Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Long Road Home Part 30 - Comments

Thoughts?

Rac

Hate to see Clark still suffering. Glad he finally told Lois. He still has a long way to go, but it is a breakthrough.

Wow! I've been pretty speechless at your way of writing and progression in this story, but I have to say something here at Clark's confession.

This is really Clark finally taking the big step he has needed toward recovery, and evidenced so well with some great insight as he admitted to Lois himself that he had to tell her even though he didn't want to at all.

Major breakthrough, and so beautiful how Lois responded to his baring his brokenness. So powerfully written I could not find an icon to fit.

Thank you

That's a wonderful chapter. So painful, so harrowing, so cathartic. And so utterly reaffirming of Clark and Lois's love for one another.

That's so absolutely beautiful.

Of course everything isn't just "fixed" now. I'm thinking of what Clark said to Lois:

It will take longer than this for Clark to get over his fears that he will be rejected by Lois because of what he did to Nor. And even if she isn't rejecting him, he may still fear that she isn't holding him in the same regard as before. And he may still think that he just doesn't deserve to be a father.

And Lois, for her part, will still need so much paitence.

They still have a long way to go, but he so, so needed to tell Lois about what has been eating away at him. I'm so glad he finally told her.

Ann

wow.

He told her.

Finally.

And now he'll look at Lois out of the corner of his eye and wonder why she's still hanging around a super-powered hypocrite killer like him. He may even suggest that she divorce him and find a "good" man to be the father of the rest of her children. And then they'll fight about his idiotic sense of self-sacrifice and nobility and Jon won't understand why Daddy's acting like such a jackass.

I also find it interesting that Lois was at the point of demanding what was up with Clark at the very moment he broke down and stopped fighting and told her what was up with him. It shows that, while they still have a lot of work to do to solidify their marriage and to rebuild Clark's self-esteem and self-image, they're still on the same wavelength.

It is tearing him in two for Lois to know this about him. And he's not going to believe that knowing this about him won't make a significant difference in the way she views him. She'll have to walk a tightrope to convince him that she understands how devastating it was for him to kill Nor, but also convince him that he absolutely did not kill her love for him.

Loved the little peek inside Jonathan and Martha's relationship. One of the important keys to staying married is not necessarily being interested in everything your spouse loves to do, but to enjoy seeing your spouse enjoy those activities you can't quite bring yourself to appreciate all that much. Jonathan's love for Martha really shone through here. Good job!

Great chapter, Rac. I'm really looking forward to more. This is one terrific epic tale.

Terry (who fell asleep several times while trying to read The Iliad way back in college and finally had to check out the Cliff notes)

Wow! Very powerful ending. I love this statement the Dr Friskin made. It sums up so much


"But there’s a difference between the ability to live in the world and the ability to live with yourself.”


How many times do we try to bury something or escape from our day to day lives or not confront what is happening? Most of us do not have anything of the magnitude Clark is dealing with but at times we would all rather forget rather than confronting head on.

By telling Lois he is stripping away everything - all the masks and facades. He is standing naked and saying this is who I am. And he is thinking that this Clark is unlovable because he has not learned to love and accept that part of himself and does not see how someone else could love that part either.

The philosophy question and discussion was also very interesting and perfect.

I'm sorry I haven't been leaving fdk for each part. But I love this story, and this part in particular was so well written. I am so relieved that Clark finally confided in Lois. I hope this is the last major obstacle they need to get through. It's a little sad to see Clark so broken, but maybe that will be the first step to him becoming whole again.

Amber

Wondered when Clark was going to tell Lois ... He finally did

Great part!

What she said.

This could actually work, timing wise

Oh, boy…

Again with the fear of snapping. And he has made a small mistake. But things usually start with one, small mistake

Michael

Thanks for your very kind comments, everyone. My apologies for not replying sooner. I've had a bad head cold all week and it's about all I can do to get through the work week. As you can probably guess, I haven't made much progress in terms of writing, either. It'll be at least a few days before the next post is up.

I agree, Cookiesmom, that this was a breakthrough for Clark. A breakdown and a breakthrough.

Evelyn, thanks for your very kind remarks. I'm glad that the reasoning behind Clark's hesitance came through. The ferocity of Lois's love for him is the other thing I wanted to come through loud and clear in this section. So it's great to read that you enjoyed these elements.

Ann, I'm glad that you read this as catharsis. To me, that's exactly what this is. It is an almost ritualistic purging of negative emotions and the allowing of positive emotions to overwhelm them. You're right that they still have so much to get through. But at least they're on the same road now. Clark is going to have to realize and come to trust in the knowledge that Lois's love for him is stronger than his feelings of guilt and shame. A real relationship between them won't be possible otherwise.

Thanks, Flowerpot.

Terry, you raise the interest point of whether the relief Clark feels from no longer having to keep this dirty and awful secret will outweigh his suspicions that he has forever diminished himself in the eyes of the person who matters most to him. It's also nice to hear you enjoyed the small interlude between Martha and Jonathan. I will find a way to show Jonathan how to love New Y...erm, I mean Metropolis almost as much as I do. Even if it is largely because of how happy it makes his whole family.

Robinson, I'm glad you enjoyed the philosophical questions in this chapter. I admit, the philosophical questions are what I like best about fiction. I don't actually wish on the characters all the horrible things I do to them. I just do this stuff to see how they respond so I can figure out what it tells us about the human condition. I always wanted here to point out how different Clark's morals were from everyone else's. He really did live in a far more black and white world than ordinary humans. And while he might have been able to accept that fact on an academic level, his ethics are so deeply ingrained and the result of so many years of experience, it is almost impossible for him to judge himself on a human scale, even in situations in which only human ethics could have applied.

Amber, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I agree, it's sad to see Clark so broken. But I have faith in him. I'd like to believe that his strength is about a lot more than alien physiology and a yellow sun.

Thanks for your kind words, DW.

Thanks, Iolan.

Thanks for your feedback, Michael. I'm surprised anyone was rooting for a blowup at this juncture. Haven't I been mean enough to both of them in this story? Also, after the worst.revelation.ever, I'm not sure I've got another fight that miserable left in me. Although who knows when the muse will strike.



Thanks again, everyone. I'll try to write some more soon. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Regards,

Rac

Well, I wasn't thinking of it as being mean, but forcing a catharsis on the lunkhead And I do have faith in your muse. Not that I'm saying it need be in this fic, now that the thing is out in the open

Michael