The small black leather box felt somehow huge in his hands.

Or maybe it was the connotation of what was inside.

Closing his eyes, Clark leans back against his sofa and sighs. He reaches up, loosening his tie, and thinks back to the hours after he finally admitted his own feelings for Lois. To himself, anyway.

"Well, well. All grown up, huh Clark? Suit and all."

Clark rolls his eyes at Oliver's remark, stepping into the apartment.

"I just stopped by to thank you."

"For?"

"For helping Chloe."

"No need to thank for me that. I was glad to do it. Chloe's a very valuable member of my team."

Clark nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down. But not before he caught the slight grin on Oliver's face.

Why did he have the feeling Oliver knew the real reason he was here?

"You know, you could have done this today, at the Planet. Saved yourself the trip, if that was all you wanted."

Clark's head snaps up. After seeing him with Lois and the feeling the shock of realizing his feelings for her, Clark had bolted in the opposite direction.

"You saw me?"

"Yeah. And let me tell you, green, while it may be my color? Is most definitely not yours."

Clark bristled slightly, Oliver's knowing tone getting under his skin.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he responds, which only elicits a chuckle from Oliver.

"Sure you don't."

"So…," Clark pauses, walking over to the window and looking out, trying to appear nonchalant. "How long are you gonna be in Metropolis?"

Oliver shakes his head in response. "I see nothing's changed."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, as usual, you're being passive. Why don't you ask what you really wanna ask Clark? Did I come here to win Lois back?"

Clark feels heat crawl up his neck, part anger and part embarrassment at Oliver being right. Keeping his secret his entire life had caused a certain passivity in him, and his relationships throughout the years, particularly his one with Lana, had done nothing to quell that. If anything, it made him more passive, as he constantly worried about hurting her, or disappointing her. He could almost hear Lois telling him, in that moment, to 'trust his gut', to get in the game. Grinning, he realizes that there's nothing she would want more than for him to stand up to her ex.

"Did you?"

"And what if I did?" Oliver asks.

Clark finally turned to face him and with confidence Oliver had rarely seen from him, stared him down.

"Then, you'd have a fight on your hands."

Oliver nods, and Clark's surprised to see a smile on his supposed rival's face.

"Good. It's about time."

"About time for what?"

"For you to stand up for what you want Clark. So…how did it feel?"

"How did what feel?"

"How did it feel the moment you realized what some of us have known for awhile? That you have feelings for Lois?"

Realizing in that moment that Oliver really had no intentions of going after Lois, but that this had been one of his little 'tests' he liked to throw at him, Clark's demeanor relaxed somewhat.

"Confusing. Terrifying," Clark pauses, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Amazing."

"And I'm going to take it that this little revelation has yet to be made to her."

"Actually, I just sorta realized it today."

Oliver nods. "When you saw me talking to her. Yeah, I could feel the daggers shooting out of your eyes at me from across the room. Look, for what it's worth Clark? I care about Lois. But I have no intentions towards her other than gaining back her friendship. She was right, all those months ago," Oliver said, in almost a wistful voice, "we don't belong together. But that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Is that gonna be a problem for you?"

"No," Clark responds, feeling the truth in Ollie's words. "You're talking like I actually have a shot at this."

"Believe me…you do. What you have to do now is stop waiting on the sidelines, stop waiting for that perfect moment, and go after her."

After he had left Oliver's apartment that night, he had walked around Metropolis, thinking about what Oliver had said to him.

What if she didn't feel the same way?

What if they lost their friendship in the process?

So he'd walked. For hours. Mentally rehearsing all the different ways he could tell her how he felt. Determined, for once to, as Oliver had said, to get off the sidelines.

It was the middle of the night when he finally stood in front of her door. He had contemplated waiting until morning, but he found that the thought of going back to his small apartment without her knowing that night was unacceptable to him.

He had knocked a few different times, knowing she was probably out like a light. When she finally answered the door, after of course, looking through the peephole to see who it was, he smiled at the sight in front of him.

Wearing her faded pastry pajamas, her floppy old bunny slippers, and her hair up in that messy ponytail, complete with many strands having come loose and hanging wildly around her face, he couldn't remember when she had looked more beautiful.

Scrunching her eyes, trying to wake herself up, she leaned against the door.

"Smallville? It's 2 AM. This better be good," she grumbled.

"Can I come in?"

She wearily held out her arm, motioning for him to enter. She closed the door and leaned against it.

As he looked at her, he found that every word he had rehearsed in his head, the perfect declaration of his feelings to her, had left him.

"Smallville?" she practically yelled, seeing he had zoned out somewhat on her. "Spit it out!"

And then he did something he never expected to do. Instead of pouring his heart out in well rehearsed words…

He kissed her.

Wrapping his arms around her, Clark pulled her tightly to him. After the momentary shock, he felt her lips relax against his, and felt her arms snake gently around his neck.

When he finally let her go, he found her staring at him, her expression a mixture of shock and confusion. Two emotions he could well relate to on this particular day.

"Lois…"

"Clark? Shut up."

And with that, she tightened her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss of her own.

Since that night…things had been, well? Them. That was the best way to put it. Their relationship wasn't normal or easy. But it seemed necessary, for both of them. Two people, so different, yet so alike in some ways.

What he loved most about it, though, was that in addition to loving each other, they also remained friends. Sounds strange, but it was the truth. They still bantered as they always had, still teased each other mercilessly, but at the heart of it was two people who felt a connection that seemed to have always been there. From the moment they met.

They had been together for almost five months now. Five of the best months he could ever remember having in his young life. She challenged him like no one else he knew, and yet understood when to pull back with him. And in turn, he helped open her heart. See, Lois, she was a tough one. Having grown up as a military brat, constantly moving, she had a difficult time with relationships, with letting people in. But she let him in, and for that, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. Because Lois, for all her tough exterior and her brassy attitude, was no doubt the most loving and loyal woman he had met. And he'd always known that, having watched her go to bat for those she cared for over the years, including him and his family. But she wasn't an easy nut to crack, and the fact that she had, for him, well…even his abilities didn't make him feel as special as knowing he was the man Lois Lane had started breaking down her walls for.

Which brings him to where he is now. Holding this box.

See, his destiny was so…overwhelming. There seemed to be so many different aspects to it, a fact the astounding Kawatche caves attested to. And in those caves, he had learned, he would find out who his soulmate was. The true one in his life.

And this box? This box held the answer.

Only now, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.