A/N: Sorry that it has taken me this long for another chapter update, but now that I'm on vacation I finally have the time to complete this story that's been in the works since 2006. And since I have very vivid plans for a new Clois fan fiction, I need this to be finished as soon as possible. I still have a few blanks to fill in, which means a few more chapters before the final scene gets posted. Keep reading and leaving reviews, because it keeps the story going and me smiling. (Again, sorry for any possible grammar mistakes/missing words. I've given up on double checking the chapters.)

CHAPTER 4

"How's that article coming along, Lois?" Clark teased as he swept past Lois' desk, a hot cup of coffee in hand. Lois reluctantly looked away from the computer screen and glanced up at him, doing her best to avoid drooling over the coffee.

"If you came all this way from the coffee machine to check up on me, I hate to burst your bubble," she said and went back to typing.

"What makes you think I'm checking up on you?" Clark asked with a teasing smile as he took a seat by his desk. Just as Lois opened her mouth to throw out one of her retorts at him, Chloe waltzed into the bullpen with coffee cups in hand which got Lois' attention straight away.

"This is for you," Chloe said, handing Lois a coffee cup.

"Okay, not that I don't appreciate the coffee, but what gives?" Lois asked suspiciously while taking a swig of coffee. Chloe walked around to the other side of Lois' desk, making sure she was facing both Lois and Clark.

"Me and Jimmy are having a movie night, so I thought I'd invite you and Clark. Look at it as friends hanging out together while watching some lame horror flicks," Chloe said while Lois continued to consume the coffee at a surprising speed.

"Count me in," Clark said without much hesitation, glancing over at Lois. She met his glance, downing the rest of her coffee before answering Chloe.

"You better make sure there's plenty of popcorn because I'll be bringing Gwen as well seeing as how she came all this way to see me," she said, suddenly beginning to look around the buzzing bullpen. "Speaking of which, where is Gwen? She should've been here by now."

"She's probably having trouble finding her way back," Clark suggested from behind his computer.

"Yeah probably," Chloe concurred with a quick nod.

"Then maybe I better give her a call," Lois said, picking up her cell phone off the desk.

"Hey guys!"

Lois, Chloe and Clark turned their heads simultaneously to see Gwen waltzing into the bullpen with a cheerful expression on her face.

"Everything okay with the car?" Lois asked, putting down her cell phone again.

"Oh yeah," Gwen said with a casual shrug. "Nothing the good mechanic couldn't fix."

"Well, you're just in time for the good news," Lois said, getting out of her chair. "We've just been invited to movie night at Chloe and Jimmy's place."

"Movie night?" Gwen repeated, the cheerful expression changing into a skeptical one. Lois barely managed to suppress a giggle at the sight of Chloe pretending to look offended when Gwen's lack of excitement became obvious.

"No but seriously, movie night sounds awesome," Gwen quickly added and winked playfully at Chloe.

"Glad to hear," Chloe smiled and finished her coffee. "Well, I'll better be going."

"Bye, Chloe!" Lois and Clark said simultaneously, exchanging brief glances.

"Bye guys!" she called out over her shoulder as she headed to the elevators.

After watching Chloe step into the elevator, Lois suddenly had an epiphany as she noticed Gwen was empty handed.

"Hey, where's our lunch?" she asked and for a moment Gwen looked completely clueless until she realized what she'd forgotten.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Lo! I totally forgot about lunch!"

"I was actually just on my way out to pick something up to eat," Clark interjected as he appeared next to Lois. She opened her mouth to respond in her usual snappy way, but Gwen was quicker.

"Perfect! You mind if I tag along?"

Lois's eyes grew big as she glared over at Gwen, who couldn't be more oblivious with her attention entirely focused on Clark at the moment.

"I don't mind if Lois doesn't mind," he said and turned to look at Lois with the same teasing smile that usually drove Lois insane. This time, however, she somehow managed to remain calm and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"If Clark doesn't mind, I certainly don't mind," she said, forcing on a smile as she met Gwen's gaze.

"You can come too if you want, Lois," Clark said and Lois shook her head.

"Thanks for the offer, but I got work to finish. You two kids go on without me," she said and took a seat at her desk. "Just make sure you bring me back a –"

"The usual," Clark cut in, still with that teasing smile of his. "I got it."

Lois watched them head over to the elevators, ignoring the twinge she'd felt when Gwen promptly wanted to accompany Clark. Anybody else wouldn't have known about the subliminal message in Gwen's request, but Lois knew all about Gwen's tricks to win over a guy. She'd meant what she'd said to Gwen earlier; her relationship with Clark was strictly platonic. Yet, a part of her didn't want Gwen throwing herself all over Clark and despite their conversation the same morning Gwen still hadn't gotten the message.
Lois abruptly shook her head, telling herself that it was none of her business whom Clark dated. Gwen wasn't necessarily the type of girl Lois would pair him up with but Clark was a big boy who could take care of himself. Lois refused to get involved and as they disappeared into the elevator, she turned her attention to the computer.

She looked down at the keyboard, her fingers barely touching the keys. She looked up at the computer screen again, waiting for the word flow to get going but nothing happened. She stared at the screen in silence until she finally leaned back with a heavy sigh.

"I need coffee!" she muttered and got out of the chair, marching out of the bullpen with determined steps.

Much like Clark had predicted, if only as a joke, the movie night consisted of one horror flick after another. During the first movie Lois had been seated with the popcorn bowl in her lap, consuming a fist full of salty popcorn whenever she felt a snarky comment coming on. She knew that Chloe had only invited them out of the kindness of her heart, but truth be told Lois wasn't in a very social mood. And Gwen snuggling up next to Clark hadn't gone by unnoticed by her either, which only worsened her mood.

As the end credits started rolling, Chloe suddenly grabbed the half empty popcorn bowl from Lois and walked into the kitchen to prepare some more popcorn. Lois now had a clear view of Clark and Gwen, what with Jimmy sitting on the floor resting his back against the sofa. She suppressed the grunt making its way up inside of her and abruptly got off the sofa, heading into the kitchen to Chloe.

"I'll reimburse you for the popcorn, cuz," Lois said as she leaned against the kitchen counter, watching Chloe preparing snacks for the second movie sitting.

"No need for that, Lois," Chloe smiled, turning to look at her cousin. "What's with your sudden love for popcorn anyway?"

"I skipped lunch," Lois said with a shrug. Which wasn't entirely a lie, but Lois didn't feel like spilling all the boring details to Chloe.

"So you're filling up on popcorn and soda instead?" Chloe smiled. "Sounds like something Lois Lane would do."

"Hey, don't knock till you tried it," Lois said, letting on a smile.

"Thanks, but I think I'll stick to real food," Chloe laughed and put in the popcorn in the microwave before waltzing past Lois with two bowls of snacks on her way into the living room. Lois ignored the growl coming from her stomach and remained leaned against the kitchen counter, cringing at the sound of Gwen laughing from the living room. She definitely didn't like the new uncomfortable feeling she'd been experiencing since Gwen first laid eyes on Clark, but she kept repeating to herself that it was none of her business.

"Lois, are you coming?" Chloe asked as she appeared in the kitchen doorway. Lois snapped out of her daze and looked over at the microwave, becoming aware of the popping sound coming from it.

"Yeah, in a minute," she said with a nod in the direction of the microwave. Chloe nodded in reply and walked back to the others. Lois listened to the opening credits to the second movie Jimmy had put on, not feeling very tempted to go back in there but she quickly dismissed the immature idea of sneaking out. The sudden ping from the microwave brought her back to reality and she walked over to pick out the popcorn bag, dragging her feet back into the living room again with a forced smile on her face.

"So, what are we watching?"

Lois reluctantly reached out and hit the snooze button on her alarm clock, rolling over on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She'd already noticed the empty mattress at the other end of the room and the clattering coming downstairs from the kitchen indicated that Gwen was up and about.

It had been three days since the movie night and Lois had done her part to avoid talking about whatever had transpired between Clark and Gwen. She'd focused on work to keep her mind occupied but since it was the weekend she was all out of excuses.

She listened to Gwen's muffled voice from downstairs and firmly hit the off button on her alarm clock, deciding that it was time she stopped moping around. Lois Lane wasn't one to lie around in bed all day over some guy. With a heavy sigh, she quickly got out of bed and put on her morning robe before heading down the stairs.

Coming down the last flight of stairs, Lois nearly stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of fresh pancakes sitting on the kitchen counter. She slowly walked into the kitchen, deeply inhaling the scent that caused her stomach to growl with hunger.

"Surprise!" Gwen exclaimed with a grin as she appeared alongside Lois.

"You did all this?" Lois asked, feeling guilty for her behavior the past few days.

"And I even threw in some blueberry," Gwen said with a smile and winked.

"You're spoiling me rotten," Lois said as she walked over to the kitchen counter, instantly poured maple syrup over the pancakes on her plate and opened her mouth to take a bite, only to be interrupted by Clark coming through the kitchen door accompanied by Shelby. Lois picked up her plate with pancakes, glaring down at the dog wagging his tail.

"Don't even think about it," she muttered and exchanged a quick glance with Clark before walking into the living room. She took a seat in the sofa and turned on the TV, digging into her blueberry pancakes.

"I bet you guys must be hungry after your long walk?" Gwen asked, smiling towards both Clark and Shelby.

"Nothing for me thanks," Clark said, nodding at Shelby. "But I think Shelby here is up for some kibble."

"Anything for Shelby boy!" Gwen chirped and pulled out the kibble bag, filling up Shelby's bowl. She walked over and put down the bowl, signing for Shelby to come get his food. He happily strolled over to her, suddenly stopping dead in his tracks and stared at her in silence.

"What's the matter, Shelby? Don't you want some tasty kibble?" Gwen asked and took a step closer to Shelby, causing him to growl while backing away from her.

"Shelby, what's the matter?" Clark asked, frowning, squatting down next to Shelby. The dog growled louder and exposed his teeth, still maintaining eye contact with Gwen.

"Maybe he's not in the mood for kibble," Gwen said and shrugged casually, seemingly unfazed by Shelby's reaction to her.

"Yeah, that must be it," Lois said sarcastically as she stepped up beside Gwen, glaring down at Clark. "Hey, maybe he'd like some fresh air better."

Clark looked up at Lois, knowing she wasn't making a friendly suggestion. At the time being it was probably for the better to put some distance between Shelby and Gwen, but Clark couldn't shake the feeling that something was up. Shelby rarely disliked a person unless he had good reasons to.

"Yeah maybe you're right," Clark said and avoided Lois' stare as he opened the kitchen door, watching Shelby more than gladly run out of the house. After he closed the door, he turned to Gwen with an apologetic expression on his face. Lois couldn't help but notice the smile Gwen flashed back at him, struggling to hold back the grunt bubbling up inside of her. Instead she cleared her throat loudly, getting both Clark and Gwen's attention.

"I think Shelby isn't the one who needs some fresh air," she said. "Looks like it's going be a sunny day. Perfect weather for a run. Excuse me."

Without awaiting for a response, Lois walked past Clark and Gwen and headed up the stairs quicker than anticipated. She heard them started talking just as she shut the door to the guest room, letting out a heavy sigh while gathering her thoughts for a moment. That jealous side of her was starting to rear its ugly head and she wished she could suppress it like she had been doing for quite some time now.

She abruptly shook her head and walked over to the closet, pulling out her sports bra and shorts. She absently minded changed clothing, fiercely pulling up her hair into a neat ponytail. Giving herself a quick once over in the mirror before exiting the guest room, Lois walked down the stairs with a stern look on her face.

"Oh, you're actually going for a run?" Gwen said with a frown at what Lois was wearing. "I just thought you were joking around."

"Hate to disappoint you," Lois said in a defensive tone of voice. "So I take it you're not in the mood to join me?"

"Not exactly, no," Gwen said and shrugged. "I think I'm just gonna hang out with Clark for a while."

In an instant, Lois' felt that twinge of jealousy inside of her when Gwen mentioned Clark. For a brief moment Lois considered actually saying something to Gwen regarding the current situation with Clark, but as usual she instead went into denial. She put on a perky smile and gave Gwen a quick nod.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Well, I better going if I wanna avoid the crazy morning rush of jogging farmers."

"I imagine the roads will be crawling with them," Gwen smiled as Lois walked past her, heading for the kitchen door.

"So you're going out?" Clark blurted out as he walked in through the kitchen door. Lois turned around and shot him a glare, resisting the sudden urge to slap him. He could be surprisingly dense at times that Lois was starting to wonder if he was acting or actually that clueless.

"For a run. Like I said before," she said and swept past Clark, opened up the kitchen door and ran down the porch stairs. She turned on her iPod without even slowing down, instead increasing her speed the further down the road she got. Thoughts were whirling around in her head, creating chaos that not even the loud music could block. She started running even faster, leaving behind a long trail of dust clouds.

TO BE CONTINUED...

(Now the real fun begins!)