Dazedonchruce: thanks! I'm glad I could pique your interest in Chlark again.

Nightwing509, lil: Thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

SilverSnikle: Yeah, the race even had me laughing a little. It was so much fun to write. Glad you liked it!

Darkfirelight: Lol! That was funny. Why is little Clark three years older than little Chloe…LMAO.

Fndee91, Jeremy Shane: Thank you!

Whatareweafraidof: He sure is!

The fallen sky: Yeah, the race was sooo much fun to write! I know it was a bit OOC but I didn't care. I thought it would lighten up the story so that I couldn't turn it into this angsty…thing, as I'm often prone to do. I just want to keep this light and fun with just a little angst on the side.

madlenita: Thanks! Yeah, I liked the way Jason and Lana responded too, it was fun to write that bit in.

Windywillow: Lol. I agree jealous Clark is so much fun, but I'll see if I can throw it in without compromising the story;)

Shonnia22: Thank you! I thought the crowd being on their side even though it's a competition would be fun. Jason being a sore winner was icing on the cake;)

~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~

Chloe and Clark have to pass on nearly four events before they find one that they can play. They couldn't play tug of war because well, Clark's too strong; they couldn't do the 50 meter dash, because, well, Clark's too fast; etc. etc.

Chloe was just beginning to think there would be no more events for them to participate in when they happened upon the egg toss. Basically, each couple is playing catch with a raw egg, and whoever's the last couple with an uncracked shell is the winner. It looks pretty harmless. Nothing that would really involve Clark's powers anyway.

"Clark, Chloe, wait up!"

Clark groans at the sound of Jason's voice. What could he possibly want? He would like nothing more than to keep going and ignore Jason, but because he's holding Chloe's hand he has to stop and wait for the jerk…because Chloe's stopped and is waiting for the jerk. And no one in their right mind would try to tell Chloe where to go, even subtly, unless it's to save her life…and that still might cost 'em.

"Man! Where've you two been, huh? Me and Lana just one first place at the dunk tank competition and tug of war," he states proudly before wrapping an arm around Lana's shoulder. And for the first time, Clark notices that Lana's wet. Apparently she was the one being dunked. It's a good thing that it's hot as hell out here or Lana would be a shivering mess right about now.

"Congratulations," Chloe says. Clark snorts a little. Hopefully Jason and Lana didn't hear the sarcasm in her tone, a tone that suggests she could care less.

"Thanks Chloe, you're a real sport," Jason say before attempting to punch her in the arm; not hard though. Just the type of punch guys receive when they've done something worth commending. Obviously, Chloe congratulating a winning team is commendable; so, as Jason attempts to "commend" her, Clark catches his fist in his hand. Before Jason even realizes his fist didn't make contact with what he was aiming for, Clark has maneuvered his arm so that it's draped across Lana's shoulder as it had been before. Both Lana and Chloe's eyes widen as round as they can possibly go. Clark's message is very clear. He wants Jason to keep his hands to himself; but if he absolutely just has to touch somebody, he should touch his girlfriend. He's not to touch Chloe…at all.

Lana openly stares at Clark, wondering when this started. Clark seems to be really…attentive toward Chloe. Way more than usual, even way more than he was to her when he and she had their…thing. Are the two really a couple? She honestly can't figure that out. She thought she knew they weren't for sure, but now she just doesn't know.

"Well, me and Chloe were just gonna go play the egg toss. See ya around," Clark dismisses Jason by turning his back on him. Then he grabs Chloe's hand and heads toward the table to pick up their egg.

Only Jason doesn't take the hint. He won't be dismissed by some bumbling farm boy. He grabs Lana's hand, then scowls at her when she snatches away from him. What's her problem? Clark just grabbed Chloe's hand, and she didn't object. Of course, the girl's so blinded by her love for Kent she'd let him run her over with a truck if he asked her to lie down in the middle of the road.

"Let's find a different event. I don't want to compete against my friends," she says with a smile that she doesn't feel like giving him. He's overly competitive, which she fully expects because of the fact that he used to be a football coach, but it seems to her that he's even more so today than usual. She can't help but to think that it's because of Clark. He wants to beat him.

She wishes Jason could see that Clark doesn't seem to care. He only seems to care about Chloe as was displayed by the wheelbarrow relay they participated in together. His focus was completely on her, like nothing, or no one else, mattered. He wasn't embarrassed to be goofy and make a fool of himself and it bothered Lana. He was never that way with her, and yet she knows he loved her. And since he loved her but didn't open up like this, what is it that he's feeling toward Chloe? What emotion could possibly be stronger than love?

Jason glares at Lana as she wistfully stares at Chloe and Clark. There's a sort of longing expression on her face and as he looks to couple number fourteen he just doesn't get it. Sure Clark's a nice guy and all, but he's so…wishy washy. He's just about as indecisive as his senile grandmother. What's so attractive about that?

"This is Smallville Lana," Jason forces himself to joke. "Everybody's your friend. Wherever we go, we'll have to compete against one friend or another."

Lana's not fooled. Sure, what Jason said made sense to a certain degree, but at the same time he knows that she doesn't want to participate against these two particular friends.

After only a few more seconds of hesitation she shrugs her shoulders and follows after Clark and Chloe. She's slightly curious about what couple number fourteen will do this time anyway.

Jason offers her his hand to hold, just as Clark did for his partner but Lana pretends to not notice as she joins Chloe. Jason can pick up the egg, she thinks to herself.

Chloe briefly smiles at Lana once she walks over, but then her attention goes back to Clark. Before, she wanted to forget the fact that Clark mentioned their "kids" and the fact that he couldn't think of anything he wouldn't want them to inherit from her, but now she has a million and two questions. Especially because he's acting so weird; holding her hand constantly, grinning like he's won the lottery for absolutely no reason, unabashedly staring at her and when she asks what's wrong, he says stuff like, "I just like what I see, I can't help but to stare," and "nothing's wrong at all. Everything's perfect now."

Sure, she remembers that they're supposed to be pretending to be a couple. But for some reason, she feels like Clark isn't pretending. Mainly because Clark isn't very much of a good actor. So that would mean, what? That he actually wants to be with her. No, that can't be it. Maybe he's on red K. No, Clark on red K is a jerk…maybe there's a milder form. Like pink or something. One that makes him giddy and gay. Yeah, that's possible, right? More possible than him suddenly developing feelings for her at least. She's sure of it.

"Alright everyone!" the announcer calls loudly, getting the attention of all couple's participating. Then he tells them the rules of the game, explaining about how there are two ropes on the ground, lying three feet apart. One person out of the couple is to stand on one side of the green rope, facing his or her partner. The other half is to stand behind the red rope. After the egg is tossed, the green rope will be moved an additional foot away from the red rope. Any couple who's egg has cracked has lost and will be expected to leave the competition. The couple who can toss their egg the farthest to one another without breaking it will be deemed the winner.

Once everyone confirms that they understand the rules, a whistle is blown letting everyone know that the game has begun.

Clark smiles from behind the red rope as he tosses the egg at Chloe. She catches it easily. At three feet apart, they could've simply handed the egg to one another. Needless to say, every couple advances to the next round.

The green rope is moved back a foot and Chloe smiles confidently before tossing her egg at Clark. Four feet really isn't that much of a difference from three feet.

Clark catches the egg but there is the unmistakable sound of an egg being cracked, then there's goo dripping all over Clark's hand. He's looking down at his hands, shocked that he broke his egg already, but he looks up when he hears the sound of Chloe laughing. He smiles out of relief. He was expecting her to be just a little disappointed in him. They came in last place because of him.

Sure, they'd also come in last place during the wheelbarrow relay, but that wasn't so bad. Clark's heavy, of course Chloe would struggle under his weight; but to not be able to catch an egg when it's tossed from only four feet away, well, that's a little embarrassing. Especially because she's not the only one laughing. A few guys are shaking their heads out of pure disbelief, and most of the girls are oh my godding and snickering. Even the referee is snorting disbelievingly.

"What am I going to do with you and those rough hands of yours?" Chloe asks, moving toward him so that the "rope movers" can move the green rope back another foot and start the next round. She only has to take a step and a half in order to be standing next to him as she wasn't far away to begin with.

She's shaking her head at him too, but it's not the same way the others are doing. She seems to be genuinely amused by him, not irritated or upset. In fact, she pulls a damp sheet of paper towel out of her back pocket as if she already knew he was going to break his egg because of his "rough hands."

Then Clark's smile melts away. She's standing before him, wiping his hands clean as if he's a kindergartener, but it doesn't embarrass him the way it normally would. He's more concerned by his rough hands. He's strong and can break things by accident easily, including things like human bones. He hopes Chloe doesn't think he'd ever hurt her the way he cracked that egg. Actually, he needs to make sure she knows that he'll never hurt her that way; so once his hands are clean, he gently places his hands on her waist and pulls her a bit closer to himself.

"I can be gentle too." He says softly.

At first Chloe is a bit uncomfortable. Not that Clark touching her is uncomfortable per se, it's just that he doesn't usually touch her this way and she can't figure out where the hell she's supposed to put her damn hands. Plus, she's very aware that they have an audience.

So as an attempt to make this less awkward, she's just going to tease him a little and they'll have a laugh before walking away to find a different event. At least, that was the plan until she looked into his eyes. He looks so devastatingly sad and worried that to comfort him is an automatic response. Only, she doesn't know what could possibly be wrong with him. He was just fine a minute ago. Sure, they lost, but she wasn't really expecting to win, not with those hands of his. That egg never stood a….That's it. She made a comment about his rough hands and now he's worried she'll be afraid of him; that he'll hurt her the way he did that poor egg. He's so dense. Doesn't he know that she knows he'll never hurt her like that? Doesn't he know that she trust him with her life and feels safest in his arms?

Obviously he doesn't know, and she has to find a way to get through to him. She doesn't want him to feel the way he's feeling. She has to fix it. So, Chloe doesn't smile at Clark reassuringly as she reaches a hand to caress his face. She doesn't want him to believe she's just trying to make him feel better. She wants him to know that she believes every word she says so that he can believe it too. "I know you can be gentle, Clark." She says. Her facial expression is serious, accepting of him and who he is. Then she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a hug. He responds immediately, wrapping his arms around her and touching his forehead to hers.

"I'll never be afraid of you," she whispers lowly, but she's not sure if he's the only one to hear her. There's the sound of at least half a dozen eggs going splat…on the ground. They hadn't been caught, which means at least half a dozen people weren't paying attention when their partner tossed the egg. That's the only conclusion Chloe can come up with as the couples were only six feet apart. That shouldn't have been a difficult catch.

But it's not like she turns around to check and see if her hypothesis had been correct. She doesn't even want to, because Clark is squeezing her just a little tighter as he buries his face in her neck.

God, she loves him. She loves being the one he turns to when he needs answers. She loves being the one he can lean on. She loves being the one who understands what he's feeling and can make him feel better with just six words. She loves it when he kisses her neck…wait…he just kissed her neck. That's not usually a part of their hugging!

She pulls back a little, searching his face, and what she sees nearly makes her gasp. But she chooses to laugh instead. Someone's tossed egg has landed on the side of his face.

"I'm so sorry, Clark!" Lana says as she comes running up to him. It was her egg that landed on Clark's face. "I wasn't"-

Clark's laugh interrupts Lana's apology. He's paying her no attention. His eyes are focused solely on Chloe, who's laughing because he's got egg goo on the side of his face. "You think this is funny?" he questions mischievously.

Chloe's eyes widen in alarm. "Don't you dare!" she squeals and tries her best to get away from him, but he's holding her tightly, refusing to let her go. Then he does what she was afraid he's going to do. He buries his face into her neck once again, rubbing the goo into her hair, the side of her neck, and onto her ear, all under the pretense of giving her another hug.

"Clark Kent, I'm going to kill you!" She shudders at the way the egg snot is making her feel…icky.

He just laughs some more. She's not gonna kill him. She's not even resisting his "hug" anymore. In fact each hand is just chilling against his shoulder blades quite comfortably, and the side of her face is resting against his shoulder.

God, how could he just discover that he loves her? They could've been so much further along by now. But he stops beating himself up and thinking about the what ifs because he has her now. He's sure of it. He can tell by the way she seems to be so content in his arms, even with egg yolk in her ear. She has to love him.

Without realizing what he's doing, his feet begin to move, just a little, just a little rocking motion, just a little bit of swaying. She moves with him, following his lead, but they're not really going anywhere. They're still in the same spot. They're dancing, to no music, and he doesn't even realize it.

Chloe lifts her head up. She'd been so close to kissing his neck the same way he'd done hers, but for some reason she stops. "I'm ready to get this stuff out of my hair. What about you?" she asks him while inwardly chastising herself. Why is it that she can never just give in? She's almost certain Clark isn't putting on a show, just to convince others that they're a couple. She's almost certain that he's becoming just a little less best-friendly with her and heading more into couple territory; but it feels weird to her. Maybe because it's come out of the blue.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Clark says. He looks a little disappointed, and Chloe knows in her heart that it's her fault. He knows she pulled back from him, from a "moment" they were having.

"Come on," she smiles, grabbing Clark's hand this time instead of waiting for him to take hers.

As she knew it would, it makes him smile; like maybe she wasn't pulling back all the way.