PART THREE

They both agreed that they would have a late dinner at 9:30 that night. Lois would bring a suitcase. So, that she could stay the entire weekend and spend Easter with him.

She pulled up at the farm. She could see that the only light on was the one in the living room. She wondered why Clark would sit in the dark. That didn't seem at all Clark Kent to her.

"So, now you're emo, Smallville? Not if I have any say in it," she said.

She got out of her car and quickly walked to the porch. Instead of knocking, she went straight in. Typical Lois Lane.

There he was. Clark Kent was standing in the middle of the living room. He was walking around making last minute adjustments.

That's when Lois saw it. The dinning room table was full of food. There was a candle in the center of it. There was desert on the counter.

Clark did all this, Lois thought. He did all this for me. For us…

"I thought we already agreed that a fake proposal is a horrible April Fools joke, Smallville," Lois said.

"What?" Clark asked.

"Come on, Kent. Did you expect me to fall for the whole "you're the only person I want to spend my holidays with" trick. You could always go to Washington and spend it with your mom," she said

"You're right, I could…but I wanted to spend it with you."

"So, this," Lois said pointing to the table, "had nothing to do with April Fools?"

"Lois, I gave up trying to April Fools you the second after we made the deal," he said.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean, there is no point to trying to prank you. That's like going into mission impossible," he said.

Lois laughed to herself. She couldn't believe this. In a way, he really did get her. "Well, I never saw myself dating a quitter," she joked.

Clark laughed with her. "Come on, let's sit down," he said guiding her to the table of food.

Lois took a second look. "You did all this?" she asked.

"Yeah," Clark said. He turned back to see an unreadable face on Lois. "Why? Would you rather go out to eat?"

"No!" Lois exclaimed. When Clark's eyes widened she realized that she had been loud. "No. No. It's fine. It's ju-." She stopped for a few seconds before continuing. "I don't think a guy has ever cooked for me."

"They should have," Clark said. He pulled out her chair for her. Once she was seated down, he bent down and whispered in her ear. "You look breath taking tonight, Lois. Then again, you take away my breath everyday."

This time, he took her breath away. He'd done that a lot recently. So, she tried not to let him know. She could let him get a big ego. "You clean up nicely yourself, Clark."

Clark sat down in his chair. "Did you pack enough clothes for the weekend?" he asked.

"Just as you told me to," she said taking the first bite out of the food.

"Good, because I have a ton in store for us," he said.

"We're at a farm, Smallville. There's not much we can do," she said.

"We won't be staying here. We're leaving tomorrow," he said.

Lois thought he was joking. "Oh yeah and where are we going?" she asked.

"I reserved a room for us at the McDougal Inn for the entire weekend," Clark said.

Lois looked at him. Nothing about his face showed that he was joking. It read complete seriousness. "You're not kidding, are you?" she asked.

"Not at all. I think it's exactly what our relationship needs," Clark said.

"What's that suppose to mean? We're on the verge of breaking up?" Lois asked.

Clark didn't answer. He was surprised where the conversation had headed.

When Clark didn't answer back immediately, she saw that as a band sign. "So, you feel our relationship needs a weekend away to survive? Thanks for having faith in us, Clark," she said. She got up and was about to walk out.

But Clark chased after her. He caught up to her and used her arm to turn her around to face him. "Lois, wait!" he exclaimed.

She avoided eye contact with her. "Why should I? I don't want to waste time. If you don't have faith in us, why should I?" she asked.

"Cause I have all the faith in the world on us," he said. He lifted her face so that she was looking at him. "God, this isn't how I pictured this."

"Pictured what?" she asked.

"Lois, there is something important I have to tell you," he said.

"We're breaking up, aren't we?" she asked. She pulled away from him. "I knew if we started this whole dating this, things would mess up. I mean, what's going to happen to our friendship now?"

Clark grabbed her hands in his. "No, Lois. We're not breaking up," he said.

"Then what's going on?" she asked.

"Earlier at the restaurant, I was trying to tell you something, but I was interrupted," he said.

"What was it?" she asked.

"Lois, I know we agreed to take it slow, but…I love you."

He tried to read her face. Was she going to walk out because she was afraid of commitment. But she showed no emotion for several moments.

Finally, she smiled up at him. "So, all this cooking was so that you could tell me you loved me?" Lois asked. She laughed quietly. "You could have told me at work."

"I wanted it to be as special as you are to me," he said.

"Sm-," she began saying.

However, Clark wasn't done. "I'm not expecting you to say it back. It's ok," he said.

"No. No," she said. Clark looked confused. So she though she

would clear it up for him. "I love you, too, Clark."

She had never seen a smile so wide on Clark's face. It brought a smile to her own face.

Clark lifted her in his arms and twirled her around. "Really?" he asked. He kept her in the air.

"If I say yes, will you put me down?" Lois asked.

Clark immediately put her down. "Sorry," he said.

"I meant it, Clark," she said looking up into his eyes.

"So did I," he said.

"You know, I had a perfect April Fools prank set up for you! You had to mess it up, didn't you?" Lois teased.

Clark laughed. "What was it?"

Lois laughed. "I'm not telling you," she said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Cause there is always next year," she said.

Clark smiled at her. He whispered in her ear. "Bring it on."

She couldn't help but smile. She looked up in his eyes. Those eyes that had loved her so much. "No one has ever made me feel the way you do. You accept me for who I am. Maybe that's why this relationship is my longest," Lois said.

Clark knew he could tell her the same; not yet. In a few years, these 5 months would be considered a short period. "When you want to spend forever with someone, things change," he said.

"Forever?" Lois asked.

"Always and forever," he said.

She smiled at him. He returned the smile. Both of them knew this was it. They would be together…

Forever and always.

The End