Lois is clearly selfish in some respects here, particularly when she isn't thinking for a moment about what it must be like for Clark to have been allowed to make love to her for one night, and then to be completely shut out again, as if nothing had happened.
Overall, though, I strongly sympathize with Lois. I completely understand her ambiguity about the child. I sympathize with any woman who feels bad when she has become pregnant after being raped, so I understand perfectly that Lois finds it hard to talk about her pregnancy to others. And while it was sweet that Lucy was so happy about Lois's pregnancy, I found some of her elation a bit irritating, too. She seemed completely unable to pick up on Lois's discomfort and mixed feelings. I'm glad that Alice seemed to sense that so clearly. And I liked Perry's reaction too, when they told him.
It's very good that Lois is seeing Dr. Friskin. I agree with the others that she should probably have had therapy long ago, but better late than never!
As much as I'm going to hate it if the child turns out to be Luthor's, I'm still glad that the baby is okay. I think a miscarriage would have been more than Lois could have dealt with at this time, and it could have become a guilt trip that just got worse and worse. Maybe she would have started imagining that her ill will toward the baby had killed it, so that she herself had a murdering mind.
I'm glad that Lois and Clark had an argument. I sympathized with Clark for losing his temper. Things have been extremely hard on him, and he must learn not to blame himself for what happened to Lois. There is no way he can be around to babysit Lois and protect her from being raped every moment. Things don't work like that in real life, not for anybody. But Clark does feel guilty, and seeing Lois's low mood doesn't help his own feelings, I'm sure.
I'm looking forward to the next chapter!
Ann
