Beep…Beep…Beep…

Lois watched each individual piece of paper eject from the copy machine. She sat in a hard chair, her arms folded across the back with her chin in her palms. The hallways that contained the forgotten copier was deserted, and Lois was extremely bored. She didn't know how that copy boy could stand doing this every day for minimum wage, and she's never been more glad that she was a reporter and not hired help.

That kid better bring me back that coffee like I told him to… Lois thought as she continued to watch the copier do its job. She was seriously crashing without her caffeine boost and needed a jolt fast, otherwise she wouldn't be able to make it past three. It was only noon.

Lois sighed and picked at a piece of lint on her pants, closing her eyes. She didn't want to be here right now. She wanted to be back in her bed, sound asleep so she could finish that dream. That stupid, pointless, frustratingly wonderful dream.

God, why do I even care so much? Lois thought to herself. Lois, you have to let it go. She knew she had to. She knew it was for the best, and it would be the only way for her to keep herself from getting crushed beyond repair.

But she didn't want to. She didn't want to let it go. She wanted to hold on as tightly as she could without breaking that beautiful, wonderful man.

And that's what scares me…

________________________________________________________________________

Clark sat at his desk, tapping a pencil impatiently. He had an article he knew he had to finish by the end of the day, but he just couldn't concentrate on it right now. His head was too full with thoughts of Lois. He'd only seen a few glimpses of her in the past week, and hadn't talked to her at all. She wasn't answering his calls, texts, or anything else he tried to do to reach her. Clark knew he wasn't exactly Lois's favorite person in the world, but she'd never cut him off entirely like this. And he wanted to know why.

About half an hour later, Clark finally saw Lois emerge from God knows where with a stack of papers that almost entirely blocked her face from view. He could just see the top of her eyes peeking out over the tower as she maneuvered her way through the room to her desk, and had to crack a smile. He watched her come closer and closer, and then she suddenly stopped. Their eyes locked, and Clark thought he saw a hint of fear in Lois's. She hesitated for half a second before dropping the stack of papers on her desk, half of them fluttering to the floor in a haphazard pile. She cursed under her breath and Clark bent down to help her.

"You know, you probably should've made two trips." Clark said with a smile, trying to catch her eye.

Lois didn't look at him. "I can handle it." She was grabbing at papers as fast as she could, as if she couldn't get away from him soon enough.

"Lois, can we talk?" Clark asked once the stack was in neat order again.

"Can't, Smallville, gotta run." Lois said. She made to walk around him, but was cut off by Clark - well, Clark's chest. Her mouth started to water.

"Lois, please?" Clark said softly. Lois finally looked up at him, seeing the desperation in his eyes. She honestly felt a little bad for avoiding him the way she did, looking at the expression on his face now.

Lois sighed. "Ok." She took his arm and pulled him away from all the hustle and bustle into one of the empty offices towards the back, trying not to imagine that arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him… was it suddenly hot in this room?

Clark closed the door behind them and it grew instantly quiet. Lois didn't like quiet. Quiet meant awkward silences, and she couldn't handle those right now. Especially with Clark.

"Ok, you called this little meeting to order. What's up?" Lois asked, crossing her arms loosely.

"I want to know why you've been avoiding me all week." Clark said.

Lois made a little noise. "I have not been avoiding you. Our paths just haven't crossed lately. There's a difference."

"Oh come on," Clark said. "You are too. You've been avoiding me and I'm not going to let you leave this room until I get a straight answer from you." He said firmly.

Lois hated herself for thinking it, but she was so turned on by "forceful" Clark. God…

"Clark, you're just reading too much into this." Lois said. "Seems to be happening a lot lately, doesn't it?"

Oops. That last part wasn't supposed to come out.

Clark paused, noting the uncomfortable expression on Lois's face. "Lois, what are you saying?" When she didn't answer, he continued. "You haven't even looked at me since the wedding. Did I do something wrong?"

Lois wanted to cry, and that feeling didn't come easily. No, you idiot, you didn't do anything wrong…

"Lois?"

"No, Clark." She said softly.

Clark tried hard to piece together the reasons, wishing he understood the female mind a whole lot better than he did. Maybe he'd be having a whole lot more luck right now.

A thought came to him. "Lois, does this have to do with us… at the wedding?"

Lois's eyes snapped to his. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… us… dancing. Are you… uncomfortable about that?" Clark could tell he was getting somewhere now - Lois's heart was racing.

"No! God, no! I mean, please. It was nothing. It was just a dance." Lois said in a rushed tone. She had to dig herself out of this hole before it got any deeper.

"But, I thought there was a moment. I thought you wanted to - " Clark was cut off.

"No! No moment, no nothing! I didn't even have that great a time anyway. Like I said before, it was just a stupid dance!" Lois felt herself tripping over her words, but she couldn't help it. Something in Clark's face changed when she finished, and she was taken aback. He looked hurt.

"You didn't feel anything?" Clark asked gently. "You didn't have fun?"

Lois hesitated. Why was he upset by this? "Clark, don't you think it would be best if we just… forgot about the whole thing?"

A moment of silence passed between them. It had to have been only a few seconds, but to Lois it felt like an eternity. She suddenly realized she was holding her breath.

"Sure." Clark responded. "You're right. Let's just forget it ever happened."

Lois looked at him blankly.

"So, are we good now?" Clark asked.

Lois nodded her head, slowly coming back. "Yeah, of course." She gave his arm a punch and winced slightly. God, he was so hard.

"Good." Clark said. He gave her one of those Kent-smiles, almost melting Lois in the process, and gave her hand a small squeeze before leaving the room. Lois stared after him, relieved that they were talking again. But still she felt an ache that should've gone away by now. For the first time, her and Clark had agreed on something - and she wished they hadn't.