He didn't know what had happened in Washington, but Oliver could sense that something had changed with Clark and Lois. Of course they were both being less than forthcoming about it in the weeks since they'd come back, so that peaked his curiosity about their Thanksgiving visit even more.
Even before they started working together, which Lois still insisted that they weren't, he could see how their relationship had changed since that night he'd seen them kiss at the Regent.
He'd be lying to himself if he didn't still feel a twinge of regret now and then and, yes, envy because Clark was making a relationship with Lois work, when he couldn't.
The old adage about opposites attracting was certainly true in the case of his two good friends. And it was probably why it didn't work between him and Lois, because they were too much alike.
But as different as they seemed to be, they also had a way of communicating with each other that left Oliver baffled. A raised eyebrow from her or a sigh and a shake of the head from him could speak volumes to the other.
Lois had once commented on the Kent's 'non-verbals' and how they used to drive her crazy. Well it seemed that living with Clark and his parents, twice, had initiated her into that exclusive club because Oliver had to admit that her non-verbals with Clark sometimes drove him crazy.
"Clark, you're the son of a retiring senator and it's only right that you be there for her final bow as the host of her charity ball." Lois was on her feet, her hands planted flat on her desk as she leaned toward his, trying to make her point.
"Didn't we have this conversation last year?" He sighed and continued to look at his computer screen, tapping away on his keyboard and as Oliver observed them from the doorway of the bullpen one late afternoon in December, he had no doubt that Clark was doing it in hopes that she would give up.
Fat chance Kent and you know it.
"We did and as I recall, you went last year too." She seemed to feel the need to point out the obvious.
"But you weren't my girlfriend last year." He frowned and kept typing.
"What does that have to do with this?" Lois frowned in return. "Clark, how would it look if your mother's only child wasn't there in one of her final acts as a senator, not very good."
"Lois." He looked up and sighed again. "She said that it's all right if I don't go."
"But it's not all right with me, mister." She stood up straight and after appraising her reluctant boyfriend, nibbled the side of her lip. She was formulating a plan to talk him into it, of that Oliver had no doubt and he couldn't help but grin because Clark was going whether he realized it or not.
When she walked around from her desk to his, he knew she'd put her strategy into action and waited to see what she was going to do.
"Clark?" Her voice was low and the softness of it got Clark to look up at her. His look was one of unease because he seemed to know what was coming as she stopped next to his chair.
He sat back, and if what she was about to do was what Oliver suspected; it was a bad idea. Because to get what she wanted, he had no doubt she was going to use Clark's deep attraction for her against him. And when she sat down on his lap and put her arms around his neck, he knew he was right.
Clark's surprise was punctuated by his furtive looks around the small newsroom as people passed by, hiding smiles or downright snickering. Oliver knew that his friends had made a point of keeping their relationship separate from their jobs and that was why it was so amusing to see Lois obliterating that separation to get what she wanted.
"Honey, if you take me to your mom's charity ball I'll wear that black dress I wore last year." She gave him a soft smile of promise and raised an eyebrow at him. "I know how much you liked it."
'Honey'? He didn't know Lois had it in her.
"Lois." Clark's face turned red even as his hands found their way around her waist and Oliver would bet that he wasn't even aware of it as his attention was suddenly drawn to her, and only her.
She upped the ante when she moved in close and brushed his ear with her lips. "Please? For me?"
"Lois." Oliver gave him credit. Clark was holding his ground, however tenuous it was. But Lois seemed to sense that and sat back, still smiling at him.
"You really want to take this any further? Because I think you know what my next move is going to be." She leaned in and stopped just short of kissing him. "I know you wouldn't mind it if we were anywhere else."
Oliver didn't think it was possible for Lois to push her luck, but she did. Clark's demeanor changed with that simple statement and he went from embarrassed cub reporter to a man who was about to issue a challenge to his persistent girlfriend.
"Then let's go anywhere else." He got an arm around her back and under her knees before he stood up, with a flabbergasted Lois Lane in his arms.
"Clark, what are you doing?" It was Lois' turn to look around the bullpen, embarrassed at the attention as Clark carried her out of the room, past Oliver and seemed to be trying to decide where to take her.
"Phone booth is closest." Oliver suggested helpfully, inclining his head as Lois glared at him.
"Thanks." Clark answered and proceeded to carry the protesting woman to the closest booth, with legs kicking and a firm command to put her down
"Now, Smallville."
He ignored her and kept walking until he maneuvered inside and put her down on her feet. "There." He then reached over and closed the door with such force that it shook the glass.
Oliver was a little surprised he hadn't shattered it with his strength.
He heard a sudden thud from inside the phone booth, as though Clark had pushed her up against the wall and Lois' voice, "Clark Jerome Kent, I'm telling your mother."
"Fine." Came the answer and then...nothing.
He saw a lot of movement through the frosted pane and tried not to grin. Who knew the shy farm boy from Smallville Kansas could be so aggressive?
He then noticed a crowd that had started to gather around and he sighed. "We still have an afternoon edition to put out." Oliver reminded the onlookers and they in turn looked at him with expressions of irritation, disappointment and resignation before they finally dispersed. No need to give everyone a free floorshow.
And that meant him too, so he retreated back into the bullpen to await the outcome of their, uh, discussion.
~*~
He heard the door to the booth open and tried to behave as though he wasn't aware they'd been in there for a good five minutes, or was it ten? He'd frankly stopped looking at his watch.
Oliver got up from Clark's chair and walked to the doorway, leaned against it and waited.
He wasn't even going to begin to guess exactly how far things had gone when he saw Clark tucking the tail of his shirt into the back of his pants and brushing a hand through his hair. It appeared as though someone's hands had rearranged it while running her fingers through it.
His flushed face and a soft smile told Oliver all he needed to know. "You're going aren't you?"
"Yeah." Clark brushed past him and walked back to his desk. He sat down and began to type away, looking suspiciously like he was trying to catch his breath.
Lois, for her part, looked to have the two top buttons of her blouse undone and her hair had come loose from the ponytail she'd had it in. Her eyes were closed and her face was equally as flushed, smiling just as softly.
"Lois, are you all right?" Oliver grinned, as he couldn't resist asking.
"Uh-huh." Her voice was breathless as she assured him, then as her eyes slowly opened she suddenly seemed to realize where she was. "Crap." And she reached over to pull the door closed.
It was amazing what chemistry between the right two people could produce, Oliver observed as he walked back into the bullpen and pulled up Lois' chair next to Clark's desk. He sat down, resting his forearms on his thighs and waited for Clark to stop typing, but he kept tapping at the keys. "What is it, Oliver?"
"Clark, why don't you just marry her already." That got his fingers to still. "It's obvious to anyone who has eyes how much you two you love each other. And it seems that working together has only made that love stronger."
That got him a flushed glance before those eyes went down to the keyboard.
"You see her all the time and you're sharing your mother's house, and yet it doesn't seem to be enough for either one of you. The truth is, you're married in everything but name and-"
Clark looked over at him again and then promptly looked at his monitor. Maybe it was time to do something about that too.
"Leave it alone, Oliver. We know what we're doing."
"Clark, you just carried her into the phone booth to kiss her senseless." God, they had it bad. "That doesn't sound like someone who knows what he's doing."
A sudden movement caught his eye as a flustered Lois; hair back in a ponytail and blouse buttoned up, rushed back into the room. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out her purse as Oliver stood. "I have an interview with the fire chief in twenty minutes. Don't wait for me, I'll meet you at home."
Clark looked up at her with a frown on his face and started to stand. "I thought we were going together."
"You stay here and finish that story." She shook her head and pointed at his monitor before she slung her purse over her shoulder.
"Lois."
"Stay, Smallville." Lois shook her head. "One of us needs to be here if that source I've been waiting for calls."
"What makes you think he'll talk to me?" He stretched to his full height and Lois' face flushed. He'd never seen her so rattled before.
"I don't know about him, but she probably will if you turn on the charm." She rolled her eyes.
"You think I have charm?" He asked as a slow smile crept across his face, which got a matching smile from her.
"I think you have a lot more than charm, Clark." She stood across from him, seemingly unable to break their eye contact until she realized that Oliver was there. But as she turned and left the room, grabbing her coat from the coat rack on the way, she tossed back, "but you already knew that."
He watched Clark watch Lois leave and he'd never seen someone as in love with a woman as Clark was with Lois. "Answer me one question."
"What is it?" Clark shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants and sighed.
"Can you see the rest of your life without her in it?"
"No." He shook his head.
"Then what's stopping you from making it permanent?" Oliver prodded gently.
"That's two questions."
"Then answer it."
"Nothing." He sighed again.
"Clark, do you want to marry her?" He prodded further, even knowing that it wasn't any of his damn business.
His friend's face took on a deeper hue, as he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the doorway. "I don't know."
"I think you do." Oliver disagreed. "And I think you're afraid that if you ask, you might not get the answer you want."
"She's not ready to get married." He frowned.
"Has she told you that?"
"Not in so many words." Clark glanced at him.
"Has she told you that?" He asked again and held the taller man's glance, refusing to let him look away. "Has she unequivocally, without any doubt in your mind told you that she isn't ready to get married."
"No."
"Then my next question-" Oliver pressed.
"That's three." His pensive look softened into a reluctant grin. "I thought you were only going to ask one."
"Call it a prerogative of owning this newspaper. I get to ask my reporters as many questions as I please." He quipped. "Are you ready to get married?"
The way Clark pulled his hands out of his pockets and sat down so heavily left Oliver a little confused. "I haven't let myself really think about it because I was so sure she wasn't."
"Then I think it's time that you do let yourself think about it."
"Do you think I'm ready?" Clark looked up at him, the uncertainty on his face reminding him of the guy he'd known just a couple of years earlier.
"I think-" He thought about how he could say it. "I think that you won't really be happy until you can call yourself her husband." Oliver quickly pondered what he was about to say as he saw Clark's face redden and decided to say it anyway. "And I also think that you won't be happy until you know her in every way that a man can know the woman he loves."
His startled look made Oliver smile. "I know you've thought about it; now maybe it's time you did something about it. You said once that you didn't want your relationship to be about that. Well we both know, and Lois certainly knows that it isn't. And since you both know that-"
"I get the picture." Clark sighed.
"And more than a few cold showers I'm sure." He couldn't help but laugh as Clark's embarrassment showed on his face. "As a guy who hasn't been lucky enough to find what you have with Lois, it's easy for me to hand out sage advice.
"But as a guy who admits to being a little envious of what you have with her, I'm saying that you need to trust your gut and listen to your heart. Follow where it's leading you, with no questioning the outcome."
"I do love her."
Oliver nodded. "I know you do; so trust that and trust her that you'll get the answer you're hoping for."
He sighed again as he sat back and folded his arms across his chest. "The moment would have to be right because I'll only get one chance to do this and I don't want to screw it up."
"Then listen to your heart. It'll tell you when the time is right."
"You really love Lois, don't you?" Clark's question startled him. He didn't really think that, did he?
"What?"
"I didn't mean that you're in love with her." Clark's steady look eased Oliver's mind. "I just meant that she means so much to you, that you want her happiness."
"I want yours too, Clark." He admitted. "I know I've said this before, but I don't think I can say it enough. I've never met two people who are more right for each other than you and Lois."
"Yeah," Clark smiled back and his face flushed again, "like hot fudge and halibut."
"Hot fudge and-"
"Never mind." He laughed softly. "Lois knows what it means."
"And that's the important thing, isn't it?" Oliver shook his head; sometimes he just didn't understand them. But as long as they understood each other, that was the important thing.
~*~
He found Lois at her desk later that evening.
The bullpen was empty except for her and she was staring in concentration, a pencil between her teeth as she typed.
"I hope you're remembering to use your spell check." He remarked as he walked into the dimmed room, with only Lois' desk light on for illumination and she stopped only long enough to fix him with a glare. "Where's Clark?"
She pulled the pencil out of her mouth and tossed it down on the desk.
"That's not very sanitary Lois." He needled her. "It really should go into the trash."
"Or through your heart." She shot at him. "What the hell was that earlier?"
Was this about the phone booth?
"I might ask you that, Lois." Oliver smiled at her and walked to Clark's desk, got his chair and rolled it next to Lois's desk before he sat down. "You were practically steaming up the windows trying to get him to take you to Senator Kent's charity event."
"I wasn't-" She blushed and stopped as she went back to typing.
It amazed him how easily Lois seemed to blush when it came to anything involving Clark Kent. She'd never been the kind of woman who revealed her emotions so blatantly and yet it was the man who sat across from her every day who had that special ability.
And it was special because he'd never managed to accomplish that.
"I don't remember you trying to be quite as persuasive with him about it last year, do you?" He knew it was a needless reminder. "You certainly never would have sat on his lap."
"Don't you have some advertisers to harass?" She picked up the pencil and tossed in her wastebasket with more force than was necessary.
"That's what the ad staff is for Lois and the accounting department, if it comes to it."
"Then why are you harassing me?"
"I'm not harassing you, I just wanted to stop in before I went home to see how you are and ask where your fire truck chasing partner is." He leaned back as he crossed an ankle over his knee and smiled at his own lame joke.
"If you must know, I sent him home to go get a Christmas tree. As fast as he moves, he can have it in the living room with the lights on before I get home."
"All decorated and waiting for you?" Oliver laughed.
"No, we'll do that together after dinner." Her voice softened and she smiled. "He's been waiting all year for us to have the chance and we just want to take our time and enjoy it."
"It seems that you've been taking your time with a lot of things." He knew he was moving into dangerous territory, not being sure how Lois would react.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Like that.
"It just seems to me that decorating that tree is kind of like a metaphor for your relationship." He shrugged. "You're going to take it slow and enjoy the time together while you decorate it. The question is, what are you going to do once you're ready to put the star on top of the tree?"
Lois looked at him suspiciously. "What makes you think we're ready to put the star on top of the tree yet?"
"I didn't say you were." Were they really doing this? "What I'm saying is, that's usually the most important part of decorating."
"When we're done, we'll stand back and appreciate it." She was still frowning.
"Okay." He nodded. "Then tell me this. Can you see any Christmas in the future where you aren't decorating it together or putting the star on top of the tree?"
"If I did, I wouldn't tell you." She sighed. "What Clark and I do with a Christmas tree or putting the star on top is between us."
"That's true." He nodded and wondered again how to broach her relationship without sounding like a nosy ex. "I just want you and Clark to be happy and I think the way you want to decorate the tree is a good approach; working as partners."
"Partners." She eyed him again with suspicion. "And you think I should consider making it a permanent partnership?"
"I think a person needs to look at their options, Lois." Tread carefully. "And if you think that a permanent partnership to decorate a tree every year is something that would make you happy, even if you don't think you're ready, I don't think you should dismiss the idea."
He saw her eyes darting, as she seemed to consider what he was saying, or rather, not saying. "So you don't think that someone's too young to decorate a tree with another someone?"
"Not if they enjoy decorating with that someone and want to spend the rest of their Christmases only decorating with them." He was getting dizzy.
"So you think that spending the rest of my Christmases decorating a tree with Clark will make me happy?" She flushed again, having mentioned Clark by name and getting to the heart of what Oliver was trying to say.
"I don't think you'll be happy with anyone else." He told her point blank and then stood up, rolling Clark's chair back to his desk. "Just give it some thought."
"You obviously have." Lois put her chin on her hand, giving him a thoughtful look. "Why are you doing this Ollie?"
"You and Clark are my friends and I care a lot about the both of you." He told her simply. "And Clark can give you what I never could."
"What's that?"
"His whole heart and undivided attention." He shrugged again. "I couldn't give you either because of Green Arrow. But looking back on it, now I know why."
"Why?"
"Because you were never meant for me, you were meant for him." He smiled. "You bring out a side of him that brings out the best in him and he brings out a side of you that brings out the best in you too."
"Gee Ollie, cryptic much?" Lois laughed softly and he looked at the woman sitting across from him and marveled at how love had softened her rough edges and brought out a femininity in her that was meant solely for Clark's masculinity. Yin and Yang.
"Well, I'm getting out of here." He walked toward the door. "Try not to stay too much longer. Whatever you're working on can wait until tomorrow."
"What if it's an article that's due tomorrow?" She gave him a pointed look.
"If it's not time sensitive, leave it until you get in tomorrow. And even if it is, we can still put it in the late edition." Oliver told her. "I think decorating a Christmas tree holds more appeal that sitting here alone working on an article, don't you?"
"Thanks Ollie." Lois nodded and proceeded to save her story and shut down her computer. Oliver walked to the elevator as she got her coat and purse and pushed the call button.
And as he waited for the doors to open he heard Lois's voice.
"Hi Smallville it's me. I'm ready to come home."