Thanks everyone! Sorry for the slow reply. I'm battling anemia (a very common problem when pregnant and probably made worse by being vegetarian), so I catch up on sleep on the weekends and Mondays I'm okay, but as the week goes on I get more and more tired and basically unable to think after about 6. I've been taking new iron supplements though, and definitely feel more awake tonight than normal, so maybe I've finally kicked it. (I've been trying to increase my iron intake for weeks now, but couldn't seem to get quite enough.)
AnKS - I think you are right. Lois didn't intentionally do it, but she did sort of accept that she wasn't in a position to be in a relationship, which was reasonable when she first was getting divorced. But then she never re-evaluated that. Hopefully, seeing Chad move on will help her finally realize it's okay to move on, too.
Sira - Yes, I know. I didn't really do a good job at hiding the Chad/Rachel thing, did I? Although, I try to console myself by thinking that these things might be more surprising if everyone here wasn't looking for a way to get rid of Chad so Lois is available for Clark.
I think I mentioned that one of my betas suggested I make the girl Chad kiss be Rachel. My decision to not do so wasn't to throw people off base, though. It was more that I didn't want Chad and Lois' situation to be the same at that point and so I was "saving" Rachel for the real relationship, if that makes any sense.
fuzzy- Thank you! I agree, I think what happened with Chad and Lois was a matter of setting priorities. I think this a large part of why it was so difficult for them. It was hard for either of them to accept that their careers were more important to them than each other. I mean, I think it is more than career as I don't think Chad would be happy at a small town hospital based in Metropolis or Lois at some major newspaper based in a small town, but it's similar. You like to think that your spouse is the most important thing in your life and if you love them, it has to be painful to realize that's not really true. That they alone can't make you happy and so it's best to split up.
amberlea - I'm impressed - did you actually read the whole thing recently? I'm trying to edit it for the archive and am having trouble getting through more than a few pages at a time!
Michael - I think I did promise that by the end of this chapter the rest of the story would probably not be a huge surprise. Oh well, I can live with the fact that I didn't deliver any major curveballs at the end.
Ann - I think you will see some of that in the next chapter - Lois still trying to figure out who she is without Chad, I mean. But, remember the break up was about a year and a half ago now. I think she has moved on in a lot of ways, she just hasn't really thought about it yet.
BTW, I'm so glad you liked this Lois. I know she's very different than canon Lois, but I enjoyed writing her a lot. On the other hand, the Lois in my next story is almost uber-canon Lois and she's fun to write as well, so maybe I just like writing Lois.
I do feel like I take her character out of her natural state more than I do with Clark.
robinson - Thanks! I have to say fast forwarding was always my intention with this story. I knew I was going to get to a point where it wasn't really worth writing about - seeing Lois eek out an existence for awhile before she moves on and then making baby steps in getting over Chad would just be painful to read. Even when I, for a very long time, played with having her stay with Chad, I thought I'd still need to fastforward to show that they were still together years later. It was actually only supposed to be the last chapter that was fast forwarded, and I did write it all as one, but as it turned out to be twice as long as a normal chapter (and then my betas asked for even more), I ended up breaking it up.
Thanks again for all the amazing feedback. You guys are all so wonderful to write detailed feedback! Given how lazy I am, I really appreciate it!
