I'm very, very, very ashamed of myself, guys. I keep taking good resolutions that I'm going to be organised and reply to threads as fast as possible, then something comes along and takes me away from the boards for a week, then other things pile up and I end up being very very late replying. blush So apologies to you all for taking so long!!

Saskia, LOL at your thread title! Why didn't Claude get kicked? Aww, don't you think he deserves a medal for having brought Lois and Clark closer? [g]

Thanks to all those of you who commented on the way I portrayed Claude. He's always been a character that fascinates me, because he played a big part in Lois's past, and yet we know so little about him. I'm thrilled that you liked the way I dealt with him in this story. blush

I'm also grateful that you didn't yell at me for the end. Pam, wow!! And yeah, like you I tend to prefer endings that are nicely wrapped with a little bow and good ol' smoochies goofy , but here it seemed impossible for Lois and Clark to move to a committed relationship so very fast. They've already made a big step forward by admitting that there's something more than friendship going on between the two of them. smile

Roger, you ask why I chose to set this story in mid S1 instead of S2... well, I wanted Lois and Clark not to be too close, because my original goal was to see Clark's reaction to Claude showing up before he had time to be Lois's best friend. I also didn't want the Luthor issue to come up, as I needed Claude to be the last man that Lois had loved and truly been with.

Thank you all again for your great feedback, Saskia, Maria, Jocelyn, Anna, Pam, Laura, José, Rat, Tricia, Sara, Roger, Merry, Tank, Wendy, Iapetus and Pel! blush

Kaethel smile

- I'm your partner. I'm your friend.
- Is that what we are?
- Oh, you know what? I don't know what we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each other's arms, but we never talk about it, so no, I got no clue what we are.

~ Rick Castle and Kate Beckett ~ Knockout ~