Author's Note: I do not own Smallville or its characters.

One of Those Days

Lois Lane had her share of bad days. However, this one was quickly climbing to the top of the list. Nothing seemed to be going her way, not the small things and not the big things. She'd both overslept and had been out of coffee this morning, and thanks to her oversleeping, she hadn't even had time to pick up coffee on her way to work. To make things even worse, the coffee machine at the Planet was broken, so there was no coffee there either.

Normally, when this sort of thing happened, Lois could rely on Clark to act like a boy scout and provided her with the needed caffeine. However, he currently was tied up with a natural disaster in India, and she didn't know when he'd be back. And Clark being gone had its own share of problems. Lois was left to both cover for him with Perry and get their article finished. Thankfully, she at least knew where he was this time. That had been one of the benefits of finding out her best friend and partner just happened to moonlight as a superhero; Clark had made a point of letting her know when he was disappearing on her. Still, Lois was stuck doing all the research and legwork today. Normally this wouldn't bother her, but today she was tired and grumpy, and she missed Clark.

Smallville had become one of her few constants over the years, and she always felt a little off kilter when he wasn't around. And Lois was blaming most of today's bad luck on that. While running down leads, she'd missed two taxis and had three people spill their drinks on her. The deli had gotten her order for lunch wrong and then some bimbo's yappy purse dog had grabbed her sandwich right out her hands. Lois hadn't wanted it after that. There really wasn't time for her to grab something else before her lunch hour was over.

So she returned to work grumpy and hungry and with a newly developed run in her pantyhose. Lois managed to get her copy written without too many mishaps and misspelled words, though she found her missed Clark editing over her shoulder. Once the article was turned in to Perry though, luck deserted her once again. No less than two of her coworkers had run into her, scattering her research across the floor. The photocopier jammed on her. Her computer crashed twice, and Lois was ready to pull out her own hair. Her leads kept dead ending. She really should have stayed in bed today instead of even bothering to get up.

Feeling bedraggled and frazzled, Lois was mentally counting the moments until she could leave work for the day. She just wanted to go home, take a hot shower, and eat ice cream while watching an action movie. With any luck, Clark might even be back before too long. Lois wasn't counting on that though. Not with the way her day was going. So of course this was when Lana Lang walked into the office.

It was the first time Lois had seen Lana since she had gotten Kryptonite free and Lois had given into the inevitable and started dating Clark. It wasn't, however, the first time that Clark had seen Lana. He'd run into her a few months ago, and according to him, he'd made it clear that they were over and completely done. Lois had a few doubts of her own. Of course, it didn't help that Lana looked immaculate, trendy, and perfectly together while Lois felt like she'd been dragged through the mud behind a pick up truck. Lana hadn't been pleased that Clark wasn't around, and she was even less pleased by the fact that Lois couldn't tell her when he would be back.

The woman stuck around for nearly forty-five minutes despite Lois' clearly unwelcome manner. Lois doubted she had seen the last of Lana, but at least she was gone for now. At this point, Lois had decided she needed some fresh air, and since there was still an hour left before she could leave work, she had headed up to the roof. And had promptly managed to get locked up here. That had been at least two hours ago now. Lois had given up on attracting someone's attention about thirty minutes ago.

With a sigh, she slumped against the wall and gazed up at the night sky. You couldn't see the stars as well as you could in Smallville, but she could still see a few past the Planet's golden globe. There was a familiar whooshing sound, and moments later, Clark Kent appeared from around the other side of the globe. Lois managed to muster a half hearted smile.

"Hey, Smallville."

He pulled her up into his arms. "Hey. I thought you'd be home by now. I was going to drop by and see if you wanted Chinese."

She mumbled into his shirt. "I got locked out."

"I see." Clark was smart enough not to ask stupid questions like 'how?'. "Are you up for Chinese or did you have something else in mind?"

Lois just sighed. "With my luck, I'll just get food poisoning."

"Lo?" His hand tilted her face up, so he could see it.

She sighed again.

"It's been a really bad day, and I doubt it's going to get any better." She shifted uncomfortably against him. "And now whatever you've got in your pocket's jabbing into my hip. And that wasn't meant to be suggestive, damn it."

To her surprise, Clark blushed and dug the offending object out of his pocket. He smiled ruefully and held out the little grey box to her.

"This wasn't exactly how planned on asking even if it is the right place," Clark admitted. "I love you, Lois Lane. Marry me?"

She swore her heart stopped. On autopilot she reached out and took the box, opening to look at the ring. It was a familiar piece of jewelry.

"Mom said she wanted you to have it if you wanted. I mean, if you want a different ring, we could always go find one, but I--"

The application of her lips to his cut him off. "I want this ring."

Clark smiled nervously. "Is that a yes then?"

"What do you think, Smallville?" Lois slipped the ring onto her hand. "You said something about dinner?"

He laughed before swing her up into his arms and kissing her before taking off. Lois just snuggled into his arms, content for the moment. There was something to be said of the end of bad days.