Right, just two parts left to go (including this one, I mean). Let's dive in.

<sob>

So at this point it's about the cure, right? Right? You have to stop taunting us at some point... /me moves to the edge of her seat

Awwwwwwwwwwwww. I love that...

Ha! So simple. I think that thought occurred to me when I read about the metal shavings, but it was out of my brain a minute later.

Poor Lois! Clark's inner turmoil is just heartwrenching.

One more part!! One more part and she lives! I feel like I just climbed the Everest. <g> Fantastic part, Wendy. And great ending to the part.

Julie

Wow. Eeek. Get back here! That's a really terrible place to end the section... but it's a fabulous cliffhanger

So... one more section? You sure?

PJ

Come on, come ON! Get the lead out!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Wow! This is a real roller-coaster. Assuming Lois survives, will she have short-term memory loss as one of the side effects? If so, will she remember (1 being married (2 that Clark is Superman (3 that they love each other more than they love breathing?

One more post? Can we get it quick? Pretty please with strawberries and cream on the side?

Wendy, you are still so cruel! But again I'm not going to tell you how touching this chapter was and how sad it made me and beg you finish. That would just be so...degrading.

Woohoo! Clark finally connected all the dots, spelling out the one component they were missing. About time! And it can't be false hope, because unless you're going to kill Lois, it has to be right! I can't wait to see the ending, and the results!

Only one part left? I don't see how you're going to wrap it all up that quickly! I knew those shavings were important...about time Clark figured it out too. I expect to read about a Lois on the way to recovery and happy WAFFY kissing in the conclusion. Susan

"Do you think I've let you down, Lois?" Isn't that what he asked her in part 18? Because, as he thought to himself in part 19, he hadn't been able to do a damn thing to save her. But now he has figured it all out, connected the dots, as Karen pointed out, and given the doctors the answer they absolutely have to have if they are to have any chance at all of saving her. Clark, you used your brain, not your brawn, and you came through for Lois.

If only it's not too late!!! If only she can get really, really well again! Please, please don't give her some kind of memory loss, Wendy! I mean, so that she doesn't remember that - well, how can I possibly put it better than Terry Leatherwood just did - that she and Clark love each other more than they love breathing? You can't do that to us!!! AAARRGGHHH!!!!!

No, she is going to get well. She is going to remember. Yes, I think so. Yes, yes, yes. But they made her take off her wedding ring. NOOOOO!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!!! Wendy! HELP!!!! I'm going NUTS!!!!!


Only one thing can cure me - the final chapter of your story! So until you post it I may be walking around wild-eyed up and down the streets 'til they come to lock me away. Please, Wendy, hurry!!!!

Ann

Another fantastic chapter. Again with my heart in my throat when Lois was telling Clark he had to get a good partner. Anger and frustration at the thought of Lois slowly slipping away. And then finally, hope and exhilaration as Clark chanced upon the lead. What a rollercoaster ride. Can't believe it's about to be over.

Insert crying.

Annnnnd some more tears.

Plus a little hope.
Can't wait for the final part.
JD

*Headdesk*

Lead. Of course.

If I didn't have a final tomorrow morning at 8, I'd post more, but organic chem awaits.

Phenomenal!

Clark's flashback, thinking back to the time in the toy factory, metal shavings.... recalling bits and pieces... with the present surroundings in the background... SUPERB!!!

yay!!

I wonder how are you going to handle their situation

Jose

so.........

where are you going?

COME BACK HERE NOWwwwwwwwwwww

I want to read the last part....nowwwwwwwwwww

I can not believe I have to wait more time to read the end...because it will be the end....right?

Moreeeee ASAP pleaseeeeeeeeee

I love this story, you are the best

Karla

Hi,

Great part.

Get back here!

More ASAP, please.

MAF

Oh, Wendy.

Here I was, thinking I was so smart because everything HAS to be smooth-sailing from here on end, right? Wrong!

I thought she meant for him to marry someone else. :p

The "beyond" says so much to me...it so clearly means that he'll love her forever and probably end up depressed over her death for as long as he lives, and that he'll never be the same again.

He can't just quit and drop everything in his life! How do everyone else in the world get by and survive after they experience something like this?

I love how his gentle farmboyness fades into protective lover-mode when it comes to the well-being of Lois. This is a side to Clark we rarely get to see.



Begging for just a few more minutes and then an hour...that must be exactly how someone feels when they're watching someone they love die.

Holy cow. I will not be able to function properly until I read the last part of this.

Chriscy

Oh boy, you know when the FDK folder is called "Poor Clark, I'll marry you if she dies", that you are about to read something... well... that can't possibly end well. I check the site thinking, "two more parts, surely things will be looking up up up! Hurray!" But then I see the FDK folder, and begin reading while biting a nail and pinching my arm. Hard.

Wendy, I have to say, I honestly thought this story would be angsty for about, I dunno... 15-17 of the parts, then she'd get well and we'd have all these pages of kissing and sharing and her long recovery from the long-lasting effects. But nooo... I underestimated you!! Or overestimated. Depending on how you look at it, really You have us guessing and going crazy until the very last section! All I have to say to that is All of this is killing me! I love the intensity of this scene! I love when Clark's talking to the doctor but won't take his eyes off of Lois... and then: The clincher. Lost it completely here. You've written a masterfully emotional and intense scene, and this just did me in! A painful finale, sort of.

I have nothing but blind faith now. I am hoping this:

... will lead to the next and last FDK folder saying "Yesssssss! She lives!!!!!!!!!!!" or something like that! please... Please, Wendy!!

Final part soooooon??!??

~NICOLE

I am still waiting for the final part.

When are you gonna post it?

Karla

I'm impressed. Having the poison be revealed as lead at the last minute not only provided a logical contaminate for Lois' symptoms, but it also gives Wendy the means to undo all that unnaturally rapid progression in the 'relationship' of Lois and Clark.

Short term memory loss is a handy way to put the 'toys back in the chest' in exactly the same manner in which they were taken out originally.

What Wendy won't do to make the gentle readers happy.

Tank (who wonders if Clark can get himself some of that lead so he can 'forget')

Well, it was lead poisoning that I was hoping I was wrong about. Won't Lois have some permanent brain and/or nerve and muscle damage from such a high exposure? I suppose it's possible that she might escape, especially as adults aren't as vulnerable to permanent damage from it, but this worries me. Or is Lois so smart that she can lose some IQ points and still be smarter than the average bear? But what kind of antidote would one have to lead poisoning? From research on medlineplus.gov, it seems that usually a high lead overdose is ingested, and so they pump the stomach or something of that sort, but how would they get it out of the bloodstream? Very complicated. I hope she survives! Wouldn't it be sad if she died now, when the cure is in sight?

This was a well-done section. I liked the wedding, and I'm glad that Clark argued Lois into needing to see her parents. And, of course, there are the wonderful tantalizing hints that Lois might live just before you kill her off in the last section (or have her turn out to be the Lois-clone, substituted for the real Lois in the very first section, and then tell us that part 21 is actually 21 of 84 parts). Can't wait for the next part!

Lead! Let it be Lead! More soon. Laura

Thank you! Metal shavings!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arugh Clark I just want to box your ears. Gee. I'm not too impressed with the lab people that would have gone through the toy makers lab.

Gee, it was all there. That is too bad it wasn't caught sooner:
Sigh, I can hardly wait and see if they can make Lois better. Hmmm. Probably b/c if it was bad I think there would be a few more chapters to focus in on Clark's sadness.

See I'm trying to think positive here.

Too bad they don't have this . Hmmm, I wonder if it would help Lois.

That was beautifuly written. When Clark was waiting outside of the hospital room - there was something about what was going through his mind that brought tears to my eyes.

Ah, man! So sad.

Hehe - more.

Is there light at the end of an dark tunnel?
Please let it be

Great title for the post, Julie

And I turned on my PC JUST to read this. I'm going shopping in a second, but had to know what happened.

Since you've got two parts left, I'm guessing this is good news...

Damn, Wendy. Now I feel all cryish inside. Amazing writing here.

Beautifully done, Wendy.

Even *I* am willing to buy it at this point!

Now I'm reminded that mine is...not there *sigh*

I don't know how you do it, but this is just incredible.

I SO did not anticipate this one...

/me claps. You are such a brilliant writer! My heart was in my throat the whole time.

That's how you left it?!?!?! Come back!! I really can't wait to see what happens. I hope we get to see how she recovers. She will recover, right? Anyway, this has been a great story so far and I can't wait to read the end.

So post it soon, would ya?

Breathtakingly good, Wendy!

Once they started talking about mercury poisoning, I wondered if it might be lead... good choice from the poisoner's point of view, too, since it wouldn't be something too many people would think of. They would have tested for arsenic early on, but might not think of lead. Not real common in adults.

I don't think there'd be memory loss to the point of total amnesia of recent events - it'd be more like an inability to recall details or a learning disability sort of thing. So hopefully she'll remember the wedding, etc. If she lives. We're assuming she will. If it is lead, it's pretty treatable, although the antidotes aren't exactly a walk in the park.

There may be organ damage, though. And impairment of things like fine motor coordination. Pretty rough if you are trying to hold a pencil or type. And let's not forget the affects on one's ability to have children...

Loved, loved, loved the part where she was in the hospital and started to deteriorate, Clark's reactions, her need for him... Beautifully emotional.

~Toc

Sorry I'm so late getting back to this. We had visitors unexpectedly this evening and, while it was fun, it's put me behind schedule. But I see a couple more of you sneaked in with comments while I was gone - thank you!

Again, you've all taken my breath away with your wonderful compliments, all the kind things you've said. This was always going to be an emotional instalment - okay, yes, most of them have been - but with Lois nearing the end of her time and the poison getting a stronger grip, things were going to get intense.

Pam said:

LOL - thank you! But, actually, I thought it was being kind to you. I could have ended it half a page sooner, before Clark started remembering those shavings in the workshop, now couldn't I?

Speaking of those shavings, kudos to those of you who picked out that very brief passing mention a few instalments ago. There has to be some conflict, something to keep the interest up. Or, at least, for me. Anyway. let me know what you think when you've read the final part. Always assuming, of course, that it does end in WAFFy stuff...

And now... the poison. Janet said:

Yes, precisely. I'll say a lot more about my choice of poisons when I reply to the final section - it wouldn't be appropriate to go into it now. But what you say about lead not being something too many people would think of is exactly why I chose it. I did, of course, have expert advice here, and I could not possibly have written this story without Jill's help. Jill gave me a few alternatives, and what made me go for lead was two-fold: first, people don't always think to test for it; second, it's not generally taken intravenously.

Sarah said:
and others also commented on possible side-effects from lead. Yes, assuming that it is lead, side-effects are not only possible but very probable. Again, I'll say a lot more about that, including my reasoning in terms of what you'll see in Part 21, when I respond to the final instalment.

I think that's about all I want to respond to here, other than to say that all the wonderful, amazing compliments in here have once more left me awed, speechless, blushing and so very, very grateful to you all. There just aren't words to thank you the way I want to.

I suspect, though, anyway that you'd rather I didn't try to get verbose about my thanks and just posted Part 21 instead... so here goes.

Thank you all!!


Wendy