A/N This is it folks, finale time! I'm sorry it's taken so long but meh, what can you do? I hope you've all enjoyed the ride and thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Magnetism

Chapter 10

Lois paced the length of the barn, her hands rubbing at her arms in an attempt to stave off the chill of the early autumn evening. She could have gone up to her room and got a jacket, but she hadn't been back into the house since leaving Clark there earlier and she had absolutely no intention of returning there any time soon. She'd sleep out here tonight if she had to, she wasn't going anywhere near the comatose Kent.

"Hey, Lois."

The soft voice sounded behind her and she jumped, damn it, make that the not-so-comatose Kent.

"H-Hi." She fought not to roll her eyes at her own lameness, so much for being unaffected by him.

He smiled softly, the warm colours of the setting sun bathing him in a cosy glow, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" This time she did roll her eyes as her voice sounded at at least three octaves above normal. She broke his concerned gaze and took a few steps away from him, "I just... I'm a little thrown that's all."

"Why?"

The gentle concern in his voice soothed her shredded nerves somewhat and encouraged her to push forwards, "It's just, all that talk of destiny in the cave when you weren't quite all there," she tapped her temple and quirked a half-hearted smirk, "and now I realise that you're the man from my recurring dream, I guess I just don't know where we stand, or what to do with myself." She plopped down onto a bench, "I've never really been one to believe in destiny but it seems inevitable." She picked up a wrench and twiddled with it, anything to keep from gazing up into his eyes.

"Me neither." He sat down next to her and watched the wrench as it tumbled skillfully between her fingers, "At least I don't want to." He thought back on his defiance of Jor El and the consequences that defiance had prompted. "I believe that I can carve my own history into the walls of that cave, alongside what my father had intended for me; there's no reason why we can't control our own fate, otherwise what's the point of free will?"

Taking courage from his words, Lois finally looked up and met his eyes. There was desire smouldering in their green depths definitely, but there was also determination, strength and a will to be stronger than the future laid out for him.

"My father took me, trained me, told me of the purpose of my being sent here, but he forgot one thing."

Lois swallowed, "What was that?"

Reaching out tentatively, Clark touched her jaw lightly, "I am my father's son," Leaning forward slowly, his gaze went to her lips and his voice lowered to a husk, "I feel." Encountering no resistance to his slow advance, he closed the gap between them and touched his lips to hers.

Lois gasped in surprise at the warmth that flooded her from the simple touch of lips against hers. It was a chaste kiss and he quickly withdrew, leaving her lips tingling and a warm pool gathering in her belly.

"I won't push you, Lois," his voice was nothing more than a whisper, a gentle caress of his mouth against the air but it sounded like a foghorn in her ears, "but I want you to know all the facts before you make a decision." He paused and took a steadying breath before continuing, "I am falling in love with you, of that I have no doubt," she gasped again, her teeth latching onto her lower lip, but she remained silent, allowing him to say his peace, "but it has nothing to do with what my father intended for me. His intention was to make me into a defender of the planet he grew so fond of, of the planet he and my mother saw so much potential in, and I have every intention of carrying out his wishes in that respect;" His eyes hardened, "but I will not be told who I can and cannot love." He gazed deeply into her eyes, "When my father visited this planet he became deeply involved with one of Lana's ancestors; I believe that the 'Fated' he referred to in the cave paintings was actually Lana, that in his eyes, our coupling would provide some sort of cosmic continuity." He watched her absorb the information and then dropped his bombshell, "But the fact of the matter is that it was you who saw what the symbol meant; Lana has been down to those caves hundreds of times and she's never realised what it meant."

Her eyes widened, "But, that would mean..."

Clark pushed on, his heart beating a mile a minute, "Chloe told me that when Lara was acting through her, she told her that it was you who would be my balance, not Lana. Jor El left the messages as a set of instructions, there was no destiny involved." He took her hands and looked deeply into her eyes, "I may not believe in destiny, but I believe in what I feel."

Lois gulped at the intensity in his eyes, he wasn't kidding. She couldn't do this, she couldn't be worthy of him, of what he was offering; she took a breath and prepared to shoot herself in the foot, "Clark, look I-"

He cut her off, didn't give her the chance, "Lois, I love you."

Lois' heart stopped dead in her chest. Up 'til now had been all talk, discussion on the nature of fate, speculation on a deeper emotion that existed only in her imagination; but hearing the words made it real. Her heart re-started with a thud and she went weak all over, "Oh God."

"If you can't feel the same then I'll accept that, I just wanted you to know; this has nothing to do with my destiny and everything to do with... with..." he trailed off as her mouth twitched, her lower lip becoming tremulous. His eyes widened and he rushed to soothe her, "Lois, Lois I'm sorry, Jesus," he gathered her into a hug, her small form enveloped within his huge arms, "I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm sorry, I-I'll go." Extricating himself from her, inch by aching inch, he pulled free and stood to leave. He looked at her, burning the image of her onto his retinas, then fled the barn.

.&.

Chloe approached the barn with cautiion; once she'd managed to stop Clark's gibbering enough to get what had happened out of him, she'd set off to mend her cousin, and to fix this whole ridiculous situation.

"Lois?"

The name echoed around the barn and Chloe gravitated towards the answering sniffles. Finding her broken cousin hunched over on a bench, she sat next to her and draped an arm around her. Lois immediately grabbed her in a tight hug and began talking, her words spewing forth so quickly into Chloe's jumper that they almost became one,

"Oh God, Chloe, what am I going to do? He loves me... Jesus, he loves me... and I think I love him too, but he's so powerful and untouchable and he has this amazing destiny all laid out for him and all I'm good for is talking too much and winding him up, how could I possibly be worthy of that? I always say that the guy I eventually fall for will be perfect, and he is perfect, how do I deal with that? I'm all talk, he's all action, how is that supposed to work? Oh God, I do love him, Chloe what do I do?" She looked up at Chloe with large, watery eyes and Chloe smiled softly,

"You could try talking to him. You're very good at that as I recall."

"I can't."

Chloe frowned, confused, "Why not? Surely you're not scared of him?"

"I can't because..." she squirmed and Chloe did a double take, she actually squirmed! "I can't because now I know how he feels and I know how I feel, all I want to do is kiss him."

Chloe smirked, "Then kiss him!" Amazing, only Lois Lane could make a mountain out of a mole-hill when it came to the opposite sex. She stood, dragging Lois with her and headed back to the farm house, this had gone on long enough. Once she got through the front door, she felt Lois go stiff in her grasp as Clark came into view; he likewise locked eyes on Lois and went completely still. Chloe valiantly fought back an irritated grimace and pointed at Clark, "You. Go to your room." Clark blinked at the order but once he saw the fire in Chloe's eyes, did as he was told and bolted up the stairs. Dragging Lois to the kitchen, Chloe thrust a glass of water into her hand and commanded, "Drink." Lois had reverted to a child-like mode and followed instruction. Once the water was gone, Chloe grabbed her again and dragged her towards the stairs; Lois jolted back to reality,

"Where are we going?"

"To sort this out, you two are giving me a headache." Fueled by righteousness, Chloe found the strength to force her physically superior cousin up the stairs and into Clark's room where he was obediently waiting. When the two women entered the room, he shot to his feet from where he had been perched on the edge of his bed. Depositing Lois in the room and putting herself between them and the door, Chloe said, "You two will work this out right now. Clark you love Lois, Lois you love Clark," the latter's eyes flew to the former's in surprise, "this really isn't rocket science. Now, I'm locking the two of you in here until you sort through whatever is making this so insanely difficult." With a parting grin and a flourish, Chloe slammed the door shut behind her and turned the key in the lock.

They looked at each other nervously for a long moment before Clark took the plunge and shattered the silence with little more than a murmur, "You love me?" He couldn't keep the wonder from his voice.

Lois blinked, unable to form a coherent response just yet, she was still absorbing it herself.

Clark, emboldened by this new knowledge, crossed the room to her and took her face in his hands, "Do you?"

She blinked again and took a breath, words still failing her. Gazing up into his eyes, she lost herself in the moment of suspense as the room dissolved around them until all she was aware of was Clark and his hands on her face. She swallowed and slowly tilted her face up to his, actions succeeding where words failed as she captured his soft, full lips in a slow, tender, exploratory kiss.

Clark sucked in a heated breath as Lois kissed him and struggled not to immediately deepen it, he had accepted the way he felt towards her weeks ago but she was still adapting, he had to let her set the pace or risk scaring her off forever.

Forever; that had a nice ring to it.

Lois slowly let the heat of him penetrate her through their joined lips and as she stepped closer, bringing their bodies flush together, she pulled in a breath, his scent filling her senses and sending them reeling as she finally gave in to what was clawing at her gut. Threading her fingers into his hair in a deceptively tender gesture, she pulled his head roughly closer and thrilled in his pleasured growl as he intensified the kiss, his tongue thrusting between her lips as they parted eagerly for him.

Clark groaned as she pushed further into his embrace, pressing her breasts against his chest and rubbing against the rapidly hardening length in his trousers. His arms came fully about her and he pulled her off her feet to toss her down on the bed, quickly following to stretch out on top of her, one thigh slipping between hers as he re-captured her lips.

Lois' head was spinning as her heart threatened to burst from her chest, this felt so right, why had she been fighting so hard against it? A large hand slipped under her t-shirt and she gasped as masculine fingers glided up smooth skin towards her breasts which were straining against their restraint, longing to be free. He obliged and she moaned into his mouth as he gently cupped and teased their softness, the combined heat of his hand and softness of her clothing quickening her pulse as a bolt of heat shot through her.

Clark tried to steady his breathing as a small, feminine hand crept under his shirt to trace the taut muscles of his back; the hand slipped between them to reach into his trousers and he tore his mouth free to groan, open-mouthed into her neck as she gently fingered his satiny length. Suddenly both hands were pushing against his chest and he rolled, allowing her to move atop him. Straddling his hips, her eyes locked on his, she smiled, a wide, genuine smile and his heart soared, she didn't need words, he knew. Sitting up to kiss her happily, he was soon swamped by the heat of the moment and literally tore her clothes away from her with a growl until she was gloriously naked. She broke the kiss, pushed him back down, put her hands on her hips and smirked down at him, "This is hardly fair." He grinned and lifted her from her position, slipped out from under her and stood where she could see him slowly dispense of his own clothing.

Propping herself up on one elbow, Lois licked her lips as he slowly stripped for her, each movement exposing more and more deliciously solid, muscled body. Once he was as naked as she and stood before her, fire blazing in his eyes and muscles jumping in his jaw, she rose onto her knees and beckoned to him.

.&.

Chloe exited the hallway area with a grin as soon as the soft moans and heated growls began filtering through the door. She went downstairs to grab a cup of tea to soothe her stretched nerves and was just pouring the hot water into the teapot when rhythmic thumping sounded through the ceiling. Putting down the kettle, she threw a half-disgusted glance at the ceiling and tried to ignore it, she really wanted this tea. She had just managed to filter out the sounds when a loud feminine cry made her jump and spill tea all over the table top, "Damn it." She began mopping up the mess while drinking the remainder of her tea when another cry, this time male, broke through the ceiling,

"Ungh! Oh God, Lois!"

Chloe snorted tea everywhere, dropped her cup and raced from the house, her fingers wedged firmly in her ears.

She did not need to hear that!

FIN