Oh, Wendy. To leave us there is mean. I *so* wanted them to kiss!!

The title of the next series - Betrayed - seems to hint that Lex is out for blood. I expect part 2 of the series to be a bit nasty, and the third part of the trilogy to be the most satisfying.

Unfortunately, we have to go to part 2 to get to part 3 (darn mathematics)

Bravo...great series!

Ah I was wondering how you were going to pull this off in just 2 parts<g> Now I see you were planing on a continuation series. Ok, I think that is fair<g> Hopefully you won't make us wait long. Good job setting the stage with this one. Lex isn't going to be a happy camper. I wonder how long it will take for Lois to rebuild the Planet and find Clark. Laura

Hi,

Great part. She have something that remember Clark.


Good! Finally asking herself questions about Luthor.


Lois have a plan.

Wendy!
I have really enjoyed this gentle journey of discovery Lois has gone through. I really felt that as a reader, I was able to fall in love right along with her.

The bonus of having some familiarity with the characters allowed me to imagine what Clark was thinking at the same time, but I know that your version (meaning the parts to come) will be much better.

I love the tangents that Lois goes off on in her mind. You do wonders with giving a voice to the characters.

Can't wait for Betrayed!
~sunkist

Aw, Wendy, you just left us hanging! You call this The End?

That almost kiss was so... heartwrenching. You are mean. <g>

I was imagining the sequel would be something like Winter Dreaming or Summer Waking, but maybe that's because I am unoriginal. <g> Post Betrayed soon!

Julie

Clark could not contain himself: called his parents, went swimmig in "her" lake (a rather sexy thing to do}and touched her in an explicit way.But his dismay may be doubled edged. If Lex is what he appears to be,( the legitimate business man} perhaps Clark is not what he seems.Clark may be a tab reporter, or in Lex's employ ( a scary thought). So he falls in love with a marred woman-his boss' wife.

Ooh, I love this whole story. I love all of Lois' thoughts, and her realizations about her marriage. And the conversations with Clark were great. Though I'm wondering where Clark had been staying.

I'm both dreading and waiting for Betrayed. Dreading, because I know Lex's reaction won't be good, and waiting, because I know it will be an excellent story, and a great middle.

OK, I can handle the ending if there is more to come.

Lois needs to put that plan into action and follow her heart.

Looking forward to Clark's point of view.

~Liz

Great part, Wendy!
Lois, poor darling, are you trying to hypnotize yourself again, aren't you?

Lois is basically an honest person, she cannot lie for long, even to herself: when the novelty of her new life began to die, she has understood it's shallow and superficial, and so that it's not for her.
She is recognizing all of this by herself, but her encounter with Clark is an awakening: she do knows her new life is not fulfilling and her marriage not the right thing for her.
The not-kiss hit the mark: she admitted her feelings but without felt guilt because them.
And so now:
And if I understand correctly this
she's going to investigate Lex as well!

All of this by yourself?

An advice, Lois: first thing go to search for Clark, ans so you'll have a good partner and shoulder for your plans!

I loved the pearl-moment, Wendy!

Simona

P.S. from SJH
very scary, indeed!
Never thought about it! You aren't going for this angle, are you, Wendy?!
Well, your talent could make this a wonderful story!

As this one ended I was thinking that maybe Wendy was setting up a Tank challenge

Why did you decide on short, linked stories instead of a many parted longer one? I was just curious as it will make Kerth voting more difficult.

THis promises to be a lovely, long adventure but the next title seems to be dangerous. Hummm, Lex getting jealous of Clark....

Looking forward to the next volume!

I'm wondering about your next story's title too...
WHO is betrayed by WHOM? Lois by Lex? Lex by Lois? Lois by... Clark??? Or Clark by Lois????
There are so many interesting possibilities...
When is your next story going to be on the boards?
Hoping very soon,

Simona

Cool... but I'm not sure Lex is going to give the divorce so easily

Jose :

Wendy

WOW, this is excellent.

Tricia

Oh, as frustrating as that non-kiss was, so typically Clark was the whole situation. He just couldn't react in any other way!

I loved the way you left us. Hungering for more!

No, honestly, Lois realized she loved Clark, she wants out of the marriage to Lex (hooray!!!!!). Like all the others, I can't wait for the sequels.

Sira - wondering about 'Betrayed' like everybody else.

The end?? What do you mean, "the end"???? AAAACK!

Wendy, what a great story, and like everyone above who has also complained about this, I'm going to whine too - how could you leave us here?? No kiss? And they were SO close. I loved the way you led up to it, and I always like it when Clark's hand is shaking just a little bit.

How long do we have to suffer before we get to see "Betrayed"??

P.S. for some reason, it bothered me that Clark's teeth aren't perfect - I always thought they looked pretty darn close.

Loved it. MORE PLEASE!! The sooner the better.

Vicki (who really misses everyone)

What gets me about Lois, in all of these situations, is WHY she didn't think about all of this BEFORE she married Luthor. She goes off blindly happy that the famous Lex Luthor wanted her and she's happy to accept his marriage proposal and not two months later she's unhappy already! Is she fickle, or just a gold digger? And why shouldn't Lex expect her to be his trophy wife? She didn't complain about his treatment of her, not that she's been treated badly by the way. It's not as if she didn't know what she was getting into before she said yes. Or was she drugged into accepting?

I've never understood how the strong, independent career woman she claims to be can be so easily manipulated into marrying Luthor by bombing the Planet. Were there NO other papers in the country she could have taken her 3 Kerth awards to? Nope I guess not. The Planet is gone so she might as well get married and live in the lap of luxury. Makes perfect sense to me.

I suppose all of this sudden change of heart is perfectly acceptable though because Lois doesn't love Lex and was only biding her time, enjoying Lex's money until someone better came along. Now that she's found someone she can love it's time to tell Lex "sorry honey I've found someone else, I want a divorce!" Is this the kind of woman you can respect? If you can please explain it to me.

Betrayed is a perfect title for the next story. As much as you might hate Lex, and we DON'T know this Lex is a bad guy, he's the one who is being betrayed by his new bride of two months. And personally I find it hard not to find fault with him being angry. If you would be perfectly honest with yourself and if it were anyone else in this situation, wouldn't the agrieved husband's anger be perfectly understandable? I venture to say you would.

Ray

Actually, Ray, keep in mind that Lois was manipulated by Lex. *Any* woman, no matter how strong or independent they are, can fall to manipulation.

Just something that people seem to forget about controlled women when they ask "How could she allow him to do that to her?". It may not seem like he's controlled her, but he has in his own way.

I'm not sure what is going on with Lois , but it's not munipulation, not as I understand it. Women that are controlled or manipulated believe themselves in love or emotionally attached in some way to the controller. Some believe the control is for their behalf: he does (fill in the blank) because he loves me.
Lois found Lex attractive, his attentions flattering, but love for him not part of the equation. Why did our gal marry, of all people, Lex? A man she neither knew {her words} nor loved {again her words).It was'nt because she was "manipulated" into it, certainly.

It's interesting how people's own experiences can color whether they feel a story is in character or not. One of my very good friends is beautiful (has done modeling), brilliant (PhD in a scientific field), business-savvy (works in a high-visibility field to high praise), ambitious, well-traveled and well-spoken. In short, she has "the whole package". She also had a rotten childhood with poor parental/marital role models and, as such, has made some extremely poor choices when it comes to her love life. The entire time I watched L&C on television, I was struck by how much like Lois she is.

She's had one long-term abusive relationship, several medium-term relationships with men who were clearly all wrong for her (including accepting an engagement ring from one who we are pretty sure now was gay -- fortunately, she decided she couldn't go through with the wedding), and numerous flings of short duration. It was obvious that for years she chose men who were "safe" -- who she felt no serious emotional attachment to and therefore couldn't hurt her -- to protect herself. She even had a man in a supervisory role at one job steal credit for her work in retaliation for her refusing to date him. (She brought sexual harassment charges and won, but was still forced to leave the job due to intolerable conditions.)

She's married now, to a workaholic who puts family second to everything else in his life -- and yes, she had doubts before the marriage, but went through with it anyway for many of the same reasons Lois agreed to marry Lex. She fell in love with him because of his good qualities (he's not a bad guy, just very self-centered), talked herself into ignoring his bad ones ("he'll change after the wedding"), and, most applicably to our Lois, she believed that there were no ideal men out there, so she'd never be able to do better anyway.

So do I have any problem believing that a Lois Lane who has never met a Clark Kent/Superman would be flattered by the attentions of Lex Luthor and eventually agree to marry him? Absolutely none. I know "Lois"; I stood up at her wedding. It doesn't make her a bad person or a gold digger, and especially not 'deserving of everything she gets'. It makes her human.

Kathy

Very inventive scenario on how Lois 'sees the light'. This was a goody. Her denial is there, her doubts, her progress....and, like, our girl Scarlett, she's not going to make the same mistake twice; she'll figure out how to find Rhett, er, Clark.

Nicely done! (I too love smoochies, but this felt whole anyway.)

Sherry

Gee, I don't post in a really long time, and when I do, I spark some very interesting conversation!!! I love it!

It's good to be back....

Ray, I agree with a lot of what you said, and a lot of the reason that Lois "settles" is because of her self-esteem issues (or lack thereof).

However, would/should/will Lex have the right to be angry? Sure. But does Lois need to stay in a relationship for the rest of her life that doesn't give her what she needs? Especially now that she sees what she could possibly have instead that WOULD make her happy? Of course not. I think Wendy did a great job of showing that Lois is not just attracted to Clark because he's handsome and charming, but because they have a lot in common and just click.

She knows now that she went into this marriage for the wrong reasons, whether she realized it before or not (she's always been great at denial!), and sometimes it is exactly the impetus of meeting the right person for you that opens your eyes to what you might have realized deep down but weren't willing to admit to yourself. She doesn't belong with Lex. She's not happy. She's alone a lot. She gave up her career. She is expected to change to accomodate her "important" husband. Some women will be manipulated into changing who they really are especially if they don't feel good enough about themselves to be willing to wait for someone who will love them for who and what they really are, not for who they actually are. One of my sisters is very beautiful and was very popular all through high school and college and beyond that. I used to watch salesmen racing each other to be the first to wait on her. :rolleyes: She always had a boyfriend from the time she was 12, and I grew up watching how she would change her personality based on who she was seeing at the time. Even as a kid, this really bothered me and I refused to ever do that when I was dating. I figured that if someone didn't want me for who I was, then he was the wrong guy. And I waited until I found the right one.

Kathy, thanks for sharing your friend's background with us. I think we generally assume that people who have it all are happy and fulfilled, and unfortunately, this is often not the real situation.

Next?

V

I never said Lois wasn't human, of course she is she makes mistakes like all of us. Probably more than her share. The big difference with how I see Lois is readers and authors let her off the hook for those mistakes. They don't seem to see her as human in that respect since humans get what they deserve. If they're mean to others, at work and in private, they are ususally shunned and end up bitter and alone.

You cite the example of your "real life Lois" friend. I'm sure she can't just divorce the guy she married after two months because she's met someone she "loves" without consequences. It's unreasonable to expect that. She's paid for her mistakes with her life situation, unlike Lois who keeps getting a pass as long as she gets her soul mate. And why, given her marriage to a billionaire wouldn't one consider her a gold digger? She's been married two months, and now she wants to leave so what are people to deduce from that? She married him for his money, either that or she's fickle and I'm not sure which is worse.

As for love, I wonder if Lois even knows what love is. She "loved" Paul and went to bed with him. She "loved" Claude and went to bed with him. Now she "loves" Clark and would have been in the sack with him if he'd not had a few morals. I have serious doubts as to her ability to determine if she's in "love" with anyone. Lois has met someone who shares her interests and now that she has she realizes, "Oh God, I've made a mistake marrying Lex! And oh by the way I realy love Clark whose last name I don't even know." Yep this is a woman who has her feet on the ground!

Gee, poor Lois, she's been, by her own admission, married for two months and this little trip up north is the first time she's been without her husband. This is a woman who's alone a lot? Do you see what I mean by readers and authors making excuses for her? The first time she's alone and she's ready to kiss, and probably more, a complete stranger.

As for giving up her career, she made that decision on her own, she could have gone to any paper, she didn't have to get married because she was out of a job!

With regard to "accomodating" her important husband, what did she think was going to be involved with being the wife of a billionaire? Is the woman just naive or is she really dense? She dated the man for some time before marriage and I'm sure they did most of the same things they are doing now they are married. Was it not a problem then? Is she now bored with the parties and the jewels and the cars, etc, now that the newness of the situation has worn off. I think if that is the case that makes her a pretty shallow person. If she didn't want to have to accomdate her important husband then she should have refused his proposal. She didn't, when does Lois have to lie in the bed she's made?

It's nice to see at least one person who questions the "manipulation" factor. Lois wasn't manipulated through psychological means that's for sure, Lex romanced her and she accepted an offer of marriage. Losing her job is, as I mention above, no reason to get married so that excuse is unbelievable. For whatever reason she made a concious decision to marry a man, a very rich man I might add, and now that she's fallen in "love" once again it is time to break her vows to that man and end her marriage.

While a person may remain friends with a person who does this kind of thing, respecting this person is another matter all together.

Thanks to all for the lively discussion on this. I'm happy to see such spirited debate.

Ray

I can see where Ray is coming from, sort of... To someone who doesn't know Lois, say some average citizen of Metropolis who reads the papers and watches the news, a divorce between Lois and Lex this early in the marriage does indeed make her look like a gold digger or the height of fickleness.

However, Lois has a lot of issues with men, starting with her abandonment by her father. And, as Vicki says, she is pretty good at denial. I can see this strong, independent career woman (who underneath all that is pretty vulnerable) giving a brutal bum's rush to the average or even slightly above average suitor. But Lex is very practiced at playing the charming, suave philanthropist; he's worldly and gentlemanly and I'm sure quite convincing. He may, in this story, even be exactly what he appears to be-- a rich and successful businessman who has, indeed, cut corners and done less than completely above-board things, but not an evil villian. It may be that this is exactly the reason that this very tough, independent, and isolated woman did marry him-- he's looked up to by many, and she wouldn't feel superior to him. She may have felt some degree of unconscious emotional security in marrying someone like Lex.

I'm saying it clumsily, I think, but I can see how it could have happened. Of course, she could just have been dazzled by what Lex could offer. She's human. He can probably be pretty persuasive.

Remember, too, that she often fell right back into that destructive, dysfunctional role around her parents, so there may have been some pressure from her mom and/or dad, and she may have been trying to please them. No matter how strong and independent, how mad-dog she was, they did affect her strongly whenever she was around both of them.

All of these are excuses, many would say, for a series of mistakes. Many people rise successfully above bad experiences and horrible childhoods. Many others struggle. But many more fall between the two extremes. With hindsight, Lois' decision to marry Lex is obviously for all the wrong reasons. She has, in fact, done him a big disservice by marrying him when she didn't know him well, and didn't love him. And divorcing him now certainly isn't a good solution. But it may be the only solution she really has. Better that, I think, than to stay married to him and betray him in her thoughts.

KathyB does a nice job of giving us insight into how a person such as Lois, with all her advantages of intelligence, beauty, success, etc., can make a really wrong decision and then have to deal with the consequences. Whether Lex is a villian or just another "sure-I've-bent-a-few-rules" sort of guy, she is going to hurt him. It will be very interesting to read Wendy's next story, Betrayed, to see what happens next.

Will Lex be bitter but let Lois go? Will he stay true to the original character as we know it, and reveal his villainy? Will Betrayed even touch much on Lex? Wendy says it will contain Clark's point of view. And Lex's? Maybe this entire trilogy will be only from Lois' and Clark's points of view. (Although it's tough, then, to figure out where the title comes in!)

Wendy, this was pretty powerful. Clark has indeed fallen in love with her, it appears. Once that almost-kiss happened, he got out of there fast. I really liked SJH's comments about how he couldn't contain himself, told his parents about her, swam in "her" lake-- I think this is what you were trying to portray, weren't you? I do, however, think Clark is exactly what he appears: a rather idealistic but sincere and good person, who has suddenly met his soulmate at the wrong place and the wrong time for both of them.

I liked the pearl bit, too. I was thinking maybe he "helped" the pearl's formation along with his strength, but then remembered that superior force would create diamonds more easily than it would create pearls. And the extreme rarity (and thus value) of a genuine freshwater pearl this far north, contrasted with Lois' reason for viewing it as precious (that it was from Clark), is extremely powerful.

I'm looking forward to more about these two, so I hope you post again soon.

~Toc (who still wishes H.G. Wells would show up!)

I've been finding this discussion of Lois's motives and the morality of what she's planning fascinating. Seems I hit a raw nerve somewhere, by the look of it!

Janet pretty much said exactly what I think in relation to this issue. First, no, Lois isn't perfect (but who is?). She's married to one man, and she's been getting dangerously close to someone else. She would have kissed Clark, if he hadn't pulled away. Is that excusable? Well, no, it's not. Is it a hanging offence? Well, I don't think so. But if she'd planned to carry on as if nothing had happened, whether Clark stayed around or not, then I think she'd be betraying her husband (and let's leave aside his identity for the time being). Fidelity isn't just about being physically intimate with someone else; it's also about emotional fidelity.

As Kathy said, people make mistakes in relationships. They marry the wrong people. The person they marry may be a perfectly nice, kind, ethical person, but the relationship just isn't right. In those circumstances, which is the better path? To say nothing and make both spouses miserable? Or to be honest and make a break, even if it does lead to hurt in the short term? Would anyone want to stay married if their spouse came home and said 'I'm in love with someone else'?

So I think that what Lois is currently planning is the right thing - regardless of how long she's been married. She knows that her marriage was a mistake, but she's trying to do something about it rather than pretend it's not the case.

Now, there's the question of Lex. At present we - and, more importantly, Lois - have no idea whether he's good or evil. That's deliberate on my part. The story is from Lois's point of view. We've seen, through being shown her POV, how little she really knows about her husband. She's starting to notice a few things, some character flaws... but does that mean that he's evil, or just thoughtless and fairly typical of most people in the business world?

Why did she marry Lex? Several people have asked that, and it's a question which will be answered over the course of the series. It wasn't answered in this story because it didn't really come up here. It will certainly arise in Betrayed. Were her reasons good? Or flawed? That remains to be seen, and I might suggest that this isn't a question which has a black and white answer. The one thing I will say is that I think it's highly unlikely that Lois would have had any kind of mercenary reasons. That's just not the way she is in the series, and I hope that I'm writing her in character.

Does she fall in and out of love easily? Well, have you never found yourself in the situation of believing that you're in love with someone, only to discover that you were mistaken in your feelings? Of believing that someone loved you, only to find that they betrayed you? Staple fodder for romance novels, of course - and common in real life. Kathy's example also illustrates this. Would you have expected Lois to stay in love with Claude after what he did to her? What would you think of a woman who did continue to love a guy who'd betrayed her like that? Co-dependent, perhaps?

I do think it's a bit unfair to talk of readers and authors 'making excuses' for Lois - I don't know if you just mean in this story, Ray, or in others as well. I know you think that authors should make it plain that they disapprove of her bad behaviour, though (as I've explained before) I don't think that's the author's job. It is my role as an author to show some development on the part of the characters, however, and I try to do this in every story I write. If I post to explain or comment on my characters' motivations, I don't see myself as making excuses for them; I might try to explain where I think they're coming from, but it's up to the reader to make their own judgements as to the merits or otherwise of the characters' actions.

No, Lois isn't perfect - in this story or in any other. Nor, incidentally, is Clark - remember, he's been coming back day after day, in full knowledge that Lois is married. And, as he reveals in the last section, he has feelings for her and he knew that all along. Wasn't it just as much up to him to stay away?

But then, nobody's perfect. We all have human failings, some more than others. And if I tried to write about perfect characters, without any flaws whatsoever, I'd think it would result in a perfectly boring story. One I'd never want to finish writing, and I'm sure that no-one would want to read.

Anyway, for those interested enough to read on, I hope that Betrayed will answer at least some of your questions - and that you'll tell me if it doesn't. I don't want to stop debate here, by the way - please carry on the discussion, or add further comments. I just wanted to come in and add my own perspective, as the author, to the discussion. Thanks for taking part!


Wendy

Like some of the others,I found the pearl scene
evocative. Swimming, water, pearls, even white teeth, are sexual metaphors. I was wondering if Clark is still a virgin.His "gift" to her then is truly rare.

Wendy, by making excuses I was talking about the others who posted in this thread, specifically the person who said that Lois was lonely and I pointed out that she's only been away from her husband since the start of the week, hardly a lonely, abandoned wife, therefore the comment about people making excuses for Lois's actions.

Most assuredly! He should have stayed away but as is usually the case if he had not been getting positive signals, very positive signals, from Lois I doubt he would have returned day after day so she bears a larger portion of the responsibility here. As an old song said, if she didn't have cheating on her mind he wouldn't have been enticed to pursue her.

I too do not believe Lois married Lex for his money. I was just pointing out that the perception by the world will be something along those lines. If nothing else, for the most part you do the best in writing S1 Lois in character, except of course along the lines we have discussed in private.

I have been very careful not to include items from our private messages here, that last line is very close to something I said to another author. I'm trying not to have the same old discussion but to get further clarification on how others see S1 Lois when another point of view is brought up.

In the case of Claude, that situation really doesn't compare here. She had an affair with a man from work who treated her badly. Here she's having an emotional affair, for now, and wants a lot more and she a married woman! Does the marriage and the vows she took mean so little to her? Does it mean so little to others here? I'd like to know what the posters here think. Is Lois justified in ending her marriage to a man who, at least so far is a decent husband, who Lois chose to marry, who is a strong willed business man and not interested in the newspaper business the way she is because she has met a man who can relate to her past experiences and who has stroked her ego with his compliments.

A question for the folks as well that Wendy will hopefully answer in the next story: What grounds is Lois going to use to sue for divorce? I doubt she has any. Irreconcilable differences wouldn't wash since she's only been married two months. Adultery isn't going to work for her unless she catches Lex with a woman, heck Lex has more grounds on that one than Lois. She can't claim mental or physical cruelty, that's for sure, and I doubt a judge is going to give her a divorce because she just found out she didn't really love her husband and loves another guy instead.

I look forward to the creative solution to that little dilema.

Thanks for all the responses, I'm learning a lot.

Ray

Ray asked:
While I would be interested in hearing what others think about this too, I think it's worth pointing out that Lois isn't contemplating asking Lex for a divorce just because she's met someone more interesting. She has realised, over the past few days, that she doesn't love her husband. And that she's capable of feeling attraction, and possibly more, for another man.

So, while she's certainly thinking of trying to find Clark again, wanting a divorce is all about knowing that her marriage isn't working. Now, it's quite possible that Lex could be madly in love with her and that he'd be hugely hurt by this. We don't know that - and nor does Lois. And this is something which will be covered in the second story.

For me, the question is still the same: is it better to stay married to someone you know you don't love, when you know you could easily be tempted again to emotional, or even physical infidelity, or is it better to be honest and end the relationship? Now, different people may have a different perspective on that question. As for Lex, we know - though Lois doesn't - that he's already divorced at least one wife (yes, I'm assuming that some things are the same in this universe as in the series ).

Anyway, with that clarification, I too would be interested to hear what others think.

Oh, and while I'm aware that Ray, and others, are asking other questions as well, I'm going to exercise the usual author's privilege of declining to answer, on the grounds that these questions will all be answered in due course... if you read on.


Wendy

Lois's unhappiness is contagious and infectious.Good guy Lex will be hurt, no doubt, but he will survive. Bad guy Lex will make her pay dearly. There will be debts to pay if she goes or not. I say go.Go now.Go. Why live life as a train reck? In my opion,
she dosent have to investigate Lex to justify her
decision to leave the marrage. She dosent love him, that is enough.

I come down on the traditional side of marriage. By that I mean "what's love got to do with it?" For hundreds of years marriage had nothing to do with love, it was, and still is, an institution to help stabilze society and provide for smooth transition of assets to future generations. For hundreds of years, and still today in some social groups, women didn't even meet their husband until the wedding day and these marriages, were considered successful. It is only in recent times that the idea of marriage for romantic love has crept into the collective consciousness, especially lately with the gay marriage movement since marrying for love seems to be their main selling point.

My point in this case is Lois is not even trying to make her marriage work. She thought marrying Lex was a good idea, she had to or she wouldn't have done it. She tells us herself that her life is pretty good, not what she expected maybe, but I questioned that in an earlier post. It would seem that this version of Lois isn't affected by her parent's divorce, if they are divorced we don't really know that. Most incarnations of Lois paint her as a person who did not want to fail in anything, marriage included, so why is this one going to throw away her marriage so easily? Her excuse of not loving Lex doesn't carry a lot of weight with me since if she didn't love him she shouldn't have married him in the first place, but now that she has she should be learning to love her husband, not looking to end it the first time a guy she thinks she has more in common with comes along.

As for Lex, we don't know the circumstances of his divorce, like how long they were married. I have to assume there were valid grounds, but I suppose since he's rich he could have greased the wheels, but Lois doesn't have that advantage.

I can see where some people shouldn't stay married but they usually find this out after a few years and lots of counseling. My problem with Lois is her willingness to quit this marriage after two months! She hasn't even completed the honeymoon for goodness sakes! If she'd been married a year or so I think I'd be less strident about this. After a year or so she'd be able to make a reasoned, logical decision that she doesn't love her husband, that she's not happy in the marriage, and that it is time to end it. The way it looks now, Lois comes across as a flakey, fickle woman who didn't give any thought to getting married and therefore doesn't care about leaving it.


Please tell me your thoughts on marriage as an institution and how Lois should be affected as well. Also, please try to ignore the soul mates thing since that should not play into this discussion either.

Thanks for your time,

Ray

Fabulous, finally caught up and read the story today. I look forward to Betrayed!

JD

Thoughts on marrage part 1
Marrage is a self serving institution doomed to implode.More on that later.

As for Lois,she is not inclined to "learn" to love
Lex,perhaps because of Clark or not.Her dissatifaction would only fester if she stayed . And there is always the possibility of children,not necessarly a saving grace.For Lois
emotional desolation looms. A year or two into the marrage may be too late for all concerned.

Sorry. I wrote something, then changed my mind.

Please ignore and carry on!

- Vicki

I finally get some time to comment on this fantastic story. I loved it all the way through; you gave some very fascinating insights into Lois's life as Lex's wife, how she feels like a bird in a golden cage even though he doesn't mistreats her or anything. But Lex is so used to governing people and having it his own way that it's probably tough even for Lois to fight that trait of her husband's character. Your story made me think a lot about Lois's relationship to Lex and the way he would deal with her as his wife. Manipulation is very subtle, and I truly believe that Lex would give her what he thinks she wants in the first few months of marriage (words of love, affection, maybe even some understanding). I agree, too, that she would see through the lies of her own feelings pretty quickly.

And this brings me to the current debate. Lois married Lex for the wrong reasons, there's no denying that. But imho she was just as likely to make that mistake if Clark wasn't around as if he were. Clark scared her off when he declared his love to her, but imho her first reason for marrying Lex was her fear to end up lonely.

We live in a society where marriage seems to be the ultimate sign of social success. Everywhere you go, every form you need to fill reminds you that you're supposed to be married and have kids.

And yes, in many countries things have largely improved since the middle ages and the not-so-old times when people got married for purely social reasons - thank goodness I'm a woman who won't have to marry a man she doesn't know just to fit social standards. But even though there's no obligation to get married, society makes it hard to stay single after the age of 30.

Not just society, though. Nowadays, most people marry for love. We all want to meet that special someone who will make us forget that we're very lonely people who are on earth for a rather short period of time, all things considered. And so we thrive on finding that special person. We want to find them, as soon as possible, and make the most of our time together.

Do I sound mindlessly romantic and naive? Maybe. But then I believe Lois, just like many people (and note I didn't say "many women", but "many people"), wants to find that special someone. She won't admit it in public, but we're talking of a woman who was secretly reading romance novels and even writing one, and watching soap operas. She wanted to be swept off her feet, so badly that she fell for men's tricks several times - Claude, and then Lex.

And yes, Claude's betrayal was very quick to come, but Lex is a lot more intelligent and subtle. Lois wanted unlimited romance. She wanted to feel her heart beat every time her man came into view. She wanted to believe that real love could exist, and as a result, she got bitten several times along the way.

No, I don't believe she loved Lex, but I think several interpretations are possible here. Either she really *wanted* to love him, or else she thought their mutual respect was enough to carry them through life and make her feel less lonely and empty.

She doesn't rush in to get a divorce. She's been married two months and has been struggling with her feeling of loneliness since. She expected marriage to make her feel good; it didn't. She misses her former life and doesn't find real understanding and support in her husband. Sure, he encourages her to write a novel and tells her he loves her every day - it's not that meaningful, though. Actions speak louder than words. Clark has offered her in 4 or 5 days than Lex in two months, because he listened to her, didn't judge her, just offered his comfort if she wanted it - only if she wanted it. The contrast with her husband was what it took for her to see that she can't stick to her current life as it is now. And I don't believe she considers divorce for Clark's sake - she's not sure at all that any relationship with him would work, nor would she be foolish enough to throw her entire life away for the sake of love (when she's been betrayed by her feelings so many times before). But she wants to split away from her life with Lex for her own sake. She's not happy, and she realises she can never be happy with Lex. Sure, she should have realised that way sooner, before she married him. And maybe, considering she doesn't know that Lex is a criminal, she should give her marriage a chance and work at it. But this is Lois we're talking about. She's never been patient, and she can be very impulsive. This is the woman who admitted that she usually jumps in without checking the water level. And sure, she does grow up and improve as time goes by, but some of that sneaks into her behaviour now and then.

Anyway, I hope this post made sense. Just my 2 cents' worth.

Kaethel

Well, a comment on the modern version of marriage.

I can understand Lois, who at this stage doesn't really think she can feel things intensely, being convinced by Lex that she was "in love" with him.

How flattering to have the 3rd (was it?) richest man in the world sweeping you off your feet. He says you mean everything to him, yada yada.

I think this was exactly Lois in Season 1. She didn't love Lex, she just didn't know it could be any different for her so she was going to settle. How could she know she didn't love him because the real thing hadn't hit her yet.

Now she's met someone who she is very attracted to and the most important thing, has the same values and priorities in life.

Go, Wendy! When will Betrayed being playing on this fanfic board near me?

So, Betrayed is scheduled for next year, or next month, or... next week?

Simona

That's how it seemed to me... she did the usual "jumping in without checking" again. The S1 Lois was more completely hidden behind those walls of brashness and defensiveness. There were people who admired her and people who were intimidated by her, but she didn't really have any friends. She was focused on success and would have probably been flattered by the attentions of a very successful and charming, smooth and sophisticated man such as Lex. That's how she acted around him in the pilot (although her interest was mostly in what sort of interview she could get from him, and from the prestige such an interview would get her). As Kaethel said, she may well have decided that mutual respect was the best she could do. It's almost like an arranged marriage, in a way, since she wasn't driven by love (which she wouldn't have trusted). I can see her impulsively saying yes to Lex's proposal and then sort of coasting along absorbing all the activity that would have started happening at that point.

But she is still Lois Lane-- a very driven person, who faught her way to her choice of careers against her father's wishes; who succeeded in a male-dominated field, despite the huge setback of her experience with Claude. While two months into a marriage is definitely a very, very short time in which to decide it isn't working (unless there is an overwhelming circumstance such as abuse), she is a very impulsively decisive person, and it's pretty believable to me that she could be contemplating a divorce already. She's going to do what SHE wants to do, and to heck with any consequences. She's going to cut her losses and return to what she was before-- driven, and consumed by her work, but very successful at it.

Lex, good or evil, could really love her (although I'm leaning more toward the idea that she was an acquisition) and could be really, really hurt by all this. Because he is in the public eye, Lois is going to come across as the bad guy-- unless, as SJH said some time ago, Lex is the bad guy, in which case all bets are off. The only way she'd get much sympathy from the rest of the world would be if he turns out to be a criminal. But when has the opinion of others REALLY affected Lois? She'll do what she needs to do, what she believes she should do.

And however it looks to the people in her world, and to us, I still think she shouldn't stay in this marriage if she can't be completely committed to Lex. Whether she goes to find Clark or just reestablishes herself in the investigative journalism world, I think she's right to end this. While most people would agree that you should make an effort to really work at a marriage, especially if you stood up before witnesses and promised to do so, there are people who have ended a marriage quickly. There are also annulments, which essentially say the marriage was never valid in the first place (not that that argument would work here, of course).

I wonder what grounds would work here, though? I suppose a no-fault divorce, on the generic grounds of "irreconcilable differences." would be the only option here? If Lex were to oppose the divorce, that'd be proof that they can't see eye-to-eye...

~Toc

Wow! I don't think I've ever had so many comment posts on a story part! Author's prerogative!

One quick point of clarification: Ray mentioned that I'd said something in one of my posts which was, he said, the same point he'd made in a private email to another author. As I have assured Ray privately, I don't know if I did see the particular email he refers to, but that point was one which occurred to me only as I was making the post; I certainly wasn't repeating it from elsewhere.

And finally... when will Betrayed be posted? Well, I have to apologise to you guys: I'm behind schedule on writing Betrayed, mainly due to having had a very busy few weeks. Some of the story is written, but not enough for me to feel comfortable about posting... yet. But I will start posting as soon as I can, and I hope you'll all still be here and anxious to read it.

Thank you all so much for your support and enthusiasm and comments!

Oh! Another quick answer to Trenna, who asked:
Oh! Well... It wasn't so much that I decided on shorter linked stories as that the Muse decided on it. Seriously, the plot of Summer Dreaming came to me first, and I knew exactly how it would end... then I thought about it and knew that I couldn't possibly leave the story there. So there had to be a sequel. And then I just knew that there needed to be three stories altogether, because the ending of Betrayed came to me as well - for weeks I had just the first page and the final paragraph written.

As for the Kerths, I never write with the Kerths in mind! So that wouldn't influence my decision.

Thank you all again, everyone!


Wendy

/me sighs and pulls the pennies out...clink, clink...

Ooh...yeah...good idea, Lois.

Wendy's fault! <g>

Oooh! Clark, I have a few spare ones!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Oooh!! Mine too!!

ACK!!!!



Awwww!!!!

*sigh* Wendy!!!! Wow! Wow! Wow!!! I *love* that I can experience such a range of genuine emotions from reading a story! True testament to your talent!

I'm off to dinner now, but I'm going to come back and read my birthday present!

Sara