Ugh! I had hoped to have more time on the boards now that I'm on vacation, but so far it hasn't happened. Sorry about my long absence yet again.
I didn't think the Clark/Rachel split would surprise anyone, but I'm keeping mum on what's going on with Chad and Lois (but then we still have lots of chapters to go).
Ann - The shooting I was thinking of when I wrote that was not actually an individual one, but a string of them that happened. I'm not sure where - at least one was in the Chicago area and I think more than that, but I'm not 100% sure. At least one was at a mall and another at a strip mall of some kind. Whether any were at a women's clothing store, I can't recall.
Tank - I'm disappointed that you find Chad cloying. I'm a big fan of Chad (I think I mentioned that the main reason I even wrote this story was to design a universe where he didn't die), but perhaps he is better drawn in my head than he is on paper.
Sara and Michael - More coming right up...