Sorry it's a day late, but at least this part's a little more cheery.

Yvonne

Absolutely brilliant, Yvonne, to have Martha and Jonathan help out with CK! Great installment. I'm starting to feel better for these guys. Now if you can manage to come to some kind of arrangement for this precious little boy... As much as I'd love to say leave him with a loving mom 'and' dad (I have adopted children and know exactly how Lois and Clark feel), I'm also a child of long lost father. So I have to say I understand CK as well.

Hey, I know! Let CK stay and everyone can say he's Clark's long lost twin! OK, so it's not perfect, but it's a start.

More soon. This is great!

Hi,

Wonderful part.

Yvonne, just wanted to say I'm still enjoying this story. This part was especially moving.

CK should spend more time with Martha and Jonathan. Just what he needs right now.

Yvonne,
great part
I agree that Martha and Jonathan are very good for CK.
more soon please
merry

Yvonne,

I loved how Martha and Jonathan first meet CK. My heart is still going out to him. So, since this was a day late, does that mean we get an extra part next time .

- Alicia

This part was not a little more cheery ... it absolutely broke my heart ...

I loved how you involved Jonathan and Martha, but CK's pain was so really in this installment ... why can't you just make him easy to hate so then the decision won't be so hard?!

Wonderful part - I look forward to more.

Yvonne

WOW! This just gets better and better.
An excellent part!

Jonathan and especially Martha are wonderful in this part. Martha's conversation with CK is superb. Her characterization is spot on.
I can sense a real bond being established between them. If anyone can help CK, it's Martha.

I can't wait to read the next part. Please post it soon.

Tricia

Goody goody gumshoes! This was a long part! And so much I liked... <happy sigh>

After the turmoil our poor babies have been suffering, this humour was a wonderful break. And you balanced it so well with the conflict, too.

As soon as CK thought he wasn't trespassing, I *knew* he was going to get caught. And good thing for him. Martha is just what our boys need for talking sense into them. It was wonderful how she was so firm with him, interrupting and telling him to let her finish. She has the advantages of having already dealt with too-high self-expectations with Clark and being an outside observer. I see glimmers of light at the end of CK's tunnel! Now, if only we could just stuff Jon in a copy machine and have two of him...

The interaction between Martha and Jonathan was Perfect, with a capital P. I loved how she knew about the cinnamon roll without him even saying anything! And the chicken feeding/feed ruses were hilarious. And what a great way to end the section -- "Just so long as everyone's happy!"

It was interesting how M&J switch roles when they find him -- first J is trying to remember where his gun is while Martha is calm and sure it's their son. Than J is accepting and calling him son (don't think I didn't notice he called CK son the whole time -- Go J!) and Martha is hard and cold sure it's not their son. LOL

LOL at the bells in the Sahara!!! And this line -- I'm dying laughing here!

<happy sigh> Martha is a good mom. She'll whip Lois, Clark, CK, Jon and HG into shape in no time.

More more more more!

Bethy

Yvonne, what a great part! You've portrayed Martha so well. She's a great mom and even tho CK isn't her son, she reconizes his needs. Her reasoning is so simple, how can he not believe her?

The humor you put in this part is great. You're making it more interesting by the segment and I can't wait to see what you got in store for us next.

Oooh, and one little thing. I thougth you'd first mentioned CK was staying for lunch. And at the end you have Jonathan saying dinner. Am I missing something or is this just a typo?

Saskia

Just dropping in to say that this is one of my favourite parts of the story so far. I love the Martha/CK conversation, and as for Martha's phone conversation with Clark...

Okay, more apologies for being late with my reply.

I'm glad you liked the M&J stuff - I have to admit that part of the reason I included them was because I felt the story needed some new characters and a new location, but it was also because I really felt that CK would benefit from visiting them. They can give him unbiased advice that he's more likely to trust than anything from Lois or Clark. And I also thought that as soon as he discovered that there were people very like his dead parents living within his reach, he'd at the very least be curious enough to go take a peek, and probably a lot more. The poor boy needs a Mum and a Dad right now, and he knows it.

Anyway, I won't answer your comments individually this time, but in recompense I will post the next part .

Oh, actually, I should respond to Saskia, who questioned the consistency of referring to lunch and then dinner. Strictly speaking, you're correct, I suppose. Here in the UK, people often use 'dinner' to mean 'lunch', so I just didn't notice it - and I don't think my UK-based BR did either. Maybe someone can tell me what happens in the US.

And Bethy, thanks for singling out the humour in this part. I must be doing *something* right.

Yvonne

I am not sure if this is true for everyone in the US, but I always think that "dinner" refers to the meal that is after lunch. I've never called it anyting else. Like breakfast, lunch, and dinner . I have actually never heard lunch and dinner used interchangably.

Yay, another exciting cultural thing for me to learn

- Alicia