Ok...

I had read the warning and was dreading this story. I read (well most of it). I am a sucker for happy endings especially for Lo & C,

but

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the story, its realism, the way it was written and how you depicted your characters.

What??!! The End!!! Noooooooooooooooooo!
Hmphf. That's all the praise you're getting after ending it that way!

Thanks for posting this final part. Boy was I surprised with this ending ... and I think the "Hmmmm..." describes my mindset pretty accurately right now

I think I already wrote this earlier but if you leave out the details, your story would be more fitting, loosely based on Smallville than doing an alternate universe LnC version. Mind you, that's not generally a bad thing but the way, Clark easily dismissed each and everyone besides Lana does indeed fit!
In the end, I think that reading this story was well worth it and I also liked your writing; though I have to guess, that there'll be some LnC-only-shippers who may not agree with me.

There's just one thing that doesn't sit well. Through your story, Lois was never more than a support-character and you also never wrote a bit of positive chemistry between Clark and her. That in itself was predictable as the story wore on, but you never picked up the 'why'. Thinking back to the LnC show, Clark's attraction was clear from the pilot. If not attraction, at least amicable atmosphere and competition was missing - as Claude hasn't happened yet, I imagine Lois being less tense.

I actually like the idea of Clark not always ending up with Lois in which universe, fandom, reality, whatsoever once in a while. Aside from a single story (by Tank I guess) I've only read more or less 'happy endings' so far, so this one was a refreshing change. It's a pity though that you've shot the possibility for a sequel to hell by killing off Lois but maybe you're creative and think about following this one up, I'd certainly like to know what happens from now on.

We knew Lana had been shot, and you had warned us of a charcter death. I had *not* anticipated mortal peril for Lois; that was a surprising twist. I'm very impressed with your creativity, and how you've managed to undo the semi-spoiler effect of the wham warning. Very clever.

I noticed that you were very careful *not* to tell us which patient survived, leaving it up to each individual reader's imagination/personal preference.

Overall a very well-written story with very human (imperfect) characters. Bravo and well done. Thank you for sharing your talent.

I too was waiting for the ending of this story before fully reading it, hoping that the story would turn out to be an L & C: TNAoS fic (or even one based on the comic book charcaters of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, or even the movies )

But as Bettina says this really is a Smallville story.
It's characaterization of Clark Kent, Lana Lang's central role, and it's reduction of Lois to a "Jimmy Olson" role all fit in that universe, in which Lois Lane is of little imprtance to CK/S:
<<He’d forgotten about Lois, alone in the life raft.>>

Would very much have appreciated a warning at the beginning that this story was not an L & C story. I know you gave a "broken toys" warning a few parts back, but that's not quite the same thing.

That said, I did read the first part, any bits that had Lois Lane in them throughout, and this last bit - you write well, which is why I kept dipping into your story, hoping.....

I loved the story. Very well written. Is there going to be a sequel? Please say yes!

I could make a case for either Lois or Lana surviving.

The fact that Clark barely wants to go in and see the "patient" indicates to me that Lois survived. Even though he's commiserating over the way the whole thing was handled, if Lana survived he'd be a little more upbeat, I think.

And Lois did breathe before she was handed over to the ship - Lana was bleeding profusely and would have required more attention.

Oh, Terry, you've just GOT to have a sequel!

As to whether or not this is an LnC fic or a Smallville fic....it's kind of neither, in its own alt-universe.

In Smallville, Clark doesn't feel comfortable sharing his secret with Lana - in this fic, Lana was open-minded (which she's never been in either show, LnC or Smallville) and accepting about who Clark really was.

Who knows in the real DC universe if Lana had been different, he may have stayed with her.

After all in the post-crisis world, which is currently being re-booted again by Infinite Criss, after Clark told Lana who he really was, she leaves Smallville for years - she can't handle sharing him with the whole world!

Anyway, congrats on a well-developed, well-written fic, and I personally hope you pursue a sequel. There are lots of loose ends for Clark, psychologically and otherwise.

Hi,

Great final part. Now all we need is to let them take the right track.


MAF

Congrats on finishing your story, Terry!

Now that it's complete, don't forget to send it along to the Fanfic Archive so that it can join your other creations! If you want to submit, it just use our new, handy submissions form

And don't forget you can send it along to Annesplace , too!

LabRat
Editor-in-Chief
The Lois and Clark Fanfic Archive

Wow, interesting non-ending I must admit I'm not exactly satisfied with it. I also admit that I'm a sucker for L&C happily ever after endings .

Anyway, I liked the story , especially your writing style. That's actually what kept me reading, since this was a little too much Smallville for my taste .

You're aware that this screams for a sequel, though?

~Julia

Things have not been going well for Lois. She was attacked in a subway, hit by a car,sleep deprived, poisened, nearly drowned, and now this high anxiety.This kind of thing drives me to eat.

I have to confess something.

This wasn't the last chapter.

I must apologize. I got a little tweaked about so many people rooting for Lana to die that I gave in to a perverse impulse (must have been from the fifth dimension) and came up with this non-ending just to play with everybody's minds.

I'm sorry if I have offended anyone. I haven't seen anyone do anything like this before on this board, although I have seen writers make changes (sometimes drastic ones) because of the feedback.

I can cite literary precedent for changing the ending of a story. Charles Dickens originally had Pip and Estella (Great Expectations) meet years later on a street while Pip was walking with his nephew. They exchanged pleasantries, Estella kissed the child, apparently assuming Pip was the daddy, and drove out of his life forever.

Dickens' publishers and the first set of "beta readers" - they didn't call them that, but that's what they were - hated the ending and pressured Dickens to put them together at the end. So, he reluctantly returned to his desk and added the scene in the garden where Pip "saw no shadow of another parting from her."

Please accept my apologies and read the real ending, which will post with the title "The Road Taken - 18/18 (Real Ending)" as soon as I cool down the modem.

I just know I'm gonna get flamed. And I can guarantee that I'll never do this again.

Well, I'll put down my sandwich till such time.

Terry, I can guaranty that there's no rule preventing you from posting the ending you want to your story, as long as it's within the PG13 limit (and I don't believe that's the issue here). Now, you might get disembowelled , but readers are always gentle, even with pitchforks.

Kaethel
Fanfic Forum Moderator

I actually had no issue with your ending where you did; it reminded me very much of the story "The Lady and the Tiger," and I thought it a unique and ingenious solution.

I could make a case for either survivor. Your Lana isn't cannon, and she isn't perfect, but nobody is, and if she lives I won't be upset. If Lana survives they live happily ever after and your story is over but VERY well done.

On the other hand, if Lois survives you've opened up a whole new world with LOTS of room to explore some very interesting relationship possibilities. Clark grieving, Lois knowing who he is, and how each of these things impact how they work together. Will Lois be able to support Clark emotionally? Will Clark be able to accept that support? Has she been so difficult towards him up to this point *because* she's been attracted to him but fighting her attraction? (After all, he was MARRIED.) All sorts of intriguing possibilities to explore.

I look forward to seeing where you take us.

As I was reading it, I also thought it was very "Lady or the Tiger." I love that story and read it to my 7th graders each year. They get so angry when it just ends; gee, I wonder why?

Terry, I think it's hysterical that you posted a fake ending. No flames forthcoming from me. I just might have to send you real praise once the real ending is posted. Looks like my marauders may have to put down their pitchforks and get jobs with the Capital One vikings.

Looking forward to your real ending, though I suspect I'll still be waiting for a sequel.
Susan

Have to admit I was surprised by that statement. I know Tank does that, but it's always been tongue in cheek.

As others have pointed out, this really wasn't a "Lois and Clark" fic, and so, should you write a sequel, to make it a "Lois and Clark" fic would be a betrayal of the premise implicit in this fic - that there is no "Lois and Clark". Btw, I do think now, reading between the lines of your posts related to this story, that it was your orginal intention to kill Lois and I do hope you stick with that.

Onaleia wrote:
<<Will Lois be able to support Clark emotionally? Will Clark be able to accept that support? Has she been so difficult towards him up to this point *because* she's been attracted to him but fighting her attraction?>>
Please, should it be Lois that survived, and you do decide to write a sequel, let it not be the "supportive little woman" role for her. Clark has shown no interest in her at all - it's not in the cards, in this universe you've set up, for him to love her. To cast her as 'secretly in love with him' is to fall back on that old cliche - the woman who waits and hopes while the man choses. It was sad when Dickens (to whom you compare yourself) used it over a century ago.

But, if you do go with Lois surviving, please give us a contemporay Lois, reflective of the character we see in the comics today and in the TV show L & C: TNAoS. Since you've already rejected the Lois and Clark love story, build a terrific love story for Lois Lane with a completely new character, and not a story in which she pines for Lana's leftovers. Do with Clark/ Superman what you did with Lois in this story; make him the second banana, someone she's not interested in romantically but who will be her colleague and friend - her 'Jimmy Olson". Could be really interesting.

c