A/N: Hey, everybody. I am so happy with the response to this story. this chapter is extra long because I had so much I had to put into it and I was considering making this two chapters but couldn't find a place to split it. Please review!

"Clark we gotta talk," Lois said coming through the barn where Clark was shoveling hay. He looked up at her intently, clearly ready for her to speak, though Lois was equally as clearly not. Clark looked at her expectantly and Lois glanced around the hay ridden barn distastefully.

"Let me rephrase that, we gotta talk somewhere...else." Anywhere else really. This was not a barn conversation.

"Ok, Lois, we can go inside," he said putting down the shovel and brushing himself off before following her inside. They walked silently side-by-side inside, Lois was obviously nervous so Clark didn't want to rush her. There wasn't anything in particular that told him she was nervous but there was just something emanating from her that just said frazzled. And that made him nervous.

Once they got inside Lois ordered him to take a seat. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just gonna kind of go for it." She sat down across from him, composing herself with her hands folded in front of her.

But while most people would most likely be considering what to say and how to approach a topic as sensitive as the one she was attempting to bring up all she could thi, the only thought running through her head over and over was, "Why am I listening to Tess?" Most people actually wouldn't be surprised. Lois' inability to focus on the subject at hand would probably explain a lot, but still she thought only of the glint in the redhead's eye when she suggested it, bringing her back once more to the question, why?

She never trusted Tess. It was part of her unwritten set of facts that she lived off of, because she would never say code, that would imply she was restricted somehow and she most certainly wasn't that. Rule number one, Chloe probably knows something you don't. Rule number two, Clark is probably hiding something, most likely the thing that Chloe knows that you don't. Rule number three, Tess probably both knows something you don't, which is really annoying, and is hiding something, not only that, but she's probably going to cause trouble with that information. Hence why Lois decided never to listen to her.

But here she was anyway. She had to blame it on the unTesslike manner with which the redhead had broached the conversation. There was something almost like honesty within that conversation that told Lois that her tip was a real tip.

Clark stared at her blankly, waiting for her to begiN, but not quite willing to rush her. She took a deep breath in and blew it out. "Ok, so I've been kinda talking to the Blur, but it hasn't evolved to anything. It's just...friendly. And someone told me that I should talk to you about it and I don't really know why but here I am anyway, spilling my guts out to you," she spit out quicker than even Clark could have done, slightly startling the Kryptonian as he attempted to replay her words in his head so they could actually process them.

Once the words finally settled, his mind went to war, debating the pros and cons of telling her and coming to one final conclusion. She deserved to know."They were right. Lois, I've been wanting to tell you for years but I didn't know how," he paused for second, "I'm the Blur." He watched her, waiting for a reaction.

Lois' jaw just dropped. She had been expecting a variety of different reactions, but that definitely wasn't one of them. She quickly recovered herself, but it had been very noticeable. After regaining her composure she looked back up at Clark, and before he realized it, she was in front of him, yanking him out of his seat, and she kissed him, slowly, lovingly. His arms encircled her body. And hers lay on his chest. They broke apart and Lois smiles up at him, the odds and ends in her life finally coming together.

Clark smiled down at her in return, an idea occurring to him. "Hold on."

He grabbed her and ran to Watchtower, colors blurring past them. They walked through the doors where Chloe and Oliver were talking about his predicament. Both heads shot up and locked eyes with the women in Clark's arms. Needless to say, they were surprised by her presence. Last they'd checked Clark was as paranoid as ever. "Thanks, Chloe," he said with a smile.

"What for exactly?" Chloe asked. Of course she was more than happy to take credit for his spurt of confidence but she couldn't specifically recall doing anything to give him such confidence.

"Telling Lois to talk to me," he explained as though it was obvious. Lois bit her lip awkwardly, knowing exactly where this was going.

His smile was still broad and Chloe felt bad about bringing his happiness back down to reality but she really did have nothing to do with this and that scared her. "Clark, I didn't tell her to do anything."

"Yeah, the reason I said someone was because if you knew who I was listening to on relationships you'd probably get me a psychiatrist," Lois admitted awkwardly, still purposefully avoiding the name and anyone's eyes.

"Who?" Oliver asked, having a vague idea of where this was going and dreading the answer, because this connected Clark to his problem and that was not something he wanted, not yet anyway.

"Tess," she admitted, looking for a reaction. "She was asking me about something I've got to talk to you later about," she said, pointing menacingly at Oliver, "and she returned the favor with some advice on my issue." She smiled awkwardly at Clark and Chloe who were looking at her like she'd grown an extra head, exactly as she would have been doing had her been in their shoes. Clark wondering if she was concussed and Chloe pondering just what exactly Tess' game was.

"Wait!" Lois exclaimed, a thought suddenly occurring to her, "that means you knew the whole time and you weren't upset!" she said, spinning to face Clark, finger outstretched in her direction. He smiled and shrugged.

"Getting jealous over a girl who's cheating on you, with you is not as much fun as it sounds," Oliver explained, downtrodden.

"Speaking of that. I have to talk to you about that. And it seems Lois has something to say on the matter as well. And Clark should probably know," Chloe reasoned.

Oliver sighed, he really, really didn't want Clark involved, or worse, the morality lesson that came with his involvement. "Ok. Lois first, I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy with Chloe's story." Call it instinct, but Chloe had been out of it since she got back and he was willing to bet it had something to do with the redheaded confusion herself.

"She was talking to me about choosing the right one out of two guys that Cupid stuck her with. You weren't exactly subtle when you came into her office this morning. I had it figured out already but the passionate kiss at the end never confuses an audience."

Then Chloe started immediately afterward, not wanting to give herself time to talk herself out of it. "I went to see her about an hour ago after you told me what happened. She seemed, not only sincere but slightly distressed. She seems to be...changing." She was hesitant to admit that last part but knew she had to, no matter how little she actually believed it.

"How long until we give her a shot?" Clark asked. He was on a roll and now that he had the momentum moving forward and wasn't in the mood to stop. Tess hadn't told anyone. And maybe she messed up sometimes but that's something they could help her with better if she knew everything. Clark realized he liked not being paranoid.

"I think Robin Hood, over here should decide," Lois pointed out. It would mean so much more to Tess if it came from him, Lois knew.

"You guys going to Bruce's charity thing tomorrow night?" Oliver asked.

"Can we focus?" Chloe scolded.

"I mean maybe I could bring her. And integrate her into the group better." They all shrugged with a chorus of "maybe".

"It's gotta be in two days. Or else, she'll never trust us."

"Why?" Chloe asked the logical question Clark and Lois were thinking silently.

"That's when Green Arrow promised to meet her," he replied, embarrassed, not meeting the entertained eyes of Lois, and the 'really?' looks of Clark and Chloe.

"Ask her about the charity thing tomorrow. Then we'll decide where to go from there," Clark decided. He didn't know how uneasy Oliver was about that plan. She probably wouldn't agree and he knew it.

But he did it anyway, because this was probably his only chance. The next day Oliver went into Tess' office. She was looking between her computer screen and papers that she held in her hand. His heart skipped a beat. He made himself focus. He was here for business. Sort of.

"Hey, question?" He introduced himself.

She put down the paper and looked up at him with a deep breath, but she didn't say anything. She was tired. Not anyone would be able to tell . Her posture wasn't as stalk straight as usual, her eyes didn't dance with amusement like they normally do. But most of all there was no snappy comeback for his incredible rude entrance.

There was no "Open door policy was meant for employees only."

No "Two abrupt visits in two days, I must have done something really special." None of it. And it surprised him, knocked him off balance. He was always ready for a game of wit with her. He loved it. But he was not ready for a quiet, tired Tess.

"There's a charity thing tonight. Did you get the invite for that?" She nodded. "I really don't want to take some bottle blond who can't form a sentence for herself. Would you want to..go?" Why did she put him so off his game? Asking any other woman out, he would be the suave playboy the magazines loved but with her, he was like an awkward teenage boy asking the prettiest girl in school to homecoming.

"What about a natural blonde?" Came the snide remark, or so he thought.

"They tend-" he rolled his hand in explanation, having a snappy comeback ready in his back pocket, so glad to hear the possibility of sarcasm that he ignored the complete and utter lack of it.

"Chloe, Oliver. I meant Chloe."

"She has her invitation," he explained stupidly, completely dumbfounded as to why she cared about Chloe's invitation. It hit him immediately after and he felt incredibly stupid, wanting to bury his face in his palm.

"So do I," she countered quickly, not noticing his embarrassment for the first time in her life, or else ignoring it for his sake.

"Yeah, but I want you to use mine," he insisted, immediately changing the mood as Tess realized he was completely serious.

The silence got thicker, everything seemed more vivid, the colors brighter and the lines sharper, and her eyes, more honest, less guarded. "I told you I need time."

"I know. The most we'll do is dance," he lightened the mood a little bit. But what mattered, her eyes, they still seemed dim.

She took a deep breath, stalling, thinking. This was a no win situation. But at the same time it seemed like a win-win situation, depending on which way it went. "Ok. Pick me up at seven."

A smile appeared across his face as he left for Watchtower, where Chloe, Clark, and Lois were waiting on the news, as so much rested on this, the expansion of Clark and Ollie's secret, Oliver's feelings, which had never been at stake before.

"Well?" Chloe greeted.

"She said yes," he answered, beaming. His smile faltered and he asked, kneading the back of his neck, "Chloe, do you have a date?"

"Actually, I do. Bruce is taking me." Now she was smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"Finally!" everyone but Chloe chorused.

"I was beginning to think the Bat was scared," Oliver joked.

"He was!" Lois insisted.

"We've seen this coming," Clark explained to Chloe who was thoroughly confused.

By that night Chloe's excitement had dwindled into nervousness. What if she said something wrong? What if he didn't like her dress? What if he only asked her out because he needed a date? And since when did she care?

Her doorbell rang and she flew to it, then waited a moment to make sure it didn't seem like she had been waiting. She opened the door and Bruce stood in a tux, looking dazzling. He didn't wear a tie. His bright blue eyes popped. And his black hair was combed back with a little gel. "Am I early?"

"No. I was just looking over some stuff," she lied. Maybe Tess wasn't the only one who did that.

"Ready to go?" he asked, charming personified.

"Yeah. Believe me, getting me away from work is not difficult," she joked.

On the other side of town another male billionaire was picking up his date. Oliver came into the office and looked around for Tess but didn't see her. At least this meant she didn't lose track of time and work this whole time. "Mercy?"

"Here," she said from the top of the stairs behind him. She wore a green dress that hugged her body in all the right places, nearly making his jaw drop. She always did look great in green, his favorite color and she knew it, just like so many other things. "You look great," he managed.

"I try," she smiled.

"You know you don't even have to," he said playfully.

"That's a remark of an Oliver fishing for compliments," she teased.

"Is it?" He replied, faking confusion and innocence.

She walked over and grabbed her bag. he found himself wishing for this as more than an anomaly, and the casual way she was addressing it didn't help. He felt like this was supposed to be normal. He felt like he should kiss her softly. And they shouldn't feel awkward or surprised. But he can work his way up to there. She cast him a flirtatious look that drove him crazy to the point where he just wanted to dive into it, into her. "You know it is."

"Car waiting?" she asked, waking him up and he realized he had been staring, not that that surprised him. He just hoped she didn't notice.

"I drove," he admitted with a shrug.

"How common," she joked. He always arrived by limo to these things. Personal. He was trying to be personal. She smiled. This wasn't going as badly as she had first assumed it would.

Clark and Lois' preparations were not going so well however. "Lois, we got to go," Clark called up the stairs getting rather annoyed with his girlfriend's incessant lateness.

Lois came halfway down the stairs with her dress on and her hands in her hair. "Hold your horses Mr. Fancy Pants. You do not know what's it's like to be a girl. We have hair," she said as though that explained everything, which for Lois, it did.

"We have to be in Gotham in an hour," he reminded, this time more gently, not wanting to incur the wrath of Lois Lane

"Fashionably late. Never wanna be the first ones there, Clark," she countered and he just sighed but realized that arguing was pointless.

An hour later Chloe and Bruce arrive. They had to be the first ones there and they move to stand by the door to greet whoever enters.

It's a steady stream of people, attired in gaudy dresses and sharp tuxes. Bruce had on a dazzling smile and was greeting everyone with a "welcome", or a "good to see you" or maybe the occasional "I haven't seen you in a while" if they were extremely friendly. Chloe smiled as Bruce introduced her. The conversation was short but Chloe made sure to participate so she didn't come across as Bruce's normal kind of date Without a semblance of a brain cell. She wanted to make an impression, to be remembered.

But after a while, Chloe was getting bored of the droning conversation. No sign of Lois and Clark or Oliver and Tess. And at this point, as much as she liked Bruce, she would even take Tess for company and under normal circumstances that was never, not even as a last, option.

"Bruce," Oliver said holding out his hand. What is... Oh, right, they're enemies in public. He's got to be cold and distant to Bruce for the cameras, and for Tess.

She's by his side. Bruce shakes her hand as well and they make light conversation. Tess looks at Chloe and seems to realize how utterly bored she is, mostly by being in her shoes before and wanting nothing more than to do pretty much anything else. "Chloe, your make-up's a bit smudged. Why don't we go fix that?" she suggested with a smile.

She takes Chloe by the arm and leads her away and toward the bathroom, leaving the two men to talk. "Tess Mercer to my rescue," Chloe laughs. Never, under normal circumstances that is. But hey, she asked for it.

"The first few of these parties are brutal. I remember I couldn't wait to get out." Chloe assumed she was talking about when she took over Luthorcorp. She had assumed she had been busy making a good first impression.

But that wasn't her first. Chloe didn't know just how well she and Oliver had known each other. Oliver had dragged Tess to a billion of these things when they were together. She hated them. After a while she realized that no one notices if you go missing for a few minutes. But it was too early in Chloe and Bruce's relationship for them to spend time really alone.

Then again it was too early in Tess and Oliver's relationship for that as well. "Do you get used to them?" Chloe asked walking into the bathroom behind her.

"Depends on your company. Which is why I'm with Oliver instead of some other blonde idiot," Tess answered, looking in the mirror and flicking her hair, she glanced over at Chloe, "No offense," she said with a smirk.

"I know most of my kind aren't the brightest people on the planet." She fixed her hair and fluffed it a little with a laugh. Maybe Tess wasn't too bad if Chloe wasn't convinced everything was supposed to be an insult. And maybe she was so happy about getting out of her previous situation that she was delirious.

Behind them the door swung open and a 20 year old blonde girl in a skimpy outfit walks in. "Sorry!" She exclaims highly before turning and leaving again.

"Like that," Tess points out. Chloe laughed again. But ma ybe Tess deserved a chance. Maybe she could change, maybe she could even learn to enjoy her company at moments like this.

There was a crash from outside, in the ballroom. It wasn't the crash of someone dropping a glass. It was larger, something big. A window, a chandelier, or something like that. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Screams erupted. They seemed to be heading towards the door.

Both women's faces dropped. Chloe's head whipped over to Tess, who was looking at the door. Tess locked her gaze on Chloe. "Something's not right."

Chloe scoffed. "The crash give you that idea," she responded sarcastically.

"No, I don't think this is an accident." Tess flew into action. "Check the door," she commanded.

"Locked."

Tess flipped her hair to one side tilting her head and started playing with it. "Timing?" Chloe asked, appalled.

"Perfect," Tess replied certainly, pulling a bobby-pin from her hair and holding it up between two fingers. Chloe snatched it from between her fingers and started picking the lock.

Tess opened her bag and pulled out different parts to a gun and started assembling them. The lock clicked. "Ready?" Chloe asked, leaning against the door with her hand on the knob.

Tess nodded. Chloe pushed the door open. There were two guards with bags over their heads there. Chloe whirled around and took one of their heads and smashed it into the wall, successfully knocking him out. Tess whacked the man on the head with the gun she had assembled, also knocking him out.

"The ballroom's this way. We should help evacuate," Chloe says. Tess nods and they run towards it.

The Scarecrow is battling Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow. Everyone else was gone. "We should help," Tess says urgently, thinking of Green Arrow. He needed her now. She had to help.

"Tess, they can take care of themselves. We'd only get in the way," Chloe reasoned. Tess looked back. They seemed to have it mostly under control. Superman and Green Arrow were taking out henchmen while Batman was battling Scarecrow.

She sighed, but turned and ran for the exit. They went through the doors and two police officers moved them behind the tape where they were bombarded by Lois. "Are two you ok? You had me worried sick. Why were you in there so long? What were you doing? What's going on in there?" She bombarded the pair with questions, making Tess regret ever sending Lois to interview anyone.

"Whoa, slow down there, Lois. We're fine. We were in the bathroom when Scarecrow attacked. We took out the two guards by the bathroom. And got out," Chloe explained slowly, gauging her cousin' reaction but she was watching Tess.

Tess was looking around for something or someone. She was still in urgent mode, so her eyes were scanning each and every person's face. "Come on, Ollie. Where are you?" She muttered.

"Where are Oliver, Bruce, and Clark?" Chloe asked, keeping up appearances.

"Didn't see them at all," Lois explained with a shrug and pretended to scan the the crowd before realizing that Tess' attention was drawn completely away from the cousins, not paying them the slightest bit of attention. Normally, she would have noticed the lack of panic but right now her concern for Oliver took precedence.

Police were gearing up to head in. Supposedly, Scarecrow was armed with fear toxin. They were all in hazmat suits and were more than prepared to take him. They entered the building.

She turned to look for Oliver again, now getting worried. Instead, she saw Clark and Bruce running towards them. Tess immediately knew something was wrong, call it instinct, but she just knew.

"Oliver. He was hit with the fear toxin."