I hope I can unbreak your heart too, GooBoo -- I'll do my best anyway!
Sorry, AnnieL! I knew I wouldn't be anyone's favorite person after this chapter dropped! I love reading revelations, but most of them are Lois finding out on her own (which I love, because that's the way I think it should be) or Clark being forced into revealing himself somehow (which I also love, because there's little more sympathetic than a desperate Clark), but since I feel like I don't have much new to offer to a revelation story, I really wanted to play around with the idea of him choosing, of his own free will, to tell Lois...and then following through on it. And then, yes, because this is the story I finally got to do that in, it goes just terribly.
Just to specifically address one of your concerns, though, I did go back and forth quite a bit on Clark breathing out that sigh of relief to hear that Lois was still hung up on Superman. In any other context, I would be completely with you -- Clark is jealous of Superman, is afraid that he won't be accepted or loved as himself, and that Lois's love will be misplaced. However, in this one-time scenario, I felt this was most in-character. At this point, Clark has already decided to confide his secret, and her being still hung up on the possibility of Superman is far preferable to her not having any chemistry or attraction to Clark Kent whatsoever. This is explored in later chapters, too, so hopefully that will help explain it. If not, well, I hope it doesn't ruin the story for you. And I will try to fix your favorite couple before I'm done, don't worry!
No fast-forwards, Virginia, I promise! Poor Lois is in a bad situation, because in her experience, love HAS been a weakness, and since when she started the Daily Planet wasn't open, she had all kinds of reasons for believing her source. Now, things are a lot harder for her though!
I don't know that the toys will be put back EXACTLY as they were, Morgana, but I do have a good ending planned out!
Thanks, DC -- I love that you both dread and look forward to each chapter! Means I'm doing my job! Finding their way to trust each other will be hard, but nothing is beyond Lois and Clark.
There are some dark times still ahead, LMA, but like you said, the bandage is ripped off now, so hopefully some healing is ahead.
I'm relieved to hear that Lois is still sympathetic; I actually find myself REALLY feeling for her in this story -- I sure do put her through a lot in my stories, poor girl. Not that Clark gets off easy, either...
Thanks, Annalina19! I really enjoyed getting to weave their dialogue through each other, both of them talking about separate things and coming at the conversation from wholly different angles. It did make putting it all together a bit complicated, but worth it!
I'm glad the build-up worked, groobie! To be honest, I've never had to put Clark readying himself to tell the Secret into words before, so it actually took me quite a while. So many concepts we're all aware of because we love the show/story, but it was different trying to nail it down in specifics.
Thank you, everyone, for sticking with me through this dark time! Hope you all enjoy what's to come!
