Part Two: The Other Side

----Prologue: Fortune

"Are you actually leaving this time, or are you just going to say you are and instead end up back at the farm with another obscure family member that appears as if she never existed until just that moment?"

Lois grinned as Clark rolled his eyes and sat down on the porch steps. She sat down next to him, watching as the sun lowered on the horizon and gave the world an orange glow for a few minutes. She never got over just how beautiful sunsets were out in this little middle of nowhere. She loved watching the sun move down through the spaces between skyscrapers, but watching it slowly going down over the fields... it made her feel connected to the world, because this was how it was for millennia, the only way to view a sunset. Odd as it was to have such a thought, she liked it.

"I am actually leaving this time, Lois. I've rented out most of the land, so I wouldn't have much to do around here except fix tractors and toss around bales of hay. Much as I like both of those tasks, I need to go out into the world, find a place for myself. I love the farm, but it's not what I am, not where I can make a difference."

"Well what do you know?" Lois shook her head and punched Clark' shoulder. "Looks like you finally grew up and figured yourself out, Smallville."

"Grew up, did I? I wish somebody would have told me sooner."

"We all gotta hear it sometime. Some of us grow up later than others, and you grew up even more slowly than those people. It happened, though, and now you can become a real man."

Clark looked over at her. "Have I been a fake man up until now?"

Lois smiled. "You know that's not what I meant. I know you're a man, and what kind of man you'll be. Hell, anybody that spends three seconds with you knows what kind of man you'll be once you find your place in the world. I do have to say you've got too much of the farm in you to ever be anything but a farm boy to me, though."

"Gotcha. Maybe someday I can surprise you, though. Be a city man, even."

Lois stood up, dusting herself off as she watched Clark get up and do the same. "Yeah, right. That seems as likely to happen as me quitting the Planet and settling down for a quiet, suburban housewife life. In other words, it won't."

"Don't ever see yourself in the house with four rooms raising the two and half kids, Lois Lane?"

"Heh, no. I think that'll be Chloe's thing. I like kids well enough, but that's because they always belong to somebody else and I don't have to be involved for more than a few hours, if that."

"Plus, it would be extremely scary for there to be even more people like you in the world. My shoulder would never stop getting hit."

Lois patted Clark on the shoulder a couple times before descending the steps and walking backwards towards her car. "You shouldn't complain about things you enjoy, Smallville. Remember, for all the girls that aren't me, hitting is a good thing." She pointed at him and put a stern look on her face. "Enjoy your travels, but don't do anything crazy that will get you killed. Your mom is very fond of you."

Clark spread his arms out and smiled. "Nothing about me you would miss?"

Lois stopped walking and looked at him a second before shaking her head. "Nope. Win some lose some, Smallville. Maybe I'll see you in a few years, eh?"

"I'll be sure to try and find you. I know where the Daily Planet is, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Lois opened her car door and smiled at him one last time. "Well then, I guess I'll see you when I see you, Clark Kent. Don't let things change you; somehow you've survived this crazy town with your positive outlook intact, so don't screw it up now and get cynical." Sliding into her car, Lois turned it on and pumped up the music, turning her car around and leaving the Kent farm.

"Oh for crying out loud," Lois mumbled as she walked to Perry's office. She assumed that this was probably going to be yet another lecture on not taking stupid risks and getting herself killed, which admittedly she'd done once. Chloe had done CPR and everything had turned out fine in the end, so she didn't think it was all that big of a deal.

Opening the door, Lois walked inside and crossed her arms over her chest as Perry looked up at her. "Lane, thanks for being so prompt."

"I had a source to call, Chief. You would have bellowed more had this been more urgent."

"Fair enough," he said as he stood up. "Lane, I'm worried about you. You work more than I do and date less than Sullivan, which is saying something because she seems to be as much of a workaholic as you are. The competitiveness is nice because it keeps you two from getting complacent, but you're no use to me if you burn out."

Lois barked out a laugh and brushed some hair out of her eyes. "You're worried I'm going to burn out? I thought this was going to be another safety lecture."

"We've had that so often that I know by now that you're never going to stop getting in trouble. But I'm glad you brought that up, though, because since you refuse to take fewer risks I am assigning you a partner."

Lois's eyes went wide and she worked her jaw for a moment before she found the ability to speak. "You... what... no!"

"No? Have you become head honcho around here while I wasn't looking?"

"But I work alone!"

"And now you work with a partner. Look, the guy is green, but he's got a good style that will compliment yours. He's smart and quick enough to keep up with you and your hunches, plus he can at least act as a lookout for when you decide to do something insane and need one."

"Perry, this is bullshit. I do not need a permanent lookout! When I need backup on something I have Chloe here to come along and help me kick some ass. It's not like we took kickboxing classes two years ago to not use them."

Perry held up a finger, pointing at her a second later. "The decision is made, Lane. In fact, your partner is coming over now. A little late, but you've got late down to an art form so it's just something you two have in common."

Lois turned around as a tell guy entered the room in a nice suit. His face was blocked as he pushed glasses up onto his nose. When he lowered his hand Lois just about fell over. "Clark?"

Clark looked over at her and blinked a couple times before breaking out into a wide grin. "Lois! Hey, how are you?"

"A little shocked. When did you get back from traveling? I thought you were going to be gone forever, really, when year two passed by and there was no Clark Kent sighting."

"No, just needed more time. Figured three years was enough. I got back three days ago, spent the first day with mom, then had an interview with Perry yesterday. Got the job and now I'm here."

Lois saw Perry stand up out of the corner of her eye and looked over to him when he walked around his desk. "Well, apparently this saves me the task of introducing you two and making sure that you actually get along well enough to be coherent partners."

"I'm her partner? Perry, she and Chloe are tops around here. I thought you wanted to start me off slow."

"Changed my mind." He grabbed a file off of his desk and handed it to her. Lois flipped it open as Perry spoke again. "Here's your first assignment as a team. Enjoy. Kent, your desk is the one next to Lane's."

Lois took off towards her desk, figuring Clark would follow. By the time she got to her desk, Clark was jogging up to her and straightening out his tie. "First rule of being my partner, Smallville: Keep up. Second rule: My name comes first on the byline. No, flip those. My name coming first is the first rule. Third rule, and this is the most concrete of them all: Until proven otherwise, I am right and you're wrong. I'm not the best around here because I make bad guesses."

Lois turned and faced him, raising an eyebrow as she did so. "Did you let things change you?"

"What?"

"When we were saying our goodbyes three years ago I told you not to let things in the world make you cynical. Are you still positive outlook, everybody has good in them Clark Kent?"

Clark stared at her a minute before speaking. "Yeah, I think so. I still believe that everybody has the capacity for good in them, given the choice."

Lois sighed. "Well, I figured you would still be that way, but it doesn't help us a whole lot when it comes to reporting. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. I believe none of either and dig until I find something I do believe, but I've always been fairly cynical about things. Hopefully your positive outlook won't die completely in this job."

"I don't think helping make the world a better place will kill my positive outlook, Lois."

"You'd be surprised at what we report on, Smallville. I've had some brutal investigations."

Clark sat down at his empty desk, unbuttoning his suit coat as he did so. "I wrote while I traveled, Lois, and I think I covered gruesome things that you've never gotten close to here. One of my stories even made it into the Daily Planet's international edition."

"Congratulations, but you're playing with the big boys on a full time basis now, Smallville."

Clark rolled his eyes and scrubbed at his short hair. Lois hadn't noticed until then that it was quite a bit less shaggy than it had been back in the day, taking a more conservative look with a part in it and everything. It wasn't the only thing that had changed, though. He looked bigger, if that was possible, and like he had more self confidence than he ever had when they'd been in Smallville together.

"So, business aside, how have you been, Lois?"

"Personally?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant by business aside."

Lois rolled her eyes. "I don't really have much that goes on outside of work. Perry and I were just talking about how I actually date less than Chloe does and for some reason this makes him worry. Something about getting burned out, who knows."

"It's good that a reporter of your stature listens to people so closely."

"Very funny Smallville. A reporter of my stature doesn't always have time for a roaring social life, which is something Chloe can confirm. We're busy rooting out corrupt officials and businessmen, exposing the underbelly of Metropolis. The lack of a sex life can leave one wanting, but that's why there are bars and one night stands."

He stared at her for a minute, eyes wide. Lois was about to say something to stop the discomfort of the moment but he started before she could. "Nice to know that you've kept your heart walled away while I was gone. Seriously, you haven't had one serious relationship in the past three years?"

"I had one that lasted about four months and a couple others that didn't quite make it that far. And why are we talking about me? You just traveled around the world, which has to be more interesting than my lack of a life outside this building."

Clark started talking about his travels and Lois exhaled. Jesus, why did he have to go and point out the fact that she'd barely connected with another human being in the past three years? Why did it bother her that he had pointed it out so quickly? Shaking it off, Lois got back to listening to him. Partner or not, it would be nice to have a friend back. Begrudgingly, she admitted to herself that she had missed him while she was gone. If nothing else, his popping up where things were happening at random times would make for easy story getting.

Picking herself up off the ground, Lois rested her hands on her knees as she coughed some dust out of her lungs. Why the hell had the damn thing exploded so quickly? The timer had said she'd had at least twelve more seconds than she'd ended up having. Instead of being covered in dust and coughing she would have at least been another couple hundred feet away. Just mean, really, to have a faulty timer. No honor among thieves with explosives, apparently.

Spotting numerous vehicles sporting flashing lights coming towards her, Lois cracked her neck to remove a kink she'd picked up being blown through the air and started giving herself the once over. Minor cuts on her arms, which was to be expected, but nothing that looked like it would require stitches. Bruises and cuts on the legs, nothing major. She felt a trickle of something on her lip and felt at it for a second before moving up to her nose, finding some blood there. Hopefully this wasn't going to be concussion number six hundred.

Sighing as she wiped at the blood from her nose, she winced as she bumped it with a knuckle. Lois wished Clark had been around to help out with this, which was certainly not something she expected to feel this soon into the partnership, if ever. Taking off in the middle of lunch because he forgot a dentist appointment and then not meeting her to snoop around a couple hours later? Was he getting a whole new set of teeth?

Shaking her thoughts off, she walked up to an ambulance that was coming to a stop and smiled at the paramedics as they got out of the vehicle. "Afternoon Paul, Herb. How you guys doing?"

Paul started checking out her cuts as he guided her to sit on the back of the ambulance. "We're better when we don't see you after something like this. How are you feeling?"

"Battered and bruised. The usual, I guess. Is it bad that I know a fair number of paramedics by their first names and don't ever see them outside of work?"

"I'd say it's bad that your usual is battered and bruised, Lane," Herb said.

Lois was about to say something back to him when she spotted Clark jogging towards her. He got to her, out of breath and straightening out his tie. "Lois! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Smallville. This is just my usual post explosion glow. Dust, debris and blood are nothing new for me." Lois laughed a bit as his expression turned horrified. "This is part of the reason Perry made you my partner. For some reason he thinks you can keep me from getting myself killed. Obviously I can keep myself from getting killed." She frowned as both the paramedics scoffed.

"I know we were supposed to come here and look around, but why was there an explosion?"

"Good question," she said as she winced. Apparently she got the painful treatment today. "I found the bomb with about thirty seconds left on it and got out as quickly as I could. I think there was a faulty timer, though, because I wouldn't be quite so rough looking if I'd had a full thirty seconds. I'm just surprised Superman didn't come when I called for him as I ran."

She looked over at Clark, who was staring at the warehouse before he looked back at her. "No, yeah, there was a report on that said he was in Indonesia. There was an earthquake and he was helping to find survivors and clear rubble."

"That would explain it." She stopped talking as a light got flashed in her eye a couple times before it moved to the other and shined in it for a few seconds. Blinking, she watched Paul pocket his light. "So, am I concussed?"

"No, looks like somehow you avoided it and just bloodied up your nose. I still want to take you in for a couple scans, though, just in case. No arguments, either."

Lois rolled her eyes and stood up, climbing into the back of the ambulance and sitting down on the gurney. She waved at Clark to get in, and he followed up and sat down on a seat. The back got closed up as Paul pulled the doors shut and Lois laid down, getting herself settled. If ambulances had more windows in the back it wouldn't really be a bad ride, she figured. Relaxing, even, with the laying down.

The ride passed more quickly than usual because she was busy telling Clark every detail of what had happened and when. He made her go over it again as they wheeled her into the hospital, until they stopped him from going any further in and wheeled her back. An MRI and a CT scan later they released her with a clean bill of health.

Clark refused to leave her alone, going so far as to walk her up to her apartment and even offering to stay the night and help her with anything she might need. She had finally gotten rid of him by telling him that if she needed anything she would call. He acted like her being in the explosion was his fault! Three weeks as partners should have taught him that most of what happened to her was her own doing, and him taking credit for her minor injuries was ridiculous.

After a good long shower, Lois walked out of her bathroom and pulled on a bathrobe. She walked out onto her balcony, crossing her arms as she got near the edge. Metropolis at night was beautiful, and never failed to make her feel lucky. How she had ended up here, with a great job and all, she would never know.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, Lois."

Jumping, she spun to find Superman hovering over her balcony. Taking a couple breaths, she calmed her heart down and raised an eyebrow at him. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry. Flying is pretty quiet and I forget that it can take people by surprise."

"Don't worry about it," she said as she walked over to him. "I heard you did some good work in Indonesia today."

"I wish I could have saved more people than I did, but I'm glad I could help. I am sorry I wasn't there to get you away from that explosion before it happened."

"I'm in one piece with no major damage internally or externally. Lots of people being helped is more important than me nearly being blown up, anyway."

Superman smiled, prompting her to do the same. "How about from now on you just time your need for help a little better? Better yet, how about you stop getting into the situations?"

"I've known you two and a half weeks, Superman. You have to save me at least six more times before you ask me to give up my crazy near death experiences, no matter how hot you are." Her eyes went wide and she clamped a hand over her mouth for a second. "I can't believe I just said that out loud." When it looked like he was fighting a grin, Lois about went and hid in her apartment.

"Well, six saves from now I'll be sure to ask you to give up your dangerous investigations. It's too bad you're in so many and I'll be able to ask you in a week or two. Have a nice night, Lois."

She watched him fly off and sighed irritably, not believing she'd actually put her foot in her mouth like that. Stupid flying guy and his disarming hotness!

"Why, Chloe?"

"Why what?"

"Why her?"

"We can't help who we're attracted to, Clark. Well, that's only kind of true, but you being all hot under the collar for Lois isn't a newsflash, and it hasn't been for a good long time."

Scowling, Clark pulled a bottle of water out of his fridge and handed it to Chloe as he pulled another out for himself. He spun the top off and downed some of it as he sat on a barstool next to her, letting his elbows rest on the counter in front of him. "It's not THAT obvious," he mumbled.

"It's been a year and a half since you got back, Clark, and everybody but Lois is aware of it. The way your eyes follow her around a room is vaguely reminiscent of a puppy watching his owner."

"That's flattering."

"Do you want me to sugar coat things?" Sighing, he shook his head. "I didn't think so. Look, I've been able to tell you were head over heels since about a month after you got back. The staring and the confusion are dead giveaways. Here's your big problem: Lois is oblivious and has a bad case of unrequited lust for your alter ego."

"That I know," he said before taking another drink of water.

"I figured you might, since it seems to be as well kept a secret as your feelings. Question is, assuming you ever do anything, what are you going to do?"

"What can I do? It's too dangerous for me to be involved with her and..." He trailed off as Chloe started shaking her head furiously.

"No. I've heard this tune before and I don't want to hear it again."

"But..."

"No."

Clark eyed Chloe for a minute before looking away and staring at nothing. Being with Lois would probably just put her in danger. She needed more danger in her life like most people needed more stress. Being with her, though... if it could be half as good as he thought it could be, then it would be amazing. But he was going to have to tell her everything about himself before that could happen. Probably.

"How mad would Lois be if I asked her out and started a relationship without telling her I'm Superman?"

"Depends on how long you wait to tell her. If you actually manage to start something and don't tell her for a while, I would like to request now that I be out of state when you do tell her to avoid the inevitable nuclear fallout."

Taking a deep breath, Clark waited for Lois as she walked out onto the balcony. They'd been going over some things for a story and had decided to take a break. Lois handed him a drink and sat down in a chair next to his. This was it. There was no better time to tell her that he was Superman, considering their story had nothing to do with him for once.

Looking over at her, he gulped before speaking. "Lois?"

"Yeah, what's up Smallville?"

Clark worked his jaw for a second. "I, uh, have something that I need to tell you. I've wanted to tell you for a while now, but couldn't really work up the courage."

"Are you gay?"

Clark looked at her, mouth hanging open as he tried to process what she'd said. "WHAT?"

"It's just that numerous attractive women have asked you if you're single, or if you wanted to go out, and you never do! It just struck me as odd to see a guy having so many women throw themselves at him since we've been partners never have any dates. Aside from Lana, I've never seen you with a woman."

Clark held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not gay."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. There's actually a woman I'm attracted to, but I just haven't worked up to asking her out yet."

Lois shrugged, looking away and taking a sip of her drink. "You should get on that. Women don't just wait around for guys to ask them out. If you're not quick somebody else is going to swoop out of the sky and pick her up before you can blink."

"Speaking of swooping out of the sky," he said, still not believing what he 'd heard, "I wanted to talk to you about Superman."

She looked over at him again, smiling. "Did you now?"

"Yeah, I kind of have a confession when it comes to him. I know him."

"I know him too. Good guy."

"He and I are pretty close, actually."

She sat up and spun in her chair, now facing him. "How close it pretty close?"

Closing his eyes for a second, Clark reached up and pulled his glasses off and straightened out his posture, letting his slump melt away. When he looked at Lois again, her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open a little. To eliminate any doubt she might have, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open, revealing his Superman costume.

He watched as she stood up and downed the rest of her drink as she walked away from him, looking out at the city. She tossed her glass back over her shoulder and he sped over, catching it and keeping it from shattering. He couldn't tell if Lois noticed or not because she didn't bother to move.

A few minutes later Clark was still standing there, holding her glass. She turned around, face devoid of anything but anger. "I threw myself at Superman, at you, for the past year and a half. Did you enjoy it?"

"No, I didn't."

"Bullshit! I bet you loved it, watching me put myself out there time after time only to get shot down! You'd probably go home and laugh about it!"

"Laugh about it? What's to laugh about, Lois? It killed me that you were always so infatuated with Superman while I was just kind of there, an asexual partner for you to bounce ideas off of. I wanted you to feel that way about Clark Kent, about me, not about what I can do!"

Lois's eyebrows knitted together as she stared at him. "I'm the woman you wanted to ask out?"

"Of course you are! I spend all my time with you, see the good and the bad and can't get enough of it! I thought it would be something I could get over, but seeing you everyday and how much you've grown up and found your place in the world since Smallville... I look forward to going to work more than I do to going home."

"Oh God," she said, "Am I your next Lana?"

"It took me a long time to figure out who Lana was, Lois. Like I just said, I see the real you every single day because you don't hide anything."

She waved a hand at him. "Just... leave, will ya? I'm too... I don't know what I am, but whatever it is it's too much to have a big discussion with you right now."

Clark opened his mouth to keep things going but stopped himself, her look keeping him from dragging things out. Running a hand through his hair, he let his shoulders slump and walked away.

Lois knocked on Chloe's door, waiting impatiently for her cousin to get the door. When the door started to open she walked in, pushing past a surprised Chloe. "You know, right?"

"It's too early to know anything, Lois."

Rolling her eyes, she walked into Chloe's kitchen and got the coffee maker going. She turned around and leaned back on the counter. "You know that Clark Kent, Smallville, is Superman, right?"

Chloe nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm glad he told you."

"Is this something he's been debating?"

"Not debating so much as wrestling with. He thought about telling you when he first started. He tried telling you once when you were near that warehouse explosion in 2012, but couldn't do it. He put it on the back burner for over a year after that. Then a couple nights ago we were talking about how everybody but you knew he had a huge crush on you and he went so far as to ask how mad you would be if he could start a relationship with you but not let that little detail out. I asked to be out of state when the explosion happened, so it seems he decided to share."

"Yes, he decided to share, and then somehow I was the one that ended up feeling bad at the end of the night because he was all sad that I liked Superman and saw him as my asexual partner, with no hope of ever getting near me."

Lois frowned and stopped talking, annoyed at having to think about what had happened the previous night. The more she thought about things the more obvious all the signs were. His disappearances now and all his right place at the right time in Smallville... Jesus, his disguise was glasses! How was she this dumb? How were people so blind that they couldn't see past a pair of glasses? God, the man was infuriating!

"The problem wasn't that he was asexual, though, just that his timing was bad. I'd never seen Clark Kent as anything but a friend, and even after not seeing him for three years I didn't think of him as anything else. But suddenly he has a crush on me while at the same time becoming a super hero that is beyond amazing in what he can do for the world? How am I supposed to notice somebody that has learned to melt into the background when there's basically a god right in front of me?"

Chloe got up and walked over, pouring herself a glass of coffee before walking back to her chair and sitting down. Lois poured herself a glass and walked over to the table, sitting down across from her cousin. After a couple more sips Chloe looked more awake than she had five minutes before.

"You're saying everything Clark was afraid would happen. He wanted to be seen by you for being himself. If you're thinking about being with him now because he's Superman, do him a favor and don't. It's not fair to him. Be with Clark Kent for Clark Kent, not for Superman."

"That would have been a lot easier if he hadn't told me the truth."

"Would you have ever thought about it if he hadn't?"

Lois frowned and took a sip of her coffee, not saying anything.

"That's what I thought."

"Did you two sleep together?"

Lois looked up at Perry, then over at Clark out of the corner of her eye, who was looking at Perry like he'd grown an extra head. When he glanced at her she looked back at Perry. "No, definitely no sex, Chief. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you two are barely speaking and the article you turned in yesterday was horrible. Did you even read it before submitting it? I could tell who wrote what without thinking because there was no flow. Did you just split it into sections then cut and paste? No, I don't care if you did it or not because if you do it again there will be no more Lane and Kent. You two are great together, but I don't accept shoddy work. Fix the problems or go your separate ways."

Watching as Perry walked away, Lois sat up straight and looked at Clark. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Do you have anything to say, or are you just going to leave things the way they are?"

"You say that like this is a one way street."

Lois rubbed a hand over her face and exhaled loudly. Yelling at him right about now would be nice, but probably wouldn't go over well with Perry since they were in the middle of the bullpen. She got up and pointed at a conference room, walking over and holding the door open for him as he walked inside. She closed it behind herself and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What are we going to do to fix this?"

Clark sat down. "Going back in time and not telling you that I have powers and feelings for you seems like a really good idea right about now."

"Yeah, well, time travel isn't one of your abilities unless you've been holding out on me." Lois rolled her eyes, hardly believing she could have a conversation with powers involved in it. She looked back at him, calming herself down a little. "As much as I hate to say it, I've come to like being part of a team with you, and I don't want this to end because you're mad at me about being fond of Superman."

"I'm not mad at you, Lois. Your feelings are what they are, and a lot of women in the world feel the exact same way you do about Superman. I'm mad at myself, at the way things are, because I couldn't let myself stand out and be seen." He stood up and walked over to her, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Clark Kent doesn't measure up to Superman, Lois, no matter who you ask. You have nothing to feel bad about. I just have to live with it."

"I can't get it out of my head, Chloe. It's been four days since we talked and I can't get that damn sentence out of my head!"

Lois downed the dregs of her beer and motioned for the bartender to bring her another. Chloe had talked her into going out and enjoying a Saturday night with a group of strangers instead of by herself in her apartment. The way Chloe was looking around the room, Lois figured she was actually trying to find a guy instead of listening to her whine. Damn it, she was whining!

Chloe turned and faced her again. "Don't do this, Lo. If you go to him and try to be with him because you feel guilty you're just going to hurt him and feel really stupid."

"But it's not guilt! I've been thinking about this a hell of a lot since he said that damn sentence and walked out of the room, and I keep coming to the conclusion that Clark Kent is pretty much the exact opposite kind of guy I usually go for, no matter how often I used to say I liked nerds in glasses. He is a nerd in glasses!"

"He's more of a nerd in glasses to perpetuate his nerd image, so maybe he is what you usually go for."

"Once I get past that stuff, though, and to what makes Clark who he is, it boils down to the fact that he's a really good guy. Amazing, in fact." A new beer was put in front of her but Lois wasn't paying attention to it. "I'm going to get out of here and talk to him, Chlo."

"About time. I'm going to stick around for a while."

"See anybody you like?"

Chloe hemmed and hawed for a second before pointing out a guy. Lois spun off her stool and walked over to the group of guys where the guy was ensconced. Pushing her way past a couple guys, she pulled the one Chloe had pointed out away from them and walked him over to the bar without a word said. When they got to Chloe, she smiled up at the guy. "Have you met Chloe?"

Lois grabbed her purse and tossed a ten on the bar before walking off, leaving Chloe with the guy. She grabbed a cab and gave him Clark's building. Ten minutes later she was headed up to his place and knocking on the door. It opened and Clark greeted her.

"Lois? I thought you were out with Chloe. Did you find a story while drinking?"

"No, I just wanted to come by, Smallville." She walked past him into his apartment and dropped her purse on his coffee table before turning to face him. "You made me think about things."

"I'm sorry?"

"No, this was good. I thought about you, mostly, and what makes Clark Kent the Clark Kent I know. That whole line of Clark Kent not measuring up got stuck in my head and so I started taking mental measurements. The results were conclusively in favor of me really questioning all the conclusions I had previously come to."

Clark finally closed the door and walked back into his apartment, turning off the television and tossing the remote on the couch. He crossed his arms over his chest and Lois suddenly felt like she was talking to Superman instead of Clark. Probably best not to tell him that lest he think she was still seeing one instead of the other. It was hard not to see Superman in everything Clark did now. Maybe it would fade with time until everything was just Clark, and she didn't think of the two separately anymore.

"I'm not always the fastest when it comes to what I should say to you, Lois, so I'm not sure how to respond to your statement. A cautious 'Yay' comes to mind."

"Let's do this differently. Kiss me."

Clark's eyebrows rose up his forehead at a considerable rate, almost causing Lois to laugh. She figured that might be the last thing he would expect her to say. Hell, she definitely hadn't been planning to say it until about thirty seconds before it had happened.

"W-what?"

"I say we put our lips together. Talking certainly isn't getting us anywhere, and when it's good we go from there."

"But..."

Lois pointed at him as she walked towards him, stopping when her body was only a few inches from his. "It's going to be good, Smallville. Call it a hunch, intuition or whatever but it's going to be mmph..."

Wow, he'd really done it. She thought she was going to have to pull him down or get on her tiptoes, either way being the initiator. But no, he'd taken the initiative and wow, he was really good at it. A second later he pulled away and Lois took a few seconds to catch her breath. Clearing her throat, she smiled at him. "You're very good at that for a guy that hasn't had any female contact in a while. Thought you might be out of practice."

"I was thinking the same, but I wanted to bring my A game for you. Only get one first kiss."

Lois nodded, unable to wipe the smile from her face. "This could very possibly be the start of something good."

"Let's hope so."

"You made me a nice Italian dinner with wine more expensive than my shoes. What's the occasion?"

Clark smiled at her as he poured some more wine into her outstretched glass. She took a sip and nodded a little, enjoying the taste. If they could have wine like this with every Italian meal she would seriously consider finding a way to make all their meals come from there. As it was, she was content to just have it this one time, and she was always happy to have dinner as made by Clark Kent. He'd yet to make a bad meal in the thirteen months they'd been together.

"I have my motives," he said as he sat back down, grinning. "Few of them are pure."

Lois smiled around a bite of bread, swallowing so she could talk. "You went to all this trouble just to get me in the sack? Bad move, Smallville. You have to save this for special occasions or else you're going to get my expectations up. Ten years from now I'm going to make you do dinners like this anytime you want to get laid."

His grin softened a bit and he leaned in, resting his elbows on the table. "You see us together in ten years?"

"I see us together in fifty, Clark."

"Good, I'm glad." He stood up and walked out of the room, coming back a second later. She took a sip of wine and put her glass back down, as he stood in front of her. When he kneeled a second later her breath caught, especially when she saw he was holding a little box. She gulped as he opened it. "Lois Lane, will you marry me?"

She looked at him for a second. Was it too soon? They'd only been together a year and a month and Jesus, who cared? She loved him more than she thought possible. "Yes."

His face split into a grin and he slid the ring on her finger. She barely saw it as she launched herself into his arms.

Lois interlocked her hand with Clark's as she watched Chloe stand up. The room quieted down a moment later, giving her cousin the opportunity to speak.

"I'm not much with the public speeching, which is probably why I write, so we'll keep this short and simple. It's rare in life that you see two people as close and as in love as Lois and Clark. They have what poets write about and everybody dreams about. Their engagement lasted all of six months before the wedding, and they only waited that long because Martha and I talked them out of running off and eloping a few months back. They just couldn't wait to be married, and not in the crazy way, but the special way that we all hope sweeps us up."

Chloe held up her champagne glass, smiling widely. "To a love that will last longer than time. To Lois and Clark."

Lois leaned into Clark a bit as she clinked her glass against his and took a sip. She pulled Chloe into a hug as she sat down next to her. "Public speeching?"

Chloe laughed. "Yeah, apparently that's how I say public speaking now. I just wanted to stand up and not screw up the reception with a crappy toast."

"You did great, Chlo. I look forward to doing the same for you someday."

Clark landed on the balcony, walking into their apartment. He smiled at Lois as she stood up as he walked in. He super sped into some jeans and a t-shirt, pushing his glasses up on his nose as he wrapped her in a hug. "Hey you."

"Hey there, Smallville. How did it go?"

"Four more bank robbers are now in custody. I'm glad I got there when I did, because these guys were toting some major weaponry. The damage could have been a lot worse than some superficial injuries." He walked over into the kitchen and filled up a glass of water, taking a drink before turning around to face Lois again. "So, what's new since I left twenty minutes ago?"

"I'm pregnant."

Clark's mouth fell open and water dribbled out for a moment before he realized what was happening. Grabbing a dishtowel, he wiped himself off as he stared at Lois. "Wha..." He cleared his throat, uncomfortable speaking in a squeak. "What now?"

"We're having a baby."

"And this happened while I was stopping a bank robbery?"

"No, that was just an opportunity for me to take a few tests and, well, pass."

"I... I..." Clark took a deep breath and slowed himself down. "I didn't even know if this was possible. We hadn't ever really talked about it so I hadn't ever thought to have any tests done by the Swann Institute and... we're having a baby."

That's when it really hit him. They we're having a baby. He felt himself smile slowly as he met Lois's gaze again. "We're having a baby. We're starting a family."

Lois finally smiled back at him. "We're having a baby, Smallville."

He covered the distance between them in a few steps and swooped her up into a deep kiss, grinning like an idiot the whole time. He didn't know that he would be able to stop that for a while. Suddenly he realized what exactly he was doing, though, and quickly put Lois back down on the ground. "Sorry, I gotta think before I act. Gotta remember that gentle is the way to go."

"I think swinging me around and kissing me is all right, Clark, so long as you don't toss me or something."

"Good, because I really want to do that again." He followed through on it, repeating his previous action.

"Oh hell."

Clark put Lois down quickly and took a step back. "What? What happened?" Good lord, he felt ridiculous. He was losing his mind over the smallest things!

"No, nothing to do with that." She paused a second. "It's just that I've been trying to think about when this could have happened, and I've come to the conclusion that it was very likely on Valentine's Day. We're a gift card company holiday cliché."

"You're really annoyed by this?"

"Well, ya know, I just don't want to say that we're having a baby because you bought me some flowers and took me to Italy. While a good story normally, you add in Valentine's Day and it just makes it seem a little more... common. If this was going to happen for us, I kind of wanted it to be special."

Clark smiled and raised an eyebrow. "This is pretty special to me no matter when it happened, Lo."

She smiled back at him a little sheepishly. "Me too."

Lois winced as she shifted herself a little to get more comfortable in the hospital bed, gritting her teeth until she finally got settled. As happy as she was that Jacob was born, she couldn't wait for the soreness to let up so she could sit down without a grimace. Doing so every time she sat down holding Jacob might send the wrong message to him that she was making a face about him.

Shaking her head, Lois sat back and rolled her eyes at herself. That was just ridiculous, no matter how much she worried about it. She exhaled loudly and Clark looked over at her. "You want him back, don't you?"

She really did, but she didn't want to sound like she couldn't go twenty minutes without holding him. "It's about time for him to eat, so..."

"Message received," Clark said as he took the few steps over and got Jacob planted firmly in her arms. She smiled down at him a moment before he started nursing, which once again caused Lois to wince a bit as her muscles went at it again.

"I can't believe he's already here. Didn't you just tell me you were pregnant, like, three days ago?"

Lois looked up at him, smiling. "If three days ago is about thirty weeks, then sure. Of course, for one to be the other I think you would have to totally redefine how you define time."

"Sounds like a lot of work, so I'll stick with yours." He paused a second before looking down at Jacob. "I don't know that I could ever imagine a better way to start a month now."

"Well, every November 1st is going to be pretty special from now on, so there's at least one month that will always start well."

Lois looked over at the door when there was a knock and saw Chloe walk in with Mark, both of whom were smiling. "Welcome back, you two. How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," Mark said. "Chloe zonked as soon as her head hit the pillow after being up with you for the whole thing."

"It was a happy kind of tired. I woke up smiling, so there's that."

"Well, I'm glad. I'd hoped I wouldn't go into labor in the middle of the night, but lo and behold, it happened anyway. Very much worth it, though. Also, I'm kind of glad that I didn't have him on Halloween. The costume parties would have gotten old for him, I bet."

"So, how are you feeling, cuz?"

Lois shrugged and smiled again. "Good. Sore, but happy. Well, not so much happy as overwhelmingly happy, but ya know, that's a lot more to say than just happy."

"None of us mind hearing it."

Lois smiled a little wider as she looked down at Jacob, then back up at everybody. "Then I don't mind saying that I am overwhelmingly happy."

---

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Lois looked up at Clark and smiled, crossing her arms before going back to watching Chloe. "Us."

"I was thinking about the same thing. Anything specific?"

"How lucky we've been, and how everything happened that got us to this point." Lois bit her lip for a second before continuing. "How could this have all happened, Smallville? What did Chloe do to deserve two weeks like this?"

"Sometimes life just piles it on, Lois."

She looked up at him again. "But why her? She's a good person, Clark, and she doesn't deserve anything that's happened to her. Lex getting her fired is something we could have dealt with. If Mark hadn't been such a raging asshole and broken up with her four days after she lost her dream job we could've gotten her to investigate everything and found proof that Lex is full of shit.

"But no, he just had to do it right then. I don't know that I've ever seen her so... blank, I guess, as I did for a few moments that next morning. Chloe's always been an expressive person, but until she started crying she was just a blank face. I don't even think she knew she was crying until I started hugging her. We could have helped her through that, given time, because after a breakup, even one as vicious as what he did to her, time is the healer."

Lois sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek as she kept her eyes locked on Chloe. "This, though... God, talk about a coup de grâce. I know uncle Gabe had a heart attack once before, but to have one and die while Chloe is there? The odds of me getting struck by lightning and winning the lotto in four different states in one day seems more likely than all this. I'm scared that she won't survive."

"I know," Clark said as he wrapped an arm around her. Lois leaned her head on his shoulder, relishing the comfort. "All we can do is try to be there for her."

"No, I can do more. Not about this, and not about the f-cking Mark situation, but I can bring Lex down. We can prove that Chloe's article wasn't false and if nothing else, get some vindication for that part of all this."

Lois watched as Chloe knelt down and placed a rose on the casket before turning around and walking away. Her cousin glanced over at them before stopping and looking over for a moment. Lois stood up straight but felt tears forming as Chloe just stood there a moment before turning again and walking away. Lois had to fight a sob that was trying to escape.

"Chloe's gone, Clark. She looks like an empty shell, a husk of what she was."

"We'll do everything can to bring Chloe back, Lois. If anybody can do it, it's you. Nobody knows her as well and can know what she's thinking."

Lois swallowed, and hugged herself to him. "I hope you're right. God, I have to be able to help her."