Yep, I have to agree with the others-- it's a great story and you ended it just right!
It would have been relatively easy, I think, to end this story with the usual sort of scenarios you described at the start of this FDK thread, but you'd probably need more than 7 parts. Instead, you chose what I think was the harder route-- you brought Clark out of his desolation and you brought Lois out of her isolation (somewhat). As you said, it's a beginning-- and it works wonderfully here.
After all, even with all the action and desperation at the start of the story, it really is an exploration of the very early stages of Lois and Clark's closer relationship, isn't it? You have introspection at the beginning, you have hints that Lois isn't thrilled with Lex, and you put them in a position where they have to rely on each other's strengths. Lois has to let go of some of her independence and trust Clark's split second decisions when the bullets are flying; they have to feed each other's determination to keep going when they are numb with cold, and they have to pool their resources to get warm. Clark is forced to rely on Lois' strength of character and determination, when his powers are essentially gone and he is experiencing hunger, cold, and exhaustion-- feelings that are foreign to him. Without the ability to just swoop in and save the day, he must rely on her as much as she relies on him.
Clark was so desolate the night before; then the act of just holding his love in his arms while she slept helped him to work a lot of that angst out. Knowing she was asleep, he started to talk. He told her a lot of the things he wanted to say but never did, for whatever reason: Lois' standoffishness, his reluctance to reveal his secret, people shooting at them-- you know, the usual stuff! :p
And yes, it was really neat that Lois recalled much of what he said to her, and that it meshed with feelings she had been forcing out of her thoughts. Yet recalling Clark's words (and deeds-- his gentle stroking of her hair and cheek-- kept those thoughts creeping back. And each time she examined those thoughts, they were easier to accept, weren't they? Her unconscious writing on the window sort of focused those feelings, I think.
And the return of Clark's powers-- you set that up so nicely, as well. The joy he feels at their return is an echo of the joy he feels as he realizes that he can offer Lois something that Lex never could-- his love. And that by keeping his hope alive, by offering his love steadfastly, he can overcome any possible negatives that being Superman could bring to their relationship.
<Now I lay me down to sleep...because woods are lovely, dark and deep...>
No, wait, that wasn't right....
"Miles to go..." she mumbled
I really enjoyed this-- on the edge of sleep, when many people's thoughts are disjointed, you've got the babbler extraordinaire following a pretty cohesive thought pattern-- the rhyme, the tie-in with her thoughts of the Frost poem at the beginning of the whole adventure...
I'm saying it clumsily (after all, it's 3am here), but it's an excellent story, Labby. You didn't disappoint me. You ended the story on a hopeful note that allows the gentle readers to put their own future on it-- but you've guaranteed that we (with the possible exception of Tank) will imagine a bright future for our duo.
Oh, yeah, and the bad guys coming to such an anticlimactic end? Hey, them's the brakes, fellas (er, or not, on an icy bridge). <Sorry for the inadvertent pun!> You were so busy shooting at innocent reporters that you ignored the weather. Somehow, a river bottom is kinda fitting. Akin to the bottom of a barrel, or sinking to the depths... or something. <More bad puns; even worse, these were intentional!>
And you gave the dog a home! Now Lois doesn't have to take him home with her! I bet she's really happy about that!
~Toc
