Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Learning to Love, 45/52?

Carol, you're getting there, but you have not completely redeemed yourself yet! Another brilliant chapter! I'm ecstatic that Lois is pregnant! And I'm pretty certain that it's Clark's baby and hopeful, still that she was not raped by Luthor!

I'm still just emotionally torn over the possibility that such a beautiful symbol in their lives could be made so ugly. I wanted so badly for them to treasure their first time!

So, when is the next post? One hour...two?

~Sheila

Ok, working with a pda here and a thumbsized keyboard. Literally.

I knew she is pregnant when she felt tired. Expected you to drag it out.

I thought she could be pregnant before that since you asked that question about Lois´ child´s paternety being in question and who would inherit Luthor´s money last year or so. And to think I thought that wouldn´t apply once the timeframe was clear and stuff, and then you dump those A/N on us.

HOW can they expect the rapist father to make claims? Are they completely out of it? But it would offer Clark all sorts of options - already detailed for Paul. Please make Luthor into a painwrecked ball of goo when Clark is done with him. How much would it hurt to boil his ingestines while still inside him. And grate away his privy parts, with a rusty potato grater. I could go on, with more creative and gory stuff.

Good that it´s Clark´s child. Nan does the whole eating-thing and you do the tired-thing, right? And Luthor would have used a condom anyway. STDs and everything.

Still not happy though. You do put the toys back together, don´t you? And you don´t do Lois-gets-actually-raped stories, right?

And how can she be so calm about all this?

Michael

As soon as I read that Lois had been raped in part 44, I knew that she was going to get pregnant. Why? Well, because in fics things always happen for a reason, and big events always lead to important consequences. The Newtonian principle, 'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction', is never more true than in fiction. In real life a woman might get raped, the rapist might get run over by a bus, the woman is not pregnant, she does not have an STD, and her life goes on pretty much as usual. Not so in fiction. If a fictional heroine is raped, this is something that must have big, monumental consequences. So I knew that if Lois had been raped, she must be pregnant.

What will the fallout of her pregnancy be? There are several possibilities:

Lois is going to worry that her baby is Luthor's, and we are going to worry along with her. The question of the baby's paternity is going to inject tension and suspense into the story.

I'm sure we all rather fervently hope that the baby is not going to be Luthor's. Personally, I'm not altogether sure that it isn't. Because if Luthor is indeed the father, then that is going to give Clark the chance to prove something else to Lois:

Clark gets the chance to prove that he is endlessly loving and dependable. Perhaps that is what is finally going to prove to Lois that Clark is the most wonderful guy that she could ever meet anywhere, because he is really and truly going to love any child of hers as if it were his own, even if he knows that it isn't.

(Personally I'm afraid I'm going to hate it if it is Luthor's child. I don't doubt for a moment that Clark is going to love Luthor's child if Lois is the mother of it, but I'm afraid I'm not going to love such a child at all. To me, it makes all the difference in the world that we are talking about fiction here. In real life, every child deserves to be loved for his or her own sake, but in the world of fiction I'm not prepared to love Luthor's rape child with Lois.)

Anyway, there are more possible plot bunnies that can be spawned from Luthor's rape of Lois:

Yes, I totally expect Luthor to raise a racket and to try to get either Lois for himself, or to get her child. Please remember that Lois didn't report the rape. Luthor can easily accuse Lois of having thrown herself at him and acted like a slut. He can say that she came on to him like a prostitute, and that he obviously deserves to have his baby back from such an irresponsible mother. The only way he can deign to let her raise her baby is if she divorces her husband and marries him, Luthor, instead. Remember that Luthor is going to know that Lois was a virgin when he raped her. He can say that she was a virgin, despite five years of marriage, and that she obviously doesn't love her husband. He can say that their marriage is a sham. With his money and reputation, he can utterly smear Lois and Clark. Of course, if he tries to do it, the unofficial rules of LnC fics demand that Lois and Clark eventually emerge victorious, and that Luthor gets utterly destroyed himself. Every action engenders an equal and opposite reaction, indeed.

That said, I still wish this whole rape action hadn't happened, Carol.

Ann

We still don't know for a fact that Lois was raped. True, it's very likely, and true, it was almost certainly Luthor's intention, but this is still not a foregone conclusion. And that really ramps up the uncertainty and suspense. Did it happen? Who is the biological father? Will Luthor return and wreak more havoc upon our favorite couple? Now we have to stay tuned to find out.

I'm glad Lois is receiving professional therapy. It's about six years late, but it's far better than not doing it at all. And I'm also glad that Clark is participating in Lois's recovery. But I hadn't really considered that he'd need therapy as much as Lois did.

And he needs it. Even with his powers, there are things he simply cannot do. One of them is to be in two places at one time. Another is to cocoon the people he loves and prevent anything bad from ever happening to them. If Lucy were to die in childbirth (and now that I've mentioned it you can't do it!), Clark would not be able to prevent that. If Jimmy is diagnosed with terminal cancer and dies before his child is born, Clark wouldn't be able to do anything about that. If an earthquake strikes the Eastern Seaboard and collapses the Daily Planet building, he would of course help with the rescue efforts, but he'd be unable to stop the earthquake itself.

I wonder how long it will be before someone - probably Lois - suggests putting him in a disguise to allow him to help openly. Then Lois could write him up for the Planet and become Metropolis's Superman advocate. She'd have a much better idea of how to present him to the public than the original L&C Lois did.

But that's all in the far future. Right now, both Clark and Lois are dealing with the issues stemming from Lois's past and their unusual relationship. With Dr. Friskin on the job, they should knock that out in just a few months.

Carol, I hope your feeling better and that the kids are no longer sick.

Wonderful part. I am looking forward to seeing how Lois and Clark deal with the pregnancy and hopeful it will bring them closer together. I am hoping along with everyone else that it is Clark's baby and that Lois wasn't raped, even though Lois' gut is telling her something else. Was glad that this part included an insight on Clark's feelings of what happened the night of the first time. Will we get to see Clark telling Lois about their first few times together?

I can't wait to see what happens next!!!!!

Depressing but intriguing turn of events

I think Luthor probably raped Lois because he might have recognized her name and it would have been a big power trip for him to violate the woman responsible for bringing down a sex scandal ring in college.

Whether the baby is his or not, L&C's reluctance for a DNA test might cause him to try to control our favorite couple (say if and when L&C find some incriminating evidence on his criminal activities)... after all he can say Lois was a virgin and her husband's probably impotent or something like that, and generally smear their reputations.

Plus whatever else might be true, Lois and Clark are still very young (1.5-2 yrs since college) and thus easy targets for the big bad people of the world.

Just popping in real quick before heading to work. I will say that that question has absolutely no bearing on this fic and was asked *long* after the end to this one was written [even if 3/4 of the middle wasn't yet, it was plotted more or less].

And I don't think I mentioned this recently - but I do generally put my toys back in more or less the same shape I took them out. I *very* rarely [once? twice?] leave them broken.

Carol

/me says mantra: Carol isn't leaving false trails. Carol isn't leaving false trails. Carol isn't leaving false trails. Carol isn't leaving false trails.

The thread in FF Related

You know, Carol, this does not say anything about it not being in a follow-up story to LTL. Sorry, and if you resolve everything by the end of LTL then I will gladly take this and just expect the other fic to appear in due time. But for now, I patiently reserve judgment until the final act is done.

And you specifically did not deny the rape thing. And why would you. It would ruin the suspense. *sigh*

Did I mention that you are the queen of evil cliff-hangers?

Michael

Well, I haven't said anything recently, but I'm still reading.

I have to say, as much as I hate it, I think Lois was probably raped. Obviously there was drugs involved, otherwise she would've been able to remember what happened with Clark.
Drugs usually leave the person unable to say no, from what I understand. Although it is interesting that she was back in her room. You have to wonder why that was.

I believe that Clark doesn't care whose baby it is biologically. It will be his to raise, and that's what matters to him.
Unfortuantely, I'm not sure he realizes that it may matter to Lois. Although it would be hard to figure out whose it is before it's born.

On the lighter side, it's good that their seeing Dr. Friskin (not Ariana!) and especially good that Lois is still willing to kiss Clark.

Keep it coming.

Sara

See, and that's where those nifty Superpowers come in handy. They have very nice isolated islands in LnC-verse. There nobody will will hear Luthor's screams while Clark slowly picks him apart, boils him, crushes him, vivisects him, grates him, skins him, blows up his molars, explodes his eyeballs, pulverizes his bones, has his flesh eaten by fire-ants, drags his open wounds through salt, freezes off little parts of his body and generally transforms Luthor into a puddle of organic goo over the course of several days, perhaps even weeks if done carefully.

Michael

Man you guys are dark. People running off with children, and boiling on an island...toss in a tragic monologue and it sounds like a good Lifetime movie waiting to happen. :p

Great part, Carol. I can't profess to be a great lover of kids, but it was a rather exciting twist in the story, so it'll be interesting to see how this new development affects their relationship. And my comment of the week is omg I'm so happy Clark popped up in therapy, too! That kid can pick up a guilt trip faster than a twister.

Looking forward to more,
JD

Lois is going to be a fantastic mom. Clark will be a great dad.

Unless he was plotting to lure Lois into a rape situation, it is doubtful that the rapist is following her life enough to know that she is pregnant. In many states all that needs to be done is to have Clark claim the child on the birth certificate, particularly since parental rights can be terminated if rape is proved. Of course, things get more complicated in fiction as Ann has already stated.

I'm glad that Clark is seeing the counselor. He should have received counseling two years ago to resolve his own issues from the original attempted rape. This will be good for him.

Edit: I missed my favorite lines. Of course it's Jimmy. We all knew that.

and the best line over-all: Elisabeth

We have to remember that this is Lois' child too, even if she had a psycho sperm donor.

James, who is loving this story.

And thank you for not involving Deter...