Disclaimer:I don't own em, as usual.

A/N: I know, I know... I should be writing my OTHER story; but this just kinda slipped out while I was daydreaming. This is the literary equivalent of a napkin doodle.

A Not So Secret Secret

"Lois... there's something I need to tell you."

"Better be short and sweet, Smallville. I plan on finishing this draft BEFORE midnight," Lois said drumming away at her keyboard. The staccato rhythm rang throughout the empty bullpen.

"There's something- Something I haven't told you but I-" Clark's voice caught, and Lois gave him a look that he couldn't quite read. Was it concern? Irritation?

What would it be after he told her? Disbelief? Anger? Fear? He'd be able to recognise those expressions, at least.

"I'm the red blue blur," Clark spat the words out quickly; hoping speed would keep him from stammering, or chickening out.

There was a moment of silence in which Clark's heart rose quickly into his throat. Hse was just staring at the monitor, her fingers resting on the keys.

"I know," Lois said calmly, meeting his eyes before turning back to her work and beginning to type once more, with a small smile.

"It's true!" Clark protested in response to the expected disbelief. His face froze as his brain absorbed her response, and found they didn't match his expectations. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'I know'," Lois turned in her seat to face him, "Going deaf in your old age, Clarkie?"

Clark's jaw dropped as he stared at her. Her usual confident body language and sarcastic tone had him at a loss. She knew?

"How??!?!" The question burst forth, his face contorting in confusion.

"Investigative reporter, Clark." Lois reminded him, with a look that clearly said she was stating the obvious.

Clark continued to gape at her.

"Come ON Clark," Lois added, "The 'mysterious' disappearances, life-saving timing, hero complex... how locks are always mysteriously 'open' when you need them to be? I can connect the dots Smallville."

"But –" Clark had definitely never imagined this scenario. He was having trouble understanding that this could actually be happening.

How could Lois know?? Or more importantly, how could he not have NOTICED that she knew? He tried to figure out when she must have found out his secret... surely she'd started looking at him differently? Avoided him for a few days while she processed the information? When had he been so careless as to reveal himself?

He dredged through his memory trying to find a moment... but it was hopeless. He'd never had an inkling that she might have discovered what he really was.

"How long have you..."

"Known that you were the Blur?" Lois finished for him, "A while. Though technically you weren't the Red Blue Blur to begin with..."

"How long is 'a while'?" Clark asked, feeling just a little dizzy.

"For sure?" Lois wrinkled her nose in thought before answering, "A couple of years, I guess."

Clark blindly grasped for a chair, which he then collapsed in it, staring at the woman before him.

"Yes Clark, I am THAT good," Lois quipped with a grin.

"But, why did you tell me you knew??"

"I was waiting for you to decide to tell me." Lois said; standing up from her seat to lean against the desk facing him. The sarcasm in her tone had been replaced by a ring of sincerity.

"You're not angry?" Clark wondered.

"That you didn't tell me sooner? I figured you had a good reason for keeping quiet," Lois shrugged before continuing, "Chloe knows doesn't she? She's always covering for you when you run off to save the day-"

Clark took in the sight before him. Lois casually perched on her desk, calmly talking to him. She looked for the world like they were having a normal conversation... not like he had just told her he was secretly a super-powered freak. She'd known his deepest, darkest, most carefully concealed secret for YEARS and had never treated him any differently. She'd just... been LOIS.

"- And that time you-" Lois let out an uncharacteristic surprised squeak at Clark's sudden bear-hug.

"Thank-you Lois," Clark said into her shoulder, as Lois adjusted to the unexpected display of affection and began to return the hug.

"Ummm... your welcome," Lois replied uncertainly, "I don't know what I did, but okay..."

Clark held her tighter in response and chuckled at the confusing wonder that was Lois Lane. Lois started to fidget in his arms.

"Smallville, are you done hugging now?" Lois asked after a couple of seconds more of being compressed against his chest.

"Not quite yet."

"Because as lovely that it is that you're feeling all warm and fuzzy over 'fessing up, I still have an article to finish..."

"In a minute."

Lois rolled her eyes before giving in and leaning back into Clark.