(I hadn't read the above comments before posting; didn't want them to color my own)
This was very well-done, ML. Depressing
but well-written -- the way Clark sulked and then fell for Kelly, the way Lois was lost without him and ended up settling for Lex anyway. I don't like seeing either of them with anyone besides each other, but this was handled really well, and it was definitely believable.
It's just like Lex, too, to have some sort of scheme to keep Clark occupied & away from Lois. The slow poison was a little less expected, but explained a lot... and although I wasn't real happy that Clark died, at that point it was probably the best resolution. If he'd survived the poison, the news that he'd been raising Lex's kids would have killed him anyway. At least David's a genuinely nice guy; Lois deserved that after all the slow torture.
And the last scene that says it was all a nightmare (which it certainly was)... well, all the preceeding scenes were so well-done that the last one felt kinda tacked-on and disconnected. I know why you added it, but in a way, you didn't need to. Lois had fought her way through everything, made a good life for herself, and that was a happy ending. To have Clark wake up was like negating all that struggle and triumph. You know I love my happy endings, but the final scene at the DP *was* a happy ending, for me.
Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm not planning on printing this out and re-reading it a lot of times <g> But I'm not sorry I read it. Good work!
PJ
