Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: A New Hero Part 5/?

Ugh, Nancy, this story is beginning to feel a little like Romeo and Juliet. No, not like Romeo and Juliet, because Zared's family is certainly not against Zared's relationship with Jenni. No, it's more like... the Frog Prince, where the girl's father learns that his daughter has kissed the frog and because of that, she is now pregnant. Of course all respectable citizens will share the girls' father's horror at this unnatural liaison. Of course they will sympathize with the father when he's thinking like this:
And Jenni's father is this angry even though he doesn't even realize that Zared is the Frog Prince yet! Oh, wow!

(Byt he way, that was an incredibly tense moment, when that doctor started describing Jenni's injuries to Zared and Jenni's father and said that the baby seemed to be unhurt. But Jenni's father hadn't been told yet that Jenni was pregnant.)

You said you worked in the medical profession - I don't remember, are you a nurse? - and I guess you must have come across other fathers like Jenni's. Fathers, particularly single fathers, whose worlds get turned upside down when they learn that their little girl is pregnant, and who find solace in the thought that their daughter must have been basically raped. That she must have been blameless, and that her boyfriend must have forced her.

I was wondering - would the American legal system in particular and the larger American society in general support a father who tried to prevent his almost 18-year-old daughter from seeing the boyfriend who had made her pregnant? In Sweden, both the legal system and the larger society would definitely have been on the girl's side in a case like this.

(Before we leave the matter of Jenni's father, I think you shouldn't assume that everybody remembers that his name is Danny. When we first meet him in this chapter, you might call him "Danny, Jenni's father" or something.)

I think you put your medical knowledge to good use in this chapter. Usually, when someone is shot in fanfiction, the person either dies straight away or else survives and is not that much worse for wear. I appreciate how you describe Jenni's serious injuries, which could luckily be treated so that they are no longer life-threatening, and I believe she will basically recover. I also appreciate how you describe how seriously affected Superman is by those Kryptonite bullets. His health actually seems to be taking a turn for the worse in this chapter.

I'm also touched by how concerned Clark is about Zared. And of course, there is the question of what will follow from Zared's revelation of his powers. There are many reasons to look forward to the rest of this story!

Ann

Hi,

Great part.

Romeo and Juliet, I know, but all I know of the frog prince is what I can remember of Grimm's fairy tales. I never saw the movie.

And yes, I'm a nurse, and I've come across some 'doozy' mothers and fathers. There was the one mother who insisted her daughter was merely having cramps because she had had diarrhea. When the baby finally plopped in the toilet, she thought perhaps that she should take her daughter and new grandchild to the hospital. That oughta make it to Ripleys....

Every state is different as to what the laws are concerning underage pregnancies. Many, if not most, states would automatically consider her an emancipated minor, which would mean she would be legally considered an adult. Some states, though, don't consider them an adult until the baby is born (strange, huh?). And, the father (Danny in this case) would unlikely be able to stop his daughter from seeing her boyfriend except in that she was living in her father's house and he could prevent him visiting her there. He could make things very difficult for her, though. I think most of the states also require a parent's signature allowing an underage child to get married, even if a pregnancy is involved. Society, in the states, would for the most part definitely be on the girl's side. There are always going to be a few exceptions, though. That wasn't always true. In the first 60 years or so of the last century, it wasn't at all unusual for a girl to be *forced* to give her baby up for adoption. It probably really wasn't legal, but you can imagine how overwhelmed some of these girls were then. And that didn't always happen, but when it did it was very hush, hush.


More of Danny's (Jenni's father - I'll fix that) in the next chapter.

Thanks for all your comments!

Nancy

I guess I was approaching Clark's injuries from a medical point of view. I also thought of the episode where he almost died and did not get better until after the exposure to Kryptonite - and after his temperature had broken. Remember the scene with the steam coming off him? I always thought that was great.

No, he didn't retain any Kryptonite - he'd be dead in that case. I was also thinking that since most of his invulnerability appears to lie in his skin, that if he actually had internal injuries, he may not heal as fast - especially if he had had extreme blood loss and had a fever. So that brings me to the issue of him swallowing a bomb. The stomach is really another type of skin, so, ergo, no damage (at least to the inside of it). The lungs are also made to interact with the outside world. Things like your liver, spleen, kidneys, etc. are not. That's where I got the idea that internal injuries would take longer to heal. He had fairly superficial muscle / tissue injury the time that Lois removed the bullet from his shoulder so that's why he healed so quickly.

I've also thought that when Clark had the nasty virus, that the only reason Clark was able to fly to Lois' apartment thus saving her life and his parents' lives was because of his great love for her. I felt that he reached down deep inside and found the strength to save her - the strength that *should* not have been there, especially considering other Kryptonite exposures he'd had. Example: He wouldn't have let Lex Luthor plunge to his death if it was usual for him to instantly heal when the Kryptonite was removed.

I hope that helps with Clark's injuries.

Nancy

When I started working as a teacher in 1981, one of my colleagues was a woman who'd had to give her baby up for adoption when she'd become pregnant in the 1950s as a fifteen-year-old. When I knew this woman, she had never met her son again. How tragic. In other words, pregnant minors had few rights in Sweden, too, fifty years ago.

Today it is unlikely that a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl would give birth at all. It's far more probable that she would have an abortion. (The decision whether or not she should have an abortion would be the girl's alone.) If she did have her baby, either because her pregnancy was discovered too late or because she refused to have an abortion, she would get to keep her baby unless she was really, obviously unfit, but the Social Services would be obliged to help and support her. No one could force her to give up her baby for adoption.

A seventeen-year-old would be much more likely to give birth to her baby. She would be treated as an adult by society. If she lived with her parents and if they refused to let her boyfriend visit her, the Social Services might try to aquire an apartment for the young couple. The teens could also receive financial aid to pay the rent and take care of their baby. Although it is expected that teenagers live with their parents if they can't support themselves.

Ann

I've now posted a few changes to part 5. I hope it makes Bernie's thinking about Clark's injuries a bit clearer. Nancy