Some habits are easier to break than others. This one is man-of-steel hard to leave. Having said that, I want to confess that I have re-read the whole thing. It took forever...the best forever I've had in a long time. We know that Corrina is a wonderful writer, but I think unless you re-read this one, you miss the richness of the complex nature of this story. I had forgotten how broken Lois was and how hard she fought to keep her outer-layer hiding the true nature of her brokeness. We miss that Clark, true to his canon nature, had a soft core that was selfless and would do anything for those he loved. And the reserves both of them had to dip into and say the right thing when they needed to do it is not obvious unless you sit for hours of days and soak this one into your system. We wanted a happy-ever-after, but to get there was a lot of logical work on Corrina's part.
Corrina, this was a true masterpiece. I have begun to wean myself by pulling out some of my favorite stories from years ago. I want to stop and roost here, but I need to get a life and break a few bad habits. Thank you so much for not taking the easy path and putting together a short & sweet story. This one ended where we wanted it to, but the path you took guided us to so many places we were not expecting, but needed to visit.
Pat
