"You're sure about this?"

"Lois, I told you, I trust you. I think I proved that by telling you where I really come from. And I've talked to them about it, their cool with it."

Lois looked up at the familiar sight of the red numbers increasing as the elevator rose toward Oliver's apartment.

"I just don't wanna jinx any superhero mojo," she muttered.

Clark turned and grinned at her. "Lois Lane, are you inervous/i?"

Turning to him, she placed her hands on her hips in an all too familiar defiant stance.

"You know, just because you have superpowers, don't think I still can't kick your ass, Smallville."

He grinned at that, knowing she was probably not wrong.

Clark had told her everything about a month ago. He wasn't even sure why, he didn't really think about it beforehand. As things so often did around her, it just…happened.

Lois had been appropriately stunned (for real, who finds out their best friend is an intergalactic traveler?), and naturally, full of questions, but, in true Lois fashion when her curiosity had been somewhat sated, had then taken the revelation in stride and when their conversation was finished, proceeded to ask him what movie he wanted to watch.

"What?"

Clark gave her an incredulous look.

"You okay, Smallville?"

"Lois…I just told you I'm from another planet."

"Yeah. And I admit, you threw me for a minute. Hence the like hundreds of questions I just tossed at you."

"And that's it?"

"Well…I'm sure I'll think of more."

"I'm sure you will," he responded dryly.

"But…I'm pretty good now," she shrugged. "And I wanna eat popcorn and watch a movie. I mean those were our plans for tonight, right?"

"Right."

Sensing a question lurking behind his response, Lois shook her head, slightly frustrated.

"What?" she said, exasperated.

"It's just…you're okay with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Clark…you're still you."

And that had been that.

Her reaction (or lack thereof really) had only reinforced his decision to tell her everything. In the ensuing weeks, he had confided in the League that he wanted her to know about them too. She already knew Oliver, of course, and AC – though she didn't know AC was in the league, but he didn't want anymore secrets between them.

He wouldn't tell her, of course, if they didn't agree, but they had been open to it. Not only because Clark trusted Lois, but because Oliver had pointed out what a benefit, not to mention how much easier, it would be having the up and coming Lane and Kent reporting team both be in the know as far as the JLA and their workings were concerned.

Clark, of course, wasn't thrilled about this angle, having become more and more protective of Lois as the years had gone on in their friendship. And knowing, all too well, that Lois would love nothing more than to throw herself in the middle of whatever injustice the League would inevitably be working to correct.

So, this was how they found themselves riding the elevator to up to Ollie's apartment.

"Just a warning," Clark said, leaning against the back wall, "these guys aren't exactly…shy."

"That's not a warning, that's a blessing," she responded, grinning at Clark. He should have known that would please her.

He had no doubt that the personalities of his buddies in the JLA would be right up Lois' alley.

The elevator finally stopped, and Clark reached over to pull open the heavy door.

As Lois looked out at the familiar sight, having spent a lot of time here when she was dating Ollie, she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Why do I feel like I'm walking into an audition?" she muttered to herself, then immediately glanced at Clark. Who was grinning.

He totally heard her. She always forgot the superhearing.

Seeing his newly arrived guests, Ollie headed over to them, slapping Clark on the back in greeting. Turning toward Lois, he smiled, leaning down to give her a kiss on the cheek, rolling his eyes slightly at Clark very obviously clearing his throat and stepping closer to Lois in response.

"Hey Lois."

"Ollie," she responded, returning his smile while giving Clark a sideways glance. What the heck was up with him?

"Well, come on in. Meet the motley crew."

"Crew?" she asked, only seeing one man sitting in the room.

"Oh, the other two'll be back in a minute. They were having one of their incessant, and might I add pointless, debates and I told them to take it in there," he said, gesturing to the clock doors that concealed the secret room which held his Green Arrow gear, "and finish it because they were annoying the hell out of me."

"Me, too," the other man in the room said, before walking over to Lois and extending his hand. "I'm Victor Stone."

"Lois Lane."

"It's nice to finally meet you," he said, then looked at Clark, "I've heard an awful lot about you already. It's nice to put a face with the name."

"Really?" she asked, curiously turning to look at Clark who was turning the slightest shade of pink while glaring at Victor.

"Hey, Oliver, got any water?" Clark blurted out, ushering Lois further into the apartment and desperately trying to get away from the turn in which Victor was trying to steer the conversation.

There was no need for Lois to know what he had confided about her to his buddies.

As he was mentally kicking himself for not thinking, or more to the point, predicting that his friends would see the opportunity to meet Lois also as a way to make him squirm, he guided Lois to the large sofa, motioning for her to sit down while Ollie handed him a glass of water. Lois shook her head 'no' when Ollie asked if she would like anything, watching as Victor sits down across from her.

"So, what's your story? I know we have a merry archer and super guy over here," she said, acknowledging both Clark and Ollie with a nod. "What's the deal with you?"

Clark grinned, having warned the guys that Lois was nothing if not a blunt and straight to the point kind of woman, a characterization Oliver had wholeheartedly backed up.

"I'm Cyborg."

"Yeah…we use him when the DVD player breaks down," Ollie quipped, leaning against the counter.

"Funny, Robin Hood," Victor grumbled.

Lois smiled at the exchange. "So, what can you do?"

"Hack into stuff…machines, computers…among other things."

"That must come in handy, especially with the scumbags I'm sure you guys deal with, like LuthorCorp."

Victor nodded in response, slightly amazed at her nonplussed reaction. Though, he imagined after hearing Clark was an alien, everything else she learned today would be pretty anti-climactic.

As Lois was about to ask her next question (Clark had warned them about that too. She wasn't Mad Dog Lane for nothing), two bickering voices started to come through the slowly opening clock doors.

"Dude, Shamu is a killer whale. Would totally kick Flipper's ass."

"Shamu wouldn't be able to catch Flipper, dumbass."

"If you're not finished, I'm throwing both of you back in there and pinning each of you to the wall with an arrow until you finish this ridiculous argument," Oliver grumbled, pointedly looking at both men. "Besides, we have company."

They both look towards Lois, who is sitting wide eyed on the couch.

"AC?" she said, shock evident in her voice.

With a wide smile, AC bolted over to the sofa, picking up a stunned Lois in a bear hug and spinning her around.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said, noticing the ticked off look on Clark's face. The boy had it bad for one Lois Lane, and AC was going to love torturing him.

When he set her down, Lois pulled back, a big smile on her face, looking fondly at the man she had dated for only a short time, but who had greatly impressed her with his concerns and his actions towards the world they lived in.

"Well, I don't have to ask what you can do," she said, remembering well the lighting fast swimming abilities of the man standing in front of her. She then turned to Clark, shooting him a slightly annoyed look.

"A heads up would have been nice."

"Hey…he wanted to surprise you," Clark muttered in response, noting with irritation that AC's hands were still firmly on Lois' waist.

"You look great," AC said, wondering how long it would be before he felt Clark's heat vision searing the flesh of his hands.

"So do you."

Oliver, Victor, and Bart watched in amusement as Clark continued to glare at AC's hands. After another moment, he looked up at AC and Lois, who continued to talk in close proximity that Clark would argue was totally unnecessary. Finally realizing he was the object of his friends' knowing stares, he saw a way to very nonchalantly interrupt the little lovefest they had going.

"Bart!"

AC and Lois turned to look at him, perplexed by his sudden outburst. Clark shrugged, feeling the heat rise slowly up the back of his neck.

"She hasn't met Bart," he said quietly. Bart was only too happy to oblige, and immediately rushed to a surprised Lois' side.

"Bart Allen…fastest man in the world, beautiful," he said, a flirtatiously smug look on his face that caused Lois to burst out laughing.

"Wait…this is Bart?"

The five men in the room looked at her strangely. Lois turned to Clark.

"This is Chloe's Bart?"

Ollie, Victor, AC, and Clark groaned as Bart's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Chloe-licious mentioned me?"

Sensing an opportunity for a bit of revenge on her cousin – after all, Chloe had been needling her about her growing feelings for Clark for months and turnabout was definitely fair play – she turned to Bart, a sly smile gracing her face.

"Are you kidding? You're practically all she talks about."

As Bart dreamily plopped himself down on the sofa, Lois met Clark's eyes. He raised an eyebrow, a grin on his face.

Chloe was going to kill her. While the feelings for Bart were definitely there, Chloe was putting the ardent suitor off, for reasons only she knew.

"So," Lois said, pointing to Victor, "You're Cyborg, you're Green Arrow," she continued, turning to Oliver, "which, by the way, is thanks to me. What about you two?" she finished, wagging her finger between AC and Bart.

Oliver interjected, motioning to Bart. "He's Impulse."

"Awww, man, I told you I wanna be Flash!"

"And I told you, when Chloe makes a man out of you, then we can discuss changing your code name. Until then, Impulse."

Bart pouted, eliciting a chuckle from Lois. She had a feeling Bart would be Impulse for a good long while.

"And you?"

"Fish stick," Clark said, a smirk on his face. Yeah, he was still stinging from the affection shown to Lois by AC.

"That's Aquaman to you, Boy Scout," AC jabbed back, amused at Clark's evident jealousy. Evident, it seemed, to everyone but Lois. Lois, for her part, was looking at Clark with wide eyed amusement.

"Boy Scout? THAT is your code name? Oh, that's perfect. Who came up with that one?"

Oliver raised his hand, sitting in the other chair across from the sofa. "Guilty." That got him a not so friendly stare from Clark.

"Nice work," Lois said, laughing.

"I didn't get to pick," Clark said, trying to defend his code name.

"Oh really? And what would you have picked?"

"I don't know," Clark shrugged. "But not Boy Scout," he finished moodily, earning him an eyeroll from Oliver.

"Maybe Lois was onto something before," Victor piped in.

"What?"

"She referred to him as 'super guy'."

Bart leaned forward. "Super guy? I dunno man, kinda sounds like something you'd see in a bad MadTV sketch."

"Superboy?" AC chimed in, and Clark rolls his eyes.

"I don't think 'boy' is at all appropriate, I mean look at him. Superman I'd say," Lois offered, before realizing the words that were actually leaving her lips. When they finally hit her hears, she slammed her lips shut quickly, and felt her cheeks starting to burn.

Seeing both Oliver and AC with knowing grins she'd like nothing more than to slap off their faces, along with Victor and Bart barely holding in their laughter, Lois fell against the back of the sofa, hoping it would open up and allow her to crawl inside and disappear. She stole a sideways glance at Clark, who was looking down at his hands in his lap, but she noticed a very satisfied grin on his face.

Damn.

Clearing his throat, and noticing a flustered Lois Lane, which wasn't exactly a common occurrence, Ollie decided, reluctantly because he definitely enjoyed it when she was caught off her guard, to give her a break.

"You know, that's not half bad Lois. Actually, it's pretty good."

"HOLD UP!" Bart yelled, "Clark gets a cool code name from a brutally hot chick and I still have to suffer with Impulse?" Frustrated, Bart turned to Lois. "I don't suppose you could get Chloe over here, like ASAP?"

Feeling the heat off of her, slightly anyway, Lois shook her head, giving Bart a sympathetic look. "Not gonna happen, Speedy. Chloe's got her feet firmly planted in denial land," she finished, feeling she had gotten just revenge on her cousin for all the Clark talk she had endured over the last few months.

"Must run in the family," Oliver muttered. Unfortunately for Oliver, Lois picked up on it.

"What was that?" she asked sweetly. But Oliver wasn't fooled for a second, having heard that syrupy sweet voice before, and knowing the anger it tended to mask.

"I said it must be fun to be in your family," Oliver responded, not quite meeting Lois' now narrowed eyes.

"Uh-huh," Lois retorted knowingly.

"So," Oliver said, trying to change the subject. "Superman it is. I guess you're two for two Lois," he complimented her in a transparent attempt to win some points.

"I don't know," Clark interjected. "Superman? I mean…it's kind of, I don't know….arrogant don't you think?"

Rolling her eyes, Lois turned toward him. "Oh for crying out loud Smallville. You're a man with superpowers. Get over it."

"Yeah…you're not gonna win this one, bro," AC chuckled.

"I have a feeling he doesn't win many around her," Victor observed, and Lois rewarded the sentiment with a smile.

"He doesn't," she confirmed, gently elbowing him in the arm. "But, he does generally put up a good fight, which, you do have to give him credit for that," she finished, a smug grin now directed at Clark.

"I win some!" he said defiantly. Lois, and the rest of the League, just looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

"You just keep tellin' yourself that," Bart snarked.

"So Lois," Victor chimed in, "guess you knew most of the League already. You know, without knowing it anyway."

Looking around at the five men sitting with her, she nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did," she paused, her eyes going specifically from AC to Oliver to Clark. Suddenly, they widened as a thought occurs to her.

"Oh my God."

"What?" Clark asked, seeing the look of horror on Lois' face.

"I've played tonsil hockey with more than half this Justice League," she mutters, more to herself than to them. She closed her eyes when she realized she had said it out loud.

"Oh crap," she said, dropping her face into her hands, missing the amused stares of Ollie, AC, Victor and Bart and the jealousy on Clark's face as her words brought that same reality home to him as well. Not that he didn't know that, but hearing her say it hit him like a ton of bricks.

Lifting her head out of her hands, she faced it head on.

"Wow, well…this isn't awkward at all."

"Wait a minute," Bart said. "More than half. That means three, right?"

"Way to go Roadrunner," Victor quipped dryly.

"Bite me, Bionic Idiot," he said, tossing the barb over his shoulder as he fully turned to Lois. "I know you macked on Ollie and AC….that's two. I know it wasn't me cuz…dude…I would so remember," Bart continued, then turned to Victor. "You been holding out on me?"

"Shut up, man."

Bart turned back to Lois, a confused look on his face…until his eyes fell on the blushing superhero sitting next to her.

"NO WAY!"

Bart busted out laughing, and Lois shook her head slightly at his outburst.

"Dude! That's stuff you share with the group! Kissing a babe like that? Especially with the way you go on about her…,"

Seeing Lois' very interested attention on Bart's ramblings, Clark jumped in.

"You know, Impulse," Clark sneered, intentionally using the codename that was the bane of Bart's existence, "I doubt Chloe would be very impressed with a guy in a body cast."

Trying to stifle his laughter, the threat of Chloe was one the Justice League could always count on to work with Bart, he leaned back against the arm of the sofa, his eyes still fixed on Lois and Clark.

"It was just once," Lois said, shrugging. "Well, I think anyway. When he was dressed as Green Arrow to throw me off that one's trail," Lois finished, pointing to Ollie, and then quickly changing the subject, wanting to avoid Clark bringing up her reaction to the kiss the following morning. "Though, I guess we probably kissed on Valentine's Day," she said absently, "not that either of us remember. I was juiced on that lovestruck lipstick and you were all hopped on red kryptonite. That's what you said was in it, right?" she asked. He had explained red K to her, briefly, adding that that's what affected him on Valentine's Day - the red meteor rocks in her lipstick. She had taken him at his word on that, and hadn't probed further, assuming the rest of what he had told her in the loft the morning after had been true – that he was just as in the dark as she was. So he had let the subject drop.

Clark's eyes widened suddenly, and he met Oliver's eyes. Eyes that were brimming with trouble.

"Oh you did more than kiss, Lois," Oliver said, watching his friend fervently shake his head no with undisguised glee.

Clark looked at Lois, who was looking at Oliver with great interest after that remark.

He knew there was something he had forgotten to tell her.