First the good...Lois woke the next morning to the pop and sizzle of bacon
frying. It smelled delicious, but yet it was completely
incongruous to her. She had never actually woken up to bacon
being fried, or a big breakfast being cooked. It was kind of
nice, though she was sure she definitely wasn't in Metropolis
anymore.
Nope in Kansas, I loved the frame of reference.
It was as if something akin to an explosion burst forth from the
spry form of Martha Kent.
"They let you drive from Colorado to New Troy? By yourself?! And
just seventeen! Oh, Lois, you must have been so frightened! I'd
like to give this father of yours a piece of my mind."
Lois was gaping at the woman in shock. What a transformation!
She'd like to see Martha Kent give her father a piece of her
mind too. It'd be a humbling experience.
As we see later I wish I could also...
"Clark Jerome Kent, if you drop those dishes..." Martha
threatened as Clark struggled slightly with how to put down the
dishes in his full hands.
Lois started laughing and reached over to grab a plate just as
it slipped.
"Here you go, Farmboy."
It slipped out. Really it did. She hadn't meant to say it.
Everything had been going so gosh darned well and she had to
blurt out what she had been calling him privately. How could she
tell him it was based more on affection than any dislike? Oh,
why was it so quiet!?
Martha and Jonathan were staring at her. Clark blinked twice.
For a moment it was silent in the kitchen before Clark suddenly
shot her a thousand watt smile and burst into laughter.
Martha Kent watched this interaction, biting back a thoughtful
grin. It had been a long time since she had seen her boy let
loose and laugh with someone his own age. It worried her to no
end that someone with so much love to give kept himself locked
away. If she didn't know better she would have thought Clark was
smitten.
Yep, that about sums it up.
But then again, did he want her to get too close? His heart was
screaming yes, a whole hearted yes, but his mind was violently
revolting. Close meant discovery... discovery meant rejection.
He had been a young boy when Jeff Denoso had abandoned him and
it still wrecked havoc on his mind four years later. What would
it do to him if Lois Lane did the same?
Well Clark you WILL find out, but she will not hurt you for the same reasons Jeff did...
He automatically dismissed the thought. Lois would never
intentionally hurt him the way Jeff had set out to do. But a
fleeting look of horror on her part might undo him more than a
thousand Jeff Denoso's could. Clark shook his head to rid the
thoughts from his mind. He was obsessing... again. Twisting the
doorknob, he entered the house, hoping that the sounds of crying
would have long abated. He was in luck. Lois was standing next
to his mother in the kitchen, leaning on a pair of his old
crutches and watching intently as Martha tried to explain the
finer points of cooking.
They both turned at the gust of cool air Clark had let in.
Clark's eyes were immediately drawn to Lois, anxiously eyeing
her ankle.
"Hi, Clark!" Lois was grinning happily, and the smile eased
Clark's fears.
"Hey," he said as he moved forward and shut the door behind him.
He produced her suitcase and purse with a flourish. "Your
belongings, Miss Lane."
Lois let out an excited squeal and immediately tried to hobble
over as fast as she could on Clark's crutches. He had injured
his foot when he was twelve, in the period just before his
invulnerability kicked in. Clark chuckled to himself when he
remembered how much of a pain those things were. He met Lois
halfway.
"Lois, you shouldn't be up at all!"
"Clark, you worrier, I'm fine." She eyed her suitcase joyfully.
"I can't believe you went to the car and dragged this huge thing
out! Thank you!"
Balancing on one foot, she leaned the crutches against the
nearby couch. Before Clark could think to ask what in the world
she was doing, her arms were around his waist, giving him a
tight hug. For a moment Clark felt like his heart had stopped.
He responded a shell shocked second later and drew her as close
as he could without hurting her. For a brief, beautiful moment
he was holding her in his arms of her own accord. Not because
she was injured, in danger of freezing to death or because of
her lack of prowess on ice skates. But because she had thrown
her arms around him for a hug. For a too short moment he inhaled
the scent of her hair and tried to memorize the feel of her
against his chest.
Ahh...
As Clark shifted the truck out of park and backed out of the
driveway, Lois watched in a sort of fascination as Martha and
Jonathan leaned in for a quick kiss.
"Are your parents always so..." Lois searched for the right word
as they traveled down the ancient, but neatly preserved and
cared for road. "...in love?"
Clark didn't hesitate. "Yup. Since I can remember. Enough to
make you sick, huh?" Clark gave her a good natured grin and she
couldn't help but smile back.
"It's nice. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw my
parents be civil to one another." Lois looked at Clark, whose
grip had noticeably tightened on the steering wheel.
"Your father..." Clark didn't finish the sentence, the distaste
in his voice evident from the two words. Clark's usually warm
eyes were stormy as he thought of sending Lois back to that
man.
Noticing this and feeling strangely touched, Lois reached for
Clark's hand where it rested casually on top of the gear shift.
He immediately lifted it and intertwined his fingers with hers,
finding apparent solace in her warm grip.
Compare and contrast...
"Can you go two for two?" She handed him her empty cup. Clark
jutted his lip in apparent concentration and Lois innocently
moved closer. "If you sink this I'll..." Lois whispered the rest
of the sentence in Clark's ear just as he released the cup.
Clark gasped and it missed by a long shot.
"Guess I won't then," Lois said offhandedly as she gave Clark an
impish grin. Clark stared at her wide-eyed, before hurrying to
catch up with her, shaking his head.
Instead of taking her hand, Clark hesitantly slipped an arm
around her shoulders. Lois sighed contentedly and snuggled a
little closer to him. "Thank you, Clark."
Tilting his head, Clark met her gaze as they walked. "For
what?"
Lois shrugged slightly. "I don't know, for being you, I guess."
I loved this one. I wonder what Lois promised to do it he hit it? I guess we will never know...
"All right, all right, I'll name him. And I do love him.
Happy?"
Lois grinned and nodded, giving the lion an affectionate pat and
then squeezing the bear.
"I've named my bear," she said a few moments later, as he
shifted out of park and started driving.
"Really? What'd you pick?" Clark narrowly avoided some teenagers
and then relaxed as he steered the truck onto the road.
"Clarkie."
Clark nearly crashed the car.
"Clarkie?"
"Yes."
"Lois, I think there's been enough battering of my sensitive
masculine pride already. You save me from bullies, though I
could have taken them!" he added a few moments later, chagrined.
"You beat me in that squirt gun game and now you're giving your
bear a feminine version of my name. Oh God, it's never going to
end."
Lois glanced sideways at him and noticed the sparkle in his
brown eyes.
"Too bad, I'm still calling him Clarkie. Now what did you name
Lion?"
Clark thought for a moment and then smiled. "Tornado."
"Tornado? What kind of ridiculous name is that?"
"About as ridiculous as Clarkie," he shot back, enjoying this
sharp banter.
"But that's not romantic!"
"You want to be named after a lion?"
"Well..." Lois sputtered for a second. "Well... no, but I mean,
come on, Tornado?"
Clark grinned inwardly. If she only knew he had named the lion
for her. His little tornado as he had taken to calling her
privately. Except if he told her that, she'd probably knee him.
He kept a Cheshire grin on his face. "Too bad, that's what I
named her."
"It's a her?"
Just wait a few years (the tornado reference)...
As the two shot in the air, Lois' scream faded, but she clutched
Clark tightly.
"We're-FLYING!"
Clark gave her a sideways grin for stating the obvious and she
reached up to thwap him on the head before immediately thinking
better of it and holding onto him firmly.
"I won't let you fall, Lois; you're safe," Clark said quietly,
noticing her anxiety. "I'm sorry if I frightened you; it was
never my intention." "You... you can fly!"
Some of Clark's insecurities arose with the simple statement.
"Well... yes, I can, but..."
"Do you know how cool this is?! We're flying! You actually defy
gravity! This is impossible! I mean the hearing stuff and the
bullet whatnot was pretty cool, but this... you could go
anywhere! Do anything you could think of! Why on earth are you
living in Kansas?"
At this slur on his beloved hometown, Clark burst into relieved
laughter. There was the Lois he knew and loved.
"I happen to like Kansas, Lois."
100% Lois Lane
"You're you, Clark. I finally know the real you," Lois said
softly, dragging her gaze back to his face. "This," she waved
her hand, finally feeling safe enough to release her death grip,
"this is the real you. A farmboy who flies. You're not the
monster you think you are, Clark. I could cheerfully murder
anyone who ever put those thoughts in your head."
More 100% Lois Lane
"It's not my birthday, silly. You would have been the recipient
of not so subtle hints all day long if it had been." She grinned
at him and he smiled back in return, relaxing in her arms.
"Before you did that huge, radical jump to conclusions, I just
wanted to know if you'd like to go out to dinner with me
tonight, somewhere nice. My treat."
Clark's smile grew even wider as he took in the beautiful girl
in front of him.
"I'd love to, on one condition."
"I don't take well to conditions, Kent."
"I'm paying."
"Oh, no, you're not."
"Yes, I am!"
The two bickered like five year olds until they reached the
farmhouse. Finally, outside the door, Clark grabbed her and
shoved her gently against the side of the house. Stepping up
close, until his leg was wedged between hers and his hands had
her trapped, he dipped his head to capture her lips.
When he pulled back a minute later, Lois blinked, sure that if
he didn't have her in such a tight grasp, she'd surely drop to
the floor.
"Okay, fine. You pay," she said, running a finger through her
windblown locks.
Even more 100% Lois Lane
Lois shook her head violently, her dark hair swinging into her
face. "No, Martha! It isn't that. I think he's incredible. And
I'm beginning to understand how he can be so introspective
sometimes. I guess it comes with the territory if you isolate
yourself."
Martha nodded solemnly and Lois had to sniffle back tears.
"Does he really think he's a freak?" It broke her heart to
picture Clark filled with such self loathing. "He helps so many
people... he saves lives, and for no reward or publicity. If
anybody else in the world had such great power, I'd be sure that
they would be tempted by evil... but not Clark. He's got...
innate goodness. I just wish he could believe it himself."
"Clark's been more himself these past few days than we've seen
him in years," Martha said softly. "Ever since he's met you."
Just then, the back door opened and Clark himself walked in,
smoky from the fire.
The progression is perfectly paced here.
Now the not so good...I had read this once before and had never read it again until this club selection (and I did not vote for it). To me is is really a shame because as I started re-reading it I remembered why I loved the first part of it so much, then it progressed and the further it got into the story the more the reason I had never re-read it appeared. I mean I loved the beginning and really liked the middle but hated, well that is awfully strong but I did not go for the end part. Not so much because Lois and Clark break up but because for the sake of college tuition Lois kept herself, her mother, and more importantly her little pre-teen sister is the clutches of a (child) abuser. This is probably the worst depiction of Sam Lane I have seen in all of FanFiction. I just could not seem to work past this part. Anyone who follows any of my postings here is probably familiar with my views on rape (particularly when it is the focus of the story) but child abuse is right up there with it particularly when it involved pre-teen Lucy. While not the primary focus of the story it was presented as a very important element of the story and it colored my overall impression to the point I only read it once and never had a desire to re-read. I guess I ended up blocking out most of the stuff I did like probably because most authors depict Sam as a flawed character but with no real malice and certainly with love for his daughters. This blocking out made it interesting in the fact that I really had trouble remembering why I did not want to re-read the story. When I read it this time it did not impact me nearly as negatively as I re-read the final act multiple times which helped me find more balance in that part of the story than I remember the first time I read it.
That said for all of the nicety of the title this is a very dark fic underneath. First, the issue with Clark having no friends and the reason why but this was balanced by the expanding relationship between Lois and Clark. But the second, Sam Lane morphing into the worst of Sam and Ellen (actually mostly Ellen's bigotry, condescending nature, and boozing but with Sam's power of the physicality and the wallet and not being afraid to use it).
Finally I was pretty annoyed with the last line of the story as we have no idea how the story evolves from here. In the canon Lois had no history with Clark and no idea of his powers. Every episode in the first two seasons would have been substantially different if she already knew him and about his powers and actually from my point of view they would change for the better. I can just see the meeting of Lois, Clark, and Sam in RFAS(let's get ready to rumble). What about GGGOH and her supposed first time in Smallville. I liked the way Lois and Clark got back together at the end of this story and that Clark forgave her for breaking his heart which I fully expected anyway but I just wish Laura had explored this part more at the end maybe an Epilogue some time into the future with Lois being reunited with Martha and Jonathan. Not being Laura I just have to guess that she wanted to end it that way with not much resolved and everyone wondering. Maybe that final line that I again really did not like was her way of putting a bow on it.
I guess I am mostly bothered because I believe this had the potential to be one of my favorite stories because I really like a strong Lois character like she was in the Smallville part of the story and because of that strong character Clark was willing to go out on a limb and tell her his secret without being forced into it but as the story progressed and ended the story became less of a joy to me and more of a disappointment.
Sorry but that is just the way it is for me,
Mike