Merry Christmas to you, too! (I still like you...for now ) Thanks for the update, seriously! I've been on edge.

Wow, what a chapter! I'm so glad I was wrapped up watching Christmas movies while I read this, or I would have been writhing on the floor right along with Lois! Well-written, good explanations (with Perry knowing about Clark), and great reactions. Martha and Jonathan may hate Lois, but at the end of the day, Clark's death is not the time to carry that out. Lois was hurting probably more than they were, so I do think it would have been wrong to have not tried under these specific circumstances. Here is the time
to be compassionate regardless of the circumstances. Lois's reactions were awful but believable, and they remind me of the kind of disbelief I'm sure she was feeling under her grief in TOGOM. Especially here, where she has fallen in love with him, I think her level of grief was expected. Still horribly heartbreaking, but expected.
Poor Martha (and Jonathan)! We don't get a lot of her reaction, but I can't imagine how it would feel to lose a child. It's hard to imagine how she reacted (and maybe I should thank you for leaving that painful image out of Lois's observations, for the most part). Maybe not worse than Lois, since she loves him, but somewhere very close.
I liked your addition of Perry as Lois's caretaker (she needed somebody there if the Kents rightly wouldn't be), and I like your explanation of his appearance. However, would the news or any spectators have seen Lois's interactions with Clark and her reaction as he flew off? Maybe I'm getting a little bit picky (sorry :)), but I'm curious! I also wonder why they didn't take Superman to the hospital. He was still dressed as Superman at that point, so there was no risk where Clark is concerned. I know theee's no Dr.Klein, but they do take him to the hospital in Top Copy despite that. They could have helped him so much more even without the knowledge of his physiology.

I love this description.

I admittedly didn't think there would be anything more intense or exhausting than last chapter, but boy you proved me wrong! I kept thinking things would get better as the chapter progressed, but they just got worse and worse! Great chapter, just warn me if for some reason Clark being mostly dead becomes completely dead! FIX THIS!

Well, that was an intense chapter! The grief is palpable, as is the tension in the air of Clark's apartment. A pervasive sense of hopelessness despite the glimmers of hope that Lois is forcing herself to see. I'm holding out hope along with her.

I thought seeing Clark's death through his eyes was bad enough, now you make me suffer it through Lois's as well. I hold out hope, for during times like this hope for a miracle is all we mourners have left. I know that they covered his body for their own benefit when he had died, but if sunlight is what heals his body wouldn't it be better to leave him uncovered? So sad. You torture us, Anti-K, with your beautiful descriptions and the rawness of the emotions portrayed in your writing.

My goodness. I'm breathless. You are aware that this is the season to be jolly, right? Right? Of course you do. And, just as you've so beautifully written them into this place, you'll write them back out again. Yes, of course you will.

Thanks, Annie! Extremes in emotions are sometimes really hard to write since you don't want to go too over-the-top, but you really do want to convey the horror and grief of such situations. I was particularly worried about this chapter for multiple reasons, so I was glad to hear it worked for you. The dynamics of all these characters in place, through the POV of a person who's kind of in shock, was difficult to balance, but yeah, the Kents are too compassionate to press the matter when they're more worried about Clark. And I loved the idea of Perry being there, particularly since earlier in the story, Lois was silently begging him to spot her distress; he couldn't, then, obviously, but I wanted to give him a chance to be there for her (and Clark) sometime. (Although I'm just now realizing that this is the fourth story I've written where Perry knows/discovers the Secret...hmm, I sense a trend.)

Hope is what Superman is all about, groobie -- thanks for not giving up on the story despite its bleak moments!

Ahh, how much easier things would be if the characters in-story knew everything we do, VirginiaR -- then we wouldn't have to yell at our screens so much! But since the Kents and Lois don't realize that Clark can come back from the dead, it seems as useless to bathe him in sunlight after he dies as it would to give medicine to a corpse. I'm glad you're still hopeful, though!

Sorry, GooBoo! I do realize the season, but instead of the jolly holiday, I'm thinking of New Years...and how I'd really like to say I finished a story this year! Hopefully, things will be better by the end of the story, though -- I think I've promised better things to come several times anyway, and I'd hate to be a liar!

Thanks, everyone, for reading!