A/N: Please note that this takes place during episode 10x11 "Icarus." Also, I'll just go ahead and apologize because I so wanted this to be fluffy and light, but it turned into this so... Yeah. I hope you'll still enjoy it.

She literally cannot stop staring at it as she sits on their bed in the master bedroom of the Kent farmhouse. The drive home from Metropolis had been too dark to see it, and, anyway, most of her time was spent calling Chloe, Lucy, Martha, Pete, everyone they know to tell them the news.

Lois sighs happily and twists her hand around under the reading lamp, watching the way the new diamond ring on her left hand catches the light. She's never considered herself materialistic and, honestly, she never thought something as silly as a ring could make her so happy… But it's so much more than just a ring. It's an engagement ring and it's from Clark and she's someone's fiancée. Soon she'll be someone's wife, and that's more than she ever dared hope for.

Clark chuckles as he emerges from the bathroom and climbs into bed. "I'm guessing it's okay?"

"Okay?" she asks incredulously. "Okay? It's perfect. It's so shiny and sparkly and… Just perfect. Like you." She leans across the bed and kisses his cheek. Her fiancé. She wonders if she'll get used to calling him that before he becomes her husband. Something warm and delicious blazes in her chest, so she moves her lips to his mouth and kisses him deeply.

He brushes the hair off her cheek and smiles. "I've been thinking about this night for weeks, and now that it's here, it's so much more than I ever imagined."

"Did I sound excited enough?" Lois asks. It's been bothering her ever since he slid the ring on her finger. Maybe she should have jumped up and down or cried or something. Maybe she should have taken more time to think, extended the drama of the moment before she blurted the 'yes' that's been on the tip of her tongue for months. "Oh, God…" She stands at the side of the bed, tugging the ring from her finger and holding it out to him. "Ask me again. I want to sound more excited for you."

"Your answer was fine. Lois, this is ridiculous," he says softly, but he's smiling as he takes the ring from her and kneels at the edge of the bed.

She scoffs and sets her hands on her hips defiantly. "Just… Ask me so I can put my pretty new ring back on. I already feel naked without it."

Clark shakes his head, but takes a deep breath. "Lois Lane, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She bounces up and down a few times, which actually makes it far harder for him to get the ring back on her finger, so she immediately knows that reaction wasn't correct. "Nope. One more time. I've got this." She shoves the diamond back in his chest.

He sighs. "Can't we just get back in bed? I'd really like to make love to my fiancée at some point tonight."

She shivers involuntarily at the chills that run up her spine. "That's the first time you've called me that."

He nods, pushes himself to his feet, and takes her hand. "Yes," he says, sliding the ring back on her finger. "But it won't be the last. Trust me, Lois, I'm going to tell everyone who'll listen that we're getting married."

"Was it okay?" She twists her fingers through his and looks up at him. "I mean, I know you had this whole romantic dinner thing planned and I kind of screwed it up, what with being late, and then ruining the reservation…"

There aren't enough words for her to describe how badly she'd felt when he'd relayed his whole plan for their engagement dinner to her in the car between phone calls. Clark was so caring, so thoughtful, and she'd had to go and mess up what was the most romantic proposal he could think of. Not that she didn't love being showered in rose petals just outside their phone booth—Clark always did think quickly on his feet—but she wanted it to be perfect for him, too.

"So," she asks again. "Was it all right?"

He smiles down at her and lifts her left hand to his lips, pressing a kiss just under her ring finger. "Just because it wasn't what I planned doesn't mean it wasn't perfect… And it was perfect, Lois."

"Even though we ended up eating pizza in the car on the drive home instead of a fancy gourmet dinner from that new restaurant?"

Clark laughs and pulls her closer to him. "You don't get it… I could have been fighting off kryptonite-wielding armies while I proposed to you, but I wouldn't care as long as I got the answer I wanted. And I did. It wasn't perfect because of how I did it… It was perfect because you said yes."

She places her hands on the back of his neck and notices the way the light glints off the diamond of her engagement ring. Her lips spread into a wide smile, just as Clark leans down to kiss her.

He sighs. "Seriously? Again?"

"I'm sorry!" Lois pulls away from him and holds her hand out for him to see. "It's just so pretty when it sparkles."

"Watch it sparkle later." His arms sweep behind her knees and she's aloft in his grasp before she can process the change in elevation. He lays her gently on the mattress and kisses her softly as he settles beside her, hands searching for the hem of her tank top. "There's something else I'd rather be doing right now."

For as much grief as he gave her earlier about wanting to sit around and watch her ring shimmer, Clark seems to be pretty entranced by it himself. They're lying naked together under the sheets, which is quickly becoming Lois's favorite way to spend time with Clark. Her cheek is pressed against his chest and their legs are tangled together. She realizes, as she absentmindedly strokes his calf with her foot, that she'd be perfectly happy if they could stay like this forever—no people to save, no stories to write—just them, together, in this peaceful, blissful moment.

He twists his fingers in hers and holds her hand up to the dim light. "I knew it was pretty when I bought it, but I have to say, I like it much better on you… especially when it's the only thing on you."

She laughs and he kisses her temple.

"Can I ask you something?" he says quietly.

"Of course. You can ask me anything, you know that."

"When did you fall in love with me?"

Lois takes a deep breath and rolls onto her back, still watching the light play off the diamond on her finger. "When did I fall or when did I realize it?"

"Either." He shrugs. "Both, I guess."

It's fitting that they're having this conversation in what used to be his parents' bedroom, in the quiet, yellow farmhouse that had stolen her breath the first time she'd laid eyes on it. When she'd first realized that she was actually, honest-to-God in love with Clark, it had made perfect sense. The Kent Farm really was the only place she ever considered home.

"I started falling in love with you the day we met," she admits quietly. She's never told him this. She hadn't even admitted to herself until fairly recently, but when she says it out loud, it feels perfectly right. "I found you in that field, naked as a jaybird—"

He groans and covers his face in embarrassment.

"—and something about you just felt…" Lois pauses, trying to capture with words how his very appearance in her life had affected her. "Different. It was like… Coming home. Like I'd been waiting to find you my entire life. I don't know how else to explain it," she tacks on quickly, fully aware of how ridiculous she must sound to him.

Clark's eyebrows knit together. "But you couldn't stand me then. I couldn't stand you. We kind of hated each other."

"No, we didn't," she says simply. "Not really. I thought you were really cute, actually. But once I figured out who you were and I realized that Chloe had been in love with you for basically ever, but you only had eyes for Lana, well… I knew it was never going to happen. It couldn't. So I treated you like the annoying little brother I never wanted and regarded my initial attraction to you as a passing moment of infatuation, probably influenced by the fact that you were stark-ass naked when we met."

They laugh together for a moment, Clark's fingers leaving trails of fire as they move up and down her ribcage.

"So, when did you realize it?" he asks after a few moments.

"Honestly?" She hates this part of the story because it makes her sound as selfish as she's always secretly thought she was. But if she's going to marry him, he deserves to know everything, so she sighs. "When I was kidnapped and we were strapped into the lie detector. You always knew that I didn't slide the sensor off my finger; but I was afraid of looking weak when I knew there was no way you felt the same way. And I didn't think I was ready to be in love with you, but I was kidding myself. It's always been there. I've always loved you. I just didn't want to admit it… Not even to myself."

"I did feel the same way then," he mutters into the darkness. "Just like you said, there's a part of me that's always known it was going to be you and me, even when I couldn't face it."

Lois shrugs. "Not to mention that Lana had just left town. And not too long after that, she was back and you…" She lets her voice trail into nothing because they might have a great relationship, they might be newly engaged, but Lana Lang will always be a bit of a sore subject between them.

Once Lois had learned of his powers and secret identity, he'd explained completely about Lana and the Prometheus suit and its ability to absorb, and in turn radiate, the dangerous green kryptonite that can actually kill him. Even though she knows that Lana is gone, really and truly gone from their lives, it still stings to think that the man she loves tossed her aside as easily as he did.

Clark inhales deeply. "I know I treated you poorly when Lana came back and I wish I could explain why I did, but I'm not even sure myself. I guess…" He rubs his eyes. She had no idea it was a painful for him to think of as it is her. "I was trying to hang on to something that just wasn't there. Now that you know everything about me, now that you know the whole story, do you still feel like the second choice?"

She sits up, gathering the sheets around her chest, and looks him directly in the eye before she nods slowly. "Yeah, and I think I always will, at least at little bit. Clark." She takes his hands in hers. "Since I figured out I loved you, I've never had any doubts that you were the one for me… But can you honestly say that if Lana were cured of the Prometheus and she walked back in here…" She takes a deep breath and braces herself for the answer she needs, but isn't entirely sure she wants to hear. "If she asked, are you sure you wouldn't want to be with her?"

Clark leans forward and presses his forehead to hers. "Lana is my past. You are my future."

"But I'm talking about the present."

"Well, presently, I'm sitting in bed with my fiancée—naked, might I add—"

She shakes her head. "Clark."

He sits back. "No. I wouldn't choose her. Things with Lana were always too hard. Love shouldn't be like that; it should just be. Like us. She could never be herself with me. She always felt like she needed more power to help me. It's funny; you are so much stronger than she ever was, but it's a quiet strength where hers wasn't.

"You help me just by being you—by calling me Smallville and wearing my plaid shirts around the house and reminding me to call my mother every Sunday. Lana treated me like a superhero, but you treat me like a man. She kept me tied to the Blur, but you keep me tethered to Clark Kent. I don't want a relationship where I have to compete—I want one where I can be home. That's why I'm marrying you, Lois Joanne Lane. You are my home. You always were. I knew it from the moment I looked at you."

Lois swallows hard, but she can't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. She's always felt so insignificant next to him. Secretly, she'd always admired Lana a little bit for having the idea to seek out a way to make herself worthy of him, because Lois has never really felt worthy of anyone, let alone someone like Clark… But the way he looks at her and the way he uses the pad of his thumb to brush away the incessant tears and the way he gathers her into his arms and kisses her makes her feel whole.

"You know," she croaks much later, when the tears have stopped. "I've never felt like enough for anyone."

"You are enough. You are so enough." Clark kisses her again and takes her left hand. "And whenever you feel like you aren't… Look at this and remember how much I love you."

They make love a few more times that night, slowly and sweetly, with Clark whispering into her neck and back and stomach all the things he loves about her.

Every time she sees the sparkle of the diamond, she knows she's home.

And she isn't ever letting go.

A/N: Thank you so much!