"Clark, if you had any sense at all, you wouldn't answer that."

He laughed and answered the phone anyway, but his smile quickly disappeared when he found out who it was. He didn't need to hold the phone next to Lois this time because General Lane's yelling could be heard quite well.

"Did you marry my daughter?"

"No, sir. Yes, sir. I mean kind of, sir."

"Martha Kent called me up and told me our children had gotten married!"

"She didn't know that it was just for a story. It's just as a cover for a married couples-only hotel on a story Lois is working on."

"Are you in bed with my daughter?"

Clark jumped up so fast, Lois almost didn't see him do it. "No, sir!"

"See that you keep it that way, Kent and if you so much as look at my daughter cross-eyed, I'll rip your liver out. See that you get this story done quickly and remember I have eyes everywhere!"

There was a click and dial tone, indicating that he had hung up, so Clark put the phone back on the hook. Lois smiled.

"What?" Clark asked, wondering what she could find funny about this.

"You're afraid of my father."

"I am not," he replied, but he didn't sound very convincing.

"Don't worry about it, Smallville. Braver men than you have lost courage in his presence or phone presence in your case."

"I'm not afraid."

She stood up and patted him on the arm. "You keep telling yourself that. Come on let's go down to the casino."

"I thought you were tired?"

"I was, but I don't want to have to explain everything to every single person who calls. It's possible that the General may have told Lucy and it's more than possible that your mom told Lana."

"Lana? Why?"

"Think about it. She thought we eloped. Your mom doesn't want anyone to get their feelings hurt. She wouldn't have wanted Lana to find out from an unkind mouth and since she seemed busy, she probably hasn't gotten a chance to tell her better."

"Maybe we should go, but if you're really tired, we could just disconnect the phone."

"No, I'm awake now. I'm going to the casino with or without you this time," she said, opening the door.

"I'm coming," he said, following her out.

Lois went into the casino first.

"Okay," Clark said. "Do you want to split up to talk to people and look at the games or-"

"I want to play," Lois said, digging through her pockets for money.

"Lois, be serious."

"I am," she said, finding a little over a dollar in change.

"One game and that's it," Clark said, giving in.

Lois chose a traditional one. She put a dollar in the slot machine and pulled the lever. It came up a lemon, cherries, and an orange.

"That's too bad. You lost and wasted a dollar for nothing. I hope that's taught you something about gambling. You could have brought something useful with it like a drink, but now it's gone forev-What are you doing?" Clark asked, jumping back.

Lois had been digging in his pockets for money.

"I'll win next time. I know it."

"Lois, playing once is one thing but-"

"Just give me a dollar!"

"Don't you want to work on the story?"

"I want to gamble."

"Lois, this isn't like you. What's the matter?" he asked, grabbing her so he could take a good look at her.

"Just let me play the game. I have to."

Clark knew she wasn't joking around. She was still struggling to get out of his grasp. He had to get her away from here without drawing attention to themselves. He spotted a supply closet in the back of the casino. Maybe it would be enough to snap her out of it if she couldn't see the gambling going on. She fought him all the way to the closet, but he kept his arm firmly about her waist. If he hadn't been super, he wouldn't have been able to do it. No one noticed them because they were all into their games. After a few seconds of being in the closet, she blinked a couple of times and shook her head as if coming out of a spell.

"What happened? Where are we?" she asked.

Clark gave a sigh of relief to know it wasn't permanent. "In the casino's supply closet."

She glanced at the decks of cards and picked up a few poker chips from the box and let it slide through her finger back into its container. "I figured that much but how did we get back here? I don't remember it."

Clark almost told her everything that happened but how was he going to explain why he wasn't affected? As long as her memory was foggy about the incident, he could tell her a half truth. "I don't know. I think the room, the machines, or something gives a person the irrepressible urge to gamble."

"I do sort of remember the desire to gamble being overpowering and that's weird. I mean I've gambled before, maybe got a little passionate about it, but I'm not the type to let it take over."

"We knew there had to be some reason the couples were gambling away everything they owned."

"I still don't understand how we were able to escape it."

"Maybe we were looking for chips or something."

"Maybe."

"Lois, do you trust me?"

"Uh…I guess. Why?"

"Play along."

Before she could question him further, his lips crashed against hers.