Chapter 4: A Different Kind of Feeling

A week has gone by, each day became even more uneventful than the last. Yesterday in particular had his mind on one particular woman, he couldn't get her out of his mind to the point of aggravation. Finding his way back home to his 'Fortress of Solitude' he sat down expecting another boring evening.

"Smallville! You there?"

He looked to the stairs. He expected wrong. Of all the people, why did it have to be her?

"I'm upstairs." He could've pretended he didn't want company; aside from his mind, he hadn't seen Lois all week and it made him, sad for him to admit, a little grumpy.

"Hey farm boy, how's milking the cows working for you?"

He rolled his eyes, preparing for another round of their verbal sparring.

"Don't you ever call?"

"Not when my goal in life is to constantly irritate you, no"

"Naturally."

Then a glimpse of something on her wrist caught his eye.

"What is that?" he pointed.

"Huh?"

Getting a better look at it. "Where did you get that?"

"What?" She looked at where he was staring. She raised her wrist. "This?" She pointed to the bracelet. Clark nodded. His face almost a picture of shock. "Found it out in the field between 'some' and 'where,' but hey, if you know who it belongs to, there loss." Her words were final. She looked at the bracelet she wore once more and thought out loud. "You know, this would look amazing if it was turned into a gold band, with these neat little symbols engraved on it, and a diamond here and there." She looks up at Clark, his eyes still zeroed in on her wrist.

Crossing her arms. "Why do I get the impression you know who this belongs to," she added.

Clark finally breaks his gaze away from the bracelet to look at Lois, the nervousness he felt upon seeing the bracelet in her possession was suddenly replace by a smile trying to leak its way to the surface.

"No - No I don't." He lied, but for good reason. "It looks great on you though." And he meant it. What are the odds? If that's not a sign, he wouldn't know what is. Barn walls and burning corn fields not included. He decided to switch the conversation elsewhere before Lois begins questioning him about his curiosity over the bracelet.

"What brings you over here?" He finally asks, closing their distance.

She turned and headed towards the window when she saw Clark moving towards her. "I talked to Chloe this morning, she mentioned something about a certain 'person that shall not be named' that spent all morning moping around about something that the 'person that shall not be named' wouldn't talk about," she grinned at him, before staring back out into the night sky.

"Is that right." Apparently his sour mood extended further than he intended.

"Hm-mm, and so you can understand why I had to come and make sure that the 'person that shall not be named' is okay"

He found himself smiling now, his sour mood quickly disappearing as their conversation continues to take a flirtatious turn. He stepped closer, his body just mere inches behind hers. "Didn't realize you cared so much about the 'person that shall not be named'" Clark whispered near her ear, playing along with her.

Her head turns slowly, her body aware just how close they were, and as their eyes meet, for a second that lasted almost like hours, neither moved.

"What can I say, he grew on me," she admitted, almost hesitantly. He could see an interest hidden behind her smile. As their eyes meet once more, he was beginning to think that he wasn't just the only one feeling a change.

He was about to kiss her when her phone infuriatingly makes itself known.

Lois immediately tore her gaze away from him, welcoming the distraction after realizing just how close they've become.

Meanwhile, Clark watched her converse on the phone. He nervously began picking up various books scattered throughout his desk in hopes to keep his mind off what nearly transpired mere moments earlier. Did he almost just kiss her? And did she not back away? He didn't know which one of the two surprised him the most.

As soon as she got off the phone she picked up her stuff. A semi-worried look etched on her face.

"Is everything all right?"

She sighed. "That was Alfred, unfortunately Bruce has been cooped up in a board meeting all day with a group of unscrupulous and irritable members of various businesses and they're successfully boring him to death"

He tries to suppress a laugh. "So why would his butler call you?"

"Alfred is more like a surrogate father to Bruce than he is a butler." She grabs her purse from the couch. "Bruce isn't another Lex Luthor, Clark."

"I can tell, especially if he can nab a friend like you"

Lois was surprised at the remark. "Our relationship has been - complex."

"So I gather." That pesky feeling of jealousy started lurking beneath him again, he really ought to get that checked some how.

"What have you heard?" Clark only looked at her. "Come on, Smallville. Don't think I didn't see you two talking up a storm outside The Talon"

Having been caught. "We just talked about - stuff"

Her eyes quirked up at him. "Haven't known each other a day and already you two are talking about me," she commented playfully, garnering an even bigger smile out of Clark. She made her way to the stairs, much to Clark's dislike. She turns around and signals to him.

He points to himself. "Me. You want me to go with you?" He asked, hoping it was a yes. She nodded. "To Metropolis?" he asks mostly for clarification. She nodded again, and this time, rather impatiently.

"I could die of old age before you make a decision," she snapped sarcastically. She was suddenly regretting the invitation. She's getting far too close to him and inviting him to spend an evening in the city with her in Bruce's loft wasn't exactly the greatest idea. The last thing she needs in her life are complications, and Clark Kent is no exception. She waits for his response.

To be continued…