I'm not totally sure if the last couple of sentences work, but I'll trust in you, the readers, to tell me if it doesn't.

Yvonne

Yvonne, it totally works for me. This is as happy an ending as would be fair to the character, CK, IMHO.

To end it too happily, after all the anguish would seem insincere.

I like how you've left him, mending and hopeful. And...in the perfect place for more story to be told about him!

I enjoyed this so much. Thanks for your work!

CC

Sequel, sequel, sequel....

I ended up liking CK quite a bit and want to learn more about him. (Hint, hint.)

Well done, Yvonne. Happy ending for Lois and Clark, bittersweet ending with the potential for even better for CK and Jon gets the best of both worlds - literally.

Irene

Fantastic idea for the end, Yvonne

Jose

Hi,

Wow! Great ending.

MAF

Hey Yvonne good ending. Hope he goes back in time to save Lois this time. Laura

Lovely wrap up to a truly wonderful story!

You are truly talented Yvonne, thanks from the bottom of my fanfic lovin' heart!!

~Liz

Let's see... CK has been driven mad by his situation. He's so lonely and bereft that he's delusional and hallucinating his dead almost wife.

And this is a happy ending?

Gee, I'd hate to see you try your hand at an unhappy ending.

Tank (who thinks that Jon is going to grow up one confused little boy)

whew! Great story, though I needed all three hankies on CK's behalf. I loved that all of the characters had the integrity to do the Solomonic thing and think of the good of the child. That made it believable and touching. Thanks for writing this!

Yvonne

An excellent finish!

Tricia

I knew you'd end this brilliantly, Yvonne!

I love it! A very plausible ending and I, too, hope you'll write a sequel.

Beautiful, Yvonne! Congratulations!

I would also like to see a sequel. But, in any case, anything by you works for me Just keep writing

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Well done Yvonne,
and this screams sequel
merry

It works. And it was marvelous, satisfying, unexpected, but expected in a way and truly terrific!

Well done as always!

Sherry

Yvonne, that was a great end. It pretty much tied the entire fic up. It sure counts as an happy end. Too bad though that Wells also got a happy ending. I wouldn't have objected if you had put him through a bit of a harder time first. But I suppose it's okay this way too.

And I like the idea of Lois as a ghost very much. And I'm glad CK is getting over all of his pain, because I actually liked him by now. And at Lois's homework for CK...

I hope to see more from you soon again, Yvonne.

Saskia

As everyone else has said, this was yet another fantastic story from you, Yvonne. When you first showed me the beginning of the story, I wondered how on earth anyone - even you - could possibly coax a happy ending from such a traumatic beginning. I know that several people - me included, early on - did try to persuade you to go for a fairy-tale happy ending, but you were right to resist.

What you gave us - ghost-Lois excepted - is a real-life ending. In real life, nobody gets a perfectly happy ending; we get imperfect outcomes, the kind of thing we learn to live with, as opposed to perfection. So Lois and Clark keep their son - because Jon is their son, even if he's not theirs biologically - and CK accepts that Jon is better off with them even if it devastates him to give him up. I think that's the right outcome, as I was never completely convinced that CK wanted Jon for himself and not as the last living reminder of his Lois.

As for ghost-Lois, I love that extra touch! It means that CK isn't completely alone; that he does have someone he loves to help him through the dark hours of the night. Whether she's really there in ghost-form, or whether she's a product of his imagination, there's no doubt that he's learning to live again.

Not a fairy-tale ending, but an honest-to-goodness real ending to a terrific story.


Wendy

Well, I'm so glad that most of you are happy with the outcome for Lois, Clark, CK and Jon. This was a story that I almost regretted writing a few times, because it was so difficult to see how I could bring about a happy-ish solution for everyone concerned. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I came up with the idea for ghost-Lois - before then, I really hadn't got any solid ideas which looked like they were going to work. And it wasn't until fairly recently that I knew who was going to keep Jon, but thanks to the wonderful feedback here, a few good friends on IRC, the poll, and a generous dose of gut instinct, I finally found the answer.

Many, many thanks to my staunch beta-reader, Wendy, for sticking with the story throughout and giving me her usual mix of encouragement, nagging, corrections and suggestions. Jenni Debbage also provided helpful feedback, despite going through a very heavy dose of RL lately.

Now, if anyone else mentions the evil 's' (sequel) word, I'll scream! <g>

Seriously, I've already got two sequels waiting to be written, and I really don't need the pressure of a third. I'm afraid for now, we'll all just have to imagine a future for CK which suits our individual preferences.

This cries out for a response:
Yeah, Tank, I guess not having Lois cut her hair nice and short was a real downer for you.

Thank you all for the great support you've given me throughout this epic (epic in size if not in stature <g>). I probably would have given up if it hadn't been for your cheering and nagging.

Yvonne