See first post for Disclaimer

Part 2

"No, the Senator's going to be in Washington on Thursday; the meeting with the union officials will have to wait until next Tuesday." Lois held the phone between her ear and shoulder, making notations in a file on her desk. "Well look at it this way then, you'll have five extra days to organize yourself so you're not wasting anyone's time." She rolled her eyes at whatever was being said on the other end of the conversation. "I'd believe you if I had an outline of your presentation in front of me but your office has been dragging their feet on that one. Listen Tom, you get me that outline by end of business Friday and I'll see what I can do about getting you an extra hour with the Senator."

Clark stood in the doorway to Lois' office. The room was Spartan save for the abundance of papers and file folders piled high on her desk. He waited at the threshold for Lois to acknowledge his presence. When she dropped her pen and took hold of the phone she noticed, waving him into the room.

"Are you really trying to use that line with me Tom? This has nothing to do with what the Senator deems important but everything to do with your office's lack of efficiency. This conversation is a courtesy from me to you; we're not going to wait around indefinitely for you to tell us when you're ready to meet." Clark raised his eyebrows at Lois' hard-line approach. "Good. Our office will be in touch next Monday for confirmation." She nodded as though the man on the other end could see her. "You too and get out on that course, the weather's supposed to be great this week." She smiled before hanging up.

"No wonder my mother wanted you as chief-of-staff, you spend all day yelling and annoying people. You were born for the job." Clark smirked when Lois' hands went to her hips indignantly.

"Shows what you know about politics." She shook her head. "I'll badger and annoy until I get what I want, which happens to be what your mother wants, but I always end the conversation on a good note; makes them easier to deal with next time around."

"Right." He looked unconvinced, leaning against the inside of the doorframe. "So what exactly does a Chief-of-Staff do?" He tilted his head as a sign of interest.

"Think of me as a filter to your Mom. Pretty much everything goes through me, I schedule meetings, press conferences, organize the research for Senatorial gatherings in Washington and elsewhere. I basically have to make sure your mother has all the information she needs to make informed decisions." She ran a tired hand through her blonde streaked hair. "So did you just come to bother me Smallville, or did you have another agenda in mind?" She sunk into her chair and turned to her computer.

"Actually" Clark stood up straight "I was wondering if you have plans for lunch?"

"If working through it counts as plans than yes. Why?" Her eyes were on the computer screen as she checked her email for the twentieth time that day, thus missing Clark's nervous shuffling.

"I was hoping you could spare an hour so I could take you out." He explained.

"Uh….sure I guess I can spare an hour." Lois' confused gaze landed on Clark, watching his nervous movements continue. "You didn't come all the way to Topeka to take me to lunch." She stated.

"What if I did?" Came the challenged response.

"I'd likely question your sanity."

"But you'd still let me take you out." Clark reasoned.

"Well a girl's gotta eat." Lois tossed him a sly smile. "I need about fifteen minutes to fire off a few emails before we can go."

"No problem." Clark told her, taking a seat across her desk.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you going to say hi to your Mom or something Smallville?"

"Nope, I came here to see you."

"O…kay." She drew out. Lois refocused long enough to respond to a few emails that were urgent and mark those that would have to be dealt with immediately upon their return from lunch. She was done much sooner than expected but took the opportunity to surreptitiously watch Clark lounging in the chair. His attention was drawn to different objects within the room, such as pictures of Lois with various heads-of-state or foreign dignitaries from countries around the world.

"I'm done." She announced and shut off her screen.

"I've never seen these." He rose from the chair and motioned to the pictures on the credenza on the far wall.

"They don't really go with the décor in my apartment." She drawled sardonically. "However, then lend me a little more credibility when dealing with office staff and outsiders. After all, I don't exactly have a degree to back up my authority." She shrugged.

"I didn't know that was a pre-requisite." Clark helped her on with her spring coat, receiving a glare as reward.

"It's not and let's face it, four years in a lecture hall doesn't come anywhere near eight-teen years of international travel with a high ranking military officer. I was part of more politics on one afternoon than most of these people could be in a lifetime." She walked out of the office with him, lowering her voice substantially. "But it would likely incite the natives if I were to mention my views on the topic." She nodded to the people milling about the outer office, some of whom stopped to look at their Chief-of-Staff leaving with the Senator's handsome young son.

At a deli a few blocks from the government building, Lois was listening to Clark answer her questions regarding the farm upkeep. The two had walked over; taking advantage of a warm streak they were getting in early spring.

"I still don't understand how you think you'll be able to run the farm single-handedly during the spring and summer. Isn't the spring like the busiest time in the land of agriculture?" She bit into her sandwich, signally to Clark that it was his turn to answer.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat Clark cursed Lois for always cutting right to the heart of the matter, her lack of tact sometimes brought him too close to revealing more to her than he should.

"I guess it's so routine after all the years helping my Dad that I don't even realize it any more. The hours are going to be longer during the planting season but its short lived so I'll survive." He joked.

Lois took a drink of her water and scrutinized him. "So how long did it take your mom to convince you to drive down here and take me out?"

"What makes you think my Mom had anything to do with it?"

"She's been telling me I'm working too hard and I need to stop and take a break every once in a while. Which is just the stupidest thing I've heard cause she works twice as hard as I do." Lois' hands clattered atop the table causing Clark to wince.

"I think you're about evenly matched on the working scale. But as for lunch today, my Mom has no idea I'm here." Clark's lips curled on one side, pleased to see Lois suddenly at a loss for words.

"So what was this all about then?" She hedge carefully.

"I just felt like taking you out for lunch. I haven't seen much of you since you started working with my Mom and any time I do see you, you're knee deep in files." Clark took a casual bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully. "I called you last Saturday to see if you wanted to come over and watch a movie but you weren't home." He treaded carefully, not wanting to tip her off.

Lois' eyes narrowed as she stopped in mid bite. "You didn't leave a message; and since when do you call me up to see if I want to watch a movie?" She dropped her lunch, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What? Can't a guy call a girl up to watch a movie with him?" Clark smiled innocently.

"Sure a guy can call a girl but you don't call me. When did you start seeking out my company?" Lois was at a loss. The conversation had taken a turn she had not been anticipating and now she was floundering while trying to maintain her cool.

"When I realized I like it." Clark answered easily.

"Are you drunk?" Lois' eyes widened at him. "No of course not, Clarkie boy doesn't drink. Possessed? Not the first time for Smallville." She wondered aloud.

"None of the above." Clark shook his head, a smile lighting his lips. "I know it sounds like the craziest thing you've ever heard but I happen to like spending time with you Lois."

"Something's going on and I'm going to figure out what it is?" She warned. "Did Chloe send you to butter me up? She doesn't actually think I'm going to help her out with a story after what happened last time. I've already had to deal with one overzealous politician who remembered my fleeting career at the Wingate." She huffed.

Clark saw red. "What did he say to you?" He ground out, holding onto his anger by his fingertips.

Lois waved her hand in front of her dismissively. "Don't worry about it; it was nothing I couldn't handle. I made it very clear to him that my presence there could likely be explained away better than his could so I doubt he'll be mentioning it again." She shrugged.

"Good." The fight began to ebb out of him. "Come on" he glanced at his watch "I better get you back to work before your boss finds out it was me who stole you away." He teased.

Work had allowed Lois to forget the strange lunch she shared with Clark that afternoon but the long drive home gave her nothing but time to mull over the encounter. She was thankful that she and Mrs. Kent hadn't driven in together as she wouldn't have been able to hide her distracted thoughts from the intuitive woman. Clark had driven all the way to Topeka just to take her to lunch; he had looked nervous when he first appeared in her doorway but that didn't make much sense, it was just lunch.

Her grip tightened on the steering wheel and she gulped recognizing for the first time that perhaps the lunch was not meant as a friendly gesture but as something more. Had Clark Kent asked her out on a date? Had she accepted? For the first time in over two month Lois felt a headache brewing that had nothing to do with politics.

The following morning brought with it a renewed sense of calm for Lois. She rationalized that Clark had simply been trying to be a friend and hadn't meant anything else by their impromptu lunch. As per usual she spent the first half of her drive to work listening to the news and the second part mentally preparing for the day with Dave Matthews.

"Good morning Lois." The administrative assistant in the front of the government building greeted her.

"Morning Lauren." She nodded.

"Wallace called and said that he wasn't going to be able to make the staff meeting this morning."

"That's the fifth time in less than two weeks. Have him come to my office when he does get it." She informed the woman.

Walking through the area of cubicles Lois dispensed of a few more greetings and made note of who had yet to come in. The door to Mrs. Kent's office was closed which meant she hadn't arrived yet, giving Lois a little more time to organize herself for the day. She picked up her mail from the mail box and retreated to her own office.

The morning meeting was quick and to the point as was Lois' specialty but the day had already been marred by her conversation with Wallace, a senior researcher, who lacked the punctuality she expected from the staff. She had given Wallace his one and only warning before she took the matter to the Senator.

Lunch came and went with Lois disappointed when Clark didn't appear in her doorway. She wasn't sure what had come over her but it was unnerving; Lois Lane didn't miss anyone and certainly not the company of a dark haired farmboy. A knock on her open door jarred her from her dangerous thoughts of Clark.

"Hey Lois, Lauren asked me to bring these back; they were just delivered to you out front." One of the PR people held up a glass vase with a large bouquet of white roses and one giant lily the colour of the sun rise for her to see. "Got an admirer eh?" He teased.

"Not that I know of." Lois stood, walking around her desk to take the flowers. The closer she drew to the bouquet the more fragrant she realized they were. She couldn't remember the last time she had smelled a flower so fresh.

"Well whoever he is, he didn't spare expense….or she?" he added just in case "this is no cheap arrangement."

"Don't you have work to do Steve?" Lois leveled him with a glare sending him on his way.

Turning on her heel she walked back over to her desk to place the vase on the surface. Sticking out of the side was a white envelope, her name scrawled on the front. Her heart beat a little faster marveling at who would send her the arrangement. The card was plain white with a message written in a familiar choppy script:

Hope these brighten your day.

Dinner Tonight?

Love,

Smallville

Lois was thankful her chair was directly behind her because her knees buckled as she read the card. What was Clark up to? The headache of the night before was back with a vengeance, causing her to close her eyes tight against the sudden pressure at her temples. Thinking back on her recent interactions with Clark, Lois tried to pinpoint anything that indicated his feelings toward her had changed but nothing jumped out at her.

"Lois, I wanted to go over my Washington itinerary before I-" Mrs. Kent stopped short in speech and movement when she caught sight of the flowers on her staff chief's desk and the air of complete shock surrounding the young woman. "These are beautiful." She breathed with a gentle smile as a hand came out to finger a petal. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Eyes still locked in stunned confusion on the flowers, she handed Mrs. Kent the card that had accompanied them. As she scanned the card, Martha felt a flash of surprise herself but it soon melted into pleasant excitement. The surprise was not in light of her son's intent where Lois was concerned but rather his bold action; it demonstrated a level of maturity she had long sensed in him.

"So where is my son planning on taking you?" Martha passed the card back to Lois.

"What? I um…" Lois gave herself a mental shake, trying to wrap her mind around the question. "We're not – I mean he's not" suddenly she realized Mrs. Kent was silently laughing at her. "Why is it that I'm the only one about to fall over from shock?" She queried.

"Oh Lois, I've been watching Clark fall all over himself to get your attention for the past two months. I didn't think he even realized what he was doing but obviously I underestimated him." She bent to inhale the flowers, noting that they were far too fresh to have come from a local flower shop. No, the flowers adorning Lois' desk had to have been a Clark Kent special.

"You don't care? I mean it doesn't bother you that your son wants to….um wants to…" she couldn't bring herself to say the word.

"date you?" Martha finished for her. "Not at all. What you do in your time is your business, provided it won't land you in jail." She joked half-heartedly. "You have to do whatever's going to make you happy and if that's being with Clark than I'm happy too. You spend far too many hours cooped up here at the office; I know you want to do your job well but I don't want to see you burn out." Martha explained.

"I guess I never let myself think about it too much. Clark was basically synonymous with Lana since I met him; it didn't do much to cultivate the idea that he would be happy in a relationship with anyone else." Lois stopped herself. "What am I saying? A relationship with Smallville? No offense Mrs. Kent but he's…" Kind, sweet, smart, laid back, dedicated, loyal, honest, sexy…..

Martha chuckled at Lois' distant look. "How about we get through this itinerary then you can call my son about that dinner." She sat in one of the guest chairs, waving Lois over to take the one next to her so they could read the information more comfortably. "But before we start I have to know" she quirked an eyebrow "are you going to accept the invitation to dinner?"

2/6