Author: kayladie

Title: Dancing With Words

Rating: R

Pairing: Clark/Lois

Summary: After dancing with her at Prom, Clark suddenly sees Lois in a whole new light.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I am making no money off this work.

"You know, Lois, I was thinking since you did get all dressed up and you came here with me... you should at least get a dance out of it," Clark said and then blinked in surprise at his own words.

Had he just offered to dance with Lois? He braced himself for the scathing remark that was certain to come out of her mouth. Any second now. Instead she gave him what almost appeared to be a kind look. No, he must be reading her wrong, that was probably a look of pity, or maybe it was anticipation before the scathing remark.

"Chivalry noted, but I'm not the one you want to dance with, Clark. She is," Lois said, as she glanced towards the doors of the gym with a nod of her head.

Clark followed her gaze and breathed in sharply at the sight of Lana in a beautiful white dress, her dark hair pinned elaborately on top of her head. He turned back to Lois with an uncertain expression. Granted, he hadn't been to many dances in his high school career, but he seemed to remember from the last one that it wasn't the polite thing to do to leave the girl you came with in the lurch. Even if it was Lois, the one person in the world who annoyed him above all others.

Lois gave him what was, for her, a gentle smile. "Go," she encouraged him.

Clark returned the smile with a slightly shaky one of his own and started to move towards Lana, as he wondered what the odd feeling of reluctance in the pit of his belly meant. Ignoring it since he couldn't make any sense of it right now, he came to a halt in front of the girl of his dreams. In fact, this was the very moment he'd dreamed about for years. Clark Kent and Lana Lang, together at the senior prom. So why did he feel so damned awkward?

Swallowing his doubts, he beamed at Lana and said, "May I have this dance?"

She smiled back at him and said softly, "I thought you'd never ask."

Lana stepped into his open arms and the two of them began to move with the gentle sway of the music. She rested her head on his chest and Clark's chin touched the top of her hair. He closed his eyes and tried to fight off that vague feeling of unease. This was what he'd wanted, was it not? It should be perfect, but somehow...it wasn't.

Clark opened his eyes in surprise as Lana suddenly stiffened in his arms. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, she breathed a name.

"Jason."

Startled, he followed her gaze towards the doors she had walked through only minutes ago, and saw an angry Jason Teague staring at the two of them. Teague watched them for a long moment, before spinning around and stalking back out of the gym.

Lana stepped back out of Clark's arms and looked up at him apologetically. Clark didn't know what he should be feeling. As it was, it seemed to be guilt for dancing so intimately with another man's girlfriend mingled with a peculiar sense of relief.

"I should...I need to go speak with him," Lana murmured.

"Of course, I understand."

"Clark, I-" she broke off nervously, as though she wasn't certain what she wanted to say and then smiled at him tremulously. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure, Lana. You know where I'll be," he said, mustering a weak grin.

"Right," she said softly, lowering her gaze to the floor. Twisting her hands together in agitation, she left him in the middle of the dance floor and went after Jason.

Clark hesitated, wondering if he could pull off strolling from the dance floor casually and pretending that he hadn't just been abandoned. He coughed, silently cursed the fact that he just knew he was blushing fire-engine red. He pulled at the collar of his tuxedo with one finger, before half-turning to head for the edge of the gym.

"Hey, Smallville, looks like someone deserted you, hmm?"

Clark gritted his teeth and turned back around to look at Lois. Apparently, her brief fling with niceness was over.

"Lois," he greeted her warily. "If you must know, Lana had to go speak to, um, a friend."

"Right. A friend," Lois said, a wicked sparkle in her eyes.

Clark braced himself again for the sarcastic comments that had to be coming. Instead she surprised him once again.

"Well, since you're out here on the dance floor and I'm out here on the dance floor...and we're both wearing our Sunday best, what say we go ahead and dance?"

"Huh?" Clark stared at her as if she were the alien life form.

She rolled her eyes and stepped forward to grab his hands. Slapping one of them at her waist, she held the other in hers, and then put her free hand on his shoulder.

"Let's. Dance," she said.

Clark didn't have a chance to protest. Before he knew quite what was happening, they were dancing. He couldn't remember ever being this close to Lois.

Now, she was so near that he could smell the citrusy shampoo that she must have used for her hair, as well as the scent of flowery perfume. Clark closed his eyes as he subtly inhaled a bit deeper. She smelled very nice indeed. Then he almost stumbled as he realized what he was doing...he was sniffing Lois!

She turned her head to give him a hard stare.

"I wasn't aware I was going to have to teach you how to dance," she said sardonically.

"Ah, no, I just, um...I tripped. Shoelace or...something," he mumbled.

She grinned and gave a little shake of her head before turning to rest it back on his shoulder. Lois was tall for a woman. In her heels, she was only a few inches shorter than he was, and she fit into his embrace so neatly. Instead of his chin sitting on the top of her head as it did with most girls, it grazed her temple. For a moment, Clark was insanely tempted to plant a kiss there. He managed to resist the impulse only because he feared she might deck him if he did so.

The song ended and Clark's hand barely tightened on Lois's waist for just a moment. He didn't want to let her go. Of course, he didn't have much choice in the matter as she stepped backwards and slapped him on the shoulder with her hand.

"You're not too shabby a dancer, Smallville, minus the one little bout with two left feet," she grinned.

Clark somehow managed to smile back, still trying to restrain himself from reaching out and pulling her back into his embrace. What the heck am I thinking? This is LOIS! He wondered if perhaps someone had spiked the punch. He wondered if Dawn was somehow still inhabiting his body. He put the brakes on that line of thought, because it got just a little too weird. Kinda hot...but definitely weird.

"Anyway, that was fun and all, but I've had about all of the crepe paper and taffeta that I can take, so how about we hit the road?" she said. As she spoke, she grabbed him by the arm and made to pull him towards the edge of the dance floor.

It took Clark a moment to register her actual words, as he was still struggling with the fact that he'd suddenly realized that Lois Lane was a female, and an attractive one at that. Of course, if Clark Kent didn't want to be moved, there was no force on earth that could move him, even the inimitable daughter of a three-star general.

Clark wasn't being deliberately difficult, it was just that he feared his brain might be about to explode. He was frantically trying to remember all the reasons that Lois was NOT supposed to be appealing to him, but none of them seemed to be coming to mind. It was horrifying, and yet strangely thrilling at the same time.

"Kent!" Lois said as she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Do you think you could come out of your Lana-haze long enough to give me a ride? You brung me, you gotta carry me home," she drawled.

He needed to say something, anything, or she was going to really start in on the teasing. Why was it when there was a desperate need for him to say something really smart, he invariably ended up saying something really stupid? Especially where Lois was concerned?

"Well, technically, I 'brung' Dawn, not you."

Her eyes narrowed and she turned to face him fully. She reached out to poke him forcefully on the chest with one finger.

"Look, you are extremely lucky that I didn't rip you a new one when I woke up in this hideous pink monstrosity I'm wearing, because I know that all of this has to be your fault somehow. So I would suggest, if you wish to avoid severe damage to parts of your body that you'd like to use again, that you get your ass out to the truck and take. Me. Home!" The finger in his chest jabbed in time with her last three words.

Unknowingly, Lois had said the very words guaranteed to throw Clark Kent into a funk...'your fault'. He immediately went stone-faced and reached up to push her hand away from his chest.

"Sure, Lois, no problem," he said coldly.

Well, at least he wasn't thinking about kissing her anymore.

They glared at each other for another heartbeat, and then Lois turned to stomp out of the gym. Clark gave a sigh and caught his mom's gaze. He motioned to her that he was leaving and she frowned at him. He shrugged his shoulders weakly and mouthed 'Lois'. Martha smiled in understanding and waved him on. As chaperones, she and his dad would have to stay until the dance was over.

Clark was glad of that. Maybe he could be asleep by the time they got home and he wouldn't have to have the discussion they probably wanted since they saw him dancing with Lana. Sometimes it seemed his parents were a bit too involved in his life.

Perversely, Clark took his time in getting out to the parking lot, slowing his pace even more when he saw Lois sitting in the passenger seat of his dad's truck, pointedly not looking in his direction. The drive back to the farm was made in utter silence, neither of them willing to be the first one to apologize. Whether or not Lois was in the wrong, Clark was starting to feel a whole lot guilty for his actions and words on the dance floor.

She had been trying to do something nice, which was a big deal for her, especially when it came to Clark Kent. And he repaid her by making a smartass comment. The worst part of it was, the reason that he'd been so flustered was because he'd suddenly noticed Lois as a woman instead of an adversary.

As they pulled into the driveway of the Kent farm, Clark knew he had to say something to try and make it up to her. He had to hope that his usual habit of sticking his foot in his mouth would not come into play this time. The second he turned the truck off, Lois opened the passenger door and shot towards the house. Clark jumped in surprise at how quickly she moved, and then scrambled to follow her.

Sheesh, I'm supposed to be the one with super speed, he thought to himself in annoyance as Lois disappeared inside the house.

He banged through the kitchen door, shouting her name as he could see her about to start up the stairs. "Lois!"

She paused for barely an instant and Clark pressed his advantage, knowing that it probably wouldn't last long.

"Lois, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed quickly.

The whole room seemed to freeze as Lois slowly turned around and gave him a cool look. "What exactly are you sorry for, Smallville?" she asked calmly.

Oh, crap! The sorry alone isn't enough? Clark groaned inwardly. Women were entirely too complicated in his opinion.

"For, uh, for the Dawn comment. That was completely uncalled for and I didn't mean it. I was just, er, a little distracted."

That familiar sardonic grin appeared on her face and she laughed. "Oh, I know. Man, Chloe is right, when you go into Lana-land, it must be some kind of trip. What, do you get frequent flier miles for that or something?"

Clark's jaw clenched in irritation. Here he was, trying to make nice, and she had to go back to the teasing. At least he knew she wasn't mad at him anymore. But it was frustrating that everyone always assumed he was moping over Lana Lang if he got quiet for more than ten minutes. Granted, there might have been some precedent for that in the past, but really, he was over Lana.

He frowned in wonder at his own thoughts. He was over Lana...and he realized that it was true. The once-love-of-his-life hadn't crossed his mind since he'd started dancing with Lois. No, his thoughts had been completely occupied by the intriguing, infuriating woman right in front of him.

"See, there you go again!" Lois said with another laugh. "Tell me, is the sky still blue in your little Lana world?" she said mockingly.

Clark was so preoccupied, he almost didn't notice the little edge in her voice, and even when he did, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He did know that he couldn't let her get away with the continued taunting.

"For your information, I was not thinking of Lana at all," he said in a tight voice.

"Riiiiight. I'm sure you weren't."

"I wasn't!"

Okay, then, farmboy. What were you thinking about?" she challenged him.

Clark could feel his face getting warm and he knew he was blushing again. He couldn't wait for the day when his every emotion wouldn't show up on his face. Hopefully, it would be sometime in the next half-century.

As he tried to figure out what to say, his brain must've sent an insane message to his mouth, because he blurted, "You," before he really knew what he was admitting to.

Her eyebrows rose almost into her hairline and they stood there gaping at one another. Abruptly, she jerked around and started to go up the stairs again. Clark dared using a little super speed and was quickly right behind her, grabbing her gently by the elbow before she'd taken the first step.

"Lois, wait!" he said urgently. "Where are you going?"

Giving him her patented version of a death glare, Lois said, "I'm going to bed, because you have obviously lost your mind if you think I'm buying that load of BS."

Clark did his best to look affronted at her words. "It's not BS."

Lois gave an inelegant snort. "Yeah, right, Smallville! You're trying to tell me that you got a dance with your precious pink princess and you weren't still thinking of her when you were bullied into dancing with me?"

He grinned, bemused at her choice of words. "You're the one who bullied me into dancing with you," he reminded her.

"Well, I never said I didn't. You needed someone to get out there and save your sorry ass from supreme embarrassment. She left you on the dance floor in the middle of a song, after all."

"You didn't have to bully me, Lois. I was quite happy to dance with you. I offered to even before Lana got there, if you recall," he said softly.

Lois looked at him as though she were trying to figure out what was going on in his head and just couldn't pin it down. Clark didn't blame her, as he wasn't exactly sure himself. She was standing on the first step of the stairs, which put them almost perfectly nose-to-nose, and he watched as awareness of how close they were standing seemed to hit her. Clark still had her arm held loosely in his hand, and her muscles tightened briefly, as though she were about to pull away from him.

Going purely on instinct, Clark loosened his grip and let his fingers glide up her arm to skim across her bare shoulder. Lois's breathing quickened and her eyes widened just a little bit. Clark was encouraged by the fact that she neither ran up the stairs nor did she try to hit him. His hand drifted up to the curve of her cheek, and he was fascinated by the shiver that radiated from her.

"Besides, I think you look much better in pink than she ever could," he whispered.

"I don't like pink," Lois whispered back, her voice dazed.

"I do. When it's on you," Clark said.

With that low murmur, he leaned forward, and wonder of wonders, so did she. The first brush of his lips against hers was lighter than air and Clark let out a small sound of surprise when she still didn't pull away. He felt her shaky breath exhaling against his mouth and, tempted beyond all reason, he leaned in further and intensified the kiss. The hand on her cheek slipped around to cup the back of her head, tilting it just so, allowing his mouth to fit perfectly over hers.

Clark's heartbeat sped up as a breathy little moan escaped her. It was wonderful, because that meant her mouth was open, and he could so easily slide his tongue inside to meet hers. Lois gasped into his mouth, and Clark feared for just a second that she'd suddenly come to her senses and pull away. All she did was grab the lapel of his tux with one hand, wrap her other arm around his neck and yank him even closer.

A muffled groan came from Clark as he slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her forward so that her body nestled snugly against his. Surely she could feel how aroused he was now. If she did, she didn't seem to care. She even pushed her hips into his a little, putting a deliciously agonizing pressure on his groin.

All logic and coherent thought immediately flew out of Clark's head, and the only thing worth concentrating on was how exactly he was going to get Lois out of that dress and into his bed upstairs. The groan turned into a deep growl as the hand on her waist slid down to firmly cup her rear end. They swayed on the steps, coming dangerously close to losing their balance and falling to the floor, but somehow Clark managed to keep them upright.

He started to push her backwards, intending to lead them up the stairs to his bedroom, when a sharp rapping noise knocked him, and Lois, completely out of the moment. To his horror, he clearly heard Chloe's voice calling his name from the front door.

He and Lois jerked apart and stared at each other. To Clark's dismay, Lois's expression changed from shocked to horrified. Before he could say a word to her, she turned and practically flew up the stairs and into the bedroom that she had taken over as her own, slamming the door with an ominous finality.

TBC