I felt Lois's absence very acutely in this chapter. To me it's quite painful to see so much of Clark and nothing of Lois, and it sure didn't get better when Clark didn't seem to be missing or grieving for Lois at all. He seems to have moved on, not in the sense that he has found himself a new love interest, but in the sense that he appears to have put his life with Lois beind him. The fact that he could get over Lois so easily is depressing. Or could it be that you are just holding back a lot of information about Clark's feelings, so that you can sort of spring Lois's death on us as a surprise later?
Well, there was one oblique reference to Lois's death(?) in this chapter:
He could only remember one other time seeing his son that upset....
It makes me wonder how old Zared was when Lois died. He must have been quite young, perhaps just barely a teenager. He does, after all, have at least two younger siblings. They, of course, would have been even younger. What a tragedy. It makes me wonder what Lois died of. For some reason, seeing that Lois and Clark have at least three children and Lois is dead before the oldest one has turned eighteen, I wondered if by any chance she might have died in childbirth. Well, probably not, but the thought occurred to me.
Anyway, this brings us to Zared and Jenni. Zared should definitely, definitely have told her about his powers before making love to her. Now she is pregnant with a super-child, and she doesn't even know that her baby is going to be different. Also, this pregnancy could put her at greater risk than if she had been expecting a "normal" baby. (Are you quite sure that Lois didn't die in childbirth?) Clark's words to Zared sounded ominous:
"So now, the next topic. You haven't told her yet, have you?"
He twisted his mouth around and then chewed his lower lip. "No."
"Well, you need to tell her ASAP. She needs to see Bernie. You need to tell her yesterday..."
Zared grinned and questioned, "Yesterday?"
"Yes, like before you decided to have unprotected sexual relations."
Right, he should have told her yesterday, and now she has to see Bernie as soon as possible.
I liked Clark as a father in this chapter, even though I didn't like him as a widower. As a father, he was very caring and supportive of Zared. I also found it quite touching that Zared was able to cry in front of Clark. That speaks of a high level of trust between father and son. I liked it very much that Clark wasn't angry at Zared, but that he was instead committed to making the best possible thing of the situation.
I like Zared, too. I can sympathize with his teenaged confusion - now he wants to talk to his dad, now he doesn't want to - and I can sympathize with his youthful earnestness. I like the way he is vacillating between mature and rather childish behaviour. I very much like it that he's so in love with Jenni.
I'm looking forward to your next chapter.
Ann
