Riveting!!!
So Kryptonite is the only thing that can keep Jory alive? At the cost of his future powers, to be sure. Well, that's a small price to pay when the alternative is death. Lois was wrong to be against the radiation therapy. On the other hand, Lois is entitled to be wrong now and again, and Clark has been pushing her too far.
It was heartbreaking that little Jory had had a heart attack!!!
And Lois hadn't been told about the surgery or about Jory's condition! He oculd have died and she wouldn't even have had a chance to see him first!!!
Thank God her father took it upon himself to let her know.
It is easy to hate Clark in this story, but I think you are doing a good job at showing us how Clark has been caught in a trap that he doesn't know how to escape from:
He couldn't explain why he always reacted completely opposite to Lois's presence than he wanted to. It was as if she represented everything he feared and reviled in himself all at once.
She had been the one who was against the cochlear surgery, and she had been right. She had berated him for being a horrible father, and she had been right about that too.
When he sees Lois, he is reminded of everything he has done wrong, everything he deserves to be taken to task about. It is not easy to feel good about a person whose very presence reminds you of all your shortcomings.
The night of the barbeque at the Lane's house, he had overheard her tell her mother exactly who he was to her. In that moment Clark had realized just to what extent he had come to rely on Lois in a way he had vowed never to rely on anyone. The overheard words had been just what he *needed* to hear to wake up and pull himself out of fantasy. In addition, the words declaring the platonic nature of their relationship had been just what he *wanted* to hear. As he'd said, he had no *intention* of falling in love with Lois Lane.
And Clark is deathly scared of becoming dependent on someone.
See, even then, he still had no intention of falling in love with Lois Lane. So he had retreated into the person that he knew the best – even if it wasn't really the one he necessarily *liked* the best.
Wow. I love this. It is easy to become the person you know best, even if it isn't necessarily the person you
like best.
But now, with the lights off and the draperies drawn, the things inside the room were not so stark – not as black and white, so much as gray. He liked black and white – they were as simple to understand as yes and no, do and don't. Here in the diluted world of inbetween, he wasn't sure where he fit on the scheme between need and want.
This is great, too. Clark wants everything to be black or white, because it is so hard to deal with shades of gray.
Loved the conversation between Martha and Clark. I'm glad that Clark realized that his mother was disappointed in him. But he showed her the crack in his own armour, too. Clark is trying to shield himself from so much pain:
Martha smiled wryly. “So you're being noble, now? What pain were you sparing that child by closing him off from the people who love him? All this time… everything that you've accomplished… I thought you had grown.”
The wrenching in his heart at his mother's disappointment almost made him physically wince. “What about the pain she'd feel – that we'd all feel – if he dies?” he asked tightly, angry at the slight catch in his voice.
He looked away when he saw his mother's expression change. She had heard it.
“The doctors are working on a way to fix him right now, Clark,” she said, grabbing his right forearm with both hands. “They're going to cure him.”
“But what if they don't?” He looked into her eyes, searchingly; for once not attempting to hide what he was feeling – or perhaps just too raw to be able to. “What if they can't?”
He pulled his arm away, knowing that he didn't deserve her comfort. “Everyone who loves me dies.”
Pete. It's Pete all over again, isn't it? Clark sees Pete in Jory.
Don't tell me he sees Lana in Lois!!! That's not possible. Is it?
“You think I like being the perpetual bad guy? You come in here with your bold assumptions and angry accusations, and *I'm* the one who looks like a heel.”
No, Clark doesn't like being the perpetual bad guy. But he has been acting like a jerk to protect himself from pain.
I loved how Jonathan and Martha banned Clark and Lois from Jory's room! Clark's dad and Lois's mom were right. Lois and Clark were being disruptive, and it would do Jory no good to have them in his room with that attitude.
And now I guess we need part 23!
Ann
