Momentum: A Winter Holiday Tale 
By Kathy Brown <kathyb@lcfanfic.com> 
Rated PG 
Submitted December 2002 
________________

Author's Notes:

I still can't quite believe that this story is as long as 
it is. It was supposed to be a short little holiday tale, 
similar in length and tone to "Wine Wine Wine". I think I 
did pretty well on matching the tone, but the length ... 
well, I wasn't even close, LOL. It kept growing ... and 
growing ... until I'm sure the IRC fanfic gang was totally 
sick of me lamenting the fact that it wasn't done yet. <g> 
Thanks for your patience, guys ... believe me, no one was 
more relieved than I when it was finished! :)

I'd also like to extend a huge, extra special thank-you to 
Sarah Luddy, beta-reader extraordinare, for being so 
encouraging and helpful (and hysterically funny <g>) in her 
comments, as well as to Meredith Knight for her fantastic 
editing skills. Thanks, you two! :)

And to my readers, I hope you enjoy the story. I welcome 
all comments, either public or private.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kathy ________________

Clark Kent stretched lazily as he lay in bed, his eyes 
still closed as he hovered between sleep and wakefulness. 
For a moment, he puzzled over the different feel of the 
sheets and the smell of the room, but as his memories of 
the previous night surfaced, he released a contented sigh. 
He knew this place well -- he was in Smallville, in his 
childhood bed ... and it was Christmas morning.

He had flown in late last night, well after everyone else 
in the house had gone to sleep. After depositing his 
Christmas presents under the tree so his parents would know 
he had arrived, he'd carried his overnight bag up the 
stairs to his room, brushed his teeth, and gone to bed. He 
had fallen asleep with a smile on his face, visions of Lois 
Lane dancing in his head.

Clark rolled onto his stomach and snuggled into the pillow, 
sighing happily. Last night had been wonderful. He had sent 
his parents on ahead to Smallville while he and Lois had 
worked all afternoon to locate 'The Toy Man', Mr. Schott, 
and to get the chemical-laden Space Rats pulled from the 
shelves. His plan had been to rush back to Smallville in 
time to join his family for Christmas Eve dinner, but 
things hadn't worked out that way.

The desire to stay had sneaked up on him. At eight o'clock 
last night, his presents had been wrapped, his bag had been 
packed, and he had already changed into his Superman suit 
for the flight, knowing that his parents had arrived at 
home and were busy preparing the holiday meal. But as he'd 
paced up and down in his living room, trying to convince 
himself to leave through the window, he had finally 
admitted that for the first Christmas in his life, he 
wanted to be somewhere else besides Kansas. He'd wanted to 
be with Lois.

The look on Lois's face when she'd opened her door last 
night had been worth missing his mom's home cooking. She 
had hugged him tightly and drawn him inside, then hurried 
to the window when he'd explained that his plane had been 
snowed in. When Lois had turned back to him after realizing 
that there was no snow, the look on her face had nearly 
made him forget to breathe. And when she'd let her hand 
slip into his as they admired the star he'd brought for her 
Christmas tree, his heart had welled up with so much 
emotion, he hadn't trusted his voice.

He had been so close to kissing her then, as they stood 
holding hands in front of the little tree. Lois had looked 
up at him with those dark eyes of hers, eyes so deep that 
he wanted to drown in them. Carolers on the street below 
had interrupted them, breaking the moment, but not before 
Clark had caught the glimmer of something in her eyes ... 
something wonderful. He'd held onto that look, even as 
they'd moved to the window to watch the carolers. He wanted 
to remember it forever.

He had stayed for hours, enjoying her company. Lois had 
been right when she'd told him he would get stuffed -- the 
dinner had been marvelous. Lois later confessed that she'd 
purchased most of it already prepared, but had insisted 
that she'd made the stuffing and cranberry sauce by 
herself. Knowing how Lois felt about the kitchen, Clark had 
heartily praised the effort she'd made and, to his 
surprise, he hadn't needed to exaggerate when complimenting 
the food. He was pretty sure the grin on his face when he'd 
gone back for a fourth helping of stuffing had clearly 
conveyed how much he was enjoying the meal.

After dessert -- pumpkin pie with real whipped cream -- 
they had moved to the sofa to nurse the remainder of their 
wine. Clark remembered how his heart had thumped in his 
chest as Lois had chosen to sit close to him. Encouraged, 
he had put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her even 
closer still. They'd sat that way for a long time, talking 
about everything and nothing, as soft Christmas music 
played in the background. When the clock had struck 
midnight, however, Clark had kissed Lois on the cheek, 
wishing her a Merry Christmas. Then, to his surprise and 
delight, she had turned towards him and pressed a gentle 
kiss to his lips in return. The kiss wasn't passionate, and 
it had only lingered for a moment, but the look in her eyes 
as they'd separated had made him feel as if, for that 
moment at least, he was the most special person in the 
world to her.

This was the feeling he was reliving as he lay in his bed 
Christmas morning, unwilling to wake completely and expose 
the memory to the light of day. It was a wonderful, 
incredible feeling ... the feeling of being in love. Maybe 
it had been the wine that had caused her to kiss him, or 
the fact that Lois had just been grateful not to be alone 
on Christmas Eve. Maybe the kiss meant nothing to her and 
she had already forgotten it. Maybe Lois would never feel 
about him the way he felt about her, and they would remain 
friends -- just friends -- forever....

But if Christmas was a time for magic, Clark couldn't help 
but hope that there could be something more between them.

Slowly opening his eyes, Clark rolled to his back. Was it 
possible that Lois might be starting to see him as more 
than a friend? When he let himself hope, last night hadn't 
been the first time he'd seen that flicker of something 
else in her eyes. More than a few times in the last several 
weeks, he'd caught her studying him, as if she were seeing 
something that she hadn't before. But she had always looked 
away quickly -- so quickly, in fact, that up until now, 
he'd convinced himself it was just wishful thinking on his 
part.

As it was, even last night Lois had pulled back, jumping up 
nervously after they'd kissed, saying that she needed to 
get the leftovers into the refrigerator. Not knowing what 
else to do, Clark had risen with her and had helped to 
clear the table. By the time the food was put away, she'd 
been comfortable with him again, though Clark suspected 
that it was only because he had been careful to slip back 
into his friend role. When he'd finally left Lois's 
apartment at a little before one in the morning, he had 
only allowed himself to press a quick kiss onto her 
forehead before wishing her goodnight. But the warm hug she 
had given him in return had left his heart singing and his 
body tingling all the way home.

Clark couldn't help but grin at the memory as he came 
completely awake. The feeling of her arms around him always 
made him feel so good, so deliciously, incredibly good. But 
when it was Lois who initiated the contact, for no other 
reason than she was happy to be with him ... it felt even 
better.

So could it be that Lois was finally be thinking of him as 
something more than just her best friend? She certainly had 
seemed to see him differently last night, if the kiss and 
the hug and the look in her eyes were any indication. But 
if she did finally see him as a potential boyfriend, why 
was she sending him mixed signals? Why touch him or flirt 
with him -- even kiss him -- only to pull back with the 
next heartbeat? It was as if she wasn't sure what she 
wanted ... or whether he was even interested.

Clark mulled that over. Lois liked to flirt with him, yes, 
but he rarely allowed himself to flirt back. It was an 
unspoken rule between them, perhaps, but it was there. He 
was her partner and her friend, and no matter how many 
times she grinned impishly at him, how many times she 
patted his chest, or how many times she linked her arm 
through his as they walked, he couldn't respond, not in the 
way he wanted to. He was *safe* -- good old Clark, always 
there when she needed him. He was someone she could feel 
secure with. And he loved that. He *encouraged* that. He 
could think of nothing better than being the person Lois 
trusted most, the person she thought of as her best friend.

Nothing better ... unless it was also being the person she 
thought of as her boyfriend.

Lois thought of Superman in that way, that much was clear. 
And because of those feelings, Clark had been able to 
pretend, if only for brief moments, that there was 
something romantic between them. As Superman, Clark had 
been able to admit that he was attracted to her while under 
the supposed influence of the pheromone compound. He 
regularly came to her window late at night just to check on 
her and say hello. He'd even been able to dance with her in 
her living room after the charity ball last month.

These were all things that he couldn't do as Clark. As 
Clark, he was always careful not to scare her off. Pushing 
too hard, flirting too much ... it would worry her, make 
her feel unsafe around him -- he knew her track record with 
men. But at the same time, it was incredibly frustrating to 
have her respond to Superman as a romantic partner while 
viewing Clark as nothing more than a good friend.

Why couldn't she see that Clark Kent had so much more to 
offer her than he could show her?

As the question hung in his mind, Clark realized that he 
had answered his own question. Covering his face with his 
hands, he couldn't help but laugh, even as he groaned at 
his own stupidity. How could he have been so blind? Of 
course Lois thought of Superman as a potential love 
interest; he'd encouraged it! In the beginning, being 
romantic with her as Superman had been his one way to get 
close to her, his one way to act on even a fraction of his 
feelings. But while Superman had been encouraging Lois, 
Clark had done the opposite. Clark had let Lois believe he 
wasn't attracted to her, even with the pheromones. Clark 
had always been careful not to flirt too much, lest he 
scare her away. And Clark had allowed Mayson Drake to cut 
in the last time he and Lois had danced. Granted, he'd 
partly been trying to make Lois jealous by showing her that 
another woman could be attracted to him ... but wasn't it 
just as likely that Lois felt he was off-limits now, 
involved with someone else? How could Lois have seen him as 
a romantic partner? All this time, he'd been completely 
sabotaging his own efforts!

As the smell of his mom's special holiday pancakes wafted 
up to his bedroom, Clark hopped out of bed and pulled on a 
pair of jeans and a casual shirt. As much as he enjoyed 
lying around and thinking about Lois, it was Christmas 
morning and there were chores to help with before they 
could open their presents. But as Clark cheerfully headed 
towards the kitchen to wish his parents Merry Christmas, 
one thought kept swirling around in the back of his head.

Maybe it was time to stop acting so much like Lois's friend 
... and start acting more like her boyfriend.

*****

By the time her desk clock reached eleven o'clock on 
Christmas morning, Lois Lane had already been at work for 
nearly two hours. The newsroom was operating on a skeleton 
crew, most employees being home with their families, and 
the feature stories for the day had been planned and 
completed some time ago, mainly feel-good pieces 
appropriate for the season. There was the occasional news 
story to record for tomorrow's morning edition, but with 
most of the city shut down for the holiday, all serious 
investigations were temporarily on hold.

Lois didn't mind working on Christmas Day; it beat sitting 
home alone. It also earned her New Year's Day off -- that 
was her swap with Clark. He'd appreciated her willingness 
to let him take today as a vacation day -- with her higher 
seniority, she got first pick of which holidays she wanted 
off -- but it had really been a no-brainer for her. Clark 
had vacation plans and she didn't. He had to travel all the 
way to Kansas to be with his family, while her family lived 
here in Metropolis. Not that she was going to be seeing any 
of them ... but still, they were local.

It had been difficult for her to admit that her family 
wasn't going to get together at Christmas this year. Not 
that their gatherings were ever more fun than a root canal, 
but still, each time, she let herself hope that things were 
going to be different that year ... that, for once, 
everyone would get along and actually be happy to see each 
other. But, of course, it was always just wishful thinking.

So this year, Lois had decided to do something more than 
feel sorry for herself. This year, she had decided to find 
her own Christmas. It obviously wasn't to be found with her 
family, so she'd needed to think long and hard about what 
was most important to her. In the beginning, she had 
planned a dinner party for her friends, thinking it would 
cheer her up, but as the days went by and her friends 
either gave their regrets or made it clear she was their 
second choice, it had been hard not to sink into her usual 
late December depression.

The story on the Atomic Space Rats had given her just what 
she'd been looking for, however. Oh, not the Rats 
themselves -- the greedy behavior of most of the city of 
Metropolis had only served to increase her cynicism. But in 
the end, having spent time with some of the orphans who 
lived with 'Santa', it had been just what Lois had needed. 
Seeing the looks of delight on the children's faces as they 
were given their presents lifted her spirits and made her 
realize that Christmas wasn't about what you got from 
others -- it was about what you gave, instead.

Still, it had been difficult to maintain her optimism when 
she'd gone home to make dinner. At first, it had been fun -
- Lois had picked up the food she'd ordered at a nearby 
market and set about making the stuffing and cranberries. 
The lady behind the counter had encouraged her to make her 
own fresh cranberry sauce when Lois had expressed 
disappointment that they only had the jellied kind at the 
store. The woman had even written down a quick recipe for 
Lois to follow on the back of her receipt and showed her 
where to find the ingredients. And amazingly, it had been 
pretty easy ... well, except for the fact that Lois had 
forgotten to put the lid on the food processor at first and 
had sprayed her cabinets with red berry pieces, but some 
elbow grease had eventually gotten the stains out.

The stuffing had taken more attention. Lois had been amazed 
to discover that it didn't automatically come inside the 
turkey she'd ordered, so she'd pored through several 
cookbooks from the library, comparing the recipes and 
trying to figure out which would be the easiest to make. 
She'd finally decided to be brave and tackle something a 
bit more complicated -- adding chopped apples to the onions 
and celery the basic recipe called for -- but she had 
worked hard and forced herself to really concentrate on 
what she was doing, and, amazingly, it had turned out 
wonderfully! She'd actually found herself nearly as proud 
as when she finished a big story.

But despite all this, as she'd lit the candles on the 
beautiful table, dressed in a new black dress and with her 
hair done, it had taken everything she had not to cry. 
She'd had a wonderful holiday dinner on her table ... but 
no one to share it with.

She'd been fighting tears when she heard the knock on the 
door. Opening it, she had scarcely been able to believe her 
eyes. Clark had come to dinner! Even more amazing was the 
fact that he had deliberately missed his flight back to 
Smallville to do it. Lois wasn't quite sure what to make of 
the fact that Clark had skipped Christmas Eve with his 
family just to be with her. At first, she'd believed his 
excuse that his plane had been snowed in, but when she'd 
rushed to the window and confirmed that there was no snow, 
it was clear that he had deliberately missed his flight. 
But why?

Initially she'd been worried that he was just feeling sorry 
for her, but one look at his face had pushed that theory 
aside. He'd actually looked happy to be there. And she had 
been happy to have him. She would have been pleased if any 
of her friends had shown up, but for some reason, it had 
been extra special to have Clark there. He'd been the one 
person she hadn't expected -- after all, everyone knew he 
had plans to be with his family in Kansas. But as she and 
Clark had spent the evening together, all Lois could think 
about was how *right* it felt to have him there.

Maybe that was why she had taken his hand as they'd stood 
by the tree, or why she'd found herself cuddling up closer 
to him as they talked on the couch. Of course, neither of 
these things was unusual in itself. After all, they often 
shared affectionate touches with each other. It didn't 
*mean* anything.

Did it?

Lois furrowed her brow. No, of course it didn't. Just 
because she often found herself pressing her hands against 
Clark's chest as she teased him ... and just because she 
tended to link her arm through his when he walked her home 
... and just because she had felt surprisingly shy after 
she'd given him a little kiss last night ... it didn't mean 
she liked him. Not romantically. Right?

Suddenly uncertain, Lois picked up her coffee mug and took 
a quick gulp. Of course she didn't like Clark romantically. 
He was her partner. He was her best friend. He was the guy 
she went to when she needed a flat tire changed on her SUV, 
or when she needed a date to her third cousin's wedding, or 
when she wanted to try out a new restaurant or to see the 
latest romantic comedy playing at the movie theater and 
felt like some company.

So, OK, he was also the guy she spent most of her time with 
during the day, and the guy she ate dinner with every few 
nights, and yes, fine, the guy she had breakfast with at 
least twice a week ... but they weren't a *couple*!

Were they?

No, of course not!

// Then why did you kiss him last night? //

Lois flushed as she remembered how she'd pressed a gentle 
kiss to Clark's lips as they'd wished each other a Merry 
Christmas. What in the world had possessed her to do such a 
thing? It must have been the wine, or her gratitude for his 
keeping her company, or the warm, fuzzy feeling of 
relaxation brought on by that stuff they say is in turkey, 
or ... or ...

// Oh, just admit it already! //

She sighed. OK, OK, so maybe she did have a *little* crush 
on him. After all, he was kind of cute ... very cute ... 
drop dead gorgeous ...

Lois shook her head, anxious to derail that train. Even if 
she did have a little crush on him, it didn't matter 
because Clark didn't feel the same way about her. It was 
clear that he only thought of her as a friend. He didn't 
flirt with her. He never took her hand when they were out 
walking. He'd never even tried to ask her out. No, Lois 
always knew exactly where she stood with Clark ... he was 
safe, predictable.

Good old predictable Clark. She always knew exactly what he 
was going to do.

*****

Clark paced in front of the telephone in his parents' 
study, trying to stop his heart from beating so fast. He 
had no idea why he was so nervous; it wasn't as if he 
hadn't called Lois a thousand times before.

// Get a grip, man; you're not asking her to the prom! Just 
call to say you're thinking of her. What could be so hard 
about that? //

But things were different now, or at least, he wanted them 
to be. He didn't want to be safe anymore ... he wanted her 
to see the other side of him, the side that got breathless 
whenever she looked up at him through her lashes and whose 
heart skipped a beat every time she put her hands on his 
chest to flirt with him. But at the same time, he was 
scared to death that he would frighten her away, that he 
would come on too strong and she would get spooked and he'd 
lose her forever.

// Baby steps, Clark, baby steps ... //

He took a deep breath and released it. Yes, that was the 
way to go ... just take things slow and see what happened. 
Not only would he be less likely to scare Lois off, but if 
she did start acting skittish, he could back off with his 
ego still left intact.

Clark gave himself a shake and set his jaw. He could do 
this ... no problem. Now if only his heart would slow down 
just a little bit. Picking up the phone, he dialed the 
number he knew by heart and leaned against the desk to wait 
for her to answer. By the third ring, he realized he'd 
probably get her voice mail, but just as his mind started 
racing to come up with a good message to leave, he heard 
her voice on the other end of the line.

"Daily Planet, Lois Lane."

"Oh! Hi ... uh, it's me ... Clark." Clark rolled his eyes; 
he really did sound like a teenager asking his crush out 
for the prom. "I'm sorry," he quickly covered. "I was 
expecting to get the voice mail so you just surprised me 
when you answered."

"I was halfway to the coffee pot when I heard the phone 
ring," she answered. "I practically knocked my chair over 
trying to answer it before the call rolled over." She 
started to laugh. "Good thing my coffee cup was empty."

Smiling at the picture she'd just painted, Clark finally 
felt himself relax. This was all he'd needed ... just 
hearing her voice made him feel better. "Merry Christmas, 
Lois," he said warmly.

"Merry Christmas, Clark." Her voice was equally warm.

He sighed happily. Yes, this was definitely what he'd 
needed. "So how's the newsroom? Any breaking stories drop 
in your lap? Expose any of Santa's elves for taking bribes 
yet?"

"Ha, very funny. No, it's pretty quiet. Not many people 
here this morning, though a few more are supposed to be 
coming in this afternoon."

"Well, I know you can handle anything that comes up. And 
Lois," he added more seriously, "I really do appreciate you 
working for me today. It was really nice of you."

"Don't worry about it, Clark," she answered sincerely. "I'm 
just glad you could see your family. I'm sorry you didn't 
make it for dinner last night like you'd planned."

"I'm not," he quickly reassured her. "I had a really great 
time last night, Lois." His voice dropped a bit. "A really 
great time."

"Really?" she responded, a little breathless. "I did, too."

From the tone in her voice, Clark could almost imagine her 
ducking her head and smiling shyly. He smiled in return, 
encouraged. "Mmm, I'm glad."

They sat in silence for a moment, neither knowing quite 
what to say, until Lois finally gathered herself together. 
"So when are you coming back to Metropolis? Tomorrow? Or 
Tuesday?"

"Um, Tuesday night," Clark replied, shaking himself from 
his thoughts. "I'd love to spend more time with my parents, 
but I need to be at work on the 28th. Three days was all I 
could manage."

"Maybe next year you'll have more vacation days saved up," 
she suggested helpfully. "Then you can stay longer."

It suddenly occurred to Clark that idea of spending more 
than a few days away from Lois, even if they were just 
partners, didn't sound very appealing. "Or maybe next year 
we can both take some time off and you could come with me," 
he offered. Then, realizing how presumptuous she might 
consider him, he quickly added, "I mean, if you aren't 
doing anything with your own family again."

Lois gave a little sigh. "Oh, I wouldn't want to get in the 
way of your family holiday. Your parents wouldn't want me 
hanging around."

The wistful note in her voice made Clark's heart melt all 
over again. "Lois," he said softly, "you could never be in 
the way. My parents love you, you know that." Then he 
smiled. "In fact, my mom just asked for your favorite kind 
of cookies so she could make some for me to bring to you 
when I come home."

That perked her up. "Oh! What'd you tell her?"

Clark laughed at the eager tone in her voice. "That 
anything with chocolate would make your day."

"You know me too well, Kent," she laughed back. "So tell me 
about your day so far. Did you open your presents yet?"

"Yeah, we did that first thing this morning. Then we had 
breakfast and now we're just getting ready to go to church. 
They always have a whole program planned for Christmas. 
There's the service, of course, but then they have singing 
afterwards. The adults don't always sing on key, including 
me," he laughed, "but the kids are really cute."

"The biggest party in Smallville, huh?"

"You got it."

"Sounds like fun." She paused briefly and Clark thought he 
could hear her moving things around on her desk. "So what 
time does your plane get in on Tuesday? I can pick you up 
at the airport."

Clark hesitated. He hadn't flown on a commercial airline, 
but, of course, Lois didn't know that. "Uh ... no, that's 
OK. I don't want to put you out."

"It's no trouble. I have a pen; give me the flight 
information."

"Uh ..." he repeated, getting decidedly uncomfortable. "No, 
really, it's OK."

Lois began to laugh at him. "Why are you being so 
secretive, Clark? If you've forgotten the flight number, I 
can get it for you. There can't be that many evening 
flights in from Wichita to Metropolis."

"No! I mean ... Lois, you don't need to do that." He gave 
himself a mental kick for what he was about to admit, but 
he could think of no other way out, not without making her 
think he didn't want to be with her. "I, uh, didn't take a 
plane here."

That stopped her. "What? I don't get it."

Clark paced nervously. He hated lying to her so blatantly, 
but he knew this was neither the time nor the place for 
true confessions. His voice sounded embarrassed when he 
continued. "Well, I kind of ... ran into Superman on the 
way home from your place last night and I told him that I 
was going to the airport to see if I could get on the first 
flight out in the morning, and he offered to fly me here. 
He said it was my Christmas present, since I didn't get to 
ride in the sleigh with you and Perry and Jimmy yesterday."

"Oh." Lois considered this. "Wow ... he'll do that?"

"Give Christmas presents?" Clark asked cautiously.

"No, fly his friends places for vacation ... that's pretty 
cool."

Clark relaxed; she was buying it. "I guess so ... anyway, 
he's going to bring me back sometime Tuesday night but 
obviously I won't know when exactly because it depends on 
when he can get away."

"That makes sense." She paused. "Gee, maybe I should ask 
for Tahiti for Christmas next year."

Clark blinked at her comment, then began to laugh. "You're 
terrible!"

"You gave me the idea! As a matter of fact, I'll just have 
*you* ask him for me ... that way, if he says no, I can say 
it was all your idea and he won't think I'm an idiot."

Clark just laughed harder. "If I do the asking, you're 
going to have to take me along!"

"Hey, you've got it. We'd have a blast."

To his surprise, she actually sounded almost serious. 
"Really?"

"Sure. I mean, it might be hard to both get away from work 
at the same time but if we planned in advance ... it'd be 
fun, Clark."

Clark quirked an eyebrow, and gave the phone a suspicious 
look. She had to be teasing him. "Well, yeah, of course, it 
would be fun ... I'm just trying to imagine you taking a 
vacation at all, let alone one with me," he responded, 
grinning. Buoyed by her resulting laughter, he let himself 
flirt with her, testing the waters. "You know, they have 
topless beaches in Tahiti."

"I've seen you topless before, Clark."

Her quick response caught him so off guard that he began to 
roar with laughter -- leave it to Lois to completely turn 
the tables on him! He was still chuckling when his mom 
poked her head into the study and pointed to the clock with 
a smile. He nodded and held up one finger to let her know 
he'd be off soon. When Martha just grinned and whispered, 
"Say hi to Lois for me", before leaving theroom, Clark 
couldn't help but blush. "Hey, I gotta go ... my parents 
are ready to leave. My mom says 'hi', by the way. She's 
probably wondering why I'm laughing so hard."

The smile in her voice was evident even through the phone 
lines. "Have fun."

"I will." He sighed, content. "Merry Christmas, Lois."

"Merry Christmas, Clark. Thanks for calling."

"Thanks for answering," he added, his voice warm and husky.

To his surprise, he heard Lois's breath catch in her 
throat, though she quickly covered it with a little cough. 
"I guess I'll see you in a few days."

"Yeah," he agreed, though he really didn't want to wait 
that long to talk to her again. He closed his eyes and took 
the plunge. "Maybe I could call you again tomorrow."

To his surprise, her response was immediate. "Sure." Then 
he heard her swallow, and she added, almost shyly, "I'd, 
uh, like that."

Clark couldn't help but smile. "Well, OK, then ... g'bye."

"Bye."

As he carefully hung up the phone, Clark blew out a deep 
breath ... then found himself completely unable to stop the 
grin from forming on his face. As much as he loved being in 
Smallville, he was suddenly counting the hours until he 
could return to Metropolis.

***** 1

Clark got to work early Wednesday morning, eager to catch 
up on whatever work he'd missed, but even more eager to see 
his partner again. It had only been three and a half days 
since Christmas Eve when he'd last seen her, and they'd 
talked on the phone every day while he'd been gone. But it 
just wasn't the same as seeing Lois in person.

Clark couldn't help but sigh happily as he thought about 
how much he enjoyed working with Lois ... he loved the way 
her eyes sparkled when she was excited about a story, and 
how she babbled when she got nervous. And he loved the way 
she furrowed her brow in concentration when she was lost in 
what she was typing, and the way her hair fell across the 
side of her face when she leaned forward to study the 
computer screen. It always made him want to reach out and 
run his fingers through her hair, to feel its softness. It 
always looked so smooth and silky ... what must it feel 
like, he wondered, if it were spread out against his bare 
chest--

For the third time that morning, Clark smacked himself in 
the forehead with the papers he was holding. He had to stop 
doing that or he'd never get any work done today!

Still, it was so hard to concentrate, knowing that Lois 
would be arriving any moment. He couldn't seem to stop 
thinking about her. Talking to Lois on the phone last night 
after he'd arrived home had been wonderful, but, as with 
all of their recent phone calls, it had only strengthened 
his resolve to try to move their relationship forward. He'd 
started to smile the moment he'd heard her voice, and when, 
not long into the conversation, she'd laughed and told him 
about her latest interviewing coup, he had been struck by 
an overwhelming sense of *rightness* ... not to mention an 
overwhelming desire to see her again. Lois had clearly 
seemed pleased to hear from him, too, and what was more, 
beyond inquiring politely about how his flight with 
Superman had been, she hadn't seemed at all preoccupied by 
the superhero she'd been obsessed with for so long. This 
fact both intrigued and encouraged him.

// "I was saving for Tahiti. But a date with Superman ... 
that would have been a real adventure." //

A year and a half ago, Lois had spoken those words 
dejectedly. She had just bid a few thousand dollars for a 
date with Superman at a bachelor auction, yet had been 
woefully outbid by several other women. As she'd drowned 
her sorrows at the bar -- with her partner trying 
unsuccessfully to cheer her up -- Clark had realized that 
he would have given anything to have heard her talk about 
him that way -- not as Superman, but as Clark Kent. But at 
the time, he'd been convinced it would forever be a pipe 
dream.

Yet not even seventy-two hours ago, during their phone 
conversation on Christmas morning, Lois had suggested the 
two of them take a vacation together to that very same 
exotic location. OK, sure, they wouldn't really do it; 
obviously she'd been joking. But the fact that she would 
even bring it up, that she would even think about asking 
Superman to take her to Tahiti -- with Clark! -- was 
completely astounding.

The sound of the elevator broke Clark from his thoughts, 
and it wasn't long before his hearing picked up the 
familiar heartbeat he'd been waiting for. By the time the 
doors slid open, he was already gazing eagerly in her 
direction, and when he saw her face brighten as their eyes 
met across the newsroom, he felt his heart skip a beat in 
anticipation. Now if only he could only be sure he wouldn't 
make a fool of himself. How would Lois react to a little 
extra attention on his part? Still, if the last few days 
were any indication, it was time to take advantage of the 
momentum he'd begun building on Christmas Eve.

Forcing himself to relax, Clark gave Lois a warm smile as 
she approached his desk. "Hey there, partner! I've been 
waiting for you to get here and brighten my morning."

"Well, hello to you, too," Lois responded with an amused 
smile as she passed him on the way to her desk. "You 
certainly look chipper this morning. Vacation must have 
done you good."

"Could be, could be ... but I am definitely happy to be 
back." Clark leaned back in his chair, the picture of 
confidence, and grinned at her. "This place is kind of 
habit-forming."

"Don't let Perry hear you say that," Lois replied with a 
laugh, setting her briefcase down and hanging her coat on 
the coat-rack next to her desk. "He'll ask you to move in."

Clark wrinkled his nose in amusement and ran a hand over 
the top of his desk. "The sleeping surface would be a 
little hard for my tastes. Besides, I prefer my own 
bathroom."

"Good choice," she answered, chuckling as she walked back 
to his desk. As she often did when they talked, Lois hopped 
up onto his desk, smoothed her skirt, then crossed her 
legs. "I've slept here before and trust me, it's not all 
it's cracked up to be."

Emboldened by Lois's positive response so far, Clark 
allowed his eyes to sweep over her body. It was harder than 
he'd expected to not let his gaze linger on the long nylon-
clad legs crossed only inches away from him, but he was 
careful to make sure his look was admiring, not leering. 
Still, there was no denying that Lois had a fantastic body, 
and her short skirt definitely proved the point. "Doesn't 
seem to have done you any harm," he responded with a slow 
grin, finally meeting her eyes. "Sleeping here, I mean."

Lois raised an eyebrow at his examination of her body, but 
she was clearly amused rather than offended. She tossed her 
hair, obviously in a good mood. "Yeah, we first-class 
reporters have nerves of steel, what can I say?" she 
responded in a breezy voice.

Chuckling, Clark placed his hand on the desk next to her 
thigh. "Seems like you'd need a *body* of steel to lie on 
this thing," he teased, knocking on his desk for emphasis. 
"I'd definitely need a pillow."

"That *is* the pillow," she laughed. "You sit in the chair 
and put your head on the desk; you don't clear the whole 
thing and lie down!"

"Oh, is that how it works?" Clark answered in mock 
innocence. "Well, see, good thing I have a first-class 
reporter around to show me the ropes."

Lois rolled her eyes. "What would you do without me?"

He grinned at her. "I don't intend to find out."

"Smart boy," she told him, grinning back.

They smiled at each other for a moment, enjoying the 
company, but Clark didn't wait long to jump back into the 
conversation. "Well, no matter where you were sleeping, you 
don't seem any worse for wear after working over 
Christmas." He gave her another once-over, his voice 
becoming more complimentary, more sincere. "In fact, you 
look really great. Is that a new suit?"

"Well ... yeah," Lois responded, surprised but clearly 
pleased. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 
"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." Then she glanced 
at his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Except for that tie."

Surprised, Clark looked down at the little Santa-hat-clad-
snowmen decorating his chest. "Hey, it's the holiday 
season! I like it."

"Of course you do," she answered, patting his arm in a 
patronizing way.

Clark laughed out loud but couldn't help but tease her in 
return. "Now let me get something straight ... you notice 
the tie but you completely ignore the present on your desk? 
I think you're slipping, Lois."

Lois turned to follow his gaze. "A present? For me?" She 
quickly spied the rectangular holiday tin next to her phone 
and jumped off Clark's desk with excitement. "Oh! Is that 
what I think it is?"

Clark laughed as Lois quickly crossed the aisle to her desk 
and eagerly pried off the container's lid. "It is if you 
think it's cookies from my mom," he responded.

Lois was already biting into one, however. Her face was a 
picture of sheer delight. "Oh, *Clark*," she gushed. "These 
are *wonderful*."

He couldn't help but grin as he joined her at her desk. 
"I'm glad you like 'em. My mom makes the best chocolate-
chip cookies," he answered proudly.

Lois looked under the top layer of cookies. "Oh, and 
brownies, too!"

"Brownies?" Clark stepped in closer and craned his head 
over the tin in surprise. "Hey, no fair," he protested. "I 
didn't know she'd made those, too. Those are my favorites 
and she didn't give me any!"

The corners of Lois's mouth quirked at his exaggerated 
pout. "Well ..." she stalled, "I guess if you're nice to 
me, I can give you some." Then she smiled and broke off the 
corner of one. "Here," she said, lifting it to his lips.

Clark opened his mouth and let Lois feed him the bite of 
brownie. His face instantly matched her expression of 
delight, though he honestly couldn't tell if it was more 
from the rich taste of the brownie or the way she was 
standing so close to him, feeding him so intimately ... 
either way, it was sheer bliss. "Mmm," he sighed, closing 
his eyes.

"I'm glad you like it," she murmured.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that Lois was 
looking up at him, her hand placed affectionately on his 
chest. Clark swallowed as he stared into her eyes. She was 
so incredibly beautiful. And even though he was sure it was 
just his imagination, he could have sworn that Lois had 
actually sounded a little breathless just then. Suddenly a 
little breathless himself, Clark couldn't stop his gaze 
from flickering to her mouth, completely captivated by the 
way she absently ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. 
He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss 
her right then, and felt himself begin to lean towards her 
almost imperceptibly.

"Hey, guys, what do you have there?" a cheerful young voice 
called out suddenly from behind him.

Clark startled and took a half-step backwards. "Oh, uh, hi, 
Jimmy," he fumbled.

Lois stepped back as well, looking a little flustered. 
"Yeah, hi, Jimmy." She quickly made the quarter-turn back 
to her desk and placed the lid back on the tin. "Um, how 
was your Christmas?"

Jimmy looked at Lois quizzically. "It was fine ... but you 
knew that already. We talked about this yesterday, 
remember?"

Lois just stared at the young man for a moment, then 
blinked, as if just realizing what he'd said. "Oh, yeah... 
sorry. You went to your mom's, right?"

Jimmy nodded and expanded his friendly smile to include 
Clark. "Yeah, we did the big family dinner thing on 
Christmas Day," he answered brightly. "My Aunt Marie and 
Uncle Ron came over with my cousins Tim and Sue ..."

As Jimmy rambled on about his family's Christmas, Clark 
pasted an interested smile on his face, but inside, his 
thoughts were racing between excitement over being so close 
to Lois and disappointment over being interrupted. Had he 
really been imagining things, or had Lois seemed to be 
leaning towards him after feeding him the brownie? He 
couldn't really be sure, but it had almost seemed like she 
had been caught up in the intimate gesture as much as he'd 
been.

Clark gave himself a mental shake. No, clearly it was his 
imagination running away with him. They were at work, after 
all, and if there was one thing he knew about Lois, it was 
that she was very protective of her reputation when it came 
to relationships with her co-workers. She'd been burned 
before, that much he knew for sure, and it had even seemed 
to make her swear off all men for awhile. At least, that 
was what he'd been able to put together when he'd first 
joined the Planet's staff, between some overheard gossip 
and things that Lois herself had told him.

Still, he couldn't deny the fact that the two of them had 
become much more than co-workers in the year and a half 
that they'd known each other. They'd started out as rivals, 
in a sense, until he'd been able to convince Lois that he 
wasn't a threat to her professionally. Before that, 
however, he'd had to convince her that he was her equal -- 
neither a hack, nor a doormat to be bossed around -- which 
had made the early weeks of their working relationship 
interesting, to say the least. But they'd become friendly 
with each other within a few weeks, and definite friends 
within a few months. He could honestly say that he now 
considered Lois to be his best friend, and he was pretty 
sure that she felt the same way about him. They'd certainly 
had some tests to their friendship -- primarily her 
engagement to Lex Luthor last spring -- but they had come 
through them together, and in the end, their trials had 
only strengthened their feelings for each other.

Not that it did him any good right now, however, with Jimmy 
having inserted himself in the conversation. Clark might 
not know exactly what to do to make Lois reconsider his 
position as a platonic buddy, but he certainly knew it 
didn't include flirting with her in front of any of their 
co-workers. No, he was already treading on dangerous ground 
by hoping she might be willing to date him at all. Making 
her uncomfortable at work -- or worse, the object of 
speculation or gossip -- was a sure-fire way to lose not 
only her friendship, but possibly their professional 
partnership as well.

But it wasn't a race, Clark told himself firmly, as he 
politely managed to excuse himself from the conversation 
and return to his desk. Yes, he was anxious to have Lois 
see him as boyfriend material, but it wasn't something that 
he was going to be able to do in a single conversation, no 
matter how many compliments he paid her on her appearance 
or how many chocolaty treats he left her. He wanted a 
relationship, not a seduction.

Though he had to admit that sometimes, especially when Lois 
caught his eye from across the aisle and smiled at him the 
way she just had, it was really hard to be patient.

*****

At a little after five o'clock that afternoon, Lois leaned 
back in her chair and rotated her neck against the kinks 
that were forming. She'd been steadily busy all day, but 
now that she'd finished typing up her article covering a 
series of break-ins that had occurred over the weekend and 
sent it to Perry, she could finally sit back and relax.

All in all, it had been a pretty quiet day in Metropolis, 
which was good, considering half the newsroom staff was 
still out on vacation. The news never stopped, not even for 
the holidays, but that didn't mean that those reporters and 
support staff with families didn't want to use their 
vacation days. Unfortunately, that often meant extra work 
for the people who remained in the newsroom.

Today, however, had been a pretty good day. It was 
certainly nice to have her partner back. It was amazing how 
much she had missed him while he'd been gone, especially 
considering how long she had fought even having a partner. 
Not that Lois couldn't work alone, far from it. She'd even 
taken the opportunity to do some legwork on some of her own 
investigations while Clark had been on vacation; after all, 
just because they were writing partners for many of their 
stories didn't mean that neither of them ever worked 
independently anymore. But still, these last three days in 
the newsroom hadn't been the same without Clark.

Lifting her head, Lois studied her partner as he talked on 
the phone. He was thoroughly engrossed in his conversation, 
which seemed to be a phone interview from the way he was 
taking copious notes as he listened. It certainly hadn't 
taken long for Clark to get back into the swing of things 
at work, she mused. Still, his vacation seemed to have done 
him a world of good, if his happy and relaxed attitude 
since he'd come in this morning was any indication. He 
seemed different today for some reason, though she couldn't 
put her finger on exactly how.

It was probably just Clark's positive feelings over the 
holiday season, Lois thought with a smile, shaking her head 
as she remembered how infectious his grin could be. 
Lunchtime, especially, had been very enjoyable, even though 
it hadn't been anything more exciting than the two of them 
catching a table at their favorite nearby Chinese 
restaurant. The food had been the same, the atmosphere had 
been the same, but Clark had just seemed more ... well, 
*Clark*, today. He'd been more solicitous than usual, 
smiling at her a little more often, cracking a few more 
jokes ... why, exactly, Lois wasn't quite sure, but 
whatever it was, she wasn't complaining. For some reason, 
Clark's good moods often seemed to rub off on her.

Of course, the fact that he had brought her chocolate this 
morning might have had something to do with her good mood -
- chocolate *always* made her happy. Lois got a slightly 
dreamy look on her face as she remembered how incredible 
Martha's cookies had tasted. Sheer heaven! And though Lois 
hadn't tasted the brownies yet, Clark's earlier reaction 
had let her know that they were equally delicious. His eyes 
had darkened, his breathing had become more shallow, and 
she could have sworn she'd felt his heart-rate increase 
under the gentle pressure of her hand on his chest ... then 
the tip of his tongue had reached out ever so seductively 
to capture the last bit of taste from those gorgeous lips--

Lois jerked herself alert in her seat. Where had *that* 
thought come from?? She gave her head a shake to clear it. 
'Chocolate, Lois, you were thinking about chocolate,' she 
reminded herself firmly. Clark's look of pure rapture when 
she'd fed him had no bearing on this train of thought, 
regardless of how completely it had captivated her or how 
accelerated her own breathing had become-- With a slight 
gasp, Lois quickly rolled her chair back from the desk. 
Darn it, she had just done it again!

She shot Clark a guilty look, hoping that he hadn't seen 
her abrupt awakenings from her daydream. There was no way 
she could explain *that* one to him. Thankfully, though, he 
was still fully occupied with his phone call. Lois breathed 
a sigh of relief ... then immediately fumbled for the 
cookie tin and grabbed a brownie for herself.

The chocolate did the trick, and by the time Clark had hung 
up the phone a few minutes later, Lois was back to her old 
self again. She smiled serenely as he caught her eye. "Busy 
day, huh?" she asked, nodding to the notepad in front of 
him.

Clark nodded. "Yeah, that was my source down at the Mayor's 
office. I had him looking into a few things last week and 
he finally got back to me."

"Looks like he had a lot of information ... you were on the 
phone a long time."

Putting his hands behind his head, Clark tipped back in his 
chair and gave Lois a grin. "Checking up on me?"

Lois's eyes widened slightly as she remembered how closely 
she had been watching him a few moments before, but she 
quickly reminded herself that Clark had been oblivious to 
that. Still, the best defense was a good offense. "Just 
making sure you can keep up with me, partner," she threw 
back cockily. "I've already finished my stories for the day 
... you were just being too slow, is all."

"Oh, is that right?" he asked with an amused smile. "And I 
suppose you've just been waiting around for me."

"Me? Waiting? Never!" she exclaimed, giving her head a 
shake of what she hoped looked like astonishment over the 
question. "I wasn't waiting at all." To prove the point, 
she shut down her computer, then turned off her desk lamp. 
"In fact, I was just getting ready to leave for the day."

"You're leaving?" Clark asked quickly. A little too 
quickly, she thought vaguely. And had he sounded almost 
disappointed?

Lois furrowed her brow. "Why? Do you need my help with 
something?" she asked, pausing in the middle of gathering 
her belongings. Then she added, a little too quickly 
herself, "'Cause I can stay if you do--"

"No, no ... I just--" He shook his head, clearly struggling 
for his reply. He finally waved his hand in a casual 
motion. "I was just wondering ... what are you doing for 
dinner?"

"Oh," Lois answered, puzzled over why such a simple 
question would perplex him. She shrugged. "Nothing, really. 
I've got a fridge full of leftovers that I need to eat."

"Leftovers from Christmas Eve?"

She nodded, then gave a resigned laugh. "They're going to 
go bad before I can eat them all, though ... I had no idea 
how much meat there was on a whole turkey!"

Clark smiled. "You did get a pretty big bird ... looked 
great on the table, but there was a lot of food. Not that I 
minded," he added quickly. "That was a *great* dinner."

"Thanks," she said sincerely. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. It 
will be a shame to have to throw it out."

After only the slightest of hesitations, Clark grinned. "So 
how about I come over and help you eat some of it?"

Lois sat up straighter. "Seriously? Yeah, that'd be great. 
You think the food will still be OK, then? I wasn't sure 
how long it could stay in the refrigerator. I forgot to ask 
you about that before you left."

Clark nodded. "I'll check when I get there, but it should 
be fine. Still, we should get everything into the freezer 
as soon as possible. Do you want the turkey frozen in large 
chunks or meal-sized portions?"

Lois just stared at him. "What's the difference?"

With a laugh, Clark shut down his own computer and began 
straightening his desk. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it 
when I get there."

"Definitely a better idea," Lois replied.

Just as she was putting on her coat, however, Perry stuck 
his head out of his office. "Lois? Can I see you for a 
minute, please?"

"Me, too, Chief?" Clark asked, starting to rise from his 
seat.

Perry shook his head. "No, just Lois ... it won't take 
long."

Lois shrugged at her partner. "I guess I'll be out in a 
minute and then we can go."

"Sounds good to me," he said warmly.

***** 2

A little over two hours and a couple of generous servings 
of dinner later, Clark stood at Lois's kitchen counter, his 
shirt sleeves rolled partway up his forearms and his hands 
working the last bit of meat off the turkey frame. Foil-
wrapped packets of sliced meat were stacked beside him, 
along with a very doubtful-looking Lois holding a black 
permanent marker.

"Now you want me to write *what* on these, exactly?"

"I told you ... you write what's inside and today's date."

With another look that clearly indicated she'd thought he'd 
lost track of his senses, Lois nevertheless took a foil 
packet and labeled it. "And why am I doing this, again?"

Clark made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh and 
shot her a sideways look. "Because months from now, when 
you're digging through your freezer in search of more 
Monster Choco-Chunk ice cream, you're going to come across 
all of these little foil packets and have absolutely no 
idea what's in them."

Lois set down the first packet and picked up another one 
with a roll of her eyes. "Some of us have excellent 
memories," she said pointedly.

"Some of us do," Clark replied, "but you're not one of 
them." He quickly moved his hips out of the way of her 
swatting hand, laughing. "Hey! Don't hit the guy up to his 
elbows in dead bird."

By this time, Lois was laughing, too. "You keep pushing 
your compulsive tendencies on me and you might end up 
joining that bird."

"Compulsive tendencies, ha! You'll thank me come spring, 
when you're pulling out beautifully sliced turkey meat for 
dinner."

She snorted but kept labeling the packets. "And I suppose 
you're going to expect to come over and help me eat it 
again?"

"Well, someone needs to make more stuffing," he said with a 
wink.

Lois pointed the open-tipped marker at him. "You didn't 
seem to mind my stuffing on Christmas Eve, Mr. I'll-Have-
Fourths! Not to mention the two helpings you had tonight."

"Well, anyone can get lucky once ... but for the future, we 
can't be too careful about food poisoning, now can we?" 
When Lois audibly gasped and pretended to lunge at him with 
the marker, Clark laughed and quickly jumped out of the 
way. He shook a turkey-covered finger at her. "Geez, 
careful with that thing! That's permanent ink."

Satisfied that she'd gotten a sufficient reaction, Lois 
just smirked at him. "Come a little closer and I'll show 
you what it looks like on your shirt," she dared. "I have 
all sorts of ideas for things I can write on there."

"Ooo, she's getting tough." Laughing, Clark took a step 
towards her, waggling his fingers. "Wonder what turkey fat 
looks like in hair. Why don't we find out?" With that, he, 
too, lunged, reaching towards her head.

Lois squealed loudly and jumped back, but quickly put 
herself into a self-defense position, wielding the marker 
like a sword. After a beat, Clark mimicked her, wielding 
his ... fingers, which made them both laugh out loud.

"I think what we have here," Clark finally mused with a 
grin, "is an old-fashioned stand-off."

"True," Lois observed, "but turkey grease can be washed 
out." She gave him a confident look. "Can ink?"

Clark pondered this for a moment, then straightened. "All 
right, you win," he agreed. "Ink beats grease."

"Is that a new form of rock, paper, scissors?"

"Just finishing labeling the packets, please!"

Lois chuckled and returned to her place next to him at the 
counter. When she got to the last package of meat, however, 
she furrowed her brow. "Why did you put all the little 
chips of dark meat together instead dividing it up into a 
bunch of smaller packages like you did for the slices?"

"Because that's for the soup."

If she'd looked at him before like he were crazy, this 
time, her incredulous stare was even worse. "The *what*?"

It was Clark's turn to roll his eyes. "You heard me, the 
soup ... you can't just throw away the turkey carcass 
without making soup."

"Oh, trust me on this one, Clark ... yes, you can."

He chuckled. "Just get me that storage bag, OK?" When Lois 
handed him the large zipper-topped bag from the back of the 
counter, he began filling it with bones. "See, we'll just 
put these into your freezer with the meat and we can make 
soup out of it later this winter."

Lois looked horrified. "I don't want bone soup!"

It was his turn to stare at her as if she was nuts. "God, 
Lois, I'd smack my forehead if I didn't think I'd get 
grease in my hair ... you don't eat the bones! You use them 
to make broth. Haven't you ever made soup before?"

"Yeah," she responded dryly. "It's called opening a can. 
Sometimes I even go a little wild and heat it up."

Giving the sky his best 'give me strength' look, Clark 
began to wash his hands in the sink. "There's more to life 
than processed food and carry-out, Lois. I would think 
you'd have figured that out, after all the trouble you went 
to on your Christmas dinner."

"Ah, but I bought most of it ... let's not get crazy here."

Clark turned off the water and accepted the hand towel Lois 
was holding out for him. He couldn't help but smile. "Tell 
you what, let me get a little crazy on the soup and then 
you tell me which tastes better."

She gave a long-suffering sigh, but the smile on her face 
gave her away as she began filling her freezer with the 
packages of meat. "Deal."

Clark, however, was on to more important matters. "So do 
you have any more of that pumpkin pie? I think we've earned 
our dessert, don't you think?"

Lois shook her head apologetically. "Sorry, it was the 
first thing to go." After thinking for a few seconds, 
however, she disappeared into the living room. When she 
returned a moment later, she was holding a familiar tin. 
"But we have cookies!" she said brightly.

"Perfect!" Clark exclaimed. As Lois pulled down two clean 
plates from her cupboard, Clark opened the refrigerator 
door. "Got any milk?" he asked.

"Yeah, there should be some," Lois answered, placing a 
cookie and a brownie on each of their plates.

"Found it." Clark pulled out the half-empty container and 
set it on the counter. "Is it fresh?"

"Of course it's fresh," Lois responded a little indignantly 
as she pulled down two glasses.

"OK," he said, twisting off the plastic cap and giving the 
container's opening a sniff, just in case. Deciding it 
smelled fine, he poured them each a drink.

Lois put her hands on her hips as she watched him. "I can't 
believe you just did that."

Clark glanced over at her as he replaced the cap. "What?"

"You sniffed my milk."

"So?"

"I just told you it was fine, and you still smelled it! In 
some countries, that's probably considered a dueling 
offense." The smirk on her face belied the annoyance in her 
tone.

Clark started to laugh. "Lois, you forget who you're 
talking to here."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

He returned the milk to the refrigerator and turned to her, 
grinning. "It means that I have personally witnessed at 
least three different occasions where you have pulled your 
milk out, taken a drink straight from the carton, *cringed* 
... and then *put it back in*!"

Her mouth dropped open, but he could see she was trying not 
to laugh. "I have never done that!"

"Have so!"

"Have not!"

He offered her one of the glasses, his eyes twinkling. "You 
want it or not?"

After looking at him speculatively for a moment, Lois 
finally took the milk and carried her plate to the table. 
"Well, OK ... but only since it smells all right."

Clark was still laughing as he joined her.

As they enjoyed their dessert at the table, however, a 
silence came over the room and Clark noticed that Lois 
looked a little melancholy, lost in her own thoughts. He 
studied her, concerned. She'd done this a few other times 
since they'd left work tonight, but so far, she'd refused 
to tell him exactly what it was that was bothering her. It 
had all started after she'd come out of Perry's office, 
just before they'd left.

"Hey," he said softly. "You OK?"

Lois woke from her thoughts and gave him a little smile. 
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"If this is about the food poisoning crack, I was just 
kidding."

"What?" She waved him off. "Oh, no ... it's not about 
that."

"Then it is about something." Clark studied her for a 
moment, debating whether to mention his theory of when it 
had started, then deciding to go ahead. "You had that same 
look on your face at the Planet, right before we got on the 
elevator," he said, his voice quiet. When her face 
registered her shock -- and acceptance -- he knew he'd 
guessed right and instantly became more concerned. "Is 
everything all right, Lois? What happened in Perry's 
office?"

At his question, she sighed, resigned. "I guess you're 
going to find out soon enough."

Clark sat up straighter, now getting really concerned. 
"Lois? What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong," she quickly reassured him, 
standing up from the table. She gave him a pat on the 
shoulder as she crossed into the living room. "At least, I 
hope not."

He followed her with his eyes. "You say that, but you still 
look nervous."

She turned to him, perplexed. "I do?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah. Well, at least you do to me," he 
added. "Come on, Lois, you're worrying me here. I know you 
well enough to tell when something is bothering you."

She sighed again, but this time there was a ghost of a 
smile on her face. "Yeah, I guess you do," she said softly. 
She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a few sheets 
of paper. "I guess I should just show you."

When Lois returned to the table, Clark took the papers from 
her outstretched hand. "What are these?"

Lois sat down in her chair and began to fiddle with her 
empty plate. "It's running in tomorrow morning's Lifestyle 
section," she finally answered. "That's what Perry called 
me into his office to tell me."

"It's yours?" At her nod, he continued, confused. "Why are 
you worried about it?"

Lois just shook her head. "Just read it."

With a puzzled look, Clark began to read the text she'd 
given him. He started out by skimming, but when he reached 
the middle of the first page, he sat up straighter and 
began to re-read from the beginning, not wanting to miss a 
single word. While he'd been in Smallville, Lois had 
returned to the Coates Orphanage alone and had interviewed 
the director as well as several of the children. The 
article that had come from these conversations was not the 
hard-hitting news story that Lois Lane was famous for 
writing, but rather, an insightful, compassionate essay 
sure to encourage the citizens of Metropolis to consider 
opening their home to a child in need of a family.

When Clark had finished reading, he sat back in his chair, 
stunned. "Wow ... Lois, I don't know what to say."

"Are you mad?" she asked quietly.

"Mad?" He was now even more confused than before. "Why in 
the world would I be mad? Lois, this is amazing."

She flushed a little. "I wouldn't say *amazing* ..."

"You'd prefer outstanding? Brilliant? Awe-inspiring?"

His gentle teasing earned him a smile, but Lois was clearly 
still concerned about something. "Clark ..."

Clark furrowed his brow, puzzled. Lois wasn't normally this 
reticent about her stories -- actually, she was *never* 
reticent about her stories, especially not ones that were 
this good. "I'm missing something here ... why did you 
think I'd be upset? I'm *thrilled* about this, Lois."

"Even though it was your story to begin with?" she asked 
hesitantly.

Clark raised his head, understanding finally dawning. "Ohhh 
... is that what this is about? Lois ... no. Geez, I love 
that you wrote this. I told you--"

"I didn't want you think I was trying to take over your 
story, that's all." Clearly relieved, her voice began to 
return to its normal tone as she explained. "I wasn't even 
planning to submit it until after you got back. I figured 
we could work on it together. But Perry started reading 
over my shoulder and he liked it, and ... well ..."

"And he decided to run it in tomorrow morning's paper," 
Clark finished for her.

"Yeah. Though only in Lifestyles ... he said it was too 
touchy-feely to make it into the city section."

Clark couldn't help but grin. "Hey, isn't that what you 
always accuse me of writing?" At her embarrassed 
expression, his smile turned reassuring. "Don't knock 
Lifestyles ... this is going to impact a lot of people, 
Lois. You should be proud that Perry wants to highlight it. 
I know I'm proud of you."

Lois sighed in relief. "So you liked it?"

"Liked it? I told you, I'm thrilled!" Clark leaned forward 
and covered her hand with his. "Lois," he said intently. 
"What you did ... going back to the Coates Orphanage and 
spending more time with them, writing about them on such a 
personal level ... it's incredible." He stared into her 
eyes, once again in awe of the amazing woman before him. 
"And it means a lot to me that you would follow up on it 
like that."

Her voice became more serious. "He told me what you did, 
Clark."

"Who?"

"Santa--" She broke off in mild amusement. "Now you've got 
me doing it! The director of the orphanage--"

Clark smiled. "I know who you mean."

"He told me what you did ... how you worked with Superman 
to get all those toys donated."

Clark's eyes widened slightly and he felt himself blushing 
a bit under the intensity of her gaze. He sat back a little 
in his seat, letting his hand slip off hers. "Oh, well ... 
I didn't really do much. Superman--"

Lois shook her head, cutting him off. "You worked together. 
Santa told me. He said it was all your idea." This time it 
was Lois who leaned forward, covering Clark's hand with 
hers in imitation of his gesture. "And he told me that you 
bought that big Christmas tree in their play room with your 
own money, that it wasn't donated by a business the way you 
said it was."

Caught in the tenderness of her gaze and the softness of 
her touch, Clark found himself unable to answer for a 
moment. Finally he gave a small shrug and responded softly, 
"Every kid deserves a tree at Christmas, Lois. I just 
wanted to give them that."

Lois nodded. "I know." Her voice grew even more tender. 
"See, I didn't do anything special, Clark. I just wrote the 
story that I knew you wanted to but weren't here to do." 
She gave his hand a little squeeze. "And I want you to know 
that I think what you did was pretty terrific."

"Wow," he breathed, staring into her eyes. He hadn't 
thought it possible, but suddenly, he loved her more. He'd 
started out trying to compliment her, to show her how much 
he loved her work ... and she'd turned it around to make 
him feel like a hero. "How did I get so lucky to meet you?" 
he whispered.

In response, Lois just smiled and sat back. "Just won the 
friend lottery, I guess," she replied impishly.

Laughing, Clark suddenly found he couldn't get the grin off 
his face. Yes, he definitely loved her more.

They talked for several more minutes about Lois's 
experiences at the orphanage, but it wasn't long before 
Clark noticed the time. He sat back reluctantly. "I can't 
believe it's almost eight o'clock. Seems like I just got 
here."

Lois glanced at the clock. "It's still early; you don't 
have to go."

Clark picked up their plates and empty milk glasses and 
carried them over to Lois's sink. "Unfortunately, I do ... 
I've got a ton of stuff to catch up on after being gone."

"Unpacking?" Lois guessed as she followed him into the 
kitchen and began rinsing out the glasses.

He nodded. "Yeah, and laundry and paying bills and a whole 
bunch of other stuff." He also knew he had to spend at 
least a few hours patrolling this evening, having gotten by 
with the bare minimum over the days he was in Smallville. 
But this, of course, he didn't mention out loud. "So what 
are you going to do tonight?" he asked conversationally as 
they made their way back into the living room.

"Oh, I don't know, nothing exciting." Lois waved at the 
television. "It's Hepburn and Tracey night on the Classic 
Movie Channel ... I think I'll pop some popcorn and watch 
some of it."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, putting on his coat. "What's playing?"

"I think they're starting with 'Woman of the Year', then 
'Pat and Mike', and ending with 'Guess Who's Coming To 
Dinner'. You know, early, middle and late, of the ones they 
made together." She smiled. "Gotta love Hepburn and 
Tracey."

Clark grinned. "See now, I wouldn't have guessed you would 
like 'Woman of the Year'. Doesn't the hard-bitten newswoman 
try to give up her career to be with the man she loves?"

Lois waved him off, refusing to take the bait. "Yeah, yeah, 
but that's just the end ... I just try to ignore that part 
and enjoy the rest. And you have to admit," she added with 
a grin, "that the scene with her making a mess of the 
kitchen, well, that could be me."

"No comment!" Clark laughed. "I like it, too ... it's not 
exactly politically correct in parts, but for the early 
1940's, it was pretty revolutionary, with the gender role 
reversal and all."

She nodded. "And, of course, the acting is top notch." Lois 
gave a contented sigh. "You can just see them falling in 
love."

"Which they were doing in real life as well," Clark added, 
feeling himself melt as he saw the happy expression on 
Lois's face. For all her bluster about being 'all work and 
no play', he knew that there was so much more to her than 
being 'Mad Dog Lane', and her secret addiction to sappy 
romantic movies was no exception. He felt honored that she 
was letting him in on this little corner of her life. 
"Hepburn and Tracey ... theirs was one of the great love 
affairs," he finished softly, staring into her eyes.

Lois met his gaze for a long moment. "Yeah," she whispered, 
then, flushing slightly, she added, "And, well, you have to 
love movies where the characters are reporters, right?"

Clark smiled and lowered his gaze. "Yeah, gotta love 
those... like Cary Grant in 'Once Upon A Honeymoon'. He was 
a reporter in that one, wasn't he?"

"Yup," she answered. "Though my all-time favorite movie 
reporter is Clark Gable in 'It Happened One Night'." Lois 
sighed again, her eyes dreamy. "I love that movie."

"You know, I've heard of that one but I've never seen it," 
Clark said, leaning against the front door. "I know it's a 
classic, but I've never managed to catch it. It's a really 
old one."

"1934," she clarified immediately.

Clark raised an eyebrow, impressed. "You even know the 
year? And here I didn't know you were such an old movie 
buff."

Lois gave a little shrug. "I'm not, really ... I just love 
that movie." She shook her head with a smile. "And I can't 
believe you haven't seen it! It's funny and romantic and 
sweet ... oh, Clark, it's *you*." As soon as the words were 
out of her mouth, however, Lois stilled, as if realizing 
what she'd just said. "Uh, I mean, you know," she fumbled, 
"with him being a reporter and all."

Clark stared at her for a moment with a little smile on his 
face. Despite her attempts to cover it up, he was pretty 
sure she'd meant that as a really big compliment. His smile 
grew more pleased at the realization. "And with the star 
being named Clark and all," he added, letting her off the 
hook.

"Right, Clark Gable ..." Lois trailed off and tucked a 
strand of hair behind one ear. "Anyway, if it's ever on, 
you should see it. I think you'd like it."

"I'm sure I would," he answered softly. Clark glanced over 
his shoulder to the door. "Well, I guess I should go ... 
let you watch your movies."

"Yeah ... I guess so."

Clark hesitated as he noticed the way she was staring up at 
him, waiting. He couldn't help but remember the last time 
he stood in this doorway, saying goodbye for the night. On 
Christmas Eve, he had pressed a gentle kiss to her 
forehead, unable to risk pulling her into his arms and 
kissing her the way he'd always dreamed of doing. Tonight, 
as well, he longed to lower his mouth to hers, but the fear 
of scaring her off, of ruining what momentum he'd built, 
was very strong. Uncertain, he turned and opened the door, 
then paused again. "Lois--"

"Clark--"

They each chuckled as they spoke at the same time. "We do 
that a lot, don't we?" he said with a smile.

"I guess we do," she agreed.

"Well, anyway ... I had a really good time tonight."

She smiled. "Me too. Thanks for ..." She gestured towards 
the kitchen. "Helping me with the leftovers.

"Anytime." When another pause fill the air, Clark glanced 
once more towards the open doorway. "OK, I'm gonna go."

Lois worried her bottom lip with her teeth, watching him. 
"Good night, Clark."

He exhaled, then gave her a warm smile. "Good night, Lois."

She smiled back, just as warmly. "Have fun with your 
laundry."

His grin came easily and he felt himself relax. "Have fun 
with your movies."

"Thanks," she said, then to his shock, she impulsively 
stepped forward and gave him a hug.

Clark caught his breath in surprise, but it didn't take him 
long to wrap his arms around her and return the gesture. 
Almost of their own volition, he felt his eyes drift closed 
as his cheek brushed against her hair, and he inhaled 
deeply, taking in her scent and recommitting it to memory.

All too soon, Lois stepped back. Still, it didn't take 
super-powers to notice that her eyes seemed to have 
darkened and her face was slightly flushed. Giving her a 
slow smile, Clark ran his hand gently down her arm. "Good 
night, Lois," he murmured, then forced himself to back out 
of the open door before he did something he knew could risk 
everything. Still, a shiver went through him when he heard 
the breathless quality in her voice as she replied ...

"Good night, Clark."

*****

As the closing credits of 'Woman Of The Year' rolled across 
the television screen, Lois absently lifted a piece of 
popcorn to her lips, barely noticing that the movie had 
ended. Despite her usual enjoyment of Katharine Hepburn 
movies, she just didn't seem to be able to concentrate 
tonight. Instead, her mind kept drifting to her partner and 
the time they'd spent together this evening.

Clark had been wonderful, really wonderful, about her 
orphanage story. She'd been quite worried about what he 
would think, whether he would be upset that she had picked 
up where he had left off with the children, so his 
reactionhad been a relief. Not that Clark had seen the 
Coates home as simply an opportunity for a story -- Lois 
was pretty sure that he would have never written about his 
own involvement in the efforts to give these children a 
proper Christmas, if he had written about them at all. 
Still, after seeing how wistfully he had looked at some of 
the orphanage's residents, and hearing about all the time 
and money he had donated this week, Lois had realized that 
these children were very important to him ... and that he 
would want to do more to ensure they would not be 
forgotten. And sure enough, Clark had been nothing but 
supportive of her work. He had complimented her writing, 
and had seemed genuinely moved when he'd realized she'd 
continued the work he had started.

Smiling slightly, Lois shook her head in disbelief. Truth 
be told, she was kind of amazed herself that she had felt 
drawn to the children. She certainly had never been very 
enamored of them before. In fact, a year or two ago, she 
probably would have dismissed the very idea of doing a 
story on how orphans can get lost in the system as being 
not worth her time as a serious journalist. But there was 
something about the way Clark had interacted with them, 
something about the way 'Santa' had described them as being 
drawn to her partner, that had made her want to get 
involved as well.

Not that she should have been surprised that children would 
be drawn to Clark. There was just something about him ... 
the way he smiled, the way he laughed, the way he always 
looked people in the eye when they spoke to him. He always 
made Lois feel as though she were the most important person 
in the world to him when they talked. It was no surprise 
that other people would have the same reaction to him.

The way he had looked at her tonight, for example -- it had 
been captivating. Had he always gazed at her like that and 
she just hadn't noticed it before?

It was certainly possible ... for some reason, she'd seemed 
a bit more aware of Clark recently. Oh, he'd always been 
warm and friendly and affectionate with her, there was no 
doubt of that. But lately ... this month, this week, today, 
especially ... he'd seemed even more, well, *more*. His 
smile had seemed brighter, his expression more fascinated, 
his tone more affectionate. It was almost as if he was 
starting to think of her as something more than just a 
friend ...

Setting the half-empty popcorn bowl on the coffee table 
with a thump, Lois shook her head, quickly dismissing the 
thought. Clearly her mind was playing tricks on her. Clark 
had always been friendly towards her; it was just his way. 
He was like that towards everyone! Nothing had changed 
between them.

The fact that she had started to notice these little 
changes in his demeanor after they had shared that little 
kiss on Christmas Eve, well, it was just a coincidence ... 
or all in her imagination. That he had been there for her 
when she'd needed him was clearly making her see things 
that weren't there. Clark's feelings for her hadn't 
changed.

Still, she could have sworn that the look she'd seen on his 
face once or twice today had looked vaguely familiar ... 
the way he had rested his chin on his hand and watched her, 
smiling the most fascinated smile ...

// "Don't fall for me, farmboy, I don't have time for it." 
//

Catching her breath as the words surfaced from somewhere in 
her memory, Lois sank more deeply into the couch. A year 
and a half ago, soon after they'd first met, she'd spoken 
those words to him after seeing a similarly enamored 
expression on his face. But could that possibly have been 
the same look she'd seen on his face today?

No ... that was impossible. Clark was her best friend, her 
partner ... and that was all she felt for him, as well. 
Sure, she found him attractive and wonderful to be around. 
But they were merely friends, just as the hug she'd given 
him tonight as he'd been leaving had merely been a friendly 
gesture.

Just an affectionate hug, between close friends ... nothing 
more.

And the fact that she had closed her eyes and inhaled his 
scent as they'd held each other ... the fact that her body 
was still tingling from the memory ... meant nothing at 
all.

***** 3

In the newsroom Thursday morning, Clark's fingers flew over 
the keyboard, his eyes riveted to his notebook as he typed. 
Before he'd left for Smallville, he'd been looking into the 
city's redevelopment plans for a run-down section of the 
waterfront area, and his few days away from Metropolis had 
put him a bit behind on his deadline. Fortunately, his 
source at the Mayor's office had come through with the 
final piece of information he'd needed yesterday afternoon, 
and it had turned out to be just the link he'd needed to 
tie the parts of his story together. He knew that he should 
have typed it up yesterday, right after he'd hung up the 
phone, but he'd been more than a little distracted by the 
fact that Lois had agreed to have dinner with him. But he'd 
bargained with himself that getting in a little early this 
morning to work on the story would still allow him to make 
his deadline. Fortunately, Superman hadn't been needed this 
morning and he'd been able to get in bright and early.

With a flourish, Clark finished the last few paragraphs of 
new material and sat back with a satisfied nod to review 
what he'd just written. It was only then that he realized 
that Lois was leaning against the edge of his desk, holding 
two mugs of coffee in her hand.

He blinked, startled. "Whoa, I'm sorry; I didn't see you. 
How long have you been standing there?"

Lois just chuckled. "Long enough to realize you were lost 
to the world."

Clark grinned sheepishly. "I guess I was just--"

"In 'the zone'," Lois finished for him, smiling. "I 
recognized the look in your eye so I didn't want to 
interrupt." She handed him his mug. "Here, I got you some 
coffee."

With a grateful expression, Clark accepted the drink. 
"Thank you. I haven't had any yet this morning." He shook 
his head. "I must have really been distracted. I didn't 
even see you get my mug."

"It was on the corner of your desk," she explained 
offhandedly, taking a sip from her own steaming drink. "I 
just picked it up as I went past. No big deal."

Clark, however, couldn't help but feel exceedingly pleased. 
Lois's dismissal notwithstanding, he thought it *was* a big 
deal. He was usually the one who took the time to pick up 
her empty mug from her desk in the morning, not the other 
way around. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time she 
had made such a gesture. A little tingle of delight went up 
his spine, just as it had last night when she'd initiated 
that great hug. "Mmm, perfect," he said warmly, taking a 
sip. "Just the way I like it."

Lois gave a teasing roll of her eyes, even as the corners 
of her mouth quirked into a smile. "I don't know how you 
can drink it like that," she commented. "Full-fat cream and 
two sugars ... I swear, Clark, I gain two pounds just 
making it for you."

Encouraged by the way her eyes were twinkling at him, Clark 
allowed his gaze to sweep across her body for a brief 
second. "Well, I certainly can't see it anywhere," he 
replied, flashing her a flirty grin.

Lois's eyes widened for a moment at his obvious compliment, 
then she ducked her head slightly and blushed. When she met 
his eyes again, however, she was clearly pleased. "Good to 
know."

His grin broadened even further, but he hid it by taking 
another sip of his coffee. Amazingly, she seemed to be 
responding to his attempts to flirt with her, both 
yesterday and today, and it made him feel warm all over. 
Dinner last night had been wonderful, as well, and he 
longed to pick up where they'd left off. But right now, 
they were at work and he dared not risk pushing her too 
fast, especially when they were in the newsroom. Baby 
steps, he reminded himself. Baby steps.

"So what do we have going on today?" he asked, forcing 
himself to turn the subject back to work. "Any new and 
breaking stories to keep us busy?"

"Well, I don't know about you," Lois replied, "but I'm 
going to spend the day with a couple of the restaurant 
inspectors with the Metropolis Health Department."

Clark nodded in recognition. "I remember you pitching that 
idea to Perry a few weeks ago. You finally got it set up, 
huh? I think it sounds really interesting."

She nodded. "I think so, too. Should make for a good 
story." Then she lowered her voice and added 
conspiratorially, "I'm hoping they'll find some really big 
violations."

Clark couldn't help but grin over her excitement. "You 
know, most people would hope that they don't find *any* 
violations. We eat in these places, Lois!"

She looked at him like he was nuts. "What profession are 
you in, Clark? Clean restaurants don't make for good copy."

"My mistake." He chuckled along with her. "So what time do 
you leave? Lunch time?"

Lois glanced at her watch. "No, I'm supposed to meet them 
at ten. I'm probably going to have to leave Perry's update 
meeting a bit early, actually."

As if on cue, Perry stuck his head out of his office and 
barked out, "Story meeting in five minutes, people!"

Nodding to their editor, Lois stood up and walked back to 
her desk.

It suddenly occurred to Clark, however, that with Lois out 
on a story, this was probably going to be the last time 
she'd be in the newsroom today. He'd been hoping to take 
her out to lunch again, then maybe to float the idea of 
getting together again tonight, but now it looked as if he 
wasn't going to have that luxury. If he wanted to see her 
tonight, this would be the time to ask. Yet he didn't want 
to come on too strong, or make it seem as if he were asking 
her out in the middle of the newsroom. Still, if he could 
make the invitation sound casual ...

"Hey, Lois," he called across the aisle. "You wouldn't 
happen to know how to ice skate, would you?"

She glanced up from the papers she'd been gathering. "Yeah, 
I guess so. Why?"

He picked up the notepad and pen he'd need for the meeting 
and walked over to her desk. "There was an article in the 
Lifestyle section last week," he explained, careful to 
keeping his voice natural, "about all the places to go 
skating in Metropolis. Turns out they have open skating 
over at Boulderman Center in the evenings and I thought it 
might be fun to go."

"I used to go skating there when I was a kid," she 
answered, smiling a bit at the memory. Then she wrinkled 
her nose and continued doubtfully, "I don't have skates 
anymore, though."

"I don't have any here, either, but the paper said they 
have a rental booth right there."

Lois considered it for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, it 
sounds like fun. We should go sometime." She placed her day 
planner on top of some file folders and picked the stack up 
in preparation for the meeting.

Clark hesitated as their colleagues began to file past them 
into the conference room. Lois was already moving towards 
the open door and he knew his window of opportunity was 
closing. "How 'bout tonight?"

That stopped her. "Tonight?"

"Yeah, like maybe around seven?" Clark swallowed as he 
noticed the perplexed look in her eye as she turned towards 
him, and he couldn't help but feel dismayed. He had clearly 
just crossed the line and come on too strong. She didn't 
look angry, but neither was she answering his question. 
Quickly, he continued, trying to make it clear he wasn't 
pressuring her. "I mean, unless you have other plans."

Lois furrowed her brow. "No," she started slowly. "It's not 
that ... it's just that I'm not sure how late I'm going to 
be working tonight. I have no idea how late health 
inspectors work."

"Oh. Oh!" Clark relaxed, relieved that her reluctance 
didn't seem to have anything to do with him. "They didn't 
tell you how late they would be working?"

She shook her head, then thought for a moment. "Tell you 
what ... let me call you this afternoon and let you know 
how it's going. I should have a better idea of my schedule 
then."

Clark nodded as they slipped into the room just as Perry 
was about to start the meeting. The idea that she seemed 
interested, and was going to call him later, perked him up 
significantly. "Sure ... I'll just keep my cell phone on, 
so you can reach me if I have to go out."

Lois pulled up a chair and sat down. "Sounds good."

*****

"Thanks, Superman, we really appreciate your help."

Clark smiled at the state trooper's comment before making 
his way towards the car which was sitting the middle of the 
road. Fortunately, there were no injured people to attend 
to -- a car had simply broken down in the center of the 
three-lane expressway. But occurring at the peak of rush 
hour traffic, it had caused cars to back up for several 
miles before the police had arrived. Fortunately, Superman 
had been passing overhead on his way back from responding 
to a bank alarm, and had offered to lend a hand. It wasn't 
a big job; it wouldn't take more than a few seconds. But it 
would allow the road to be cleared much faster than waiting 
for a tow-truck.

Carefully levitating the car, Clark lifted the vehicle over 
his head and floated towards the snow-covered median 
dividing the north and southbound portions of the 
expressway. He could hear cheers coming from the people in 
their cars as he gently set the car down on the shoulder, 
but he didn't let them inflate his ego. He was glad to help 
where he could, and he couldn't deny that, at least today, 
he was happy to have the distraction.

He had worked steadily on his city redevelopment story for 
most of the day, confirming his source's information and 
incorporating the changes that Perry had suggested when 
they'd conferred on the story. Still, the time had passed 
slowly without Lois, or at least, it had once mid-afternoon 
had arrived and his phone had remained stubbornly silent. 
Hearing the bank alarm at about five-thirty had almost been 
a relief as he'd sought to fight the slight depression 
coming over him. The stalled vehicle on the expressway had 
been but one more welcome distraction.

But now things were quiet again, and as he stood in the 
median, watching traffic begin to flow in the darkening 
December evening, Clark could no longer deny the proof that 
afternoon had long since passed ... and that Lois had never 
called. Clark wasn't upset with his partner for getting 
tied up with her story; after all, she had been quite clear 
about the fact that she wasn't sure what her schedule was 
going to be for the day. And it wasn't as if they had set 
up their plans in advance -- he had certainly sprung the 
ice-skating idea on her from out of the blue. Still, he 
couldn't help but feel disappointed that their evening 
together wasn't going to happen.

Hiding his private thoughts, Superman smiled congenially as 
he shook the hands with the police officers and the owner 
of the stalled vehicle. But in the back of his mind, Clark 
couldn't help but wonder if his behavior over the last few 
days had somehow turned Lois off. He'd been careful not to 
come on too strong, to keep things light and friendly, even 
while letting his eyes twinkle at her a little more than 
usual and his grin become a little wider. And Lois had 
seemed to respond. Several times yesterday, he'd caught her 
studying him when she thought he couldn't tell, only to 
flush slightly when they did make eye contact. And last 
night, after their conversation had ranged from silly to 
affectionate to caring, Lois had given him that wonderful 
hug as he'd left. Even this morning, she'd seemed more 
attentive than she had been in the past ... getting him 
coffee, ducking her head and looking at him from under her 
lashes when he'd complimented her appearance, patting his 
arm affectionately when she'd left the story meeting early 
... it was enough to make him want to pull her into his 
arms and kiss her until they were both gasping for breath 
....

Clark sighed. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He just had 
to be patient, as hard as it was. If Lois was acting 
skittish after he'd attempted to see her two nights in a 
row, then he'd just have to back off. He could find other 
things to do in the evenings. Superman was always needed 
somewhere. Maybe he could even expand his patrols to other 
cities for a few days to try to distract himself out of the 
fact that Lois wasn't as interested in spending time with 
him outside work as he was in spending time with her ... he 
could even start tonight ...

Just then, a faint buzzing reached his ears. Although in 
the middle of shaking hands with the final police officer, 
Clark couldn't help but look startled as realized where the 
noise was coming from.

The police officer also recognized the sound and it didn't 
take him long to zero in on the source. He craned his head 
to look behind the superhero. "Um, Superman? Your ... cape 
is ringing."

Eyes widening slightly, Clark quickly reached behind his 
back and fumbled with the phone which had been clipped to 
the back of his belt. "Uh, excuse me," he said to the 
officer, trying not to look as flustered as he felt. "I 
need to ... take this call." Without waiting for a 
response, he flew straight up into the air with a whoosh. 
Only when he was sure he was high enough to ensure his 
privacy did he answer the phone. The last thing he needed 
was for anyone to hear Superman taking Clark Kent's phone 
calls. "H--hello?" he asked cautiously.

"Clark?"

Lois's voice was like music to his ears and he couldn't 
help but smile and sigh in relief. "Hi!" he said brightly, 
glad that he had decided to take to the sky. "I was 
wondering when I'd hear from you."

"I'm sorry ... I meant to call earlier."

"That's OK; I figured you just got busy."

"Yeah, I did, but it's been going really well. As a matter 
of fact, we've finished up the inspections for today and 
are getting a bite to eat so I can ask some background 
questions."

"Oh ..." he said slowly, his good mood over her call 
beginning to fade -- he should have known better than to 
hope things would have gone smoothly. Still, he knew that 
her job came first and he wasn't about to make her feel 
guilty for it. He was careful to keep the disappointment 
out of his voice when he responded. "Well, that's great, 
Lois; I'm glad the story is going well. You have a good 
evening, then, and I'll just see you in the morning."

To his surprise, Lois's voice sounded almost as 
disappointed as he felt. "You don't want to go skating 
anymore?"

Clark furrowed his brow in confusion. "I thought you were 
calling to tell me you couldn't make it." He hesitated. 
"Unless ..."

"No, no," she interjected quickly. "I still want to go. I 
was just calling to see if we could push it back a little. 
Maybe eight o'clock? Or seven-thirty?"

He brightened immeasurably. "Yeah, sure! I mean, whatever 
you want ... what time would be best for you?"

"Let's say seven-thirty," Lois responded. "I think we're 
about to get served, and I don't have that many questions. 
But I do have to get home and change ... how 'bout I just 
meet you over there?"

Clark couldn't help but break into a smile. "Great! I'll 
see you then."

"OK! Well, I've gotta get back ... see you in a bit."

"OK, bye. And thanks for calling," he added quickly, trying 
to catch her before she hung up.

"Bye, Clark."

Almost in a daze, Clark clicked his phone's off button and 
returned it to its position on the back of his belt. Lois 
had called ... and she still wanted to see him tonight! He 
broke into a huge grin and couldn't help but turn a 
somersault on his way back to the ground. Patrolling could 
wait. He was seeing Lois again!

When Superman landed in the median once again, the officer 
he'd been talking to studied him for a moment, then grinned 
knowingly. "Hot date tonight, huh?" he said, eyes 
twinkling. Only much later did Clark realize how the deep 
blush which had crossed his face had said more than any 
words of response ever could have.

*****

Lois raced up the steps of her apartment building and, 
after fumbling with her keys for a brief moment, rushed 
through her front door. Dumping her briefcase and coat onto 
a chair, she hurried into the bedroom, kicking off her 
shoes and cursing slow taxi drivers as she went. How in the 
world had it gotten to be past seven o'clock?? She had less 
than twenty-five minutes to change her clothes, freshen up, 
and get halfway across town in time to meet Clark. She was 
never going to make it!

Flinging open her closet door, Lois began rifling through 
her hangers, trying to decide what to wear. Finally 
spotting a promising combination, she pulled out her newest 
pair of jeans and a white cotton turtleneck and tossed them 
onto the bed. Slipping out of her work pants and blouse, 
Lois quickly changed into the casual clothing, then paused 
to examine herself the mirror. She couldn't help but preen 
a bit as she turned to look at her backside. As they had in 
the fitting room when she and Lucy had gone shopping, the 
jeans looked as if they'd been painted on, showing off 
every curve.

As Lois bent over to retrieve her hiking boots from the 
bottom of the closet, however, any hint of a smile quickly 
left her face. With a grimace, she gingerly mimed a few 
skating moves in front of the closet but quickly gave up. 
How had she let Lucy talk her into buying these? The jeans 
showed off her figure, that much was true -- but she could 
barely breath, let alone move!

Peeling the tight denim from her legs, Lois quickly 
replaced them with her oldest, most comfortable pair of 
jeans and sighed in relief. Now these she could skate in! 
Tucking her turtleneck into the waistband, Lois walked back 
to her closet to find a sweater to wear, but once again, 
she hesitated as she caught sight of herself in the mirror. 
The jeans were certainly very comfortable ... but as worn 
and baggy as they were, they didn't exactly look 
attractive.

Lois gave herself a mental shake. Why in the world did it 
matter if she looked attractive? She was just going 
skating. OK, sure, she was going skating with Clark, but it 
wasn't as if they were going out on a date or anything ... 
so why was she acting as if they were? She forced herself 
to ignore her reflection as she set about looking through 
her warmer clothing. Finally deciding on a dark violet wool 
sweater -- she'd often been told the color brought out the 
best in her complexion -- Lois made her way into the 
bathroom to comb her hair and brush her teeth, even as the 
words, 'it's not a date, it's not a date', kept running 
through her head. Still, she couldn't help but add a little 
extra mascara to her eyelashes and blush to her cheeks 
before leaving the bathroom. After all, even if Clark was 
just a friend, it didn't mean that she couldn't look nice 
for him.

As she made her way back into the bedroom and picked up her 
hiking boots, however, Lois frowned once again as she 
caught sight of herself in the mirror. From the waist up, 
she was satisfied -- the extra mascara really made her eyes 
stand out -- but from the waist down ... it wasn't the 
image she wanted to present.

Suddenly, a light bulb went on in her head and Lois made 
another dive for the closet. From behind the stacks of 
unread magazines on the floor, she pulled out a box she had 
almost forgotten she had. Her old skiing clothes! How could 
she have not thought of this earlier?

Digging through the box, Lois quickly tossed a bonus find -
- a pair of warm wool socks -- to the floor by her boots, 
but it wasn't long before she'd located her quarry. Holding 
up the black ski pants, Lois smiled triumphantly. Insulated 
for warmth, the stretchy material fit in all the right 
places, yet still allowed her the freedom of movement she 
needed to be active outdoors. Quickly exchanging her baggy 
jeans for the black pants, Lois grinned as she looked in 
the mirror. Yes, this was *exactly* what she'd been looking 
for.

With one last glance towards the clock -- and another 
moment of panic when she realized that she was definitely 
going to be late -- Lois pulled on her warm socks and 
hiking boots, then grabbed her ski jacket from where it had 
been hanging in the back of her closet. Putting it on over 
her sweater, Lois couldn't help but admire herself one 
final time in the mirror. The jacket was hip length, 
functional, but kind of sexy, too, when layered over the 
tight black pants. Perfect!

Rushing back through the living room, Lois dug her driver's 
license and some cash out of her wallet and zipped them 
into her jacket pocket, then grabbed her car keys and 
headed out the door. One quick trip back to the apartment 
later, to pick up a pair of fleece gloves for her hands, 
Lois finally started her car and pulled out into traffic, 
eyeing the clock doubtfully. It wasn't completely outside 
the realm of possibility that she could make it halfway 
across town in six minutes ... but only if she could fly 
like Superman.

*****

At seven forty-five, Clark checked his watch for what 
seemed like the dozenth time, trying not to appear as 
anxious as he felt. He'd been waiting on the sidewalk 
outside Boulderman Center for the last twenty minutes, but 
even with surreptitious use of his super-vision, he hadn't 
seen any sign of Lois.

Not that this in itself meant anything was wrong. After 
all, Lois had been busy working on her story, and it was 
certainly possible that she'd just gotten delayed. She had 
told him she'd been running late when she called his cell 
phone, so he knew he should be completely surprised that 
she wasn't here yet. But knowing this didn't stop him from 
fidgeting as he waited for her to arrive.

Sitting on the cement wall encircling the plaza area, Clark 
tried to relax. He still couldn't believe Lois had agreed 
to come tonight. When she hadn't called him this afternoon, 
he'd been sure she was going to beg off, or worse yet, 
stand him up all together. But if anything, having Lois 
call to suggest an alternate time had been even better than 
her initial acceptance. If she didn't enjoy their time 
together as much as he did, she could have easily used her 
work schedule as an excuse to get out of seeing him. Yet 
she had gone out of her way to suggest an alternative time. 
Yes, definitely encouraging.

Of course, that didn't mean that Lois shared his interest 
in becoming more than friends. Clark had deliberately 
avoided any mention of the word 'date' when he'd made his 
skating suggestion this morning, out of the fear that such 
a label would only send Lois into a tailspin. No, as far as 
Lois was concerned, getting together tonight was nothing 
more than a friendly outing -- the idea that tonight might 
be a date would surely never even enter her mind. Clark 
sighed to himself ... in a way, he envied her that. He 
didn't seem to be able to get the idea of dating Lois *off* 
his mind.

Still, as much as he would love to just come out and 
confess his feelings for her, he knew that actions could 
speak louder than words. When the time was right, he would 
summon the courage to tell her how much she meant to him, 
that he was interested in pursuing a deeper relationship 
... but in the meantime, he had to content himself with 
moving slowly, with treading that fine line between showing 
his interest and scaring her off.

As engrossed as he was in his thoughts, it took Clark a 
moment to realize that someone was calling his name. When 
he looked up, however, pulled out of his musing by the 
familiar sound, he saw Lois on the sidewalk across the 
street, waiting for the traffic to clear so that she could 
cross. Brightening, Clark waved, then hopped to his feet as 
she darted in front of a few slower-moving cars to join 
him.

Clark met her at the curb. "Hey, you made it!" he exclaimed 
with a smile.

Lois's cheeks were pink from the cold night air. "Sorry I'm 
late," she said, a little breathless after her sprint. "It 
took me longer than I'd expected to wrap up the interview, 
then I had go home to change clothes."

He couldn't help but grin. "You didn't want to skate in 
work clothes, huh?"

"I spent most of the day in restaurant kitchens," Lois 
said, wrinkling her nose. "I had some things splashed on my 
pants that I'd rather not think about."

Clark gave a mock shudder as they moved to the middle of 
the sidewalk, away from the street. "Sounds like you got 
your wish for bad conditions, then ... did you get your big 
headline?"

"Nothing as big as I'd hoped for," Lois answered, "but I 
did get a lot of really interesting information. Maybe I'll 
hit the jackpot tomorrow, but even if I don't, I think it 
will be a great story."

"Well, if you're writing it," Clark said matter-of-factly, 
"I'm sure it will be." Then, taking in her attire with a 
sweep of his eyes, he couldn't help but add, "Besides, I 
love what you've changed into ... Lois, you look 
fantastic."

Lois glanced down at herself. "They're my old ski clothes," 
she explained. "Do you think they look all right for 
skating?"

Despite the question in her voice, Clark couldn't help but 
think she looked very pleased with the fact that he'd 
noticed her attire. He knew, of course, that he'd barely 
been able to think of anything else since he'd caught sight 
of her, but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to 
study her figure more closely and he let his eyes roam over 
her body appreciatively. "Are you kidding me?" he asked, 
making his approval clear. "Those black pants ... wow."

The grin on her face told him this was the response she'd 
been looking for. "Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself."

Clark flushed a little as he saw her gaze travel over his 
body the way his had just done to hers, but he couldn't 
deny the warmth that spread through him at her approving 
look. He hadn't dressed in anything special -- just a pair 
of jeans and a sweater, with his tan field coat buttoned 
over the top -- but Lois made him feel as if he was wearing 
a tuxedo. Hmm, come to think of it, she didn't usually pay 
him this much attention even when he was wearing a 
tuxedo....

Filing that thought away for future pondering, Clark picked 
up on something else that Lois had said as they began to 
walk down the sidewalk. "So did you say you're going to be 
meeting them again tomorrow? The health inspectors?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm meeting them at nine o'clock in 
their office before we go out. They said I could tag along 
next week, too, but I don't know if I need more than two 
days with them. I have some background research to do and 
some follow-up phone calls to make, so I might want to get 
started with that instead of doing another day in the 
field; we'll see." Lois seemed as if she were going to say 
more, but was soon distracted by the well-lit plaza beside 
them. "So, did you go in and check out the lights yet?" she 
asked, craning her head to catch more of the world-famous 
holiday light display through the landscaping. "Since I 
kept you waiting?"

"No, I figured I'd wait till you got here," Clark 
responded. He gestured towards the plaza entrance, just up 
ahead "We can walk around and look at everything together 
before we go skating, if that's OK with you."

Lois nodded. "Sure, that's fine. I guess it is pretty 
impressive, especially if you're new in town." Then she 
added, a bit dismissive, "Me, I've lived here my whole life 
so I don't really get excited about those kinds of things 
anymore."

"Oh, really?" Clark shot her a sideways look as they 
walked, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Pretty old-
hat for you, huh?"

She shrugged. "Yeah ... plus, you know, Christmas isn't my 
thing."

Suddenly recognizing the false bravado he'd heard from Lois 
before on the subject, Clark bit back the teasing retort 
that had first come to mind and let his expression soften. 
Unmindful of the message he might send, he slung his arm 
across her shoulders and gave her a friendly sideways hug. 
"Well, thanks for coming with me, then," he said 
disarmingly. "I've always wanted to see it, and going with 
you will make it even more special."

"Well ... thanks for asking me," Lois responded, a flicker 
of surprise crossing her face. She soon relaxed into the 
hug, however, and even slipped her arm around his waist for 
a moment to return it. "I guess it has been a while since 
I've really been able to see the display."

Suddenly keenly aware of the way they were holding each 
other, Clark felt his heart begin to thump in his chest. It 
felt so good, so right, to walk with her this way, and Lois 
seemed equally comfortable with their closeness. All too 
soon, however, they reached a break in the wall and found 
the cement steps that led down into the plaza. Knowing it 
would be awkward to descend with his arm around her, Clark 
reluctantly let it fall from her shoulders and gestured 
down the steps. "Shall we?"

Lois smiled up at him. "Let's go."

As they reached the plaza, however, the full effect of the 
light display hit Clark, distracting him from any 
disappointment he felt over losing Lois's touch. "Wow," he 
breathed as he gazed up at the huge Christmas tree that 
stood in the center of the plaza, behind the ice-skating 
rink. "It's beautiful."

Despite her earlier dismissal, Lois seemed equally 
enthralled. "So many lights," she admired breathlessly. "I 
always figured the tree seemed big when I was a kid because 
I was so small ... but it's just as amazing as an adult."

"I've seen it on TV, but it's not the same thing as being 
here," Clark agreed.

They began to walk towards the tree to get a closer look, 
but it wasn't long before Lois was pointing to another 
section of the plaza. "Clark, look at how they have all the 
other trees decorated ... and the train ... Oh! And look at 
those big angels!"

Clark couldn't help but grin as he noticed that Lois seemed 
to be as caught up in the impressive display as he was. 
"The paper said they have over thirty thousand lights, with 
all the decorations. I couldn't even imagine what thirty 
thousand lights looked like until I got here!" He looked up 
again. "And they said the tree is eighty-three feet tall. 
That's amazing."

"I watched them put it up one year," Lois commented, "years 
ago. They used this big crane ... it was pretty 
interesting."

"I bet it was."

They walked around for a few more minutes, discussing their 
favorite parts of the display, but it wasn't long before 
they found themselves back at the skating rink. Leaning 
against the chest-high wall that separated the ice from the 
rest of the plaza, they watched the skaters for a moment, 
taking in the scene. "So why didn't you come here last 
year?" Lois asked conversationally. "It was your first 
Christmas in the city; I figured you'd do all the tourist 
stuff."

Clark turned so that he was facing her, his elbow resting 
on the wall. "I guess," he answered, "it was one of those 
things I knew I wanted, but hadn't made it a priority." 
Clark studied Lois's face for a moment, then continued a 
little more quietly. "And by the time I realized how 
important it was to me, the opportunity was gone."

Lois met his eyes, searching them. "But you always knew 
there'd be another winter, didn't you?" On the surface, her 
words seemed innocent, but Clark was almost sure he could 
see the hint of something else, a different question in her 
eyes.

"I wanted there to be," he answered quietly. "But I guess 
once you realize how important something is to you, you 
don't want to waste any more time in pursuing it." He 
stared into her eyes. "At least ... not if you don't want 
to live with regrets."

They stood in silence for a moment, their eyes locked, then 
Lois rested her chin on her hand and gave him a little 
smile. "So why is skating here so important to you?"

Clark gave a little chuckle. "Ah, well, you see, when I was 
about six, I saw a movie set in Metropolis, and they showed 
people skating at this very plaza. I thought it looked 
wonderful and I begged my parents to take me skating there 
the next day." Clark smiled. "My parents just laughed, of 
course, since obviously I had no idea how far away 
Metropolis was from Smallville. All I knew is it looked 
really neat."

"So what you're telling me," Lois responded, her eyes 
dancing, "is that the whole reason you're in Metropolis now 
is because of a movie you saw when you were six?"

He laughed. "Amazing where childhood fantasies will lead 
us, isn't it?" Then he smiled and met her eyes again. "So 
what about you ... you said you came skating here when you 
were a kid?"

She nodded, smiling back. "My father and Uncle Mike used to 
take Lucy and me skating here a lot when I was little. 
Uncle Mike's daughter Katie is five years older than me, 
and she'd come too. I thought she was so grown up ... she 
even took lessons. I loved watching her skate."

"Sounds like a nice memory."

Lois's expression turned a little melancholy. 
"Bittersweet," she admitted. "After my parents divorced, 
Uncle Mike would bring us by himself sometimes. He tried to 
get my dad to meet us, but he never showed up. Eventually, 
it got too depressing and we just stopped coming."

Clark stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say. 
There was nothing he could do to make up for all the time 
she lost growing up, time that should have been spent 
having fun instead of tiptoeing her way around physically 
absent and emotionally unavailable parents. That he had no 
basis for understanding what that must have been like for 
her only made him marvel at the way she had come through 
it, at the amazing person she had become despite her 
upbringing. Yet instinctively, he knew that words were not 
needed. Clark pushed off from the wall and held out his 
hand to her. "Come on," he said with a warm smile. "Let's 
go make some new memories."

***** 4

Lois eyed the ice doubtfully as she clung to the railing at 
the edge of the rink. Her rental skates fit fine, and the 
blades had just been sharpened that morning, according to 
the man behind the counter. But none of that made up for 
the fact that she hadn't ventured onto an ice rink in 
years.

Looking up, she saw Clark out on the far end of the ice, 
halfway through what he had jokingly called his 'warm-up 
lap' while waiting for Lois to finish tying her skates. He 
smiled and waved at her as he took the turn and began 
making his way back towards her, and Lois couldn't help but 
give a rueful smile in return. She hated to admit that 
someone was better than her at something, but Clark was 
clearly more comfortable on ice skates than she ever would 
be.

Come to think of it, he looked darn good out there, she 
mused, his gloved hands linked casually behind his back as 
his skates glided smoothly over the ice. His jeans were 
neither too loose nor too tight, Lois's fashion sense 
pointed out, remembering back to her clothing decisions 
from earlier that evening; though there was no mistaking 
the muscular thighs hidden beneath them. Clark definitely 
wore his clothes, even casual clothes, very nicely, and 
Lois couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked this 
evening. The tan jacket he wore seemed to be a bit more 
appropriate for late fall than the middle of winter, but 
she had to admit he didn't seem to be at all bothered by 
the night-time temperature. His jacket must have been 
better insulated than was evident from the outside, she 
surmised. Either that, or Clark was simply hot-blooded 
enough to not be bothered by the cold.

Completely unable to stifle the grin that came to her face 
when she thought of how 'hot-blooded' Clark might be, Lois 
summoned her courage and pushed off from the wall, stiffly 
taking a short stride and letting herself glide a few 
inches. She'd been able to do this as a girl, she told 
herself sternly, as she tried to make her muscles relax ... 
it would surely all come back to her once she'd had a 
little time to practice.

Rotating her right foot slightly to the outside, she pushed 
off a bit more aggressively, letting her left skate support 
her, and was pleased when she felt herself move a foot or 
so forward. Encouraged, she changed feet, and pushed off 
with her left foot, repeating the motion with a similar 
positive result. Lois felt herself begin to relax. This 
wasn't so hard ... in only a few short strokes she had 
moved -- Lois craned her head to look back over her 
shoulder and grimaced -- a whole two feet away from the 
edge.

With a sound of disgust, Lois whipped her head back to the 
front and pushed off a lot harder with her right foot, 
impatient to make some more progress. Unfortunately, the 
abrupt combination disrupted her balance and, almost 
immediately, Lois found her arms and legs flailing as she 
struggled to stay upright. "Ahh!" she gasped, despite 
herself.

As soon as the sound was out of her mouth, however, Lois 
felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her from behind, 
holding her steady. "Whoa," came the calm but amused voice 
of her partner. "You almost lost it there for a second!"

"Tell me something I don't know," she muttered back.

Clark moved in front of her, letting her keep a steadying 
hold on his arm. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I didn't 
realize you were so close to being ready. I should have 
waited for you."

Lois shook her head but didn't loosen her grip on his 
sleeve. "That's all right. I just need to get comfortable 
on the ice again. It's been a long time and I need to 
remember how to do it."

"Well, how about a refresher course?" he asked with an 
encouraging smile. "Here, give me your hand."

Lois put her hand in his, but kept her gaze down on the 
ice, her brow furrowed in concentration as she moved her 
feet. "This seemed easier when I was a kid," she admitted.

Clark gave her glove a little squeeze. "You're doing 
great," he said as they glided a few feet. "Don't try so 
hard ... just relax."

"Easy for you to say," she retorted, but she couldn't help 
but notice that she did feel a lot more stable holding on 
to him, and she felt her muscles begin to relax.

"Good," Clark responded, obviously noticing the change in 
how she was carrying herself. "Now you're getting it."

Lois chanced a glance up at his face, and couldn't help but 
smile when she met his eyes. She'd half-expected him to be 
laughing at her ineptitude, but instead, she found nothing 
but encouragement. "Thanks, this helps."

His smile grew even warmer. "I'm glad."

Twenty minutes later, Lois found herself having a much 
easier time of things. Clark had helped her remember how to 
stop and how to turn, and it wasn't long before her balance 
improved and her strides began to lengthen as a result. 
She'd even been able to let go of his hand and make it all 
the way around the rink on her own. She grinned 
triumphantly at him as he applauded. "See, I told you I 
could do this!" she exclaimed.

"I never doubted you for a moment," he answered with a 
grin. Then his expression turned a bit mischievous. "OK, 
next lesson ... skating backwards." As he spoke, he began 
to skate backwards in front of her, keeping them face-to-
face.

Lois's eyes widened slightly as she watched him. "How in 
the world do you *do* that?" she asked, astounded by the 
way his skates seemed to carry him so effortlessly. She 
watched as his feet worked in unison, moving side to side 
on the ice. She tried to imitate the motion going forward, 
but only succeeded in almost losing her balance again.

Clark quickly took her hands, steadying her. "Here, let's 
try this." Moving them off to one side of the rink, away 
from the other skaters, he turned them around so that she 
was facing backwards. "Keep your skates straight ... good!" 
Skating forward, he pushed her along with him. "See, now 
you're skating backwards," he said, grinning.

Lois couldn't help but laugh as she glided along the ice. 
Her ears were freezing, her hair was blowing into her face, 
and her leg and back muscles ached from the work they were 
doing, but somehow, she was having a great time. Letting 
Clark do the work, she concentrated on keeping her skates 
straight; then, in an effort to distract herself out of 
falling, she began to sing along with the music being piped 
into the rink from a loudspeaker mounted above their heads. 
"Oh, the weather outside is frightful--"

"Oh, come on," Clark chuckled, "it's a beautiful night."

"But inside, it's so delightful--"

"I refuse to believe you'd rather be at the movies."

Lois laughed at his running commentary, but kept singing. 
"And since we've no place to go ... let it snow, let it 
snow, let it snow."

With that, Clark laughed out loud and brought them to a 
stop at the edge of the rink. He glanced pointedly up into 
the sky, then back at her with a grin. "The ice is better 
when it's not snowing."

"Oh, and I suppose you are an ice expert, Mr. I-Grew-Up-In-
Kansas?" she said, taking his hand and starting to skate 
side by side again. "Do they even have ice in Kansas?"

"Do they have ice in Kansas?" he asked indignantly. "Lois, 
it's the Midwest, not the tropics! I'll have you know I 
spent much of my free time in the winter on the ice. I even 
played on a league one year."

Puzzled, Lois furrowed her brow. "They have figure skating 
leagues?"

The way that Clark's jaw dropped told her that she had 
clearly guessed wrong. "Figure skating leagues? Figure 
skating leagues??" He gave an incredulous laugh, clearly 
more amused than annoyed. "Ice hockey, Lois, ice hockey! 
The mainstay of every red-blooded North American boy from 
Canada to-- Well, OK, it's more popular in Canada than 
here, but we still killed a lot of time that way." Letting 
go of her hand, he mimed holding a hockey stick in front of 
him and darted out ahead of her on the ice, chasing an 
imaginary puck. "Kent goes for the steal, breaks around the 
outside, he sees his opening, he shoots--" Executing a 
quick turn so that he was moving backwards, Clark lifted 
his hands over his head in imagined victory, fists pumping. 
"HE SCORES!!"

Laughing hard at his antics, Lois let herself run straight 
into Clark, not even bothering to slow herself down. Coming 
to a stop, she placed one hand on his chest so she could 
use the other hand to wipe the laughter-induced tears from 
her eyes. "You are so weird!" she choked out.

"Works for me, though," he responded with an impish grin.

Even as she rolled her eyes, however, Lois knew that she 
wouldn't be able to get the smile off her face. She 
couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed this much, 
but somewhere in the back of her mind, she figured it was 
probably another time she'd been with Clark. For whatever 
reason, he seemed to be able to tease her out of her 
seriousness and get her to have fun. And tonight was no 
exception. "With moves like those, you're wasted in 
journalism," she exclaimed, teasing him. "You should have 
turned pro."

"Yeah, I'm a legend in my own mind," he replied good-
naturedly. Starting to skate backwards again, he pulled her 
along with him, pretending to 'dance' on the ice as they 
once again moved closer to the loudspeaker piping in 
Christmas music. "And what about you, Miss I-Can-Melt-Snow-
Looking-That-Good-In-Ski-Clothing? Do you actually ski, or 
just sit around the fire letting your many admirers buy you 
hot chocolate?"

Lois felt her jaw drop open at his comment but she didn't 
seem to be able to stop herself from following it with a 
pleased laugh. Was Clark actually flirting with her? If it 
had been any other man, she would have known it with 
certainty, but this was *Clark*. Even more amazing was the 
fact that she seemed to be responding to it ... and it felt 
wonderful. She felt her eyes twinkling at him. "I'll have 
you know that I learned how to downhill ski almost as soon 
as I could walk. We used to take a lot of skiing vacations 
when I was little ... it was something my parents enjoyed, 
back when they enjoyed things together, so they made sure 
Lucy and I learned how very young." From the tone of 
Clark's voice, she could tell that he was impressed. "Wow, 
you must be pretty good then."

Lois gave a little shrug, but she couldn't help but preen a 
little under the admiration in his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. 
I've defeated my share of mountains, at least. So how about 
you? Do you ski?"

Clark's response was less assured. "Ah ... I can get down 
the hill, but it isn't always pretty," he admitted.

Lois cocked her head. She couldn't imagine Clark not being 
to do something physical. He seemed like such a natural 
athlete. "Now you *have* to explain that," she encouraged.

With an amiable laugh, he continued. "I didn't learn until 
I was in college -- not a lot of hills in Kansas, you know 
-- and as an athlete, I found I could muscle my way through 
just about anything the mountain threw at me--"

Understanding dawned. "But because of your strength, you 
never had to learn proper technique," she finished for him.

Clark gave a sheepish shrug. "Exactly."

Lois gave a knowing smile. "I knew guys like that ... it 
always seemed so unfair. I remember this one guy in 
college; he'd never even been on skis before but by the end 
of his first day out, he was going down the black diamonds. 
Don't get me wrong -- he'd usually be a human snowball by 
the bottom," she added with a grin, "but he had such a big 
ego that he'd just pick himself up and head back to the 
lift. After awhile, I couldn't even watch ... I was sure he 
was going to break something!"

"Well, I never broke any bones," Clark interjected, 
laughing along with her, "and I did try to keep the snow on 
the slopes. But I have to admit, I probably took runs that 
I had no business taking early on."

She shot him a teasing grin. "Good thing I didn't know you 
back then ... I probably would have hated you." Suddenly 
Lois felt herself being lifted off the ice and spun around. 
Though she was being held securely in Clark's arms, she 
couldn't help but give a little shriek in surprise, which 
she knew full well was the intended reaction.

"Then I guess I'm glad you didn't know me back then," he 
teased back, his eyes dancing as he set her back down. 
"Though I have a feeling you were way more competitive on 
the slopes than you're letting on. You were probably the 
one buzzing by that guy so he'd fall over and turn into the 
human snowball."

Lois felt her jaw drop. "How-- How did you know that?" she 
gasped.

Clark laughed out loud. "I knew it!" He spun them around 
again, more gracefully this time. "Mad Dog Lane, separating 
the boys ..." He pulled her closely to him for a moment, 
molding their bodies together and letting his voice drop an 
octave in the process. "From the men."

Lois caught her breath at his intimate display, but 
couldn't deny the warm shiver that traveled down her spine 
as their bodies met. Not wanting to be outdone, however, 
she quickly responded, matching his amused tone. "Maybe 
I'll just have to take you out on the slopes sometime," she 
countered, her eyes sparkling. "See what kind of man you 
really are."

The heated look in his eyes told her exactly how well her 
comment had hit the mark, but the good-natured smile on his 
face assured her he wasn't going to challenge her on it. 
Instead, Clark let go of her hands and began to skate in 
circles around her, a mischievous look in his eye. "Is that 
before or after we go to Tahiti?" he said in her ear as he 
came up behind her, grinning.

Feeling the back of her neck begin to tingle from his warm 
breath, Lois quickly put her hand up to quell the tickle. 
"Oh, it would have to be after the beach," she responded, 
not wanting to let him get the best of her. "You couldn't 
swim if you had a cast on your leg."

His resulting laughter made her grin, but he kept circling, 
clearly showing off. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?" 
he chuckled as he buzzed by her again, a little bit closer 
this time.

Lois just continued to skate straight ahead, keeping an 
amused eye on him even as she pretended to ignore his 
playfulness. "I'd say you're the one who's pretty sure of 
himself," she said, making her voice sound as if she didn't 
have a care in the world. "I'll be sure to remind you of 
this when I see you turning into a human snowball."

The sparkle in Clark's eye as he crossed in front of her 
again showed that he was enjoying their banter as much as 
she was. "Snowballs melt in the sun," he tossed back 
teasingly. "Maybe we can combine the trips." He gave a 
playful tug on her jacket as he moved behind her once 
again. "Or maybe we can find a hot tub near the slopes."

Quickly turning her head to deliver her retort, Lois was 
surprised to notice that Clark was no longer beside her, 
where she had expected him to be. When she turned her head 
back to the front, however, she gave a little gasp of 
surprise as she found him positioned right in front of her, 
a big grin on his face. Instinctively trying to avoid a 
crash, Lois yelped and turned abruptly to the left, but, 
much to her chagrin, she almost immediately lost her 
balance. As she felt her skates fly out from under her, she 
automatically squeezed her eyes shut as she saw the ice 
rushing up to meet her.

When she landed, however, Lois was amazed to discover that 
instead of cold, unforgiving ice beneath her, she was half-
sprawled on top of something warm and firm. Carefully 
opening her eyes, she found herself looking directly into 
the anxious face of her partner. "Are you OK?" Clark asked, 
cradling her protectively against his chest. "God, Lois, 
I'm sorry ... I was just fooling around. I didn't mean to 
make you fall."

Still trying to catch her breath, Lois shook her head as 
they sat up. "It wasn't your fault, Clark. I tried to turn 
too fast." She gave a sheepish shrug. "Guess I'm still not 
as good on these things are I used to be."

Clark