Jonathan will turn out to be, although you have really told us already. You said that Clark loved to 'waste time' with his father (obviously Jonathan) and that his parents had raised him better than that, particularly his daddy.

I loved that Martha made Clark tell Lois his secret! Yay!!!! Now you've given us two things to look forward to so eagerly, Martha and Jonathan's love story as well as Lois's reaction to learning that Clark is an alien. (But she sort of knows already, and she hasn't freaked out, has she?)

There was one thing I still didn't understand, though:

Isn't it Martha who is the narrator here? Then whose mom's forehead is she kissing? There are just a few too many grandmothers involved here for me not to get confused sometimes!

Anyway, brilliant, Carol! I was going to say brilliant as usual, but this was even more brilliant than ususal!

Ann

Ann - shhhhhhh. We caught all the third person junk. You didn't see that. It's a figment of your imagination...

Seriously, it should read:

I assume the subtitle "He didn't Have To Be" is from the Brad Paisley's song "He Didn\'t Have To Be"

=============

Interesting approach. Your Jonathan is going to really set a high standard for Clark.

This is the truth behind adoption and StepParenting that I really wish some of the "Superman Returns" fanfic writers would get, I hope the writers of the SR sequel "get" it.

A really wonderful part. With this much depth I am now hoping the kryptonite exposure gets left to the summer.

Any chance you could make one of Lana's parents express support for Clark and his decision to marry Lois?

BTW Is Your Clark aware that he is an Alien? Perhaps he has the Globe?

Have been reading this story from the beginning without commenting (I know, bad girl). But I can no longer remain a silent reader.

I love it. It's intriguing.
And personally, I think Martha and Chris are more like Clark and Lana. Big love, everybody expects them to get married one day...

I hope the next part will contain Jonathan and show that one can love more than once. I hope it will be love growing slowly. I hope it'll be an example to Lois AND Clark of how they can get their marriage to work.

And lastly, I'd like to say that I love this twist on the author's part very much. In the show, Jonathan had to pursue Martha and proposed several times. And Lois, too, needed to be courted for a long time. I'm envisaging that here again we'll find a similar parallel. And of course, I'm holding out for the happy-ever-after of our favourite couple.

Sira - *disappearing back into lurkdom*

I know you're still at your ILs and all that stuff, but still. Carol, you have cultivated a loyal following of addicts that have come to rely on their regular fixes for continued mental health. Okay, fine, so I'm generalizing. Anyone who is happily waiting without withdrawal symptoms, please raise you hand now

So, did your FIL remember his WLAN-password? Do we really have to wait till Saturday, 10am? That's 4pm, my time. That's almost TWO!!! days from now. So, is it okay if I whine a bit? (<- Charlotte)

Michael