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Joined: Dec 2008
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,124 Likes: 1 |
Clark sat in the car, open and exposed.
Lois had disappeared into the diner. He'd wanted to be alone. But now that he was alone, he wanted her back. She was his anchor in this daunting world.
His eyes were riveted to the door. It opened, and Clark held his breath. Two young men emerged.
Clark waited.
It opened again, and a woman and a child appeared.
The door began to swing shut, stopped, and opened again.
And there was Lois, her hands full with their breakfast. Clark watched her, torn. He should help her, but that would mean leaving the harbour of the car. He paused, and the moment was gone. He leant across the driver's seat and opened her door.
"Thanks," she said as if she hadn't noticed his inadequacy. Thanks! Corrina.
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Joined: May 2006
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 478 Likes: 2 |
Yay, new part 
Kathryn
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 186 |
You posted again, woohoo!  I'd promised myself not to get my hopes up tonight, what a treat! SHADBOLT! ARGH. Of all the times to concern himself with a member of the opposite sex. I have no idea what he'll do... Call Lois's cell first? Call Scardino? Hopefully whatever is occupying Dan this morning will keep him away from his phone too. Otherwise L&C have about 6 to 7 hours less of a head start than they thought they had.  Phew, Clark's POV is very intense and so heartbreaking. I hate that he's doubting Lois' love already. With his mood being what it is, it hardly seems right, but I did a little squee at Clark taking his shower! But! the good news is that it did seem to raise his morale a bit. Anything to get those good memories of the last week flowing through his brain! He'd known he wouldn't need stitches. If exposure to the rods had continued, stitches wouldn't have helped him heal. With the poison removed, he would heal without stitches. Moyne had accumulated data the way serial killers accumulated corpses. Ugh - this speaks volumes of the hell that Clark has survived the last 7 years.  The other stuff? Like the fact that she was totally in love with him? Like that, even now, the persistent thought running through her head was how much she wanted to take him into her arms and hold him? Hold him close? Bury her fingers into his hair? And try to reach him with something other than mere words? Who knows, desperate times call for desperate measures.  I just hope Lois can stay strong while Clark finds his new equilibrium. Now about that cliffhanger  can't wait for more!
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 397 Likes: 1
Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 397 Likes: 1 |
Hah! Shadbolt for the win!
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 397
Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 397 |
oh wow, another powerful chapter!
Poor Clark. I hope he gets fixed soon, although I know it will take some time.
Sooo happy you posted another chapter to this amazing fic!
LOIS:I don't like you.
MAYSON: Really? Oh god, that is such a relief - I don't like you either.
LOIS: That makes me feel so much better
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Joined: Jan 2011
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Features Writer
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Features Writer
Joined: Jan 2011
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I love the way you're building Clark's thoughts one upon another. In a way, they're circular and degenerating, but they have their own form of logic that makes each step he takes harder than anyone else might think they should be. The frequent reminders of what he endured in the cell for seven years are just the tip of the iceburg--we're getting sentences while he had years of it! I hope Lois continues to be there for him and doesn't get impatient with his progress. He's trying really hard, and so far she's done great with him. Stress and trauma can be really destructive, though. Can't wait for the next part!
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Apr 2007
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You know, this is the third day in a row some of us in the mid US have been snowed in- an extra part just for us would be nice.  This story is so great!!
thanks!
rkn
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Joined: Jun 2010
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Jun 2010
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Another beautifully written part! Clark's isolation is understandable and so well expressed. It's heartbreaking to see Lois so eager to want to be closer to him, with Clark withdrawing ever more into his shell. I'm interested to see how you bring him back to life, so to speak. I wonder if he'll ever be whole... but I know the journey you'll take us on will be interesting and satisfying! Wondering where that cliffy will lead! Looking forward to more! 
Reach for the moon, for even if you fail, you'll still land among the stars... and who knows? Maybe you'll meet Superman along the way. 
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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Corrina! *Do* something! My heart just goes out to poor Clark. It's going to be a long road. "Because I wasn't able to stop them from taking my parents. Because I don't even know who I am anymore. Because I am totally powerless. Because sometimes, everything seems so dark, and I don't know how to get through that." Change "from taking my parents" to "from killing Linda", and this could have been Lois talking just 5 days ago. He couldn't fail her again today.
Somehow, he had to try to be what she needed him to be. He had to respond. He had to act as if he could see a way through this. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It sounds a bit like: She didn't want anyone to know about [her weaknesses, her insecurities, and her pain.]
She hadn't admitted them to Scardino. When the shrink probed, Lois had insisted that she enjoyed long and uninterrupted sleep every night. On the other hand, they do say that feelings often follow action. Perhaps acting confident and hopeful will eventually lead to confidence and hope? [ETA: I think the key will be how open he is with Lois and how much he tries to hide.] I'm actually finding these chapters harder to read than the first ones. Mental anguish is so much more difficult to overcome than physical pain. That makes the wait between chapters harder, too! I *so* want to continue reading, ever hopeful that things will get better! Oh, and also to see what Shadbolt is going to do!!!
"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution" - Daniel Webster
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Joined: May 2009
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Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: May 2009
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yay, an update! I also didn't want to get my hopes up, but I am so glad for the new part (sad, right?) Clark is definitely going through a tough time, that isn't going to go away soon or easily. He really needs to trust Lois again, which I think he was starting to be the end of the part, and taking baby steps might be the key. Interesting part about Shadbolt and really sweet of him to bring Lois (who isn't there anymore) coffee ... wonder what he is going to do next? Call Lois? Or Scardino? And then what? The hunt for the agent and alien begins? Cannot wait for more
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Aug 2007
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I won't repeat what has already been said, except to say that it was a stroke of genius to have Lois dealing with her own trauma. It's her experience that allows her to understand Clark as well as she does. Perhaps at some point she'll need to let him in on some of the details of what she's been through. He needs to know that he's not the only person who feels inadequate sometimes.
Part of Clark's problem is that it's almost impossible for him to distinguish between the things that are truly unique about him because of his alien origin and the things that are 'common to man.' Flying is unique. Not being able to save someone you love is common to man, but he might not realize that. Actually, dealing with bigots is also common to man, but he wouldn't think of that. Lois and his parents are the only counterexamples he has to refute his very reasonable assumption that 'All humans will hate me because I'm an alien.'
This *is* my happily ever after.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
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Wow, this is written so fantastically that I hardly know what to say at all. I am looking forward to more and more. Laura
Clark: “If we can be born in an instant, and die in an instant, why can’t we fall in love in an instant?”
Caroline's "Stardust"
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 8,956 Likes: 28
Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 8,956 Likes: 28 |
 And now cliffhangers  Michael
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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"You'll learn to trust yourself again," she said with quiet certainty. Can I recycle my own comments? If so, I'll repeat here what I said way back in Junction: Maybe the title should be Trusting Me, Trusting You, Learning to Trust Myself Again.
"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution" - Daniel Webster
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 186 |
Reading this part again and was struck by this... He just couldn't shake the certain feeling that this would be a few stolen hours - days, at best - with Lois. hope that Clark's gut is "off-base" the way Lois' is "right-on". But he had.
He had changed so much - not in the past few hours, but during the seven years of captivity. Did *anything* of Clark Kent remain?
He was going to have to try to reconcile the hardened person he had become with the hostile world that didn't want him. It's interesting that in the cell, he just went with it and was very much like the 'old Clark Kent'. But now that he's out, he's thinking of himself as a 'hardened person'.
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Joined: Feb 2007
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 351 |
Another Wow! chapter. Poor Clark; he's definitely not seeing himself clearly-- thinking that he is "hardened" while he is actually so vulnerable, so hurting, feeling so lost. And of course, he's still recovering from those hours of exposure to the rods, too! 
EvelynC
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
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I see that part 3 is up, so I can't linger here long (just picture me running around in excited circles, yelling, "Aaah! More to read!! More to read!!), but I just have to second AmyPrime's comment: Shadbolt for the win! All the stuff from Clark's POV was interesting and heartbreaking, but I found myself paying closest attention to Shadbolt's scenes. You've really made me care about the guy! And I'm kind of worried that he's going to get blamed for Clark's escape somehow. *fret* But regardless of how it plays out going forward, that was the perfect way to end the chapter. Way to give the poor guy a heart attack!  Kathy
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,124 Likes: 1
Kerth
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OP
Kerth
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,124 Likes: 1 |
I just finished writing T12, so I have some time for FDK replies. Kathryn But no one came to rescue him. Until Lois, no one seemed to care that he was rotting away in a cell. It would be very hard to gauge whether Trask and Moyne are typical of most of humanity. Emily Hopefully whatever is occupying Dan this morning will keep him away from his phone too. LOL - not quite. I can't quote specifically because it will give too much away, but it is amazing how often I'm writing a part, and someone will comment on the part I just posted (about 8 parts *before* what I'm writing) and the comment could be equally applied to what I've just written! And later ... It's interesting that in the cell, he just went with it and was very much like the 'old Clark Kent'. But now that he's out, he's thinking of himself as a 'hardened person'. The world seems so strange to him, he figures he must be the one who has changed. Amy You could be right. Bellarase although I know it will take some time. Lois isn't the only one who is going to need some patience. AntiKryptonite I'm so glad you can see a rather twisted logic in Clark's thoughts. I don't think it would be realistic if he emerged from everything he's suffered with the ability to perceive clearly. Robin Sorry about the snow. We've been having (rain) storms and some power outages - which haven't done much for my progress! MozartMaid I wonder if he'll ever be whole... Uhmmm. Vicki It's going to be a long road. Yeah. Nice analysis of how Clark and Lois are on similar paths - although in different places at this stage. And later post ... Perhaps trusting someone else is easier than learning to trust yourself again RE the end of the chapter - I was a little surprised that so many saw it as a cliffy. I just thought it was funny that he would pull back a blanket, expecting to see a face, and instead be confronted by a skull. Many thanks everyone, Corrina.
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