"30 minutes until New Year's."

"Clark Joseph Kent, I swear if you tell me one more time how much longer it is until the new year, you won't live to see the new year!"

Clark gulped. She couldn't and wouldn't hurt him, but that didn't keep her from being intimidating and a little scary. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and asked how much longer it was until midnight. He didn't want her to get angry when he answered her again. She was in a manic state and he wondered why she wasn't more used to it. Being in jail was sort of like a legal kidnapping, only you weren't tied up and about to die. He did the only thing he could think of to shut her up. He kissed her.

Clark thought at first that he was making a terrible sacrifice, but he actually enjoyed it. He was just as surprised when she didn't push him away. She must have been in shock. After it was over, she came to her senses and shouted, "What the heck did you do that for?"

"You said we should if we want to leave each other's company."

"While the sheriff's awake, moron! I know with his foghorn snores, you didn't forget. So why did you really kiss me?"

"You were hysterical. I had to snap you out of it."

"You slap a person. You don't kiss them."

"I'll remember to slap you next time."

"Next time, you'll keep your hands off me. Period."

Clark breathed a sigh of relief when Chloe came through the door.

"God bless you for coming, Chloe," Lois said. "Now, kick the sheriff out of his chair to wake him up."

"Don't do it, Chloe or you'll end up in here with us," Clark told her.

"Don't worry. I can handle this, guys." She looked at the nameplate on the desk. "Sheriff Harrison, Sheriff Harrison?" Chloe called.

At last, his eyes fluttered open.

"I'm here to pay their bail, sir."

Chloe managed to get them out of jail safely. Once they were outside, Chloe said, "The sheriff made me promise that you two wouldn't skip town. Can I hold you to it? Can you both drive out of town without getting arrested again?"

"Chloe," Lois said, "I've had a bad day."

"Say no more, Cuz. I know better than to incur the wrath of a Lane." She laughed. "I have to get back to the party. You're lucky I was so close by and that I checked my messages tonight. There's Jimmy waiting in the car over there."

Lois gave him a long, hard look. Jimmy saw and turned away in fear and embarrassment.

"Don't scare my boyfriend away, please," Chloe told her.

"Just checking to see if he looks like a psycho killer. I can spot them a mile off."

"That's why you're always dating them?" Clark asked.

"No, that's why I can spot them," she replied. "Have fun, Chloe."

Chloe and Jimmy left. Lois tried calling Oliver and found that he had been forced to leave on business and that they wouldn't have spent New Year's together anyway.

"So Smallville, what are you going to do now?"

"I was planning on going home and getting into bed. Why?"

"We've still got 20 minutes until the new year. We could go to this bar not too far away. They have a wrestling match between the old and new year. One guy dresses like an old man and will have a 2006 sash. The other will dress like a baby and has a 2007 sash. It's very predictable. The new year always wins, but it's funny."

"Promise that you won't drink?"

"It's a bar."

He crossed his arms.

"Fine. We'll order cokes. Follow me in my car," she said, as she led him by the arm to his car.

The sheriff shut the blinds he had been looking out through and shook his head. "They were lying about not being boyfriend and girlfriend. Those jail birds are also a couple of love birds."

The End

Have a Happy New Year!