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Wow! That was so powerful and beautiful. I am so glad you let them confront the issue right away instead of letting it fester. Although I do not think it is completely resolved. Your writing is wonderful and so powerful. I felt like I was there and could picture it perfectly in my mind. I could feel their need to reconnect after the fight. Wow! Kathy www.chili-everyway.com
robinson
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oh. wow! that was an amazing chapter. the depth of their emotions, the test of her love. what clark endured, and the strength he showed in being vulnerable with both lois and his therapist. i think this has been my favorite chapter of the story so far. so many things going on at the same time.
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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That was absolutely harrowing. There is such a tremendous amount of pain here. But Lois and Clark also love each other so very, very, very much. “Nor took everything from me. My position, my supporters, my desire to keep breathing.” He turned to look at his wife, the anguish in her expression mirroring what he felt. “But he couldn't take away you. I loved you. I will always love you. That was all that was left of me.”
Fresh tears fell from his wife's eyes as she fumbled to take his hand once again. She held tightly, like she was afraid to let him go. “Clark,” she whispered sadly. The room was painfully crowded, but he didn't think this would be that much easier if his therapist wasn't there. What a wonderful declaration of love that was. And he spoke the truth, too. And Lois cries, and her tears are, to use Kal-speak from Female Hawk's story, good tears. I think. But then there was this: He closed his eyes and dragged his trembling hand through his hair. His mouth was dry and his throat raw, but he had to keep going, because if he didn't say this now, he had no idea when he'd get the courage to do so. “I was never tempted, but I thought about it. Not because I wanted to be with someone else, but because I wanted to die. I thought about being unfaithful because so long as there was something good left in me, I couldn't just give up and die on that damn rock.” He knew it didn't make sense. He was confessing to having considered something so terrible, right after describing how angry he'd been because his wife had thought he might have actually done it.  No, she and Clark still had a tremendous amount to talk about, but she wasn't sure how they were going to get through it. Hearing him say again how he'd given up when Nor held him prisoner tore her apart. As had his most recent confession, that he had considered infidelity…it shouldn't have been so shocking, especially given that she'd thought that very same thing. But to hear how and why he'd considered it. Her stomach turned.
Lois blinked back fresh tears as she made her first sweep over Suicide Slum. She needed some crime to fight. Or a bridge to hold up. Or a kitten to rescue from a tree. Anything to take her mind off it. Ann
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Oh boy. They really made progress. No long, awkward separations. No angry sleeping apart. And I just hope that Lois' shattering scene doesn't have a deeper meaning than her feeling for Clark. Michael 
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Pulitzer
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Great part. "And the truth shall set you free." Yes, Clark needed to come clean to Lois. I'm glad he's finally admitted that. And I'm glad Lois was prepared to forgive him anyway. Keep it coming!  Artemis
History is easy once you've lived it. - Duncan MacLeod
Writing history is easy once you've lived it. - Artemis
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That was a powerful part - so well written and so moving.
I'm really enjoying this story!
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Pulitzer
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Outstanding chapter. The way Dr. Friskin brought both Clark and Lois to speak what was foremost on their minds without any rancor was wonderfully done. And it was terrific how they embraced each other at the end of that difficult time.
But I'm a little puzzled as to why Lois might need to forgive Clark. He wasn't unfaithful to Lois. He didn't take a mistress on New Krypton or consummate his marriage with Zara. All he did was experience temptation. And that's not prosecutable.
He was on a completely different planet. He was leading people he didn't completely understand in a war, fighting for their very existence. He was captured and horribly tortured by a crazy man who wanted him completely broken and then completely dead. He had all but lost hope that he could win the war, much less ever return home. I think that his thoughts are completely natural, and that if he hadn't been tempted, it would not have been believable, at least not under those most extreme circumstances.
So while Lois' sense of betrayal is natural and understandable, it doesn't follow that Clark is actually guilty of anything. He may have thought it, but he didn't act on it, and he banished those thoughts from his mind to the point that he had no idea how Talan felt about him. My impression of his idea of Talan is that she would gladly have shared his bed, but because of his position and his leadership and her desire to help him maintain some semblance of normalcy, not because she loved him more than her own life. Lois needs to understand that he did not betray her, and Clark needs to understand that Lois' heart (just like everyone else's heart) doesn't necessarily respond to logic and reason.
And I think they've made a good start. Just keep it up, guys. Keep talking, keep listening, and keep loving each other.
So where's the next chapter of this fabulous tale?
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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Thanks for your comments, everyone. I'm glad this section lived up to what I wanted it to accomplish. I know it was a painful fight, but given where the characters are, it was pretty much inevitable.
Kathy, thanks for your extremely kind comments. I agree this isn't over, but they did start resolving the issue pretty quickly, in part because it would have been unbearably painful for Clark to let this fester.
Thank you for your comments, Flowerpot. I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed this chapter. So far in this story, it has taken the worst of circumstances to push Clark to open up. It's not a great long term strategy for him, but I've been trying to lay out, at each point, what exactly makes him take the difficult steps back toward really living in his life.
Thanks for your comments, Sarah.
Ann, I know this section mixed plenty of bitter with the meager amount of sweet. There's still so much for them to deal with, and I think they both realize that. Each one of Clark's confessions was necessary. I'm glad that the first one came across exactly as it should have - as the most powerful testament Clark could give to their love. The second confession was meant as painful counterpoint to that - if the very core of who Clark is is his love for Lois, the idea of him contemplating betraying that love has to demonstrate to her just how bad things were.
Hi Michael. Thanks for your comments. Lois isn't in a great place emotionally in that scene, but I think she's finding herself smashed to bits not because Clark did something to her, but because getting an understanding of his pain is what's tearing her apart.
Hi Artemis. I agree that the truth was liberating here. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Or that it won't hurt again in the future, I'm afraid.
Thanks for your kind words, Amber. Glad you enjoyed this part.
Hi Terry. I don't think Clark has done anything that needs forgiving. Contemplating infidelity may be a celestial offense, but it's not a terrestrial one. But I think Clark thinks he needs forgiveness for the weakness he sees in himself. And while Lois doesn't know the extend of his perceived transgressions, I think he's subconsciously seeking redemption for all of them. Talan once told him there was darkness in everyone. What matters is what we do about it. But the darkness that infected Clark on New Krypton was new, it wasn't part of who he was on Earth. He's asking Lois's forgiveness for not being the man both of them thought he was. Even though everyone around Clark saw a better man than anyone else could hope to be, he didn't live up to his own (unfairly high) expectations of himself. How can he begin to forgive himself that if Lois can't forgive him first?
As to why Lois offers forgiveness instead of correcting his erroneous notion that he needs forgiving? Since she merely 'nods miserably' at his plea, I intend that to suggest that she's overwhelmed with emotions and not thinking terribly clearly there, either.
With respect to your wondering how Clark perceived Talan's feelings for him, I hope he didn't believe her to be willing to enjoy a roll in the hay with him because he was attractive and powerful. On so many occasions, she'd pushed back against him, trying to defend his humanity against his own attempts to debase it. When he was looking to cut himself off emotionally through meditation, she refused to help him. He may not know now or ever that she did love him more than life (though he was well aware that she wouldn't have hesitated to die to protect him, but that could have been out of duty, not love), but I think he knows that she was constantly trying to protect him, both physically and emotionally, on New Krypton.
Thanks again for all of your comments, everyone. I really appreciate them and they're a huge help in this long, complex, evolving story!
Regards,
Rac
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