Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Not the Years - 14/14 & Epilogue

Next time I post a tale where someone dies, I promise to
I want to reiterate my thanks to my fabulous betas, IolantheAlias, MetroChumpy, ScifiJoan, and MozartMaid. We had some spirited discussions about content and boxes of tissues and plot and other things, but it was always in the spirit of making the story better. An author can't ask for anything more than that.

Please let me know how you feel about the story now that it's finished, assuming you can shoehorn it into your Kerth activities.

Beautifully written. I'm glad that Lois is still a major part of their lives. Clark's goodnight ritual at end of 14 had me in tears.

I did find it a bit strange that Clark invites women to share a meal with his family as a first date, or that anyone would bring up marriage during a first date. Perhaps that's what dating is like for people with kids, I wouldn't know. Maybe just superheroes with kids. While I don't like stories which have Clark end up with anyone who isn't Lois or either of them moving on with anyone else, I can understand your decision to pick Diana as Clark's 2nd wife. Marrying into Clark's unique life and family would be difficult for any woman.

I did get the feeling as if he didn't have much say in the matter and was pushed towards Diana by both his friends (Selina) and by his kids, which only made me feel sad for the Clark; especially hearing about losing most of the other important people in his life within a span of five years. It made me feel that he would never feel the joy again in his life as he had during those years with Lois. He was very quiet and somber during his "date" with Diana. While marrying her might give him some happiness, I no longer saw the happy, optimistic man he was in his youth or while he was with Lois. It was as if his chance for Happily-Ever-After died with Lois.

I could also understand Marta's anger at Lois, even after all of these years, of ruining her health without thinking about the consequences to her family's future.

It was still a beautiful written story, Terry, even if I didn't agree with some of your plot choices.

Very well done. BTW
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
So Ha,

Moving onward, I've never been a fan of Superman/Wonder Woman matches, but you do make it work.

I thought the ending was beautiful. Bittersweet, but beautiful.

Congratulations on writing a story with two of the big taboos around here -- death and pairing Clark with someone other than Lois -- and not being tarred and feathered (at least not much).

I thought this story was great, and I'm nominating it for a Kerth next year.

I had to laugh that this! Poor Clark was being asked to be patience and that is an unfair comparison to Lois. Not a good start for a second marriage, but comparisons are bound to happen, it is human (and Kryptonian) nature.

But seriously, Diana did need more time. Clark's children were pushing the both of them towards this match. Which in my opinion was not fair. When there are children involved depending on their ages they have a right to voice opinions and then they need to allow the parent to grown into the relationship.

Five months for this unique duo is not a lot of time to decide about something so important. In my opinion they went too fast. Its a pity the Elder Kents were not around to offer their sage wisdom.

Still and all the story was bravely and well written. My hat is off to you sir.

Painful and tragic and still completely engrossing. A spoiler button would be appreciated. I'd happily read the next one, just not over lunch at work.

Everybody, thanks for reading. Those who commented, thanks for letting me know what you thought.

Virginia, I never said that Clark’s dinner dates with those other broads (excuse me, women) were his first dates with them. I have been married for 38 years to the same woman – who is the mother of all my children – but I have known some men and women with kids who were dating. At that point, it’s pretty much a given that the other person is a prospective marriage partner, and the last thing a responsible single parent would want to do would be to marry someone who did not get along with the kids. And meals are great places to learn how other people interact with children, so it’s not surprising to me that Clark, who would be a great catch even at his age (about 50 in this point in this tale), would invite any prospective step-mother to dinner at his home. I didn’t mention it, but I’m pretty sure none of those others volunteered to help with the dishes.

Frame, thanks for the kudos and for the link. I still maintain that ‘irregardless’ is not a legitimate word despite its appearance in colloquial speech, just like referring to a characteristic of an unnamed individual as ‘their’ instead of ‘his or her’ isn’t legit. But that’s a windmill at which I refuse to tilt, seeing that it’s so oft-used.

Thank you, Annie. For the record, I’ve already been beaten up over a couple of my other stories, so I’ve grown a pretty thick skin out of necessity. And thank you so very much for thinking that it’s Kerth-worthy. That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside – WAFFy, even.

Thanks for the compliments, Morgana. As far as the timeline goes, remember that Clark and Diana weren’t strangers at the beginning of the five-month period. They knew each other from some super-missions and League meetings, so the courtship of five months for people who were already friends isn’t that short, especially given their ages. Older daters tend to marry more quickly than younger ones, partly because the ‘getting to know you’ phase goes quickly since older folks are more set in their ways and their vocations. There are fewer surprises to deal with.

Shallowford, I’m glad you stuck with it all the way through. I’m thinking of adding a spoiler button to every story from now on just so FOLCs will know when nothing permanently bad happens.

Thanks again, everyone! We’ll see each other on the boards again soon. And I promise, next time I won’t kill everyone.