How you managed to make this both convincing and interesting is incredible. And you never cross the wrong lines (IMO).

Interesting theories abound, but I like how you make them all so plausible within this context.

Do I hear "sequel" here? Okay, maybe not.

LOL.

Lois and God. Unbeatable team, that.

Nice line.

Another nice line.

Have I mentioned that I really like this story

Wow!

This story just gets better and better.

More please?

SNL

Thanks for this part! I don't share Kilmartin's problem with Guardianship if it means Alt-L&C have a chance to be together. And with only two parts left, I'm assuming that Lois won't have any problem meeting and falling in love with Clark. Let the WAFFYness begin! Susan

Yayayayayay! Sounds great! Laura

Hi,

Great part.

More ASAP, please.

MAF

Chris, this is wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!

So that's what's so horrible about being a Guardian angel, eh? That you lose heaven, possibly forever? That you are returned to the earth, becoming Flesh again? That your memory is wiped? Now that memory thing would be a great inconvenience, if you ask me. The only task imaginable for a Guardian angel would be to guard his or her Guardee ( LOVE that word!!!! ) but how can you do that if you don't remember anything?

The thing I've loved most of all about Lois being an angel is that she has been able to Watch Clark Kent in an objective, impersonal way, without getting all her defences up and getting herself all tied up in knots. So she has been able to immediately see and fully realize what an incredibly wonderful person Clark is. If she is now going to return to the Earth with her memory wiped, will she react to Clark in her most tiresome and contemptuous Lois Lane fashion all over again?

And how will she even get to meet him? Will it be the job of some other angel - perhaps Kilmartin? -to make sure that that happens?

And how the heck will she be able to be his Guardian angel, if she doesn't even know that that is what she is???

But maybe the simple fact that she always comes to him in the end, gives him her heart, makes him belong, holds him in the warmth of her embrace, envelops him in her love - maybe that's it? The things she's been doing over and over again in hundreds and hundreds of Lois and Clark stories that we've been reading on these boards or in the Archive? Maybe, in each and every one of these stories, Lois has actually been Clark's Guardian Angel, even though neither she nor we have had a clue about it?

Wow. Chris, have you explained it all to us? The magic, the miracle of Lois and Clark? The fact that he is the most wonderful, amazing man on this Earth, and she is his Guardian Angel? Who gives him the love that he must have, to be able to give himself to the world?

She gives him phileo. The love between a man and a woman. So that he can give the world his love, which is damn near agape, divine love, if you ask me.

Well, Superman has always been like a god, so powerful and kind. But Clark Kent, who is just a man, can't do without phileo if he is to keep the superhero going.

And Lois has given it to him, all along.

Wow.

I'm so bowled over by this marvellous revelation of what Lois and Clark are all about, that I find it very hard to concentrate on the wonderful and/or intriguing details of a more minor art that this story is so full of. Like when Lois considers her own angelhood:
Well, me splutters into my coffee and splashes it all over my keyboard! LOL!!! Couldn't agree more, Lois, you are not naturally angelic! And yet... and yet, that is precisely what you are. You are Superman's destiny, his Guardian angel.

Being Superman's - and Clark's - Guardian angel is Lois's destiny. Loving him, and being loved by him, is her destiny. I love the way Chris makes her understand this:
Yes, Lois. It is a noble thing that you will fill Superman with agape, when you give him phileo. But when he gives you phileo in return, it will feel like heaven on the earth.

There is so much more to say here, but I shouldn't let my comment be as long as the part of your story that I'm commenting on. So I just have to ask you two questions. Who was that last Guardian Angel before Lois, the one who was made Guardian Angel in 1702? And all those tragedies in human literature and art that were inspired by Guardianships gone awry - could you give us a few examples of those, please?

Wow, Chris. For all my babbling, I'm speechless at the beauty of this. It is fabulous!!!

Ann

Ah, fantastic. I really loved this chapter, so exciting, and emotional! I loved how Lois was considering running away from heaven.

This is really, really good, Chris. I am astounded. I will miss Kilmartin, though, if we'll no longer get to see him.

Fascinating!

I'm not a believer in God, but honestly, that doesn't matter a jot. This story is just so incredibly compelling and...well...fascinating. There's no other word for it.

Chris, I'm speechless.

Yvonne

Oooh! I figured that bond would come in handy! And I love that Lois jumped in so quickly to become Clark's Guardian. I wonder how they're going to send her back. can't wait to read the rest!

Yeah, I totally must agree with all previous posts! This is a beautiful story and with each chapter I grow to love it more.

But there's one thing which struck me as odd. It's actually no wonder that the system of "Guardian Angels" doesn't work out usually when these Angels don't know that they're actually Angels supposed to be doing a certain task. Secondly, I see Kilmartin's point of view as a purely selfish one. I get the feeling that Angels seem to be pretty comfortable with their safe position in heaven, just doing what they're told and enjoying eternal "life" (or to be more accurate: eternal existence). Then there's the possibility of losing and not regaining that eternal life and they chicken out

Yay, wonderful part!

Can't wait to see Lois in her new role as a guardian.

Absolutely compelling.

This whole angel business is fascinating.

And what Ann said.

gerry

I have been following along - sorry I have not posted.

Very interesting - enjoying it very much.

I wish I had more time to gush, but I don't so I will just say I love this!

Can't wait for more!

Irene

Chris

WOW! This is excellent. I can't wait to find out what happens next. I love this story.

Tricia

Ohh Yay!!

Jose

I think I'm getting repetitive with my comments, but, hey...

Wow.

And thank you.

Capes: no, I have no plans for a sequel!

Ann: what can I say!

I wish I had thought my story through as carefully as you have! Certainly, I did think about the differences of agape and phileo, but I hadn't thought about Clark being a great example of someone filled with agape.

The way you put it does, however, make perfect sense to me. I'm in awe. And I'm so, so happy that you approve of what I did with this!

The last guardian angel before Lois? Um. Actually, I have absolutely no idea. I just liked the sound of the number 1702 for some reason.

As for examples of Guardianships gone awry... I talked to several people on IRC for this one, and they gave me some suggestions. (I asked for examples of unrequited love.) However, none of them quite worked for me, which is why I ended up keeping this very vague in the story.

The best example I could come up with myself was Rebecca in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

I don't know how many people are familiar with the story, but, basically, Ivanhoe comes back from the crusades. He is engaged to the Saxon lady Rowena, and, at the end of the story, he ends up marrying her.

However, along the way, he meets and is helped by the Jewess Rebecca. From what I can remember (and it is a while since I read the book), Rebecca obviously loves Ivanhoe. He possibly / probably has feelings for her, too. However, he ends up with Rowena (presumably following the religious conventions / rules of the day), and Rebecca goes out into the world to do good deeds. The only reason she doesn't end up in a convent is that she's Jewish and, according to the book at least, Jews don't have a direct equivalent.

Quite honestly, I liked Rebecca far more than I liked Rowena, and I wish that there had been some way for the two of them to end up together.

Interesting that several of you don't see what Kilmartin's / the angels' issues with Guardianship are. I think of it this way: imagine you have got to heaven. Isn't that supposed to be the ideal place for you to be? Why would anyone possibly want to give that up? Especially as in an awful lot of cases, Guardianship doesn't actually work. In other words, not only would the Guardian end up somewhere less desirable than heaven, but they will probably have a miserable life to boot.

Of course, it is always possible that Kilmartin and the rest don't know what romantic love feels like. Maybe they were either unlucky in love or just never lucky enough to experience it...

Yvonne:

Did I ever suggest that I am?

To be honest, I suspect that, had I more conventional religious leanings than I do, I would not have been able to write this. And I did / do have concerns about how some people might react to what I've done here.

SNL, Susan, Laura, Maria, Incognito, Karen, Julia, Gerry, SuperRoo, Irene, Tricia and Jose, thank you all too.