Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.

Final:

Chloe frowned as she squinted at the monitor in front of her. Despite all of her pondering on what exactly to write she was still lost on the wording. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, twitching absent-mindedly as she concentrated.

"You know, if you stare any harder you might develop heat vision and set the screen on fire." She spun, noticing Clark standing there for the first time, hands full with two Styrofoam cups.

"Clark!" She grinned, lunging forward in her excitement, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her blonde head against his chest. "Hey!" She looked up, bright green eyes meeting his own warm light-blue.

He smiled down at her. "Hey." He replied, gently pulling back to hold out one of the lidded cups. "I thought that perhaps you could use a drink, maybe?" He queried nervously.

She pulled back and her lips softened into a gentle smile. "Thanks." She murmured, gratefully taking the cup from his own.

"So," He started, watching as she turned and placed the cup on a coaster on the edge of her desk. "How are things at the Planet right now?" He asked her, looking around the room and taking a swig of his beverage as he took in the frenzied activity around the bullpen.

She sighed and slumped back in her seat. "Hectic." She finally stated after a brief moment's pause. "Lex has been laying people off left and right." She expanded when he turned back to her. "I'm barely holding on at the moment."

Clark grimaced at her words. "That bad, huh?" He asked rhetorically, leaning against the desk behind him.

"Yeah..." She answered anyway, looking down with a frown. Chloe cleared her throat and looked back up. "So, how are things with you and Lana, anyway?"

This time it was Clark's turn to look away with a frown. "Not so good." He scratched his red-clad shoulder, staring at the ceiling. "She was already upset after finding out about Bizarro, and when I told her about you and I..." He trailed off, leaving her to fill in the blanks.

"Ouch." She winced, brushing a hand through her hair. "That bad, huh?" She paraphrased.

"Yeah." He replied in turn, brightening. "But she'll get over it." He said after a moments consideration.

Chloe smiled and tentatively reached out to grasp his hand with her own. "I hope you don't think too badly of me when I say that I don't feel too bad about it." She said sheepishly.

He chuckled at her admittance and waved it off. "No, I don't blame you. I feel the same way."

She stared up at him, stunned. "Really?"

"Yeah." And this time it was him that leaned forward and kissed her.

A/N: I felt it was only right to write up the conclusion, or rather, aftermath of this. Couldn't resist. :)