This has been interesting so far, but it still is fraught with the frustratin that the scene from Contact brought forth.
This is well written and I am enjoying the read, but I do feel that the 'tone' is skewed a bit toward Clark. He is still coming off as the sympathetic character because of Lois' need to actively keep him at arms length. She is doing this for survival. Just playing at 'being friends' after the depth of what they shared would be suicide for Lois. She has always been an all or nothing type of gal. That's why she resisted Clark for so long, she was afraid if the all with her and Clark didn't work out, then she would have to have nothing.
Lois' necessary, defensive bitchyness makes her seem like the 'bad guy' in this piece so far, but the truth is it's Clark. In any rewrite of that scene from Contact; Clark is in the wrong.
I hope that when the final resolution of the problem does come around it occurs logically, and feels right. It's a tightrope that's being walked here for the sake of the story's angst. Let's hope it doesn't get pushed too far so that no resolution would seem feasible.
Tank (who wonders how Clark is able to justify being away from his Superman duties for so long)
