8:20 AM

Lois Lane couldn't believe the morning she'd had.

After another restless night, she had finally dozed off, only to discover with horror when she'd jolted awake that her alarm clock hadn't gone off and she was running a good thirty minutes late for work.

Throwing herself together quickly, she had run down to her car, tossed her belongings on to the passenger side and turned the key in the ignition, and was rudely greeted with a deafening silence.

She had whipped out her cellphone to call Clark, he only lived a couple of blocks away from her and could easily swing by and pick her up, but he, of course, didn't answer.

Probably driving, she'd grumbled to herself, knowing her best friend / eagle scout would never talk on his cellphone while driving. He always warned her about that, about how she could get distracted and get hurt, and Lois, in return, would unceremoniously roll her eyes at him.

Calling Clark had brought back the fight to sleep that had occurred the previous night into the early morning she was now struggling her way through. Groaning, she softly banged her head back against the driver's seat of her car. Clark Kent was thoroughly frustrating her, and he didn't even know it.

She wasn't sure when it happened, but she had started thinking about him. Not that she hadn't thought of him before of course – they'd known each other for years - , but this was different. Like, the other night, she'd had a date with a perfectly charming and good looking guy, and all she could think about, as she had toyed with the string beans on the plate in front of her, was that he wasn't Clark. Or how the look on Clark's face when he'd seen her for the first time after going back to her natural hair color made her heart do flip flops. Or a week ago, when she had impulsively bought a gorgeous burgundy pencil skirt that she couldn't really afford, all because he had commented recently that that color looked good on her.

Who does that?

You do.

"Shut up," Lois had grumbled to her own conscience.

Of course, she would deny it as loudly and as often as she could. Even to herself, though she wasn't often successful. Hence the sleepless nights.

Snapping herself out of yet another reverie about her seemingly constantly growing feelings for Clark, she grabbed her stuff off the passenger seat and bolted out of the car. Heading out of her building's parking garage, she finally, after 15 minutes of frustration, hailed a cab.

"Daily Planet," she barked, quickly getting into the backseat and tossing her stuff down next to her.

Yeah. It was gonna be a long day.

**

Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet…

Emptying two sugars into his steaming mug of coffee, Clark once again glanced over his shoulder, seeing Lois' desk still empty. He stirred his coffee, heading back to his desk, then grabbed her oversized mug and headed back to the coffee pot, having a feeling she was going to be in one of her moods when she finally tornadoed her way into the bullpen.

She was an adventure, for sure, he thought to himself as he fixed her coffee just the way she liked it – five drops of half and half and three sugars. A force of nature was more like it. But then, she'd been that way since they had met. She stormed her way into his life and turned everything upside down and inside out.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

Catching himself grinning at those thoughts, Clark stopped mid-stir and closed his eyes, a low groan escaping his lips.

This was getting inconvenient.

It was one thing to wrestle with these thoughts of his best friend in the solitude of his own apartment, or when he was off practicing his flying somewhere. But if he started getting consumed by them at work, where she was? He might slip up. He already had become more clumsy than usual around her in the past year or so since they'd been partnered up.

Like last week. She had come into work wearing this dark burgundy skirt that hit her gorgeous figure in all the right places. And instead of being suave and assured, complimenting her on how she looked, the stapler he had been holding in his hand at the time went plummeting to the floor with a loud bang. Worse, when he'd leaned down to pick it up, having not been able to tear his eyes from her, he had followed the stapler to the floor, in a most definitely not suave and assured manner.

After he had gotten himself back together and regained some of his focus as he researched their current story, he had allowed himself to wonder, albeit briefly, if she had remembered what he'd said to her about how good that color looked on her. And if that was why she had bought that particular skirt.

A thought that was quickly pushed out of his head. Because this was Lois. And while Lois definitely cared about him, she sure didn't see him that way.

He was aware, deep down, that his attraction to Lois wasn't exactly new. But there had always been other things in his life that kept him from having to really acknowledge it. Lana, the Zoners, Ollie and the Justice League – who he had started to help out on occasion, his responsibilities on the farm, especially once his mother had left for Washington.

But now, seeing her every day, working with her side by side, and their constant presence in each other's lives, particularly since he'd moved to Metropolis, well…it was getting more and more difficult to push his growing feelings for her away.

Setting her mug down on her desk, he roughly wiped at his eyes and sat down at his computer, hoping throwing himself into work will help the seemingly fruitless effort to keep his feelings for Lois Lane in check.

"This morning sucks."

Clark looked up at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he watched her lips still moving, mumbling to herself as she often did when she was frustrated.

"Something wrong, Lois?" he asked, feigning innocence. He was rewarded by a glare that would probably freeze a mere mortal to his spot. Lucky for him, he wasn't a mere mortal.

"Don't start with me, Smallville," she grumbled. Putting her black leather laptop bag and purse down by her chair, she crashed into her seat and logged into her computer. Seeing her mug – the one Jimmy had given her for Christmas that so aptly proclaimed Sarcasm …Just One More Service I Offer Free of Charge, filled with coffee exactly the way she liked it, she softened a bit and looked across the desk to her partner.

"Thanks," she said, nodding toward the coffee. Feeling her heart jump at that ridiculously charming smile of his, she immediately went back on the offensive.

"That almost makes up for you not answering your cell this morning. Seriously Smallville, cellphones are our friends."

"Huh?"

"I called you. My car wouldn't start."

"Oh…yeah I heard it ring. I was driving."

Lois rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small grin that appeared on her lips. She had totally called it.

**

"Hey, Olsen."

Jimmy turned in response to his name, seeing one of the Daily Planet's new interns, Joe Michaels, leaning against the doorframe.

"What's up, Joe?"

Joe looked around and walked into the small office Jimmy had been using to clean his camera equipment.

"I hear you're the guy to talk to about getting in on the action."

"Action?"

He nodded. "Lane and Kent?"

Jimmy smiled knowingly in response. "The pool. You've only been here for what, three weeks? How'd you find out about it?"

"Rachel and I were watching them argue the other day…for like the millionth time since I started here, and I said they should just do it and get it over with. That's when Rach mentioned your little pool."

"So, you want in?"

"Oh yeah."

Reaching into his pocket, Jimmy pulled out a folded piece of paper and hands it to Joe.

"Five bucks to get in. Pick your time."