Thanks, everyone; I'm so glad you're enjoying the story.
And I cannot even express how completely delighted I am by the reaction to the revelation!
Barb wrote,
But what I loved most of all was the switch or play on the words 'ordinary man'.
Now that she *does* love the ordinary man, could she love the extra-ordinary part of him? Very nicely phrased and said by Clark in such a way that she should really understand what he wanted/needed and hopefully would get in a response from her.
Thank you, Barb! And as Gerry now probably realizes, this is the line that she suggested that inspired the whole story.
I'll quote from her email to me from last December, after I'd asked Momentum readers for suggestions for a quick epilogue revelation:
... Clark might ask her if she'd go out with Superman if he asked her. She might in fun say yes because then she could tell her grandchildren that she once had had a date with Superman, but she didn't think that she
could take it seriously. She couldn't go skating with him or go to a movie. Clark might build up Superman in a playful way until Lois says something like,
"Clark, I can't believe that you're trying to encourage my crush on Superman."
"Well, now that I know that you love me, I need to know that you love all of me, and just not the ordinary man."
And the light dawns.
As you can see, the story got a lot more involved than a couple page epilogue (I can't believe I've topped out at over 180K for the gfic version, LOL!), but this was the line that had me sitting up straight in my chair, sputtering that I just *had* to write a story around it. So thanks, Gerry, for inspiring me so completely.
Isn't it amazing how an entire story can start with just one line?
Thanks for your comments everyone! And as for me being evil by leaving Lois's gasp as a cliffhanger ... I guess I better post the conclusion.
Kathy
