CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - LANA LANG

The day before Christmas Eve passes incredibly fast, and Lois soon finds that the holiday has actually arrived.

It's another day that she unintentionally sleeps late, and she wakes to the sound of Clark knocking persistently on her door. She grumbles and curses at him in her lethargy, and she can actually hear him snort with amusement from the other side.

It must be the lack of city sounds, she realizes. Normally, car horns and emergency sirens are her morning serenade, forcing her out of even the deepest of sleeps. But in Smallville, there is complete and utter silence during the night or the morning - barely even the sound of wind. She expected that there might be a rooster or something to wake her, but apparently the Kents only have female chickens, so no such luck.

Plus, the food in the Kent household is so good that it makes her unbelievably sleepy, so it's no wonder that she can hardly wake up in the morning.

After dressing, she comes downstairs at around eleven again. This morning, she is greeted by the somewhat odd sight of Clark in a somewhat tight sweater and baggy sweatpants, which is an outfit that is a lot more casual than she is accustomed to seeing on him. At this point, he is not even wearing a hat - just the glasses pushed almost haphazardly up on his nose, barely concealing those otherworldly eyes of his.

He is working in the kitchen with his mother, cooking. Whatever it is that they are making, it smells delicious.

Lois clutches her stomach exaggeratedly as she comes to sit at the table, where there is a plate of warm waffles waiting her. "I am going to be morbidly obese by the time we go back to Metropolis."

"Melodrama, melodrama… " Clark murmurs over the sound of something sizzling on the stove.

Lois sits up. "Excuse me. What was that?"

Clark turns to her briefly to grin. "Nothing."

"Martha, I think your son was making fun of me. Ground him or something."

His mother chuckles. "We can always make him do plenty of chores."

"Give him all of them. Even the worst ones. Make him clean out the chicken poop, or something."

"Oh, they already did," Clark tells her. "What do you think I was doing while you were sleeping?"

"Oh so that's what that smell is, huh?" Lois jokes. "You're lucky that the aroma of Martha's amazing food mostly covers up the stench."

"I showered, okay? Jeez."

"Snippy tone. Ground him again, Martha."

She does not look up from her cooking. "I'll ground you both, since you're both acting like children."

As Lois tries really hard to avoid thinking about the prospect of Clark in the shower, in the bathroom only a few feet from where she sleeps, someone knocks at the front door of the house. Lois looks over at Clark and Martha, who both seem absorbed in their cooking work.

"I'll get it for you guys," she offers enthusiastically, leaving the table. "Least I could do."

"Thank you!" Martha calls.

Lois reaches the door, and after fumbling with the Kents' antique-seeming lock-and-chain security system, it finally swings open.

On the other side stands a woman with wavy, shiny red hair that could probably make Jimmy Olsen's look dull. She is wrapped in a heavy winter coat, and the cold air seems to have flushed the pale, freckled skin of her face. As far as Lois can tell, the woman is very beautiful, with big green eyes and a kind-looking face. That means that she can only be one person.

"You must be Lois," she says, shifting the boxes of wrapped gifts in her arms. "I'm an old family friend of the Kents'. My name's Lana Lang."

Lois doesn't get a chance to greet her back, because a few moments later, Clark is moving from the kitchen, calling "Lana?"

He is then pulling her into his arms. It ends up being one of those cliche sort of spinning hugs, which has them both laughing at the end, despite the fact that Lana has to drop all her presents on the floor.

"God, how long has it been?" Clark says as he sets her down and proceeds to pick up the boxes.

"Too long," Lana says. "Martha invited me over for Christmas Eve ages ago, before she knew you were coming back, so I figured I'd sneak in a visit-"

"Oh yeah. Definitely!"

"I've been keeping up with your articles, by the way. That's some real crazy stuff you've been-" She stops short with a look at Lois and seems to change what she was about to say. "-writing. Good stuff, though."

Oh god. Lois knows that look - it's the same one the Kents use whenever they almost say something that reveals Clark's powers while in Lois's presence. Does Lana know his secret? And does Clark know she knows? And was he the one who told her?

Lois supposes it makes sense. Lana is supposed to be his closest friend, after all. And as far as she knows… the only girlfriend he has ever had. But if he told Lana… does that mean that he trusts her more than he trusts Lois? It's a stupid, jealous thought that she hates to have, but she's only human, and more than anything, she hates being lied to.

"Thanks, Lana," Clark replies with a grin. "You're real early, though. Ma and I are cooking and Pa is doing some sort of… barn inventory or whatnot. He refused to let me help."

"That sounds like him. Stubborn."

"To the core."

"Must be where you got your stubbornness from."

"Probably. Doesn't explain where you got yours, though."

"Guess I just spent too much time with you."

They both turn to Lois again, as if they have suddenly remembered that she is in the same universe as them, if not the same house.

"Lois," Clark begins. "This is my best friend, Lana. Lana, this is my friend from work, Lois."

Lana extends a hand for her to shake, and Lois does so with as much enthusiasm as she can manage. Right now, Lana looks like she just stepped out of a wintry beauty parlor, while Lois knows that she looks like she just rolled out of bed and threw on sloppy clothes - which is fitting, since she actually did. Normally, she doesn't care that much about how she looks… but suddenly she feels like she is under a microscope. And she shouldn't… but it's hard when your dream guy's beautiful ex is in the room.

"You know, you're practically a celebrity around here," Lana says unexpectedly. "I remember Clark used to fawn over your articles all the time, back when he was job hunting-"

Lois blinks. "He… what?"

Clark's eyes widen. For some reason, he suddenly drops the presents back into Lana's arms. She shoots him a surprised, dirty look as a result.

"Why don't you put those under the tree, Lana. Right now," he says quickly. "Lois has waffles to eat-"

"Hold on," Lois says, raising her index finger to silence Clark, then turning to Lana. "He used to fawn over my articles?"

She grins. "All the time. It was, 'Lois Lane says this,' and 'Lois Lane says that' twenty-four hours a day around here. He used to read your stuff more than most folks read the bible, whining about how much he wanted to work with Pulitzer journalist Lois Lane-"

Clark's face is red as a tomato, and he is staring determinedly at his toes with an absolutely mortified expression.

"Re-a-a-lly?" Lois drawls with amusement, shooting Clark a gloating look. "Fawning, huh?"

Clark sighs hugely, mumbling something about getting back to his cooking. Before he leaves, he glares briefly at Lana, who smiles sweetly back at him.

Now alone again in the entranceway, Lois and Lana stand there, smiling after him. After a while, they look at each other somewhat awkwardly. Lana is the first one to break the silence.

"He's really fun to mess with."

"I know. It's great. But… was what you said really true? Or was it a joke?"

"Oh, it was real all right. In fact…" Lana begins pointedly, beginning to move into the living room with her presents, "I think he's your biggest fan." As she passes by, she gives Lois a conspiratorial wink and an obvious smirk, like they are sharing some sort of important secret.

Then, Lois hears something clatter loudly in the kitchen, which leads her to believe that Clark saw and listened to what transpired, and was clearly embarrassed by it.

She decides that she likes Lana Lang, though. Likes her a lot.

The Kents skip lunch and have an early dinner, which Lana attends. The prior night, Martha and Jonathan really held back all their stories about Clark, but with Lana here, leading the embarrassing story charge, they readily follow her example.

"And when you were made prom king, God, you were the biggest doofus in that crown," Lana recalls around a mouthful of food to a blushing Clark, who seems to sink down into his chair. Everyone at the table is laughing, though, including him, so he doesn't appear to be really bothered by the story.

"He was prom king?" Lois asks with mock incredulity. "You must be joking."

Martha nods, snorting with laughter. "Clark helped win the State Championship for football, so he was very popular. But God… he was so shy… he just couldn't handle being prom king."

"I was fine," Clark protests defensively. "I just thought the whole thing was silly."

"You couldn't give a coherent speech," Lana disagrees. "You just garbled something into the microphone."

"Well, how was I gonna top your speech, little Miss Prom Queen?" Clark demands. "I wasn't planning to be Prom King, you know, so I was caught off guard. But you knew you had the queenship in the bag. You planned ahead."

"Not true-"

Soon enough, their dinner plates are empty, and they are finishing off some of Martha's pie. Lois is already feeling lethargic, despite the amounts of sleep she has been getting lately.

Shelby, who was resting peacefully at Clark's feet for the entire meal, suddenly sits up and whines, long and slow. She noses his feet, causing him to briefly scratch behind her ears.

"What's wrong, girl?" he asks. "You gotta go bathroom?"

The dog barks in response.

"Alright, alright. Let's go… " Clark stands from the table, brushing crumbs from his shirt, which Shelby promptly eats. Then, he heads to the kitchen, grabbing a plastic bag for what Shelby will probably produce very soon - something Lois would prefer not to think about.

"I'm gonna walk Shelby. Be back in a few minutes," he informs them.

Jonathan stands up too. "I'll go with you. I could use the exercise."

"Pa-"

"Don't say anything, Clark. I'm not that old."

"No, I just don't want to trouble you, is all."

Jonathan ignores him and heads toward the side door, whistling for Shelby to follow, which she eagerly does. Clark, meanwhile, goes out after them, rolling his eyes in an affectionate sort of way.

Suddenly, Lois is stricken by the fact that she has to go to the bathroom too. So she stands as well, stretching before she tells Lana and Martha, "I think the dog and I are on the same page. I'm gonna go use the bathroom."

She is all the way upstairs when she realizes that she left her phone at the table, and after a few moments of consideration, she decides to backtrack to retrieve it. As she descends, she hears the beginning of a conversation between Lana and Martha - one that she knows she shouldn't eavesdrop on, but she simply cannot help herself. So she stops on the stairs, her ears tuned to the sound of their voices.

"I don't understand what his problem is," Lana can be heard saying. "I mean, I've seen the way he looks at her. Why doesn't he just tell her?"

"He's afraid," Martha replies softly.

"Of what? Of being happy? Of actually doing something he wants for once, instead of fulfilling his stupid destiny? I mean… he never looked at me like that. So why can't he just be with her, despite all that?"

"Lana… you know he loved you," Martha tells her. "He still loves you."

"Not enough to risk his destiny for me," Lana mumbles bitterly. "And if she's what he really wants, then he needs to act on it. A girl like that is not gonna wait around her whole life. I know I'm the only real experience he has with women, and I waited for him forever like a pathetic schoolgirl-."

"Oh come on - you're not pathetic. And he knows what he should do. But he's terrified. Apparently she's principled to the core… like him. Probably why he feels the way he does. But he worries that if he tells her the truth… she'll never forgive him for lying to her. The girl's been through a lot. Apparently her last boyfriend was not a very good man…"

"But Clark is, and he needs to show her that. As far as I can tell, she's an extremely smart woman. She'll understand. And she obviously feels strongly about him… it's written almost as plainly on her face as it is on his," Lana urges.

"Maybe you should talk to him, then. He won't risk it until he's sure."

"… I feel like that will be the icing on the proverbial 'loser's cake.' It's bad enough that, after everything, I had to act like everything was fine… and he acted like he didn't know how much the breakup hurt. Giving him my blessing would just be… humiliating, I guess."

"Lana, he was hurting as much as you were. Listen - sometimes things just don't work out… your paths just didn't align," Martha tells her. "But there's nothing wrong with that. You shouldn't have to give up your dreams to be with him, and he shouldn't have to give up his to be with you. That's why it fell apart. It had nothing to do with a lack of love."

"I suppose I know that," Lana admits. "And I want him to be happy, you know? That's the stupidest part. I want him to be happy so badly that I don't care if he forgets about me… It doesn't make sense."

Martha hums quietly before speaking in a comforting voice. "That's what love is, sometimes. It's similar for us. He's out there, in the city, making his mark. Now he hardly talks to us or comes home. Maybe she has something to do with it… I don't know. But we're proud of him… and happy for him. We're glad he feels like he's doing something worthwhile."

There is the scraping of chairs on the wooden floor, and in a fit of panic, Lois scrambles back up the stairs so that she can practically jump inside the bathroom, thus abandoning her phone.

Once she is there, and the door is closed, she realizes just how much her head is reeling. According to what they were saying… it sounded like… God, it sounded like Clark is in love with her, and the only reason he hasn't told her the truth is because he thinks that she'll be angry with him.

The situation is so ridiculous that Lois feels like laughing hysterically. Clark is in love with her. In love… with her, Lois Lane.

But then Lois considers Lana's words. She sounded so… heartbroken. Obviously her breakup with Clark didn't end on the 'good terms' that he claimed it did. What if Lois and Clark's potential relationship ends the same way? What if there is a conflict of interest - something that they can't reconcile, like Clark and Lana had - that results in Lois watching him fall in love with someone else?

Because that's what Lana is going through at this very moment. Lois cannot imagine what that is like… to lose the person you love to someone else… to feel your heart break from rejection… and yet allow it to happen, simply because you love that person so much that you'll do anything to make them happy.

She immediately feels bad for it… being the person who is essentially stealing Clark. But then again… he and Lana are adults. They fell apart before Lois came along, so is she really responsible for his desire to move on?

It puts her in an odd position, nonetheless… intruding on this foretold story of his. Clark Kent and Lana Lang, childhood friends, lovers as adults… it sounds like something fictional, it is so perfect. And yet… in reality, it is far from perfection.

Lois wants to be happy. And she wants the people around her - Clark… Lana - to be happy too. People can't control what they feel… or what they want… and right now, Lois refuses to feel ashamed for her desires or emotions - or for Clark's, for that matter. If he does love her, which she hopes to God that he does, she refuses to bury their potential. They have to try. At least, they have to try.

When Lois hears a dog barking, she knows that Clark has reentered the house. She returns downstairs rather loudly, thumping her feet down the steps so that no one suspects that she overheard the conversation.

When she reaches the kitchen, she tries to remain discreet… unnoticeable… because she can't stop glancing at Clark, and can't stop her cheeks from heating up every time she does.

Unfortunately, she doesn't remain that way for long. The night becomes a mess of board and card games that Lois gets a bit too competitive in. She destroys them all in Clue, though Clark manages to best her in Scrabble, and Lana brings her to a stalemate Monopoly. It's a lot more fun than she expected, actually. She hasn't played board games since she was a child.

Sometimes, as they laugh and bicker while they play, Lois's eyes meet Clark's accidentally, causing them to flit away in embarrassment. Whenever this occurs, Lois can't help wondering about what Lana said regarding 'the way Clark looks at her.' Is there really something special… something so clearly indicative of love… in his gaze toward her?

And then, as she sits there, watching him as he starts to deal cards, she wonders whether the only reason she hasn't noticed… is that he has always looked at her the same way, from the first day they met. Maybe she never noticed it… never considered it… because there was no alternate behavior to compare it to. Not from him, anyway.

Has he been in love with her the whole time?

No, he couldn't possibly have been. The way she initially treated him as Clark… there's simply no way.

Late in the night, Lana decides to head back to her house. She thanks Martha and Jonathan for everything and proceeds to hug Clark. Lois hangs back a bit, mostly because she is still a somewhat stranger to these people, and despises interrupting intimate moments. But Lana turns to her anyway.

"We should meet in Metropolis sometime," Lana suggests. "Do something fun."

Lois nods. "That sounds great, actually. Maybe we can finish that game of Monopoly."

"You're on."

After grinning, Lana turns to Clark, seeming determined about something. "Mind walking me to my car?"

He looks somewhat taken aback. "Yeah. Of course."

"Then let's go."

They leave the house, and for some stupid reason, Lois finds herself listening for the sound of a car engine turning on. One doesn't occur - not for a while, anyway, which means that Lana and Clark were either walking really slowly to the car… or doing something else.

Right now, Lois doesn't let her mind wander or worry. Whatever happens with her and Clark… happens. Even if that's nothing at all.

Of course, in her heart of hearts, she is secretly hoping that Lana is talking some damn sense into him.

TBC...

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING SUPERMAN RELATED

A/N: Yeah, so I'm writing more cheesy, holiday fluff. You were all probably apprehensive about this chapter, given the name of it. I hope I didn't disappoint anyone.

Basically, I've always hated the idea of Lana and Lois fighting over Clark. Even if they are both in love with him, I wanted them to act like mature, compassionate adults about it, which is what this Lois and Lana do. No fighting. Nothing but wishing each other the best and coming to terms with their own emotions. Lana and Lois are great characters in their own rights, and should be treated as such (I tried my best, anyway).

You're not gonna want to miss next week's chapter. Seriously.

Also, I'm slowly but surely working on the sequel. It's a bit of a struggle, but I'm trying.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and please review!