Caroline, let me begin by quoting your reply on the FDK thread rather than your story itself:
In this case, I think "casual sex" is the oxymoron. Though for different reasons, neither of these people is really capable of it.
The way I see Lois and Clark, I wholeheartedly agree. There is not, and will never be, anything "casual" about them when they make love to each other.
Lois was trying it on for size, thinking that she could just bury whatever feelings existed when she was done with them
I didn't get the impression, when I was reading your story, that Lois was looking for a one-night-stand when she decided to be Wanda that night. It just so happened that she met Clark when she was Wanda, and because of the tremendous attraction she felt for him, and because she was being Wanda that night, she seduced him. Like you said, she thought she could just leave that night behind her and expect it never to trouble her again.
Clark had his fingers crossed (figuratively) when he agreed to just one night. He was hoping to talk her into more, and it wasn't until she disappeared before he even had the chance that he realized how foolish and short-sighted he'd been.
I love that image of Clark with his fingers crossed - even I, who have seen so few of the actual LNC episodes, recognize that one!
I think there would be consequences - fallout, as you put it - for them even if they'd never seen each other again. I can't imagine Lois ever venturing out as Wanda Detroit again
Absolutely true. In the long run, Lois would be obsessing about Clark almost as much as Clark would be obsessing about her. She could never put on her Wanda clothes again (or any other "disguise" for that matter) and go looking for a casual flirt with someone who wasn't Clark. I also don't see her venturing out as "herself", as Lois, for any sort of casual little fling, either. Not when she could still remember that night she had spent in Clark's arms - and how could she ever forget it?
I'm usually an incredibly staunch defender of Lois, but in this story I think that she is the only one who is at fault. I don't blame Clark for anything he did, and I don't blame Lois for what she did that night. To me, the troubles start the moment Lois decides, in the cold morning light, that her night with Clark wasn't "real" because Clark had been with Wanda and not with her, and Wanda isn't real. The problem is that Lois panics when Clark insists that Lois
is the woman that he spent that magical night with and that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life.
To me, Lois's talk about Wanda not being real is exactly the kind of nonsense that makes me so furious with Clark sometimes, when he insists that he isn't Superman, or that Superman isn't real.
However painful it was for both of them right now, she couldn’t let him think that their night together had been real. She couldn’t live with seeing him every day, knowing that he was searching her for signs of the woman he’d loved and finding her wanting. He would never see Lois Lane as anything more than a pale and cranky shadow of Wanda Detroit, and it was easier for both of them if he realized that now.
Isn't this
exactly the kind of reasoning that made Clark keep mulishly silent about his double identity? Isn't the the kind of justification Clark used to explain why he rejected Lois as Superman? Worse, isn't this why he worked so hard at trying to make Lois fall in love with him, while at the same time he took every precaution to make sure that Lois never learnt who he really was - because if she learnt who he was, then she might love him for somebody he was
not! I hate it. So Clark has kept the truth about himself from Lois for fear that she might start comparing Clark with Superman and finding Clark wanting. In your story, Caroline, Lois is all but panicking at the thought that Clark is going to be looking for Wanda all the time, but he will only ever find Lois.
Well, I've been telling all and sundry that I have little patience or sympathy for Clark when he's lying to Lois. I had even less sympathy for Lois when she was trying to get Clark fired. Like everyone else here, I was very pleased that Perry gave her a sharp warning not to try to pull such a stunt again.
This was perfect:
“Are you afraid of him, honey? I mean, he seems like a nice enough fellow to me, but looks can be deceiving. Has he threatened you? Harassed you?”
Yes!
She wanted to say it so badly. Perry was giving her the perfect out, and all she had to do was to say that Clark Kent was dangerous. All she had to do was weep a little and say that she was afraid of Clark, afraid to be in the same room with him.
Lois is in danger of sinking lower than she ever has in any fanfic I can remember, if she is going to accuse Clark of harrassment.
She couldn’t do it, though.
Clark Kent was the most dangerous man she’d ever met, but not the way Perry meant. Never like that. And as much as she wanted him gone, she couldn’t bring herself to tell that particular lie. Not when she could still remember the gentle touch of his hands on her body and the sweet nonsense he’d whispered in her ear. Not when she could still remember how safe and content she’d felt in his arms.
She doesn't do it, though. I often think of Lois as a woman whose body wants one thing while her mind wants something else entirely. Lois's body wants Clark. Her body wants him so badly. Her body recognizes him as her perfect mate, as her one-in-a-million mate, as her one-in-the-universe mate. And her body will not let her accuse Clark of harrassment. Her body, I think, can't bear the thought that Clark will not be a part of her life again.
But her mind wants something else entirely. Her mind panics at the thought of commitment, of daring to trust a man. Of making herself dependent on a man. That's what her mother did: she made a commitment to her husband, she trusted her husband, she made herself dependent on him. And he left her, humiliated her, cheated on her, crushed her spirit and turned her into an alcoholic wreck. And the first time Lois herself dared to trust a man, when she was with Claude, he used her and humiliated her, too.
No one has ever upset Lois's equilibrium as much as Clark has. He made her feel safer and happier in his arms than Lois would ever have thought possible. Her body is crying out for him. But what would happen if she ever gave in to him? He would be looking for lovely Wanda all the time, but he would only ever find cranky Lois. Surely he would grow tired of her. Surely he would desert her. And by the time he abandoned her she would have grown so dependent on him that she would die of loneliness and self-disgust when he left her.
Lois is acting like a frightened child in this story. She really is very childish. Like a child, she is extremely self-centered and can see only her own needs. All right, Caroline, she probably shouldn't have spent that night with Clark. Not because I ever blame Lois and Clark for reaching out to one another, for making love to one another. No, but because Lois is, when it comes to her mentality, a minor here. She is too young to have sex, because she can't deal with the consequences.
I hope you will let Lois grow up somewhat. I hope you will find a way for her and Clark to be together. But whether you do or not: this is a beautiful, delightfully written story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
Ann
