Well, Caroline, I'm finally here! I finally made it. <g> And I'm so glad I did. What a wonderfully written story (like I didn't already know that going in). In case you haven't been around, make sure you check your fdk threads for this story, I've been leaving you some on each part as I went. I just couldn't help myself and this story so deserved it.
Now to finish...
Perry wasn’t happy when Clark wanted to do the same, but he allowed it, after threatening to make Clark work every major holiday for the next two years if he and Lois didn’t “sort whatever this is out and get back on the beat.”
LOL - Oh, that's so Perry! <g>
Well, if she wouldn’t, he could always try the window, he thought bitterly, but perhaps that would be locked now, too.
Ouch!
and he gripped the doorframe so tightly he felt the wood crack beneath his fingers.
Ooooh, I love that imagery.
“I’m cleaning,” she said bluntly, following his gaze. “When I’m upset, I clean things.”
“I remember.”
“Because I wouldn’t want you to think I was packing or anything. Moving without telling you. I wouldn’t want you to think that.”
“I apologized for that,” he told her quietly. “And I meant it.”
“Right.”
Ouch - but she is right. I can just see all the pans and stuff tossed around everywhere. <g>
You thought if you just got rid of Superman, you wouldn’t have to deal with him.”
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
“And you have that Emerson quote taped to your desk.”
Ooops! Busted! <g>
It was open, he noticed, the curtains stirring slightly in the wind.
Awwwww! <sniffle>
“Not… not at first, maybe,” he said carefully. “But Lois, you don’t know what it’s like. Being Superman means that I can’t keep the promises I made to you. I can’t promise to sit through a meal or a movie. I can’t promise that we won’t be interrupted at work, or on vacations, or even when we’re... well, if we were making love.”
“And you didn’t believe I could love you enough to put up with that?” she asked in a small voice.
“You might… for a while. But what about in ten years, or twenty? Think about that, Lois - twenty years of me running off in the middle of things. No one should have to be that patient. And if we tried, if we were together, and one day I looked at you and saw that you… that you… regretted….” He trailed off, unable to put that particular fear into words. His gaze strayed to the window, the window with its gently billowing curtains, and those curtains seemed to beckon to him – to taunt him with the possibility of escape from this conversation that was hurting them both.
Sorry to quote that whole section, but it's just so dang good. Really, really good - like folding yourself up into the grief and dissolving into it, good.
Ooooh, and his feelings about being found in the spaceship... nice.
“If you’d been normal, you’d have probably used Superman to get me into bed two years ago.”
“I... what?” He stared at her. “Lois! I would never do something like that.”
Okay, I was all teary eyed at this scene and then suddenly I giggled a little bit here. It's the horror that I can see in his face and hear in his voice, it just caused an abrupt giggle from me (even though it's really not funny - it's just cute and sweet...)
And I love how Lois is working things out. LOL - Clark would have to be invulnerable to put up with her.
I’d be curled up in a ball somewhere, sucking my thumb.
Awwwww...
“Maybe so. But where do I draw the line? Someone is dying somewhere right now. Lots of someones are dying. Does that mean I shouldn’t be here, having this conversation with you? Does that mean I should quit my job and be Superman full time? Because I thought about that, too – that’s what all that packing was about.”
Oooooh, very nice!
“Would you shut up about what I deserve!” she cried suddenly, jumping up from the couch. She crossed over to him and thwapped him hard across the chest with the throw pillow she’d been clutching. He blinked at her in shock, and she went on. “Why don’t you let me be the one to decide what I deserve?” She shook the pillow at him threateningly.
Wahoooo! Yay for Lois. LOL!
“And, yes, there are times when you running off in the middle of things really stinks. It’s going to make me mad, and I’ll probably complain about it. I can’t promise that I won’t. But every time you run off, I’ll know where you’re going and why you’re going, and I’ll know that you’re going to come back. It won’t be perfect, but what marriage ever is?”
“Marriage?” he asked, feeling both stunned and hopeful. She could hit him with every pillow she owned if it meant the conversation was heading in this direction. “You’ve thought about us getting married?”
I LOVE her honesty here. Because yes, who wouldn't be a little irritated when something really important gets interrupted and they have to carry on alone? ... for the millionth time?
And marriage! Yay!
She reached for his hand and raised it to her cheek, and just as she had the day before, she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Tears slid down her cheeks and wet his fingers. “And when you touched me,” she said shakily, opening her eyes and looking into his, “I knew that I loved you more than I was angry with you – and I was really angry, let me tell you.”
Awwwww! <sniffle>
This was his happiest moment.
Awwwwww - I'm such a waffy puddle of goo. <g>
as Clark lowered himself into the rocking chair beside his sleeping wife, he hoped that Jonathan was as loved by his parents as Clark himself had been... as loved as his own precious daughter already was.
“Hi,” he whispered, not wanting to wake Lois. “I’m your daddy.”
I feel a bit repetitive now... but... AWWWWWWW!
He stroked her cheek tenderly, and then, because he had learned his lesson about being honest with the women he loved, he went on, starting at the very beginning: “My name is Clark Kent,” he told her softly, “and I’m Superman....”
And that m'dear is an absolutely perfect ending. I'm pea green with envy. :p
Lovely story, Caroline. Wonderful! I enjoyed it immensely.
-- DJ
