Well, I thought of editing my post, but I decided that it might be just as well to post another one.
First I want to say that it wouldn't have been okay for Lois to call Superman pond scum. And I don't think she would have done that. My Lois wouldn't. She wouldn't have called him an idiot, either. But she might very well have called him a bully.
Second, I agree with something you said in our comment to our latest comments. It's Lois's own responsibility to look after her own health. It's far too easy to say that her life went to hell because Superman made her think that Clark was dead. And like you said, what if Clark had really been dead? Would it have been his fault if Lois became clinically depressed because of that? Of course not - that goes without saying. But allowing someone to grieve terribly over your own supposed death, when you are not dead at all - that must be another thing! Would it be all right for Clark to say that he doesn't have to inform her that she is grieving for a man who isn't dead, because it is her own responsibility to look after her own health anyway?
There have been some Lois deathfics posted on these boards, where it was hinted that Clark lived in a state of clinical depression ever since Lois died. What if she had somehow survived but kept her survival a secret from him, so that he just kept grieving, year after year? Would her secrecy have been all right?
Ahhh gaaah. Are you at all interested in how I think that your story could work out all right? Remember that there are so many other people here whose opinions count as much as mine. Anyway, if you to hear what I think, I would actually advise you to scrap that "you are an alien" line from Lois. To me, that would be as bad as calling a black person a horribly racist name. You just don't do that sort of thing, not if you have any respect for that other person's humanity. Make Lois say something else, something hurtful, something that has to do with the fact that Superman seemingly wasn't there for Clark when Clark was shot, and now he is acting like a bully by trying to force Lois to see a shrink. Make it sufficiently hurtful for Clark to stay away and decide that it is Lois's own responsibility to look after her own health. Then you should probably go back and edit the first parts of your story to make them more consistent with the idea that Lois has hurt Clark deeply by saying something really bad to Superman. Remember that part when Clark saved Lois and her little niece Sammy from that burning building? Lois and Clark didn't act as if they were nursing old wounds when they saw each other. Think - how would they react? Maybe Lois would say that she was really grateful that he had saved her and Sammy this time, even if she had been so angry with him the last time she saw him. And maybe Clark would say that that was all water under the bridge, and he was happy to see her.
I admit that I would still be happy with an ending where Lois moves on, because she has just had it up to here with Clark. But if you want to make them end up together, please don't make Lois say that the whole thing was her own fault just as much as it was Clark's!
Ann
