Once again, I want to thank my betas Emily C and Mozartmaid for their greatly appreciated assistance.

Warning: This chapter is a bit intense.

If you're reading, I'd love to hear from you.

Joan

I LOVE this! Poor Clark! I love that he took the bullet for Lois without a thought, even though he knew that doing so could kill him. And I love that Lois is going to (presumably) be let in on things very soon.

Please post the next part soon!

Clark! Of course he would jump in front of a bullet for Lois. He never realized that Lois needs a bullet-proof boyfriend.

Well, the cat is out of the bag, now. Lois knows. And she cannot be thinking straight. If Superman is an alien from another planet, how can he have a human vulnerable twin brother? Use that investigative mind, Lois! If Clark survives this, he's in big trouble. Big, big trouble. Please survive this, Clark. Please.

I love Martha scolding Superman in front of Lois. Priceless.

Oh I am loving this. Lois is going to find out the truth in the oddest way possible. Can't wait to see how you're going to get them through this.

ACK! What a fantastic and terrible cliffhanger!

Just out of curiosity, how did Martha and Jonathan get to the hospital before Superman?

I loved this chapter - I never saw it coming, and yet it was so inevitable.

But how are you going to fix this?!

More soon please! I love your writing!

Amber

Cliffhanger indeed!

What if Clark dies, and Superman is all that's left? /chills run across spine/

Joan wouldn't do that to us. Would she? Would she??????

Great part! I'm really worried for both Clark and Superman--they've both been torn apart by this separation.

Jonathan and Martha were the greatest on this chapter--the phone conversation with Lois was wonderfully written so that I could just see their reactions!

I love that he jumped in front of the bullet--powers or not, he'd never let anything happen to Lois!

I can't wait for the next part!

First off, well done. A delightful part.


Hmm, since this part 5 of 8 I think you are going to kill off Clark Kent in part 6 and spend parts 7&8 having Superman bumble around becoming Clark Kent.

Thanks for all your comments!

You're right VirginiaR, Lois isn't thinking straight. With the stress of Clark's shooting and being up half the night with worry, it may take her more time than usual to put the pieces together. Glad to hear you loved Martha scolding Superman too - that was fun to write.

Amberlea you bring up an excellent question: I'm not completely pleased with my answer. Superman is having some trouble finding Clark - after Clark was shot, their 'sense' of each other was impacted. Also, Superman is having trouble with his super powers. After having a few mishaps on his return trip, he opted for more traditional travel routes.

Um...for those of you with concerns, I believe this will be answered very soon in the next chapter which I'm hoping to post this evening or tomorrow.

Great to hear from all of you!

Joan