Pain.
Not Clark's pain, but Martha's pain.
And most especially, Lois' pain.
Lois misses the old Clark. It's amazing - but not unbelievable - that Lois has remained faithful to Clark all these years. And I don't mean "faithful" in a marital sense. She kept looking, kept digging, kept investigating, kept hoping that she'd find the man she loved. The fact that he was also Superman neither hindered nor furthured her tenacity in fighting to find him. Her obsession bordered on mania, always looking for a man who might have been buried in an unmarked and unknown grave. But she didn't quit, and she finally found him.
Now the source of her pain has changed direction. She hurts for his physical recovery from his surgeries. You didn't show us the surgery or recovery on his feet, but it had to be at least as devastating to her as the ones on his hands. And now he's more comfortable physically, but still mentally missing.
Above and beyond all that, Lois is also carrying Martha's pain. Martha is suffering just as much as Lois is, if not more, because while Lois suffers from the loss of her friend and the man she loves, Martha suffers from the loss of her child. That may be the worst pain a parent can ever undergo.
And worst of all, there's nothing to be done about it. There's nothing Lois can do to alleviate Martha's continuing agony, which is compounded by her grief over Jonathan's death. It would not surprise me to learn that she sometimes feels guilt over not missing Jonathan because of her grief over missing Clark, both while he was gone and now while he's just not there.
Clark probably isn't really comfortable, but he's not alert enough to realize it. He's too out of it to even realize he doesn't recognize his surroundings. And while that doesn't hurt him now, it's a continual stress on both Martha and Lois. That pain and stress will have to show up in their lives soon, perhaps in their interactions. I can see Martha and Lois beginning to snipe at each other over small and inconsequential things because of their continuing frustration. And that would add another level of stress to their lives.
And if Clark does finally recover at least some of his wits, he's going to be confused and angry and he may lash out at Lois, both verbally and physically. I'm not going to give my prediction on future events here, except to state that I expect more pain before the final ending. And I expect that the ending will not wrap up everything in a neat and tidy Christmas bow.
Looking forward to the next chapter. You're
, DC. And you're doing a wonderful job because you're so good at it. I'm impressed, and that's saying something, because I've been accused of some pretty heinous things before. Keep up the excellent work.
