Lana, who had been fairly composed until she was outside of the apartment, burst into tears. Kara awkwardly patted her on the back until Chloe came out.

Chloe put an arm around Lana and said, "Maybe it's not as bad as it looks."

Lana looked at her incredulously, "There's no way to misinterpret that. He cheated on me!" she sobbed, throwing her face into her hands.

"There might be a perfectly good explanation," Chloe assured her, "like red kryptonite."

Kara suddenly got very interested. "Red kryptonite does that? Where can I get some?"

"No, it's too dangerous," Chloe said. "For Kryptonian chemistry, it's a drug and they lose their inhibitions. You could do all kinds of reckless things, not just in that department. If you got the urge to kill somebody, you'd have no reasoning to stop yourself. For earth chemistry, it does work like a love potion. They fall in love with the first person they see. Obviously you couldn't use it on anybody without it affecting you."

Kara looked disappointed. She'd had all kinds of ideas.

"What does it matter?" Lana asked. "It still means he's attracted to her and how can I ever get over the fact that he slept with Lois? I'll never be able to look at either one of them the same way again."

Chloe looked about ready to say something but then thought better of it. There was no use in dragging up the past. Lana knew who she'd slept with and that it bothered Clark a lot more than Lois bothered her. Instead, she said, "You've seen them on red kryptonite when they crashed your engagement party. You knew he was somewhat attracted to her way before you started dating again. Anyway, they've had plenty of time to dress. Let's go find out what's going on."

Chloe knocked just to be on the safe side. She never wanted to see her cousin and best friend in those kinds of circumstances again. There was no answer or any indication that anyone was in there. She warily opened the door. The bed was disheveled, proving that it hadn't been a dream or an illusion but no one was in the apartment. Kara and Lana came in too. They all looked toward the open window.

"So Lois is in on the secret too?" Kara said. "My cousin couldn't scale those walls. He had to have jumped down with her."

"I know," Chloe said. "On to a busy street. I just hope nobody saw anything. I can't believe those 2 sneaks pulled a stunt like this and then didn't stick around for the consequences. It's not like them."

"What are you doing?" Kara asked, when Chloe picked up the phone.

"I'm calling Lois. She's never without her cell phone, unless she's gotten into trouble."

"Assuming she'll even answer," Lana muttered.

"And assuming she'll have clothes to carry it on her," Kara added. She got glares and frowns from Lana and Chloe but they hardly phased her. "What? It's the truth."

Chloe shook her head as she dialed Lois' number.

---

Lois knocked softly on the door of the Kent farm and then opened it very cautiously. "Clark," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Clark looked up from the couch with a puzzled expression. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Are you fine?" she asked, still holding onto the knob, ready to slam it shut if hadn't recover from whatever was going on with him earlier.

"Sure I'm fine. You look nervous. Are you sure you're okay? You haven't even come in yet."

He seemed normal and he hadn't gotten up from the couch, so she came all the way in and shut the door behind her.

"I thought you had a plane to catch? It was today, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," she answered. "The festival was canceled due to a storm, so I don't have to cover it."

"That's too bad."

"Not really. It doesn't affect my income and that's one less filler, fluffy piece that I have to cover."

"Still, it would have been a nice vacation."

"Yeah, maybe."

"For the both of us," he grinned to show he was just kidding.

She smiled back but it was still strained. "So I took a cab back to Smallville and I thought I'd check and see if you were back to your old self and wanted to apologize for earlier."

Clark's eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to the last time he was with her. Earlier was breakfast, when he'd went over to eat with Lois and Chloe. He didn't remember doing anything that called for an apology. He did call her an orange juice thief but as she'd stolen a drink of his orange juice when he wasn't looking, he'd felt justified.

"Don't apologize then but you'd better not do it again."

"Okay," he said, humoring her. "I'm watching a new superhero movie. You want to watch it?"

"I guess," she said, sitting down at the other end of the couch, "but they have way too many. They have one successful movie or TV show and they get on a kick until you're ready to puke. They can't stop because they think it's some kind of formula when what people really want is variety."

"I like all the superhero stuff. It's just a TV movie, so the special effects aren't as good. So far, this guy has gotten powers from a lab experiment gone wrong. Now he's afraid his girlfriend won't accept him and his best friend has become his archenemy."

"See? They even recycle the same old, cliché plots."

"Why are you sitting all the way at the other end of the couch?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"It's just you usually sit closer than that. I don't have any cooties I promise."

She looked distrustful for a moment. She wondered if he was trying to put the moves on her again but he was looking at her so innocently, she began to question if it wasn't all in her head. She laughed to remove her last remaining tension. "Actually I've been sitting for too long. I'd rather lay down."

He patted his lap to indicate that she was welcome to put her feet up. She slipped off her shoes and put her feet up.

"You can take your socks off too if you want."

"Are you sure about that?" she said, moving her right foot up to his nose. "I can't guarantee they won't stink."

He pushed her foot back down, annoyed because she'd put her foot on his nose. He pulled her socks off. "They don't stink unless you've been out jogging."

She laughed and they started watching the movie. She gave a happy sigh. They were the most carefree when they were around each other. She'd never had a closer relationship in her entire life. She'd never been as emotionally communicative as she was with Clark and she had feeling the same held true for him. They spilled their guts to each other all the time and then wondered why later. It was often disguised by their bantering but it worked for them. If anything or anyone ever ruined their friendship, she didn't know what she'd do or who she'd turn to.

Just as she was starting to get into the movie, her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Lois Lane, get your butt back here and bring Clark with you!"

"Chloe?"

"No, it's the Queen of Sheba. Yes, it's me. Is Clark with you?"

"Yeah, we're--"

"I don't want to know what you're doing!"

Clark was still into the movie and was absentmindedly rubbing her feet, which didn't bother Lois as he was very good at it.

"We're just watching TV and he's giving me a nice foot rub. What's the matter with you?"

"No details! So you know about his powers then?"

Lois was a little curious about how Chloe knew what they were watching amd figured she must have heard it in the background. "I didn't see when he got his powers but I've seen him using them if that's what you mean."

"Great, so you two can get back here quickly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me give you a hint. It involves Clark Kent sleeping with a certain person in our apartment."

"No, no, no!" Lois cried out disgustedly, causing Clark to pay attention. "Not in my bed! Please, tell me not in my bed!"

"Yes, in your bed."

"I'll be right there with Clark." She hung up. "You disgusting pig!" she said angrily, sitting up and using her pocketbook to hit him repeatedly. "So that's what it was. You were trying to get me out of the apartment, so you could have fun-time with Lana!"

"What?" he said, trying to shield himself from the pocketbook.

"Don't play dumb with me. Chloe caught you. She wants to talk to you. We both do and I'm nowhere near done hitting you!"

Clark followed her out the door, trying to figure out what was going on, which was made harder as Lois kept turning around with another round of purse-hitting.

TBC