Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except Lacey. And believe me, she wishes I didn't. Everyone else belongs to Warner Brothers, DC Comics and all sorts of people that are not little old me.

Ten

The Game Masters of the Unknown 7590436 Points.
The Very Bitter and Unwilling Mary-Sue -666 Points.

Lacey stared at the numbers she had scribbled out on the Post It in front of her. It was New Year's Eve (afternoon/early evening actually) and she was working. Gina had wanted her to come to her New Year's party and Lacey had actually thought about dropping by.

At least she was up until the news came on. Some genetically bred psychokinetic soldier had broken loose from a hidden research and development group in the city.

Naturally, the Daily Planet had sprung into motion. Hell, it was Lois that had broken the story in the first place. Reporters were sent out. People were snapping photos. Everyone was rushing around.

Psycho boy was not a happy camper and had decided to try and tear down the city single handedly. At least that's what it seemed from all the news stations.

Too bad no one told him that Superman had come back.

They had shown most of the fight on the news, and even though psycho boy had given pretty a good fight, Superman once again proved he was better. When he had finally stopped the psychokinetic, the entire newsroom cheered as they watched it on the news.

Except Lacey. It wasn't that she wasn't glad the psycho had been stopped. She just wasn't a cheering kind of woman.

"Hi."

Lacey turned her head to see Jason standing next to her. She smiled and ruffled his hair. "Hey, kiddo. Shouldn't you be in your dad's office?"

"Daddy's office is boring." Jason smiled back at her. "Can we play poker?"

Lacey and Jason were sitting on the floor of Richard's office, playing a makeshift game of poker, and using colored paperclips as chips. That was where and how Lois, Richard, and Clark found them.

The trio exchanged curious expressions before looking back at the pair. Both of them had looks of concentration on their faces. At almost the same second, they lowered their cards to stare each other down. It was very surreal to see a four year old staring down an adult.

"Call it." Jason announced.

Lacey set her cards down. "Four nines." She arched an eyebrow at Jason..

And he beamed at her when he set his cards down. "Royal straight flush!" He gathered the 'winnings' with a laugh as Lacey shook her head in disbelief. "I win!"

"I'm so glad we didn't use real mo-" Lacey stopped at the snickering and chuckles coming from their audience. She glared at the offending party. "It's not funny! He won almost every hand!" She waved a hand toward the stockpile of paperclips that Jason had next to him. "I created a poker monster."

Jason giggled and dodged the card Lacey tossed at him as he ran over to his parents. "It was fun! Hi, Mr. Clark!"

Lacey watched silently as she cleaned up their mess from the games. There were greetings, smiles, laughs, and the Lane-White family left. Lois wanted to work on her story from the comfort of her home..

And Clark had a wistful look on his face as they left.

Lacey wondered if she was going to have to start from square one on her unofficial 'Keep Clark from Drama Lama Land' mission. The sound of her dropping the paperclips into a plastic bin seemed to snap Clark out of his lapse from reality.

Clark gave her a sheepish smile before joining her. He crouched down and began to help with the clean up. "You're really good with him."

"It's not hard." Lacey said with a shrug. "He's like one of the sweetest kids in the world." She smiled at him. In her mind she found it odd that she could smile so much in this damn reality. She smiled more around here than she ever did in her own. It bugged her. "He likes you."

"Technically, he likes everyone." Clark corrected. He tried to hide the sharp pain of not being able to do anything about his son.

"Hopefully that trait will stick with him a long time." Lacey said as she slid the deck of cards back into their box. "So, what are you doing tonight? Party? Drinking? Buying Esurance online?"

He closed the small bin and picked it up as he stood up. "Oh no, nothing that exciting." Truth be told, he just wanted to relax. That fight earlier had actually hurt. He even had a few bruises to prove it. "What about you?"

Lacey got up with a stretch, walked past him, and out the office door. "Meh. I was invited to a party, but I'll more than likely end up watching '200 Cigarettes' or something." Once at her desk, she placed the cards back in the drawer and snatched the paperclip bin from Clark's hands. "But I'm a little tempted to just wander around town tonight. It's my first New Year's in a place like this."

"Really?" Clark asked and watched her set the bin on the top of her desk. She turned around and sat on the edge of the desk with a shrug. "I mean, by yourself? Sounds a little dangerous when you've never done it before."

Lacey smirked at him. "I'm a big girl, blue eyes. I've been around worse odds then a city full of revelers."

She seemed to be telling the truth and that made Clark's interest go up a point. He made a face. "Still.. Maybe I should go with you." He was rewarded with a light punch to his arm that he had to pretend to wince at.

"Sweet of you to offer, but you go on and do whatever it is you were planning to." She grabbed her tote bag and coat from her chair after hopping off the desktop. "I'm sure you've earned it."

"It wouldn't be any trouble." Clark insisted while he watched her pull her coat on.

Lacey pulled a black winter beret out of her coat pocket and carefully arranged it on her head before giving him a 'look'. "Tell me the truth, Clark. Are you offering because you think I can't take care of myself or are you offering to make your own good guy sensibilities feel better?"

It was one of those questions when you really couldn't win with either answer and they both knew it. But Lacey waited expectantly and Clark sighed. "Mostly the second."

Lacey nodded knowingly as she walked away. "Thought as much." She left him standing there staring after her, but she stopped halfway across the newsroom. She turned around while putting her gloves on. "Well? Are you coming with me or not?"

After wandering aimlessly around the city, with several moments where Clark had to 'excuse himself', stopping for dinner, and at least five cups of mint hot chocolate (that was just Lacey), it was finally nearing midnight.

"I have never really understood the big fuss about New Year's." Lacey slid her hands into her coat pockets. "People claim to celebrate it, but it's really just an excuse to get drunk and be stupid. Kind of like Mardi Gras and the Superbowl."

Clark found himself trying to figure out how she had changed the subject from electronic pets to the night's festivities even as he replied back. "I think it's a way to put the past events behind them and to give people a chance to look forward to things to come." He timed it. Three, two, one, and there was the roll of her eyes.

"In order to forget, they have to get smashed and kill the brain cells? That's insane." Lacey shook her head. "It's ridiculous."

"Didn't you mention that you once had, and I quote, 'an uber hangover'?"

"It was a lapse in judgment." Lacey said in a defensive manner. "It won't happen again." She paused in front of a store window to look at the carnival display behind the glass. "You didn't get hurt today, did you?" She didn't notice the slightly startled expression on his face as she looked at the tiny figurines. "After all, you were out there covering the fight like Lois was."

That's when he really knew that she knew. He had suspected for a while, and the moment in the hospital had almost confirmed it, but he'd never actually had any proof. He didn't have any real proof now, but somehow, he knew. His voice was low when he replied. "You know, don't you."

Lacey glanced up at his nearly impassive expression. It was about time he acknowledged all of her messed up hints. "I know a great many things, Clark." She started walking down the sidewalk again and Clark quickly joined her. "Doesn't mean I'm going to actually share my knowledge."

Clark sighed. "How?"

"Does it matter?" Lacey didn't see the point on the reasons why. She knew. He knew she knew. There was a lot of knowing between them. "It doesn't change anything. You're you. I'm me. Enough said."

"Is it really that simple to you?" He asked her with a curious look.

She stopped and turned to look at him. "It is just that simple. Why make it complicated when it doesn't have to be?"

"But-"

"No. No buts." Lacey stared up at him with a slight glare. "Have I ever treated you any differently each time we interact? No. And honestly? I don't see the point in doing anything different on my end unless there's a real need for it. But that was always my thought about it anyway."

The pair stared at each other. Clark was thinking about the dangers of her knowing. Not the dangers to him, but the ones that could come her way. Lacey was thinking about how he obviously liked having the safety blanket of secrecy wrapped around him. Sure, he acted like he wanted to share, but the blanket was a shield he could stay safe with while avoiding outwardly hurting others as well as himself.

She, for one, was sick of it in her own personal life. It didn't work on Middle Earth. It didn't even have a chance of working in Hogwarts. With the Winchesters, it nearly broke her. Here? After thinking long and hard about her Thanksgiving moment, she just wasn't going to have it. If asked by someone who she decided to trust, she'd tell. Screw it if they didn't believe her. Screw it if they got hurt in the process. People got hurt. It was a reality. But people also healed if you gave them a chance.

The sound of a large group of people heading their way snapped Clark out of the stare down. He grabbed Lacey by the shoulders and steered the startled woman into the nearest doorway as a moving party of people practically danced by. They couldn't very well finish the conversation if they were trampled.

It may have been a bad move, because she was now trapped between him and a door. Lacey's gaze was on the people partying as they passed, but Clark was staring down at her. What was it about her? He just could not figure her out no matter how much he paid attention, and he had been trying. He didn't know why, but he was.

Once the coast was clear, Lacey looked up at Clark expectantly. She expected him to step aside. She expected that she might need to push on past him. Or at least attempt to.

She didn't expect him to kiss her.

It wasn't some kind of world spinning off on its axis kiss. It wasn't oh my god instant true love. It didn't save the world or shatter mountains. Whatever it was, it made Clark think that she tasted like mint and chocolate. It made Lacey think that the former last son of Krypton may have finally snapped. (There was slight guilt that it was her fault, but she'd get over that quickly enough.)

They didn't really notice it had struck midnight until after the kiss ended. Confused brown eyes stared up at surprised blue ones as cheers and shouts of celebration filled the streets.

What the moment really was, was a small taste of hope for each of them for different reasons.

Clark honestly couldn't think of why he did it. But he smiled down at her even as she quirked an eyebrow upward.

"Does this mean I have to start ignoring those empty fortune cookies?"

He laughed as he pulled her close for a hug and placed a light kiss on the top of her head.

The new year was going to be interesting.