Finally, the end!

Thanks go to the writers of the show, from whom I borrowed rather shamelessly, and also to the actors, who made it look great. And of course to my beta-readers--Anonpip, DW, and Morgana! Thanks for being so great with the short deadlines when I went late and the long chapters!

And thank you, especially, to everyone who's read and commented! I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I have!

So beautiful!! <long happy sigh>

I have to go sleep now, and hope for better words tomorrow to say how absolutely wonderful your wrap up is. Thank you thank you thank you!!

Nicely done. A satisfying and throughly enjoyable story.

What's next?

Tank (who is secure in the knowledge that since in this universe the relationship has been accelerated, so to will Lois' desire for the proper haircut... right?)

Beta-reading this story was pure fun! Ok, so I bit my nails at the end of every chapter wondering what was going to happen next, but overall this was awesome!

Thanks for adding extra joy to a crazy summer!

I ditto what Morgana said, except that the fix made my *winter* that much more bearable And beta-reading for you was so much fun except when I was anxious to read the next part!

What a fabulous ending! Superman is back!

Loved this:

And this brought tears to my eyes:

Such wonderful details. Fabulous ending for a fabulous story!

Joan
(What's next??)

This was just beautiful. Remember the chapter I read, alone in the dark on my living room sofa, in the middle of the night, and I was so moved I had to write and thank you? Well, last night I sat in the dark reading the epilogue, and when I came to the end, I was surprised to notice that there was a solitary tear rolling down my cheek. I wasn't sad. It wasn't a tear of joy. I think it was just a reaction to the beauty of this wonderfully written story. Thanks again for sharing. I look forward to reading more from you.

It was no vacation on the beach, but I loved the perpetual sunrise.

Well, that's unique! No clone will fool her again.

Awww. Did she realize that she just proposed? Or accepted an unspoken proposal?

Loving the banter of these series of lines!

Which is why we all read FanFic, to see Clark smile like this.

Okay, more than a few quotes.

Great story! Loved it! You did not disappoint! Did I mention... ? Thank you for the ride!

Beautiful!

I just caught on to this story this week. It took me 3 days, but I read all of it and finished late last night. I was so thrilled to see that you would be posting the epilogue shortly thereafter!

This story was amazing!

~Kristen

The perfect ending to a fantastic story. You had me hooked on every last word. Loved it all.

Yes, otherwise you'd have to microchip him with a tracking device like a puppy.

*wonders what the unemployment rate in Metropolis has just sky-rocketed to*

Probably harder on him actually.

Clark? Cloneboy? *Has* to be Clark. Right?

Dangerous move, Clark! But, you are adorable, so we'll let it slide.

*pictures the "he can fly" scene from Peter Pan*



Horray for the healing of mental scars!

Ooooohhh!

Another nice mixture of two of my favorite lines/scenes.





Or you could just skip to that part. Yeah....

Wonderful!


Amazing tale that you have woven for us! I completely enjoyed every moment of it. Excellent job, as always. And I do hope to see more from you soon!

Finally had a chance to catch up to the last few parts! SO beautifully well done!!

A fantastic epilogue to a Kerth-worthy story.

There's much I want to quote, but I'll restrain myself and just quote a few of my favourite lines. First, I loved the repartee:

I also like the oxymoronic phrase of "hopeful trepidation."

And the following is sheer poetry: And speaking of poetry, the following would be the delight of any English teacher looking for alliteration:
Joy,
Lynn

Sigh... What a beautiful ending. Loved it all. laura

/hands Lois address for Mazik's Jewels/ There's a remedy for that.

Nonononono. Can we please have the clone back?

/remembers line from the Sidekick Guide /
She should 'suggest' it. And by 'suggest' I mean suggest in a Lois Lane fashion. Like she's 'borrowing' evidence from the crook's office.

Shouldn't Clark be using the door? Is the clone back?

Naughty Clark. Going flying without being dressed.



'Come fly with me...'

Propose. Huh. No. And Lois has a one-track mind, already measuring for a solitaire.

So cute Lois forcing him. And it might also cause a fit for Clark.

Michael

Thanks, Evelyn--I thought your words were quite enough on their own!

Glad you enjoyed it, Tank. And, yes, I'm sure Lois was just on the verge of getting her haircut. It just slipped her mind during the rest of the commotion.

Thanks, Morgana and DW! May I say that I vastly appreciated your willingness to beta such a long, involved story! I'm glad you liked all the little tie-ins--I adore the show, and I'm afraid that leaks out a bit. I was afraid it was a bit much, so thanks for the reassurance there.

Thanks, mozartmaid! What a relief to know the light/dark themes weren't too overdone!

Wow, Lynn, thanks. I don't think of myself as a particularly poetic writer, so it was a treat to see your comment!

Thanks, Laurach! Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you enjoyed the story, Darth Michael! More great lines from you--yes, Lois is somewhat single-minded, and I could just see her 'borrowing' and 'suggesting.' I'll let you answer your philosophical question--in the eye of the beholder and all that. I assumed that Lois didn't recognize the clone Superman as an imposter because when Clark/Superman left, she still didn't know Superman too well and was, of course, missing the biggest part of what makes him what and who he is (that, I'm afraid, is about as philosophical as I get). And yes, for the record, I'm certainly considering them engaged, though I'm sure there will be one (or two, or three, or more) proposal scenes in their future.

Once again, I just want to thank everyone who left feedback as this story was being posted. I know it took a long time to be finished--so thanks for sticking with it. Also, for fun, I thought I might just list some of the ideas readers/friends/family who read the story had about what the explanation might be for the 'extra' Superman.

Clark, in the cell, was a plant.
Superman was Luthor in disguise.
Superman was Luthor's soul transplanted into a Superman body.
From the moment Superman rescued them, Lois and Clark were trapped in Luthor's virtual world.
Clark was dead and the appearance of both Clark and 'Superman' were only figments of Lois's delusional imagination.
Superman was a future Clark, come back to fill in for the wounded younger Clark.
Superman was Alt-Clark brought in by HG Wells to protect the world while Clark was recovering.
Clark had been split in two through various, convoluted means, and Superman was the other half of his personality given form.
Clark and Superman were brothers.

And I'm sure there were many others, but these were just the few I could remember off the top of my head. So many of them sounded like such great ideas that I sometimes wished I had thought of them first so I could write them instead. In fact, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to simply offer up a very long rewrite of the episode 'Vatman' by the time I heard all the theories everyone else came up with.

Still, this is some of the best fun I've ever had--thanks for enjoying it with me!

"No Clark, I do not consider us kind of engaged after you kind of broke up with me for my own kind of good"


Michael

Oh. My. Goodness.

Finally finished reading this, and I can honestly say, I'm in absolute lust with your writing style and in absolute LOVE with this story!

It made me two-hour bus ride fly by.

I'm pretty sure it's officially one of my fav. fics ever. Just sayin'

It's always a treat to get more feedback, so thanks for commenting, MrsLuthor! Glad I could help out on your long bus ride.

Wow! Can't believe I missed this one in the busy-ness of RL. I'm trying to go back and read all the stories I've misses and this one was so great!

Thanks, rkn! Glad you enjoyed!

I really did. This one was unique because Lois really had to confront her feelings for Clark Kent and she realized that Clark Kent was who she really was in love with, and she chose him. Event though cannon Lois "chose" Clark Kent, she still knew he was Superman too.

Hi AK,

I just read this story over the last week. It's terrific. I see that it was nominated for a Kerth, which is how I found it on the archive Kerth page. I hope you're planning to submit it to the archive as well. It deserves a wide readership.

Happy

I dove into the story over a month ago (RL : 6 and 4 year old = taking potentially a month and a half to read this story during 'free time' aka--middle of the night ).

I completely, utterly, constantly loved it--every chapter, every scene, every beautiful word. You were able to bring SUCH feeling into Clark...into all the hell he was dealing with (regarding Luthor's 'game' ), but yet, at the same exact time, show so much of his heart. How deeply and wholeheartedly he loves Lois.

Watching Lois go on this journey--falling bit by bit (but if she were to be honest with herself, it was pretty quickly into knowing) her friend. Coming to terms with her unrealistic crush (the clone, but also 'Superman' in general) and, without a doubt, choose Clark.

What made the story so beautiful in my mind was how constantly, how just really on faith alone, Lois had to trust her best friend. Be there for him. Believe him--and in him. Knowing that this was the middle of the first season, pretty early into their friendship really, made Lois' choices that much MORE sweet.

You put the emotions, the feelings, of 'love' into words.

Thank you--for this story, for all of the late evenings I have been privileged to enjoy in this world.

'Amazing' would be a complete inadequate description of this piece of work .
Laura

I, too, loved this story and have re-read it 3 times. Each time I catch nuances I missed before. All new members to the message boards should include this on their "must read list."

Definitely .

I'm so adament that I'll reread in the future, I've left the story in the iBooks section of myiPad/iPhone. Just could not push delete .

One of my all-time favorites, Anti-K ...
Laura

So glad you enjoyed the story, LMA and Supesfan! This was one of my favorite stories to write, letting me combine my admiration of Clark's strength with my favorite lines of the show, while also giving me the chance to play around with some bits of role-reversal in the relationship/friendship between Lois and Clark. It IS long, though, so I sympathize with you having to find the time to read it in a busy life!

I'm delighted to hear that you've reread it so often, Supersfan, and that you plan to, LMA -- the best compliment a writer can receive is to know that their readers plan to repeat the process, this time knowing what they're getting into!

This was quite possibly my favorite fic that I've ever read. I was sucked in so hard that I couldn't put it down. Luckily I had several VERY long plane rides (over the ocean) and bus trips (across countries) and was able to keep reading until I was finished. It was fantastic. I loved the flow of the writing and the story. I loved being confused about what was happening at the beginning and having an idea of what was going on later, but not being too sure. I love how everything came together at the end. Kudos and thanks for writing!

Thank you so much! It's such a great encouragement to know people are still enjoying older stories! This was one of my very favorites to write, so it holds a pretty special place in my heart. Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed it! Oh, and glad you had safe travels on what sounds like a long trip!

Ms. AntiKryptonite, after seeing JellyS2 posting, I have yet again re-read your story. I last read it in 2015. And here in 2019 it is just as fresh, sharp and riveting as before. Every single time I read it, I pick up new details. Thank you for this lovely, multifaceted story.