Chapter 11 - Teasing

Lois walked in and looked about the room. The only annoying thing about having mysterious secret contacts was that you never knew when those contacts would be available to meet. She had been called away shortly after Clark had left and had hastily written him a note before she left. The meeting had been the introduction she'd been waiting for, her contact, introducing her to the guy on the inside. Of course the meeting hadn't gone as well as planned and the guy on the inside had been ambushed outside the warehouse.

If it hadn't been for The Blur's timely presence they would have all been gunned down. Instead they were all alive, all safe, ready to meet again and investigate this Checkmate organization.

Lois spotted Clark on the couch, eyes closed, the television news playing lightly and Shelby with his head buried on Clark's lap. For a moment she lost herself in the idea that it was really part of her own home. Not yet, she reminded herself. Career first, then the home.

Lois gently lifted Shelby's head from Clark's lap, Shelby letting a minor growl of protest out after being woken from his deep doggy sleep but yielded to Lois and relinquished his place on the couch.

She curled up next to Clark and gently whispered in his ear, "Smallville?"

"I'll catch you," Clark whispered sleepily as his eyes opened with a start and he stared into the hazel eyes of Lois Lane looking down at him.

"Dreaming?" Lois asked with a smile on her face.

Clark nodded. "Yeah," he said as he rubbed his face sleepily and shook his head. "Yeah, it must have just been a dream."

"Well," Lois said as she kissed him lightly and stood up. "You deserve a few days of rest after the last two weeks. It was nice meeting some of your family too."

Clark's face made a puzzled expression.

Lois returned the expression. "Your cousin was sweet, weird and strange and well, really odd. He kept referring to now as the steel age."

Clark nodded. "Yeah, he's weird like that."

Lois laughed. "Weird but sweet. I liked him. Maybe he can come for real Christmas next year and bring his friends Imra and Rock."

Clark shrugged. "Maybe? Oh," Clark said as if remembering something. "How did your story go?"

Lois gave him an exasperated look. "I told you, Smallville, this was just a preliminary contact meet and greet. One contact, who knows me and trusts me introducing me to another contact."

"Well," Clark said, "how did the meet and greet go then?"

Lois hesitated for a moment. If she told him someone tried to ambush them after the meeting he'd just get all super protective with her and try and insist on coming with her the next time and putting himself into harms way.

"It was great," she lied with a smile. "Got a possible contact for this hush hush government group."

Clark looked at her with a funny look on his face. He turned away for a moment and then stared back at her. "Good?" He seemed to ask.

Lois nodded.

"Lois you need to be careful. Taking on secret government groups is not a walk in the park. I wish you'd let me come with you next time," Clark said.

Lois sighed. "I'm always careful. Just sometimes being careful, doesn't agree with the truth that has to be exposed."

"But is the truth," Clark asked rather intensely, "worth your life?"

Lois looked at him. His body was tense. "As a journalist, sometimes all we have is the truth. If we can't speak it, what good is it?" She stared at him and waited for him to respond.

Clark simply looked down. She realized he was conceding the argument.

"You know, speaking of truths, I've been waiting for you to tell me something," She said casually.

"Tell you what?" Clark asked.

"Some truths," Lois said flatly.

Clark hesitated and looked as if he would say something and then seemed to bottle it up again. A thought popped into his head and he seemed to take a deep breath. "You know those fantasies and visions you were having?"

Lois nodded curious.

"Those were memories. They were real memories. You may have had a glimpse of a future that occurred when you weren't around to help stop it." Clark sighed.

Lois looked away. Real memories. The images that Tess had given her were real? An alternate future, thousands of other thoughts whirled through her head. She tried to shake away all the thoughts overwhelming her.

"Well," she started and turned back to Clark. "Um, yeah, I was actually hinting at a certain blond female that you know. She's kind of annoying, perky and annoying. The truth along those lines."

Clark gave her a puzzled expression. "Chloe?"

Lois looked at him. "Really? Chloe? Chloe, my cousin who can bring a heavy dose of reality to most situations, almost like an anvil falling on your head. But I don't think perky would be the verb of choice I'd use to describe her."

"I don't know any other blondes other than Kara?" Clark said.

Lois shook her head. "No, the certain offer you got from a certain blond in a certain little dress that she stole from me?"

Clark shrugged again, "I have no idea who you're talking about. I don't know any blonds and come to think of it, Chloe's not even a natural blond. She told me that once."

"Forget about Chloe, Smallville," Lois said with a sigh. Sometimes he really enjoyed playing dumb. "You're going to play it like that?

Clark threw up his hands. "Play it like what, Lois? I really don't know what you're talking about."

Lois sighed. "A certain, annoying blond, who was giving you offers, offers and she's been trying to lure you away from your job."

Lois stared at him a moment.

Clark's blank expression suddenly changed. Lois smiled as realization dawned upon his face and she raised her eyebrows at him.

Clark's eyes grew wide. "Oh. Oh. Right, I know what you mean now."

"And?" She asked as she crossed her arms. "I've sat on this for a while, and I wasn't about to make a scene with your cousin here. But I think you owe me an explanation, don't you?"

Clark sighed. "Oh, it was nothing that serious, Lois. She just wanted me to help with a holiday show, she thought I'd look cute in a Santa cap."

Lois thought about Clark dressed as Santa, playing with children bouncing on his knee, then thought of herself on his knee, Clark determining whether she'd been naughty or nice and oh my God. She shook her head trying to clear her head of that fantasy. Remain on the offensive, Lane!

"Well, I'm sure you'd look adorable in a Santa cap," Lois said as her voice dripped with annoyance. "But Cat is out of her gourd crazy. Number one, she's crazy if she thinks I'm going to tolerate her calling you, Clarkie. If anyone is going to call you that, it's only me."

Clark laughed and Lois smiled at him in acknowledgment of the scrapped name for Shelby.

Lois' expression grew concerned and she looked at Clark carefully. "Second, if she thinks she's going to lure you away from the Daily Planet, she's insane right?"

Clark grinned. "Well, yeah, it has the best coffee sludge in Metropolis, and I've finally learned to stomach it, and it would be a shame to have to get used to some other office's coffee."

Lois sighed. "But they offered you more money."

"Life isn't about money," Clark said.

"But it was not just more money, it was over ten times what you could make at the Planet in five years." Lois said.

Clark shrugged. "I would be an integral part of the show, and they wanted me if they were going national. Going national would have been moving away from here. My home is here."

"Why would you turn down that opportunity, Clark?" Lois asked as she tilted her head to the side and stared at him. "It's a great opportunity, a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I know. Why would you give that all up?"

"I don't know, Lois?" Clark turned around and then turned back to her. "My heart wasn't in television. I'm a journalist. Nothing is more important than uncovering the truth and delivering it to the people of Metropolis."

Lois eyed him, studying his face carefully.

"Smallville, you're lying," she said.

Clark shook his head. "What? No." Lois nodded at him again and he sighed. "How'd you get that?"

Lois looked at him. "Number one, you're a good journalist, but your heart residing in journalism? You're still getting there. You're holding back on really delving into the truth."

Clark thought it over for a second and conceded the point. "Number two?"

Lois smiled. "Just something you do with your face when you are trying to find the words. You know, like, 'I had to go check on the dry cleaning.' I just know you."

Clark sighed. "Number three?"

Lois shrugged. "There is no three. I only need the two reasons to pick up on your behavior."

"Well," Clark said as he looked up towards the ceiling. "There was a real reason I couldn't leave the Daily Planet."

"Which was what?" Lois asked.

"That was your gig," Clark said as he pointed towards Lois. "You dragged me to it, I did it for you. I did it to try and show you I'm willing to humiliate myself on television in order to prove to you that I was worth that second date."

"Yeeeaaah," she said slowly sizing him up and unsure of his admission.

Clark sighed. "They wanted me," he said pointing to himself. "And they wanted me to leave my job."

"So?" She asked in defiance. "They were offering a much better deal, you wouldn't have Cruella De Vil looking over your shoulder all the time as well." Lois stopped for a moment to think of all the times she'd caught Tess skulking around Clark. She really seemed a little too interested in his business for Lois' liking.

"But I would have had to leave you behind, Lois," Clark said as if it pained him to even think the thought. "And I am at the Daily Planet because of you, Lois." Clark hesitated for a moment and then continued with a smile. "I came back for you, I wasn't about to leave my future," he stopped and swallowed. "Um, my future Bernstein behind."

"You didn't want to leave me behind?" Lois asked in a whisper.

Clark shook his head. "I'd never."

"You're amazing Smallville." She swallowed. "Although, I'm more Woodward and you're more Bernstein."

Clark looked at her puzzled. "You called me a real Edward R. Murrow last week though?"

"That was supposed to be an insult, Smallville." Lois thought about the denied dinner award show. "Edward R. Murrow and I aren't on speaking terms." Lois shook her head. "Anyway, do you want to be part of my team or not, Smallville?"

Clark smiled. "I'm here aren't I?"

Lois crossed the room over to him. She kissed him softly, as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I know your other secret though, too," she whispered into his ear.

Clark coughed. He turned and looked at her. "Which other secret?"

She reaches out, and begins to unbutton his shirt. "The Blur."

Clark looked at her guiltily. "Who would have thought Clark Kent was secretly wearing this under his shirt?" She asked as she pulled his shirt open. "I knew you had more than one."

The black t-shirt with the silver S stared at both of them.

Clark swallowed and opened his mouth.

"Lois, I," he stopped and didn't seem to have words to explain himself.

"Wait," Lois said before he could continue. "I want to show you something, too."

Lois unbuttoned her blue blouse slowly. Clark stared at her in confusion as she finished with the last button and opened her shirt. Underneath her blouse a very similar black t-shirt in a smaller size with a silver S stared at them both.

Clark had a puzzled expression on his face. Lois grinned widely.

"We are so in synch, we both have Blur shirts," Lois said enthusiastically. "It's like we're a real couple, with similar interests. It's such a relief, that we're both really fans of something similar. I mean Superheroes are an odd joint interest, but he is so amazing, and he's saved me several times. I'm good friends with him actually, Smallville," Lois rapid, rambling speech came to a halt momentarily. Clark stared at her in disbelief and blinked three times. "Maybe I could introduce you to him someday. But definitely after I get my exclusive interview with the city's reclusive super hero."

"Really? That would be interesting," Clark said and rubbed his hand thru his hair.

"The one thing I don't get," she looked down at his shirt, rubbing her fingers over the S pattern. "I think you got ripped off, Smallville."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked confused.

"Look at my shirt," Lois said as she grabbed his large hand, a momentary flash of him holding her on a bed, fingers tearing open her blouse. She shook away the memory. "Um," she traced his fingers over her chest over her S, feeling his finger moving over her chest and sighed happily. "Mine is silk screened on. It's authentic."

Clark gave her a perplexed look.

She nodded. "Yours is obviously a cheap knock off from Suicide Slums or something. You wash it once and the magic marker used to make that design is going to wash off. Or it will fade."

He blinked in disbelief and thought about it for a moment.

"I guess you're right, Lois. Whoever made this didn't know what he was doing. And maybe he even used a magic marker to draw the symbol on," Clark admitted.

Lois kissed him softly. "And?"

He sighed, "And maybe I got ripped off."

Lois kissed him again. "And?"

"Maybe I should borrow the shirt off your back?" Clark asked.

She kissed him a little deeper. "And?"

"Maybe I should rip it off?" He asked with a wicked smile.

Lois gasped and pulled away sharply and clutched at her shirt. "Oh, don't you dare do that. It's my second favorite shirt."

Clark frowned. "Second favorite?" he asked confused.

Lois nodded and smiled. "Well, second favorite to my Maximum Destruction t-shirt."

Clark scowled as he gazed at her and titled his head as he asked in exasperation, "The Blur loses out to a truck?"

"Maximum Destruction is more than just a truck, Smallville," Lois tried to explain. She sighed as Clark's face registered little recognition. She sighed, thinking to herself it was like teaching a cow how to fly.

"Maximum Destruction represents so much more than just a truck. It's a dream. It's a legend. It's part of America. It literally is the American dream come to life, shaped in fire, constructed of steel, it is the future of all that is good in the world."

Clark ran a hand thru his hair and thought over her words for a moment. "But he just crushes other trucks? What lesson is that? Squash the competition and the helpless other vehicles and you win?"

Lois scoffed. "Duh. You don't just win. You win the Indianapolis Monster Jam and take a decisive lead in the Monster Jam standings."

Clark shook his head. "I still can't believe that was our real first second date."

Lois dismissed his words with a wave of her hands. "And the Blur is amazing, but he's not the guy who stayed with me three extra hours after Monster Jam ended to interview Tom Meents, the driver of Maximum Destruction and a gifted athlete."

"Well, yeah, I'm the guy who sticks around. I'm always around, Lois," he whispered into her ear. Clark hesitated for a moment but then said, "Lois, I don't think you can justify calling someone who drives a car as being a true athlete," Clark voiced cautiously.

Lois' cold stare made Clark close his mouth. "Smallville, I'm going to ignore that statement on the basis that you'd like to stick around and see another Christmas in your future."

Clark weighed his options. "Tom Meents is an Olympic caliber driver?" He asked cautiously as Lois nodded in approval. "He is one of the finest individuals the world has ever seen. And I would gladly wait with you again, so you can," Clark made quote gestures with his fingers, "interview him."

"Are you making fun of my interview tactics?" Lois asked crossing her hands over the S on her chest.

Clark shook his head. "No. But having him autograph about fifteen different items of memorabilia does not count as an icebreaker or off-the-record activities." Clark kissed her forehead. "But your interview was good. Brady had to run the story because it was so well written."

A soft laugh escaped Lois' lips as she squeezed Clark's hand tight. "That's better."

Clark took a step towards her, embracing her again. "Now what kind of athlete does it take to remove that shirt?"

Lois smiled. "A former all-state championship quarterback," she whispered as Clark's hands slid under her shirt and lifted it above her head. He kissed her neck and moved down her chest and stopped for a moment. Lois looked down to see Clark holding her necklace in his hands.

"I knew you wouldn't have left the Planet," she said as she ran her hands thru his hair. Clark looked up at her and her hand wrapped around his holding the bullet necklace. "You wouldn't have left your heart behind."

Clark chuckled.

"I still enjoy giving you a hard time though." Lois kissed him again running her hands under his shirt as his fingers undid her bra.

"I can give you a hard time right back, Lois," Clark lustily said as he held her close and kissed her.

"You're welcome to do so anytime, Smallville," Lois said lustily back.

Clark lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder as Lois gave a playful shriek of protest.

"What are you doing, Smallville?" Lois asked with a giggle.

Clark marched up the steps carrying her. "Well, taking you someplace to give you that hard time, Lane."

Lois felt her stomach flutter as he gave her behind a playful swat. "You're in for it now, Smallville."

"I can't wait," Clark said as he closed the door behind them.

THE END

[A/N Hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed doing the research, and writing it. Thanks for taking the time to read it.]