Ack Carol! Well, not really ack toward you, but ACK Lois! Ack Clark!
As much as I hope that the funeral will be a time when Lois and Clark finally 'talk' - I don't think that will happen. 1- because it makes too much sense, and 2- because he's gonna leave to go get Jimmy, etc. In other words, stuff will continue to get in the way. To quote Bugs (Bunny, that is) "Oh the a-go-neee!"
I still don't trust Paul. I think he has some underlying... underlies for Lois. His grumpiness over Clark comforting her probably has to do with his own preferences for who gets to comfort her. I'd like to order one of those bats for him if I may.
It was enlightening and sad to get the memories of Lois's childhood. I think it's to her credit that Lucy doesn't have near the same depth of scarring that she has with trust and abandonment issues. Of course Lucy still has them, but I think that Lois was able to provide a sense of security for her younger sister that Lois herself didn't experience. Unfortunately, Lois's knee-jerk reaction is going to be to doubt Clark and do little things to sabotage his declarations - which is probably why he's decided to not push her, when to some extent that's exactly what she needs. It's almost as if for Lois to see that he's serious about loving her, he has to be able to withstand a full-out barrage of her insecure attacks. Is that fair to Clark? No- but I fear that is what it will take. If she can do her worst and he's still there, it might finally start to sink in that he loves her, that she deserves it, and more importantly, that she doesn't have to *do* anything special to deserve it. It's unconditional.
As for the Clark backlash... lol, I understand the author-dilemma here. You know everything there is to know about Clark- you've been able to sit in on his introspections, you know his motivations, and you can comprehend the actions he takes. The reader, on the other hand, has to take what's given at face value. I have empathy for him and what he's going through, but he's got to take the blinders off in Mayson's case and get some insight into the timing of Lois's distancing campaign. Can I send him a letter on behalf of Martha about being married?
Speaking of letters, I think that Rona's idea has merit. LnC have gotten so out of sync with one another that I feel they need to go back to square one- and for them, that was as penpals and best friends. *sniff* I miss that.
Okay, I'm going to go brave the next part now...
~s
