Chapter Three

"What?" Lois had to yell to be heard over the music of the club she was currently sitting in. She hadn't planned it, but after meeting a couple of army guys in the Ace of Clubs, she hadn't wanted the party to end.

A short, dark-haired guy she'd seen eyeing her from the bar had just sauntered over with two drinks in his hands and a telling smile on his face. She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious show of attraction. And he really wasn't all that good looking. But he'd obviously thought she was an easy target. Boy was he about to find out how wrong he was.

"I said…" he yelled back, leaning down close to her ear. "Would you like to dance with me, sugar?"

"Not in this lifetime." She mumbled to herself, then pulled her head back and smiled. "Sugar? Really? Wow, I think you might've swept me off my feet there handsome. Better take it easy." This time she did roll her eyes as she looked away.

"Oh come on, don't be like that." Totally ignoring her sarcasm, he sat down in the booth next to her, effectively pinning her in. The army guys she'd come here with were at the bar getting drinks so she was alone.

She smiled icily at him. "Tell you what, I'm going to pretend that's not your hand I can feel on my leg, and you are going to remove it before I break your fingers. Sound fair?"

He quickly moved his hand, but kept his face within kissing distance. "Come on sweetness, I know you're looking for a little fun."

"Yep, just not with you, I prefer to spend my time with people I actually like."

A frown creased his forehead as he spent a few minutes obviously trying to decide whether she was worth all this hassle. Then he shook his head, mumbling something under his breath, and left her alone.

"Was that guy bothering you Lois?" One of the army men, Dave, asked as they returned.

She took her drink from him and chuckled. "Nothing I can't handle. Now come on, don't make me prove to you guys that I can drink you under the table."

The two burly men shared an amused glance. "Bring it on Lois, let's see what you got."

See, there was a reason Lois had decided to hang out with these two tonight, they weren't sleaze balls only interested in getting into her pants. No, they were like buddies, even though she didn't even know them. But they weren't going to be in the city for long and they just wanted to have a good time, and for now, so did she.

She couldn't explain it, but she felt exhilarated, like she was free. It was strange, and she knew she should be looking into her impostor, but at the moment she was having so much fun, she just didn't care.

She clinked her shot glass against theirs. "Bottoms up boys."

~~~~~~~~

Clark stretched his arms out above his head as the credits started to roll on the movie. Glancing to his left, he saw the reason for why Lois had gone so quiet. She was fast asleep. One corner of his mouth tilted up in a half smile, she looked so…small, curled up like that. Her legs were tucked up underneath her and her head was resting on the arm of the sofa.

Now ordinarily, Clark would never associate the word 'cute' with Lois Lane, but that was what she was right now. In fact, all evening she'd been pleasant to be around, no sarcasm, no banter, and although he enjoyed their verbal sparring more than he would admit, it made a nice change.

He found himself staring at her, unable to look away. When had his feelings for her changed? Or had they always been there? He wasn't exactly sure how he should deal with these feelings, should he tell her? Probably not, she would laugh at him and he wasn't sure he could deal with the blow to his pride.

But then his mind flashed back to the lake that morning, she had been eyeing him as much as he had her. Maybe she was feeling something too. He rubbed his palms on his jeans as pictures of rubbing that damn sun cream onto her back invaded his mind. He could still feel the softness of her skin.

Shaking his head, he stood up and kneeled down in front of her.

Without thinking about it, he gently smoothed a lock of hair out of her eyes and smiled. "Lois. Wake up."

She groaned and turned her head away from him, then winced out loud when she caught her forehead on the arm of the sofa. She muttered something that he didn't quite catch and then her eyes opened and latched onto his.

"Smallville? What time is it?"

"Almost midnight. You fell asleep."

She frowned and looked at the TV which was now turned off. "I missed the ending?"

"You've seen it before. Come on, I think its time for you to get to bed." He stood up and walked into the kitchen to get her something to drink, fully expecting her to tell him she wasn't a child that needed to be told when to go to bed.

Instead, what he got was her yawning, nodding and then standing up. He didn't have time to be surprised, however, because as she stood, her legs buckled and she pitched forwards. Envisioning another trip to the ER, Clark quickly swept in and caught her just before she would've hit her head on the coffee table.

"Uh, thanks." she said, half lying in his arms and making no move to get up. And for some strange reason, Clark stayed like that too. He liked the feel of her in his arms.

Their eyes locked and for a moment, Clark found it difficult to breathe. Her eyes sparkled, like tiny diamonds in a sea of hazel. How had he never noticed her eyes before?

Maybe because she's always rolling them at you?

"No problem, Lois you need to be more careful, you have a concussion, you can't move too quickly."

She smiled up at him and then all of a sudden, her face scrunched up in pain. "Don't move!" she hissed.

He froze. "What's wrong?"

"Stay very still."

"Lois, just tell me what's wrong." he said, beginning to worry.

"Pins and needles, and wow it hurts. My legs must've fallen asleep."

Clark chuckled in relief that it was nothing serious, waited a few more minutes, and slowly stood her up, trying not to move her too much. He'd never once had pins and needles, but from the looks of Lois' face, it wasn't fun. "You okay?"

"I will be in a minute." She winced again as she found a position she was comfortable with, and then again, her eyes met his. "Thanks Clark. I guess that's twice today you've saved my brain from being turned to mush."

His eyes roamed her pale face and he reached up to touch her forehead gently. "Not quite."

He heard her breath hitch in her throat, was she as affected by his presence as he was by hers? It felt like every nerve was alive just by her being so close. Like some sort of magnetic force was keeping him here, he couldn't pull away.

"I guess uh…I should really…uh…"

Clark smiled at the lack of response, she was struggling to form a single sentence so that must mean something coming from a woman who talked so much she could give you a headache. But as he watched her silently, her eyes dimmed a little and he knew he couldn't act on anything. Not tonight anyway. She was clearly exhausted.

"Come on, I'll help you upstairs."

"Where are you sleeping?" she asked as she let him take her hand and lead her to the stairs.

"In my room."

She paused. "Well, uh, where am I sleeping?"

She almost looked a little afraid of the answer, Clark thought. "You'll be sleeping in my mom's room. It's all ready for you."

"Oh, that's good. Thanks Smallville."

"You don't have to thank me Lois, it's what I'm here for." Why was she always thanking him? She never thanked him, well not without grumbling about it first.

Clark walked her to her room and once he was satisfied that she was okay, he said goodnight then went to stand outside on the back porch. He needed to gather his thoughts because they were all over the place. What was going on?

Yes, he'd always found Lois attractive, and yes he did feel something for her. But the question was what? When had that attraction become so strong? When had it all changed?

Feeling more confused than ever because all he wanted to do at this moment was march back upstairs and kiss her, Clark looked towards the sky. Millions of stars twinkled, capturing his gaze. It always calmed him, seeing how many were out there, but tonight it wasn't working. And he had a feeling that the brown-haired beauty upstairs was to blame.

It was the softer side that he'd been seeing a lot of tonight that was throwing him. She just seemed so…different. Where had the hostility gone? The constant swipes and teases. He shook his head, knowing that he was being silly, she had a pretty nasty concussion, of course she was going to be a little out of sorts.

Hesitating only for a second, Clark used his super hearing, and after hearing that she was already fast asleep, he sped off, needing to feel the wind in his hair. Hopefully it would work and he could return home with a clear head.

The following morning, Lois woke up to the smell of bacon and instantly her eyes flew open. She waited for a moment, hoping the pain wouldn't follow the sudden movement and sighed in relief when it didn't.

Throwing back the covers, she reached for a robe and headed downstairs. But she was not prepared for what she saw when she got there. Clark was standing in the kitchen, wearing his pyjamas and his hair was all ruffled. He has sexy bed hair, she thought to herself, standing on the bottom step, watching him as he moved back and forth between the fridge and the counter.

He was dividing the food he'd just cooked between two plates and she noticed that he had one of them and a glass of orange juice on a tray. Her chest fluttered at the obvious gesture and she knew that she wasn't supposed to, but she couldn't help but like the way he was taking care of her.

She'd never really had anyone to do that before, her father was always busy and Lucy was too young. So she'd had to take care of herself. She shifted her weight and the step creaked, bringing Clark's attention to her.

"Hey," he said softly. "I thought you were still asleep."

Pinned under his gaze, Lois swallowed. "Uh, I smelled the breakfast. It smells great by the way.

His gaze swept across the tray, and she thought she saw a hint of a wince on his face. What was that about?

"I wasn't sure if you would be hungry. But since you're up, take a seat. It'll be ready in a second."

She did as he suggested, taking a seat at the table in the dining room. She wasn't used to being taken care of, but as she watched him, she decided she could definitely get used to it.

Back in Metropolis, the other Lois groaned and cracked one eye open. Her head felt like it was going to explode. Though whether it beat her stomach to the punch remained to be seen.

Last night may have been fun, but she was regretting the bet she'd made with those guys now. Though she'd won, it was a small consolation to her. From what she could remember, they'd been perfect gentlemen, insisting on walking her home, making sure she was safe.

At some points of the evening, it felt like they saw her as a little sister type figure, probably because she was a General's daughter, which both irritated and pleased her. At least she hadn't had to fight them off. But in general, she remembered having a lot of fun. Which she had been sorely missing lately. Her job had taken over so much that she barely made time for herself anymore. That had to stop.

She laid there for a while, trying to work out whether she should even bother getting out of bed, but when nature called she knew she had no choice. Stumbling towards the bathroom, Lois did her business, then went about washing her face. The cold water felt so good against her skin.

She pulled the bandage on her forehead off and inspected her wound. It looked better today, not so angry, but it would still need covering for now. Which was a serious pain, she might as well put a sign on her forehead saying 'Please feel free to gawk at me'. Sighing, she shook her head, she needed coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

In hindsight, drinking whilst under the effects of a concussion had been a very bad idea. But it was too late now, the only thing she could do, was get her coffee and go straight back to bed. But as soon as her head hit the pillow, a barrel of thoughts came swirling through her mind.

She couldn't sleep in today, she had a lot of work to do. She still had to figure out who her impostor was, what was she doing with Clark right now? Lois frowned as she realised that thought bothered her a lot. She wasn't jealous or anything, no, it was the idea that he would no doubt be sitting down to breakfast right about now, with a girl he didn't know.

She knew he'd have taken her back to the farm, since that was Clark all over. Mr knight in shining armour. He would've offered to take care of her and it was the perfect disguise wasn't it? Pretend to be his friend to gain entry into his life. She was sure of it. But how could she stop it? No one got to mess with Clark except Lois. That was her job and she loved doing it.

She turned onto her side and closed her eyes, figuring that a couple more hours sleep wouldn't do any harm. And she needed it. But then her thoughts went in a different direction and all she could see was Clark. He was hot, that much she knew since finding him naked in that cornfield years ago.

But his body wasn't the sole reason for his allure, no, it was the way he carried himself too. Sometimes he was the most assertive guy she'd ever met, then others, he was all meek and gentle. He was an enigma, and Lois hated enigmas. But for the first time, she actually found herself wanting to figure him out.

As she drifted back into a peaceful slumber, she smiled, remembering the image of a very naked and very large farm boy.