Thanks, Evelyn--I thought your words were quite enough on their own!
Glad you enjoyed it, Tank. And, yes, I'm sure Lois was just on the verge of getting her haircut. It just slipped her mind during the rest of the commotion.
Thanks, Morgana and DW! May I say that I vastly appreciated your willingness to beta such a long, involved story!
I'm glad you liked all the little tie-ins--I adore the show, and I'm afraid that leaks out a bit.
I was afraid it was a bit much, so thanks for the reassurance there.
Thanks, mozartmaid! What a relief to know the light/dark themes weren't too overdone!
Wow, Lynn, thanks. I don't think of myself as a particularly poetic writer, so it was a treat to see your comment!
Thanks, Laurach! Glad you enjoyed it!
Glad you enjoyed the story, Darth Michael! More great lines from you--yes, Lois is somewhat single-minded, and I could just see her 'borrowing' and 'suggesting.'
I'll let you answer your philosophical question--in the eye of the beholder and all that.
I assumed that Lois didn't recognize the clone Superman as an imposter because when Clark/Superman left, she still didn't know Superman too well and was, of course, missing the biggest part of what makes him what and who he is (that, I'm afraid, is about as philosophical as I get). And yes, for the record, I'm certainly considering them engaged, though I'm sure there will be one (or two, or three, or more) proposal scenes in their future.
Once again, I just want to thank everyone who left feedback as this story was being posted. I know it took a long time to be finished--so thanks for sticking with it. Also, for fun, I thought I might just list some of the ideas readers/friends/family who read the story had about what the explanation might be for the 'extra' Superman.
Clark, in the cell, was a plant.
Superman was Luthor in disguise.
Superman was Luthor's soul transplanted into a Superman body.
From the moment Superman rescued them, Lois and Clark were trapped in Luthor's virtual world.
Clark was dead and the appearance of both Clark and 'Superman' were only figments of Lois's delusional imagination.
Superman was a future Clark, come back to fill in for the wounded younger Clark.
Superman was Alt-Clark brought in by HG Wells to protect the world while Clark was recovering.
Clark had been split in two through various, convoluted means, and Superman was the other half of his personality given form.
Clark and Superman were brothers.
And I'm sure there were many others, but these were just the few I could remember off the top of my head. So many of them sounded like such great ideas that I sometimes wished I had thought of them first so I could write them instead. In fact, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to simply offer up a very long rewrite of the episode 'Vatman' by the time I heard all the theories everyone else came up with.
Still, this is some of the best fun I've ever had--thanks for enjoying it with me!
