That's what you guys have been asking for right?

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Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Thanks .
Carol

You were evil with the Kryptonite excerpt =P

Other than that... adorable presents... and OMG go Lois! Wonder how Clark will react to *that*!

~Sheila

Hmmmm. I don't know what's going to happen here.
On one hand, Lois telling Clark that she loves him could help Clark acknowledge he should CONSIDER a more serious relationship with her. (He had been wondering that before.)
PLEASE DELETE
On the other hand, knowing that she loves him, could very well make the "double-edged guilt" worse. Not only is he getting pressure from his parents and from the general custom of marriage itself to love his wife, but he's also getting pressure from Lois.

Hmmmm. I don't know what's going to happen here.
On one hand, Lois telling Clark that she loves him could help Clark acknowledge he should CONSIDER a more serious relationship with her. (He had been wondering that before.) And maybe give up the Lana fantasy, if nothing else.

On the other hand, knowing that she loves him, could very well make the "double-edged guilt" worse. Not only is he getting pressure from his parents and from the general custom of marriage itself to love his wife, but he's also getting pressure from Lois. Even if she doesn't actually say "I want you to love me, too", or is even expecting it, the fact that she DID say it shows that she wants him to.
That is going to FEEL like pressure to Clark, even if she doesn't see it that way.

And thanks for acknowledging this, Carol. Still, I can understand how Lois decides to tell him, here. She's held her feelings in to long, and their bottling her up. And that to pregnacy and...Plus, Clark had been asking her before what she was thinking about.

Yay Lois! (And yay Clark for wanting to go on the cruise with her!). :boogie:

I am all for Lois telling Clark how she feels. At least now it is out in the open and Clark will have to acknowledge it somehow. I don't want him to feel pressured into having a real relationship with his wife but since he already was considering giving this a real chance... Or he is appalled and will decide from now on to keep more of a distance to her. That would suck but at the same time, it would at least let her know what he feels.

It was sweet that Clark decided to not go on the excursions Lois couldn't go on. They really grown up!

From the excerpts I take it they are still talking to each other so whatever Clark will reply it can't be that bad. But he will probably need time to digest the new information.

I wish it was tomorrow already!

Natascha (also happy that the Kents ended up coming to Metropolis for Christmas. It is nice that Sam has all that money!)

PS. Carol, I still wonder what happened to Mindy. I don't miss her in the least, you know but she went so quietly into the night that I fear she will show up again when we and Lois and Clark least expect it. So... can't you have her run over by a truck or something?

Hopefully this will be the push Clark needs to start rethinking his own feelings.

I am still holding my prior stated premise,Clark fell for Lois on first sight.

At ever junction he made decisions that favored Lois over Lana.

In little things and in big things he always picked Lois.

He made decisions that made no sense in any manner or shape when it was what might be best for Lois or what Lois wanted.

What we need is a scene with Linda King and Jimmy Olson. Linda can explain that she saw it all from the start. She saw right through Clark. He claimed he was being a good guy when he couldn't keep his eyes off Lois. That he ran after Lois like a little puppy dog.
Linda can even explain that the only reason Clark was unwilling to have sex with Lana was his focus on Lois.
Linda: "Regardless of what Clark says or perhaps believes, he was a goner from the minute he set eyes on Lois Lane."
Linda: "Clark could be holding Lana but his eyes always followed Lane."
==========

On a sadder note, this Clark Kent is not up to being Superman. Maybe a hero in a costume that hides his face, even his race and age, but not barefaced in the full glare of the spotlight. He simply has too much to risk.

Risking himself, risking his parents, even risking Lois, but the children, never. So a maskless Superman is out.

PS: Why didn't he offer to take her to a lonesome tropical island paradise sometime they're in Smallville after her pregnancy. Assuming they're still together then. He might even mention that as a disclaimer, you know?

You know, Carol, you're an expert at making me incredibly frutrated at one of the characters, only to do a one eighty and nearly knock me down with an overdose of joy!

I was getting so frustrated with Lois. Maybe Sheila's complaints have something to do with how much Lois frustrated me in chapter 98?

But in chapter 99! Yes!!!! She told him!!!

Ann

/falls over/ Get back here!

Lovely yet evil and torturous cliff hanger... and just when I thought I had my reactions in check.

Yes, that is what I wanted from Lois, albeit that was more direct than I'd ever hoped we'd get. I too was getting frustrated with her for all of the pent up feelings and sly comments. Complications galore, woot!

I have no idea what Clark is going to do with that explicit announcement, but I love that she walks away right after it. We know Clark can't force himself to love someone, but I wonder if part of his reluctance to letting Lana go has to do with the idea that he wouldn't find *love* anywhere else. He already considered that his Kryptonian physiology could have soul-bonded him to Lois, so it is possible that there is something underlying and subconscious that is going on with his feelings that he hasn't been able to classify yet.

While Lois is worried that she's going to get her heart handed back as chum, I'm worried that Clark is going to start being extra careful and will examine every action before he does it. Does that mean no more cuddling? I hope not... and Lois better not take it back either! :fist shake:

And so the countdown for tomorrow's posting begins...
~s
(/who maybe should use this time to work on a ficathon submission)

I just remembered something...
In an earlier chapter not long ago when Clark was wishing he had anyone he oculd talk to, didn't he say "If only my brother had lived (or survived)"? Or am I imagining things?
I have been reading this other story about Clark and his twin brother so maybe I am just confused.
Can you shed some light please?
I will go back to look myself too.

Natascha

EDIT:
Thanks Michael for keeping me sane.
I just found it in Chapter 95 I believe: Hasn nobody else questioned that yet? Or have I just not noticed you mentioning this in earlier parts. Did they ever talk about a second baby in the ship? Or did the globe mention Clark having had a brother on Krypton?

Nope, that was this story. And I think it was in the last 2, 4 tops, parts.

Michael

May I humbly suggest we crown Carol as the new Queen of Evil? .

Queen of Evil? Nope, that title is firmly held by MLT. And Carol has long since ventured past this humble title IMHO:


Michael

I don't recall which chapter, but Clark introspects about the hologram messages that revealed his heritage to him. In one of them, he sees his biological parents working on the ship along with a boy around the age of 15. The boy looked a lot like Clark and Clark assumes that he is/was his older brother.

Ditto to Ann, I have an overdose of joy! I'm happy Lois told Clark the truth. He doesn't have to love her back (and quite frankly I never felt compelled to do so even with my best friend of 7 years), but he can be more understanding that she's in a different place than he is right now, and he can be considerate of his actions.

And evil, evil, evil with yesterday's Kryptonite spoiler!

Great parts,
JD

Hi Carol,

I am just getting caught up with this story and wanted to add a few of my thoughts to the feedback. I have very much enjoyed the last few parts. There have been times in the story where I haven't much liked either Lois or Clark for various reasons.

However, I am still completely hooked on the story, and can't wait to see what happens next.

One thing in particular I wanted to mention involves the title of the sequel. It was revealed a few parts ago that the title comes from a Garth Brooks song. I had never heard of that song before and when you mentioned the term "unanswered prayers" my thoughts went to a quote by St. Teresa of Avila who was a Spanish nun who lived in the 16th century. The quote states "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones." This quote is also referenced in the prologue of Truman Capote's unfinished novel "Answered Prayers". I don't know if you are familiar with that quote or not, but I thought it was interesting how it also mentions that unanswered prayers can in some cases end up better than answered prayers.

-EM

I'm alive! I'm alive! A christmas wish come true! big kiss to Carol. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Carol, I'm very glad Lois finally told Clark that she had fallen in love with him, especially since he had been wondering about the future, because this gives him an option that he had hardly considered. I was also delighted to see both of them setting aside their wishes to consider what the other would like (Lois urging Clark to do some of the things he wanted to try, even without her, and Clark refusing to do activities Lois was banned from since the pregnancy that kept her from them was as much his doing as hers). Way to go, kids!

This is just a suggestion for when you start working on rewrites, so ignore it for now. But when the time comes, you might sit down and decide on 4 to 6 ways in which Lois is a better romantic match for Clark than Lana is--sort of like you've done re their respective sizes, only emotionally, intellectually, etc. Then scatter a scene or two illustrating each way throughout the story prior to the point where L&C make love after her dad's heart attack. That will help convince your readers not only that Clark really belongs with Lois instead of Lana but that the marriage he had planned with Lana might have been in trouble even if they'd gone through with it.

Just a suggestion. Looking forward to the next parts.

Hey guys!

Was I evil with that Kryptonite excerpt? Really?

Lieta - RADFO - should be posting shortly.

Sheila - yes she did...

Sara - I don't know that he's getting pressure from Lois. We haven't seen what else she says does though I can see how it might feel like it.

Natascha - Mindy is still around - no bus or anything - guessing she's off with Church or something. She will reappear at some point, though I don't know if it's going to make it into OTOH - might be a sequel - not quite sure how that's going to play out.

Framework - interesting analysis about the maskless Superman.

Michael - how do you really feel? I don't think they're 50/50 on whether or not Christopher is Clark's son, but absent confirmation at this point... Tropical island? For swimming with dolphins? That will come up at some point, but I'm not sure when.

Ann - please don't overdose... . Speaking of Learning to Love - it's on the archive!!!! WOOHOO!! Totally random tangent there...

Sonia - I'm here! I'm here! I need to work on my ficathon submission too. Maybe I should take some time off OTOH to do so... /ponder/

Natascha - He talks about his brother, Van-El, who looked to be about 15 in the holograms. However, there was only one ship. He figures if his brother had managed to survive, he'd have someone he could really talk to.

Lara - Um... I'll let Michael deal with the Queen of Evil stuff. *I* don't think I remotely qualify but... /shrug/ .

JD - exactly!

EminMN - interesting. The 'theme' of the titles of the stories in this series is country songs. Not sure why, that's just the way it's gone. /makes note of others/

lovesuper - um, thanks. /doesn't tell DH she just got a big online smooch/

Sheilah - thanks. At least one of those ways is still to come. Lana hasn't gone quietly into the dark night though it may be a while before we see her again - several have alluded to it already though we haven't seen it [and shouldn't have yet]. There's also the 'don't expect me to play stepmommy' stuff, which I don't think she *really* means - I think if Clark comes as a package deal, she'd eventually accept it [though it probably wouldn't be her first choice]. Though Clark did have a bit of a rough start with Christopher, he was well past that long before he began to think that he could actually be the biological father.

Okay - off to get the next 2 ready!
Carol

Carol said:
Sonia says:
Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

Just a note regarding that earlier part. I, too, was caught off guard by the referance to the brother. Perhaps, in the editing process, you could make a note that he remembered back to the older brother in the hologram. That way you don't lose people like me who have a memory like a mosquitoes.


Elisabeth

Oh, I felt quite good I don't do pictures unless I'm really happy or really frustrated (with the characters)

And I think the whiplash is something of an occupational hazard when reading

Michael