Clark heard Lois coming a long way off. He took a deep breath. In a few moments, he would be kissing Lois Lane. It wasn't a bad thing at all. If not for the fact that she might recognize it as the Green Arrow's kiss, he would be looking forward to it. He answered the door.

"Don't look so mortified, Smallville. This will all be over before you know it. It's sort of like a shot. It's going to be painful at first, but it's worth the good it will do."

Clark sighed. There was no way out of this, so he might as well get it over with. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips. Instead of feeling her soft lips against his, her fist knocked against his arm.

"Do you think we're doing this for fun?" she asked. "We have to do this like we're onstage."

She walked over to the couch and stretched herself out on it. When he just stood there, staring, she said, "Any century now, Prince Plaid."

As he came closer, she closed her eyes. She looked like a Sleeping Beauty, her soft brown hair framing her face and her red lips asking to be kissed, literally. He bent down on one knee. It seemed like a royal stance, but where was the prince supposed to place his hands? On the floor? On the girl?

Lois' eyes snapped back open. "What are you waiting for?"

"Where do I put my hands?"

"Not on me. Rest them on the edge and just lean over and kiss me. It's a good thing we decided to practice this ahead of time or it really would have been a 100 year wait. Now do it."

She closed her eyes again. Now Clark was trying to figure what angle to come in at. Should he kiss her sideways or tilt his head? Maybe it would be a good idea to rent Disney's Sleeping Beauty and see how Prince Phillip did it.

"Oh, for heavens sake, Smallville! Is this your first kiss?" She stood up.

"Are we giving up?"

"You wish. Lay down on the couch."

"Excuse me?"

"You're Sleeping Beauty. I'm going to show you how it's done."

Clark laid down and closed his eyes. Maybe it was better this way. He was pretending to sleep and he didn't have to kiss her back. He thought back to their previous kiss. On second thought, he didn't think it was possible. Something about Lois compelled him to respond and to lose his ability to think during the kiss. He noticed she hadn't kissed him yet. He opened his eyes.

"You're right. It's harder than it looks."

He grinned.

"Wipe that smug look off your face. Maybe the whole problem is that we've never kissed before. Maybe we should practice a kiss sitting up first.

Clark sat up and Lois sat down on the couch with him. She scooted closer, making Clark nervous, and he scooted back a little.

"Don't move, Clark. I'm not going to hurt you. Do you need an ice breaker? Did you know that when black widows mate, sometimes the female kills and eats the male afterwards?"

"Thank you, Lois. That was real helpful," he said sarcastically.

"Just be glad I'm not a black widow."

He couldn't help but smile. During the time it took him to smile, she took the opportunity to lean in and place her arms around him. He put his arms around her. They were very close now, feeling each other's warmth. Their faces drew closer and closer until they were barely an inch apart. They paused for a moment, feeling the other's breath on their lips and taking pleasure in the strong magnetism between them.

Then the phone rang.

It broke the spell and they quickly pulled apart. Clark answered it. "Hello?"

"It's Oliver," he told her, handing her the phone..

"Hi, Ollie. What do you need?...That sounds wonderful, but I have this play I'm in…Didn't I tell you? I'm Sleeping Beauty…Chloe's at fault. It's a long story. Maybe we can eat there after I retire from acting on Saturday…Okay, I love you. Bye."

"Should we try again?" he asked.

"Maybe we should just wait until Saturday. There is such a thing as being too rehearsed. What time is it getting to be?"

"We should probably be leaving for rehearsal in a few minutes."

"Great. Let's go. Chloe will throw a fit, if I'm late again. We'll take our own cars to rehearsal, of course."

sss

"Jimmy, you have to look light on your feet," Chloe said.

Clark bit his lip to keep from laughing. Lois, Lex, and Lana didn't mind laughing.

"That's it! I'm not doing this. I don't want people laughing at me."

Chloe glared at the others. "No laughing. Please, try again, Jimmy."

Jimmy put a little skip in his step. Nobody laughed, but they were all shaking from contained laughter.

"Good job. You say your 'fear not' line and wave your hand over the chair that will be the crib. Jimmy exits. Lex stands up from his throne and points his finger regally, as he says his line. Can you make it a little more angled? That's nice. Now you leave." Chloe said to Jimmy, "Honey?"

"I don't like it when you say that. It means I'm going to do something I don't want to do."

"I thought it'd be nice, so people know that 16 years have passed, if you walk across stage with a sign and say, '16 years later.'"

"You owe me big time."

"I know. Now Lana, you will be sitting in a chair at an imaginary spinning wheel for now. Hunch over like you're an old woman and don't look so evil right away. Lois, you enter the scene."

Lois came in dragging her feet.

"Lois, I know I Tom Sawyered you into this, but please, be a little enthusiastic."

Lois smiled and began elegantly strolling to the imaginary spinning wheel.

"Better, now you two say some lines and Lois touches the spindle."

"Ow!" Lois cried as she touched the imaginary spindle.

"Ow is not in the script," Chloe said, not amused.

"She pricks her finger and she doesn't say ow?"

"Lois, please. Now those two chairs that are pushed together are for you to fall back on. Lana leaves. Jimmy?"

"I know, I know. I prance across the stage with a 100 years later sign."

"Right. Clark enters onto the stage. He bends down to kiss her…Clark, bend down and kiss her."

Lois sat up. "We decided to put it off until the actual performance."

"You two had better kiss. It's essential to the story. For tonight, at least kiss her on the cheek."

"We'll wait," Lois said. "Isn't the first kiss the magic that breaks the spell?"

"Moving on," Chloe said with a roll of her eyes. "You say more lines. Clark scoops her up and carries her offstage."

"I can't say I'm comfortable with Smallville picking me up. What if he drops me?"

"He won't drop you," Chloe said.

"He's not exactly the world's strongest man."

Chloe lifted her eyes up, as if asking God what she was thinking when she cast Lois.

Clark had picked Lois up and was carrying her off.

"What are you doing, Smallville? Drop me right this second!"

"Whatever you say," he said with an impish smile. He dropped her onto the couch.

"I think that's enough for tonight," Chloe said, having had enough. "Don't forget to memorize your lines. The play is only 4 days away."