Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Smallville, etc.
Summary: A shared kiss. A broken heart. An uncertain future. Clark/Lois. Set in S8.

Note: Thanks to the wonderful feedback on this and Pick Your Label. You guys are awesome! This story is loosely based on a few spoilers I've read about Lana coming back. Hope you enjoy! Would love feedback! R&R please!

Chapter 2

Her cheeks hurt from all the smiling. Her mind was numb from all the introductions. And if she had to say 'Nice to meet you' just one more time…

"Darling." Lois stiffened at the feel of Bruce Wayne's hand on her back and bit back a groan. She just knew the moment she turned, the impulsively wicked Lois Lane she'd so carefully ignored the past month would make a hasty and impressively snarky appearance. "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

Feeling the resigned sigh in her posture, Bruce guessed her apprehension and attempted to reassure her. "It's ok. This one's a good friend that wants nothing more from us than to meet the woman I adore." The low whisper in her ear brought the first genuine smile to her lips in hours. "I promise…no more vultures for a while."

"Well, in that case…" With a smile planted on her lips, Lois turned to face the newest entry into her mental address book. And frowned. "Oliver!"

"Lois?"

Bruce looked back and forth between them, noting the surprise on Oliver Queen's face and the discomfort in Lois'. It was a discomfort that spoke volumes. Going for understated, Bruce commented, "I take it you've met."

Lois' forced chuckle confirmed Bruce's suspicions. "Yeah, we're uh…"

"Old friends." Oliver Queen supplied hastily. A little too hastily.

"Yeah." Lois sent him a grateful, knowing look. "Old friends."

"Great." The ever unflappable Bruce attempted to deal with the issue head on…by ignoring it. "So are we. Boarding school." Bruce looked to Oliver for confirmation. "Eighth grade?"

"And then some." Ollie answered, as his brown eyes narrowed in confusion, never once straying from Lois' face.

"Really?" Lois asked after clearing the lump out of her throat. A heated blush rushed across her cheeks. Her attention was divided between ignoring Oliver's obvious stare and keeping up the conversation with Bruce. "That's…fascinating."

"Not so much." Reading her distracted expression with precision, Bruce remarked with a smirk. "We always called it 'boring school' it was that bad."

Nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Lois attempted a relaxed smile. "Maybe the two of you can share some stories with me."

Attention suddenly diverted from someone across the room, Bruce nodded once, smiled and waved before turning back to his fiancée. "Sorry, luv. As entertaining as that would be, duty calls."

"Sweetheart…" Lois began to protest.

Bruce smiled down at her, but spoke to Oliver. "Gorgeous, intelligent, sweet…and doesn't want to be away from me for a minute. The world's one perfect creature is all mine, Ollie. Am I lucky or what?"

"Bruce..." Unaccustomed to such lavish praise, her uneasy glance flickered to Oliver then back to her fiancé. "…stop."

Ignoring her protest, he turned to Oliver offering a solution to leaving her alone. "Ollie, do you mind guiding Lois around the dance floor a bit? I have a few things to take care of. Besides, it'll give you two a chance to catch up." He sent an uncharacteristically playful wink Lois' direction. "And talk about how wonderful I am."

"Of course." Ollie agreed, recognizing his friend's way of easing the obvious tension coursing through Lois while blessing their friendship, whatever its past nature may be.

"Great." Turning to Lois, Bruce leaned in to brush his lips against her cheek. With a brief whisper and a squeeze of her hand, he was gone.

Lois swallowed hard and turned her full attention to the man standing before her. The man she used to love.

There were many ways to describe Oliver Queen. Boyishly handsome. Man of mystery. Globe trotting philanthropist. But the one that had broken them was the Green Arrow, aka billionaire-playboy-with-a-hero-complex-that-likes-to-dress-in-leather-play-with-bows-and-save-the-world.

Lois was beginning to sense a pattern in her life.

She didn't know what to expect from Oliver, and his inscrutable expression didn't give away any secrets.

An uncomfortable silence stretched on too long.

And since Lois couldn't stand uncomfortable silences…

She glanced across the room where Bruce was in conversation with a guest, though it was clear his attention was elsewhere, then grabbed Ollie's hand. "Smile. Dance. Bruce is watching," was her only explanation as she impulsively yanked him onto the dance floor.

Ollie followed with an initial stumble, then righted himself in time to gracefully spin Lois into the center of his embrace. As they began to move in a rhythm they'd perfected from their loving days, Ollie glanced around him at the guests milling around.

Lois watched him uneasily, wondering which direction the wheels in that head of his were turning. This time, he didn't keep her guessing.

"So? Which one is the bad guy?"

"What?" Lois asked blinking up at him.

"Well, I assume that's why you're here. Why you went underground. You must have a lead on a story and Bruce is providing your cover with this farce of an engagement, right?" He paused as his attention focused on a figure in the distance behind her. "So, which one is it? I know I can already spot a few."

"Actually…" The way Lois' tone drifted instantly brought Ollie's attention back to her. "…there is no bad guy. Or story, for that matter. And this so-called farce of an engagement…is real."

Ollie laughed. "Sure it is." He sobered when Lois' lips flattened into a tight line. "You're serious."

"As the number of meteor freaks in Smallville." Lois quipped.

"Then what's with all the sweethearts and darlings?" Ollie queried, genuinely taken back. "Words like that used to give the Lois I know a toothache. And…" Ollie chuckled. "…if Bruce thinks you're sweet, he clearly hasn't met the real Lois Lane."

"Maybe you're the one that hasn't met the real Lois Lane."

He stopped dancing. Took a step back. Then gave Lois a once over that ended in a look that bordered outright disgust. "If the real Lois can neglect the people that love her the way you have the past month, then maybe I don't want to."

Arms crossed defensively in front of her, Lois sighed and rolled her eyes. "Don't start, Ollie." She brushed past him, exited the dance floor and grabbed the nearest champagne flute.

He was right behind her.

"Do you have any clue just how worried your friends are about you, Lois? Frantic, even. Chloe has been calling me, like, twice a day for the past month. Jimmy has even gotten in on the act. And Clark, well…" Shaking his head in amazement, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "…that boy's had a hefty portion of my research staff working overtime at his beck and call just trying to find you."

"I can't imagine Miss-Center-of-the-Universe allows him the time." Lois practically swallowed her whisper. Then she downed the champagne in one gulp and grabbed another glass.

If he heard her, he ignored her. "And here you've been this whole time." He glanced around him at their elegant surroundings. Knowing Bruce Wayne as he did, he suspected this was only the tip of the iceberg. "Safe, pampered and playing all 'girl's gone sweet'."

He paused to fix her with a cutting glare. "Chloe and Clark are not going to understand this."

Taking the insults she knew she deserved, she turned to face him, expecting more of the same. "I've been meaning to call." Lois' defense was lame even by her own standards.

Shaking his head at her in disbelief, Ollie's question was more of an accusation. "What are you doing, Lois?"

"What's it look like, Ollie?" Exasperated, there was an edge to her voice. "I'm starting a new life."

"I wasn't aware you didn't like your old one."

"It's not that I don't."

"Then what?"

"It just became too…" Her gaze shifted to a spot over his shoulder as she searched for the right word. She found it in her surroundings. In the stiff, boring people she used to make fun of. People with their wads of cash, hungrily eyeing the newest victim in their never-ending game of monopoly. People with moves she could spot a mile away. "…predictable."

"Smallville. Predictable." Oliver's scoffing chuckle irritated Lois more than she cared to admit. "Why don't you start telling me what's really going on? Because I can tell you right now, I'm not buying this whole lovey-dovey routine. It's not you."

"Is that so?" Lois shot back. She would be lying if she said she hadn't intended the words to sting. "You know, Ollie, sometimes it just takes the right man." Seeing she'd drawn a little blood, she added a little salt. "And Bruce is unbelievably wonderful…"

"No question." Obviously not in the mood for a game of 'hurting-the-ex', Ollie cut her off. "That's why he's been one of my best friends for years," Ollie revealed. "But there are sides to Bruce Wayne that you simply can't understand."

"Like what?" Lois furtively glanced around her as her voice lowered. "His fear of bats and penchant for wearing leather?"

Oliver blinked in surprise. "You know about that?"

"Yes, Ollie." A level of smugness settled over her expression. "Believe it or not, there is a man in this world that actually trusts me."

"So…" As if fishing in a wide, deep ocean full of sharks with only a very thin strand of thread, Ollie cast his line. "…you are doing this to get back at me."

Lois rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Geez, what is it with you superhero types and your overinflated egos?"

And the shark jumped in the boat.

And attacked.

Hands gesturing wildly, Lois' heated gaze met Ollie's. "Get over yourself, ok? What we had was, admittedly, amazing. But I don't make my life decisions based on your fetish for arrows or your inability to stay in one place long enough to commit." The hurt in her eyes was undeniable. "I stopped doing that the first time you broke my heart."

With an exasperated shake of her head, Lois brushed past Oliver and headed to the nearest exit, which happened to be the glass door leading to the balcony.

The cool night air stung her heated cheeks. She felt a shiver race down her spine. And tears were pushing their way dangerously close to the surface. She unconsciously gripped the railing to keep them in check.

There had been a time in her life when she would have given anything for Oliver Queen's undivided attention. Now, when she needed the Lois of the past to disappear, he finally granted her wish.

How she wanted this night to be over. For the questions to end. For her own doubts to disappear.

How she wanted to be back in Smallville. With Smallville.

She stiffened at the sound of his voice behind her. "Hurting you was the last thing I ever wanted to do."

"I know." She whispered into the night.

"It tore me apart."

If possible, her answer was even softer than before. "I know that too."

"That's why I don't ever want to see you get hurt again. But you will if you do this..." She could feel his warmth at her back. "…and make the biggest mistake of your life."

"I'm marrying a good man that makes me feel wanted and safe." Lois turned to face Oliver. Shining eyes met his. "How could that possibly be a mistake?"

"Lois…" Reaching out to take her hands in his, Oliver searched her eyes for the truth. Even as he asked the question he wasn't at all sure she could answer. "…deep down, underneath it all, do you love him?"

His question was like a punch in the stomach. Like the maniac jeweler that night, Ollie was asking for her heart on a silver platter. Open and bleeding and exposed to the elements. Unlike that night, no one would die if she hid it just a while longer.

"Yes. I do."

The words were harder to say than she expected. Maybe because she was saying them to a man who knew her in ways no one ever had. Maybe because they simply weren't true.

This time.

"The Lois Lane I know…" The sadness in Oliver's eyes filtered through his voice. "…is lying to me."

"She lied to me." Clark's statement was both disbelieving and full of conviction.

"Clark." A disheveled Chloe gazed up at her best friend through half-closed eyes. "I don't know what's so surprising about that. Lois' spin-cycle is always on over-load." She stifled a yawn.

Pacing in front of her, Clark was clearly agitated. "That's not the point, Chloe. Don't you get it?"

"How can I when it's one in the morning and you're not making any sense?" Chloe groaned as she fell back against the couch cushions with an overly dramatic flair.

A sigh of frustration filled the room before the weight of a 200 and some pound man of steel shifted the cushions around her. He drew in a large supply of air and began, his words practically tumbling over each other. "Listen to me. That night that we were trapped together, right? Psycho jeweler asked Lois a question. And she answered. After she'd already lied once and electrocuted me, of course. Then later, she told me she had slipped the sensor off her finger and was lying to him when she answered that question. You know, to avoid electrocuting me again. But I had Dr. Wynn review the test results and he said that was impossible. The lie detector indicated a pulse the entire time. Her pulse. Don't you see? She didn't remove the sensor at all!"

The wide grin on Clark's face and the overwhelming enthusiasm in his eyes was at once rare and triumphant. Clearly he was proud of himself for uncovering this all-important, mystical truth.

"Clark." Chloe just looked at him as if he'd gone crazy. "You're starting to sound like Lois." She shook her head at him in disbelief. "You really are losing it."

Deflated by her response, the smile faded from his lips and his shoulders dropped. Chloe caught a hint of pain in those big blue eyes of his just before his gaze lowered.

Chloe was stunned. She had known Clark Kent for a very long time. She'd seen him in every imaginable situation. Had witness every possible emotion. Understood him, at times, better than he understood himself.

She had never seen him like this.

The agitation. The excitement. The energy. The feeling that if something didn't break soon, he was about to spin the world off its axis.

She'd only seen hints of this before. At different times. In different ways. And certainly never all at once. Still, the source was always the same.

Lois.

"Alright, Smallville." Using Lois' pet name for him, Chloe chuckled, rolled her eyes and committed herself. "Let's start from the beginning." She pinned him with her curious-super-sleuthing gaze. "Exactly what question did Lois answer that has you in such a tizzy?"

Reanimated, a rush of blood flooded Clark's cheeks coloring them the perfect shade of elated. "He asked her if she loved me."

A suddenly curious eyebrow rose. "And?"

Clark's grin widened. "And she said yes."

Chloe blinked at his obvious delight. "And you feel…how? About this?"

His breathlessly whispered answer amazed her. "Like I could fly."

"What about Lana?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Who?" Clark blinked innocently then caught himself. "Oh, right, Lana. Um…" His gaze shifted a moment and his brows knit together like they always did when he was in deep concentration. There was a sudden shrug of his shoulders and his usually Lana-induced, pain-filled eyes were devoid of any negative emotion when his gaze met hers. "…yeah, I don't really see that working out much."

Chloe stifled a giggle. "Oh, my God, Clark. You're in love with my cousin! You're in love with Lois!"

He beamed. "Yeah…yeah…I…uh…I guess I am."

She suddenly screamed and threw herself into his arms, giving and receiving a tight hug. "This is so…"

"Unbelievable?" Clark asked breathlessly.

She giggled again. "That's one word for it." The smile faded as quickly as the questions came. "But, Clark…"

"What am I going to do about it?" Clark surmised the question in her eyes. He grinned at her nod. "First, I'm going to find her." He slowly backed away from Chloe. "And then…"

"Knowing Lois…"

"…we'll probably fight." Clark predicted, with delight dancing in his eyes.

"She can be stubborn." Chloe warned.

Clark chuckled. "So can I."

"Be careful." Concern filtered through Chloe's eyes. "Lois will not go down easy, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I won't."

"Clark…"

"She loves me, Chloe. Just as much as I love her." Clark stated with a simple confidence that seemed to echo through the universe. "It's time we both stopped fighting our destiny."

There was a sudden rush of wind against her face, then Clark Kent was gone.

"Chloe?" A rumpled Jimmy shuffled out of the bedroom and blinked against the light. "Honey, what's going on?"

"I think…" Chloe grinned as she hugged herself. "…that hell just froze over."

Tbc…