Very nice! I never did really think Cat was a bad person, so I like your version of her.

that was great, I really missed Cat after the first season.

I don't think she is a bad person either.

wow, that's really a great story. i never figured out how, when or why cat left the planet, but i very like your version of it . and cat is totally right: sometimes it's important to keep the mouth shut about certain things

This is an excellent little fic. I really enjoy fics that follow a quieter, deeper line of thought. I hope to see more from you!

Lisa

Very nice...and original. I loved it!

~Sheila

Niiiice!!

Loved this, especially:
So true... Really, a perfect thing to say.

(if my life had a tagline - that would be it. *lol*)

Good story, JDG, and nicely written. That's a very original idea. How about a follow-up of their meeting in New York?

Artemis

I agree. It's a very original idea and very well executed. I think maybe a little follow up the next time he is in New York might not be such a bad idea.

Nan

Delightful. Truly delightful.

I'll throw in my vote for a New York City follow up too. This was a really awesome story! I also like how you portrayed Cat. I thought her character brought something to season one that was missing in all of the other seasons.

Great job!

Thank you! I've long thought that Cat's character could have been so much more than the skank that she was usually depicted as. So this was a chance to give her the depth that the writers didn't.

Thanks again!

I love Cat! The few fics that have had her in a staring role have always caught my attention. This was really clever and great

alcyone

Wonderful! Fabulous! I loved this fic! /me scribbles note to remember this for next year's Kerths

Great job! I really enjoyed the Cat you wrote. I really liked her as a character. It was too bad to see her go.

Laura

Encore, encore. I could see a series of these little meetings make for a great longer story.

This was fun and sweet at the same time...and I too liked the extra depth it gave Cat.

A couple of years later, Clark married a dense and shallow woman named Lois Lane. And for the rest of his life he wondered what things would have been like if he had dared to look up that smart and beautiful woman, Cat Grant, in New York.

Ann

Wow, Ann, that was not at ALL the point of the story. There are some people we dislike because their "bad" points are very similar to ours. I think Lois and Cat disliked each other so much because they saw so much of their own personalities in the other (headstrong, stubborn, etc.). When Clark compares the two he's comparing Cat to Lois, not the other way around.

My thanks to everyone who has left feedback. I'm very grateful.

I think Ann was being sarcastic, JDG. She is one of the staunchest defenders of Lois around, and never thinks of Lois as either dense or shallow.

I agree that Cat and Lois were more alike than probably either wanted to admit, and I loved this little vignette. Very nice.

Kathy

I tend to agree with the above - Cat and Lois were very similar and saw the worst points in themselves in the other: Lois saw Cat as shallow, using her sex to get ahead, uncaring about others. Cat saw Lois as driven to the point of mania, trying to get ahead in a man's world but failing to use the gifts God gave her (her looks). In order for Cat to even be working at the Planet, she had to be a very good reporter - something Lois simply won't admit. Oh, oh - I have an idea

I know very well that you weren't trying to say that Clark is going to making a mistake if he marries Lois, JDG. But I honestly thought that Lois compared so unfavorably with Cat in this story that Clark would be stupid to choose her over Cat. And I do find it very painful when Lois comes through looking like the wrong woman for Clark to marry.

But I, too, thought your take on Cat was splendid. It was great to see her depicted as a woman of extremely good judgement and as a woman capable of great loyalty and consideration, even at the cost of a fantastic scoop for herself. She is protecting Clark/Superman even though she isn't likely to get very much for herself in return.

Ann

Great work there! Very nice little fic, I enjoyed reading it I like your portrayal of Cat, it shows a depth we rarely saw in the show yet must have been there

Keep up the good work!

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Great story. I almost would've like it better though if Cat had figured out his secret identity from the clues--his absences, etc.--rather than actually seeing him in an alley. I hope that we'll get that sequel because I would love to revisit this Cat.

Here's the thing about Lois, especially in the first couple of seasons of the show -- she was very real and very flawed and that is what made the character so compelling to me. If Lois had been perfect, the show wouldn't have sucked me in like it did. I tell myself that it was her dual-nature that so fascinated Clark in the beginning. Because, frankly, she wasn't very lovable (especially to Clark). And THAT is what made the show so much fun - at least for me.

Sure, I knew it was inevitable that they would get together, but it seemed so unlikely in the beginning. And yet, there was a spark and lots of banter and chemistry between them, which just made it so sweet and full of promise that eventually, someday, somehow, they were going to get *there*. For me, the journey to get *there* was a lot more fun than after they had reached *there* (ie, the 3rd and 4th seasons).

It's the uncertainties that makes life so interesting. Not the definites. That's why I let Clark have just a moment to wonder "what if?". YMMV.

This was such a great and original idea. I liked this somewhat more introspective view of Cat. There had to be more to her than was shown on the show and this is a very nice way to round out her character.

JDG! This was awesome!

I agree with what's been said about Lois. I think Ann's misunderstanding here is based on the fact that she hasn't watched many of the LnC episodes. Her Lois is based largely on other genre's - comic book Lois, movie Lois... etc...

This Lois is very unique in some ways.

Yes, she was a total beeyatch in the first season <shudders> I often wondered how they were ever going to make me "like" her. <g> I often times wondered what Clark could possibly see in her... except that she wasn't a dumb, shallow, flirtatious woman. She was worthy of being sought after. She was a challenge. Like someone pointed out - she had a duel identity of her own... a soft side that very few people had ever seen.

And because of all that... she won me over... eventually... and I rooted for her and Clark to be together.

But... ummm... getting back to your story. <g> I love that Cat figured it out - and better yet, kept it a secret!!! That was wonderfully delightful. I always thought there was a decency to CAT that was hidden - just beneath the surface.

Anyway, wonderful story! I truly enjoyed it.

More, I say. More.

Ann wrote:

Here's the thing about the kind of love that Clark has for Lois: it's for her only. It's not that he can't appreciate another woman's beauty or poise or intelligence or - in this case - her discretion, it's that he knows that Lois tops that other woman in so many other important categories that there's really no comparison. There's no way Clark would choose Cat over Lois (or fantasize about her years from now) over a single shared incident in their lives. This is one positive for Cat against thousands of positives for Lois. Lois wins again!

I liked the positive portrayal of Cat, and I really like how she kept the secret from Lois, despite the temptation to slap Lois in the face with it.

Cat is a beautiful, intelligent, creative, professionally skilled woman with a messed-up personal life, but she's a human being deserving of respect. This is an excellent bow of respect to Cat (and, I think, to Tracy Scoggins, who brought Cat Grant to life), and I'm happy you shared it with us.

Very well-written fic. You see a lot more in Cat than I ever did. Yet you present it beautifully and believably. I thought your first-season Lois was spot on. She never minced words in her dis-like for Cat--with the exception of the few moments where they bonded in Witness.

Elisabeth