Yeah!!!Smirky posted another chapter! Party time!! [Linked Image]

This was a great chapter.

Clark's whole mental discussion was just to wonderful. I had this image of a little hyper dog running in circles in his head [Linked Image](like this only much more frantic)I'm a bit surprised he wasn't dizzy by the time they got to the park.

I just wanted to cry when he had to leave. I could feel my heart ripping in two. Here he was doing the "right" thing and hoping he wasn't waving goodby to the one thing he really wanted in life.

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Lois stopped in a small kind of clearing in the shade of the trees and looked around. Clark could hear children playing, dogs running, old men playing chess, and a mother trying to stop her little son’s crying . . . in an airplane probably over 20,000 feet in the air above them. Nobody was close to them. He set the cooler down on the grass at Lois’s orders.
I love this paragraph. Especially the comment about the child crying in the airplane--NOONE is ANYWHERE near-by--YOu do know how to turn a wonderful phrase.

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Clark’s eyes went to her—he looked positively anguished.
Can't you just see it--a look of panic, pain, fear, and need all wraped up in one. Thank-goodness Lois reconized it as well. . .

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If he was really Superman, he should do his best to help take care of this new evil—the unseen enemy that his very blood and bone could cure. Otherwise, how could he claim to stand up for Truth when he was a liar to himself, even when he had sworn to do all he could do to help on the memory of his father?
I'm not going to quote this entire section--but I could because it was amazing. First--Clark seems to have lost most of his sense of self preservation--or deeded it to Lois. He knows he doesn't want to do this terrible thing, but has guilted himself into thinking it's wrong not to. I'm so Glad that Lois still wants to protect Kal/Clark--She'll go into Mad Dog Lane mode if he says he is really thinking about doing this--just to keep him safe.(or at least she had better.)

The revelation secene--so long in coming clap clap clap clap deserves a standing ovation--for really it was a double revelation.
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“Lois,” he whispered, feeling so very weak and vulnerable that he wondered that he could even stand. He couldn’t look at her—couldn’t see the disappointment in her eyes. “I—I’m n-not who you think I am.”

Not human.

“I—I never meant to l-lie . . . .”

No. He never did. He never meant for any of this to happen. Never meant to bring her into this . . . .

“I hope you can forgive me. I c-can’t make any excuses . . . .”

He had none that were worth their weight in words. They were all empty. Weak. Cowardly.

“I . . . I just hope you’ll just—”

Accept me.

“—forgive me.”

Lois . . . . Lois . . . .

His voice was soft—was it even possible that she might not even hear him? He seemed to have lost the strength . . . lost all his strength. He couldn’t look at her.

He shut his eyes, listening to her heartbeat, noticing that she was oddly quiet—was she holding her breath, or was he going numb? Falling into deafness?

“Lois,” he whispered, his voice soft and low. He reached up to his glasses, feeling the cold of them against his shaking fingers. Slowly, he slipped them from his face and let his hand fall to his side. “I’m Superman.”

Silence.

It was done.
I LOVE the unspoken part of the revelation--His hopes and dreams and fears so clearly layed out, so elequently put on display--if only she could/would read between the lines. . .

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And suddenly, she was there—a world of warmth and fire in a little whirl of wind.

Lois buried her face in his chest, and she clung to him like she had only a few nights before—only then he had been in his Suit, and she had been afraid that Superman was going to fly off without her. Now, he was just Clark. Just Clark.

He was holding her back before he knew it—holding her, never wanting to let go. His glasses fell unnoticed to the grass.

“You lunkhead,” she said, her voice muffled his coat. “You cursed, foolish, thick-headed, mule-brained [I]idiot.” Clark flinched, about to pull back, but her grip didn’t ease. “Look at me.”

Clark did so—opening his eyes hesitantly. She was watching him, and despite her firm words, her tone was strangely gentle. She gave a noble attempt at a smile, even while it shook and a stray tear ran down her cheek.

“What did I tell you about details?”

‘Details?’ Clark bit his lip as he tried to figure out what Lois was talking about . . . .

. . . and then he realized that Lois never said anything to Clark about details, but to Superman—no, Kal-El—, just the night before.

“I know you. I’ve seen your soul. I have seen that, Kal, and it doesn’t matter what little details I may or may not know, because they don’t matter.”
and then the sun [Linked Image]comes out and all is right because Lois made it so.

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She stepped back slowly, her eyes moving over his face as if memorizing the features all over again, but she didn’t let him go. Clark couldn’t believe it. Was she in shock? Or had Lois been replaced by an irrationally, inhumanly calm clone while he was gone?
<snort> rotflol couldn't help but laugh at the clone comment. (not that the clone in L&C fit that discription, but . . .)

Wonderful. Looking forward to more (soon please)<big puppy dog eyes with me on my knees>

Vonceil

Johnny was a chemist,
Now Johnny is no more,
For what he thought was H two O
Was really H two S O four.
--Lab safety limrick--