A/N - The first part of this chapter was inspired by a suggestion that, since Lois knows the secret, it would be cool to find out how she found out, so there's a flashback to the big reveal (g). Enjoy!

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Valentine's Day, 2009

Holding the remote, Lois mindlessly flipped through the channels, desperately trying to find something not painfully and over-the-top sugary romantic to watch.

Her eyes glanced over at the plastic bag still sitting on her dining room table. Clark had brought it earlier. In it, were three of the scariest and most downright terrifying horror films she could think of.

Their little homage to how much Valentine's Day completely sucked.

A few minutes after he had arrived though, he had looked momentarily distracted, then fumbled through some excuse about thinking he left his iron on, promising to be back as soon as he could.

Finally settling on the Cartoon Network (really, how sappy could cartoons be? Not very she hoped.), she rested the remote down next to her on the sofa.

His iron was on.

She laughed to herself, thinking of him stuttering out that excuse.

Yeah, she was gonna have to talk to him about that.

It had been about a half hour since he'd rushed out when she heard her door swing open. Lifting her eyes from the adventures of Huckleberry Hound, she saw him walk in the door, grinning at her sort of sheepishly.

"Sorry."

She shrugged. "No problem. So did you leave it on?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Good thing I went back. My oven was on 450. I would have come home to a sauna."

She gave him an incredulous look, then burst out laughing, confusing him completely.

"What?"

"You know, if you're gonna give these lame excuses when you have to rush off, not only do you need some better ones, but you gotta remember to keep them straight."

His eyes widened at that, and he was hit with the realization of what he'd said to her. He thought, momentarily, about trying to cover, but knew deep down it wouldn't do any good. She was clearly onto him, at least in some way. She may not know the specifics but she definitely knew he was hiding something.

"I told you I left my iron on."

"Yeah," she said, still chuckling.

"Um, well…" he said, running his hand through his hair, and avoiding meeting her eyes.

Seeing him struggle, she waved her hand, brushing his clear discomfort off. "Save it Smallville. So…what do you wanna watch first? I personally vote for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, though Prom Night is always a good one, especially on Valentine's Day."

"Don't you…wanna know?"

"Know what?"

"Where I was?"

"Only if you wanna tell me," she shrugged. "So, are you gonna pick or not? Because you've got 10 seconds before I pick the kick off movie for the Valentine's bloodfest."

For some reason, Clark felt…confused by her response. He wasn't sure what to do with it. She clearly wasn't going to push it, and for some reason, that kind of disappointed him.

It was that thought that made him realize what had been tickling at the back of his mind for months now.

He wanted her to know.

And of course, being Lois, she seemed to be content with the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Before he could even really think about it, he heard the words coming out of his mouth.

"I was helping someone."

Lois looks at him and shrugged. "Okay," she said, then stood up to retrieve the bag on the table. Sitting back on the sofa, she reached in and pulled out the slim DVD cases.

"There was a car accident on Washington Street. I um…I heard it…so I went to help," he continued, waiting for her to respond.

She nodded sort of absently, continuing to peruse the back covers of the cases for a moment, before she looked up suddenly.

"Wait, you heard it? How the hell did you hear it? You were standing practically in that spot right before you rushed off."

Clark couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction at successfully getting her curiousity going.

"I um…I have this ability."

Lois nodded, clearly waiting for him to go on. "Yeah?"

"I guess the best way to put it is I have super sensitive hearing. I can hear, well, everything."

Lois narrowed her eyes at that, falling back against the sofa. "Wow. Well, I guess that must come in handy with the ridiculous amount of strength and speed you have."

"Yeah…I can hear when something is….wait a minute," Clark paused, his eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline when the words she had just spoken to him sink in. "What did you just say?"

She simply smiled a very cryptic smile at him, her eyes sparkling at having completely surprised him. Clark slowly stepped forward, then sunk into the large armchair next to the sofa she was occupying.

"You know?"

"Well, clearly I don't know everything because the superhearing thing is news to me. But yeah, I know about the whole faster than a speeding bullet ability you seem to have, and that you're strength goes beyond that of a strapping farm boy."

He continued to stare at her, wide eyed.

"But…how?"

"Oh come on Smallville, do you think I'm stupid?" she asked, receiving a stunned headshake 'no' in response. "Remember last fall? We got assigned that story, the one where we had to pretend to be a couple to get the goods on that blackmailing wedding planner?"

"Yeah?"

"And she was starting to piss me off, and you being you, decided you needed to stop me before I smacked her into next week. So you did. By kissing me."

Looking confused, Clark simply shook his head, not making the connection. Lois rolled her eyes before continuing.

"Work with me here, Smallville. You kissed me."

"We covered that."

"Well, let's just say, I recognized it. That kiss answered a certain burning question of mine. Especially after I found out I had been right in the first place about Oliver."

At that, Lois could see the realization begin to creep into his features.

"After I found out Ollie was the Green Arrow, I always wondered who had been covering for him that night. When you kissed me…"

"You knew it'd been me," he interjected.

"Yup. Complete with chucking a guy across the alley and running away faster than the speed of light."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"You obviously didn't want me to know, Clark, or you would have told me," she said matter of factly.

"It's not that I didn't want you to know Lois…I trust you…"

"Smallville," she said, cutting him off after hearing the tinge of guilt in his voice. "It's okay. Look, I'm sure you have your reasons. I don't know what they are, and I may not agree with them even if I did, but they're still your reasons, and I can respect that. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready."

He cocked his head slightly, looking at her with a hint of amazement. That statement, it shocked him coming from her, considering her pit bull attitude in her job, a job that required digging for the truth.

But on the other hand, it made complete sense that she would feel that way. Lois tended to be a 'live and let live' kind of person, so long as no one was getting hurt, or no injustice was being done. And she'd known him long enough and well enough to know that any abilities he had would be used to help, not harm.

"What?"

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

Shrugging, she tucked her legs under her on the sofa. "Sure. Besides, your meteor powers are your business."

He leaned back in the chair for a moment, before what she said dawned on him.

"Meteor powers?"

"Yeah…you know the whole speed, strength, hearing thing."

For some reason, Clark smiled at that. He had begun to tell her all when she had turned the tables on him, with him becoming the surprised one.

The tables were about to get turned back – and there was little more in life that he enjoyed than the chance to shock Lois Lane. For the first time that he could remember, he was actually looking forward to telling someone his secret. And it was of little surprise to him that that person was Lois.

"Why do you have that goofy smile on your face?" she asked warily.

"You ever take astronomy, Lois?"

Clearly perplexed, she answered, "Yeah. Well, 'took' it. I needed a science requirement, I signed up for it, and showed up for the first two classes and then the midterm."

This time it was Clark's turn to look confused. "That's it?"

"I can't be held responsible for not attending a class that started at the ungodly hour of 8 AM. If the school wanted me to attend, they should have had the class at a more respectable hour. Besides, even if I had wanted to go to the class, the university booted me out before the semester ended, remember?"

Clark nodded, "So, you didn't exactly learn anything from the class?"

"Like what?"

"Like…about whether or not there's life on other planets. In other galaxies."

"Ohhhh, you mean in a galaxy far, far away?" she teased. "What the hell are you getting at Smallville?"

"Do you think there's life on other planets?"

"I don't know. I'm sure it's possible, but you know me, I'd need proof."

Standing up, he walked over to the sofa and sat down next to her. He wasn't sure what possessed him to do it, but he picked up her hand and gently held it against his chest. For a moment, he swore he heard her breathing pick up as her hand rested against him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to hide the hint of nervousness she felt in her voice.

"I'm your proof," he stated simply, his eyes never leaving hers.

Her brow creased at that, obviously not understanding. "Proof of what?"

"Of life on other planets."

She didn't react for a moment, just stared at him as her fingers rested against his dark blue button down, feeling the heat of his skin through his shirt. He watched her closely, trying to read any flicker of reaction that crossed her face.

Finally, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you drunk?"

Leave it to Lois to come out with a response even he didn't expect.

"What? No!"

She nodded slowly in response to that, her eyes travelling slowly from his face to her hand, the hand he was still holding snugly to him.

"My abilities," he said, seeing her trying to comprehend his statement, "they don't come from the meteor rocks. I'm…I'm from a planet called Krypton."

***

October 2009

Clark wasn't sure why that memory just came thundering into his mind at that particular moment. Maybe because it was one he held close to him, remembering Lois simply listening as he talked, never even once trying to pull away her hand from his grasp as he told her about his heritage. That night, despite the fact that he was confiding in her all the ways he was different from the people of this planet, she'd made him feel for the first time that he actually did belong in this world. And in the face of the danger he often encountered, or the strange happenings that were all too frequent in his life, like the unknown sphere of light they had just watched crash into the caves, it was the memory of that night that helped ground him.

"Clark?"

He tore his eyes from the cave, looking down at the woman still in his arms.

"You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah. What was that?"

Clark pulled his arms from around her, and Lois immediately felt a chill envelope her at the loss of contact with him. Crossing her arms in front of her, she bit her lip. This denial thing was getting harder by the day.

"I don't know," he said, and Lois picked up on the anxiety in his voice. "I'm gonna go check it out. Stay in the truck, alright?"

"Like hell," she said, "I'm going with you."

"Lois…"

"Clark…"

"I have no idea what's in there," he said, his voice rising slightly. "And I'm not gonna risk you getting hurt."

"Oh please," Lois said, rolling her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not your damsel in distress?"

"I know you're not, but…"

"But nothing. You can Speedy Gonzalez over there by yourself, but if you think I'm not gonna follow you, you're crazy. So, let's just dispense with the back and forth since we both know what's gonna happen anyway."

"You're gonna get your way," he grumbled.

"Naturally. Besides, this isn't just about me. I'm looking out for you, Smallville."

He looked at her incredulously. "How do you figure that?"

"We don't know what happened in there."

"Exactly!" he said, feeling like she'd just proved his point that it was way too dangerous for her to come along. "It's safer if you just let me go check it out on my own."

"And what if there's kryptonite in there, Clark? I'll grant you, the odds may be slim of that being the case but like I said, we don't know what happened in there. If anything."

He sighed, knowing this was a battle he was going to lose. Lois Lane was becoming one of the best investigative reporters in Metropolis for a reason – she never backed down in the face of a challenge, and he admired that aspect of her personality. Even if it also scared the hell out of him sometimes.

"Okay, on one condition. If I tell you to run, you run, alright?"

She gave him a petulant look at that, but his eyes remained determined. Rolling her eyes, she acquiesced, "Alright."

"Alright. Let's go," he said, tilting his head for her to come closer to him so he could pick her up. As she took a step though, he saw her eyes suddenly cloud over and her knees buckle slightly.

"Lois!" he said, alarmed as he reached out to grab her. One arm reached around her waist as his other hand landed on her arm, attempting to steady her.

She closed her eyes against the sudden wave of nausea and dizziness that had overcome her. Feeling his arms almost instantly come around her, she leaned her head against his chest, trying to get her bearings. Consciously taking a slow, deep breath, she closed her eyes, her hands bracing herself against him.

"Lois, what's wrong?" he asked, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

Feeling whatever had affected her pass, she pulled back, grateful to still have his arms around her.

"I'm fine, Clark," she responded, her voice the tiniest bit shaky.

"Lo…"

"I guess my equilibrium was thrown off a little by that mini earthquake," she said, attempting to wave off the worry she saw emanating from those beautiful eyes of his.

"Maybe we should get you to the hospital," he suggested worriedly, receiving one of her trademark punches on his arm in response.

"Smallville, really. I just got dizzy for a second. That's it. Now come on, we've got a cave to investigate," she said, looping her arms around his neck, signaling to him she was ready for him to pick her up.

He looked at her hesitantly, and she couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth spread through her at his concern for her. After a moment, he leaned down slightly, putting one arm behind her knees and the other around her waist, scooping her up in his arms.

"I'm gonna hold you to what I said, Lo. If I say run, you get out of there."

"Fine, fine, whatever," she muttered, before looking up at him. "Now, stop talking and start running."