Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Clark's Heart (7/10)

Or perhaps the person who won't make it is Sam. He's not exactly a spring chicken, and he has been putting in a lot of grueling hours in a high-stress situation.

But if that's the case, I'm still not sure why Clark's room is empty. Mike, I had considered two of your options before you posted, and had explicitly (but perhaps erroneously -- only DC and her betas know) discounted your first option. Clark's condition had apparently remained unchanged for weeks. The odds that it would suddenly deteriorate at just the time when Sam and Bernie found a cure and Lois was temporarily unavailable seem to me to be astronomically slim. The third option is always on the table.

I hadn't thought about your second option, but both of the men know Lois and know that even under these unusual circumstances, she would not be happy to have her husband's fate determined without her input, even in such a difficult situation. I'm not sure what procedure would endanger either of the doctors. If Clark were human, some sort of transplant or extreme blood transfusion might do so, but any such procedure would be precluded by Clark's alien physiology.

Then again, I'll admit that my own reading of this part of the story is not at all objective; it hits far too close to home for me. I found out that my Dad had died of cancer by his empty bed. I lived several hours away from my parents at the time, and when I had left my home, he had been alive, but barely. As soon as I arrived at my parents' house, I didn't even take the time to seek out my other relatives; I had had such a sense of urgency that I immediately rushed into the room where I had expected him to be and encountered my parents' empty -- and made -- bed. The bed, coupled with the expressions on my mother and sister, who met me as I was digesting what I had seen of the bedroom, told me without a word spoken that my Dad had passed.

I'll admit that the story part's ending sucker-punched me and is definitely coloring my interpretation of what might be happening. I really hope my interpretation is proven wrong.

Is it Thursday yet?

Joy,
Lynn