If you read the story I hope you enjoyed it or at least didn’t hate it and begin making plans to kick me out of the fandom. Since I’ve never written these characters before I decided start with a familiar type of story, which happens to be darker, more emotional kinds of stories. With April’s challenge being a WHAM, I felt I had to take it up because of how deeply rooted in death the month is for me.

*sniff*

That was sad, but beautiful.

I'm going to have to agree with Annie. Beautifully done.

From the beginning, I never knew who would live and who would die. I was a little surprised that Clark didn't volunteer to go to the doctor with her. I did wonder if in his weakened state he would get exposed to her germs and catch her flu... and never having been exposed to such a virus succumb quickly before he could recover (or have a green K fragment somewhere which would not allow him to super heal). You kept me on the edge of my seat until the accident.

Very good description of Clark sorrow and grief. I'm glad Lois had been able to say good-bye. Had this been Alt-Clark, I don't know how would have been able to survive such an ordeal being without family. The Kents really helped him move on.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Poignant. Heartbreaking.

...

......


*Reader whining, Please ignore* But did you have to make he pregnant only for her to die?

Loisette,

Well written, however I have some fundamental problems with your premise.

As an Emergency Responder I need to point out:

1) in such a rescue a first responder would not pull her out and lay her on the ground, wet or not even with the Cape underneath her.
2) the first thing would be to fly her to the Emergency Room so that she could receive proper care.
3) she definitely should not be flown to her home.
4) It would also be a chargeable offense - preventing her from receiving necessary medical care and contributing to her death thereby.

I do not know if you are working with a beta or not, but if I had been doing beta for you I would have pointed these problems out to you before you posted it.

Sad, but beautiful seems to be my specialty. I hear that a lot from readers of my Chuck fics. Thanks for the comment and being the first to leave feedback.

Thank you Virginia. I'm glad you and others are seeing the beauty I tried to include with the tragedy.

I'm happy to see that you couldn't predict what the outcome would be and who would die.

I drew on personal experience and pain when writing Clark's grief. That didn't necessarily make it any easier to write though. I gave Lois the chance to say goodbye and the support from the Kents because those are things I didn't get, but wished I had. My experience was more like what Alt-Clark's would have been. I didn't really have anyone and was alone.

And thank you so much for the sweet comment about my loss. He was a wonderful person and this month is really hard for me.

Thank you. Unfortunately, yes I did. Going by the rules for the challenge someone had to learn something which then led to their death. Someone dying after learning Clark's secret has been done repeatedly, so I wanted to go a different route. I chose to interpret that rule in a way that wouldn't be typical or predictable. Something that would also be very tragic.

Thank you and there were reasons why I made the choices I did for that part of the story. This was a very personal story written in honor and memory of someone who meant so much to me. I didn't get to say goodbye to him and that haunts me. Often I wish that I could have seen his face or heard his voice one last time. Had one last hug. I gave Lois and Clark the chance I never had.

I echo the 'sad, but beautiful' thought...I read this late saturday night--and it definitely stuck with me over the last few days. I read it after the house was quiet--everyone in bed...and I bawled (and interrupted my reading three different times to go in search of more tissue ).

I really didn't know how it would end--and really assumed initially that something would happen to Clark (based on the Kryptonite exposure).

You wrote Clark's grieve very poignantly...And the gift for Clark from Lois for their anniversary--the whole thought process with it was really touching.

So sorry you never got to say goodbye, and that you weren't supported in your grief...and I hope through writing this story you were able to find a bit of healing.

Thanks for sharing such a personal part of yourself and your life with us

Laura

Thank you for the comments. As I was working on the story I worried whether I was getting the emotion I wanted into the story. Your comments make me feel that I was able to get that emotion into the story.

Figuring out the gift took a while. I knew what the significance of the gift would be from the start, but it took some time to decide what would be in the box.

Thank you for your words regarding my personal reasons for writing this story.

Outstanding!! Normally I don't like death fics and with KenJ's comment letting me know it was one I had not read it until today. I am very glad I did as you hit this one out of the park!

Thanks for the story

Mike

You don't have to worry about getting the emotion you wanted into the story you did that in spades.

The way you had Clark handle the gift was to me the best part of the story. I loved the way it allow him to get back into the bed, replacing Lois as it were and finally the letter which actually WAS the gift. Wonderful, exquisite timing, and very poignant.

Mike

Thank you for the lovely comments and deciding to read the story even though death fics aren't really your thing. And I'm glad you enjoyed the story after making the decision to read it.

I always worry about the emotion in my stories, but that was especially true in this story. I'm glad I was able to achieve what I wanted.

Thank you for your feedback about the way the gift was used in the story. Incorporating the gift and its meaning was the toughest aspect to write. It was so important to the story and I wanted to get it right. So I really appreciate your comments.