Lois awoke the next morning to some of the most delicious smells wafting up from the kitchen, causing her stomach to rumble in response. Rolling her eyes at herself, she climbed out of bed, slid her feet into her slippers and grabbed her robe from the foot of her bed and pulled it on over her pajamas, tying the sash as she descended. Turning the corner, she found the kitchen table loaded down with hotcakes, bacon, coffee, toast, and a variety of homemade jams. Martha was at the stove, cooking something in a large cast iron skillet.

"Good morning, Lois," The older woman greeted her kindly without turning around.

"How did you know it was me?" Lois asked, surprised at Martha's perceptiveness.

"The third stair creaks just a little when you step on it," Martha shrugged, picking up the pan and emptying the contents, scrambled eggs by the look of it, into a white serving dish and placing a lid over top to keep it warm, "And the boys are still out in the barn doing their morning chores. Clark insists on helping out when he comes to visit. They should be done soon. Since you're closer, would you mind grabbing the orange juice out of the fridge, Dear?"

"Sure," Lois nodded, opening the fridge, and pulling out a glass pitcher full of orange juice, noticing it had a bit more pulp than she was used to seeing, "Did you make all of this?"

"Yeah," Martha shrugged, "I know it may seem like a lot, but I've been doing it so long I mostly just run on auto pilot."

Before Martha could continue on, the door swung open revealing Clark and Jonathan toeing off their work boots in the mudroom and shucking off their Carhart jackets to hang on the pegs on the wall. Clark picked up the basket of eggs he'd been carrying up to the house and set it on the counter to be water glassed. Jonathan quickly washed his hands and made a beeline to Martha, kissing her on the cheek before taking his seat.

Clark soon followed suit, washing his hands and kissing his mother's other cheek, before taking his seat at the table to serve himself up.

"Save some for the rest of us," Martha mildly scolded her son, giving Lois a humored look, "He'll inhale his food if you don't remind him to slow down."

Clark gave her a put-upon huff, but his eyes shone with the puckish humor that Lois was used to seeing from both of his identities, before deliberately adding bacon one strip at a time to his plate.

Martha and Jonathan were clearly used to this game of his as they chuckled at his antics. However, Jonathan's good humor quickly faded when Martha caught him trying to sneak a couple of the hotcakes and lifted an eyebrow at him. With a slight grumble, he picked up the bowl in front of him and ladled out a small portion of the oatmeal, adding some jam and cream to it before giving it a small stir and taking a bite.

When Clark gave his mother a questioning look, the kind woman explained that Jonathan's cardiologist was wanting him to make more heart-healthy decisions. Clark was aware of the heart problems that ran in the Kent family and nodded understandingly.

Lois watched this whole exchange in rapt fascination as she nibbled on the eggs and toast she'd taken. The Kents just seemed so normal but what kind of 'normal' people decided to adopt and raise an alien and raise it as a full-on human. She was tempted to ask, but for once in her life held her peace, quietly observing the family's interactions.

After breakfast was done, Clark and Jonathan went upstairs to shower and change for the day while Lois and Martha made quick work of washing the dishes. Being that it was Friday, the festival wouldn't resume until after 3pm when the primary and secondary schools let out. However, seeing as Mrs. Kent was on the planning committee for the event and Mr. Kent had a Grange meeting, they were going to be in town all day while Lois and Clark continued their investigation at the Irig's farm.

Once the dishes were done, Lois made her way upstairs to get dressed, she didn't hear the shower going and assumed that Clark was getting dressed. As she turned on the landing to go to the room she was using, she heard the door of the bathroom open. Looking up, she was surprised to see Clark, hair still damp wearing nothing but a towel and his glasses. He clearly had had difficulty shaving that morning if the bits of toilet paper stuck to his face were any indication. She couldn't find the motivation to move, instead staring dumbly at Clark's strong arms, muscled chest, and trying so hard to not imagine what might be hidden by the small bit of cloth secured around his narrow hips.

"I, erm, forgot to grab clothes before going in there," Clark stammered, awkwardly, "I was more concerned with not smelling like the stalls I'd mucked out this morning." When Lois gave no indication of moving or speaking, he looked at her curiously trying, once more to figure out the enigma that was Lois Lane. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Ahem, okay then, I'm going to go get dressed while you're in the shower."

"Or you could join me in the shower, let me find out what exactly 'Man of steel' refers to," Lois bit her tongue from speaking the thought that came rushing to her. Instead, she took a moment to get herself together, or as together as she could be, in her pajama, her incredibly attractive partner and secret superhero crush standing practically naked in front of her. "Yeah, right, okay, I'm just going to go into your, erm, the bedroom and get something to wear. I'll come… go down…" She mentally kicked herself, "Be right down as soon as I get showered and dressed."

"Get a grip Lane!" Lois mentally scolded herself, "He's not the first man you've seen half naked. Hell, it's not even the first time you've seen him naked!" With a groan she turned on the water in the shower, deliberately setting it on the cool side of comfortable before stripping down and stepping into the shower. She quickly washed her hair and body while the cooler water did nothing to cool her interest in her partner, her best friend.

She had let go of the fantasy after she found the hidden compartment in his closet, but the trouble was, now that she knew, it was hard to not recognize the little tells in his personas, showing the full man that he was, and damn it if it didn't make him more attractive, and sexy, and other adjectives she knew she shouldn't be thinking about. Especially in the shower… after seeing him still damp and glistening from his own shower… this line of thought would do her no good. She quickly rinsed the conditioner from her hair and turned off the water.

Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed her towel and quickly began to dry off, a passing thought of how pointless it was to even have the door closed at all, considering his abilities, crossed her mind before she remembered that Clark was too much of a gentleman to do anything like that. She quickly dressed in her suit and a new blouse before blow drying her hair and putting on her makeup. Soon she was heading downstairs.

The first thing she noticed was how well his jeans… the second thing she noticed was he was reding something he'd just pulled from his parent's fax machine, a small, gratified smile on his lips. It was that same little smug smile she'd seen many times before, the one that turned her insides to goo. The third stair let out a groan of protest as she made her way down the stairs, catching his attention, and causing him to turn, the small smile on his face, growing to the wide one that never failed to make her weak in the knees, no matter which of his personas she was dealing with.

"Anything good?" She asked nodding to the paper in his hands, trying not to notice the laidback look he was sporting.

"It's the list of EPA sites we requested last night, Smallville isn't on it." He handed the paper to her to see.

"We got 'em!" She practically crowed, "Grab your notebook and the car keys, we have someone fraudulently claiming to be an EPA agent who is stone walling us. It's time to go for the head."

"Uh, Lois, don't you think that's a bit dramatic?" Clark arched an eyebrow at his partner as he followed her out to the car. "Maybe there's been a miscommunication or something."

Lois just turned and gave him an incredulous look, "Clark, you are the one who dreamed up this whole nefarious plot concerning your parent's neighbor finding a rock that subsequently got him ejected from his property before seemingly disappearing! Don't tell me you've changed your mind!"

"Not so much changed my mind, but if the people who kicked Wayne off his farm aren't from the EPA, where did they come from?" Clark pointed out, "I mean what if they don't have a legitimate claim to do what they're doing? And it's not like Wayne to leave like that, especially this time of year. He always tells my dad when he's going out of town, so him disappear like that is... concerning. This could be dangerous, Lois."

"Clark, we deal with danger every day back in Metropolis," Lois pointed out, "Hasn't stopped us before."

"I think you're overlooking the multiple times you've overlooked my advice to not go rushing head first into potentially dangerous situations," Clark gave her a pointed look before getting into the car. When Lois had joined him, "Superman has had to intervene more times than not when you do things like that, and I don't know if you've noticed, but Superman isn't here?"

"Just because he hasn't made himself known doesn't mean he's not here," Lois challenged him, "Maybe he's hiding in plain sight."

Clark sighed as he put the car in gear, "Lois I know every person in this town, trust me, and the only newcomer here, aside from the crew at the Irig farm, is you, and last time I checked you aren't Superman."

Lois just rolled her eyes and looked out the window as they made their way down the road to the Irig farm. When they arrived, they were met by the same disagreeable woman as the day before, who presented them with an updated superfund site list from the EPA, dated two hours after the one that Clark and Lois had received. When pressed for the whereabouts of Wayne Irig, the woman reiterated that she didn't know where he'd gone, but if she heard from him, she'd ask him to reach out to them. Seeing that they wouldn't be getting any more information from her, they made their way back to the city center to see if they could get any more information from whatever townies they came across.


They had been interviewing several people setting up for the afternoon's festivities when Clark suggested they take a break for lunch. With a huff, Lois followed him to the outdoor seating for the local café as Clark briefed her on what he'd found at City Hall regarding Mr. Irig's property. As was typical, he didn't notice she was irritated with him until she started aggressively rooting around in her briefcase and slammed her notepad on the table.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked, munching on a potato chip.

"'Don't mind my partner, she's from Metropolis?'" Lois quoted back at him.

"You were being a bit... aggressive," Clark hedged, "Haven't you ever heard the adage, 'You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar?'"

"Haven't you heard the phrase, 'Strike hard and strike fast?'" Lois countered, "Besides, that aggressiveness is how I made it through growing up in Metropolis, going to Met U, and by the way how I got to be one of Perry's best reporters all by the time I was 26, thank you very much."

"I'm just saying, maybe try to relax a little," Clark advised.

Before Lois could counter his advice, a bubbly blond woman approached their table, carrying two drinks, "Clark Kent, is that you?"

"Oh hi, Maisie," Clark smiled up at her before turning to Lois to explain, "Maisie is the owner of the café."

"Your folks said you were in town for work," She set their drinks down at the table and turned to Lois, "Which means, you must be Lois. You sure are pretty, I can see why Clark here took a shine to you."

Clark choked on his drink at the woman's forward statement, "Maisie, that's really not..."

Maisie ignored him, "So, how's the novel coming? Do you have a release date yet? I love a good romance novel; I'd love to read it when it comes out. Support our town's best guys' best girl."

Lois gave Clark a plaintive look, causing him to blush.

"Sorry, I may have mentioned it to my mom who must have..." He tried.

"...Told the whole town?" Lois finished for him.

"Well, that's just small towns for ya, darlin' everyone knows everything about everybody," Maisie shrugged.

"Oh really," Lois quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at Clark, "Then why haven't I heard any dirt on Clark here?"

"Oh well, with Clark, what you see is what you get," Maisie shrugged, "Here are your menus, take a look and I'll be back in a sec." With that Maisie flounced off to help.

"Your best gal?" Lois challenged.

"That I had nothing to do with," Clark shook his head innocently.

"Uh-huh," Lois shook her head and turned back to her menu, "So what's good here?"

"I don't know, Maisie's known for changing up the menu every so often and I haven't been back in a whi... ow!" He yelped, jerking his hand back, the forefinger of his left hand bleeding.

"What's wrong?" Lois asked, looking over from her menu.

"I... I'm bleeding?" Clark looked bewildered.

"Oh, don't be such a big baby, it's just a papercut," Lois rolled her eyes, "Just put it in your mouth and suck on it, it'll stop in a sec."

Clark nodded and did as she said. Suddenly Lois' phone started to ring sending her jumping for her bag to retrieve it, knocking over her water in the process.

"Sorry," She gave Clark an apologetic look as she answered her phone. "Lois Lane... Mr. Irig?!"

Her surprise got Clark's attention as Wayne Irig explained that he had taken the money from the EPA and decided to take a bit of a road trip to visit his sister in Nevada. According to him, he wasn't sure where he was as he'd just hopped in his RV and started off and had stopped at a rest stop somewhere along the way to call his answering machine only to find a message from the EPA agent asking him to call Lois. Something wasn't adding up to her, so she handed the phone off to Clark.

Clark tried to get more information out of Wayne, but wasn't able to get much out of him aside from the EPA just needed to do some digging on the property before he said he needed to go to let someone else use the payphone and suddenly hung up. Something wasn't sitting right with either of them about the whole situation, so they decided to do some more digging of their own, once they got something to eat.


They had worked all afternoon, stopping only to eat some dinner with the Kents. Lois had finished her meal while the Kents were still eating and got up to continue canvasing the crowd for interviews while Clark hung back with his parents. She had noticed them in a pretty serious conversation as she wrapped up the last of her interviews, so she started to look around at the various vendor stalls, stopping at one she saw the day before.

It was a booth set up by the local seamstress shop and they had a comfortable looking dress with long sleeves and a floral print on a dark background. The vendor, a petite woman with auburn hair noticed Lois eyeing the dress and offered to let her try it on. The dress fit perfectly; the v-neck was flattering to her form without being too revealing, the bodice skimmed along her body before flaring out to a loose skirt that ended just below her knees. She knew Clark would want to stay in town the rest of the evening, and a part of her wanted to get a reaction out of him, so she bought it wearing it out and carrying her suit out in the bag offered by the seamstress.

On the seamstress' recommendation, she stopped a few booths down and found a cute pair of medium brown suede boots that were nearly as comfortable as her favorite slippers back home. Granted, they wouldn't be good to wear around the farm, even if she had the slightest inkling to help Clark and Jonathan with their chores in the morning, but they would do for walking around town and going to the barn dance later that evening.

Thankfully, Clark left the car unlocked, which allowed her to pop the trunk and stow her things away before going to meet up with Clark and his parents to enjoy the rest of the night at the festival. When she found them, they were standing by the strongman game. She watched as Clark handed over a ticket and gave it a try, sending the slide a little more than three-quarters of the way up the pole. The barker offered him another try, but Clark shook his head and turned back to his parents. Lois could resist making an entrance.

"Maybe you should try the husk-off, might be more your style," She teased.

She could see Martha's eyes sparkle with humor as Clark turned around, eyes widening as he saw her, "Wow, what did you do?"

"Figured, when in Smallville," Lois shrugged and couldn't hide the slight blush that rose to her cheeks, "Is it really that bad?"

"No!" Clark said a little too loudly before clearing his throat and trying again, "Uh, no, you look... you look great, actually."

"Why don't you two go on," Martha suggested, "Your father and I have to get back to our duties. I think the barn dance is going to start soon, more likely to find some young folks your age over there than hanging out with us."

"What do you say?" Clark asked, a hopeful glimmer in his eyes, "I promise not to step on your toes too much."

"I suppose if Rachel can risk it, so can I," Lois teased taking the arm he offered as they made their way over to the grange hall where the dance was being held. She couldn't help but chuckle at Clark's surprise that she knew how to line dance, although it was quickly replaced when the next song slowed down and he pulled her into his arms.

The way he filled her senses, overwhelmed her. The way he smelled like fresh air on a warm summer's night, and how his arms felt wrapped around her, her hand enfolded gently in his where it rested on his chest. Even though she could feel the ground beneath her feet, it almost felt as if they were floating as he led them across the floor, humming along with the lyrics of the song performed by the live band. She didn't know if she should be scared by all this or how she should respond. He was her friend, her best friend if she was being honest, but the way he made her feel sometimes... okay all the time, was like nothing she'd ever felt before, and it kind of scared her.

She found herself wishing he could be honest with her, tell her his secret so that she might be able to explore what all this was. It wasn't a state secret that Clark liked her more than a friend ought to, but he was an enigma to her. So open, but at the same time, so secretive. On the other hand, she wished she hadn't figured out his secret, at least then she could have kept her crush on Superman. But wasn't the real man, this man, the one in front of her who was the man behind the persona in the cape so much more? More real, more... human than the fantasy his alter ego represented?

As the song faded, Rachel cut in, asking Clark for the dance he'd promised. Lois took the opportunity to excuse herself, saying she needed to get some fresh air. Noticing a caramel apple booth not too far from the grange hall, she purchased one before returning to sit on a bench outside, letting the peace of the calm night wash over her as the soft strains of the music seeped out of the building behind her. That's where Clark found her a little while later as she was finishing up her apple.

"Are you ready to head out?" He asked softly.

"Sure," She nodded, licking some caramel from her finger where it has dripped off the apple in her hand.

Their walk back to the car took them straight through the square and right past the strongman game. Giving him a challenging look, "Alright Clark, last chance," She smirked, "Think you can beat your last try?"

"Oh, no, Lois," He groaned good naturedly as she handed over a ticket to the barker who then handed the sledgehammer to him. "Okay, fine."

Lois watched as he squared up against the game, getting a good grip on the sledgehammer before bring it in a nearly full circle up and around his shoulder before bringing it down on the pad, sending the marker shooting up. The marker made it two sections higher than it had on his previous attempt. Clark looked up consideringly before handing another ticket to the barker and taking another turn, the marker went even higher on his second try.

"Very nice, let's see if you can do any better," Lois challenged handing a ticket to the barker.

Clark shrugged and hit the pad with all he had in him. The bell at the top of the pole rang out, and he raised his hands in victory as Lois cheered him on. The barker, assuming Clark had been trying to win a prize for Lois, offered her the choice between a stuffed Superman doll and a dark brown teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck.

Lois smiled as Clark didn't even try to hide his surprise that she chose the bear over the stuffed facsimile of his alter ego. "You know, it's nice seeing you so relaxed," She smiled up at him, "Just so you."

"Well, if you can't be you when you're home," Clark shrugged, "Then where else can you be?"

"Good point," Lois agreed, "Let's get out of here, it's been a long day and I'm tired."

After they'd gotten back to the Kent farm, Lois settled in at the desk in Clark's room, her notes spread out in front of her for review. She had a feeling that there was more going on up the road than what everyone was being told, she could smell a big story brewing, and she was going to be the one who wrote it... with Clark, of course. She dialed in to the Planet and asked to speak with Perry. As she waited to be connected, she started heading down stairs, thoughts of snagging a couple of the homemade cookies Martha'd told her were down there.

She was halfway down the stairs when Perry picked up, but he was acting oddly and said he'd have to call her back. He had just hung up when she entered the kitchen to find Clark hanging up his phone as well. They both rolled their eyes at each other and shared a chuckle. Clark held out a cookie to her and got up to pour her a glass of milk. They talked late into the night, snacking on cookies and milk as they worked out their next move.