Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Breaking Up is Hard to Do 28/35?

This isn't my favorite part. It's nothing about what is written, but I keep coming back to the title of the story and I don't want anyone breaking up. As much as I enjoy Lois and Clark together, I don't want a marriage sacrificed for it.


Elisabeth
P.S. I don't want to be harsh, but I hate breaking up stories. I haven't had the guts to start reading Unanswered Prayers yet, either.

Well, since it seems that the gentle readers don't want Chad killed (though that would be the easiest solution) that only leaves infidelity.

Chad will have to fall into an affair with Rachael and Lois will actually be relieved that she can divorce Chad without remorse and move back to Metropolis where her own hormones can take over.

Tank (who still doesn't like Chad much)

I like the Tank solution but it seems kind of drastic.

Glad to see that Chad realizes that Lois is miserable. It's hard because that means he's not a total jerk. If he was such a bad person, Lois could dump him with no qualms. But he's an OK guy.

Of course, maybe in this case, the good is the enemy of the best. Lois needs to stop settling for less.

But it's going to be messy.

Whoa, yes, I agree, this is going to be very messy. And as much as I loath to think I'm pro a marriage break up, come on! It's Lois and Clark! How can you deny that chemistry? It's love people and as much as Chad is a nice guy, he's not right for Lois, she is definitely settling. Tank, again, you crack me up.

Frequent Flyer.

Like Iolan, I'm glad that Chad has realized that Lois is miserable, and that he has decided to bring the subject up.

The question is what the solution for Lois and Chad is going to be. You have already told us that you are not going to kill Chad, and I'm very glad to hear it. Why should some people have to be killed just so that his or her spouse can remarry? Somebody's actual, physical death becomes a better thing than the same person's divorce. I shudder at the cruelty and implacability of this.

Let me tell you about what may be the most talked-about crime case in Sweden ever, something that happened inside a weird religious sect in a small town in 2004. A young woman, the wife of the second most important leader of this sect, was found shot to death in her bed, and in the neighbours' house the young husband was found shot and severely injured, but alive. The next day another young woman, the nanny of the murder victim's stepchildren, was arrested for one case of murder and one case of attempted murder.

Ah, but there's more. The police quickly realized that the murder victim's husband, pastor Helge Fossmo, had lost his first wife in a strange accident only three years earlier. The pastor's first wife, a woman of twenty-seven and the mother of the pastor's three young children, the youngest one only one year old at the time of his mother's death, had slipped in the family bath tub and hit her head and died. The police quickly dismissed the case as an accident and did an extremely shoddy and perfunctory investigation, because how can any sort of foul play go on within a pastor's home?

But after the murder of the pastor's second wife, the police quickly found that by the time of the first wife's death, the pastor was already having an affair with another member of the sect, Sara Svensson. After the death of the pastor's wife, Sara Svensson moved in with the pastor, officially to be the nanny of his motherless children. Some time afterwards the pastor remarried. He married the younger sister of the most important leader of the sect, a woman who called herself the Bride of Christ(!).

Soon after the pastor's remarriage, The Bride of Christ declared that Sara Svensson, the pastor's mistress and nanny of his children, was unclean, and could not have any meetings or dealings with any other members of the sect. However, Sara Svensson was not allowed to leave and move out, because the pastor still needed her! So she was basically locked inside the pastor's house so that he could have sex with her at night, even though he was now married to another woman!

That is not all. Some time later, the pastor took himself another lover, a young married woman who lived next door. So for a while the pastor had sex with two women every night, first with the married neighbour and then, when the neighbour decided it was time to go home, with Sara Svensson. The only one who did not get to have sex with the pastor was his wife.

But now the pastor was really getting tired of his second wife and decided it was time to get rid of her. So he started sending Sara Svensson cryptic anonymous text messages to her cell phone. When Sara Svensson came to him and showed him the strange messages and asked him what they meant, he told her that God had given her a mission of some kind. The pastor kept sending more text messages and kept 'interpreting' them to Sara. Eventually the pastor had convinced Sara that God had ordered her to kill the pastor's second wife and the husband of the pastor's lover. And Sara Svensson did her best to obey the will of God. (The police were later able to recreate those text messages and prove that they had been sent from the pastor's cell phone.)

The reason why I told you this whole long rambling story is because the pastor's two dead wives would have been alive today if the pastor had felt able to divorce them when he grew tired of them. He couldn't do that, however, because that would have made him lose status in the sect. He couldn't remain the second-in-command if he had divorced his wife, let alone if he had divorced two wives. But killing two wives was okay. No, really, it wasn't, becasue when the members of the sect finally became convinced that their pastor had commissioned the murder of his second wife, they expelled him from their sect. But it is still true that if the pastor could have divorced his wives without losing face before the members of his sect, two young women who had to die so that their husband could move on would have been alive today. And that is why I will never say that divorce is always wrong.

I also don't agree with Tank that a woman can divorce her husband only if he has been unfaithful to her. If two people love each other, but can't share lives that are beneficial to both of them, then maybe they should eventually agree, with deep regrets, to divorce. They should do so as kindly and respectfully as they possibly can, and they should try their utmost to remain friends. Because they have no reason to be enemies, or even to lose their friendship.

Breaking up is hard to do, indeed. But if Lois and Chad are caring, responsible adults, then maybe they will be able to do just that and remain friends, so that Chad can find a happy life for himself as a doctor in Smallville, and Lois can be happy as a reporter for the Daily Planet in Metropolis.

I hope that Lois and Chad will be able to do just that - to divorce and move their separate ways, but to remain friends. And then eventually Chad and Rachel should be able to marry, and also Lois and Clark.

Ann

Ann,if you dont mind my saying, Sweden is one hot place, for sure.

Great chapter. I was worried that we would have to wait till next Saturday for this part. But, was pleasantly surprised to see a new installment this morning.

I may be the only one here, but I've tried my best to keep my heart/head open to the idea that Lois and Chad could end up together and stronger at the end of this tale. Yes, Lois and Clark are soul mates. That, I have no disagreements with. But, Clark is still very much a part of Lois life, and perhaps in this universe, they weren't meant to be romantic soul mates, but best friends.

That being said, I wouldn't mind if Lois and Chad break up either. I just think it should be done as realistically as possible. Yes, Nancy could choose to have Chad be unfaithful to Lois. It would be the event that breaks them up. But, I think it would be OOC for Chad. More importantly though, I think it goes against the very title of this fic, breaking up is hard to do.

If Chad's infidelity caused the break up, it wouldn't be hard for Lois to decide to leave him. However, it would be much harder for Lois and Chad to say to themselves we still love each other, we still respect each other, but we want different things out of life. This isn't puppy love. They've made a commitment to each other, and thus, there's no simple solution. Just as we would fight against Lois and Clark divorcing for the wrong reasons, I've been weary of Lois and Chad divorcing.

For all those who want Lois and Clark to end up together at the end of all this, Lois has so much baggage with her relationship with Chad. She will first need to deal with these feelings and the fall out from her first marriage, for Lois and Clark to even have a chance. I argue that they would stand a better chance if Chad ends this story as a nice guy (or dead, but Nancy's ruled that out) rather than an adulterer.

Going back to Lois and Chad, I still think there's more that both of these people can do to try and save their marriage. If Lois were to return to Metropolis at this point, I would think they would both have regrets that they didn't do everything they could to save their marriage. I hope Chad's last sentence in this chapter is the start of an in-depth discussion about what other options are available.

Lastly, with only seven chapters left, I'm really not sure how this will end. I'd like Lois and Chad to break-up, but in a civilized way. I'd like for them to say to each other, we tried our very best, but it wasn't meant to be. Then, when Lois returns to the DP, she can begin to heal and start over. But, as we've said before, maybe breaking up is too hard, and Lois and Chad find another way. I'll have to wait and see.

Nancy, that flight, and more specifically Lois reaction was scary

This evil-calling, does it still apply?

Michael

SJH,

As a side note, can I just ask where on earth you got that quote from Teri Hatcher??? Classic!

Thanks all for the comments!

Elisabeth - I have mixed feelings on divorce. As a general rule, I believe marriage is forever. The option of divorce is not a "get out of jail free" card and should in no way make the decision to marry easier knowing you can always cash in on the divorce option. On the other hand, there are instances where I believe divorce may make sense. There are extreme examples, like in an abusive relationship. And then there are the fuzzier ones - couples that over time move apart in some way.

I don't believe that divorce should be an easy answer in this case and I think a marriage takes work and you should be constantly vigilant so that this scenario is unlikely to come to light. But when all else fails, I don't believe that staying together because you signed a contract saying you would is the best choice.

When I started this story, it was just a "what if" sort of idea. What if Chad didn't die? And the truth is that I saw young Chad and young Lois as rather perfect for each other and so my what if led to a married Lois. And while I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing with them (although Lois is starting to lead me to a resolution), I honestly don't see divorce as out of the list of options. But I hope that it will be clear that this is never an option Lois and Chad take lightly, nor is it the easy way out of a situation that is less than ideal.

Tank - Sorry, as much as I said I wouldn't kill Chad off (and I still have no intention of doing so), I'd rather he die than he have an affair. That seems out of character for Chad to me (although, I know you don't like him) and regardless of where things end up, I want the story to end with Chad still being a man who deserves Lois, even if he's not with her in the end.

IolantheAlias - I agree - this story, and Lois' decision would be much easier if Chad were a jerk. But don't expect him to turn into one.

frequentflyer - I'm not sure Lois is settling for Chad, although I will agree that she is struggling right now.

Ann - You always have the most horrible, perverse stories to tell and it scares me a bit how many take place in your own country. Sweden isn't that big a place, is it? According to wikipedia, it is the 3rd largest country in the EU, but it's population is not that much larger than that of New York City (and about half that of NYC + suburbs), but there sure is a lot of activity there, isn't there?

While I won't (and really currently, can't) tell you what happens with Lois and Chad, I can promise they will end this fic as friends at least.

grinch - First off, thanks for keeping open to the idea of Lois ending up with Chad. While I don't know if I'll be able to do it, a tale where Lois and Clark are destined to be important to each other, but not romantically, does intrigue me.

As for only having seven chapters left - notice the "ish" at the end of my chapter count. I'm still thinking it's possible it will end at 35, but frankly, it's becoming less and less probable.

Michael - I'm surprised you were the first person to mention the flight. To me, it was important. Lois' small, miniscule moment of attraction to Clark is significant as it came about while she was living in Smallville. I think while it is not important in the grand scheme of things (I promise, no Lois and Clark kissing is coming up in chapter 29), her reaction to it is another sign of her struggle with being happy in Smallville. It has an impact on her marriage and allows her, however briefly, to act in a way she normally wouldn't.

On the other hand, I'm not sure it's really evil, is it? I mean, really, she didn't do anything!

I don't think there are more stories of this kind in Sweden than in other countries, but I guess these things interest me, so I remember them. As for stories about sects where bad things happen, you have had your share of them in the United States, too. There was Waco, for example, and Jonestown. There was this weird 'Hale-Bopp sect' whose members thought that the great comet Hale-Bopp carried a great spaceship in its tail and this ship would bring the members of the sect to salvation, if only they would kill themselves first, so they did. There was a polygamous sect which was accused of sending its young boys out into the world to work at the age of fourteen or fifteen so that the older men in the sect would be free to marry two (or in some cases, dozens) of the young boys' young sisters. Things happen in America, too.

The reason why I remember the story of the pastor who killed his wives so well is that there has just been a docu-drama about this case, which you could see on TV as well as in movie theaters here. I saw it just two weeks ago.



This is from the docu-drama. The two actors here play pastor Helge Fossmo and the Bride of Christ, Åsa Waldau. Knutby is the name of the small town where it all happened.

Ann

I'm just going to say that I feel something ugly coming. Lois and Clark are going to get into a situation... I just hope that Chad succumbs to his weakness first. I just don;t see a future for him and Lois.

And, Martha and Jonathan leaving Lois and Clark, almost on cue, as if they knew they needed to talk. What's up with that?

Love it!

~Shela

Hi. I don't have time to reply, but I wanted to get online for a moment to apologize. This is my first time online tonight, and I won't be home tomorrow, so I won't be able to reply to the latest feedback or post the next chapter.

I hope to have some time on Sunday, but I have a bunch of work to do as well. I will post again as soon as I have a few moments online - hopefully early next week if not Sunday.