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Hi, Great part.  Jimmy is needed more at the office. “You haven’t thought about it!” Lucy sounded outraged. “Lois, you told me yourself this was the biggest social event of the year. And you’ll finally get to meet Lex Luthor.”
“The jerk who won’t return my phone calls,” she grumbled.
“The incredibly rich, handsome jerk who won’t return your phone calls,” Lucy corrected, giving Lois a nudge with her shoulder. She doesn’t like Luthor. It was supposed to be one night – one memorable night, yes, but not one that changed her forever. Yes!! More ASAP, please. MAF 
Maria D. Ferdez.
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Don't like Luthor, unfinished, untitled and crossover story, and people that promises and don't deliver. I'm getting choosy with age.
MAF
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Pulitzer
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Excellent part!  I won't quote Lois's march to the coffee because I would have to quote everything, but that was so well written that I could feel her tension and fluttering. When I finished reading, my heart was pounding.  She raised her head, determined to just do it, and she was immediately arrested by a pair of soulful brown eyes. He was staring at her, with something in his face that made her breath hitch and her heart start to pound. He was hurting. She knew this from one glance, though she couldn’t have said how, and just like the day before when they’d watched the Messenger explode, she had an almost uncontrollable impulse to go to him, to offer what comfort she could. Beautiful. Sad. Sweet. There're so much emotions in this paragraph.  He held her gaze, not pretending that he wasn’t watching her. He had promised not to speak to her, she remembered dizzily, but he’d never promised he wouldn’t look, and what was the point of not speaking if every feeling he’d ever had was allowed to blaze forth from his eyes? I've no words. Your ability to say so much in so few words is astonishing.  She was squinting at her notes, trying to make out her own handwriting, when she felt his presence beside her.
It startled her so much that she gasped, loud enough for him to hear. She stared at him, wide-eyed and speechless, stunned that he had approached her. She was so focused on his face that she hardly noticed when he set down a steaming Styrofoam cup and then reached into his pocket to pull out an assortment of little packets – sweeteners and creamers – and a plastic stirrer.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked in your coffee.” He sounded almost apologetic, as if he’d somehow been remiss, but she was still at least two steps behind.
“What?” she asked, because what he had said was so far removed from anything she’d expected to hear from him – not that she’d expected to hear anything at all.
“You shouldn’t have to give up coffee because of me,” he said softly.
“I wasn’t....” She began her denial and then gave it up just as quickly. They’d both know she was lying. She looked down at the cup on her desk, at the pile of little packets. “Thank you.”
A smile touched his lips, there and gone much too fast. “You’re welcome.”
And without another word, he walked away, back to his desk and whatever mundane story Perry had assigned him. Lois, her heart still pounding from his nearness, from the fact that they’d exchanged a few simple words, reached for packets of artificial sweetener and powdered whitener and ripped them open, dumping them into the coffee and feeling at once even more guilty than she had before, but also relieved.
Maybe they could actually do this. Maybe they could even – one day – be friends. Maybe he didn’t hate her as much as she deserved to be hated. Maybe when he’d said he wasn’t like most men, he’d actually been telling the truth. This is long, but I had to quote everything. I loved Clark's gesture. How sweet of him. And finally there's light at the end of the tunnel. The ending of this chapter left me hopeful that they're going to work it out. More, please!  Andreia
"My wife's love is what unites Krypton and Earth in my heart. Without it, without her, I truly would be in hell."
~ Superman: Man of Tomorrow #15
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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Oh no you didn't just stop there when the reading was getting soooo good!  I feel so sorry for Clark and Lois is just being such a hussy. Why can't she just get on with it and at least be cordial to Clark? 
I'm a firm believer in the fact that God doesn't put any more on us than we can bear. He does however make us come to Jesus every so often.
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
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This was a really great chapter, Caroline. I am glad Lois is admitting to herself that she likes Clark. At least she isn't lying to herself. He was staring at her, with something in his face that made her breath hitch and her heart start to pound. He was hurting.
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He held her gaze, not pretending that he wasn’t watching her. He had promised not to speak to her, she remembered dizzily, but he’d never promised he wouldn’t look, and what was the point of not speaking if every feeling he’d ever had was allowed to blaze forth from his eyes? Lovely. “You shouldn’t have to give up coffee because of me,” he said softly. Caroline, this whole scene it just so spot on. Only someone like Clark could do a favor for a woman who had hurt him so badly. That's not to say that he didn't have an ulterior motive - he probably hoped that the gesture would touch Lois and create a little opening in her defenses. And it did. You said before that you have a hard time writing from Lois' POV but I think you did very well here. Looking forward to part 8!
lisa in the sky with diamonds
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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“Sheesh, Lois. How many days a month can one woman have PMS? I think you’re setting some sort of gynecological record.” Bwah! That made me laugh. I really liked that observation you made on the Lois/Lucy dynamic and Lois' rationalization of why she shouldn't confide in her sister. A realistic way of thinking, I thought. It had felt so good, though, to let herself be free from all that responsibility for the few hours she’d spent in Clark’s arms. It should have been terrifying, letting herself be that vulnerable to another person, but somehow with Clark she hadn’t felt vulnerable. She’d felt safe. Protected. Even cherished, as trite as that sounded. It had only been later, when she’d seen him at the Daily Planet, that she’d let all the old doubts assail her and had felt vulnerable to him for the first time. Then she had panicked and thrown up every defense in her arsenal. Very nicely put. his personal advice tended to be wide of the mark and couched in so many Elvis analogies that she often had no idea what he was talking about anyway. Ha! You know, Caroline, I really enjoy the way you write the supporting characters. I already mentioned my love for your Martha and Jonathan in a previous comment, and I must add Perry and Lucy to the list. That whole coffee business was just fantastic, and I'd quote pretty much the whole thing if I could. Loved the injection of humor with " It was impossible to come up with decent similes without coffee, for goodness’ sake." (I write for a living, and am dependent on caffeine, so I particularly enjoyed that.  ) And " How could she look normal when she couldn’t remember what normal was?" was such a precise encapsulation of Lois' turmoil. He held her gaze, not pretending that he wasn’t watching her. He had promised not to speak to her, she remembered dizzily, but he’d never promised he wouldn’t look, and what was the point of not speaking if every feeling he’d ever had was allowed to blaze forth from his eyes? I can totally see this in my mind. Such keen imagery. Yet another excellent chapter, Caroline. I remain completely in awe of your writing. Here's looking forward to the next installment.
Chris
"Superman is a guy who's seen wonders we'll never see and Lois is to him, one of those wonders."
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Yay!! You posted, Caroline!  Post again soon!
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Aw what a nice cup of coffee. Laura
Clark: “If we can be born in an instant, and die in an instant, why can’t we fall in love in an instant?”
Caroline's "Stardust"
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Pulitzer
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(I'm sorry, I couldn't find an applauding icon or I would have put three of those up there.) Very nice chapter! I liked Lois's POV, which was a telling contrast to Clark's POV in the previous chapter. It's such a risk to give your heart to someone, to anyone, and you're showing the consequences of putting this particular cart in front of the "getting to know you" horse so very well, I'm actually envious. It's interesting to see that both of our favorite characters are hurting, and neither one is ready to cross the threshold and reveal the innermost secrets each is holding so closely. It's also worthy of note that while Clark can talk to his parents about most of this stuff, Lois can't talk to anyone. I wonder if that means that her pressure gauge is closer to exploding that Clark's is? I'm glad Clark took the small step of offering Lois some coffee, and I'm glad that Lois accepted it in the spirit in which it was offered. It may mark the beginning of a slight thaw between them (assuming Clark's change of status doesn't set Lois off again). I do envision good things for these two, but I'm sure there are a number of twists and turns waiting for them on the road ahead. I still think that Lois won't fall at Superman's feet in a worshipful stupor, and I doubt she'll look twice at Lex as a potential match. But you never can tell, can you? She might just decide that either Luthor or Superman could give her what she's afraid to accept from Clark. In that case, she just might end up in far worse trouble, and Clark would be inconsolable. Or maybe Clark will get angry and respond to Toni Baines's flirtations and set Lois off. *sigh* So many dramatic possibilities, so few words to describe them. I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter, and I'm sure you'll keep the bar high (assuming you don't raise it yet again).
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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I don't much like writing sloppy feedback, especially not for a writer who is as intelligent and empathic as you are, Caroline, and who has mastered her means of expression the way you have. But I don't know when I'll have time to write any meaningful FDK, and I hate being extremely late when I post my comments. So I'll say something now, whether it's a great idea or not. You know I have been more irritated, impatient and exasperated with this Lois than I can remember being with any Lois in any story for a long time. But in this chapter, you give us a beautiful explanation of this Lois character. Your Lois is a person who has channeled herself and her life into two modes of giving: She is giving the citizens of Metropolis her very, very best when it comes to uncovering and exposing shady dealings and crime. And she is giving not so little of her money and practically all of her caring and protecting abilities into being, for all practical purposes, her younger sister's Mom. I loved this description of what Lucy means to Lois: At least her sister was there – all warm skin and wet hair and fuzzy bathrobe – and Lois took some measure of comfort from her physical presence even if she couldn’t go to her for emotional support. No, this Lois has never learnt to trust anyone else to be there for her. Never. Her parents have let her down cruelly, her younger sister is happy being a sponging child and a bit of a nosy meddler, and her attempts at finding men to trust and share herself with have ended in disaster. When was the last time anyone embraced this Lois in a warm and loving hug? So this Lois knows how to give, if only in limited and "compartmentalized" ways. She does not know how to receive. She has learnt how to function without love; the one thing she wouldn't know how to cope with ever again would be to let somebody under her skin, into her heart, and have that person betray her, the way everyone else she ever trusted before has always let her down. (Everyone except Perry, probably, but as you showed us in this chapter, she only trusts his professional advice and his caring for her as a reporter, not his concern for her as a sad and love-starved woman.) However, for one night she gave herself to a stranger, thinking she was just momentarily letting down her guard, indulging her flesh but not endangering her heart: Each year, the armor she wore to protect herself from the outside world became a little thicker, a little stronger – but a little heavier, too, until the weight was too much and she did something stupid, like casting it off completely and falling into bed with a total stranger. But this stranger turned out to be Clark: It had felt so good, though, to let herself be free from all that responsibility for the few hours she’d spent in Clark’s arms. It should have been terrifying, letting herself be that vulnerable to another person, but somehow with Clark she hadn’t felt vulnerable. She’d felt safe. Protected. Even cherished, as trite as that sounded. It had only been later, when she’d seen him at the Daily Planet, that she’d let all the old doubts assail her and had felt vulnerable to him for the first time. Then she had panicked and thrown up every defense in her arsenal. And now she was raw, scared and lost. What could possibly help her now? The memory of being wrapped in Clark’s arms came back to her with startling and painful clarity.
Yes.
That was just what would make her feel better. His shoulders would be broad enough to bear the weight of all her mistakes. His warmth would ward off the cold that seemed to be seeping into her soul. For this friendless, lonely woman, panicking over having let her guard down with a man - being back in that particular man's arms is the only thing that could soothe her, heal her, help her live and breathe and trust again. If her trusting him doesn't kill her first. If he doesn't take that trust of hers and runs. If he doesn't steal her heart, leaving her bleeding to death, unable to ever pick herself up again. You made us see where this panicky, seemingly totally unreasonable and horribly selfish Lois is coming from. Will Clark be able to understand? Will she be able to understand him? Will he find it in his heart to trust her - to trust her with the real reason why he, too, has been so lonely and cut off from other people? I have absolutely no time to write anything more now, except that this beautifully written, engrossing tale makes me savour every instalment of it. Ann
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loved it! great part.  I'd like to leave more intelligent feedback, but if you saw how I'm set up in bed with the laptop and ice packs on my back... it's hard to type *lol*. I'm just real glad you posted this so I had something fun to do while waiting for pain killers to kick in before. I'm really loving this story!! Can't wait to see what comes next!
Superman: Why is it that good villains never die?
Batman: Clark, what the hell are good villains?
=> Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
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Beat Reporter
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Amazing part, despite not much action. The coffe cup monolouge were just pure gold. Perry, Martha, Jonathan and now Lucy; I can't really think of any authors with your ability to bring the supporting cast alive. It's like you know them personally. Looking forward to more.
I do know you, and I know you wouldn't lie... at least to me...most of the time...
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Caroline, as I've been thinking back on your story, I realize more and more that this is the paragraph I need to quote: She raised her head, determined to just do it, and she was immediately arrested by a pair of soulful brown eyes. He was staring at her, with something in his face that made her breath hitch and her heart start to pound. He was hurting. She knew this from one glance, though she couldn’t have said how, and just like the day before when they’d watched the Messenger explode, she had an almost uncontrollable impulse to go to him, to offer what comfort she could. Odd, that, since the night before she’d been desperately wanting his comfort and been so sure that he was strong enough to handle anything. I said in my previous post that this Lois knows how to give, if only in limited ways, but she doesn't know how to receive. But in this paragraph you show us how Clark's pain affects her so strongly, so viscerally, that she is almost overwhelmed by her need to comfort him. At the same time, she desperately wants to turn to him for for comfort, so that he can comfort her. Clark is the man who can make Lois give love and caring as well as receive it. With him she can heal, and learn to trust and love. If only she can find it in herself to dare to risk her heart. This is not news, Caroline. On some level, all LnC fans know that Lois's distrust and skittishness are what is keeping her and Clark apart. Oh, and Clark's inability to trust Lois with the truth about himself certainly doesn't help, either. But this is what is so remarkable about your way of telling your story: you tell us what we know already, and yet you amaze us with your ability to shed mesmerizing new light on these two characters and their situation. Ann
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Both of my children are out for a few hours, and I'm sitting here in a house so quiet that it's positively eerie. I've promised myself this time to write - though whether I'm even still capable of writing in uninterrupted quiet remains to be seen  First though, I wanted to pop in and say thanks for the feedback on the last part. I always feel a little guilty that I don't respond to reviews more consistently, but I have so little time, and I figure you'd rather have more of the story than to hear me natter on about it! I do appreciate everyone's comments so much, though, and am grateful to those of you who take the time to let me know your thoughts. Since I have a little extra time today, though: Ann, I'm convinced you couldn't leave sloppy feedback if you tried! I always enjoy hearing what you have to say - maybe especially on this story, since I know you're a Lois fan, and my Lois has been pretty hard for you to take in this one. I really hoped that this part would soften the readers toward her at least a little bit by contrasting what she has in the way of support with what Clark had in the previous chapter. Yes, he only has two people in whom he can confide, but they're two *wonderful* people, and he knows they love him unconditionally. Lois doesn't have that, and yes, it's partly her own fault for being so prickly, but it's still sad (to me, anyway) that having kept people out for so long she now finds it impossible to reach out to anyone when she really needs to. As Terry said: It's also worthy of note that while Clark can talk to his parents about most of this stuff, Lois can't talk to anyone. This is exactly what I was going for with this chapter. Clark has gentle guidance and unconditional love from his folks, and Lois has absentee parents and Lucy, who is sweet and certainly loves her sister, but in a needy way that is no help to Lois right now. That whole coffee business was just fantastic, and I'd quote pretty much the whole thing if I could. Loved the injection of humor with "It was impossible to come up with decent similes without coffee, for goodness’ sake." (I write for a living, and am dependent on caffeine, so I particularly enjoyed that. ) Chris, the funny thing about this is that I wrote that part at 5:30 in the morning while waiting for my coffee to finish brewing. I wrote "as daunting as scaling Mount Everest..." and then thought, "Blech. Cliched much? Did I really just write that? I think I did. I shouldn't be allowed to write without coffee..." Then it occurred to me that maybe Lois-without-coffee might have trouble with original imagery too! (Plus, I didn't have to come up with something else that way.) Anyway, I'm glad you thought it worked Incidentally, I used to write for a living, too, and I've never met a writer who wasn't dependent on caffeine. It's one of the things they don't warn you about in journalism school. Poor Clark... he's like a lost puppy. Can I keep him? Lost puppy, huh? Well, I gave out kittens with the last story, so what the heck - you can have him if Lois doesn't claim him within the time I've allotted her . I can't think of any authors with your ability to bring the supporting cast alive. It's like you know them personally. Arawn, thank you so much for this lovely compliment. I think good characterization is at the heart of fan fiction, so there is nothing you could say that would mean more to me as a writer than telling me that these people seem real to you. As a new writer in the fandom, I still feel like I'm feeling my way with these characters, trying to find the words that fit in their mouths and the thoughts that run through their heads. It's tricky but also lots of fun and probably has a lot to do with why I read and write fan fiction in the first place: I love the characters and want more of them. I want to bring them back to life for a little while and let them take up residence in my imagination. I'm delighted if I'm able to do that, even a little. And thanks to everyone who commented on the Clark-bringing-Lois-coffee scene, which is one of those that's been stuck in my head since I started the story. I was really looking forward to writing it and hoping I could get it from my head to the page intact. Yes, Clark is very sweet, but remember he's also feeling very guilty at the moment, having realized the night before that he hadn't been completely honest with Lois either. So his bringing coffee was partly to soothe his own conscience, I think, and to hopefully make any further conversation he might have to have with her about the efficacy of condoms, or lack thereof, easier. As Lisa said: That's not to say that he didn't have an ulterior motive - he probably hoped that the gesture would touch Lois and create a little opening in her defenses. And it did. He hopes LaraMoon, I'm SO sorry about your back - what a misery! - and glad that I could provide you with a little entertainment. I do hope you feel better soon. And now I'm off to write about the ball, which is another of those scenes that's been living in my head. So many possibilities for UST at a formal ball, don't you think? Thanks again to all who have commented! Best, Caroline
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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Caroline, please hurry back with the next part!
I'm a firm believer in the fact that God doesn't put any more on us than we can bear. He does however make us come to Jesus every so often.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Sorry, ladies. It's not quite ready yet, but it should be up later this week sometime. I'm working on it, I promise!
Best,
Caroline
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Columnist
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wow great part!  can't wait for the next. Just catching up reading.
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