Previously:
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"If it were just the Green Arrow that I felt that with, then I'd say yes, but I've felt it before…" She suddenly stopped and blinked as if realizing what all she was sharing. Her eyes widened briefly before she sobered her expression, cleared her throat and wiped her hands on her pants. "Well, enough chit-chat. What's our plan again?"

Clark's mind spun as once again, Lois's change of topic and pace left him reeling.

And once again, she answered without waiting for his response. "That's right, we don't have a plan."

He shook his head in amusement and grinned. Lois Lane was one of a kind.
---

And now:
---

She needed an escape route quick – not the escape route of the mineshaft variety, although she needed that too – but an escape route from the present conversation. Had she just almost told Clark that kissing him had reminded her of kissing the Green Arrow?

She shook her head – no, she wouldn't have gone there… she had better control over herself than to reveal information of that magnitude.

"Okay, okay," she mumbled before pursing her lips together. She could feel herself nearing babble mode, and once she hit that phase, there was no telling what would come out of her mouth. Undoubtedly, whatever it was would taste a lot like feet. "Escape, hatch, chute, door, knobby thing, maybe water."

"What?"

Lois pushed the hair back from her face. "I'm just cycling through the facts," she explained.

"Oh… Okay."

She released a breath. "Right. So…"

Clark responded in kind. "So…"

She had a feeling that he was looking at her strangely, and suddenly had the ridiculous idea that he had read her mind about the kiss. "We should open the door," she blurted.

Her eyes popped as her mind was once again late to the party.

"What?" Clark asked in surprise, echoing what her mind was saying – except his version didn't include profanities.

He seemed to gather that she was in shock. "Hey, it could just be another empty tunnel like this one…" he offered, trying to assuage her anxieties. "Stay here, I'll go check it out."

As he got to his feet, Lois mentally shook herself. She never stayed behind. Pushing herself to her feet, she hobbled behind him.

"Lois," Clark groaned, turning around and catching her as she took a wrong step and put too much pressure on her ankle. "I said stay."

Gritting her teeth to hide the grimace, she put her hands on her hips and arched an eyebrow. Obviously having realized the error of his ways, Clark lifted his hands in exasperation and turned back to face the passageway.

The mollification Lois obtained from Clark's submission was lost when she had to devote all of her energy to concentrating on her hobble-shuffle-slide walk to follow him. After traveling about 15 feet, they reached the proverbial door in the wall.

Clark knelt and put his ear to the metal. When she felt him straighten in front of her, she braced herself with a hand against the wall beside her. "Well?"

"I'm pretty sure it's water," he replied. There was an apologetic tone to his words.

Lois allowed her eyes to flutter shut as she composed herself. At this point, she could let fear overcome her, or she could overcome her fear. She swallowed. "I'm guessing that whoever is running an establishment like this one would want to make sure they had access to running water. The Woodrow Wilson Dam is 20 miles out. They are probably piping it in from there. We must be in the emergency reservoir for shaft overflow… which means we can get out."

She could faintly make out the head of Clark's silhouette tilting speculatively. "How?"

"Ever hear the proverb about the raven and the pitcher of water?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, the raven dropped stones in the vase to bring the water level up - I get it… But are you sure about this?"

Lois smirked to herself. "Not at all. That's why I know we should do it."

---

Clark couldn't help but grin. Over a half an hour earlier, he was ready to condemn her because she acted on compulsion, but in that same span of time, he had learned to appreciate that trait in her… to a certain degree. She had every reason to be afraid of what she was up against, but she was facing it full on. In fact, she was daring it to take her under. He was starting to think that Lois Lane was the bravest person he knew.

He found it hard to get his mind around the fact that the very thing about her that exasperated him was the same thing that he found so admirable. She made him feel like he was going in two directions at once… she made him feel alive.

His thoughts skidded to a halt as he realized where they were taking him. Instead, he started piecing together a plan of action. Opening the hatch in front of them would allow water from the filter system to flow into the reservoir they were in. As the water level increased, they would be able tread water to stay afloat until they would be able to climb out of the pit. Once out, he simply would have to close the chute, and they could re-enter the main shaft of the mine the way they had come in.

Stepping forward, he swept an arm under Lois's legs and lifted her to his chest.

"Wha…"

"You can barely walk, there's no way you can run," he informed her, cutting off her protest. He knew that if he had asked her before picking her up, she would have fought him off. This way, she had no choice in the matter.

He started walking back toward the tunnel entrance. When Lois opened her mouth to say something, he silenced her with an imitation of her own patented eyebrow quirk. He bit back a laugh when the expression turned out to be as equally effective on her as it usually was on him.

At the opening, he gently lowered her to the ground, consciously careful to help her stand comfortably. "I'm going to go back and open the door so water can start streaming in."

Lois nodded and stretched her neck, moving her head from one side to the other. "I'm ready when you are."

Clark reached out and took her hand. "It'll be okay."

She scoffed. "Who's worried?"

Clark turned and made his way back to the door, frowning down at the handle once he reached his destination. For as simple as it had sounded in his head, he knew there were definite obstacles to his plan. For one thing, he was pretty sure that the amount of water pressure built up on the other side of the door would send a literal wall of sheer force past him once released. As strong as he was, he couldn't hold back the tide. He had to make sure that the door only opened a little so that Lois wouldn't be swept into the chute and hurt badly from the powerful flow of water.

Wrenching the knob handle loose, he pushed against the door with all of his strength to make sure it stayed closed, then, haltingly, he allowed it to open an inch. Water spurted from the crack and he bent the steel door so that it was wedged in place. With a final worried glance, he turned and ran back to where he had left Lois at the edge of the tunnel. He knew that it wouldn't be long before the weight of the water crumbled his makeshift dam.

Sliding to a stop beside her, Clark placed his hands on Lois's shoulders. "Do you trust me?"

After the briefest hesitation – she was no doubt surprised with his drenched appearance – she replied in a clear and sturdy voice, "Yes." She had no way of knowing that Clark was able to see the doubt in her expression through it all.

He pulled her to his chest and sat on the ground. After swinging his legs over the edge of the tunnel, he braced himself for the inevitable. A loud metallic groan came from behind him followed by an angry rush of water. "Here we go."

---

For the second time that night, Lois found herself falling down a chute. While the second fall was a much shorter drop, it was by no means a more pleasant journey. She landed without injuring anything else, this time having the good fortune of being on top, but the water pouring over her head left her sputtering and gasping for air.

She felt herself being pushed from all sides – the metal walls of the chute on her sides, the water from every other direction – and for a brief second, she panicked. She flung her arms around looking for something to grab and slipped further into the onslaught of falling water. In the melee, she couldn't tell up from down, and her state of anxiety increased.

Finally, a hand grasped hold of hers and she was pulled to her feet. Amazingly enough, the flow of water seemed to no longer be directed on her head, though she was still getting doused and could feel the quickly growing pool of water circling around her thighs. Shuddering, she wiped her eyes and opened them to the familiar darkness. Somehow, Clark had gotten her out of the direct flow of the water, but now the pool of water had reached her waist. She shuddered again.

"Lois."

Her head darted up in the direction of his voice. Water continued to cascade down her face and she closed her eyes again. Reaching out with her hands, she grabbed his jacket when her blind search encountered Clark's chest.

"Remember when you asked 'Why, Lana?'"

Lois couldn't believe it. Here she was with freezing water up to her elbows, and he wanted to talk about this? "What the hell, Smallville?!"

"Lois," he repeated, bracing her shoulders with his hands.

"What?!"

"Listen. You said, 'Why Lana', remember?"

Somewhere in the corner of her consciousness, she realized that he was trying to keep her calm by focusing her attention elsewhere. "Yes, I remember." Damn, it was cold in there.

"I thought she was the only one who could love me… the only one I deserved," he explained.

Her teeth chattered, and water reached her shoulders. It was almost time to tread. "I think you sell yourself short, Clark."

They began to tread water, and even though she couldn't see him clearly, she could feel him as their paddling legs and arms intermittently brushed against one another.

"I'm starting to think that you're right," he replied.

The rising water level brought them to the height of the tunnel. Lois tried to mentally calculate how much further they had to go but her brain was feeling sluggish with the amount of things she was trying to get it to do at that moment - namely survive. "About what?" she asked, confused. She wasn't sure what they were talking about anymore.

"Love."

She paddled faster, hoping that it would somehow translate to a warmer body temperature. "Oh, that… right." She started to tune him out again.

"…was the only one for me. I fell over myself any time she came near me and the only explanation I had for it was full-fledged love…"

Lois took a moment to mentally shake her head in disgust and almost sucked in a mouthful of water when the motion took her focus off of treading.

"…with Alicia was a thrill. I loved that she loved me – all of me – but I don't think I loved her the same way. Not like Lana. Loving Lana was like breathing."

"Smallville, you really need to let that one go. Lana's moved on," Lois sputtered impatiently. "There should only be two people in a relationship and your Lana fixation is not fair for the next girl who thinks she's in love with you." The vehemence behind her words startled her. "Not that I care, or anything… I just mean… it wouldn't be fair… for her. The girl."

Lois sighed. She'd bungled that one up. Closing her eyes, she tried to conjure up the imagery of a nice swim at an exotic beach… warm cerulean blue water, warm sun shining down on her, and warm sand waiting for her return to shore. When a familiar warm male body floated into view, her eyes flew open. Perhaps it was better to be confronted with cold reality after all.

---

Clark frowned as he tried to decipher if there was anything besides annoyance in Lois's tone. Initially, he had started talking as a way to keep Lois's mind off of a potential drowning, but the more he talked, the more he began to speak earnestly. Somehow, airing his thoughts to Lois tended to always be both revelatory to himself and relieving. A sudden jerk from her brought his attention from his inner speculation. "I've already let Lana go," he said.

"Could've fooled me," she muttered back.

"I have," he insisted. He gazed up to the top of the chute to estimate their progress. The water was still rising steadily.

"Then what is with this Taxi cab confessional about your once on-again-off-again ex-girlfriend?"

"I was getting to a point," he answered. He couldn't help but grin. Even in the midst of paddling water inside of a tiny water chute, Lois still managed exasperation at his expense.

He expected her to ask what point he was getting to but the arched eyebrow was essentially the same thing.

"I was trying to say that you were right," he added.

"Naturally," she quipped. Then after a beat, "Right about what?"

"About love having that spark… that connection. Everything you said you wanted is what I want too. I just didn't know it before." He trailed off for a second. "The Green Arrow…You said that you felt that spark before…"

Lois's paddling faltered and he reached out to help keep her afloat. "I've felt it too," he admitted in a soft voice.

His stomach did a flip. He was nearing the point of no return and that was something that scared him more than Kryptonite. The only thing he could equate his past with Lana to was confusion. At first, he did get weak in the knees whenever she was near. He would fall all over himself and his heart would race. Everything he had known about love had symptoms like that, so he had no reason to think otherwise… until he learned about Kryptonite. A small smirk graced Clark's lips as he thought about his mistaking the reaction to Lana's necklace for head-over-heels infatuation.

But Lana had always been unobtainable, and like the mule chasing the proverbial carrot, he had continued to yearn after that which he could not get. Lana was a symbol for the normal life that he always wanted. She was the girl in his dreams of tradition and humanity. But he was neither a typical male nor human, and when he came to face those terms… he had to face certain realities with them.

Like, for instance, the fact that he had been fighting to suppress a secret crush on Lois Lane since the moment they had met in the cornfield. At the time, he hadn't been himself, so he had chocked those feelings up to his alter-ego's hormone imbalance… an imbalance which had lingering effects.

"I felt it with…"

"Land, ho!" Lois exclaimed, interrupting his train of thought.

Looking around, he saw that the water level had indeed risen to the top of the chute. Dazed, he followed as Lois scrambled from the hole.

Once clear of the opening, they both stood to their feet – the cold water must have been therapeutic for Lois's injured ankle because she was showing very little discomfort. Clark felt a little cheapened that his point of no return had been interrupted. He reached out and took her forearm before she could step further away.

"I felt it with you," he said determined.

"The cold water has made you delusional."

"You spin me about, Lois. You have since the day we met." With narrowed eyes, Clark stepped closer, tilted his head and captured her lips with his own. He could feel the urgency behind his kiss but could do nothing to temper it. He was searching for something… She may not be able to remember, but there had been a time of abandon when their spark had nearly caused them both to combust.

Lois had stiffened as soon as he had connected to her, much like she had done earlier in the Camelot Room, but unlike earlier, she wasn't relaxing. Feeling her begin to pull away, he lifted a hand to her face, cupping her cheek after brushing her wet hair out of the way. Tipping her head back, he pressed closer.

---

Lois parted her lips and tried to convince herself that she had done so to get a breath and not because Clark's tongue had sought entrance. Her mental dialogue ended with an audible moan as that same tongue began running lightly along the inside of her lower lip instead of plunging deeper as she had expected it too.

This was the second time in the span of a couple of hours that Clark had surprised her with a kiss. The earlier one had been… interesting. When she had told him about feeling the spark with the Green Arrow, she hadn't been lying. She also hadn't been lying about having felt the spark elsewhere. That, actually, was the source of her inner turmoil and confusion.

She had almost given up on finding the one - the one who would make her world spin backwards, the one who would make her soul defy gravity – only, just when she was preparing to let the dream go, a kiss had re-ignited the fire behind the fantasy. A kiss that was not bestowed by her boyfriend – the man she was supposed to love.

Still, that hadn't been enough to make her abandon her commitment to Oliver. She had still been determined to choose reality over fantasy, but then Oliver had left. It had hurt. Failure was not an acceptable word in her vocabulary, but he had gone and there was nothing she could do about it but move on. So that is what she did. She hadn't even given the whole 'kiss and spark' thing any further attention… until tonight.

Tonight, Clark had kissed her under pretense, and something in her had responded. For a few moments, she'd panicked at the thought that she would now have that feeling anytime she kissed anyone from that point on. Then, just a few moments ago… seconds, really… the fear had passed. It had passed because in this second kiss, it was just a boy kissing a girl. Two people having an intimate conversation. There was no pretense, no cover, no preoccupation… and no spark.

Instead, it was a flame.

This kiss… something about this kiss was familiar - a feeling like coming home, coming back yet looking forward. Somehow, the two of them fit together perfectly, countering move for move with practiced ease as if they had spent a lifetime doing just this.

His body was hard in all the right places and she wasn't nearly as unaffected as she pretended to be. Usually, whenever she experienced a moment of confusion over the boundaries that kept Clark securely in the friend box, she would make fun of his attire or find some other way to cover her mind lapse. She needed those boundaries because she couldn't… give…

The words suddenly disintegrated in her head. She couldn't think straight when he pressed his full length against her. Her knees went a little wobbly when he lightly nipped her lip with his teeth, but she steadied herself by leaning further into him. She refused to melt – she had never met a self-respecting puddle in her life.

Oh, yeah, what he was doing to her mouth was pure heaven but there was something niggling at the back of her consciousness… there was something she was forgetting…

Mineshaft… right.

Lois pulled back, panting from a not altogether unpleasant exertion – she had forgotten all about breathing for a while there – and tried to find words. "Water… hole, thing…" she stuttered. Chuckling at her mind-numbedness, she licked her lips and tried again. "The water is still coming through the hole."

---
TBC