Author's Notes: Sorry Mint Dragon, but problems with my tenses is something I'm going to have to improve on as I write. It's out of habit that I do so. I'm not that great of a writer so I kind of got to work with what I've got. Thanks again everyone for your continued support and reviews.

Chapter 9: A Walk to Remember

It didn't seem like either of them regretted it too much now, though.

"Clark?" Lana spoke out softly.

He looked at her. "Yeah"

"Why do you have a ring on your ring finger?"

Chloe spilled her drink almost making Lois spill hers. Damn. He didn't take it off, Lois thought. She had removed hers and placed it in her dresser drawer the night before she remembered. Everything went by so fast, she had completely forgotten about it.

Clark apparently hasn't.

"Uh…"

After recovering from her cousin's sudden coffee eruption and Clark's lack of intuition, she turned her head to look at Clark and grinned, mischievously.

"Yeah, Clark. What's that all about?" she taunted with a sweet almost conniving voice. "Is there are new somebody out there you've neglected to tell us about? Gotta say, Smallville. This is really disappointing," she said, faking heartache.

Lana raised her eyebrows in obvious confusion. She had no idea what was going on. Is Clark really married? It can't be. Wouldn't it be too soon for him? He's not even out of college.

And if so, to whom?

Chloe practically rolled her eyes all the way to the back of her head. Oh God, Lois. She never could back down from an opening. Her cousin was supposed to be helping Clark not making it worse.

She felt the sudden urge to kick her again but there's so much violence Lois was willing to take before she kicks back, and her cousin has a mean front kick, so she subdued the thought immediately.

"Well, Lois…" he began but then an idea struck up and his disposition faded turning quickly into a lopsided grin. "I liked her so much I didn't want to share her with the world," he said matter-of-factly.

Lois's composure almost faltered but she stayed in the game.

Is that how it is, now?

Chloe looked between the two, horrified. Oh no, don't tell me Clark is going along with this? These two will be the death of me one day. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Lana looked absolutely floored and damn near speechless.

"You got married?" She could barely comprehend the revelation.

Clark turned to her. "Yeah, a few days ago actually." He stretched his arms on the back of the booth and looked upwards assuming it was the sky, and recalled the joyous event. "We flew to Europe, first class." He smiled to the three of them, Lois on the other hand wanted to kick his shins, but it was her foot that'll be in danger.

"It was a Catholic wedding too, inside this 17th century cathedral in Italy." A beat. "And the hotel accommodations… whew!" he grinned towards Lois. "It's a night I'll never forget"

"I'm sure she thought you some moves you've never seen before," Lois said, equally suggestive.

Lana gulped.

Chloe prayed somebody was being mugged nearby so Clark could help.

Clark blushed, remembering the night vividly. She got him there, but he refused to back down. "I'll be honest with you," he then turned and looked at Lana, who's faced had the look of shock all over. "It's been an amazing week"

"Do… you… love her?" Lana asked, hurt but curious.

That froze them both.

"Love who?" Lois and Clark both say succinctly.

Chloe chuckled. They did that a lot.

"Your wife," Lana responded, confused still.

"Well…"

Chloe sees him struggle and Lois still made no move to help him out, so she jumps on in there. "Oh, will you look at that," Chloe showed the time on her watch to everyone on the table. She even almost hit Lana with it. "It's getting late, Lana. I promised my dad we'd have dinner with him."

She pulled Lana out of the booth despite her protests and gave one look towards her cousin indicating to make a move on it.

Lois nodded gratefully before pulling out her cell.

"What are you doing?" Clark asked. The sudden change of atmosphere was throwing him off his game, if he even had one.

"Because of the spectacle you just made, I have to help a cousin out"

"Me?" he said defiantly. "You started it!"

"Shhh…" she commanded and the other line clicked on. "Hey Uncle Gabe, it's Lois. Chloe wanted me to let you know that she and Lana are headed over there for dinner and that it was planned yesterday. Cool. Talk to you later, Uncle Gabe."

Clark is impressed. "Just like that?"

Lois snapped her fingers. "Just like that. We've been doing it for years. It's code for a quick getaway. It's done us wonders getting out of awkward conversations"

"Really?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, get over it, Smallville. We were saving you, remember that"

"If my wife wasn't such a troublemaker, we wouldn't be in this problem in the first place"

"May I remind you Mr. Kent, that it was you who flew us to Italy within the same hour you asked me to marry you"

"You see that. I wasn't lying when I said we flew first class"

On the road, Lana was confused with what just took place at the Talon. She had joined Chloe in hopes to get back on speaking terms with Clark but as the night went on, it was obvious that he had moved on… but to whom, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Hey Chloe"

"Hmm"

"Would you happen to know who Clark married? Is she someone we know?"

Chloe unintentionally speeded up the car when the question was asked. The vehicle jerked back to a respectable speed, frightening Lana a bit.

"Are you okay?" Lana asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been acting weird lately"

"Nah. I'm just tired." Chloe didn't know whether to lie to Lana or continue to evade the question. "I'm shocked too," she finally admits, "But its Clark's life"

She stopped pursuing the question for now. That seemed enough for her.

"Yeah"

Lois and Clark decided to walk back to the farm instead of flying. They both needed not only the fresh air, but to talk as well.

"Why did you take off your ring?" he asked.

She threw him a sidelong glance before looking back onto the road. "It felt a little too real for me, and it really drove home how close I am to you. And then I remembered and well, things got kinda distracting," she said with a smirk in the end.

He smiled.

Clark looked at his own wedding band. He couldn't help but twirl it around his finger. "I like having it on," he admitted, slightly surprising her.

"You really like being married, don't you? To me of all people"

He stuffed his hands in his pocket. "It's not so bad," he smiled playfully, kicking stones every which way as they walked alongside one another.

"So…"

"So"

"Any regrets? I've always figured you'd be married to Lana by now. I did recall at one point foreseeing a nice little church wedding in your future – "

"Majoring in agriculture and minoring in law enforcement," he nods. "Yeah, I do remember you mentioning it to me once"

She grinned. "Not how you expected your life to turn out, huh"

"Nope. But I like it"

"So you keep saying," she smiled.

He stopped, looking around. The place looked familiar. "Follow me," he said, taking off into the corn fields.

Lois looked off confusingly before running after him.

"What's going on, Smallville? Somebody in need of a rescue," she panted, tired from the sudden sprint through the fields.

"Notice anything familiar?" he asked.

Lois stood and looked around. "Not really"

"Look harder"

She eyed the open area with initial confusion until realization dawned on her. It couldn't be?

"We met here"

He smiled. "Three years ago"

"You were hit by lightning," she mused.

"Actually, I was a part of it," he corrected. He hadn't told her the whole story about giving himself to Jor-El and being reprogrammed as Kal-El that summer.

She shook her head. "I'm not even going to try to make sense out of that"

He chuckled. "Who would've thought we'd end up back here"

"Yeah. It seemed liked a lifetime ago"

"Like we were two completely different people"

"We still are," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but friendlier," he said with a smile. "Do you think it's a mistake that you and I are together?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "You're as good with secrets as I am. Remember Lucy?" Lois laughed as he continued. "I didn't even know you had a sister until she barged into the house"

"Yeah, I don't think I ever apologized to you for her sudden appearance"

Then there was a pause as Clark waited.

"Well"

She shrugged. "Well, what?"

"Are you gonna apologize?"

"No," she scoffed lightly. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"You just said – "

Lois covered her ears, pretending not to listen. "Ahhhhhh"

Clark chuckled at her childish behavior and then he kissed her to shut her up. There's a sense of irony in the place they stood, their arms wrapped around one another. This field created three separate significant moments in his life.

He fell from the skies in this very same field, where his parents found him.

He met Lois Lane here after being, in a way, reborn by Jor-El.

And finally, this is where he was truly, deeply falling in love with her. And this time, he was going to do it right.

"Lois," he whispered to her softly, breaking from their kiss.

"What's wrong?"

He breathed in, bending in one knee as he lowered himself to the ground. He kept her hands with his own as he did so.

"Clark, what are you doing?"

He smiled. "I want to do this right." He picked something out of his back pocket, it was a ring box. Surely, he wasn't going to…

"Lois Lane," he held it out before her, flipping it open. It was the same ring she took off a couple of days ago. "Will you do the honor of being my wife… again… with rehearsal dinner, bridesmaids, family attending and an afterparty?"

She gave out a low chuckle, feeling entirely speechless.

"You're asking me to marry you?" she said with a grin.

"I know it's a bit sudden"

"As if anything in our lives weren't," she quipped, but her heart was still floating on cloud nine.

He smiled widely. "I just want you to know, I'm serious about this. I want to be with you, Lois. A part of me has always known that, even when I couldn't believe it myself"

"You don't have to explain," she said, softly . She lowered her head, and just as she was about to kiss him, she turned to his ear. "I kinda want to marry you again, too"

And then she kissed him, and he returned it fervently.

"I love you," he said, lifting her up and twirling her around.

"I love you too"

When their hearts started to calm down and her breathing was normal, reality sunk in.

"So how do we explain this to everyone else?" she asked.

He sighed. "I have no idea"

To be continued…