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Previews

Chapter 130
Chapter 131
As for the Lois thing... I wanted her to be the one to reveal who the flying man was which meant not knowing that it wasn't Clark so I stuck that little bit at the beginning .

Thanks!

Carol

Well I'll be a pair of blue suede shoes! With all of the stuff about Clark wishing he had someone to talk to and the insertion of Van into the globe's history, I should have seen that coming... but I didn't. Where has he been?! This is certainly an interesting plot twist. How many chapters to go again?

I forgot to mention this last time, but I like that you are subtly telling the story of Norcross and Judd as we go along. Their fabled romance and breakup has been mythical and now we are getting some insight into their troubles. I think seeing their world shatter might be enough to make Lois and Clark that much more protective over their own.

I also love the way Lois is reading Clark's feelings. She's providing the comforting touches (like when Pop Pop died) and from the preview, she trying to support him verbally as well. Hmmm... Lois didn't get anything for Clark but they end up on the bed. Maybe he'd settle for a wrestling match?

This waiting game is torture!
~s

Well, wow. What can I say? How about, I posted something at 7.50 and I've been reading these two new chapters ever since then, stopping and quitting, sort of unwillingly coming back, reading a bit more and giving up and coming back....

Okay. I don't like Van-El.

Wait! That didn't come out right. I don't dislike Van-El, per se. I don't know him. It's just the thought that Clark has a brother... and that brother has come from Krypton to here to see Clark... I can't really deal with it, Carol. I've grown up with the idea that Clark Superman Kent is the Last Son of Krypton. There is no one else like him, or so I've believed practically all my life. For me it's hard enough to deal with the idea of the New Kryptonians. But the idea that Clark has a brother, a Kryptonian brother...

...who has come here as well....

It's too much.

Which is why I almost couldn't bring myself to finish reading these chapters.



The Last Son of Krypton. There is just one of him.

You know that I don't like it when people are killed. But I wouldn't mind too much if Van-El was killed, and Lois had to comfort Clark, and Clark decided to 'become' his brother and be the superhero that his brother was.

Ann

(And now I'm waiting for Lois's twin sister to appear. No one told Sam that Ellen was pregnant with twins, and somehow one sister was sort of misplaced at birth, but soon enough Lola Dane is going to make her appearance, I bet - a spitting image of Lois!)

Van-El alive?!? I think Clark will need some *comfort* from Lois - the kind that can take his mind off of it.

How many hours left until next post?

Andreia (off to watch the clock)

I can't wait to *really* meet Van-El.... I wonder how he'll compare to CJ, =P And, since I was already writing Coin when he was first mentioned, I had wondered if he would pop up...

I didn't like this part. It seems that you are starting an entire new story with Van-El right at the end of this one. And this one isn't resolved yet.

I'll have to see what happens tomorrow.

Oooh, this was brilliant. I love the idea of Van-El - unlike most other folcs. I mean, it might have been something better reserved for a sequel, but still, it's a great thing to happen. But then, I do like Clark with someone he's close to. Someone like him.

By the way, the scene where Lois more or less reads Van-El the riot act is totally hilarious. I can't help it, whenever I imagine his face - must have been something like this - I have to smile. Broadly.

On the other hand, I find it hard to understand that he is so hesitant to contact Clark. I mean, okay, he thought his little brother was long dead, but I think I would be rather anxious to meet him if I were in Van-El's shoes (or boots, whichever).

Hmm, maybe Van-El gets interested in Lana?

This reminds me of Nancy's "A Triangle with Three Sides", with different circumstances.

Because of Van-El (assuming he sticks around), Clark will have a "mentor" for becoming Superman when he's ready.

I'm really glad he didn't decide to become a Superhero without talking to Lois and his parents first.

On the Other Hand , Clark becomes jealous beause of Van-El. Some because of the attention he's getting. (Although Clark was never in the Superman business for attention, I don't think he likes it when someone else does it.) But mostly because of Christopher's reaction.
And more importantly, (for me), CLARK WAS JEALOUS WHEN VAN-EL HELD LOIS.

For someone who's not willing to admit he's in love with her, or even has feelings for her, this is a pretty important admission.

I wonder how this is going to play out for them getting together.

Of course, just because it isn't Clark, doesn't mean that Trask isn't still going to appear to "eliminate the alien threat."
Since Lois flew in with him, it's very possible she'll still be used as bait.

I'm not going to respond completely - hoping to get a bit more writing in before I go get the kids.

I was a bit nervous about this.

I do love the idea of Van-El and it was plotted LONG before I found out about Lieta's fic.

Yes, Clark is usually the 'last son of Krypton' but the idea that he's not all alone is appealing to me too. In this case, I think it's good he doesn't know it until after the whole 'Lois gave me a connection to earth' thing.

That said, this story is about this Lois and Clark. Van-El will definitely show up again before long but don't expect him to be front and center a la Clark/Superman would be.

More later...

Carol

Yah Carol, I remember when Nancy first offered to beta for me =P She told me that someone else had a similar idea and then gave you my email... I just didn't expect him to show up in this fic at the time

And, to an extent, Kal-El isn't the last one... Supergirl, Jason from Superman Returns, New Krypton, the Phantom Zone... even the parallel universes thing in some ways...

I was thinking about this story tonight, and something struck me as odd.

Please understand I do not mean to critize your story, Carol. I'm just a little concerned/confused about something.
And maybe you have a reason for why you wrote what you did.

Anyway, my concern is from when Christopher was grabbed by Kripsley. (Maybe I should have posted this under that FDK thread, but whatever.)

Most parents explain from the time their children are very young about the danger of going with strangers.
You could make the arguement that Christopher himself was a bit too young for this conversation. After all, the most common time for that discussion, I believe is preeschool. Before that, most parents don't let their eyes off their kids, anyway.

But I think with Chrisopher's special circumstances, Lois and Clark would most likely tell him about the danger of strangers when he was old enough to know what one was.
I think he's old enough now.

Maybe they figured that they didn't need to worry about it because he's always got security around him, but still...

Even with that aside, I think one of the first things they would do after he returned, after they hugged him and told him they loved him, was tell him not to follow anymore strangers.

Maybe they had that conversation "off screen."
Maybe they're another reason why they didn't. (And really, you're a parent in RL, and I'm not so, how do I know what I'm talking about?)

But I got to thinking about this tonight, and I'm just wondering why it's missing from the story.

I'd go with off screen I guess.

My 3.5 yo still has a hard time with the 'who is a stranger' concept. Christopher is not quite 3.

And we really don't know what happened. Just that there was a guy with ice cream who took him and then he tried to get away. To be honest, I'm not entirely certain what happened - did Christopher follow him? Did he really wander off a bit [which was all it was supposed to be originally - literally - I wrote where Lewis said something to Clark and by the time Clark got off the phone with Sam, someone [wasn't sure who then] was involved] and then get grabbed? Was he pretty close but everyone had their backs turned and got grabbed? *I'm* not really sure which scenario it is.

I'd guess that Lois and Clark have had off-screen conversations with him about it, but at nearly 3 it's hard to hold those kinds of convos - at least with my kids. You get about two sentences in and they're talking Dora or Diego or Backyardigans or Elmo or whatever...

Carol [who thinks she has three chapters left to go and may or may not be able to use some stuff that's already written ]

Whoa! That was a shocker! I didn't expect Van-El at all!

But I can't say you didn't warn us. You did mention him in previous posts.

And in general, this Clark has much more family than other incarnations of the Superman legend. Not just two fathers, but three (Jor-El, Chris, and of course Jonathan). Loads of grandparents, cousins, relations galore. So why not have a long-lost brother?

It'll be interesting to see how Clark's slow growing relationship with Lois parallels his relationship with his newly discovered brother. How will they both react?

If you're saying you have only a few chapters left - waa! waa! (crying and whimpering)

How can you throw in this plot point and then not explore it! (*hands on hips, talking sternly*) You'd better have a sequel in mind, missy!

/whispers/

28.5 chapters of Unanswered Prayers are finished - had hoped to post both by the end of the year, but that isn't happening, so look for UP early in the new year.

/ends whispers/

Carol

Yes you would.

It'll be really interesting! This Clark has had his life so out of whack as far as what he planned (which thank God, I didn't like his plans anyway with Cow), it seems nice to have an extra family member around and maybe even get a little more perspective on being an outsider, etc. And it's good to for Clark to have to compete for Lois' attention...keeps him on his feet. Soooo I wonder where Van-El has been all this time...RAFO!

Nice parts,
JD

Van-El

Well GOOD Someone to be Superman!

I've said before that this Clark does not have the makings of Superman.

So I am delighted to see someone who can be Superman.

Vacation !!!

Carol, I so loved the whole kill-him-speech. And Clark's jealousy was awesome. Can ou imagine, now Lois has the option to upgrade to the First Lord of Krypton, instead of the 2nd in line. Boy, will Clark be "unhappy" :p

So, will LnC's success cause a disruption for the Planet's First Couple? The poor guys are already stressed out over the whole baby thing and now LnC have two big stories their first two days.

Oh, and does Van-El share Clark's moral code? Or is he a black glad assassin?

"Mr. Navance?" Van-El tipped on the Latislanian president's shoulder. "You are harrassing my nephew, my sister-in-law and my brother?"

"Huh?"

"So, anyway, I'd like to show you a nice island off the coast of Greenland."

Michael Is it time yet?

Haven't commented lately, sorry, but the rapid posting throws me off. I get a good comment in my head for one pair of posts, and then I look on-line and there are two more! I'm getting too old for this!

I am still reading, though. And I'm astounded that you've planned to wrap this up in just three more chapters. I was looking forward to at least twenty more on just Van-El and at least ten on the resolution of the Navance problem.

And two very tender chapters where Lois tells Clark it's time to call the lawyer to file for the divorce and Clark convinces her that he'd rather cut off his - er, fingers and toes with a rusty penknife than leave her. Not leave his family, not leave the boys, not be single. He doesn't want to leave her. He still has to tell her that!

And maybe his jealousy over Van-El flying with his wife will be the final nudge for this noodge. Sheesh, after so many years you'd think he'd figure it out! Even Lana knows it.

Clark, you're in love with your wife. Tell her, you lunkhead!

Well, it's been one of those mornings already. DD5 was up for a long while in the middle of the night - right as I was getting ready to go to bed. And I'm getting sick which has resulted in fighting with DH already. And he tried to do something sweet [he bought donuts for all of us] but he got me the filled long johns [which I don't like] instead of the regular ones [which I do]. /sigh/

Anyway - I did make good progress yesterday. Finished 2 chapters. Think I have 2 left but this story has a way of growing on me when I least expect it so we'll have to see... Really hope to finish today. I have large chunks of the original ending written but am trying to decide whether to use that and try to edit as needed or just start from scratch... We'll see...

Anyway -

Sonia - glad I surprised you . We'll find out some about Van in OTOH and more in UP. As for Norcross and Judd - whether or not they're going to end up as a televangelist and teaching yoga... that's still up for grabs...

Ann - I will say I wondered what you think. Someone else pointed out the New Kryptonians [though I must admit I like Queenie's explanation for them best] and doesn't he have a cousin named Kara? And no, no twin for Lois.

Andreia - It would have been interesting to see the talk with Lois and I debated that but I also decided I didn't want us to know more about him than Clark did.

Lieta - not sure how he'll compare to CJ... He was in his midteens when he arrived after all.

Meadow - I hope I can finish L/C satisfactorily.

Lara - he will play more prominently in the sequel and I'd say more about 'why now' but it'd be too spoilerish. And no. No Vana .

Sara - yep Clark was jealous. Interesting no?

Iolan - yes, sequel is coming. Though I think I just added about 2 chapters to it with something that happened in what I wrote yesterday...

JD - see above.

Framework - well, he's not *Superman*... And Clark may well still become Superman someday too...

Michael - Lois trading up... interesting... . And love how Van El deals with Navance...

Plumbing problem...

back later...

Okay - not sure what the deal with the plumbing is but the house has stopped shaking every time the hot water is turned on in the kitchen...

Terry - looks like we cross posted .

I have three [two] more chapters to write. Looks like about 15ish more total - will depend on how out of hand they get in the next [last?] two. This story has done that to me repeatedly. 'Oh sure I can wrap that part up in one more chapter'. Four chapters later... 'Oh goodness I hope I can wrap this part up in one more chapter'...

I'd say more but that'd be spoilerish .

Carol

/waits for part 130 and 131 to appear/

Michael /shivers/

Hey, Carol, you may have a little ice in the lines (if your weather has been below freezing lately) or just some air in the hot water pipes. Either one would do a number on the pipes and make them shake like an Elvis impersonator - excuse me, an Elvis tribute artist. Unless the plumber tells you it's something else, of course, because I'm definitely not a plumber and you shouldn't take my diagnosis as fact.

Actually - we replaced the faucet in the kitchen the other night [and I use the term 'we' loosely] and it was the hot water in there that was causing everything to shake. We've never had a problem with frozen pipes in this house [though the temp yesterday when I woke up was 0*F]. We're thinking/hoping air in the pipes from that and after we ran it off for a bit, it stopped. The first two times it did it was when the DW was filling up and that, of course, is right next to the sink so... I don't think we'd actually used the sink at all since it was replaced [past turning it on to make sure the leak was stopped].

Thanks Terry .
Carol

When I read "DW" in your previous post, at first I tried to make it a "Dear" something, like "Dear Son" or "Dear Husband" or whatever. Then I realized that you'd abbreviated "dishwasher." You made me laugh without even trying!

I do not have a dear wife . Glad I could give you a chuckle - your FDK in the other thread certainly made my day!

The maintanence guy at DH's work concurs that air from changing the faucet is the likely culprit.

Carol