Her kisses are like touches of heaven; they have a family. And somebody named Martin shows up at the shelter. Great touches. The mistletoe at the end...Awwww.

What a perfect end to such a beautiful story!

Definitely on my Kerth list, and a must read again for next year.

What a beautiful story! It was so good to see Lois and Clark together as they should be with Lois as Clark's guardian angel. And I love that they return to the half-way house every Christmas, ready to give to others and thankful for what they have.

Great work, Chris.

gerry

Definitely a great ending. The only thing I missed seeing was Lois wiping up the floor of the Superman Foundation with that nasty bunch of people that were bullying Clark. But I can always imagine it

Thanks for posting this early. It's still a tossup as to whether I'm going to be feeling like cooking tomorrow, but we can always hope ...

Nan

Wow, wow, and wow. I love the references to what Lois gave up, somehow subconsiously remembering what they shouldn't. It looks like the Guardianship worked more than well. And Kilmartin coming back to check in on them is great. I love this new twist on the alt-universe. Brava!

I have Christmas commitments, too, but I'd have made time for this fic, regardless. I'd still like to thank you for your thoughtfulness, though.

I think it was very neat that you gave us a five years later. And that we saw both Patrick and Kilmartin, both of whom I grew to like immensely.

*sigh*

This is a wonderful story, Chris. Totally perfect for Christmas, too. I'm definitely rereading this once it's up on the archive. And it will be treasure for months to come.

Thank you! And happy holidays.

Thanks for the early Christmas present of this quick post! What a sweet wrap up! I particularly liked these lines:
For some reason, this reminded me of the last line of my favorite holiday movie. ("Peter once asked me when it was that I fell in love with Jack. And I told him, 'It was while you were sleeping.'")

Love that they found each other and connected right away. (Thanks for an angst-free ending!)

Excellent story! Susan

I'm having a hard time finding better praise for each chapter You did great with this story Chris, but a big thank you also goes to Wendy who not only had the first input but the task of beta-reading.

This was a special story from the beginning to the end and it undoubtedly is award-worthy! Thank you for a wonderful christmas-present

That was a wonderful story. It got me in the christmas spirit.

Thank you and have a wonderful christmas and happy new year

Wow, that was wonderful. I smiled all the way through the final part. You made it happy and wonderful, but not so sweet my tongue sticks out. A perfect balance for my tastes. Magical and happy is something perfect for this time of year!

Thank you so much for creating this piece and thanks Wendy for also doing your part.

Hip Hip Hooray!!

Happy Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone.

Oh Kwanza too or if you don't celebrate anything, I hope you are enjoying the days off work if you are lucky enough to have that

Winter solstice celebrations too . . .

Chris... would you be scared if I said it must be love? <g>

This was fantastic. Absolutely beautiful. And I didn't cry once!

I'll be back with proper comments when I've a moment, but... wow. I loved it.

Dave

Hi,

Merry Christmas


Love it!


MAF

I guess in this universe, a bell rings when an angel *loses* it's wings

Thanks for a great Christmas fic with a happy ending and a lighthearted touch

Snarla2

Yes, this day of all days it's hard to find time to post a comment. But then again, how did you, Chris, find time to post all nine parts of this totally fabulous story in about eight days?????

And Wendy, too. Beta rading all this in no time at all, and making sure the whole thing ended with this exquisitely WAFFY part, instead of with a death knell - okay, the death knell was really a life knell, but still? Thank you so, so much for this, Wendy, and thank you, Chris, for telling us about Wendy's contribution! It reminded me of one or two things I did in my tender youth, walking the street all alone, laughing out loud and almost stumbling - though I was dead sober, believe me! - just because I was thinking of some delicious memory! Ah, the way some people were looking at me... But none of them were decent and honest enough to tell me that I seemed to be having fun, the way Lois told Clark here. The way she was amused by him, instead of turning up her nose at him. And even though Clark started to apologize, his apology was cut short when he saw her for the first time, and knew her, for a fleeting moment, for what she really was: an angel, her face face encircled by a softly glowing red-brown-golden halo of the sun shining through her hair.

And I loved the Christmas tree in Sister Trine's half-way house. Here in Sweden, most people put a star at the top of their trees. But in this story, the ornament at the top of the tree simply had to be an angel!

Chris, I don't have to tell you that I loved this story. I have loved many, many of the Lois and Clark stories that I've read. But this one wasn't just exquisite in itself: instead, for me, it imparted new meaning to the very concept of Lois and Clark. It changed and added to my conception of what these two people, whom I have loved since 1969 - well, not always in their Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher guises, obviously - are really all about. I guess I've always known that they are about love, but now I see it so much more clearly. These two people are Guardian Angel and Guardee, Protector of the world and Soother of the heart. Lovers and blessers of humanity and each other. Agape and phileo.

Thank you ever so much, Chris.

Ann

Well, I didn't want to clog up my previous post with this, but thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about Ivanhoe, Rowena and Rebecca with us. Yes, didn't we all want Ivanhoe to marry Rebecca instead of Rowena? But when Walter Scott wrote his world-famous tale back in the 19th century, the idea of a Christian knight like Ivanhoe marrying a Jewish woman was simply too controversial, so Rebecca's Guardianship failed. The way our cruel Rules stand in the way of true love! But from now on, I will consider Rebecca one of the great tragic Guardian Angels of written history. I will certainly never think of the story of Ivanhoe in the same way again!

Ann

Beautiful story Chris

Jose

Just lovely, Chris! I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Merry Christmas!

Irene

Absolutely beautiful! I really don't know what else to say. Just perfect!

Jackie

Dear Krissie,

A beautiful story with a very wonderful ending.

Having Kilmartin in the end to pay his respects was a very special touch.

Happy Christmas and Chanukah to one and all.

SNL

THAT was beautiful, Chris! I really loved this story! Such a wonderful holiday tale! And the ending was just perfect for me! Just the way I like stories to end!!





~NICOLE

Thank you, once again, for all your lovely comments!

In no particular order...

Nan: I hope you felt well enough to cope with the Christmas preparations and to enjoy the holiday.

Superoo: "Kwanza"? Can you explain? This is a new one on me.

Incognito: I'm very happy to know that you thought the story was perfect for Christmas. I confess, I had my doubts somewhere around the middle. I couldn't help but fear that the story was getting to be a bit on the bleak side for a holiday story!

David: No, I'm not scared. Just a bit surprised. Besides, being a whole world away from you does make stalking very unlikely!

Ann: Thank you! Your feedback all the way through this story has been a delight. Thought provoking, detailed and so, so complimentary!

I'm pleased that readers liked the appearances of Patrick and Kilmartin in this last part. I don't think I could have kept them out if I had wanted to.

BTW, the thing about wanting to end the story with the bell tolling... I actually had a couple of paragraphs of the ending sketched out very early on... but when I can to the end of the story, I realised that they didn't quite fit. (I did end up using them in a very edited form, but...)

Meanwhile, as I got to the end of the story, my brain was turning to mush and I was exhausted. So I honestly did wonder whether I needed the epilogue. I wanted one, but I didn't have much energy, and I didn't know how best to write it. I had three ideas, you see, and couldn't decide which, if any, would work.

So I asked Wendy.

Who, as I mentioned, threatened me... and said, why didn't I use two out of the three. And, basically, that's what I did.

And then I threw in the angels for good measure.

Rachel, Gerry, Karen, Susan, Betina, Crystal1463, Maria, Snarla, Jose, Irene, JackieK, SNL and Nicole... and anyone else I've inadvertently missed out, thank you also.

Chris <rather relieved it's all over>