I hope this lived up to expectations. What do you think so far?

Annie

Yayyyyyyy!!! (happy tears)!!!

and...

-- YES, So did I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now i'm gonna go start counting down the hours until Part 3 is posted!!!!

Wow... this is fabulous. I'm glad we got past the "Lois is furious" stage fairly quickly; the rest of this is lovely and WAFFy. Well, except for the office gossip, although even that was entertaining <g> If *I'd* seen L&C behaving like that, I'd send out a few emails, too!

PJ

Annie,

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

I've read so many revelations - I love a revelation story- but off the top of my head I can't think of a sweeter one.

I adore how Clark lays it on the line. Puts his heart out there. And how you let Lois be mad. If there's a "Lois would definitely be mad" club, then I'm a member.

And you handled that so nicely. Didn't gloss over it, didn't go over the top, but let it play out gently.

Well, I know you're not posting every day. But I really wish you were,

CC

Aww..*sob*

~Liz

Oh! she wasn't that angry with him

Gossips in the newsroom

waiting for more!

Jose

ME DOES HAPPY DANCE....

after being peeved that i DID fall asleep before
you posted....

this was great...the smoochies...lois not being mad...the smoochies...the gossip...the smoochies...heh heh heh

can't wait til tomorrow around midnight...this is one time that i'm glad i have no date on the weekend :rolleyes:

WAITING COMPLETELY IMPATIENTLY (correct grammar) oh heck, you get what i mean...

hurry hurry hurry hurry

Great chapter, Annie.

I think my favorite line is this:
Something really profound about that.

Overall, so sweet the way Clark confessed his fears and what he'd do to keep her but that he knew in the end it was her choice.

Also loved this:
And I really liked the scene with the two of them on the couch. I could just picture Clark reading with Lois's legs stretched out on his lap, him rubbing them absently. So perfectly in tune with the comfortable togetherness that they seem to have reached.

OK, gotta know what happens now. Who's going to make the first move to take things to the next level

Great Job.

Lynn

Darn it all, Annie! How the heck am I supposed to get any of my backlog of paperwork done when you post such fantastic sections of your story???

When I got online today, I read part 2 and loved it. Then I read it again. And then I had to go back and reread part 1. And of course, then I had to go to the archive and reread Playing to Win. But even that wasn't enough, so I reread Playing the Part, read Playing to Win yet again, reread part 1 and reread part 2... again.

My desk is not getting cleaned off, and it's all your fault!!

But seriously, if you want to help me with my dilemma, you could quickly post parts 3 and 4 - or send them to me by email if you're not ready to share with anyone else yet - and then I could wallow to my heart's content and get this out of my system.

Fantastic story. There's too much that I loved for me to single out any one thing, although the office gossips were a lot of fun.

I'm just loving everything about this, and it looks like Playing for Keeps is going to be as wonderful as Playing the Part and Playing to Win have been.

In the absence of parts 3 and 4, I guess I'm going to have to make do by rereading Anybody's Baby, All Alone, Kindred Spirits, By Firelight, Desperately Seeking Clark.... Well, you get the picture.

Irene

Hi,

Great part.

Well You know I loved it. It was just perfect<g> sigh.... But I would have asked him to stay ;-) laura

Annie

WOW! Beautifully written!
The couch scene is great. So WAFFy!

I love this and can't wait to read the next part.

Tricia

Good instalment.

The revelation was handled very well. You were able to allow Lois all the emotions without letting any of them over power the moment.

I like the idea of Lois overhearing some gossip about her and Clark, but I thought she might have taken a little more pleasure in the women's obvious jealousy of what she knows she has.

Tank (who is looking forward to when Lois can actually flaunt her relationship with Clark in front of those ladies)

Just a quick note to follow Tank's comments -

Annie, be aware of how good this story really is. Tank was so blown away, he forgot to remind you to cut Lois's hair!!

Irene

Just a quick note to say that the responses so far (ahem, Irene) have made my day. I'm having a seriously crappy day due to the fact that I've strained my vocal cords or some such thing and almost completely lost my voice. Not ideal ever, certainly not ideal when one's job is as a nanny. And not only did I have my two boys today, I had an extra five year old. Everyone is in bed now (but I'm still stuck at work for two more hours) but I'm actually exhausted by the sheer effort of talking all day. All I want is to fall into bed and sleep all weekend. But, alas, my best friend is in town and so I have to go straight from work out to a night on the town. I have no idea how I'm going to survive. Anyway, sorry that was such a long whine, but the point is that I sat down to the computer nearly in tears and wound up laughing so hard I nearly cried.

A million thanks,
Annie

AnnieM,

I've loved the two previous stories, and this is just wonderful. As with other people, I loved the revelation scene and thought that Clark passionately explaining his love, hopes, and fears to Lois was very moving.

I think my favorite part of 2, though, was the scene on the couch. There are so many revelation scenes that proceed quickly to Clark spinning into Superman and flying away. I absolutely loved the fact that they had this whole scene talking/joking about speed reading and Moby Dick before Lois is confronted with the reality of Clark's dual identity. It made the "Wow" moment that much more stunning.

Looking forward to part 3. Hope you get/got through your evening.

Martha

Annie...... WOW, WOW, WOW!!!

I

S (who proudly accepts any "blame" for this story )

Incredible so far, Annie! Normally I hate revelations because I figure that if Lois gets mad and storms off, its not nice because I dont want to see them fight, and if she's not mad it isn't very plausible. But you stood up to the challenge with excellence!

Julie

I'd been looking forward to reading this story ever since you finished playing to win. You know how sometimes, when you're eager to do something, or waiting for something to happen real bad, you end up disappointed? You build up expectations and sometimes things turn out to be different than expected. (yeah , I know, no one should have to live up to other people's expectations... I'm coming to that ).

One thing is for sure; I didn't expect what you did in part 2. I thought, like many, that you would have Lois deliver her anger, but wait until parts three and four to fix things. But far from being disappointed, I loved it

Btw, midnight your time?? C'mon, that's like six a.m. MY time! You can possibly expect me to get up at six to read this right away

Cris

ooops, I posted my commente without reading the rest first (sorry, that's what a busy RL will do to you )

Anyway, Annie said:

Like I said, it's not a matter of living up to expectations (even if we do it all the time , or so I remember a certain handsome reporter saying once); I think it's more a matter of doing things your way, but doing them right (You did it great, btw)

Cris

Annie, I know exactly how you feel with that losing your voice thing - I'm currently down with flu and haven't been able to speak properly for two days. So it's a real treat to be able to read a lovely piece of fic.

Everyone else has said all the nice stuff about the post-revelation conversation. Really nice stuff! And the gossip at the Planet was a lot of fun. Yes, Lois should certainly feel a sense of one-up'person'-ship about being an item with Clark!

Yes, I agree with Laura: I think she should have asked him to stay. You're doing a nice job of showing us how much Lois is missing sleeping next to Clark and being held by him - so just how difficult is it for her to whisper 'Stay' as he's on the point of walking out the door? Though I'm guessing that this is what the rest of the story will be about, so I'm prepared to wait and see how it develops.

More soon!


Wendy

I couldn't resist... I'm weak

Or reading it before going to bed.... :p

Jose (running fast enough to make Trask think that there is another Kryptonian in the planet )

Annie - I'm so thrilled that you're posting this! And I'm behind on my feedback, so I didn't get the chance to tell you how much I loved the revelation in Part 1 - like everyone else has said, the line itself has already become a classic, and I love how Clark needed to tell her as himself - as her boyfriend - and not as Superman.

And in Part 2, I absolutely, totally love this. And yes, I know that several others have already quoted it, but I'm sure that everyone will want to read it again because it's just so wonderful, so I'll quote it here...
I'm so happy that Lois was able to get over her anger so rapidly, recognizing Clark's confusion in all this too. Yay, Lois!

And I hadn't even thought about word spreading from gossipy reporters from other newspapers at the conference. Great idea, Annie! Juicy news travels fast...

Hey, that's my local paper...

And I loved the fact that Lois was pro-active with the two gossipy women at the DP, rather than just hiding in a corner doing nothing...and I love the lovely scene with L&C at her apartment where he's rubbing her legs while reading and she realizes that she's seeing the *real* Clark, and I love... well, I could just go on and on and on...

But at least there are only a few more hours to go until Part 3 is posted.

Kathy

Thanks again to everyone who commented on this section. I really appreciate it and I'm so glad everyone seems to be enjoying this so far.

My responses are going to be brief this time because I'm just too tired to think properly right now. Forgive me and know that I really did love all the comments, even if I don't respond in detail.

Thanks to everyone who mentioned Clark's impassioned plea to Lois, telling her he knew it was her decision. I actually wrote that paragraph about halfway through writing Playing the Part and I've been waiting forever to use it.

Also I was intrigued by the comments about Lois' reaction to the gossip. Knowing how freaked out she is about gossip, particularly in this Universe, it's been a running theme, it didn't occur to me to make her be at least a little smug at first. I think I might go back and tweak that just a tiny bit.

I know people are disappointed that she didn't ask him to stay. But I have my reasons, which you'll see for yourselves soon enough.

Thanks again!
Annie

I'm a bit late responding, Annie, I'm just catching up on this and loving every line!

This is my favorite:

You're doing a terrific job in describing both their thoughts. I'm looking forward to read the next part.