"You know I love you, right?"

Clark looks up from his spot in front of the shelves where he's trying to decide where to put the books in his hands, incredible blue eyes staring at her.

"I mean, I love you - Clark Kent," and she could kick herself. Go ahead Lane, try and be even more inarticulate.

His expression goes from confused to amused, and he smirks.

"Well, considering we're currently in the middle of unpacking in our new apartment, I figured you quite liked me, yeah."

"No, I mean, you know - you," and she can't believe that on top of everything, she's suddenly feeling a little nervous. Maybe not nervousness per say, but a need to make sure he understands - and that is making her look a bit stupid, at the moment.

"Well, I love you too," he says, and he's barely stopping his chuckle. "But I do think we'll have to stop the flying cessions: the long-term effect is a bit worrying," and she really is desperate, because she doesn't even want to send him a death glare.

"I mean, I love you for you, not just for the all Superman thing - not for that at all, actually. I guess you doing that make me love you even more, and it sounds stupid, because in the end, you're the same person."

She's babbling now, she knows it - and that is so not her, it angers her even more. She closes her eyes to clear her head, cursing herself. "Anyway. I just wanted to make sure you knew."

Lois knows it sound stupid. It does, especially when explained oh so clearly, but she just needs him to be aware of it. She doesn't know what brought that up now, but she figures the article she just came across in his boxes, the first one she wrote about Superman and that he confessed he couldn't resist keeping, has something to do with it.

He knows how much she admires and respects Superman, but what she really wants him to know is how much he counts - him, not just what he does.

He's smiling now, the way she has only seen him do around her, so far (and God, how much she hopes it stays that way), "Yeah, I know."

Smiling back, and with her stomach doing that jump thing inside again, she turns back to her unpacking.