For several long moments, they just laid there, breathing hard, hearts pounding, Clark still bracing himself with one arm to keep from crushing her under his weight. Chloe recovered first. Cupping his face, she kissed him. Slow and tender, savoring the feel of being connected in more than one way.

"Wow." He smiled against her lips.

"Yeah." She giggled at the dazed, happy look on his face.

"Just a sec." He pulled away and reached for the tissues. A moment later, he was on his back and she was snuggled against his side looking up at him.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked softly as one hand caressed her cheek.

"Absolutely not." She reassured him.

A small part of her wondered why he was so worried about hurting her. It was one thing to be careful and considerate, but this seemed like something more. Another part of her was just happy that he was so concerned about how she felt. A third part told her to quit wondering and enjoy being naked with Clark.

Chloe watched as the blush returned to his face and she could practically hear the next question before he said it.

"So it was okay?" The shy smile he gave her to cover his embarrassment was beyond adorable.

"Better than okay, Clark." She beamed back at him.

"Yeah, it was pretty awesome, but did you... " he trailed off, not sure how to ask without sounding even more naïve than he felt. He let his gaze drift down her body, hoping it would convey his meaning.

"Clark, this felt amazing, but no." As gently as she tried to put it, he still looked crestfallen.

"I wanted you to enjoy it as much as I did."

"Oh believe me, I enjoyed this very much!" She pressed herself against him for emphasis.

"Yeah, but you didn't... "

"Clark, it's pretty rare for a girl on her first time."

He was quiet for a moment and she could tell he was thinking about something. However, she didn't expect the question that broke the silence.

"Have you ever?" he asked and now it was her turn to blush furiously. She debated about whether to answer that or not, but the longer she was quiet, the more curious he got.

"Yes." She finally decided on telling him the truth.

He was so surprised by her answer he abruptly turned on his side so they were face to face. "Really? When? Who? How?" His expression was so eager and interested she had to laugh.

"Oh no, I've created a monster!" She teased in mock horror. "Boys aren't the only ones who can take care of themselves," she answered slowly and carefully watched his face. She could tell the exact second he got her meaning. And so could her thigh, since about a second after he got it, there was something hard pressing against her again. She raised her eyebrows at him, silently questioning his apparent stamina.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, "but that is just such a huge turn on. I can't help it."

His mind supplied images of Chloe touching herself as he remembered what she said in the barn about dreaming about him.

"Were you thinking about me?" The words flew out of his mouth before he had a chance think about them.

She was surprised by the bold question, but answered it honestly. "Yes, sometimes."

"So thinking about me was enough to get you off, but actually doing it didn't?"

"What?"

"So, I did do something wrong."

"What? No! Clark, that wasn't what I meant... " Her mind was racing trying to figure out how this conversation got so far off track. "I told you, most girls don't their first time and some..."

He cut her off with a quick kiss and a sly grin as he shifted on top of her again. His voice was low and sexy as his lips moved from hers, along her jawline and over to tease the sensitive spot behind her ear with his tongue.

"Yeah, but your first time is over now, so show me what to do. I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel."

She shivered from the thrill his words gave her and he rocked against her creating an intoxicating friction between their bodies. She was really going to like this side of Clark Kent.

"Come on, Chloe. Tell me." He purred in her ear, fanning the fire already racing through her veins.

Well, telling him hadn't worked for her yet today, but showing him certainly had! She pushed his hand down. He caressed the insides of her thighs and explored the sensitive skin between them before slipping his finger back in. She arched slightly to meet him and hummed her appreciation of his actions.

He was nipping and sucking his way across her collarbone. "What else, Chlo?"

"Like before, only here, too," she said, guiding him so the heel of his palm was pressing against just the right spot, unable to control the loud hiss of pleasure that escaped her lips when he found it. "Oh yeah... "

Clark watched as her eyes fluttered closed and her body relaxed into his. He suddenly understood why people were obsessed with sex and wanted to be inside of her again... very badly. A few careful, but awkward movements allowed him to reach the still open box on his nightstand with his other hand. He wouldn't have stopped the other one if his life depended on it. He grabbed another packet from the nightstand as she opened her eyes. She took the packet from him and tore it open. She managed to reach between them and get the condom on him with another fleeting thought about his stamina.

It was her last rational thought, though. The hand between her legs was still stroking and pressing, but he added another finger at the same moment his mouth found her breast. Her breath caught in her throat as she threw her head back in ecstasy.

"Oh, Clark!"

"Tell me, Chloe," he coached while circling her nipple with his tongue.

"Just. Don't. Stop," was all she could manage for an answer.

He continued lavishing attention on all the strategic parts of her body until she couldn't take it anymore. She knew she was close and wanted him inside of her when she came.

"Clark, now!" She grabbed his hips and pulled him in place.

"God, yes!" He was thrusting in an instant, but kept his hand between them. Fingertips seeking out the spot that had caused her so much pleasure a moment ago. He found it, rubbing and circling, the look on her face telling him everything he needed to know.

"More, Clark."

More? He could feel her muscles clenching around him and her leg moved back up around his waist. More? He wasn't going to last long if she kept this up. He thrust a little harder and faster and she bit down on her bottom lip. No, no this was not going to last much longer.

"Chloe... "

"Oh yeah. Don't stop. Don't change a thing," she cried as her nails dug into his forearms.

The tight, hot muscles around him got tighter and hotter and he felt the insides of her thighs spasm. He couldn't hold back another second. Two more hard thrusts and he was over the edge. Still stroking through his orgasm and praying he had lasted long enough for hers.

He collapsed on top of her and she held him tightly. They kept each other close, not wanting to break the contact, hands idly caressing any available skin.

"Chloe?" His voice was small, as if he was afraid to ask.

"Yes. Clark, yes." Her voice was breathy and low, and sounded incredibly happy.

"Wow."

"I was still searching for a euphemism, but 'wow' works for me." She grinned.

"Wow," Clark repeated, still dazed and enjoying the afterglow.

"Wow," he said once again, making her giggle.

"You seem to be stuck on that word today, Mr. Kent."

He broke out in an ear-to-ear grin. "Well, it's been a 'wow' kind of day for me."

"Yeah, me too," she said and matched his grin.

"Chloe... " he started, but paused, obviously unsure about how to say what he wanted to say. Chloe tensed and took this to mean that the regrets were kicking in and the dream was over. She cut off whatever it was he was trying to say.

"Clark, I need you to be honest with me. Regardless of how you think I'm going to feel about the your answer, I need you to tell me the truth. Why did you do this? And I can handle it if it was just teenage hormones and the offer of sex, I won't like it, but I can handle it. I just need to know why."

"The truth?" Clark shifted them so he could look her in the eye before continuing. "I realized after you kissed me that I couldn't imagine my life without you. You're always there for me, Chloe. I've always thought you were special and loved you in my own way, but when you said you loved me, I thought about what it would be like if you suddenly weren't a part of my life. And I couldn't even imagine, and didn't want to imagine what it would be like. If Lana or Lex suddenly left, sure I would miss them, but I'd get used to it. With you it's different and it's always been different. I just didn't realize how different until today. I must be a special brand of stupid to have missed this for so long." He chuckled. "I mean, God, talk about dense!" He used his free hand to gesture at their still naked bodies twined together. "How did I miss this?"

Chloe couldn't help but laugh and snuggled in even closer to his body. "It is pretty sad that I had to throw myself at you to get you to notice."

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm really sorry... "

"Stop, Clark. It's okay. Really. I was pretty sure you were going to laugh in my face and declare your undying love for Lana again. This," she mimicked his gesture, "was unexpected to say the least, but it's like a dream come true and I really just want to focus on that right now."

"I can live with that." He smiled before planting tiny kisses all over her face.

"Yeah, me too." She sighed happily and closed her eyes. When he stopped, she looked up to find him staring at her.

"So, what do we do now? I mean, we sorta skipped a few of the smaller mating rituals and jumped right into the big one. Where do we go from here?"

Chloe tensed again, not sure what he meant. "What do you want to do?"

"Well, I don't want to hide this," he said and she relaxed instantly, "but we're going to get hit with a lot of questions Monday at school if we show up holding hands and kissing."

He took her hand in his and kissed it softly, making her giggle again.

"You'd be willing to be seen at school kissing me?"

"Well, I'm not up for getting a PDA detention, but yes, I'd want to hold your hand and kiss you at school." He laughed. He could just imagine the trouble he'd be in at home if he got detention for making out in the hallway at school. His father would kill him! And that was only if there was anything left of him after his mother was done.

"And honestly, Chloe, my feelings for Lana started to change months ago. You and Pete were just to busy teasing me to notice. I started to see her as more of a friend and as a real person, instead of the image that I had created before I got to know her. Whatever chance we might have had passed and it was a lot easier to accept that than I thought it would be."

"Wow." It came out as a whisper as Chloe tried to process his words and picture walking down the hall holding Clark's hand. She had thought about it so many times before, but now that it was a real possibility, it seemed somewhat surreal. Not so much that he wanted to hold her hand, that was wonderful enough, but the real joy was that he would publicly acknowledge their relationship and show Lana that they were together.

"As much as I hate to say this," his voice broke her reverie, "we should get dressed."

"Aw, come on, Clark!" She pressed her whole body against his, making him shiver with delight. "You mean you don't want to lay around naked with me all day? What kind of teenager are you anyway?" She pouted playfully.

"That's exactly the problem. I would love to lay around naked with you all day. I'm just not interested in getting caught laying around naked with you by my parents. That would bring an abrupt halt to something I really want to do a lot more of in the near future."

He kissed her on the nose before getting out of bed. He shrugged into a clean pair of boxers and disappeared into the hall. When he came back, he handed her a folded towel and washcloth.

"In case you want to wash up."

She took the offered linens and headed for the bathroom, smiling the whole way at his thoughtfulness.

Alone in his room, he sat on the edge of his bed in stunned silence. So much had happened today and he was still trying to wrap his brain around it all. There were a million little things he wanted to remember forever.

"What a truly amazing day," he said to the empty room and chuckled as he realized it was going to be very hard to think about anything other than sex for days. A tiny part of him was relieved, too. Having spent years learning to control his gifts and his strengths, he had been fairly sure he could handle sex without hurting his partner when the time came, but he was never certain. Experimenting on yourself and actually doing it with a girl were two very different things. More than once a wet dream had turned into a nightmare when he dreamed that he had lost control and disintegrated his partner.

He was still sitting on the bed when she came back in to get dressed.

"You look like the Cheshire Cat," she teased. The look on his face was priceless. Happy like she had never seen before and the ever-present seriousness in his eyes had taken a vacation for once. Clark seemed relaxed and happy and that made her giddy.

"I know. I can't help it." He beamed a smile at her that was even brighter than usual. "I guess a part of me is still a little stunned."

"Yeah. Me, too." She giggled. She really hadn't expected to have sex with him when she left the house today.

"You've really thought about this for a long time, haven't you?"

"An embarrassingly long time!" She laughed as he stood up to hug her and held her against his still bare chest. It was like the world's best blanket to be wrapped inside Clark's arms. They snuggled together in comfortable silence until he noticed the clock.

"I should really get cleaned up and dressed."

"Do you have to? You look so much better undressed." She pouted before sucking on the closest nipple.

"Unless you want my parents to find us this way, yes."

"Why Mr. Kent, are you ashamed of me already?" She teased even as she was handing him his discarded jeans.

"No. I'm just afraid they are gonna take one look at us and know exactly what went on here and I'll be grounded until I'm 30."

She laughed. "I can't argue with you on that. You get dressed and I'll go wait in the kitchen." She kissed him once more before heading downstairs.

When he came down, Chloe was struck anew by how insanely beautiful he was. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt that clung tightly to his well- developed biceps and jeans that emphasized his slender waist and impossibly long legs. His hair, still wet from the shower, was a riot of ebony curls and his tanned skin was practically glowing.

"Ms. Sullivan," he gave her a slight bow as he took her arm, "shall we?"

"I'd go anywhere with you, Mr. Kent, but where exactly are we headed?"

"I'm taking you home," he answered as the left the house and headed for her car.

"That's very sweet of you, but I drove here. How are you going to get home?"

"I'll walk back," he answered simply and opened the car door for her.

"That's a long walk, Clark. You don't have to do that."

"I want to and I think I'm gonna need the time to work on my game face."

"Game face?" she questioned as she got in the car.

"For when Mom and Dad get home. I don't want to spend the rest of the night getting a lecture about sex from my father." They both laughed, each perfectly able to picture Jonathan Kent standing in the kitchen delivering a platitude-laden sermon about sex and responsibility and how it's better to wait.

On the ride home they talked about how and when to tell Pete and even made a few bets about what he was going to say. It wasn't long before they pulled in behind Gabe Sullivan's Volvo.

"I guess your Dad is home," Clark sighed, opening his door. He had been hoping Mr. Sullivan was at the plant and they could spend a little more time alone.

"Yeah. I should go in, too. We haven't seen much of each other lately. He's been at the plant a lot since the Earl Jenkins thing."

"Okay." He walked around to open her door and planted a kiss on her forehead as she got out.

"I could really get used to this," she said as he took her hand and walked her to the door.

They shared a long tender kiss before saying goodbye.

Clark stopped at the bottom of the porch. There was one more thing he wanted to do.

"Hey, Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you go out with me?"

"I'd love to, Clark."