A/N: OMG! An update!

Chapter 6 (Clark POV)

"I hate you."

Ok, stop. Just a second ago, Lois was fine! She knew my Kryptonian heritage, and everything. And she was fine with it. Now she hates me?

I looked down at Lois from my position a few feet away on a hill, startled. "What? Why?"

"Because. I've been standing out here for two and a half hours getting fried like a french fry in a deep fryer and with you and all your superpowers and Supermaness; you won't even get any sun."

"Lois, please. With you yapping, I'll never fly."

"Yeah, about that. Why are we doing this again? Why can't you be out here? This doesn't have to involve me."

"Chloe said you were instrumental in my learning to fly."

"Yeah, but she's up in the shade in your loft," Lois mumbled.

"What do you want me to do, Lois? Pull up a tree and re-plant it by you so you can have some shade?" I asked.

Lois' head tiled to the right a little, appraising my annoyed expression with squinted eyes. "You're making fun of me, aren't you? I see how it is. Your parents are nice, but all you are is a mean, evil, conniving boy who thinks he's above helping pregnant women. One of which is your wife."

"Hm...you're right. Maybe I should help you." I paused for a second, pretending to think about it. "Nah."

Lois put a mock look of hurt on her face. "Ah, at least I tried. It is hot out here."

"Yeah, for you, it must be. I can see the sweat on your forehead from here."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. You've got mini-telescopes in those eyes of yours."

I scoffed. "No, I mean you're sweating pretty badly, Lois. You're ok, right?"

"Yeah, Clark, I'm ok," she said, but her eyes fluttered for a second and she kind of wobbled before regaining her balance again.

I hopped off the hill I was standing on. "Lois?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me. "I got really dizzy for some reason."

"Yeah, I saw that. You sure you're ok?"

"Ye -- no. Maybe we should call it quits until it cools down a bit. That ok with you?"

"Yeah. I don't want you getting dehydrated or anything. You gotta remember that you've got an extra person you've got to think about."

"Yeah..."

"C'mon, Lois. Let's get you back to the barn."

I glanced up to the loft window as we started walking, where two figures stood. One dressed in red and one in green. I didn't know where Chloe was, but I assumed that if she knew what was going on with her cousin, she'd be doing anything she needed to help.

Lois' knees gave way after about ten steps. I scooped her up and cradled her like you would a baby.

She looked at me through drooping lashes. "Thanks, Clark," she said sleepily.

"You're welcome," I said as I held her tighter.

I had waked a few more paces when I felt something jump start in my chest. It was a funny feeling, nothing like physical pain, but something more emotional. It felt like a car...well...being jump started, actually. Like being jolted into reality after an absence of funcitivity. My forehead creased in confusion. I had no idea what it was; I sure wanted to, though.

And then I felt other emotions. The need to hold Lois. To be around her. To care for her.

Like I was currently doing. It made me feel good. It made me feel whole. It made me feel happy.

I looked down at Lois and smiled. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. Maybe I could even see how I could fall in love with her. If she'd just let me.

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"She's just tired and dehydrated," Hal Jordan told me. "Probably a little stressed. And her hormone level is spiked because of the pregnancy. Just make her take it easy for the next couple of days. Make sure she eats and drinks properly and make sure she rests enough."

The green glow that emitted from his ring slid off Lois' form and back to its originator.

"Ok," I said, nodding.

"As soon as she's comfortable enough to travel, we're going back to Metropolis," Chloe told me.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

"Because, you guys have a tighter security system at your apartment, and I don't want anything happening to you. Besides, Perry must be going crazy without his best three reporters at The Planet. I forgot to call him and tell him that we'd be staying a little while longer, and all our cell phones were turned off."

"What about the phone here?"

"We haven't seen one of your parents yet to ask if he's called."

"Why would it matter if...Perry -- wait -- that wouldn't happen to be Perry White would it?"

"Yeah, the guy who came to Smallville when we were in high school."

"Wow. Never pegged that guy to be working at The Daily Planet. Anyway, why would it matter if we were at The Planet or not?"

"Cover. We can't make people too suspicious that you're...not yourselves."

"Ah."

"Listen, we'll leave you guys be. Bart and Hal have to check in, anyway." Chloe turned to leave, but stopped in mid turn.

She turned back towards me, taking something out of her pocket in the process.

She handed me a pair of glasses. "Here. You need to wear these. I know you probably won't want to, and I know you don't need to, but you do need to prevent people from thinking you're Superman. The glasses help with that."

I hesitantly took them. "Uh...thanks...I guess."

"I can understand it if you don't want them on around me because you'd be embarrassed or something, but do realize that you'll need them on 24/7 in Metropolis everywhere but you're apartment. You might as well get used to it."

"Ok," I said, nodding, as she exited my loft by way of the stairs.

I fiddled with the glasses for a while, my focus alternating between Lois and the reluctantly half-open glasses that rested in my hands.

I opened the completely and placed them on the bridge of my nose before sliding them completely on.

"Huh. That doesn't look like the Clark Kent I know."

My gaze shifted to Lois through the new (to me) glasses. "Hey, you're awake."

"Yeah. How'd I get here?"

"You…fell asleep, really, although I think it was your body just delaying your passing out. Dehydration or something like that. I'm supposed to take care of you."

She righted herself from her laying position on my couch and swung her legs over the side of the piece of furniture so that she was in a sitting position.

I hesitantly got up from the chair that I had been sitting and placed myself beside her. "I don't know if you should be doing that. You need to relax."

"No. I need to talk to someone, Clark. And seeing as you're the only available person at the moment, you'll have to suffice."

"Talk? About what?"

"Clark, in this time, I may be emotionally ready to take on the task of raising a child with my husband, but I'm nineteen. I'm not married. I'm not pregnant. I'm – we're – stuck in our older self's bodies and we're going to be parents. Like I said before, I don't know that I can deal with that."

"Lois…whatever happens, whether we like it or not, we're a team in this, ok? Even though you or I didn't have a hand in it, that is our child, and we'll take care of it together."

Wooh! Didn't know I had it in me. Ok, so I did mean it, but it still sounded kinda corny.

"Uh…Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate the reassurance and all, but…did it have to sound that…fake?"

"Ah, geez. I know it sounded corny, Lois, but I did mean it. It's my kid and I feel responsible for it. Besides, even if we never go back, we'll mature. Besides, we'll reach the same emotional age as when we fell in love with each other before, so it'll just be like history repeating itself. Besides, would it be so bad to be in love with me?"

Lois let her eyes trail over my face before replying. "No…I guess not."

There was silence after her statement, both of us letting what she said sink in.

"What about me?" she asked, breaking the silence.

I grinned at her. "Oh, I don't even have to think about it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." I answered. "Look…Lois, if we can't find our way back, don't you think we should know each other before we take on parenthood?"

Lois looked at me, her eyes calculating. "Ok."

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I looked out the loft window at the setting sun, feeling immensely happy.

I had gotten to know Lois Joanne Lane better in the past few hours, just as I hoped she had gotten to know me.

That was one of the things I had found out about her. Her middle name; Joanne – the same initial as my own.

She rooted for the Dodgers.

She hates her feet – thick toenails.

Her father painted her bedroom in giraffes as a little girl in a 'rare moment of tenderness'.

The one car that Lois has never gotten into a wreck in was a Jeep.

The only thing food wise that she won't completely destroy is Vanilla Pudding – which she claims is delicious.

And she hates fruit where it doesn't belong like on fish or as a coffee flavor.

Granted, it wasn't much, but it was a start at what might be the rest of our lives.

I turned around and looked at Lois's sleeping form.

A humungous swelling feeling rose inside my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. It took me a second to realize that I was happy.

I didn't think I'd ever been that happy in my life.

A ringing sounded by the stairs of my loft and I walked over to see what it was.

A cell phone was at the top of the steps, ringing at full blast. I picked it up and flipped it open, curious about whom could be calling a phone that was ownerless.

The caller ID on the screen said 'Chloe' was calling and I immediately pressed the 'Send' button.

"Chloe?" I asked. "Everything all right?"

"Oh, good, Clark, you answered. No, everything's not all right, but we can discuss that in the morning. In the meantime…"

"What, Chloe?"

"Clark…I need you and Lois to sleep together tonight."

My eyes bulged to the size of basketballs. "What!"

"Oh, nonono!" Chloe rushed. "Not that way! You need to sleep in the same bed tonight, ok? As in 'Clark doesn't get to sleep on the couch tonight' type of thing, ok?"

"Why?" I managed to choke out.

"Clark," Chloe sighed. "Just trust me on this one, ok?"

"Why?" I repeated.

"Clark, I can't tell you why! It involves the whole thing of 'we can discuss that in the morning' scenario. Just do it, ok?"

A faint click in my ear said that Chloe had hung up on me.

I placed the phone on a nearby table and walked over to Lois.

"Lois," I whispered. "Lois, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open. "Clark? Whuss wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong…it's just getting late and I want to get you into bed before it gets any later."

"Ok…but don't you want dinner?"

"I don't need to eat, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Lois smiled. "I forgot."

I smiled back at her. "It's ok. Are you hungry?"

Lois scrunched up her nose. "Hell no. My stomach is way too queasy."

"I thought that was just for mornings."

She sub-consciously put her hand to her abdomen. "Apparently this little one doesn't know that."

"Yeah, well with a mother like you," I said, crouching down and scooping her up in one motion, earning a shriek from Lois, "that's a given."

I carried her down the loft stairs, out of the barn, and into the house, only being stopped by my parents' bombardment of 'Congratulations!'.

When we finally arrived at my room the sun had fully set and Lois' eyes started to droop again.

Despite her lack of energy however, she still seemed as sharp as ever. "Clark?"

"Hmmm?"

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"…….."

"Clark?"

"Uh….with you, I guess." I guess. Hah. No guessing about it.

Her eyes grew wide for a moment before shrinking back to their normal size. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah," she responded, cocooning her head deeper into my chest.

I lay her on my bed and slipped off her shoes. "Do you want to change?"

"No, not right now. Too tired."

"Okay," I replied as I walked to the opposite side of the bed.

I paused just before climbing under the covers, hesitant.

Lois seemed to sense my hesitancy because she said, "It's okay, Clark. All we're doing it sleeping."

I slipped my own shoes off and slowly sat down on the bed, causing it to dip.

Lois tugged on my shirt, easing me down on the bed. "If you take that long to get into bed, I'll never get to sleep."

I lay fully down on the bed, drawing the covers up over my body as Lois snuggled into my chest, making herself more comfortable.

"Night, Smallville."

"Night, Lois." I said as I hesitantly snaked my arms around her waist.

She seemed to relax in my embrace somewhat, as if she was safer.

Who knows? Maybe she was.

But I knew one thing for sure – I could definitely get used to this.

A/N2: Well…this chapter was pretty much for emotional growth between Lois and Clark, because without it, they can't get where I want them to be ultimately in this story.

Anyway, hope you liked it (I think it royally sucked. I don't think I can write emotions very well) and don't forget to drop a review. ;)