Lois has challenged Clark to complete an assignment that he's been too busy to finish. Clark is determined to win, even with Lois' best efforts to prevent his success. Much is at stake, but both participants have their talents. Clois all the way! Summary kinda sucks, sorry!

Disclaimer: Obviously these characters aren't mine or Lois and Clark would have been together years ago and Lana would have stayed in Paris!

Distraction

"Nice try, Smallville, but I don't think you've got enough punch this time. You must have taken all the soul out of this on that last re-do." Lois greeted him as he strode into the bullpen. She waved his last article rewrite in front of him.

"Good morning to you, too, Lois." Clark replied. He was feeling irritated today. He hadn't gotten much sleep and the reason was now smiling triumphantly at the desk across from his. She had been driving him crazy the past two days. Now, she was wearing that damned outfit that looked so great on her: the black skirt that ended just above her knees, the dark red blouse that made her absolutely irresistible, her dark hair falling perfectly around her face. He just wanted to--no, he couldn't let himself get distracted by appropriate ways to punish her.

Lois handed him the paper with a sweet smile. "Don't forget, Smallville, this is your last day to get it right."

They shared a meaningful look as they each held an end of the paper. Clark willed her to see the apology in his eyes. Lois, for her part, seemed to have stuck her heels firmly in the ground. It would take a feat of super-strength to pull her out of it. Luckily, Clark was just the man to wield that strength. "I know it is, Lois, I know."

She pulled away from him, swiveling to start sorting through a large pile of papers on her desk. "Well, get to it."

He sighed and sat down at his desk. This was going to be a long day. He just needed to finish this article before the paper went to print today. Tess had given him an assignment and he had to get it done by the end of the week. Lois had made a deal challenging him to get it done today. He had to meet Lois' challenge. He was running out of excuses, and he really was going to enjoy the look on her face. Oh, yes, he would enjoy that later. He just needed to put the soul back into the article. Right. No problem.

He cast a quick look at Lois. She was glaring at her computer, obviously having some difficulty with whatever she was working on. With their desks facing each other like this he could often sneak glances at her without her noticing and still see her face. His eyes lingered on her for longer than he planned. This also happened a lot, too. He noticed her eyes scanning the information in front of her, lit by the screen and by their own inner fire. She was scratching her throat, but then, ever so subtly, she popped the top button on her blouse.

Clark pulled himself so quickly to the other side of his desk he was sure he had super-sped without meaning to. She had to have heard his chair move. He loosened his tie slightly. He wiped his forehead and took a deep breath. It was going to be so much harder to concentrate today than he had hoped. Lois would make sure of that. He should have known better.

He got back to work typing, refusing to give Lois the satisfaction of knowing just how much she was already distracting him. That wasn't always an easy thing to do. He tried to shut down the parts of his brain that wanted to do anything but finish this article. He had to give it soul, even when he felt like his own was starting to strain against his skin.

"Chloe called last night."

"Mmmhmmm," was all Clark could manage to say. Between infusing soul and that blouse's top button, he was multi-tasking as much as he could right now, even for him.

"She's taking the day off work."

"Great."

"She wants to take us to a nice lunch in the city today."

"Excellent," Clark was on auto-pilot by this time. He was used to Lois' chatter. Normally it filled a nice, comfortable niche between them. Today, however, his mind was already filling that niche with distracted thoughts and piling frustrations. He wasn't sure just how much of Lois' voice would be able to share that space.

"I told her I'm pretty sure you could actually make it to lunch for her. Even though you've been so busy lately."

"That's interesting."

"She wants to have a nice, long, relaxing time with us. Then we're going to Oz on a flying monkey." Lois' voice had an edge to it this time.

"Wonderful," Clark suddenly realized what she had said. He looked at her innocently but she was already glaring at him. "Wait. What? I don't want to go to Oz."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Then I guess we'll just have to hope you show up for lunch then."

"A long lunch, did you say?" Clark asked fearfully with a glance at his screen. The blinking cursor seemed to be taunting him just as much as Lois. They were probably working together to keep him from finishing.

The way Lois was smiling made Clark nervous. "Many, many courses."

"But, but Lois, you know I've got to finish this article today." Clark knew she wanted him to finish it just as much as he wanted it to be over with. At least, he thought she did. Didn't she?

Lois swiveled back to the stack of papers. "You've had a while to work on that story, Smallville. You shouldn't have put it off for so long. Chloe rarely has time to have lunch with us, let alone take a day off. You owe this to her for making an effort." She shot him a look that clearly meant he was not going to get out of this with the article as an excuse. He knew she was making several points in that speech. He knew that she meant each and every one of them, too.

Clark took a deep breath. Fine, she wasn't going to help him finish this quickly. Let her try her best to keep him distracted. He could deal with that. He would be meeting Lois Lane's challenge. Even if the frustration mounting inside of him was threatening his hold on sanity. He just needed to focus.

Right. No problem.

Oh frak.

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The Smallville Muse has stayed with me, producing this after some time and because I am somehow awake at 3 in the morning. More chapters are to come! Reviews make them come faster! It's like magic!