She knew – no matter how much he'd tried to convince her in the early days of their marriage that he would never leave – that someday she'd be on her own. Marriages didn't last.
You're breakin' my heart, Carol! </3
Dude what I'm worried about is a Lois-CLARK scene. Man and to think I suddenly prefer a winter storm revelation to a room full of strangers over Mayson...
NOW, you're evil.
Great part, can't wait to find out what happens next. JD
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
You know what's great about finishing a story? It's the fact that I am free to read now! This time I get to sit back and listen to you weave a tale.
And a wonderful tale it is! I am personally a big fan of alternate beginnings, so it was enjoyable and sweet to see the friendship between Lois and Clark grow from their childhood. I enjoyed the unique perspective of showing that growth through letters.
It was also a neat revelation that Kryptonian's have an immediate connection to their 'soul mates' - yay!. But that also brings us to the angst. Lois! He loves you! Let yourself love him back!
I have mixed feelings about the Lucy/Jimmy/Alice/Perry revelation - much as I bet Lois is feeling as well- but I suppose without Ma and Pa Kent, it is nice to have some support. But just when I get over that, here comes Mayson I bet she just thinks that Clark is taking care of his kid sisters, and he's just happy to have someone enjoy his company.
Lois is wavering - those subconscious thoughts are revealing some feelings for her husband - but I don't know if she's at the point where she will be ready to stake a claim. Too bad we aren't rid of Mayson as quickly as we did 'Call me Daniel'.
At any rate, I'm enjoying the fic and hope that we'll get another part soon (pretty please?).
Wow carol. Thank you for posting so fast. I am just catching up!
It's unbelievable how much ground you cover, but in a good way! Not only does Lois know his secret but now it seems like everybody who is important to them does as well. And I am not one bit worried! We already know how mature Lois and Clark are, and I would be disappointed if Lucy wasn't as well. I mean this is what happens when you have to grow up so fast. And I am sure that Perry and Alice will do whatever they can to help out. Do I see a secret identity in the future?!
As for Mayson... Did she have to show up? She is only there to help Lois realize that she does love Clark, as her husband not her brother and that she doesn't ever want to lose him. Right? Jealousy can be a good thing. But knowing Lois, she will first probably think she is right in seeing Clark possibly as only a stepping stone to true love. But Lois, he is NOT going to leave you!
I was perfectly okay with the idea of Clark marrying Lois without telling her his secret, given the circumstances. But I really disliked it when he deliberately hid his secret from her once they were married. What was he thinking?
Then he meets Perry and Alice and tells them after one day. Yes, I know, he slipped up, but how come he didn't slip up with Lois for three months?
Lois was completely forgiving, not feeling that Clark had treated her badly at all. She must be a far better person than I am.
And now Clark has met Mayson. Right now I wouldn't mind if Lois met a nice young man in a Hawaii shirt and had lunch a couple of times with him.
Loved the Lois snuggling-up to Clark bits. Of course, then here comes Mayson.
Carol, did anyone ever tell you that you are ? First you ruin Clark's wedding band and leave it at that. Now you come back from out of the blue with with Lois missing his wedding band. The only way this could get worse would be if Lois started to think he did it on purpose.
A second prove of -ness: you did say we haven't seen the the last of Mr Hawaii Shirt after the prom part. This does not sound good at all in the current light of affairs.
And Lois: No, you're absolutely not jealous. Nope. Nada. Zero. Zilch. It's just indigestion.
The problem is, Lois is now coming to terms that her husband is just her roommate who gets it elsewhere when he is done with his work. This does not look good. At all.
/me starts looking for baseball-bat (painted in a nice shade of fluorescents green) to beat sense into two teenagers before locking them up in the honeymoon suite for a week or two.
Please tell me you asked the "When Kids Have Money..."-question way after the plot for your Nano was completely done and this question isn't related to a follow up-piece, either.
*shudders*
Oh, and "professor" Paul? That the second canon character?
Michael
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As you could see, Carol, I was not very happy about this part. I just felt that Lois was being treated rather disrespectfully by Clark, who had been so careful about hiding his secret from her, his wife, but so careless about hiding it from people he had just met. And then, to seemingly add insult to injury, Clark started to semi-date Mayson Clark, and Lois was jealous. I felt as if you were telling us that in spite of Clark's lack of respect for Lois it was Lois who was in the wrong, who needed to be given a wake-up bout of jealousy, and who needed to change her ways.
And then I remembered the title of this fic, Learning to Love. You have clearly shown us that it is Lois who will not admit that she loves Clark. So maybe this will be another of those "bringing up Lois" fics, where Lois is made to repent?
But I seriously hope that your story will not be as simplistic as that. Yes, even I admit that Lois needs to learn to love Clark. Even though I respect her for being unwilling to truly commit herself to him when she is so young, it is of course still a problem that she doesn't dare to trust him with her heart. She needs to make that leap of faith.
Ah, but then Clark has to show her that he deserves that trust, too. And so far I don't think he has really given her reason to trust him that unconditionally. Oh, he has been a great friend to her. Absolutely wonderful. And the fact that he lied to her did not impair his ability to help her out financially or provide a home for her or help her take care of Lucy. In no way whatsoever.
But asking Lois to love him is different. Asking her to trust her body and soul with him is different.
Have you heard about that horrible, horrible case in Austria, where a 73-year-old man, Joseph Fritzl, held his daughter Elisabeth captive in a cellar for forty-two years and fathered seven children with her? And burnt up one newborn baby in a furnace when it died?
Do you know that Joseph Fritzl and Clark Kent have one thing in common? Oh, but they do. They lied to their wives.
Joseph Fritzl built a bunker-like cellar to his house more than forty years ago. He forbade his family, his wife Rosemarie and his seven children, to ever go near that cellar. No one, but no one, had access to it. No one was allowed to go near or to ask him about it. And when he drugged his daughter Elisabeth and carried her down to the cellar and locked her up behind a steel door which only he could open with a secret code, no one asked to see what was in the cellar.
Joseph Fritzl's and Clark Kent's motives for lying couldn't have been more different. And yet this fact remains: they lied to their wives. They lied systematically and for a long time. Three months isn't comparable to forty-two years, but when it comes to carefully and deliberately hiding one's true self from one's wife, it is a long time. It is a too long time.
I was sad to see that Lois didn't feel let down when Clark so easily revealed himself to Perry, Alice and Jimmy, even though he had worked so hard to keep herself in the dark. Why wasn't she more upset? Could it be because she really doesn't believe in her and Clark's marriage, and therefore she doesn't expect Clark to honour her the way he would honour his real wife?
And now you are making Lois jealous, to make her see the error of her assumption that she doesn't love Clark. Oh well. I hope you will make Clark realize the error of his ways, too. Yes, he has stopped lying to Lois. But I'm left with the impression that he is untroubled about having lied to her, so that he doesn't seem to think that his lies to her were any sort of big deal. As long as Clark thinks like that, he doesn't love Lois the way a husband should love his wife. Therefore Clark, too, needs to learn how to love.
Do you know that Joseph Fritzl and Clark Kent have one thing in common? Oh, but they do. They lied to their wives.
I can't believe I'm opening my mouth, but really? Is it worth comparing Clark to a guy who locked his daughter in a cellar and committed incest for decades? (By-the-by, what's up with Austria and crimes in the cellar?!)
I think if we're going to compare Clark to anyone, my smoking career is way more on caliber. I lied by omission for months because I knew there were a few people in my family that would flip their lids if they knew I was smoking.
I think if you're going to pick comparisons, shoot for some that are a little bit more morally to scale. Is lying immoral across the board? Of course. But the consequences of some are just a bit worse than others. I may have made all my clothes smell like Nicotine in 2005, but Joseph violated and traumatized one of his own family members for decades. And Clark may have lied to his wife, but the bottom line is, he's still just a scared teenager with a family to raise, and that doesn't change regardless of any ultimate destiny as World's Greatest Superhero.
And I guess that depends on what kind of superhero you expect to see. At the end of the day, I see a flawed, complicated human being whose lies are no worse than mine and shouldn't be compared to a rapist's. Personally, I'd much rather take Clark's responsibility in the analogy. I feel I've been much more destructive with my lies. JD
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
I think I'm with the others who would liked to have seen just a little more drama surrounding Clark's accidental revelation. I think I expected to see Lois blow a gasket. However, you do seem to be covering a LOT of time through these various parts (and doing it quite well, might I add), so I can understand why you didn't spend pages upon pages on it.
That said, I'm not part of the party that seems offended by it. Clark -was- a little careless, but what was he supposed to do, tell Perry, "You didn't see anything...did you think you did? You must be hallucinating."
I, for one, like the way you have introduced Mayson. I think Lois' fear/jealousy of Mayson is perfectly rationalized in her head and realistic, even if we know that Clark wouldn't really be having any kind of romantic relationship with her (right?). I wouldn't mind seeing this play out a little longer. I'm not above torturing our favorite characters a little bit. I do hope though, that Lois doesn't strike up something with Scardino just to make Clark jealous. I know that would be completely normal behavior for someone Lois' age, it just feels so petty to me. But you can't really expect all teenagers to have rational, adult conversations to address issues, no matter how mature they may be. (I think there are even plenty of adults who wouldn't have an adult, rational conversation about the subject of flirting with someone other than your spouse.)
Looking forward to reading the next part! (And what is your posting schedule now, anyway? I've gotten lost and confused as I've lost track of the days of the week this week.)
As I already told you, I hate stories where revelations are treated lightly. I know that it was a gaffe that would be difficult to cover and I know that Clark thought everyone was asleep, but it still irks me that he was careless. But, as I also told you, it's not the kind of mistake that makes a story irredeemable. I won't quite reading unless something wild happens. (I think the example I used was that if Lois and Lucy started dating I would quite reading for sure.) With that being said...
Quote
He could feel dampness on his shoulder where Lois' head rested. He was grateful, though they hadn't been as close in recent months, for her arm around him, supporting and comforting him.
I'm glad that Lois is here for him in this moment that he really needs her, particularly as she is making herself emotionally vulnerable. The distance that has crept into this marriage is painful to read. It's just so real. Having lived through it a couple of times, I know that these seasons of life come and go.
That's why love isn't based on feelings. When you feel close you act a certain way, but oftentimes one person feels close while the other doesn't. Feelings are based on so many things: the actions of the other party, whether we're getting enough sleep and exercise and feeling healthy, whether we've learned to feel good about or criticise ourselves, etc. That's why marriage takes a commitment.
Lois needs to learn that Clark can be trusted with this commitment.
Quote
"Lois," Alice began, "I don't want to overstep my bounds but... Is everything okay with you and Clark?"
Lois looked up sharply. "Of course it is," she said with much more conviction than she felt.
Alice looked at her thoughtfully. "I've been around a lot of years, Lois, and I'm usually pretty right about these things."
Lois sighed. "Life isn't easy, Alice. That's all it is."
"No," Alice said slowly. "Life isn't easy, but I think the two of you have probably had a more difficult time of it than most the last year or so."
"Maybe," she shrugged. "But that's just the way it is. We'll graduate in a couple of years and Lucy will be out of high school and old enough to live on her own. We'll get jobs and then we'll move on."
"Together?" Alice asked quietly.
I appreciate Alice's willingness to mentor the young couple. It can be invaluable during the rocky times to have someone come alongside to remind them that this too shall pass. I hope that this isn't the last we see of Alice White.
Clark needs to learn to set better boundaries. I know he's young and naive, but he's not showing good judgment. Lois knew when Dan was out prowling for a date, but Clark doesn't appear to have that discernment.
I knew that his lack of a wedding ring would haunt them in the end. (Perhaps they need to add that to the list of "needed" clothing. It does serve a purpose after all.)
We haven't seen any of the Mayson/Clark scenes through Clark's eyes, so we really don't know what he's thinking. Is he being naive or tempted? It's hard to tell at this point. What is very clear is that he doesn't have good boundaries to protect their marriage. I know without being there that James doesn't have meals with a woman without me or a third party; it's too intimate and leaves him open to a bad appearance or temptation. So he just doesn't do it.
Likewise, neither do I. For awhile we had a single neighbor who was at home during the day. My kids enjoyed playing with his dog, but I made sure that there were appropriate boundaries so it didn't look like I was coming on to him (or, in a distant time in our relationship no one would be tempted). Back to the topic, Clark needs to learn to respect their marriage and put up better boundaries.
If you had never challenged us to look for it, I wouldn't have noticed that Paul was from canon. He must be the guy that Lois and whatshername fought over.
AnKS - Lois and Mayson? Fight scene? Whatever could you be talking about ? Yes, Alice and Lucy did, didn't they? That was actually a very late add when I realized there was no reaction by the others. Am still not completely comfortable with it, but we're not really seeing anything except from L/C's POV so it's hard to know what P/A etc are thinking. L/J will be covered in LtL: Lucy's Story eventually.
JD - So sorry about breaking your heart . Sort of - I guess that means that I'm achieving my goal of making you feel for the characters. Lois/Clark scene? Where's the innocent eyes smilie?
Beth - very incisive . Shouldn't expect anything less from you though!
Sonia - glad to have you on board!! Hmm... we'll see more of the whole Mayson/Clark thing next go round. Ah - you may have missed the earlier FDK thread - who says Daniel is gone? /me hides
Natascha - glad to see you too! Lucy is more grown up than we see on the show. She's only 18m or so younger than Lois [very different from the show where she's shown as Jimmy's age which is 6-7 years I think]. Secret Identity? Is Lois going to be Ultra Woman?
Ann - you have made me think and add some to a scene later. As far as the difference goes... I'm torn. The three month thing has no magic reason. Just that March generally has really nice days [comparatively] so they could be walking home from work rather than in a car. And Colorado wouldn't be as bad as say in Feb. We all know that it's not something that's easy for Clark to talk about with out M/J around and there is no Superman so it's all cold turkey rather than 'hey i'm the guy in Spandex' it's 'hey, i'm an alien, bet you didn't know they were out there'.
Michael - bonus points to you! Yes, Paul is the second canon character. Moi? Evil? Originally, I hadn't planned for Clark to have a ring at all because it just wasn't in their budget when they got married, or it never occurred to Lois or whatever, but then they surprised me by breaking it so she had to give him one at some point! But I also didn't want him to break Jonathan's ring - so it's lost. Hmmm... glowing green baseball bat... I'll have to see if Trask has one lying around - or maybe Luthor does... If I can find one, I'll send it your way. And yes, the Kids/Money question was posed long after the Nano plot was... well, plotted.
I do have to go with JD here. I think that's an exceptionally extreme example, Ann, and not remotely the same. That guy committed crimes, probably too numerous to mention, and lied about them. That's not what Clark did at all. Should he have told her earlier? Maybe. But - and this comes from my own early marriage experience to an extent - they rarely saw each other long enough to have a real conversation once the honeymoon was [literally] over.
Rona - We haven't really seen what's going through Lois' head just what's for public consumption. We will come back to it. Yes, they do seem to cover large chunks of time sometimes. Some cover 18 months, others will take 3 segments to cover a week - or even a night. /me has visions of a Wayne's World ending dootely doo or whatever where Clark waves his fingers and everything changes . Thanks for the image! Lois is still only 18 and a couple months and, as I've mentioned before has scars we haven't seen yet that colors how she sees all of this. I think we start to see them in full force in part 13 or 14. You're right about the flirting thing, but I don't think that's what Clark is doing [and I don't think that's what you said either]. He's just a darn nice guy [er... well, you know what I mean], chatting with someone who asked for his help on his way to meet his wife for lunch. From there... we'll see...
Elisabeth - I do understand what you're saying and that certainly isn't my intention - to treat it lightly, though I certainly didn't dwell on it. However - even though they've only known P/A for 36 hours or so at this point - from here on out these six are *family*. None of them have anyone else [except Aunt Louise - who was old enough to get married during WWI and so won't be around forever]. P/A have no kids. Clark has no family left. L/L have just AL. Jimmy's dad is out of the picture and his mom is gone a lot. At some point at least, it makes sense to me at least that they would trust them with the secret - though the timing probably wasn't the best on Clark's part. [And I do get the L/L dating thing now - I didn't in the email but I blame the headache for that .] One of my favorite sayings is 'Love is a verb' [thank you DC Talk]. Love isn't an emotion or anything else. Love is doing. Taking care of someone when they're sick. Holding your wife's hair when she's throwing up for nine months on end or taking your DH to the hospital at 4 in the morning when you've had literally no sleep because he has a kidney stone. Love is action not feelings. Feelings come and go, but commitment is what stays and it takes action to stay [believe it or not]. It's often times 'easier' to just leave than it is to stay. And even when you're mad at each other or not communicating when something happens [like inadvertently revealing yourself to be an alien to the editor of the most respected newspaper in the world], you pull together. And you are very right about the boundaries. Billy Graham was famous for never being alone [at all] with a woman who wasn't Ruth [I say was because she's no longer with us]. That is something Clark needs to think about - and he will - but he can be quite the naive lunkhead at times. Only time will tell. Too bad no one could give them "Boundaries in Marriage" huh ? And yes, Paul is the guy Lois and Linda King fought over.
Whew. Okay - I think that's everything for now. Part 12 will be up late tonight or tomorrow in keeping with the MWF posting schedule. Here's hoping I can get the muse in gear to keep it.
Thanks again everyone! If nothing else, you've made me think and justify why things have happened the way they did.
Yes, I know that the example I used was totally extreme and in several ways inappropriate. But I keep insisting that it is no small thing to deliberately hide who you are from your wife. It wasn't as if Clark was lying about smoking. Honestly, it wasn't. A wife can easily come to an agreement with her husband if she finds out that he is a smoker - no smoking indoors, for example, and there shouldn't be much of a problem. If push came to shove, maybe he could even stop smoking. But how can Clark stop being Kryptonian?
The fact that your husband is from another planet and is not fully human is really not comparable to him being a smoker. It is one thing to sort of forget to mention it, as I think Clark did before he married Lois, but it is another thing altogether to be careful not to show let your wife know that you may not fully count as a member of Homo Sapiens after you are married to her. I'm so extremely touchy on this subject, because I grew up with the comics and the movies, where it was the secret about Clark's true nature that kept Lois and Clark apart. Clark/Superman used the secret of his double identity as a shield to ward Lois off. I know that he didn't use it quite like that in the show, but it still didn't help their relationship progress, that's for sure.
Again, I apologize for the extreme example. However, I still don't think that Clark is properly committed to Lois if he would be careful not to reveal himself to her but easily slip up around others. And I agree that he shouldn't have lunch on his own with Mayson, either.
But as long as it isn't just Lois who will have to learn how to love, but Clark as well, I will happily follow this fic.
But as long as it isn't just Lois who will have to learn how to love, but Clark as well, I will happily follow this fic.
And that's such a great point! You know, we always think in fics, 'oh Lois has to learn to love, she's been through so much etc etc', I wonder if we forget about Clark sometimes...
JD
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
OT, but thanks, Carol. I hadn't heard that particularly song by DC Talk, although they have a video on YouTube I always think of the 90s hit, "Love is" by NewSong which proclaims the same thing.
I don't know when the last time I listened to DC Talk was [5 years? 10?], but that song is totally running through my head and has been for the last couple of days now .
o/~I don't care what you say I don't care what you heard The word love, love is a veeeeerb o/~
I'll have to check that one out Elisabeth. I haven't listened to New Song in EONS either [though I don't think I have any CDs - the first thing DH ever gave me was a DC Talk tape - he'd just gotten the CD and gave me his tape]
It predates CDs which have samples to listen to. I know it's on One Heart at a Time, but since that's on a best-of album it has to be on something else too--probably Living Proof or Light Your World. Hope you can find it, since it fits this story so well.
Great part, can't wait to find out what happens next.
I bet she just thinks that Clark is taking care of his kid sisters, and he's just happy to have someone enjoy his company. 
? First you ruin Clark's wedding band and leave it at that. Now you come back from out of the blue with with Lois missing his wedding band. The only way this could get worse would be if Lois started to think he did it on purpose.
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