Heh, so yeah - I decided, as part of my New Year's resolution, to finish the stuff I have left undone. That...and my girlfriend read this and told me she wouldn't touch me unless I made another chapter. So, in the interest of keeping the peace, here's another chapter to a story no one remembers! One more chapter after this, and it will be done.

The two said their goodbyes to J'onn, though not without Lois attempting to steal an interview with the Martian Manhunter. He'd always been reticent to give interviews, as enamored with his privacy as he was. He got away with a "Perhaps" to Lois, and an invitation to the farm from Clark.

"My folks have been wanting to see you again – although, be forewarned that Ma will probably say you look too skinny." Clark said, a smile in his eyes.

Clark and Lois continued down Fifth Street, towards Clark's brownstone apartment. They continued in silence, until Clark could no longer stand it.

"So..."

"So...?" She parroted, a huge smile on her face. "Have something to say, Clarkie-boy?"

He ignored that, continuing, "So...how long have you known?"

She smiled even wider. "Well, that's kind of hard to answer. I first suspected when I realized that you very often seemed to get to the story before me, but only if the stories involved something dangerous."

He winced, "Yeah. That probably wasn't too careful of me, huh?"

She laughed a bit. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Smallville. No one else would have noticed; we both come from the same paper, so people probably assumed we headed over in the same car."

Now curious, he pressed on. "What else? It couldn't just be that one clue."

"No, it wasn't just that. Do you remember that incident at the U.N. a year and a half ago?"

Clark blinked, remembering back. It had been the day of the press conference discussing a new resolution the United Nations had been considering, to impose sanctions on a rogue nation. A military force from that nation had decided to influence the U.N. by kidnapping a few committee heads. Clark and Lois had been on hand to cover the press conference when all hell broke loose.

As the soldiers stormed into the room, spraying gunfire, Lois called out for Clark, thinking to grab him and escape. He did not respond, but before her eyes she beheld Superman speeding through the room, disarming and then tying up the soldiers. The entire affair, from beginning to end, had taken less than twenty seconds.

"Now, Superman is fast. I know that. But Metropolis to New York, in that time? I'm sorry, Smallville, but aside from maybe the Flash – and that is a big maybe – no one is that fast. So. That's when I knew for sure."

Clark stopped walking, stunned. "Huh. I wouldn't have even thought about that. But it makes sense, doesn't it?" He looked at her as though in a new light.

She looked back, and saw the look of admiration in his eyes. "I won't deny that I was surprised when I figured it out, Clark. But I got over it eventually, and since then, whenever you use some kind of lame excuse to leave somewhere, I just...smile, I guess."

"Hey! Those excuses aren't lame, Lois. They're brilliant." Clark joked.

"Oh, sure, Smallville. I especially like the 'my-stomach-aches' gambit. Very believable."

"Hey now," Clark said, a smile in his eyes, "you don't know how often that got me out of class! Many were the days when my aching stomach saved the town!"

Lois chuckled, and then pointed up to the apartment building they'd stopped at. "Clark...you know your apartment is on the fourteenth floor, right?"

Clark nodded, not knowing where Lois was going with this.

"Well, I've always flown with Superman, and that's...nice. But I kinda want to see what flying with Clark would be like!" She laughed at the look on Clark's face as she asked.

"Lois..." He began.

"Now don't you 'Lois' me," she said, imitating Clark's baritone, "consider this repayment for four years of lies!"

Clark laughed. "Well, when you put it like that..."

Lois smiled at his acquiescence. "Alright! Into the alley, Cornfed!"

Clark rolled his eyes, following her into the alley next to his brownstone to make sure no one could see them. Geez, he thought, what am I getting into with this?

But looking at Lois, he couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement.

Please read and review, I'm pretty rusty.