AN: The rating for this chapter is back to T. Enjoy.

Chapter 6 – Two Pairs

There was only one thing on Clark's mind as he headed home; I just hope I can avoid my mom.

He knew that it wasn't being out late with his friends that would be a problem with his mother; it was how he had spent the rest of the night. When Clark made it to the porch of the house, he carefully removed his shoes and quietly stepped inside. He softly closed the door and began to recall the time that he and Lana had spent the night together in his room. When his parents caught him sneaking her out the following morning it had not been pleasant. The talk afterwards certainly wasn't fun either and that was something he wanted to avoid happening again.

A sad smile came to his face as he remembered his father. If dad was around and found out what I did with Lois… Clark thought with a shudder. He knew what he would have been in for. But it would have been worth it.

He made his way from the front door to the stairs, but as luck would have it, Clark stepped on a loose floorboard that gave a mighty creak.

Busted, Clark thought resignedly as he stood still to await his mother's disappointment at seeing him coming home at this time of the morning. Several seconds passed… but his mother was nowhere in sight.

"Mom!" Clark shouted, "I'm home."

Clark took a quick scan of the house and found that his mom wasn't even home. He then blew out a sigh of relief knowing that he didn't get caught.

With that worry taken care of, Clark began to go upstairs to get a change of clothes and start his chores. But just before heading up, he went to the cupboard to get a glass and then over to the refrigerator to get some orange juice. As he poured himself a glass, he noticed a note on the table, which read:

Clark,

I hope you had a good time last night with your friends. Please try to remember next time to give your mother a call when you're going to be out all night. I do worry about you, even though I know you are a grown man and can take care of yourself. If you stayed with Lois last night, I hope you weren't any trouble. I have some work to do today and I will see you when I get home.

Love,

Mom

Reading that note brought a smile to his face. No, mom, I wasn't trouble for Lois at all last night, Clark thought playfully.

Once finished with his juice, he went over to the phone to call Pete and Chloe so that he could talk to them about last night – both in person and together. He still didn't know what he would say to them about revealing his secret to Lois, but the good thing was that everything had worked out in the end. Boy, did it ever work out in the end.

The first call Clark made was to Pete. Thinking for a moment about the correct number to call, Clark dialed and waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

"Hello," Pete answered, sounding kind of rough.

"Pete? Is that you?" Clark asked.

"Clark? Yeah, it's me."

"Are you okay?" Clark asked, concerned for his friend.

"I will be, I think. My head feels like it went through a blender. What can I do for you, buddy?"

"We need to talk about what happened last night during the poker game."

"What do you mean…?" Pete paused and then suddenly remembered what had happened. Pete continued in a shocked voice, "Oh, man."

"Do you think you can make it over here?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. I'll be over as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Pete. See ya soon."

Once Clark was finished with Pete, he dialed Chloe's number.

"Sullivan residence, Chloe speaking," Chloe said with a groan.

"Chloe, this is Clark. You don't sound too good," replied Clark.

"Well, I don't feel all that good. It feels like there are a bunch of drums playing in my head."

"I can only imagine. Pete is going through the same thing that you are."

"Good, at least I'm not the only one suffering. I've learned an invaluable lesson through all of this."

"What's that, Chlo?"

"Poker and Jell-O shooters don't mix – especially when you have to take a shot every time you lose a hand or fold."

They both chuckled over that.

"Owww! Clark, please don't make me laugh. This damn hangover hurts even more when I laugh," Chloe painfully said. "So, what's with the phone call?"

"I want to talk to you about what happened last night. I just called Pete and he'll be coming over so we can talk. How about you?" Clark asked.

There was silence on the other end of the line for several seconds.

"Chloe? Are you still there?" Clark asked, full of concern.

"Yeah, I'm still here," Chloe answered, still letting what Clark said sink in as she recalled what happened last night. "Of course I'll come over. Just give me an hour or so to get freshened up."

"Sure thing, Chloe. Bye."

"Bye, Clark."

That went well, Clark thought as he hung up the phone. Now, all he had to do was come up with what to tell his friends. Plus this would be the first time that Pete will hear, at least from him any way, that Chloe knew about his abilities. Hopefully something will come to me while I do my chores.

Before doing his work, Clark sped up to his bedroom to change out of his clothes. Once that was taken care of, he went to work.

Doing his chores at least kept his mind occupied, because Clark really wasn't sure what to tell his two friends. The one thing that he wasn't going to do was rip into them. He knew that it wasn't really their fault that his secret had been revealed to Lois; it was the amount of alcohol Pete and Chloe had consumed that night.

It didn't take Clark long to get the farm work done, so all he had to do now was wait for his two friends to come over. With all the time he had on his hands, he sat in his loft trying to formulate what he would say to Chloe and Pete.

It wasn't long before he picked up the sound of tires on gravel coming from two vehicles. Using his X-ray vision, Clark saw both Pete and Chloe coming down the driveway.

Before either Chloe or Pete could get out of their vehicles, Clark was there to greet them, "I'm glad the both of you could make it."

He watched as both Pete and Chloe slowly exited their respective cars, both hiding their faces with sunglasses. Clark smiled at his two hung-over friends, and even though he felt sorry for them, he still found their current state amusing.

"Hey, Clark," both Pete and Chloe groaned out, still feeling the effects of the shots that they had taken last night.

"Are you guys going to be alright?" Clark asked with concern.

Pete answered first, "I will be once my head stops pounding."

"I agree Pete. Those damn drums in my head are still playing," Chloe said as she winced every so often.

"If you two can make it up to the loft, I'll go get something for your headaches," Clark said as he headed into the house.

"Thanks, Clark," both Pete and Chloe said as they each grabbed their heads in pain from speaking louder than normal.

When Clark got back with a couple of glasses of water and some Tylenol, he noticed that his friends were barely up the first couple of steps to the loft. Carefully super-speeding ahead of them, Clark set the water down on a nearby table and helped both of them the rest of the way up.

"I would like to talk to the both of you about what happened last night," Clark began in a serious tone. "You both let slip..." ...that I have powers and abilities far beyond those of normal men... "...that I am different."

Both Pete and Chloe had apologetic looks on their faces.

Realizing what Clark was implying, Pete hurriedly tried to cover for Clark, "What are you talking about?" Pete then carefully got up from the couch that both he and Chloe were sitting on and whispered to Clark, "Why are you talking about your abilities in front of Chloe?"

Before Clark could answer, Chloe interrupted him and said, "It's alright Pete, I already know about Clark's powers."

"You do?"

Both Clark and Chloe nodded in answer to Pete's question.

"Do you remember, Alicia Baker?" Chloe asked Pete. Pete nodded, and Chloe continued. "She tricked Clark into using his powers while she and I secretly watched."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Pete asked his two friends.

"It's true, Pete. For about a year, Chloe knew my secret and kept it to herself. When I finally found out that she knew, we had a nice talk about it. I'm glad she knows – because when you left Smallville, I missed having someone other than my parents to talk to about my abilities," answered Clark as he cast a warm smile toward Chloe.

Chloe returned Clark's smile with one of her own.

"Now, back to the topic at hand. You two revealed my abilities in front of Lois, and I had to have a talk with her about it after you both passed out."

"I'm sorry about that, Clark," Pete apologized.

"I am too. What did Lois do?" Chloe asked.

"Well, we had a nice talk. After I showed her a little bit of what I could do - speed, strength, and heat vision - she accepted me for who I am, just like the two of you. She now understands some of the things that I have done," Clark said, finishing with a slight laugh.

"So, are we good?" asked Pete, nervously.

"Yeah, Clark, are we?" Chloe chimed in.

Clark gave them both a stern look but couldn't hold it. He slowly broke out into a smile and answered, "Of course we're alright. I just wish that I could actually tell someone myself… instead of someone finding my spaceship and having to explain things to him. …or having someone secretly know about my powers and finding out a year later about it."

"There's always, Lana," Pete mentioned.

"That's true, Clark," added Chloe.

"Maybe one day. But right now, our friendship is just back to normal so I don't want to rock the boat anymore than it already has," Clark replied. And with as close as Lex and Lana are becoming, the less she knows right now, the better.

"I can understand that," Pete said as he took a quick look at his watch. "Look at the time, I gotta run. I need to spend some time with the relatives before I head back home. I'm glad everything worked out, Clark. Next time we play poker, no Jell-O shooters."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Clark said, especially seeing the effects in his two friends.

"Amen to that," Chloe agreed wholeheartedly.

Pete gave both Clark and Chloe a hug and carefully made his way down the loft steps. Clark assisted a still wobbly Chloe down to see their friend off.

As they watched Pete drive off and waved good-bye, Clark asked Chloe, "What would you think about me dating Lois?"

Chloe turned around to face and said in total shock, "You want to date Lois? When did that happen?"

"Last night when we talked. My feelings for her have changed immensely over the last few months and I let her know how I felt. The amazing thing was that she felt the same way – so we're willing to give this relationship a shot. I was just wondering how you felt about it?"

"I've got no problem with it, Clark. I've seen the way the two of you have been acting lately and I'm not surprised that you two are getting together. If you make each other happy, who am I to stand in the way of that?"

"Thank you, Chloe. This not only means a lot to me but to Lois as well."

Clark then gave Chloe a warm embrace as they walked towards the house.

"You sure are happy about this new relationship with Lois, aren't you?"

"Uh huh, she brings out the best in me. I hope that one day you can find someone that makes you feel as happy as I feel right now."

"I hope so, too."

Clark suddenly thought about the way Chloe had behaved during the poker game. Trying to gauge Chloe's reaction, he asked her, "Chloe, what do you think about Jimmy?"

AN: That does it for this chapter. Feel free to leave a review because I would like to hear what you think about this chapter. No flames, please.