'Time is too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear,

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice,

But for those who love, time is eternity.'

Henry Van Dyke

The quaint Italian restaurant in the heart of Smallville had been decked out to all its splendour. Creamy white lilies lined the walls, silk banners hung lavishly from the ceiling, and the tables shone with sliver, gold and crystal. Music floated softly down through the room, as the rich aroma of pasta sauce filled the air and watered mouths. Wine flowed like water into waiting glasses, sparkling in the warm candle light.

Guests slowly started to fill the room, all done up in their finery. Lana and Pete stood by the entrance, greeting their various friends and family members. Together they glowed with radiant warmth, meeting each new-comer with welcoming smiles as they were thanked and congratulated.

Chloe drifted silently between tables, looking for a familiar face, the red liquid in her glass perfectly complimenting her red, satin dress. She caught various snippets of conversations; jocks reminiscing about times-gone-by before their backs had given way, honour-role students oozing smugness over how much better they had done for themselves than anyone else. At the very back of the room, Chloe noticed a thin young man, standing all alone, nervously playing with the crucifix around his neck. She found herself about to go over and speak with him, when she was timely distracted.

Two figures eloquently crashed through the swing doors that lead to the kitchen. One of them was tenaciously trying to pull on her shoe while she snapped at the other, who was hurriedly trying to straighten his tie. Even as she looked at them, Chloe had to catch her breath; the two adults couldn't have appeared more different than the two teenagers she remembered. They both seemed to glow with significance and confidence, and that despite their ruffled clothes.

"You took your time, didn't you?" Chloe called over as she walked towards her two friends.

"We got caught in traffic." Clark explained, grateful that for once his excuse was valid. Chloe beamed up at him and then turned to Lois, who was still struggling with her shoe.

"We weren't caught in traffic." She said as she triumphantly pulled on the stubborn shoe. "We were doing just fine until we got back to Tinyville and got stuck behind the fossil in dinosaur."

"She was just old." Clark rationalized as he handed Lois a glass of white.

"No Clark, Roman architecture is old. She was a public health hazard."

Chloe smiled, content with the knowledge that perhaps Lois and Clark weren't that different after all. "Well," She started pleasantly. "The important thing is that you're both here and that you both…"

"Look like we got dressed in the back of a car?" Lois piped in knowingly.

"I was actually gonna let that one slide." Chloe laughed, helping herself to a handful of olives, she watched Lois swig down her glass of wine. "It's to make them think we've been here longer." Lois explained.

"Pete and Lana still at the entrance?" Clark asked. Both he and Lois had come to agreement that it was best to sneak in the backdoor, it had hardly seemed fitting for the best-man and bridesmaid to arrive late, and in various states of dress, plus the fact that Lana and Pete wouldn't have been too happy.

"Mmm, yeah." Chloe answered through a mouthful of olives and cheese. "Oh, and Pete's mom's looking after Laura."

"The perfect crime." Lois beamed smugly as she downed another glass. She smiled triumphantly as she poured herself another glass, which Clark matched with an arched eyebrow as he knocked back his own drink. Chloe suddenly felt very isolated as the two reports shared an inside joke between themselves. Lois and Clark looked very much the greatest of friends that she and Clark had once been. She was about to retire when a memorable rhythm greeted her ears. "Mm, I love this song." She said, almost to herself.

"Go on Smallville, take my little cousin for a dance." Lois grinned, sure that Chloe had been hoping for some time alone with her high school crush ever since she had arrived. Clark of course, saw straight through Lois' plan, but frankly didn't mind. Setting down his glass, he held his hand out. "Chloe, would you like to dance?"

"Yes!" Chloe almost yelped, blushing with the excitement. "Oh, but, Lois I don't want to leave you by yourself…"

"Nah, go ahead, I'll be fine, really." Her cousin replied with a wave of her hand. Clark led Chloe towards the dance floor and pulled her close. "Yep. Fine." Lois reaffirmed, as she watched Chloe wrap her arms round Clark's strong shoulders. "Fine, fine, fine."

The music drifted gently down, moving Chloe's two left feet along with it. She let Clark guide her across the floor; he was a much better dancer than she'd remember, but, she supposed, when you travel the world it's hard not to pick up a few dancing tips. As she draped her arms around Clark's neck, she felt fifteen all over again. She liked the feeling, she felt safe, warm. She felt like she was falling in love all over again. Her starry green eyes looked up to meet his blue ones, but found that they weren't there to meet. Chloe glanced round to follow Clark's line of sight, and saw her black-silk clad cousin, still standing by the buffet table. Suddenly the feeling evaporated, and Chloe knew that she'd already had her chance, now it was someone else's.

"She seems different." Chloe said, distracting herself from her feelings.

"Trust me when I tell you not to say that to her face." Her dance partner laughed back.

"Yeah, I'd heard about that. So," She glanced around cautiously, picking her next words with care. "How's the, er, volunteer work doing?"

"Well, the hours are long, and the pay's not great." Clark answered with mock seriousness. "Not in any material way anyway."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Chloe joked back as she continued to waltz. "Still, it must be fun. I mean, let's face it Clark, you've always been good at it." Her naïve laughter stopped when she realised that Clark's face had become more solemn.

"It's a bit different now Chlo." He said kindly but simply, forgiving her innocence. But as Chloe looked up to him, her face pressed him to go on: ever the inquisitive. He sighed. "Sometimes it all just feels like a dream. I keep expecting someone to wake me up."

It was Chloe's turn to be solemn, as the profundity of Clark's words dawned on her. He was right, there probably was a difference between saving her from a car crash and saving those whom the weight of the world had crushed. "Can I just nod understandingly?" She asked, not sure of what else she could say.

"Sure Chlo." He smiled back at her, as they continued to dance.

Away behind the dance floor Lois stood playing with her glass. She traced the rim with her finger, unable to shake the sudden inexplicable loneliness. She sighed, reached for another bottle, stopped, thought about it, and put it back down; the quick fix wouldn't be worth the hangover, especially as she had to be up at the crack of dawn.

"Lois! I didn't know you and Clark had arrived."

Lois' head shot up, and she smiled as she saw Martha walking towards her. "Yeah, just got here." She grinned. "But if Lana or Pete ask, we've been with you the whole time."

"Well, I'm not sure about that." Martha laughed as she looked over to her son and Chloe, who had just managed to trip over her dress. "Just like old times, they still look good together."

"Yeah, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb." Lois caught herself and blushed. "I'm sorry, that was cynical of me. It's the wine, plus I need to pee."

"Oh, well." Martha had forgotten how abrupt Lois could be. "I could do with powdering my nose too." Martha said cheerfully.

The two woman walked off arm in arm, but were soon replaced by another woman, one who had a dignified beauty; she was slender and tall, with dark shiny hair and eyes to match with a face most men would find it hard to forget.

"So, tomorrow's the big day." She sighed to herself, obviously in lack of someone else to talk to. "Still, you know what they say, better late than never. I mean call me old fashioned, but I'd always though the honourable thing for a man to do was to marry the woman before she gave birth to his daughter."

If anyone had over heard this little monologue they may have better understood why Lana hardly ever mentioned her mother's sister.

The evening wore on without cause for infamy. The meal was eaten and the speeches were greeted with warm applause. The once tall candles now dripped down over the bottles that housed them and the music quietened to match the more subdued mood.

At one of the tables, two cousins sat sipping what was left of their drinks, giggling to themselves as they evaluated the night they had just had.

"Lo?" Chloe said, gazing wondrously at the shiny spoon Lois had managed to balance on her nose.

"Yep?"

"I think," Chloe continued, slurring her words. "An' this is just an observation, but I think, I might be just a bit drunk."

"You know what Chlo," Lois said, removing the spoon and putting it neatly back in her purse. "I think you are absolutely, absolutely," She stopped, took the spoon back out again and started looking frantically down at the floor. "You are absolutely… right. Where'd it go?"

"Your shoe?"

"No, no! It! The t'ing, you know the t'ing." Lois tried to explain. "The tall, dark, handsome t'ing."

"Clark?"

"No, not that t'ing."

"Smallville?"

"Yep, yep. That's the one. Where'd he go, that one."

"Lois, I'm right behind you." Clark sighed leaning on the table adjacent to the two girls'.

"What! No, no he's not." Lois continued, looking round. "Not behind, not behind me… But wait because, yes. Maybe. There. You. Are."

"Lois, you're drunk." Said Clark.

"No, no, no, no. Not drunk. I don't get drunk, I can't get drunk. I mean look, look at this, this… Beetroot Liqueur! Children's booze! I can't get drunk on this. Not drunk, not, not…" Lois continued to rant as Chloe burst into a fit of giggles at her cousin's stubborn denial. "See? Look, you've started her off. Bad Smallville, bad, bad. Is all bad. You shut her up while I go throw, throw up in my handbag." Lois stumbled off her chair and headed over to the back exit, leaving Clark to watch over the rather flippant Chloe.

"He he, she likes you." Chloe giggled.

"Chloe, you're drunk." Clark said pointedly, mentally counting to ten.

"Yes, yes I am." Chloe stood up with defiance. "But you know what, I don't care. Nope, nope. Booze! Cake! Pete!" She cried as he walked over. "Pete, Pete, Pete. Are you drunk?"

"'Fraid not so Chlo. Keeping Mom and Nell apart requires complete sobriety." Pete laughed half-heartedly, casting himself down on the vacant seat.

"Get Clark to do it!" Chloe piped in suddenly, her eyes giddy with excitement. "He's like Super-Designated-Driver… Okay… I'm just gonna go see if Lois had any room left in her purse."

The two men watched the second of their jubilant friends head for the backdoor, although Lois had been the only one who remembered how to use a door handle.

"They seem pretty wasted." Pete said, examining the empty wine bottle.

"You should have seen them at Chloe's twenty-first. Lois took her to a Bon Jovi concert; they were livin' on aspirin for the next week." Clark laughed sitting down next to his friend. "So, how'd you manage parole?"

"Lana said Nell's headin off. Figure they can't kill each other if one of them's not here."

"You'd be surprised."

Just then, Pete saw a familiar figure storming over towards him, eyes blazing in a face like thunder.

"Peter!" It called.

"Save me." He whispered quickly.

"But it's my night off." Clark jokingly reasoned.

"Peter, there you are." Nell said, standing menacingly over the young man. "I swear to God, you invite me to this, evening of yours and you don't even bother putting an appearance in."

"I'm sorry Nell." Pete muttered. "I was just…Just…"

"Just what exactly? Entertaining your guests, of which I am? Looking after your daughter, who happened to fall asleep under a table? Just exactly doing what I ask." Nell snorted. "Typical politician, all talk no action. What Lana sees in such a self-important, unappreciative-"

"Actually Nell, Pete was just looking after some ill friends of ours." Clark tactfully leapt in. "I just came over to see how he was coping."

"Really? Is that so? Well then, in that case why was-"

"Nell?" She was interrupted again as her beautiful niece walked over in her velvet pink dress, apprehension written on her face. "I thought you'd left."

"I was about to Lana, until I stumbled across the mistake you were about to make."

"About to make?" Lana asked.

"I am not about to let my only sister's only daughter go into the hands of some cowardly commitment-phobic with the family values of a rattle snake!"

"Nell, to be fair-" Clark started until he was cut off.

"Oh, you're a fine one to talk Clark, leaving that poor mother of yours to run that farm all by herself while you go gallivanting about the city working for your pompous piece of liberal propaganda!"

"What's going on here then?" Lois called over as she and Chloe wondered back over to their table, considerably more sober than when they had left it.

"With your piece of city floozy!" Nell snapped violently gesturing to the older of the two cousins.

"Actually, I prefer city totti." Lois replied with a smirk. "And you must be the nutty aunt. Nice to meet you Em."

"Lois." Clark whispered urgently, trying to get the other reporter to back down.

"My name is Nell."

"Well, I won't tell Dorothy here if you don't." Lois mocked, not heeding her partner's warning.

"What right do you have to talk to me like that!"

"Actually, Nelly, what right do you have to talk to me like that? You see this," Lois gestured around the room with her hands. "Meant to be a happy occasion. You, not so happy. So, this is what you're gonna do, you're gonna apologise to Pete and Lana and then you're gonna go get sobered up a long, long way away from here."

"I recommend the car park." Chloe piped in, still slightly off balance.

"Not now Chlo."

"You can't tell me what to do." Nell said squaring up to the taller Lois in a very intimidating way. "I've raised this woman since she was knee high. I know what's best for her."

"Nell, please." Lana pleaded, trying to keep the peace.

"Hm." Lois sighed undaunted. "You know, amazingly enough, I don't give a shit."

"You arrogant little girl. You want me to sink down to your level, fine. I can speak my mind just as clearly."

"Aw, you're just jealous cause the little voices are talking to me." Lois smirked.

"You want to know what I really think? I think this whole wedding is one big farce!"

The sound of glass shattering on the floor snapped Lois and Nell out of their warpath. Everyone turned to see Lana stood shaking, tears in her eyes. She stared disbelievingly at her aunt and then turned and ran, betrayed, out of the restaurant.

"Lana." Pete called about to run after her when a small hand reached up and grabbed his. "Daddy, what's going on?" A sleepy little voice asked. Chloe went over, picked the little girl up in her arms, and whispered some words of comfort to Pete.

Lois glared venomously at the aunt and guiltily whispered to Clark: "I'll go get here."

"I think that's for the best." He whispered back as Lois turned and hurried out of the restaurant herself.

At the same time, unnoticed by anyone else, another figure quietly snuck into the dark gloom of the night.

A/N: Firstly, I realise that my Nell might seem like the Wicked Witch of the West, but if you think back through her history of lying to/not telling Lana about rather important facts, and her snide remark to Martha about tulips, you'll realise I'm probably not that far off the mark.

Also, at the risk of being sued, always remember to drink responsibly and do not get yourself into the state Lois and Chloe managed to get themselves into, and if you do get into that state, stay way from trampolines… Trust me on this one…