Chapter three! Thanks to all who have reviewed, added to favorites, or put this story on alert. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside :) Sorry this took so long, I recently moved back into my college, so I've been kinda busy packing/unpacking. Anyway. For this chapter I had to make the difficult decision of pairing Bart with someone. I kinda made someone else decide for me. And it worked out. I think. Eh.

"This is kind of painful."

"Really? Me squeezing your hand is painful? Try giving birth, nimrod."

Chloe had been calling Oliver every dirty word and mean name she could think of. Apparently she'd gotten to the bottom of the vocabulary barrel.

"I know, Chlo. There's a reason why women are the sex that gives birth. I've a low tolerance for pain." That would have been rather amusing, considering that as the Green Arrow he had been shot, tortured, etc. quite a bit over the years, except it really wasn't given the circumstance.

"This isn't just pain Ollie-"She stopped to groan at another wave of pain. "This is death."

"I'm pretty sure it's the opposite of death."

"It's like despair, and pain and agonizing torture. It hurts."

"I know, baby."

"Make it stop."

"I can't do that. But if you wait until the doctor says you can push," he looked up from his wife's face to the doctor, who nodded."Which you can apparently start doing right now."

"Good. Because I was going to do it anyway, no matter what he said."

"Of course you were." He believed her.

She'd been home from the hospital for two weeks. And the baby was cock-blocking. She couldn't speak to anyone on the team alone for more than five minutes. And whenever she thought she'd managed to finally set someone up, something else would get in the way. Exhibit A: Chloe had met a sweet IT girl from Queen Industries. She'd tried to set her up with Victor, but that baby-who was really the most adorable, cutest baby that had ever come into existence(and she was being completely impartial)-had distracted her at the crucial moment, letting Victor escape from her grip.

Her little boy was amazing, but he was kind of getting in the way of her fun. Then again, she'd been told by Martha, that was what babies were good at.

Which meant she needed a new plan.

She picked up her phone and dialed, "Lo? I think this round is yours. I have an idea."

Clark was not happy with this plan. "No."

Lois was stunned silent. Clark had actually just said no to her.

Clark just looked at her. "I mean it."

That snapped her out of it."Excuse me, Smallville? Did I hear what I think I just heard? Are you implying that because you told me not to, that I should just stop?"

Clark nearly sighed. Now he was in for it. "That's not what I mean, Lois."

"Sounds like it. Not that it matters, because I'm not going to listen."

"Not Bart, Lois."

"Why not? They'd be kind of cute. They'd have the quickest babies in seven galaxies."

"Lois," he warned.

"What? Chloe suggested Mia. But I thought, you know what, he and Kara spend a lot of time together-"

"Kara spends a lot of time with the league. That just so happens to include Bart. And Victor, AC, Chloe and everyone else, come to think of it."

"Like you'd know. Seriously, Clark. Where have you been lately? It's like you've been on another planet. And even when you're here, you're not."

"I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I've been busy."

"Saving people, of course? Sometimes Clark I wonder. I couldn't share Ollie with the world, remember? I don't want to come in last, after everyone else . . . I don't need to be everything, but I need to at least be in the top two."

"You are."

"Somehow I don't believe that. Anyway, we're having dinner. And we're inviting Kara, Bart, Mia and Victor. Chloe promised that she'd pull Mia and Vic, so we should be fine."

"Lois . . . " Clark sighed. He supposed he could let it go, it wouldn't work anyway. "I thought you said Chloe was in favor of setting him up with Mia."

"She is. But I suggested we try Kara first, especially since it's something easy that we-I mean I-can do."

"Fine. They can come. But don't expect me to play along with your plan."

It wasn't support, but it was neutrality. Which was really all she'd been hoping for. "Thanks, Clark." She kissed him on the cheek and headed out of the room. At the last second she turned back and said, "I love you, you know."

"I love you too, Lois."

It was a set-up.

And it wasn't going to work.

Mia believed whole-heartedly that it was not going to work. And even if she were wrong, well, she was rather hoping it wouldn't work out too. That should be enough karmic nonsense to avoid that disaster.

She didn't want Kara to be with Bart. Sure, she liked Kara. In fact, she and Kara were fairly close, even though Kara was a few years older they were still pretty close in age. At least, it seemed so. It was rather hard to tell with Kara.

But she couldn't have Bart.

Mia, you see, had a bit of a crush on him.

Just a bit.

And Mia could never tell with Kara, but she did know that Bart had a thing for blonds.

That knowledge did not make her happy. It made her rather . . . sad, actually.

The dinner she'd been invited to at the Kent residence was tonight. She and Victor were supposed to have a mission at the last minute, that required her archery skills and Victor's hacking skills. And of course, the new parents couldn't be taken away from their baby yet. Right? Exactly.

Victor had simply said that it was better Bart than him, but Mia wanted to be with someone. And, quite possibly, that person could have been Bart.

She briefly considered ruining the most recent Chlo-Lo matchmaking scheme. It would probably be more effective if she had Victor's help.

Hmm.

"Not going to happen."

"Please."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No. Um . . . No."

"I'll take the bullet for the next round of Watchtower cleansing,which I happen to know is yours."

"Deal."

Convincing Chloe had taken some finagling. Some pizazz. Luckily, that was what Mia was good at. She had a feeling that Chloe actually hadn't been so much convinced by what she had said about 'helping out the matchmaking schemes' as she'd seen right through Mia's real intentions to ruin the Bart/Kara romantic coupledom plan.

As it suited her either way, she preferred not to worry about it.

"What are you doing here?" Lois asked not so subtly.

Victor simply shrugged. Mia smiled sweetly and replied, "We were invited."

"Yes, but you weren't supposed to-"

"Weren't supposed to what?" Bart questioned.

"Nothing, Bart. Nothing." Lois plastered a smile on her face. "Come in."

They walked toward the dining area. Dinner is almost done. Mia, Victor, why don't you come with me to bring out the food."

"What about me?" Kara, who had been sitting in the dining room, asked.

"I'll just use these two. It's not like Bart can help anyway. He'd eat the food before it got the ten steps from the kitchen. Wouldn't you, kiddo?" Lois was entirely too happy and bright.

Kara, though a little afraid of the intense perkiness of Lois, was mostly used to it. Bart just looked at her.

"Okay then."

Lois whispered harshly, "What are you two even doing here? You're supposed to be off on some mission, aren't you?"

"Change of plans." Mia said simply.

"No. No change of plans. Leave, now."

"No."

It was a battle of wills between Lois and Mia. Lois may have had more experience with such standoffs, but Mia was young and had lived a tough life-she was intense, when she wanted to be.

They simply stared at one another, waiting for someone to break.

"Well, this is uncomfortable." Victor said, grabbing the pan of lasagna and walking out.

"Lois, you have guests." Clark called. Lois cursed under her breath and broke eye contact. "Fine. But don't get in their way."

"I'm not promising anything."

"Really?" Lois smiled sweetly. "Because if you're not, then I'm not."

Mia lifted a brow. "Bring it on."

Dinner was a little tense. Lois had tried at every turn to engage Bart and Kara in a conversation. Clark had merely stared off into space, obviously uncomfortable. Victor had attempted to strike up a conversation with Clark, and given up when he realized that he was better off just keeping his mouth shut-except for eating.

Lois could be incredibly scary. She knew it, and she took full advantage of it. All Lois needed to do was give Victor a look for him to stay quiet. Mia, however, was a little more complicated. Lois thought it was probably a good thing that Mia was on their side, else they'd be in a bit of trouble. She didn't break.

Lois soon realized why.

"So, Vic, how's the upgrade coming along?" Kara asked Victor.

Victor smiled, "It's fine. Actually, it's pretty awesome. We're working on updating the satellites right now. Which I'm sure you could take a look at if you wanted."

"Absolutely. Are we still on for Saturday?"

Lois looked on with interest. "What's Saturday?"

"We're going to a fair."

"Just the two of you?"

Victor shifted uncomfortably in his chair, took a bite of garlic bread. Nodded his head in affirmation.

"Yes. But, of course, the rest of you are welcome to join."

Mia waited for Lois to suggest Bart go along to spend time with Kara, but it didn't happen.

Mia spoke first, "Sounds fun, but I'm busy with school." Mia was currently taking classes at Met U. In fact, she had about a semester left until she graduated.

"Oh yeah, how's that going, anyway?" Bart asked.

"It's fun, actually. I'm excited for it to be over though, so that I can really join the league full-time."

"Chloe isn't going to let you do that," Lois nearly snorted with laughter. "She's going to make sure you lead a 'balanced life' because she doesn't want you to end up only focusing on saving the world. You need your own life too."

"I suppose." Mia responded reluctantly.

"Oh, Speedy. You never change. Always ready to shoot some arrows at the bad guys." Bart teased.

"Coming from you, that's rather shocking. Then again, if it were up to you, you would be playing video games in your spare time, instead of training with J'onn and working on that weird science/crime-fighting hybrid of yours."

"Given the choice, what would you choose?"

"Touché. But who would have thought you had such an attention to detail?"

"You're just jealous. You have no idea what you want to do with yourself, and I have a career. It even sounds cool. Police Scientist. Very professional, don't you think so guys?" Bart appealed to the others at the table.

They looked at each other and laughed. There was no way they were getting involved. Lois smirked. Watching Bart tease Mia wasn't just making her feel better, but it was somewhat eye-opening.

"You're just doing it because you thought Bones was a really cool show at the time. And you thought it would be awesome if you could somehow put what Bones and Booth did together and be 'the best crime-solver ever.' I believe those were your words. And really, 'police scientist' isn't very official sounding."

"So?"

"I was just saying."

Mia always managed to bring out the child in Bart. He stuck her tongue out at her after he checked to make sure no one was watching. Lois saw it, and had to smother a laugh. "Put that thing away."

"You make it sound so . . . dirty, Lois."

"I was just saying."

Mia took her turn to stick her tongue out, this time at Lois.

Lois turned to her husband, expecting him to say something. He, however, was in the midst of a *facepalm* Great, no help from that corner.

After they'd finished dinner, Lois realized where she'd gone wrong.

Mia had a thing for Bart.

Which meant Chloe had been right.

Damn.

She had just lost 50 bucks.

"They're ridiculous."

"Yup."

"What was Lois trying to do, anyway?"

Mia sighed. "She was trying to set you up with Kara?"

"What?"He seemed shocked.

"That's why she was being so bitchy. Victor and I weren't supposed to show up. You two were supposed to bond. I don't know what they were thinking . . . that you'd fall in love because of a dinner that wasn't even just the two of you, or in the least bit romantic."

"I'm not interested in a relationship, I told Chloe that. I asked her not to set me up."

"Well it wasn't Chloe. It was Lois. She got you on a technicality." She knew she sounded a bit grumpy, but it didn't bother her.

"Oh well. Kara's cool and all. But even if I were to get involved with someone, it wouldn't be her."

She wasn't jealous. She wasn't jealous. "Who would it be?" She tried to ask as if she didn't care. She was pretty sure she was failing though.

"Oh, um. It's nothing." He seemed rather nervous.

"Oh. Um, I have to go."

"Okay."

Awkward silence.

"I should go."

"Yeah."

She left.

Bart felt awkward.

He didn't know why though.

He'd mentioned it to Chloe though, and she'd merely smiled and said that he should wait and see.

He still didn't know why though.

He and Mia had always had a really comfortable friendship. It worked for them. They could go out and catch a movie, or hang out and veg. They were really good friends.

Lately, however, that didn't seem to be the case. Ever since the whole dinner Clark and Lois . . . things had been awkward for all of them, including Kara and Victor.

Lois had forced Kara and him out on a date. But it had gone horribly. Not that it really had kind of seemed into it. And Kara was beautiful, and a great girl. But she wasn't for him.

He knew that.

It was weird, because when Mia had asked who who he did have feelings for, he should have said no one. But for some reason, looking into her curious eyes, he hadn't been able to answer.

It was strange. And he didn't quite know what to do about it.

And now, they weren't spending time together. She was avoiding him.

And he didn't get it. He had briefly wondered whether she'd assumed that he liked her . . . but he'd suppressed the thought immediately.

Because . . . maybe he did.

"Mia's avoiding me."

Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "And why would that be?"

"I don't know."

"Okay."

"What do I do?"

"Fix it."

"But I don't know what to do. I don't know how I messed up, 'licious."

"Oh, Bart. I can't tell you if you can't figure it out. Think about it."

"Can you at least give me a hint?"

"Nope. It's only meaningful if you figure it out for yourself."

"I don't . . . know what that means."

"You will," she smiled one of those Chloe-patented secret smiles.

"Hey! Mia, how's it going?" She'd been avoiding his calls, so he'd shown up at Mia's apartment-she had moved out of Chloe and Oliver's place because of the baby, she claimed the crying distracted her from her studies, but in reality she'd felt like it was time to give the couple their space-when he knew she was there, but when she wasn't expecting him.

"Oh, hey. You know, I have to go somewhere now, can we talk later or something?"

"No. I think we need to talk now. You're avoiding me."

"No . . . I'm not. I've been busy, you know. It happens." She had a guilty look on her face.

"Why are you lying to me, Mia? I thought we were friends?"

"We are friends." She said it sadly, and softly.

"Mia-"

"No, Bart. You're right. We're friends. I'm just . . . in a weird place right now."

"Let me be here for you then."

"I can't." She felt like she was about to cry.

"Oh, Mia."

"Please don't. Just leave."

"No," he tried to move closer to her, but she moved away.

"Please."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're basically my best friend, and I can't lose you."

"I'm in love with you." It just kind of burst out of her, as if she wouldn't be able to stay quiet for much longer. As if the words had just been waiting to be said.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I-"

"You really don't have to say anything."

"But I can't just leave it like this."

"You really should, you just need to le-"

Bart took a few quick steps to where she was and kissed her. Hard, and possessively. She leaned back into the wall.

Eventually they broke apart.

"I have feelings for you. And I think-I think with very little effort I could fall in love with you. In fact, I may already be in love with you."

"Gosh, Bart. When did you become such a sap?" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him back towards her.

"Possibly when I started to grow up. Maybe you should try it sometime."

"I'll show you grown up," she kissed him.

"You're a sneaky one."

"Who? Me?" Chloe asked innocently.

"Chloe, you set them up."

"Yes I did, Ollie. And I'm proud of it. And you know what? They can't prove I was behind it."

"But they'll know."

"Eh."

"Who's next anyway?"

"Kara and Victor. I can never tell what either of them are thinking. So it should be interesting."

"Isn't that a Chinese curse? May you lead an interesting life, or something?"

"Oh well," she waved it away. "I don't have time for that. Have you heard about Zatanna and Carter?"

"That they've been spending a curious amount of time together? Yes, I have. And I'm sure you have something to do with it."

"Of course."

"I wouldn't have you any other way. I noticed that Clark's been spending a lot of time out of town." Ah, that's what he really wanted to talk about.

"That's his choice, actually. He and Lois have been arguing about that same thing. Clark just puts the weight of the world on his shoulders, and forgets that the rest of us need him to stop being Superman sometimes."

"Have you mentioned that to him recently?"

"Yes, I have. But I have a feeling things will change soon."

"Why?" he asked, curiously.

"Well . . . she's pregnant."

"Wow."

Chloe suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "Is something wrong with that?"

"No. I just got a mental image of the Lane-Kent spawn. Scary."

"Ah, yes."

"But you know, I think there's something much better that we could think about." He leaned towards her.

"Really, and what would that be?"

"Us."

"I like this thought process."

"I thought you would," they kissed softly.

Suddenly the baby cried out.

Cock-blocked. By the baby. Again.

It didn't really matter though.

Because everything was perfect and right in their little world. Even if it left them tired and horny.

Chapter three. . . is complete. MWAHAHAHA. Okay. Crazy laughter aside . . . I finished this chapter only to realize that there was actually very little Chlo-Lo interaction. Sadness. Oh well. Review?