"I'm going to kill you, you know that right?" Chloe growled surreptitiously to a grinning Lois and Clark.

"Admit it, Chlo, you love it," Lois retorted.

"I do not," she protested, weakly.

"Bart's a good guy Chloe," Clark interjected, putting in a good word for his friend.

"And it's not like we all don't already know you have the hots for him," Lois muttered, earning a glare from her cousin. "What? It's true, and you know it."

Chloe was about to launch into full-on defensive mode when she felt an arm slip around her waist.

"There you are, beautiful," Bart crooned smoothly.

"As if I could get away if I tried," Chloe mumbled, but Bart simply grins happily, perhaps sensing his date's melting, albeit slowly, resolve toward him. Clark and Lois watched with amusement as Bart's eyes rose to the ceiling, seeking out the closest sprig of mistletoe. His eyes lit up as he spotted one close by, and was about to speed off with a semi-reluctant Chloe in his arms, when Dinah's voice rang out.

"Okay, everyone, time for presents!"

Instinctively, Clark's eyes darted to Lois, seeing the grin creep across her face. He watched as she silently connected with Dinah across the room, who gave her a little nod in response. Reaching for her hand, he gently pulled her to the green chaise.

"It's amazing how you always gravitate to this particular seat with me, Smallville," she quipped, her mind momentarily off her plot.

"Good memories," he responded, without a second's hesitation and accompanied by a smile that made her insides just melt.

"With fantastic ones to add to that collection shortly," she said, watching as Dinah picked up her gift, making a show of looking at the little card attached to the bag.

"Hmmm, okay…and our first unmasked Santa is…," she trailed off, holding up the bag and feigning innocence.

"That would be me."

Giving Clark's hand a squeeze, Lois got up and walked over to Dinah, her hand out for the gift bag.

"So, who's the lucky recipient?"

Lois turned to Oliver, a wide smile on her face. It only took a moment before Oliver registered exactly what that smile meant. Clearing his throat, he nervously dragged a hand through his blond hair.

"Um…maybe we should let someone else go first," he managed to say in a somewhat relaxed voice, despite the obvious nervousness of his body language.

"Absolutely not! Our host should definitely get the first gift," Lois drawled in a saccharinely sweet tone as she walked over to him, holding out the decorative bag with a smile.

"Really, I don't mind," he protested, the edge of anxiety in his voice not lost on the smiling woman holding what he was sure was something that would completely humiliate him in front of everyone.

"I insist," Lois said with a smile way too bright for Oliver's liking, shoving the bag into his hands.

Grimacing, his fingers grasped the bag, his eyes darting around the room and landing on the witnesses to what he was sure was going to be, well, not one of his finer moments.

Clark. Dinah. Bart. AC. Bruce. Diana. Chloe. Victor. Kara.

Not to mention Lois herself, who would get immense satisfaction out of any mortification she could put him through after the DVD incident, particularly in front of their friends.

And yeah, he'd lulled himself into a false sense of security, but somewhere, in the back of his mind, Oliver knew he'd get his.

Glancing up to his left, he saw the not-so-innocent smirk on Lois' face. His eyes shifted to his right, where he saw his girlfriend perched on the arm of the chair, watching him expectantly.

"Open it already!" Dinah exclaimed impatiently.

"Yeah, man, get on with it," AC chimed in from across the room.

"Fine," Oliver grumbled, clearly not in any sort of holiday spirit anymore. He tentatively reached into the bag, parting the green tissue paper. Seeing a large, shiny, wrapped box, he pulled it out, with one last pleading glance at Lois for which he earned one of her patented eyerolls.

He placed the box on his lap, beginning to slowly ease away the wrapping paper. Bit by bit, being careful not to rip it.

Or more likely, prolonging the inevitable.

"Oh for God's sake," Dinah muttered, finally grabbing the package from him and tearing the paper. Tossing the now destroyed paper on the floor, she unceremoniously dumped the plain white box back in his lap.

"Damn, Green Bean, I hope you aren't this slow saving someone," AC snarked.

"Yeah, Ollie, the rest of us would like to open our presents at some point this Christmas season," Victor muttered.

Sighing, Ollie lifted the lid and was greeted by several white sheets of tissue paper. Gulping, he parted them, his eyes finally focusing on what was inside.

Eyes widening, he quickly slammed the paper back down.

"You didn't," he muttered, pink beginning to creep up his neck.

"Now, now Oliver, you have to show everyone your gift," Lois said enthusiastically, and was met with a chorus of agreement, the interest level in Oliver's gift having gone up exponentially simply by the archer's uncharacteristic blushing.

"Do you need some help?"

The sweet tone of Lois' voice, masking a triumph he knew was there, broke through his embarrassment momentarily and he sent a glare her way. After a moment, his pointed gaze ended up on Clark.

"You're Superman, for Christ's sake, you can't reign in your girlfriend?"

Before Clark had the chance to respond, Lois snatched the box from Ollie's hands. Spurred on by his comment, she parted the tissue paper and took out the contents.

"I guess you do need help," she said, a victorious smile on her face as she let the box drop to the floor, a set of garments now in her hands.

Garments being a massive overstatement – seeing as that would actually mean they could qualify as clothing one would wear in respectable company.

"This," Lois said, holding up the green briefs in her left hand along with a green mask, "is Robin Hood, also known as Oliver Queen's favorite bedtime game. And this," she continued, now holding up a very skimpy white bustier edged with what is meant to be an old-fashioned type ruffle, along with tiny white panties and a green garter belt, "is Maid Marion, the damsel who Robin Hood has to heroically save from evil, before claiming her as his own," she finished in an overly dramatic voice.

A stunned silence filled the room as the party guests looked from the outfits, to their now bright red ringleader.

And then… an explosion. Laughter rang out, practically shaking the large glass door leading to the terrace.

"We knew you liked costumes, Ollie…," Bruce said, between peals of laughter.

"Wait, where does he keep the arrow?" Kara asked innocently, having finally come up for air.

"I think there's only one arrow he's worried about using when he's suited up in that thing," Victor chimed in dryly, causing Kara to practically snort the eggnog she had just taken a sip of.

Oliver sunk back into the chair, listening to the jabs his friends were tossing at him between their howls of laughter, and wishing the upholstery would open up and swallow him whole. Glancing over, and seeing the normally over-confident and brash Oliver Queen trying to disappear into the furniture, Lois leaned down towards him.

"Payback's a bitch," she purred in Oliver's ear, enjoying the crimson shade his skin is currently turning as the roars of laughter from the fellow Justice League members continue to fill the room.

Wrinkling her nose slightly, Dinah took the female portion of the costume from Lois, looking it over, what there was of it anyway, from top to bottom, before glancing at her boyfriend.

"Really?"

The laughter ebbed a bit as Ollie simply shrugged in response to Dinah's snarky query.

"Oh, but you have to make sure to, in a very damsel-in-distress kind of way, yell out 'Oh save me, Robin Hood, save me!'," Lois injected, her voice taking on a fake, high pitched tone to give the full effect, before breaking into laughter at Oliver's horrified expression.

"Wait, that actually does it for him?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Lois responded, chuckling, "I tried. Valiantly. But I always burst out laughing before I got the whole line out. Kinda killed the mood."

"Dude, that's….no words, man," Bart said, in between giggling fits. Chloe, who had collapsed against him moments before, valiantly tries to get air into her lungs after another bout of hysterical laughter.

Dinah rolled her eyes, her gaze shifting from Oliver back to the Maid Marion costume. As the echoes of laughter finally died away, Dinah shrugged.

"I can make this work," she said nonchalantly. Then, she turned to Oliver. "You're lucky you're hot, Robin Hood."

As the room erupted into hysterics again, Lois headed back to the chaise and sat down, grabbing Clark's hand, thrilled with her victory.

And oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend was only half-heartedly participating in the merriment.

**

"I swear, Smallville, even you never turned that red," Lois sputtered out, still laughing from her triumph over Oliver. She unlocked the door to her apartment and turned the knob, as Clark reached over her and gently pushed the door open.

Still hearing her giggling as she tossed her keys on the side table, he quietly walked over to the couch and sat down.

"It was just…perfect," she sighed happily before joining him on the sofa. Bringing her legs up underneath her, she propped her elbow on the back of the couch and leaned her head against it. "Admit it, Smallville. I totally rock when it comes to revenge, among other things, of course."

Clark managed a half smile as he stared down at his hands in his lap. Finally noticing his silence, Lois tipped her head curiously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'," he shrugged, and Lois rolls her eyes at his obviously poor attempt at convincing her he was fine.

"Clark?"

"I'm fine, Lo."

"Clearly, you're not fine. Is this about Ollie?"

Silence.

"Clark?"

She noticed the slightest movement of his shoulders up and down, and groaned slightly.

"I told you what I was gonna do, and you said you were okay with it. And when I asked you if it was one of those things where people say they're okay with something when they're really not just to make someone happy, you said it wasn't. You said were fine with it. I wouldn't have gone through with it if you weren't!"

"I was!" he finally said, a bit petulantly.

"But?"

"Lois…just drop it," he muttered, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"When you stop acting like a pouting five-year-old and tell me what the hell's bothering you, I will!"

He sighed loudly, glancing sideways at her, knowing full well she wasn't going to leave him alone until he fessed up.

The thing was, he hadn't lied to her. When she told him about her little plan for revenge on Oliver, he'd thought it was funny, and actually looked forward to seeing Oliver squirm.

Looking back, it seemed like the full implication of what Lois' gift meant didn't hit him at the time.

It really didn't hit him until she had held up the skimpy garment, at least the woman's part of it, earlier tonight.

She'd worn that. With Oliver.

And while the rational part of him knew that already, it was the irrational part that was pulling him into sulking, jealous mode.

"It's just…," he began, then trailed off.

"It's just what?"

Exhaling loudly, Clark shrugged his shoulders. "You wore that with him."

"Yeah…and you knew that. And you also knew that it never got anywhere because, let's be real, even in fantasyland, I don't do the whole 'damsel-in-distress' thing well."

"Yeah…but you tried it. For him."

Beginning to get a little frustrated, Lois threw her hands up and slammed them back down on her lap.

"And again, you already knew that. You knew it when I showed you the stupid thing in the first place so why the hell…," she suddenly stopped, realization beginning to dawn. And once it fully did, a slow grin began to cross her face.

"This isn't about that outfit is it? It's about me being a participant in Ollie's little merry archer fantasy."

Her answer was a barely perceptible nod.

"Because I did it for him. When we were dating."

She's rewarded with another slight head nod from a silent Clark.

"But now we're dating," she began, leaning and running a finger along his jawline. "Clark Kent, Mr. Innocent Farmboy, do you have naughty fantasies?"

Seeing the telltale blush begin to creep up his neck, Lois had her answer, even though Clark weakly tried to evade.

"Come on, Lo…" he muttered, still looking down at his hands in his lap.

"That's what this is about, isn't it? I mean, I played along with Ollie when I was his girlfriend. Unsuccessfully, I would point out again, but I did try. And now, I'm your girlfriend, and you're wondering if all's fair in love and fantasies," she finished with an amused giggle.

He finally glanced at her, noticing the grin on her face.

"Maybe," he admitted.

Her grin turned into a full blown smile.

"Oh, I gotta hear this. Spill."

"Lois…"

"Come on, Clark!" she whined petulantly, before leaning and gently flicking her tongue across his earlobe, hearing him gasp in response. "You know, if you tell me, I just might do it."

She pulled back, watching his face as he struggled with his inherent shyness, something she found totally endearing. Seeing this, she decided to give him a little push.

"I mean, it's not a slutty Maid Marion is it?" Clark shook his head quickly. "Good. After that, you can only go up in the fantasy department Clark. Don't worry."

Finally, after a few moments, he cleared his throat and glanced at her.

"Well…um….you know…I'm a patriotic guy and all," he said.

"Yes you are."

"Stars and stripes…red, white, and blue…from sea to shining sea," he says, putting extra emphasis on the last sea.

But there was no need. Grinning, Lois hopped off the couch and disappeared from his view.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm listening, I just need to…um…I forgot to erase my voicemail," she said, rolling her eyes at her own lame excuse. She quietly opened her closet door, beginning to shift clothes to the left, seeing her target hanging on a red hanger way in the back. "So, um….patriotic. Right. The sea…what about the sea?" she asked, trying to keep him talking as she quickly snagged what she was looking for.

"Well…I like the sea, you know…the ocean," he said from the other room. Lois smiled knowingly as her dress dropped to the floor, followed by her bra and panties.

"Like…swimming in the ocean?" she called back, as she slid the straps over her shoulders.

"Swimming or…," he paused, clearing his throat. "Or sailing."

Giggling, Lois hurriedly put the finishing touches on her outfit.

"Sailing, huh?"

"Yeah…I love sailing. Ask anyone."

Taking a quick look in the mirror, she ran a quick hand through her hair, lamenting that she was missing the hat. But this would have to do.

"Oh, I bet you do," she said, as she rounded the corner of her bedroom door and leaned casually against the doorframe.

He was about to respond when his eyes caught sight of red leather. His eyes travelled slowly upward, taking in the tall, shiny boots. The short navy skirt. The fitted white shirt knotted under her breasts, giving him a tantalizing view of the creamy skin of her waist.

"And if I remember right, you like sailors too," she purred, a knowing smile on her face. Stepping toward him, she began to untie the knot in her shirt, unbearably slowly as far as Clark was concerned. He visibly gulped, a smile starting to form on his lips as he watched the shirt disappear from her body, leaving the star-spangled bikini top to entice him further.

"Only one particular sailor," he responded, his voice taking on a husky quality that made butterflies swarm around her stomach.

"It better only be one sailor, Smallville," she said, unhooking the clasp of the skirt and stepping out of it, kicking it behind her as she took another step toward him.

His eyes lit up in appreciation, his memory swarmed with images of her dancing in that bikini, merging with the delicious picture she was presenting him with now.

She walked toward him slowly, her eyes gleaming with devilish seduction and a glint of amusement at seeing him so utterly shocked and yet, thrilled, at her outfit.

"I can't believe you kept that," he said, his voice tinged with awe, his eyes glued to her approaching form.

She shrugged, a grin playing on her lips. "I could tell you liked it," she purred.

"You could?"

"I was sitting on your lap, Clark. It was kinda obvious."

He blushed slightly at that, remembering all too well his reaction to her. At the time, he'd prayed she hadn't noticed. Now, he was thrilled she had.

"Yeah, but you couldn't have known we'd…"

"End up together? True. I guess I kept it…just in case."

"I'm glad you did," he murmured, as she finally reached him, then lowered herself to straddle his lap. Shifting herself against him, she smiled knowingly.

"Good to know it hasn't lost its effect."

"Lois, you dressed in a paper bag would have that effect."

"Really? Cuz I can do that too," she said, pulling back and making a show of attempting to get off his lap.

"Don't you dare," he said, grabbing her waist and firmly placing her back in his lap. He moved forward, intent on capturing her lips, when she suddenly shifted her head away from him.

"Now, Smallville…if I remember right…I didn't really give you a proper lapdance that night," she said, biting her lip at the groan that escaped him as she grinds down against him. His eyes fluttered closed and his hands roughly rubbed her thighs as she swirled her hips against him.

She felt his hips move up against her, gasping at the delicious friction. Moving her hands from his shoulders to the front of his shirt, she began to make quick work of the buttons, finally parting it and running her hands over his incredibly muscular chest.

His breathing becoming more and more labored, Clark opened his eyes, feeling her hands on his skin. Seeing the lust in her eyes that he was sure was mirrored in his own, he moved his hands to the spangled bikini bottom, his fingertips just dipping below the waistband.

Seeing the seductive grin on his face, Lois leaned forward, touching her forehead to his.

"Admit it, I'm the best girlfriend ever," she said, her voice a teasing whisper.

Knowing words couldn't possibly express to her how true he felt that statement was, Clark surged forward and captured her lips in a heartstopping kiss, letting his passion for her give her all the answer she needed.