Janet, this must be one of my favorite passages in a story ever, fanfic or original fiction:

Quote
< Mama, will you draw me Princess Elizabeth, and then draw me her stable? >

< Does Princess Elizabeth have a stable, sweetie? >

< Of course. You remember, Mama - where she keeps the dragons. >

< I didn't know Princess Elizabeth keeps dragons in her stable. >

< Yes, Mama, remember? You told me she doesn't kill them. She jes' stables them. >

She remembered Mama's sweet laughter, and her loving hug.

< Oh, sweetie, I said Princess Elizabeth *disables* them. That means she fixes them so they can't hurt anyone or anything. She makes their fire burn out, remember? >

< Oh. >

Lois remembered her little-girl-disappointment. The idea of a stable full of dragons was just so appealing.

< But you know what, sweetie? Maybe she *does* stable them. After all, they do need somewhere to go, don't they? >

And with Lois looking on happily, Mama had drawn the stable with smiling dragons looking out all the windows.

Those pictures had hung on their refrigerator art gallery the longest, Lois remembered.
How can I explain how beautiful this is? There's Mama who gives Lois her wonderful role model, Princess Elizabeth who fights dragons but doesn't kill them. But when Mama uses that grown-up word, disable, little Lois doesn't understand. She hears a fairy-tale word, stable, appropriate for Princess Elizabeth, who certainly used horses rather than cars or planes to get around. So with her impeccable children's logic, Lois realizes that if you want to fight a dragon without killing it, it's a great idea to stable it, to keep it in its place and prevent it from flying around and causing harm. When Mama understands how Lois has misunderstood her, she feels compelled to explain. But Mama, too, can see the great appeal of the stabled dragons, and so she draws that image that Lois had already pictured in her mind. And not only does Mama draw the stabled dragons, but she makes the dragons smile in their stable, too. And finally, because Mama and Lois both recognize how beautiful the notion of the stabled dragons is, the drawing remains hanging on their refrigerator art gallery longer than any other pictures there.

Toc, this passage is brimming with love, with freely flowing imagination, with nobility and good will, with insight and understanding, and with the kind of poetry that elevates the humdrum ordinary world into the realm of miracles and magic.

Your story is one of my favorite Lois and Clark stories of all time. Although the "stabled dragons" passage stands out to me like a diamond among pretty pebbles, there are so many wonderful pebbles here, too. There's Mama's letter to Lois, Lois's tearful reaction and her overflowing love for and gratitude to her Mama, and the pale blue baby blanket and baby garment with a pale yellow and red crest (don't we all know what that crest looked like!). So, Janet, you are going to give Lois a pale blue supersuit with a pale red and yellow "S"?

And then there are the mysterious intertwined adult-wrist-sized chains. Aren't those chains the most perfect symbol of love, better than wedding rings? Such intertwined chains would resemble a moebius strip, a symbol of, I think, eternity or infinity. I can imagine these chains unchaining themselves, letting go of one another, when Lois finds her soulmate, so that she can wear one chain and he can wear the other. What a marvellous symbol of being apart, and yet longing and needing to be together forever, when you carry a chain that is in itself half and incomplete without its mate. And we know who Lois's soulmate is, who is destined to wear that other half of her chain.

I also loved it that Lois was more scared and upset about her floating than she had been about any of her other super-abilities. It was even better that when she had learnt to control her floating, when she had learnt how to fly, she loved this amazing ability better than any of her other superpowers.

There are so many things I love here. I could just go on listing them. Let me just say that I love - love - this story, and I so, so, so look forward to this Lois's meeting with Clark.

I may have said it before, but thank you for this marvellous story.

Ann