I can't complain that I wasn't warned about the icky beginning. Somehow, Clark's kindness transcends the whole mess.

Dr. Sutton...grr.

But Luthor? Again with the niceness? Just so she doesn't feel she owes him a debt afterwards...

Great part. Why do I read these so quickly anyway? Now I have to suffer for several days!

Ooooo, now what does Lex want with Superman? Definitely intriguing me. Keep up the good work!

Ohdear. See, we were right about the dread. Definitely a reason for it! They need to hurry! And Luthor.. what does he want? Maybe he found something with his underworld contacts? After all, when the Boss threatens, underlings scurry. Can't wait to see the rest.

Hi,

Great part.

Well I knew we were right about you torturing us more<g> Ok I hope Lex has a solution. I hate to depend on him though. More soon. Laura

Ah, I knew the last part was too easy. At least now Clark is off his butt and on the case again. But what news does Luthor have? Is he genuinely concerned, or was he involved to begin with?

Wow, he really is a super man. I got sick in the middle of a cafe in Berlin once and all my husband did was run away! He didn't even give me napkins to clean up myself and the table...the poor waitress had to throw me a rag! Lois should grab Clark while she can!

Fabulous job as usual! Susan

What? It's not gonna be another 8 parts of WAFFy goodness??

Good stuff, if somewhat icky in the details. Can't wait to see what Lex has up that tailored sleeve of his...

PJ

Oh just post the rest of the story already! Jeez...you're killing me!

I'm interested to see what Lex has going. But I can't believe Clark is going to take her out of the hospital! She is getting so much worse, she'll never be able to manage.

We're really getting down to the wire here, though. Time's running out and they aren't sure what the second poison is. I wonder how Henderson's doing with that video of the mall?

I can't believe there's 8 more parts of this. You really do love the angst, don't you. Well I really can't wait for the next part, this story is amazing!

~Kristen

You know, Wendy, as much as I hate waiting for test results, I can't really fault Dr. Sutton. He's doing all the right things. As much as we'd all like him to be solely Lois's doctor, any true doctor would also have other patients to see throughout the day. As a pre-med student, I can't fault him for that.

I do think, however, that he (or the lab) should have had her blood on ice; if it's a suspect poison, you'd need the blood to run a number of tests through histology. Fresh blood would not be needed to run a mercury exam, as the amount of mercury in the body decreases as time passes. It would actually be better to perform the exam on older blood.

According to Baylor University in Houston, Texas, "death due to mercury intoxication is unusual," referring to mercuric intravenous injection. I wonder if this is just another aside to prolong the torture . . . ?

You are an evil one, Ms. Richards! But continue on; we all await the next installment!

This is sooooo sketchy. I don't even think I want to buy this confused Dr. Sutton stuff after all the seeds of doubt the last FDK thread left in my head. And Luthor? God only knows what he's up to. Talk about sketchy. I wonder why he wants Superman exactly, but...I can't help but feel that he *does* want to help Lois. So...


JD

The plot thickens

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The plot thickens

I agree with Squirky, no matter how much we'd like to pinpoint someone as the villain. Dr. Sutton seems like a typical hospital staff MD. He's concerned but he's busy, and has lots of other patients to deal with. He's willing to act on what Clark is telling him about Lois getting worse instead of better. Clark's having to call attention to Lois's worsening condition is also not unusual - he's been the one observing her continuously over the past hour. To Dr. Sutton's credit, he's been concerned, has offered all the right things re keeping her in the hospital for observation, testing her for everything he can think of and even things other MDs have thought of, etc. He's been relieved with the GB-like results, because they can treat that. And I suspect that he'll give Lois the anti nauseant, etc., if Clark insists, even though letting Clark remove her from the hospital would go against Dr. Sutton's advice.

I also thought - despite what everyone (including myself as a medical professional) would say in a situation like this, advising against removing Lois from the hospital at this point - that Clark really understands Lois, doesn't he? He'll do whatever it takes, if at all possible, to involve her in this the way she wants to be involved.

Poor Lois! She's not doing well, and the N/V is harder to deal with than a lot of the other symptoms, no matter how uncontrollable they all are. Uncoordinated limbs or vision can be worked around, especially if Clark/Superman is involved. But he can't stop her nausea/vomiting by strength of will. They need drugs for that.

Poor Clark! He wants to do something, but won't leave her unattended. He's trying to find a way to take her with him.

~Toc

Aha, I *knew* it wouldn't be that simple!! You have officially taken angst to a whole new level ... but much more would just be pure *torture* so please don't leave us hanging like this for long! Can't you just post the rest of the story already! I'm losing sleep over this for heaven's sake! Get back here and make her better already ......... please?

Hey, here's an idea. The story's called 24 hours, and there's close to 24 parts, right? How about posting a new part every hour? You know, sort of in keeping with the whole 'hours' theme, here?

Of course, then many of us wouldn't get any sleep...

And I suppose a lot of us might call in er... sick to work or school...

If there was a 'most-begging-for-more-posts-soon/right now' category in the Kerths, Wendy, this story'd win first prize!

~Toc

Now what our favorite bussinessman want? :p

Jose

OH MY GOD!!!

It's the one way to save our mental health. Pretty please! I'm dying here, too!!!

Time is passing away!

Oh wow! I feel like we are at a major turning point. Lex is back. We are, aren't we? I can feel it. I can hear the creepy music and I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach. Part 14 is going to be a major turning point. I just don't know which way you're going to turn us, so I can't brace myself!

Unless I'm way off...

But I can feel this one in my bones!! So...

Anyway - this was a wonderful section, Wendy! Unlucky for some, definitely! Poor Lois! I can't stand this; she's clearly getting worse! And I understand that Dr. Sutton has other things going on besides his last minute emergency w/ Lois, but I, too, was thrown by him needing Clark to remind him of symptoms that he'd already been informed of. It could be that he is just really busy. It could be that he forgot momentarily about that one symptom. But... I am not yet putting full trust in him. The only people on my innocent list at the moment are: Perry, Jimmy, Clark, Henderson and Bobby Bigmouth .
Lois is a lucky girl! I had food poisoning a few weeks back, and all I had was my cat, who I love love love who was by my side! But he's not exactly Clark Kent and he can't hold hands. Yet (we're working on it).
Wendy, this is amazing! I love the way you've written this whole scene, but especially this moment, when Clark begins to realize that things are not looking up, like they'd thought. Something is wrong. Just the imagery you've used - her hand going limp, her eyes fluttering closed and him offering comfort when his own mind is moving wildly, realization dawning... you can just feel his fear in these carefully chosen, perfect words.

~NICOLE

Nothing says love like a person who stays around for the pretty parts as well as the icky parts...I think the fact that he has stuck it all out good and bad with Lois should tell her that he loves her. Course I'd still like to hear him say it

Knew the whole 'she's better' bit was too good to be true...curse you! Curse you and bless you for the angsty stuff he he!

It just gets better with each chapter. Keep up the excellent work!

Awww. It's so heartwrenching how he wants to believe... but can't grasp onto that thread of hope.

LOL, I love how he adds, "please." Country boy all over. And yes, page Dr Sutton!!

You're evil!!! The two poisons thing fits in with my theory that the villain is someone who works at the hospital, thouh.

Yay! He's getting her out of there! Lex better not be be a naughty boy and screw up his plans.

Fantastic part, Wendy.

Julie

ROFLMAO!!! Thank you, Janet! I have a lovely mental image in my head now...

Well, I see I didn't fool many people with the WAFFiness in part 12. And Part 13 was definitely unlucky... for Lois. Yes, Tank was absolutely right. There is another... at least one other? ...substance, which they have yet to find.

Sorry for the grossness in part of this section, but on the other hand I think it's important to be realistic to a degree. This kind of sickness isn't all fainting and sighing.

Squirky and Janet, thanks for defending my poor, overworked Dr Sutton. Yes, he's just an ER doctor who, by this stage, is well into his own 24-hour shift (from what Jill tells me about doctors' hours, especially junior doctors - though I think Sutton's not that junior - he has a long way to go before he finishes). He has lots of other patients to see to and he thought he'd tracked down the cause of Lois's sickness. He hadn't written her off; he did intend to come back and check up on her later, and he knew that the nurses would call him back if there was a problem.

As for Clark taking Lois out of the hospital, he would prefer it if she stayed where she is. She's definitely very sick. But, on the other hand, he knows her and he knows what she wants - and what she'd hate. Janet said it perfectly:

That's exactly it. What she wants means most to him right now. Of course, he wants to save her life, but he's not sure that he trusts to medical science to do it. When it comes down to it, he trusts the people he's always trusted most ever since coming to Metropolis: Lois and himself. And he'd probably do pretty much anything for her by this stage.

Nicole... as always, thank you so much for your lovely words. You always manage to pick on sections I wanted to hear about, and I love reading your posts.

I love reading everybody's feedback. You're all absolutely amazing, and the wonderful feedback I've been getting on this story is the absolute perfect Christmas present. Thank you all, so very much indeed!!

And now, I see that a feedback folder for Part 14 has somehow miraculously appeared, even though the absence of Part 14 itself must surely have been noticed. So I suppose I'd better post it now!


Wendy