Hey everyone... first of all, I want to thank Lavender and Booth-is-my-Angel for reviewing the prologue despite its length :D Without those reviews, this chapter probably would not have been posted! Thanks again!

A few things about my writing style: thoughts are in italic and anything electronic (ie a text or short bit of text on a computer) is bolded. That's it, really :D

Without further adieu, chapter 1!She woke up the next morning at precisely 7:09. She arrived at work at 8:13, keeping her eyes straight forward as everyone in the bullpen eyed her furtively. Everyone knew that Lois Lane had not been late for work since… ever.

She sat at her desk, sighed, logged on to her computer, and flicked her eyes up to see everyone guiltily scurrying back to their computers. Typical.

She was acutely aware of his presence at the coffeemaker, and the stiff way he carried himself while replacing the filter made it clear that he was conscious of her entrance as well. She willed herself not to say the first word as he slowly came over to their desks, a coffee cup in hand. Keys clicked noisily under her fingers, bearing an echo of her accelerated and only slightly less sporadic heartbeat.

"Morning, Lois," he said carefully. She looked up at him to see his guilt-ridden baby blues more guarded than they had ever been before.

"Hey, Smallville. That for me? Great," she replied, smiling.

See? Nothing happened. I didn't show either. Nothing for you to feel guilty about.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling in spite of himself. She smirked over the styrofoam cup.

There were a few more minutes of ambiguously awkward silence, save for the clicking of mice and clacking of keys before he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"So, good lead last night?" he asked, failing at his attempt to sound nonchalant.

"Great lead. Get done with all that work you had to do?" she quipped, keeping the hardness out of her voice with difficulty. And accusation hovered in the air between them.

"Yep. Didn't get home until two."

He yawned hugely as further evidence.

"Great. Good. Awesome."

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Yep."

Click. Click. Click.

"Lois…"

"Let's just forget about it, Smallville. Okay?" she asked, looking him in the eye. His expression was unreadable.

"Okay," he said finally.

"Good! So apparently Jimmy's coming to Met. Gen. in a week," Lois started.

"Really? That's great!" Clark replied, awkwardness seeping slowly out of his voice.

And just like that, they were back to normal… sort of. Lois wasn't going to deny that she still had feelings for him, but it was just so much easier to admit it when she knew that nothing would come of it. Everyone hates uncertainty, and Lois Lane was no exception. Feelings were only scary, she reflected, when you didn't know how the other person felt about you. The hard part was over, wasn't it? Now all she had to do was wait for that blessed moment when she fell out of love with him.

During her cathartic consumption of two pints of her favorite Ben & Jerry's (Phish Food, thank you very much) the night before, she had reflected that it was really better this way. She must have imagined a hundred different ways the night would have ended if he had shown, and they all had one thing in common: her being nothing but a rebound. And Lois Lane was NO rebound.

"Lois? You there?"

Her feministic musings were cut short by the subject of them. He had his quizzical face on – eyebrows pulled together and slightly up, eyes questioning, lips pouting just the tiniest bit.

"Yeah, Smallville. Just thinking. So, what are you buying me for lunch? 'Cause I am starving," Lois said hastily, digging through the stack of delivery menus in the second drawer of her desk. Clark rolled his eyes and muttered something about inhuman metabolism under his breath.

"What was that?" Lois asked, looking up from Menu Mountain.

"Nothing…" he replied innocently, a smile on his face.

See? This is better. Everything is back to normal, said her head.

Her heart retaliated with a stubborn, painful throb.

So? Better or worse than the prologue? Just so everyone knows, this entire fic will NOT be one giant angst-fest. Some happiness will come into it, I promise! Also, three free internets to anyone who can guess what artist does the song that this chapter is named after. (Coincidentally, all of my chapters will be named after a song I find especially fitting with the theme of the chapter :D)

R E V I E W P L E A S E ! !