Carol, Laurach, bellarata, Ultra Woman - thanks for your fdk and wonderful encouragement re:sequel.
Superoo - glad the story was able to help you through the day! thanks for posting fdk.
Lisamaree - thanks for fdk. Jonathan lied because he was willing to do 'whatever it took' to keep his family safe. He'd been thinking about this for years - worried something would threaten his son and thereby break his wife's heart.
And all 3 of the Kents had regularly lied/'hidden the facts' - that's how Clark got to whatever age he is without anyone knowing (not only in my story but in just about every Superman story).
Did he trust Lois? - No! He'd known her 2 days, she was a city career girl and a reporter to boot. He didn't know she was going to become the most important person in Clark's life.
Shadow, Bob, SuperRoo - thanks for your fdk.
Regarding Lois - one of the great attractions for me in writing this story was to take Lois back to being naive. Of course she thought she was city-sophisticated, but she knew nothing of clones, time travel, aliens, super powers and 100 other completely weird phenomena she would encounter once Clark walked into her life.
Did she miss some hints - absolutely - but mostly because exactly when she should have been thinking 'uh?' her mind was on Clark (the man). Just before she decides to ask Hodge for the documents, she is thinking how unfair this is to Clark.
Her straight-to-the-point dealing with Hodge grew out of being stung when he said she only thought she had power. She'd seen how he'd dealt with the Sewells and thought she'd show him she could play at the table too.
Re:a sequel - I started it a week or so ago. However it's summer holidays here and the past couple of weeks I've had time to write. This is not a usual occurrence! I can't give any idea when (or even if) the sequel might hit the boards.
A BIG thank you again to everyone who read my story and provided such great, thought-provoking feedback.
