Corinne Bailey Rae had been replaced by U2 singing about a beautiful day in Lois's earphones by the time they finally exited the airport. They were quickly spotted by a cab driver who led them to his car and soon enough, they were on the motorway, heading for their hotel through the Athenian night. On the way there, Lois thought about the conversation with her sister a few hours before…

As soon as Clark had left the room, Lucy had reverted back to her previous topic of interest…

"So…you and the farmboy, huh…?"

Oh come on!

"Oh come on!!"

"What? Don't you dare deny this to me! I dare you to say that there is nothing between the Farmboy and you!"

"There is nothing between the Farmboy and me! There, I said it! Happy?"

"I'm surprised you said it with that much ease…"

"…since there definitely is something going on between you guys! So, seriously, on a scale of one to ten, how much does he rate?"

Oh come on!!

"Get your mind out of the gutter girl; you are getting married, for heaven's sake!"

"Ah, you can get the girl out of the gutter, but you can never get the gutter out of the girl, my sister dearest!"

That triggered a fit of laughter that significantly released the tension in the two women, in particular Lois.

"So, since you seem to have convinced yourself that there is nothing between that very handsome young man and you, then I'll go along with this figment of your imagination and ask you why I had to trail you halfway across Europe to find you? If this is not eloping, then what is it?!"

God, they are getting good at this game; first Smallville, now her… It's on!

"I feel in a good mood today so I'll choose to blissfully ignore your ignorant comments and sarcasms and instead enlighten you by providing an answer to your question…"

Not bad Lane, not bad…

"Martha Kent, Clark's mother, is now a senator to the congress and she will be making a European tour next month. As her assistant, I had to come to Europe to make the necessary arrangements. Since I was coming anyway, we thought that the big guy could come too so we extended the journey. And that's that!"

"hmmmm… and who chose where you were going?"

Busted!

"The itinerary was dictated by the various appointments Martha has in Europe, that's all!"

"And she has an appointment here in Venice too? Come on! Who are you kidding?"

She's getting good!

"Ok, I did choose some of the locations, including Venice, but I only did so to make Smallville discover the beauty of this place… I myself have come here before…"

"…I'll make as if I believe what you just said…so you've already gone to Paris, Rome and Venice, so, what's left?"

"Athens tonight and tomorrow, then the Meteora tomorrow night and the day after, and we'll be in London for the last two days …"

"What's the Meteora?"

"That's my little secret! If you're nice, I'll bring you there one day!"

"…So you're bringing Clark to your secret place, a place so secret that even me, your sister, does not know about it?"

Think quick Lane…

"Its not that big a deal! You'll see for yourself when I bring you there…It is a beautiful place, perfect for a small, cosy wedding…where are you getting married by the way?"

Nice and easy…

"You really thought I was going to fall for that lame excuse for a transition? Come on sis, you taught me everything I know, and I know better than that!…"

Busted again…

"…But, since this is a special occasion, I will, once again, indulge into your delusions and pretend there is nothing hiding in plain sight, even though you are visiting the most romantic cities on the Old Continent with Smallville, including a visit to your special secret place, and, last but not least…"

Lucy went to pick up the red underwear again…

"…You're packing up some pretty decent heat down here!"

Lois jumped out of her chair, snatched her underwear and stuffed it down her suitcase…

I'm getting tired of this joke!

"Okay…okay sis, cool down! Damn, you make me think about dad when you're like this! Speaking of dad, you really think he'll be that angry about this?"

Now that was a smooth transition…I'm impressed…

"…Angry is not the word I would have used…Mad would be a more appropriate term…"

What wouldn't I give to see his face when he hears the news!!

"Would you mind videotaping the moment when you break him the news? I'd really love to see his face when he learns that his little girl is getting married! It can also be a useful clue in your future murder investigation…"

Gooood…

"Oh come on, thanks for cheering me up! As witness and bridesmaid, you could at least be supportive of me!"

WTF?!

"…Bridesmaid?…Witness?…Me?"

"Guilty on all accounts! And you don't have the choice! I want you and Clo to be my bridesmaids and I'm going to make sure YOU catch the bouquet!"

Clark's voice brought Lois back to reality and it took her a few seconds to register her surroundings and notice that Clark was talking to her.

"Are you okay Lois? You haven't said a word since we landed almost two hours ago… I was thinking about celebrating this achievement with some champagne, but then I realised that alcohol may make you breathe louder at night and that you may be sick or still recovering from the piece of news you got earlier…"

"Wow Smallville, concern and sarcasm in the same sentence, you are getting good! And as for the piece of news, are you talking about the fact that Lucy's getting married soon or about my red underwear being the subject of your fantasies…? Because I personally can't figure out which one is more disturbing…"

Lois distinctly heard Clark's breath get caught in his throat as she thought that her panties kept popping up in almost all their conversations lately…

"That's what I thought… Now get the suitcases, I'm going to check up our reservations."

With that, she just turned around and walked to the reservation desk, leaving Clark still struggling with his thoughts and the suitcases.

Sitting in his hotel room, Clark was re-reading his favourite poem anthology, waiting for the bathroom to be vacated by its grumpy occupant. She had been grumpy since she had left him with the suitcases outside the hotel an hour ago. Lois being Lois, grumpiness was not really unusual but Clark could not help but wonder what her sister could have told her? Or was it really the red underwear? No, no, no, we're not going there again! Despite himself, Clark felt his cheeks turn red as he fought hard to think about something else; as fate would have it, Lois chose just that moment to get out of the bathroom, hair wet, wearing nothing but a towel. All thoughts vanished from Clark's mind as the curtain next to the bathroom door suddenly experienced a case of spontaneous combustion.

Clark was on his feet the next second and dousing the fire with his jacket that had, the moment before, been lying on the bed behind him; in seconds, the fire was out.

"What the…!? Are you okay?"

Clark begun to turn around to face Lois, but, remembering the reason behind the mini-fire, he kept looking at the curtain as he answered.

"I…uh…uh…don't know…one second everything was okay, and the…the next the curtain was…burning…Are you okay?"

He felt her move closer to him to see the damage done and he cursed his heritage as he struggled to focus on something else.

"Its okay Smallville, don't worry about it, I'll have a word with the morons running this place! Good thing you were here! I never saw anyone move that fast; one second you were there, the next you just appeared here, taking care of that fire! Hell, even the fire extinguishers didn't have time to…"

As if on cue, the smoke sensors chose that moment to finally respond to the fire and activate the fire extinguishers and the alarm, drenching both of them. Clark silently thanked his luck this time as Lois, distracted from her previous line of thought, was now swearing loudly, cursing the poor men who installed the device, the hotel staff and their ancestors; for once, he did not bother telling her to calm down. A quick scan into the other rooms told him that Lois was not the only client in a bad mood anymore.

She may not have been the only client in a bad mood, but she was by far the angriest and the most adamant about the fact that the hotel staff had a peanut sized brain for installing a fire sensor that had a reaction time that was superior to that of a average man, the average man being Clark, of course. She harassed them for 45 minutes non-stop, barely pausing to breathe and to shush Clark, telling him to stop defending the incompetence of others.

During all that time, Clark could do nothing but feel sorry for the poor souls suffering the wrath of Lane because of him, while he cursed his heritage and the fire extinguishers since Lois had not even bothered to change before assaulting the staff members. He was getting more and more irritated with each passing second because he felt guilty about the fire, because he had to look at everything but Lois, because everywhere he looked he saw a some random guy goggle-eyed before Lois's state of undress, and because he did not understand why it irritated him that some average guy was drooling over his best friend. He felt that he was going to explode any second now and was frantically searching for a way to vent his anger. The only positive thing he could see in the present situation was that the hotel staff was so overwhelmed with Lois that they did not even bother to question the source of the fire.

He was so irritated that he did not notice that Lois had stopped speaking, though the fact that the previously goggle-eyed random guys had taken a sudden interest in wall tapestry should have warned him. What did make him refocus and make his anger die with a squeak was Lois's hand on his heart; he turned to look at her and saw everything he did not want to see; she was still angry and there was fire in her eyes but she looked stunningly beautiful with just…Clark clamped his eyes shut while his irritation at the situation began to swell up again.

"Are you okay Smallville? You look like death walking…"

Clark slowly let out a breath and opened his eyes, avoiding looking at Lois and choosing instead to focus his gaze on the hotel staff members. The anger and frustration he was feeling was probably very apparent on his face because he could clearly see the poor guys wincing under his glare. His guilt finally won over his anger and he sighed as he turned away from them and Lois to head towards the lobby, grumbling to himself.

She was quite proud of herself; her insistence the previous day had been rewarded with the hotel president himself apologizing to them (though Clark had looked particularly distressed with that), offering to move them to a 5 star hotel and also offering them a grand tour of the city of Athens.

Sure, she had been to Athens before and she already knew everything that was worth knowing but she was glad that Clark had had the chance to discover the city. Sure, the hotel staff had wrongly assumed that they were a couple and sent them to the honeymoon suite with the heart-shaped bed and the open bathroom (Clark had looked particularly distressed at that too…damn farmboy and his moral values), but on the other hand, they had enjoyed the Jacuzzi (one at a time) and the magnificent view on the city.

She was now sitting on the surprisingly comfortable heart-shaped bed, waiting for Smallville to finish in the Jacuzzi; she had gone first yesterday on their arrival in the room and when she had come out of the bathroom at most half an hour after, he was already asleep, so she had grudgingly accepted to let him go first today after their day-long city tour. He had gone in but not before warning her not to come too close to the translucent partition separating the bathroom from the rest of the suite. The screen prevented Lois from seeing Clark but she could hear him splashing in the water like a kid (it was probably his first time in the Jacuzzi and his muscles were probably sore from sleeping on the sofa the previous night).

She couldn't help but smile at the thought of this innocent mountain of muscles who could easily be a jerk and a jock but instead was a geek. The sight of his pillow on the sofa next to her made her grin as she remembered the previous night; she had woken him up after her Jacuzzi moment but he had doggedly refused to come to sleep in the bed, stating that he preferred to sleep on the sofa because she breathed too loudly (as if the small space that separated the bed from the sofa would really change something, if she did snore, which was a ridiculous notion anyway). Whoever thought chivalry was dead obviously hadn't heard of Clark Kent, for better or worse. She grabbed the pillow to put it back on the bed (they wouldn't be sleeping there tonight) and under it she found a book entitled My favourite Poem Anthology; the name had evidently been written by a child's hand, and, despite looking pretty old, the book was still in good shape. Intrigued, she opened it and smiled at what she found inside; it was a scrapbook of poems that Clark had cut out of books or anthologies or newspapers. Judging from the colour of some of the pieces of paper, some of these dated from at least ten years ago. She flipped through it randomly without recognising any names and finally thought that it would be a good enough excuse to disturb Clark from his bath. She grinned in anticipation of the face he would make while she walked towards the bathroom area, trying to make as less noise as possible.

Clark was enjoying a lot his first time in a Jacuzzi; he had never thought it would be that much fun. He had wanted to try it the previous night, but after waiting for almost two hours for Lois to get out of the Jacuzzi, he had abandoned and fallen asleep on the sofa. She had surprisingly accepted to let him go first today, but he was still a bit wary that she might have some evil scheme in store for him…However, he had to admit that this Athenian excursion that had started so awfully was definitely taking a turn for the better; he had spent an excellent day touring Athens, visiting The Acropolis, the site of the first Olympic Games, the New Acropolis Museum, the new Olympic Stadium. He was impressed by the old and the new alike and was in awe with the fact that each one of theses places had seen so much history being made. Visiting the Parthenon, the place was so amazing that he could almost feel the presence of the gods towering over him; in the presence of so much greatness, Clark, for the first time in his life, felt small. He had loved each and every one of the statues and monuments present in the city, specially the white marble statue of Athena present in the museum. He smiled as he remembered the conversation they had had in front of that statue…

"As you probably know Smallville, this is the goddess Athena, the daughter of Zeus, protector of the city. She was the goddess of wisdom, crafts, such as weaving, and also the goddess of war…"

She said that with a triumphant smile.

I'm impressed…but on second thought, Lois being Lois, she has probably googled it yesterday…

"Gee Lois, how do you know so much?"

Clark just laughed at Lois's smirk before continuing.

"…Seriously, how DO you know so much about Athena…?"

"Who do you think you are dealing with here? You are not the only one having a stockpile of useless knowledge, though you probably have more of that than I do… Besides, we share many common traits, so…"

"Common traits?? With Athena?? Come on! Wisdom? YOU? And about crafts, I never saw you do anything crafty with your hands unless you count picking locks! Regarding war, I have to admit you don't fight like a girl, though I'm not sure it's a compliment, and you never play fair. And last but not least, Athena was a virgin…"

Did I just say what I think I did…? She's looking at me calmly…that's the scariest thing I've ever see…God help me…

"And…?"

"An…and…and nothing…I…I…just…nothing…"

"Are you sure? Because I'd be glad to continue this conversation about my sexuality…and yours…"

As usual, Clark's face had changed to a deep crimson and he had blabbered something unintelligible while Lois laughed and walked away…

Clark smiled at this memory, wondering, not for the first time, how she managed to get under his skin with that much ease…He smiled as he heard her now familiar heartbeat approaching the bathroom…he had gotten used to listening to it over the last few days; he had found that if he concentrated on it, it was soothing enough to make him forget the other sounds and fall asleep; needless to say that he had discovered this technique while trying to avoid her heavy breathing. As he thought about that, he was surprised to find that he knew when she was sleeping or laughing or excited or angry just by listening to her heartbeat… he had not realized that he now listened to it not only to sleep, but at any given moment of the day… For example, he knew she was excited at that precise moment, probably thinking about some mischief to come, while she was advancing towards the bathroom… He was glad that for once someone would not be able to sneak up on him… it would be a good idea to learn to listen around him for heartbeats so as to know when there are people not far or something like that… Could be useful to avoid people listening in or sneaking up on him… He smiled as he heard her gently pushing the screen, her heartbeat accelerating…

Lois was laughing inside, imagining the face Smallville would make when she would surprise him. She had pushed the screen door aside and was now into the bathroom area. She could see his back and he was obviously oblivious to the fact that he was no longer alone in the bathroom and she could barely suppress her excitement; she wanted to scream in anticipation! She had always loved sneaking up on people and since it did not happen often that she managed to do so, she relished this moment…

"What do you want Lois?"

She stopped dead in her tracks. What the…!? How did he know I was here? She was so frustrated that she wanted to scream! Clark turned a bit to see her face and it was clear on his face that he was having a lot of fun! Oh, so you're enjoying this huh? Well not for long farmboy!

Clark was enjoying a lot the mixture of frustration and surprise he could see on Lois's face! He wanted to scream of joy and he couldn't suppress the smile that crept on his face.

"Are you okay Lois?"

It took Lois a few seconds to understand that Clark was talking to her, and when she did, she smiled. Clark immediately recognized that smile; it was the one she kept for special occasions, occasions where she would make Clark regret he had ever been born, like the time in his parent's bathroom, just a few days after they had first met. Lois kept on smiling as she walked to the Jacuzzi and climbed into it fully dressed, without any hesitation! Clark felt his eyebrows rise to his hairline and every hair of his body stand straight!

"B…but…Lois! You have all your clothes on!"

To his dismay, it only made her smile deepen…

"Oh, how cute!? Who would have that you'd want to see me naked that much? Well, okay, if that's what you want…"

As Lois reached for her shirt, Clark felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets. For the second time since their arrival in Athens, his mind went completely blank, and fearing that he might (literally) set her on fire, he immediately shut his eyes. He heard and felt Lois move in the Jacuzzi and he could do nothing but imagine what she was doing, and it made it even worse.

"Are you sure you're okay Smallville? You are all crimson…"

He thought about jumping out of the Jacuzzi and superspeeding out of Europe, but his ego still did not want to acknowledge victory to Lois this easily, so he took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes… to see Lois still fully dressed sitting in front of him, obviously enjoying herself!

"But… you're not naked!"

"Oh, I'm sorry to disappoint you Farmboy, but I think that you have already had enough freebies as such…so now, you gotta earn it to see it sweetheart!" she said grin.

"There's a special place for you in hell, Lane!"

"Well thank you Padre, but I'd really like to know why you turned crimson a few minutes ago… what could you have been thinking about, huh?"

Clark blushed again and just mumbled something from which Lois only understood "evil", "stone" and "butcher". Wondering what those three words could possibly have in common, Lois tried to make herself more comfortable in the Jacuzzi, making Clark less comfortable in the process. She was so happy with her present situation that she even convinced herself that she didn't care about her wet clothes, cold and uncomfortable clothes or about the fact that a naked Clark was more unsettling that expected or about the fact that she didn't want to move too much for fear of accidentally brushing against him or about the fact that she in fact did care about all the aforementioned facts. With all these facts creeping into her mind, Lois begun to loose her good humor and her smile, and fearing that Clark might notice the change and exploit it, she raked her mind for something to talk about. And as it usually happened when she needed it the most (though she silently vowed never to voice that fact), Clark came to her rescue.

"So, why is it you came in here in the first place? Or did you really plan in getting your clothes completely soaked?"

Lois just glared at Clark, who had finally come around to watching her face (and only her face), while she silently thanked him.

"Very funny Smallville! I was just coming to talk to you about that scrapbook of yours that I found under your pillow."

"What scrapbook…?"

"My favorite Poem Anthology…"

"Well its just a random collection of poems that I like…why did you want to talk about it?"

"Well…okay I''ll admit it, I just wanted an excuse to come here… but anyway, judging by your handwriting on this thing, you couldn't have been more than 8 years old, and you already read poetry? At that age…"

"…you could barely read?"

Clark just laughed at Lois's smirk before continuing.

"…I was seven actually and I was quite turbulent according to my parents; I kept running around in the house…breaking…stuff… and the only instructive way my parents found to make me focus on something that would force me to stay in one place was reading aloud in front of the mirror. My mother is the one with the college degree but it was my dad who suggested I read aloud poetry; he was a fan of E.E. Cummings and he passed that love of poetry down to me. In fact, the first poem in the anthology is the poem that my father used as his wedding vows…"

As the last words died in his mouth, Lois cursed herself as she could see the melancholy she had worked hard to erase from his face creep back in. She cursed herself as she imagined the inner workings of his mind, his thoughts going back to his loss, to probably Lana again, and that was making him…smile? Why is he smiling at me?

"Why are you smiling?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"I…I don't know…I thought, you know, that you were thinking about…stuff… that would make you not want to smile…memories…stuff…"

Lois forced herself to stop before making matters even worse but Clark still had a smile on his face.

"Thank you Lois."

Just when I thought things could not get weirder, he thanks me?

"Okay, now this is getting weird! Is the blood getting correctly to your brain or is it getting diverted somewhere else?"

Clark laughed before speaking again.

"I'm thanking you for making me remember all those fond memories I have of my family, of my father. Lately, I've been so focused on my loss that I didn't take time to remember my dad, what and who he was, and that what I'm doing now goes against everything he ever stood for and taught me. Though you may never understand it, I will always feel guilty for his death, but while he would have understood my pain and my loss, he would never have wanted me to give up on everything and everyone around me. I don't know if someone told you about this, but a few years back, I had my…rebel period… and I left the farm to live in Metropolis. I was…not myself during the time I spent there and I did some things that I now regret. It ultimately was my father who came to take me back home; we fought and I said terrible things but he never backed down and never let go of me, until I finally saw reason. It was after this…episode…that he developed his heart condition…"

Lois was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"You are right, I may not understand your guilt but you sometimes have to accept things you do not understand right? Just as you have to accept what you cannot change…"

"All this time spent with you and I never suspected that Lois Lane was a pool of wisdom…"

"I am deceptively wise, Smallville…"

"I am deceived!"

With that, they both had a fit of laughter after which they both felt more relaxed and at ease.

"So do you want to hear it?"

"Hear what, Smallville?"

"My father's favorite poem… his wedding vows…"

"You know them by heart?!"

"Well it is a nice poem…whatever, forget it!"

"Oh come on! Say it Smallville…please?"

"You really are a case…It is called I carry your heart with me…here it goes…

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)"

Both of them kept silent for a few minutes before speaking again.

"Beautiful poem Smallville… probably the most touching vows I ever heard… and just to imagine your dad saying those words to your mother gives me goose bumps…"

She chuckled…

"Look at us, sitting naked in a Jacuzzi half the world away from our home talking about poetry and wedding vows! Who would have thought… Anyway, I bet you are going to use the same wedding vows as your dad!"

"First thing is, we are not naked; you are fully dressed and I am wearing my boxer shorts… is that disappointment I can read on your face Miss Lane? Do you really believe I would trust you enough to get naked in the Jacuzzi?"

Clark took a second to laugh at Lois's smirk before continuing.

"And secondly, no I'm not going to use the same wedding vows as my dad, even the though I like the idea…its just that these words belong to him and I need to say mine…and besides, I've already chosen the poem that will suit the purpose perfectly…"

"Really? Tell me!"

"Lois, its my wedding vows… I'm going to say those words to the woman with whom I'll share my life… do you really want me to tell you those words?"

"Whoa… good reflex Smallville… We don't want to risk that do we!?…So, you've already have the vows, but not the woman? I may be wrong, but the perception I had of things was that it is the person and the relationship you share with that person that is supposed to inspire the choice of words for the vows…right?"

"I may have just the vows and not the woman, but at least I have something…"

"Touché…"

"And anyway, the words are just an expression of how I know I will feel when I will have found the one… It is something I know inside me… My dad told me that he had felt the same with mom… he had chosen this poem long before he had ever met her…"

"Sounds like a fairy tale… I'm sure it will be the same for you Smallville… you'll find a damsel in distress that you'll probably save from her impending doom to the peril of your life and she'll fall head over heels for you and, as in every other fairy tale, there will be a few problems to tackle along the way, like an evil nemesis or a witch, but in the end, you'll just live happily ever after…"

"If there is one thing I know for sure will always be there for me, its your cynicism and uncanny way of getting under my skin…"

"Thank you, I like you too Smallville…"

With that, they both laughed some more before getting out of the Jacuzzi and getting prepared to leave Athens.

TBC