The girls are in bed, so I get to post this a little earlier than I'd anticipated! (And, of course, torture Clark that much sooner.)

Aargh! Now, even non-super helping is enough to mess up Clark. You are indeed evil (in an Evil Fic Queen sort of way). What will happen to him?

Thank you! What will happen? Well...he'll go to the hospital.

Ah the pace quickens and the serious stuff is just beginning I sense.

The letters were a nice touch since he is a writer it would make more sense than a video tape however if he does die the child might like to see how his dad looked and acted so the video might end up being a better choice...

Great writing DC!

Mike

Thanks, Mike! I figured Clark would feel more comfortable penning his thoughts, rather than making a video. He's used to writing down his thoughts, plus there's always the chance that he would choke up/break down doing a video.

The pace/serious stuff is beginning indeed! Hang on to your seatbelt!

The letter was great - touching without being sappy.

I think a letter is much better than a video. For one, he can take time to compose his thought, and he doesn't have to worry about being emotional or breaking down. For another, he can write the letters now without telling Lois about them, rather than having to set up equipment that he might not have. Then, technology changes. You can always read a letter, but in few years Lois and their son wouldn't necessarily have a VCR. It's also much easier to read and re-read a letter than to watch a video. It's also something that Lois could do much easier in private. She can read her letter alone in her room without her son overhearing that Mom is, yet again, obsessing over the message from Dad.

As soon as Clark started running off to see what the commotion was about, I was sure that he'd have another heart attack from the strain. He's in quite a bad position, isn't he? He could be helping people and saving lives, but that would kill him much sooner and take away any chance that he could heal and live to save more lives later, let alone living to be there for his family. I can't fathom being in that position myself, and I hope that I never am.

Sooner or later, I think they need to issue a statement from Superman saying that he's sick, then there needs to be an announcement once he dies (assuming that Clark dies). Announce Superman's demise sufficiently after Clark's to help keep them separate. But even though there will be fallout, people need to know what happened to him. He shouldn't leave everyone to wonder whether they've been abandoned, or whether some villan has offed him, and he shouldn't leave them to hope that he will come back. Maybe Superman could write a good-bye letter to be published after his death.

I am unsure whether Clark will die or not. It seems to be the obvious but DC's Evil Persona would probably throw a tantrum if the story ended in that obvious of a fashion. One of the hallmarks of an evil writer is torturing their readers and then surprising them in the end. Only time will tell of course (about a week and a half by my calculation).

I liked the letter also. I mentioned the idea of a video because it would seem to me that if Clark dies that his son would like to see him as Clark, there will be a lot of video of him as Superman but probably very little if any of him as Clark, just the get to know the person that really was his father a bit better (mannerisms, speaking voice, etc). I would have also liked to see what he wrote Lois since the basis (IMO) of L&C is the love between those two. Who knows we may not have seen the last of these letters anyway.

All that said I still remain unconvinced that Clark will die in this story. Maybe we should have a pool. Heck, just to be evil I am not sure DC will 'kill' anyone this just might be one huge bait and switch. If she does I have an idea that I have mentioned before but I will just have to wait and see with the rest as DC is the only one who really knows.

I always feel the mark of a great story is that it can generate this much FDK and much of it analyzing the overall story line.

Anyway it should be one interesting ride.

Mike

The letter was beautiful... But poor Clark! He just can't stop helping people. even if it means risking his life.

Man, this is gonna be a rough one, I can feel it. But well-written. Just worried how this is all going to turn out...

Thanks for the kind words!

I figured that, with the letters, he could also pen as many as he likes and hide them away while maintaining the "surprise" element. I also think that letters would be more personal and heartfelt somehow.

Clark is definitely in a bad position. Poor guy has been trying so hard to keep himself Superman-free and healthy, but he's a big softie when it comes to kids. Personally, I give him credit for going as long as he has without using his powers/making rescues. (We can safely assume he's used his heat vision to shave, at least. No caveman Clark here!)

The issue of Superman making a statement will, eventually, be addressed. He hasn't done so before now because he fears the fallout from alerting the world to Superman's illness. (Crime would skyrocket.)

Thanks, Mike!

Oh, my muse is definitely twisted. Someone is definitely going to die. Could be as "major" as Clark or as "minor" as Dr. Klein. I won't say more than that. But twists and turns await for sure!

I purposefully left Lois' letter unseen because I felt that anything I wrote could fall way too short of their love and do a disservice to the story.

I'd love to see the results of a "death pool" though!

Thanks, Mozartmaid! Yes, everything about this situation is difficult for Clark - not being able to help, putting his life in jeopardy if he does, knowing that, either way, he's been handed a death sentence. He'll need extra hugs if he gets out of this alive.

This part started off with a wonderfully, wistfully, sweet letter from Clark to his son, and ended with him rescuing other parents' sons and daughters. You succeeded in tricking me. I had thought for sure that the rescue would trigger a heart attack, but then breathed a sigh of relief when he seemed to come out of it fine. And then you gave me a verbal sucker-punch with the delayed attack.

What almost scares me more than the actual heart attack is Clark's sense of urgency. ("We need to get to the hospital. Now.") I can't think off-hand of any other time when he was so commanding when not in his Superman persona. He himself must be beyond petrified.

Actually, it's the re-entering his duties that appears to be killing him...

I hold out hope... Not only is he not dead yet, he isn't even mostly dead. All the same, I will be on tenterhooks awaiting the next part.

Joy,
Lynn

Hi, Lynn!

Wahoo! Glad I could get someone with the bait and switch! It tickles my muse. Clark is completely terrified. He knows that this could be the end for him, but he also desperately doesn't want it to be. Glad you enjoyed the letter to his son.

Next part will be coming soon! (Debating about posting it post midnight, to keep my Friday-ish schedule.)

I don't know how you work, whether you get a number of chapters ahead and then post or like KenJ finish the story and then post at a prescribed pace.

But as they always used to say at breaks in the Army: "Post 'em if you got 'em" or something like that. Eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

BTW, I select Sam in the pool... Hopefully you have finished the story and won't change it just to prove me wrong


Mike

I almost never post before I am finished with a story. I think Contractually Bound might have been the only one where I started posting as I was working on the last two chapters. This one is all finished - I'm just polishing up the last chapter as far as prepping it for posting.

I'm definitely enjoying this story. I can't wait for the next part.

Thanks! It's actually going up...now. (Mostly because I've been dying to get this chapter.)

The letter was perfect, the right mixture of experience, wisdom and love. Something the real Clark Kent would write in such a situation.

So glad you didn't show us what he wrote Lois. That would have been too much.

Why does the remind me of Sheridan's 'letter' to his unborn son in Babylon 5?

Thanks, Morgana! Glad it rang true for you. No idea what you're talking about with Sheridan. I never watched Babylon 5.

We had family from out of state in town and now I'm in 'catch up mode' ...and I have been very worried about Clark, not knowing what was happening as more chapters were posted. From the sound of the last sentence--he really needs to get to that hospital. And the fact that he knows that, makes me really wonder how bad he is feeling right at the moment.

Beyond the heartache of having powers and not being able to help--which would be gut-wrenching--being sick like he is, with potentially no way to 'fix' the problem, and then being so in love/happily married, with a miracle baby on the way...I just can't imagine what all Clark is going through.

I obviously DO NOT want our Clark to die--but I'm just not sure who else I see as a possibility right now. I'm really hoping for a randomly used very minor character (please? ).

Loved the letters--what a wonderful way for Clark to express himself in a way that he has such talent to do. The letter to his son was just beautiful . At first I was really hoping we'd get to read the letter to Lois...but after reading the FDK, I believe that it is unnecessary, and better this way. (And would be so hard to write--can not even imagine where you'd start to have him write a goodbye to the person he loves most in the world).

Can't wait to catch the rest of the way up
Laura

One of the advantages of catching up is that you won't have to get sucked into the Part 7 quickly (she posted Part 6 and then 7 within a couple of days of each other to setup the cliffy in Part 7) then have to wait nearly a week for DC to post Part 8 which provides a partial resolution. As you can tell from the FDK some of us took advantage of the time to speculate on almost anything, I think I was hoping we would annoy DC enough to go ahead and post Part 8 . Well she finally did and will post Part 9 on Sunday when she gets back from her NYC trip.

I think you will enjoy the ride.

Mike

LMA -

He's feeling completely horrible. And terrified this second attack is going to kill him. Remember, Bernie said that another could kill him.

Clark's basically in hell right now. No way to help people. No way to get a transplant. A fix is severely unlikely. A baby on the way and death hovering over him. It's no wonder why he's so mad at me lately!

Glad you enjoyed the letter! And enjoy playing "catch up!"

Mike - I loved all the speculation! That was definitely my intention with how I left each chapter (and a nice bonus created by my posting schedule).

Yup, its official, you are an evil person.

DC, the posting schedule and the cliffies are a stroke of genuis!

Now if Sunday would just hurry up and get here!

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it, Morgana! Sunday will be here before you know it.

I think we all knew that anyway.

Mike