Now we come to the desperate attempt to keep it between the ditches as we skid almost uncontrollably across the asphalt. Make sure your set belts are fastened!

Okay, somehow she has figured out his secret.

The plot thickens.

Yep...I wonder if she's going to be less subtle and confront him with that knowledge before he leaves. But they're not partners anymore. We've definitely veered away from cannon!

/groobie reminds herself that "partners" has multiple meanings, so she can continue to hope that everything will turn out well in the end.

Boy what a lunkhead!! In the first act (for lack of a better term) Lois was basically being the protect herself Lois only on steroids. Now Clark is taking his lunkheadness to stratospheric heights. I guess this is the underlying theme of the story. Take faults/issues surfaced in the series, amp them up to nearly the max, and see what happens.

I would normally expect her to yell: "Stop right there Superman!" to get Clark's attention in the next part but Terry is spacing the time out between chapters (so far only Part 3/4 were serialized) so we will probably jump to Clark having been gone for a while and Lois being a successful writer but still lonely. But this is Terry so who knows what his muses might have cooked up...

Terry's normal style is for it to get much worse before it gets any better and we are only 1/3 of the way through the story so it could get quite a bit worse from the L&C relationship perspective. Especially the way these two are behaving.

Mike

I also re-read Part 4 where Lois confesses her love for Clark to Superman and in this part he seemly did not hear or understand her confession which I thought was quite clear because in the middle of Part 5 he thinks "He didn’t think he could take it when she told him once again that she refused to consider a long-term relationship between them.". I mean how plain did she have to be in her declaration?

Mike

I'm glad Lois is keeping busy. Wow, that's some awful recovery. So, no little flesh wound for Lois. You had to change her life entirely. Apparently, Clark was hovering around (according to Buffy) in the beginning, but not enough for Lois to actually see and talk to him? He'll blame himself forever for Lois being shot.

So, why can't Clark stay in Metropolis? Is it because Lois was shot on Superman's watch? Is it because he loves her but doesn't think she'll ever allow herself to love him? Is it because he can't stand to see Lois no longer be "Mad Dog Lane" and blames himself for her now-safer lifestyle? Or is there some other reason that doesn't have anything to do with Lois?

How did Lois find out? I don't think it was prior to being shot. I don't think there was that cupping of the jaw move he made in canon, which had given him away. Or was it simply that she was given second sight, a second moment with which to see the man standing before her clearly enough to finally see him?

I hope Mike's wrong and you won't jump forward in time in the next part without addressing the rest of this conversation.

I have to say, you had some great lines in this part. I loved Buffy, but then I'm a big Slayer fan.

I'm going to have to agree with Buffy here; although, I was quite perplexed on why Lois found this funny.

This section tells us that Lois didn't know at this point about Clark's big secret.

Sounds like Karen's driving him batty. No wonder he HAS to leave Metropolis. He HAS to get away from his new partner.

With this left turn, I have no idea where you're heading in the next 9 parts. Should be an interesting ride.

I found this part to be somewhat disturbing as the type of injury she has suffered could take decades off her life. Of the Terry stories I have read (this is the fifth), this seems to be an underlying theme. Permanently (or close) mess Lois up. This is the turn I guess I expected (or something like this) but hoped against but Terry did not disappoint. It is one of the reasons I am not a big fan. But hey that's me.


He still could. This part began 9 days after the shooting and then jumped to 8 weeks after the shooting for the Clark confrontation. I first thought it was a continuity problem but it seems just a not too obvious time jump. Terry could do something like that, where they finish the conversation and then jump ahead but we will see next week.



You never do with Terry Leatherwood. I suspect you are correct on the ride part. The question to me is will it be interesting and enjoyable or interesting and not enjoyable you never know...

Mike

I’m looking forward to seeing where you go with this. I hope we get a chance to see lemonade being made out of all these lemons.

Merry Christmas, y'all! Here's some feedback to your feedback. It should fit snugly inside an average-sized stocking.

KenJ, you're very perceptive. And what will she do with this information?

groobie, all I will say is that things don't turn out like they did in canon. (By the way, "cannon" is a weapon - which might also be both useful and appropriate in this story at some future date.)

Mike M, I may throw you a curve on the relationship. I don't always monkey with the Lois/Clark stuff - just usually.

Virginia, we'll see very quickly why Superman thinks he can't stay in Metropolis. I won't leave that thread hanging for long. And I promise that the next part of the conversation is in the next post.

She also tells him how he deduced what she has deduced. Maybe she knows, maybe she doesn't, although I don't think you'd believe me if I said here that she was still in the dark.

I also thought it would be apparent that Clark and Lois couldn't have a deep-heart-to-heart with Buffy hanging around. After all, the chapter begins with Buffy leaving Lois alone for the afternoon for the very first time.

Glad you liked Buffy's cameo. I put Lois' laugh in to show that the two women had grown to trust and genuinely like each other. And friends can tease friends, can't they?

Yeah, Karen's a bit of a live wire. But it's understandable. She's working with half of The Hottest Team In Town and she wants to learn as much as she can while impressing Clark and trying to be his friend. And for those concerned about a possible Clark/Karen ship - not gonna happen.

Mike, I'm sorry you're not a big fan. But you have every right to like what you like. I have no problem with it. In my defense, though, bad things happen to good people all the time, and none of us gets out of life alive. I have a hard time reading stories (not just L&C) where the main characters never face any real problems, never have to overcome serious obstacles, and never grow and learn. Every time a person overcomes a trial, that person grows and learns and can help someone else through that kind of trial. Believe me, Clark and Lois both grow and learn in this story.

DebbieG, we get to some lemonade very soon. Just remember that with lemonade, you get the bitter with the sweet.

Next chapter up tonight!

As per usual, RL has kept me from commenting on this fic until now.

Gotta tell ya Terry I was knitting while reading this and when I got to the description about Lois' wound I dropped a couple of stitches. My poor husband is wondering when he's going to get his new pair of socks so I will not be knitting while reading this story.

Terrible injuries are a common thread in your stories. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cat suffered from such an injury in one of your other stories. Sorry, the name escapes me at the moment.

Glad to see Lois is writing, but hopefully soon she will get off the couch and out of the house.

Clark, don't you dare leave this woman!!! Martha will tan your hide like cheap leather if you do!

Next part please.