Chapter Four Part Four- Putting the Pieces Together

When morning finally came after a sleepless and eventful night at the Kent household, Clark trudged down the stairs sporting his usual white undershirt along with the unbuttoned red/gold flannel.

"Hey mom, have you seen my-" He looked up surprised to see Lois in the kitchen instead of his mother as she sat at the bar eating what looked like a fresh stack of pancakes with bacon on the side.

Her head turned to stare at him in silence until she went back to eating her morning breakfast, "Your usually running late for class, why are you up so early?" Clark asks walking towards the fridge grabbing the bottle of milk and drinking it straight from the bottle.

Those hazel eyes that Clark often got lost in stared at him with an arched eyebrow, "Do I need to slap you again?"

He just chuckled, "Although I enjoy our banters…" he turns lean on the bar where his face got into a close proximity with hers, "I especially enjoyed last night, that little number you were wearing was…" he pauses to think of the word he wanted to use, "Something else."

Lois's jaw almost dropped at the confidence oozing from the farm boy as he walked towards the small laundry room with Lois trailing right behind him steaming at the attitude adjustment, "I was obviously on something." she says watching Clark grab his Smallville High duffel bag and search for his practice clothes all the while shaking his head laughing at her comment.

"Say what you want Lo, but don't deny that you weren't the least bit excited about the fact that you finally let go and admitted that you still have feelings for me."

"Pff…The only way I could ever fall for you again would be if you strapped on a little red cape and swept me off my feet." she turns to leave the room only to have the door shut in front of her with a large hand above her head and the intense that swept over her at Clark's large chest pressed up against her back and the chill of his breath against her neck.

"I might just have to take you up on that offer, Ms. Lane" he whispers the last bit in her ears causing a shiver to chase up Lois's spine.

His baby blues trailed over her until they landed on something that wasn't hidden well by the sleeve of her AC/DC t-shirt, his fingers brushed the sleeve up to see a small burn.

"Where did you get this mark?" he asks with his body moving away from her as she looked down at the small piece of scar tissue.

"I don't really know, it showed up last night after I snapped out whatever I was on." she says looking back towards the worried farm boy who was currently running his fingers through his hair as if he head done something wrong, "Why…does this mark mean something?" she asks stepping towards his curiously.

Clark didn't know what to do, memories of last night came back and the small burn reminded him of how close he came to losing control, "I may have accidentally burned you with my heat vision." he says nervously although the look on Lois's face really didn't help matters, in fact the laughter didn't help either.

The laughter from her lips caused Clark to groan, "Cant you just be serious for one minute!" he exclaims finally snapping causing Lois to hide her smirk and suppress the comedic aspect of the situation, "I could've set you on fire."

She looks at him to see the fear and worry written all over his face, "But you didn't and that's what matters…" her hands frame his face causing him to look at her, "You controlled it."

He shakes his hands away from her saying, "What if I cant stop myself the next time."

"What makes you think there will be a next time, Smallville?" she asks with her hands on her hips.

Clark struggled to find words but came out with stammers and small incoherent words, luckily for him that his mother decided to show up saying "Lois, Chloe just called and asked you to meet her at the Torch when you get to school."

"Thanks, Mrs. K" Lois says staring towards her with a soft smile before she turned back towards Clark saying, "We'll finish our discussion later…" she slips past the woman that she considered a mother to grab her messenger bag only to stop at the key rack where she spotted the mustang's keys, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she quickly swiped the keys and rushed towards the beauty of a car.

'If he's not gonna drive it then I might as well take it off his hands.' She thinks to herself the smile still on her face.

Torch:

"Shot through the heart and your to blame, darling you give love a bad name…" Lois sung the Bon Jovi song You Give Love a Bad Name as she opened the small bullpen's doors with her headphones on and her iPod in the other hand.

Chloe looked up almost trying not to laugh as her cousin sang the words all the way to her desk until finally she realized that her little cousin was starring at her trying not to fall to the floor laughing.

She pulled the small plugs from her ear and quickly shut off her device before flashing a small smile towards Chloe, "Hi, Chlo."

"Don't let me stop you from singing your ballad, I just pictured that it would be Whitesnake and not Bon Jovi." Chloe joked only to have Lois push her playfully before slipping into her chair.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lois swings her chair towards her cousin with open ears as the spunky blonde reporter rose to her feet and walked towards the editing desk.

"You remember when you said that the jocks were starting to act like a bunch of lovesick slaves?" Chloe walks towards Lois and hands her a small article in front of her, "I did some digging and found out that your little cheer squad did a science project experimenting with the love molecule, Phenethylamine."

Lois read through the pages, "But it didn't work, so that must mean that they had to go back to basics and alter the molecule using a very potent chemical to act as a love potion."

"The only problem is that there isn't a chemical known that can alter the molecule into what it is now, so I was thinking that maybe instead of one cousin that I could use another…you." Chloe says with hope in her voice.

Lois stares down at the pages before the light bulb went off (the kind you get when you get an epiphany and not the one that caused trouble), "When I drank from the cooler, I had this huge wave of love and devotion spread through me that I had never felt before."

"Then why aren't you a love slave like the rest of them?"

Lois lifted up her sleeve to reveal the burn mark, "I stood to close to a candle and when I snapped out of it, I had no memory of what happened. Which makes sense cause Dan snapped out of it when the gun overheated which means that the only way to snap everyone out of their spell is to expose them to intense amounts of heat."

Chloe stared down at her confused, "What do you suggest? We lock the entire football team in the locker room and set it on fire?"

Lois just rose to her feat still with the file in her hands, "Its not just heat that snaps them out of it, the concoction will eventually expel itself from the body…"

"So they have to keep juicing with the players" Chloe finished and then the light bulb went off again this time for both cousins as they looked towards the Wall of Weird with all the pieces coming together.

"The meteor rocks have enough toxicity levels when in liquid form to make the molecules react." Lois starts to say before Chloe finishes, "But it backfired whenever the person experiences jealousy towards another subject of the same sex which probably explains why Dan went after Coach Teague."

The cousins both smiled at each other before separating, "There has to be a cure besides heat which means that we've got to infiltrate the pool party tomorrow and get that manuscript from Mandy." Chloe says turning towards her cousin with that same devious smile that Lois herself sported this morning when she stole Clark's car.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lois asks nervously

"How would you like to date the most eligible bachelor at Smallville High? I hear he's the new starting quarterback"

Lois's go wide and she immediately starts to shake her head, "I am not asking Clark Kent out on a date to a pool party."

"Then what else are we gonna do?" Chloe asks

"I'll think of something" Lois says turning around walking towards her desk with all thoughts rushing through her head along with many different scenarios.

There had to be something that she could do…but what?

TBC…

Devoted has one more part then I anticipated but once the creative juice started, I couldn't stop. Don't forget to leave reviews or comments whichever fine by me.