In the elevator, Lois was fiercely pressing the call button to get somebody on the line and tell her what's going on. The lights flickered off then flickered lazily back on. She looked up, exhausted and annoyed.

"This. Is. Not. Happening"

Clark shifted in his tux, untying the bow he knotted too tightly. "Look, it's probably just a minor glitch," he says in a lame attempt to calm things down.

It didn't work.

"Minor glitch," she says disbelievingly. "We're stuck in an elevator." She paused when a sudden thought entered her mind. Searching through her purse she finds her cell phone, but not a single reception bar showed. She sighs. "With no communication," she finished with increase agitation.

"No one would leave us down here"

"Says you," she retorts.

Sighing himself, Clark took it upon himself to use his x-ray and super hearing to see what's really going on. It turns out, it's a blackout and at the moment, everything is on a standstill.

"You think it's a blackout?" Clark suggested, although he knew that was the reason.

Lois throws her arms out in indignation. "Great, then we'll be here an awfully long time!" She was not looking forward to being stuck in an elevator with Clark Kent of all people for God knows how long.

Clark raises his eyebrow. "Seems to me this is not a new experience for you," he observed, un-tucking his white collared dress t-shirt as he did so. He was never fond of dressing up, he always felt constricted with that many layers of clothing on.

Unbeknownst to him, Lois was feeling the same way.

Lois avoided his comment. "Here." She dropped her purse and turned, her back facing Clark and he looks at her uneasily.

"What?" he asks, unsure of what Lois wanted him to do.

"Help me out of this"

Clark's eyes go wide. "Excuse me"

"It's really easy, Smallville. You see that tiny zipper on my dress… if it had been simple mathematics, you would have to zip it down," she quipped waiting for him to do so. What was taking him so long? He can't honestly be that shy.

"You mean here?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "No, I was thinking you can boost me up to the ceiling so I can change in the shaft, yes here!"

"Lois, I don't think…"

Lois abruptly spun around. "I'm asking you to help me unzip my dress, not ravage me,
she assured him, but her use of the term 'ravage' made Clark blush embarrassingly.

"I…"

Lois couldn't help but smile when he became tongue tied. She spun around, intentionally neglecting his awkward circumstance. So many years spent being the child of a highly revered military officer has taught Lois a great deal about confidence.

She was hardly embarrassed.

"Come on, as great as this outfit is, if we wait any longer I'll suffocate"

Clark took a deep breath and lifted his hand to the zipper, but as his hand barely grazed her flesh, he stopped when he realized something.

"Wait a second, what have you got under there?" he questioned too briskly that Lois couldn't help but be amused.

She looked over her shoulder with a grin. "Nothing"

"Lois!"

"Relax, I was just kidding. I've got a strapless bra on. Man, you're jumpy." She looked back and waited for him to do what he seems to think is impossible.

Clark, looking away, quickly unzipped her. "There," he says hurriedly.

"Thanks," she says honestly. Then she thought that it was one small step from Clark and a giant step for his sex life.

If the elevator wasn't surrounded by mirrors, avoiding a half naked Lois would've been a lot easier for him, but alas, fate was against him.

"Are you cold?" he asked her, mildly nervous.

Lois just stood at her side of the elevator, obviously unaware of how beautiful she is because she made no move to taunt him with it. She seemed to be doing a swell job of it by doing nothing, and that unnerved him.

When Clark notices her slightly shiver, being the son his parents raised, Clark immediately removed his jacket, and then worked on getting his dress shirt off.

Lois being Lois just stood there watching, her eyes gazing at him from top to bottom. "I'd ask what you were doing, but honestly, I'm a warm blooded female, I'm not going to refuse a show when there is one," she teased lightly.

Clark continued to unbutton his shirt. "Why am I not surprised," he commented. Whatever trace of shyness he had left was no longer present now that they were somewhat, as screwed up as it is, on a level playing field.

He throws his shirt at her, and Lois' reflex quickly catches it. As if she knew what he was doing, she said but a single word.

"Thanks"

Clark smiled despite himself.

"You're welcome." He took a moment to look at her wearing his shirt. "You look good," he added.

She looked at herself and nodded agreeably. "What can I say, white's my color"

Some Time Later

Lois and Clark sat side-by-side on the rear wall, facing the closed elevator door. They had removed any unnecessary clothing to keep themselves from cooking to death. It may be too strong of a word, but since the power went out, so did the air-conditioning.

And they realized that two good-looking people with warm bodies weren't helping their predicament.

In an attempt to not think about their situation, they were indulging in mere chit-chat for the last thirty minutes.

"And that's how I ended up with bad attendance." Lois just finished explaining to Clark the very reason she had to repeat her last semester at Smallville High.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Clark sympathized. "It seemed at first glance that she had a good head on her shoulders"

"Lucy is smart, I know that and I'm proud of that too but she lacks common sense," Lois sadly admitted. Their conversation shifted from talking about their high school experiences to Lois' drifter baby sister, Lucy Lane.

"What about you?" Clark asks, genuinely curious.

"What about me?"

"You're smart, funny and resourceful. Why don't you take yourself seriously?"

Lois looks at him with a mix expression and Clark sees it.

"What?" he shrugged.

"Three compliments in one sentence." She put a hand to his shoulder and says, "You must be exhausted"

Clark laughs.

Lois suddenly looks away, and Clark caught the genuine smile on her face. Out of nowhere, he reached out with his hand and led her face back towards him where he leaned in and kissed her.

It didn't end there.

Because she kissed him back.

Their kiss was frenzied, unplanned, crazy and completely satisfying. They stood up, their warm bodies pressed against each other and breaths quickening. Time stopped and they neglected the consequences.

They've covered practically every wall of the elevator, and Clark was completely releasing himself in her embrace.

This was getting out of hand.

But neither did anything to stop it.

Until fate stepped in

Ding.

The lights flickered off and on again and the air-conditioning came on at full blast, jumping both Lois and Clark out of each other's lustful passion.

"What just happened?" Lois mumbled, the air not quite reaching her lungs quite yet.

Breathing heavily himself, Clark opened his mouth but then closed it as he realized the elevator began moving.

Like having a psychic bond, "Oh God," they say simultaneously.

The elevator door opened and Lois and Clark nonchalantly exited passing various different guests towards the main hall. There were people whispering amongst themselves and giving the couple curious glances, and the fact that neither of them was dressed in their formal attire aroused even more suspicion.

Lois held her dress gown and purse in one hand while the other held her shoes.

Clark followed besides her with unruly hair and a t-shirt with his tux jacket swung over behind him with his hand. Lois kept his button-downed dress shirt.

They could only imagine what everyone was thinking.

And their line of thinking wasn't far from the truth; actually, if you could measure the truth in distance, it'd be a foot, probably even less.

"Aren't we going to talk about this?" Clark asks watching her a staircase away, his voice echoing in their tight surroundings as they climbed the stairs.

"About what?" she evaded.

"We kissed," he reminded her, the memory still very fresh, clear and all too vivid in his mind. He made no effort to make it disappear.

"No we didn't," Lois lied unapologetically.

"Yes we did." Clark didn't back down but why he kept pursuing the matter was beyond his own scope of understanding.

She sighed. "You kissed me," she says.

"My memory is a little spotty right now, but I do recall you kissing me back"

"I think you've had one too many drinks with the bubbly," she continued to naturally ignore the inevitable.

"I'm not drunk, Lois"

"Well, maybe I am"

He shrugs defiantly. "Yeah right! I've seen you drink. A couple of glasses of cheap champagne is orange juice to you," he argued, remembering very well the amount of alcohol intake it would take to bring Lois down.

It's a lot.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Did you regret it?" he questioned.

A relationship with Lois Lane was the last thing Clark imagined, but he still wanted to know.

"No comment"

"So you didn't," he just about declared.

"No comment," Lois keeps saying.

"So you regretted it?"

She stops and turns to him. "What part of no and comment don't you understand?" She turned back around and continued to climb the zigzagged staircase. They shouldn't have requested the 10th floor. "God, it's like talking to a wall," she commented loudly.

"You're leaving me with little room to breathe, Lois"

"Then go outside," she yelled but not turning.

Clark just looks at her with feelings of disdain, disbelief and awe. No woman should have this much power over him, least of all Lois Lane.

Upon reaching their room, finally, Clark was impressed that Lois wasn't struggling with her breathing. Actually, she was remarkably fit for someone he always thought was lazy. He noticed on the way up that she paced herself and kept to a steady rhythm.

"Are you hungry?"

"No"

"Want me to order room service?" he continued asking absentmindedly.

Lois crinkled her nose. "What, you're hard of hearing now too?"

Clark was beginning to think so. "Are you angry I kissed you?" He finally got the guts to ask.

"No!" she replied, surprising Clark.

"Then why are you angry?" he says softly.

Lois had in internal debate going in her head. She figured, be honest for once you know, not that she's ever been dishonest.

"I'm angry because…" Clark was hanging by her every word. She continued. "Because I kissed you back. There!" She spun around and headed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her before Clark could even say a word.

Clark sat on the hideous circular bed waiting for Lois to come out of the bathroom. She's been in there for an hour now. He heard the faucet run and then shut off, and after that, it was pretty much silent.

He forced himself not to x-ray through the door and see how she was doing.

He opted to knock instead. "Lois, are you all right?"

"Yeah," he heard.

Thinking of some ridiculous excuse he was sure she would call him on, he says, "I need… to brush my teeth"

Getting ready for the inevitable, he was surprised by the answer.

"Okay"

Clark blinked. He blinked twice actually. Is Lois inviting him in? No, of course not, he asked to brush his teeth.

Shaking his head, he slowly turned the knob, giving her the time to change her mind. When she didn't, he cautiously stepped in and was ambushed with an amazing scent of lilac permeating throughout the room.

Apparently, Lois had given herself a bubble bath and he couldn't stop himself from staring until it was too late.

"Want to join me?" she says in a genuine tone that had Clark thinking twice before answering.

"You serious?""

She nods. "Plenty of room"

"You do realize this entire mission has gone to hell, right?"

"Hence why I'm taking full advantage of the perks," she replies gesturing to the space opposite sure. "Don't go shy on my account, Smallville. You've got nothing I haven't already seen," she says with a smirk.

"I doubt it," he responded with a smirk of his own.

Lois smiled at his sudden spike of confidence. "So are you going to join me or not? It's getting awfully lonely in here"

"Lois, I don't think… I've never done… this… anything like this." His confidence suddenly fell as flat as a note on a music sheet.

She gave out a low chuckle but nothing that expressed that she was teasing him. "I know," she says. "But we're not doing anything wrong, it's just a bath," she assured.

"Somehow, jumping into a hot tub with a half naked girl who isn't eve my girlfriend is anything but wrong," he says unconvinced.

She smiled again. "You're absolutely right," she nodded matter-of-factly.

"I am?"

She raised a champagne glass Clark didn't notice was there before. "It's a good thing I'm not wearing anything," she adds with a grin.

Clark inhaled deeply, she wasn't making it easy for him to say no.

Then he gave himself a few more seconds of careful contemplating until he went against everything he was ever taught growing up, and he did so out of his own free will and in mere seconds.

After awkwardly removing his clothes, he climbed inside the hot tub opposite Lois, who didn't at all seem to feel as awkward as he did.

She hands him a glass.

"Thanks," he says.

A moment passed when Lois begins talking.

"I'm leaving," she revealed much to Clark's surprised.

"What?"

She nodded. "You asked me earlier why I don't take my life seriously. The truth is; the future was a lot easier to avoid when no one expected anything from you. Moving from country to country, it just wasn't important to me"

"And now?"

"Watching my sister throw her life away because she lacked The General's attention was just… stupid," she explained with a laugh. Clark smiled as she continued. "That was really stupid of her, wasn't it," she growled in aggravation.

They continued to laugh. Then her voice turns soft and calm. "And then I see you"

Clark points to himself. "Me?"

She nods. "And Chloe. Seeing you two so excited about the next year kind of rubbed off on me, you know"

"See, I knew you liked me in there somewhere," he teased.

Lois kicks him and he groaned. "Oh my god, I'm sorry," she apologized, leaning forward, their upper bodies practically centimeters away from each other. "Are you all right?" she continued worriedly.

Clark pretended to be hurt and opened one eye to indicate otherwise. He holds his laughter for a second before bursting out in laughs.

"Oh… Oh… That was low," she says, splashing water to his face.

Clark was more than happy to return the favor and splashed water her was as well. "Any lower, and it would be," he replied playfully.

As they were splashing water all over the place, Clark reached for her and pulled her in, her arms wrapping around his neck and his hands slowly fell to her sides to guide her legs around his waist beneath the bubbled water.

If the elevator incident was any indication, the place they found themselves in now was literally dangerous waters.

Clark could feel himself rising and he swallowed hard.

Neither was breaking eye contact, but both were much too aware of each other's actions and reactions. Newton's Third Law never made more sense than it did this moment.

To be continued…