6.45pm

Lois woke up and remembered what had happened with Clark and how amazing it had been. She reached her arm over to touch Clark but there was no sign of him. In fact the aroma coming from the kitchen gave away where he was. He was obviously cooking them a nice meal. Then it struck her, the other side of the bed looked as though it had not been in.

She freaked out. "Clark?"

He ran upstairs as fast as he could without giving away his powers. "Lois, what is it?"

"What are you doing?" she asked groggily.

"Making dinner. You have been asleep for over eight hours. It is probably sheer exhaustion from all the events of the past few days."

"Or the events of this morning anyway?" she teased him, but strangely he was looking at her as she was talking rubbish. "Listen Clark, forget dinner. Why don't you join me?"

Clark laughed loudly. "Is this one of your teases? It won't work."

Lois was getting mad. "Why are you acting all strange and why did you make the bed after you got up."

"Lois, I think you have been dreaming. I checked on you a few hours ago and you were moaning in your sleep and saying something about a massage but I assumed you were dreaming. It seemed to be a good dream." Clark smirked.

Lois suddenly remembered. She had gone to bed to rest her ankle after falling off the horse.

"It must have been a dream." She admitted, trying not to sound to disappointed.

"I bet it was about some gorgeous Swedish male masseuse called Sven."

Lois thought it was better to agree with him. "Something like that!"

"Get ready, Lo. I have made us your favourite fried chicken."

"Mmm...I can smell it. I can't wait. My ankle has swollen up a little, could you help me downstairs." Lois asked.

"I can do better than that." He knelt down on the bed and scooped her up in his arms.

She smiled. She could get used to this. She shook herself and told herself that last night could not happen for real as much as she would have liked it to. She realised last night that anything happening between her and Clark would be on the rebound from Lana. Let's face as soon as he set eyes on her again he would run back as he always did.

Lois had accepted that there was some kind of physical attraction between her and Smallville but embarking on a relationship would end in disaster. She resolved to stop all teasing and just go back to how they had been for past 18 months since she moved to Smallville, but hopefully with less of the banter and bickering.

Clark laid her down on the sofa. "We can eat in here if you like. You need to rest. Do you want me to take a look at your ankle."

"No..." she said putting a cushion on it to cover it up. She then calmed down and smiled. "I am just going to rest it. Anyway I have ticklish feet and you will most likely end up kicked somewhere."

He smiled. "Ok then. Just thought I would offer."

"Thanks for all this Clark. You are a good friend. It means a lot." Lois said.

"My pleasure. I like looking after you."

"Dinner will be ready in 5 mins." He said as he switched the TV on to Dr Phil, her favourite.

Lois did not realise how hungry she was until Clark put the plate in front of her and within ten minutes s she had devoured everything, and she was still licking her lips.

"Do you want some wild cherry or rocky road ice cream for dessert." He asked as he took the plates away.

"I think Rocky Road may be a little safer." She replied cryptically.

Clark sniggered. "I don't have a clue what you are getting at, but never mind."

"Just ignore me. I think that sleep has made me tired. I will probably have an early night." Lois explained.

"Me too." He replied.

8.30pm

"If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. I just wonder how you are holding up about Lana dumping you."

Clark looked pensive. "I am doing ok. It has sunk in now though and it was a bit of a shock. I think I need to think outside the box in future. For the past four years, I have dreamt about a life with Lana. It is a little embarrassing to admit but I even thought about where we might live and get married when we graduated uni."

"There is nothing wrong with that Clark. I wish I had met someone who meant so much to me."

"That's the problem Lois. I have spent all day wondering if I was living in a dream rather than a reality, because even though we have just split up, for the first time I have started to think what life would be like without her in it."

"So you think that you wouldn't have lasted."

"We may have done but it might have been a case of drifting into things because we did not know anything different."

He continued. "Lana has changed since last year. She is obsessed with finding out everything about me. I am a private person but she doesn't respect that. It is so hypocritical of her because she has her fair share of secrets that she hides from me. The difference is I respect that. Do you think I am being unfair by keeping things from her."

Lois pondered the question for a moment. "I think if you love someone that much then you should respect that the person will tell you when they feel ready. To pressure someone just makes them resentful."

"Exactly."

"Anyway Clark I am going to go to bed if that is ok. I will see you in the morning."

He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, Lo and thanks for being a friend."

"You're welcome." She said heading upstairs as quickly as she could so she was not tempted to kiss him...

5.10am

It was pitch black outside but when Lois woke up that morning she was raring to go and could not get back to sleep. She got up and quietly sneaked downstairs. No doubt it was all the sleep she had the previous day. She thought back to her dream and wondered if that was what she was really missing with Clark.

Lois put on TV and all she could find was a soap called Passions, which seemed to be repeated during the night. She did find one of the blond haired actors very cute, but not as cute as Clark. There it was again, she was calling Clark cute.

Twenty minutes later the very man of her dreams, or at least thoughts appeared downstairs. He grabbed some juice out of the fridge for them both.

"Lo, what are you doing up so early."

"I couldn't sleep. Think I got too much yesterday." She added.

"You did sleep for a long time. Why don't you come back to bed." He smiled.

Lois picked up on the silence and the embarrassed look Clark was giving her after making another suggestive comment. "Clark, do you really think there is something between us."

Clark went red. " I wasn't suggesting that you should come to bed with me."

Pity, she thought but covered up her thoughts. "I know that. Just forget what I have just asked you."

Clark stared intently at her. "Do you think that there is something between us?"

Lois was annoyed. Why did he have to answer the question with a question. Maybe it was sign not to probe any further.

"No, of course not. I think we both have cabin fever and are coming up with strange ideas." Lois suggested, hiding the real truth.

Clark relaxed. "I think you are right, the sooner we get out of here the better."

Clark took a seat next to her. "So what do you want to do today."

Lois had put her self defense mechanism in place. "Look, why don't you study. I might just sit and watch a Jaws marathon."

"I've got an even better idea. Why don't I join you." Clark smiled.

"No, I think you should take the opportunity to study." Lois commented.

Clark now realised that Lois was pushing him away for a reason. He needed to respect that there would be nothing between them except friendship.

7.30am
Clark made breakfast and he headed off to the barn to get an early start. As he was walking across, a familiar car caught his eye in the distance. It was Lex's new Porsche. He used his vision to see more and noticed a very familiar occupant sitting next to him – Lana. His hearing was soon tuned into their conversation.

"Lana, everything is going to plan. The devices should be operational by tonight and we will know more."

"I can't wait much longer, Lex. I need to know." Lana replied.
Lex
leaned over and kissed her passionately on the lips. Clark could not believe what he was seeing and hearing, but his concentration was soon disturbed by the sound of a gunshot.

He turned around to see a bullet heading towards a moving target in the far side of one of the paddocks. When he saw a target, he ran to intercept the bullet and then ran back to the place where he had been so no one would suspect his super powers.

"Lois...can you bring the first aid kit and the cell." He screamed back to Lois who had come out when she heard the noise.

Lois soon appeared with a terrified look on her face. Clark was back by Shelby. He managed to deflect the bullet but it ricocheted causing a bad graze to her back leg.

"What happened?"

"One of those bastards shot her." He felt like taking out the gun of the shooter with his heat vision but decided not to.

"She'll be ok." Lois said as she tended to the wound.

Clark rang the Sheriff. "Sheriff, why do you shoot at my dog?" Clark asked angrily.

"The officer opened fire because the dog was heading towards the outer paddock." She replied.

"Shelby was running around but was nowhere near the fence. Please don't try ever do that again."

"And Mr Kent, what are you going to do about it?" Sheriff Adams.

Clark hung up before he said something he would regret. He noticed that Lana and Lex had got out of the car and were stood a distance back from the police. Clark pretended not to see them and used his super hearing.

"Looks like the mutt nearly bought it." Lex stated.

"I can't believe Clark gets so upset over that dog." Lana smirked. "Take me back to Met U. Let me know when the devices are working. I need to know what Clark's secret is even if it kills me."

"I don't know what you expect Lana, he is not exactly going to admit it to Lois is he? Maybe you should face that there is nothing to find out."

"Right Lex. Is that why you have a room devoted to him at the mansion?" Lana gave an evil laugh.

"Well I hope we do find out because it was not easy or cheap to fabricate a virus." Lex replied.

"So are we going to get Shelby back in the house." Lois asked a very distracted Clark. "What are you thinking about Clark. You look like you are on a different planet."

Clark snapped out of it, his mind furiously thinking what he could do. He could not tell the police or they would want to know how he knew.

As he picked up Shelby, Lois could not help but notice what looked like a bullet hole in the bottom of Clark's shirt.

"Clark, what happened to your shirt..." Lois asked.

He looked and noticed the hole. "Ah...mm...I caught it on the fence post when I ran in to see if Shelby was ok."

Suddenly Clark had an idea. He needed help...