Pictures (one shot)

[ewalani]

It's been a long time since I wrote anything, and I know I should be say... maybe posting an update on my multi chapter fic, but I don't wanna post anymore on that till I finish it and I'm at a bit of a stand still on that. So I wrote this instead!

This is just a short story of how the couple picture Lois has could have happened. Maybe not how it did happen, but hey... why not.

LEt me know what you think!



***********



Lois had found the scrapbook on top of the chest in the loft, it was all innocent. She had come by to spend the day with him, they were on their way out when he suddenly remembered he had a quick errand he had to run and disappeared. He always seemed to be forgetting something these days, but she shrugged it off and went into the living room to wait. She sat on the couch and crossed her legs, then uncrossed them, then leaned forward and back then forward again. She let out a breath and started drumming her fingers on the coffee table. She spotted the remote and decided to try and find something interesting on TV, the sound of the TV seemed to bring Shelby out of his slumber.

"Sorry Shelbs, but Smallville's out and I'm stuck waiting so..", she said and started flipping through the channels.

After flipping through all the channels and finding nothing Lois let out another breath and turned the TV off. "Stupid day time television.", she mumbled.

She placed the remote back on the table, got up from the couch and made her way to the mantle. A picture of a young Johnathan holding a Young Martha from behind, both smiling at the camera, was framed in an old frame and placed on the far left side of the mantel. Next to that, a picture of the couple (a few years older) standing with a little Clark (4 or 5) in the front of the farm. After that, a picture of little Clark by himself, he looked to be about the same age as he was in the one before. The mantel showed the progression of the family through the years in various places and poses including one of Lois with the family, she smiled and picked that one up. It must have been a few years after she moved to Smallville, she could tell by the color of her hair and the reluctant smile on Clark's face. Judging by the smirk on her face and his crossed arms, the reluctance in his smile was probably her fault. She loved annoying him back then, her favorite pass time, especially when he was up in his "Fortress" brooding. The loft, she hadn't been up there in a while... come to think of it, she hadn't been up there recently because Clark was never up there anymore. Probably because he's a lot less broody these days, she thought and put the old picture down. She headed outside to see if Clark had returned yet.

She walked out to the porch followed by Shelby and looked around, nope, he wasn't back yet. The barn caught her eye, she smiled and looked down at Shelby. "Well Shelbs, what do you think? Wanna go up to the loft for old times sake?" Lois asked.

Shelby's response was one, sharp, bark to which Lois replied, "The loft it is.", and headed for the barn.

She stopped at the top of the stairs to take in her surroundings, everything looked exactly as she remembered it. The telescope, his desk, the couch and chest... wait, was that album always there? With Shelby at her heels, she went over and picked up the album. Upon opening it, she realised it wasn't an album but a scrap book. It looked like he'd started it his freshman year of high school. She sat down on the couch and started flipping through it and that's how she ended up here, looking at a page worth of Lana about to get caught by her ex.

"Wow, I knew you and Lana were friends but I didn't know you liked her that much.", Oliver snarked after catching Lois with the scrapbook.

Lois snapped the book shut, put it back on the chest and looked up at Ollie with a dry look. "Hilarious.", she said as she got up and walked over to him.

"What are you doing here anyway?", she asked once she reached him.

"Looking for Clark.", was his short reply.

Lois arched and eyebrow, crossed her arms and said, "Shocker, and here I thought you were looking for Shelby."

Oliver just smirked and stared at her.

She let her arms down and asked, "You're really not gonna elaborate?"

"I just came to see if I could get his help on something, it's really not that interesting. What I do find interesting is Lois Lane, the intrepid reporter, is also a closet scrapbooker."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him for a minute, debating on weather or not she should fish for more info, but decided to let it drop and said, "It's not mine."

Oliver widened his eyes slightly and said, "Clark has a scrap book? I find that kinda.... weird. Even for Clark."

"Seriously Ollie? It's a scrapbook. He's sentimental", she said with a bit of exasperation.

"Oh.", Oliver replied, with a slight head nod.

"Oh?", she repeated.

He shrugged and nodded.

"Whats that supposed to mean?", she asked.

Ollie opened his mouth to express his confusion, but she cut him off, "It's one measly scrapbook page!"

He started to nod and open his mouth to agree, but she beat him to the punch yet again, "It's not like it's the whole book, or there's a shrine in her honor or something! He cared about her! She deserves one page! He deserves one page to show what she meant to him!"

Oliver raised his hands up in surrender and said, "OK."

"OK.", Lois replied with a sharp nod, then looked back at the scrapbook.

"You think I should be worried about my boyfriend having an entire scrapbook page dedicated to his ex?", she asked keeping her eyes on the book.

"Well.. I think you should be worried that your boyfriend has a scrapbook. But, hey, that could just be me.", he replied.

Lois turned her head over to his direction and gave him a look.

He chuckled and said, "Honestly, it's like you said. She meant a lot to him, of course he's gonna keep some things to remember her by. I mean, don't you have a keep sake or two from when we were together?"

Lois smiled and nodded. "The photo strip from the carnival photo booth."

Ollie smiled and nodded right back.

Lois looked at the floor and continued, "The tabloid shot of us on our first date."

Oliver's smile grew as he laughed at that one.

She looked back up at him as she told him the last one, "And our couple picture."

He frowned at that one and asked, "couple picture?"

"Yeah. A couple picture..... it's a picture of us together. All girls have one.", she told him.

"Oh, kinda like the wallet picture for the guys.", he said.

She shrugged and replied, "I guess.... I always thought that was just you though."

He laughed before saying, "No, it not just me. It's a guy thing."

She smirked and said, "If you say so."

Ollie shook his head and smirked. "I bet Clark has one of you in his wallet too."

Lois chortled and said, "I doubt it."

"Seriously. If you have a couple picture of him and you, then he has a wallet picture of you.", he implored.

She looked down at the floor again and said, "Then he doesn't have a wallet picture of me"

"Oh... not that serious then?", he asked.

She looked up at him and replied, "It's serious... We're just taking things slow."

He frowned at her again and said, "Slow? Lois, slow has never been your style. You don't have the patience for it."

"OK, typically you'd be right, but.... it's different this time. There's already so much on the line here... I mean we're friends, and co workers and his family is my family and his best friend is my closest cousin and his friends are my friends and I'm already so in.... invested in this. I just don't wanna mess it up.", she explained.

"So the best way to keep it form going south is to agree to be in a relationship with him but not act like it?", he asked.

Lois crossed her arms and said, "No."

Oliver looked at her for a minute, then said, "Look, I didn't mean to get into all this. I'm sorry, it's just..... It seems like you really want this but you don't wanna make it look like you do, and if it doesn't look like you want it how's he supposed to know that you do?"

"He knows.", she replied with a frown.

Ollie shook his head and shrugged. "You're probably right. You guys always were pretty in tune with each other. Even when it was me and you... Plus if Clark hasn't said anything, then he's probably happy with the pace."

Lois just looked up at him with a frown.

"I should go. I'm meeting up with Mia in a few hours for some sparring, so I need to get back to Metropolis. Tell Clark I stopped by.", Ollie said before kissing her on the forehead and leaving the loft.


******


"Lois?", Clark called from the barn door.

After Oliver had left Lois sat back down on the couch and hadn't moved since, but hearing Clark call for her shook her out of her trance. She called out that she was coming and went down to greet him.

"Hey.", she said with a smile.

He smiled back and said, "Hey... sorry I took so long, it was supposed to be a quick errand and it got a little complicated."

She shook her head and said, "It's OK, things come up I get it."

He smiled at her for a moment before asking, "Ready to go then?"

She nodded and said, "Yeah, but could we stop by the Talon real quick? I need to grab something"

"Sure", he replied and they headed for her car.


******


Clark was leaning against the car, waiting for Lois when Chloe walked up.

"Hey. What are you doing here?", she asked with a curious smile.

Clark smiled and said, "Hey! Lois needed to grab something, so we stopped by and now I'm waiting."

Chloe nodded, right before hearing the sound of her cousins voice.

"Chlo! Hey! Perfect timing cuz! Could you do me a favor and take a picture of me and Clark for me?", Lois asked.

Clark frowned and said, "Picture?"

Chloe frowned and replied, "Umm, sure."

"Great.", Lois said and handed her the camera while grabbing Clark's hand to pull him over to the front of the Talon.

"A picture?", He asked again.

She looked up at him and replied, "Yes, a picture. Now quit looking so confused and smile at the camera farm boy."

He turned his face towards the camera and smiled a small smile. Once Lois saw him looking at the camera she scooted closer and rested her head on his chin with a smile. Clark shifted his eyes towards her for a second before looking back at the camera with a slightly larger smile.

Chloe grinned at the two of them, brought the camera up and focused the shot. "OK, 1 2 3." Flash.

Lois moved from her pose, took the camera back and thanked Chloe.

"No problem cuz. I'll see you two later.", Chloe said and walked into the talon.

Lois waved at her and brought up the last picture taken on the small screen. "Perfect." she said looking at the picture.

"Perfect?" Clark repeated looking down at the picture.

She looked up at him with a smile, "Yeah. Perfect, it's the perfect shot for... our couple picture." she told him.

He looked away from the picture and towards her as he repeated her words again, "Couple picture?"

Lois rolled her eyes at him and said, "Would you stop repeating everything I say? I know you have more words in your vocabulary, being a journalist and all. Yes, a couple picture, every girl has one." she looked away and back down at the picture, "You know, it's the picture a girl has on her night stand.... or desk, of her and.... her..." she shrugged and continued, "You know... guy." She finished and looked back up at him, hoping he understood.

Clark looked into her eyes, looking for a sign that she meant what he thought she meant. He had started to wonder, not a lot but maybe a little, if she really wanted to be in this... with him. Seeing what he needed to, a smile grew on his face as he took the camera from her. "In that case." he said and raised the camera up to get a shot of her, "Smile", he told her and zoomed in until all that was in the shot was her face and shoulders.

Lois frowned in confusion for a second before complying with his request and smiled at the camera. He shot without warning and brought the camera down to look at how it came out.

"Perfect.", he said after a moment.

She looked down at the picture and then up at him, raising her eyebrows when he looked up at her and waiting for an explanation.

He smiled and said, "See, a guy likes to keep a picture of his... you know, girl in his wallet."

She kept her gaze steady, on his eyes and smiled. A small smile while biting her lip and nodding her head in comprehension.

[gem65]

That was a cute story. I really enjoyed it.

[rebecavaldez]

Haha, very cute. I loved it!

[FedeL]

Aaawwwww sooo sweet!!!! Loved it!

[superlc529]

Just wanted to comment over here too... very cute story, Christine. And I hope you fix the stuff like 'patients' and 'patience' soon.

Cute Job!

Clois Forever!!!!!!!!!!

[Marcela Loves Clois]

Cute!

[Schatzie]

A wonderful one-shot. Thanks for sharing it.

[ewalani]

That was a cute story. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Haha, very cute. I loved it!

Thanks! I'm happy you liked it!

Aaawwwww sooo sweet!!!! Loved it!

Aww! Thanks!

Just wanted to comment over here too... very cute story, Christine. And I hope you fix the stuff like 'patients' and 'patience' soon.

Cute Job!

Clois Forever!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the heads up Linda! I went through and fixed as much as I could find! Hope I caught them all!
Thanks for commenting in both places! Glad you liked it!

Cute!

Thanks!

A wonderful one-shot. Thanks for sharing it.

Well, I'm glad you liked it! Thank you for reading it and commenting!

[superlc529]

Thanks for the heads up Linda! I went through and fixed as much as I could find! Hope I caught them all!

Thanks for commenting in both places! Glad you liked it!

Just wanted to make it perfect. It was great.

[hhhandsteph]

cute

[ewalani]

Just wanted to make it perfect. It was great.

Thanks for the help!

cute

Thanks!

[miss smith]

CHRISTINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Ahh I'm running late so I have to run but I wanted to let you know that I loved it and I'm coming back later to leave a proper comment!! AHHHHHH!!

good to see you back in action!!

[Terrific_T]

that was cute

[Miray]

Adorable! I loved it!

[kena02]

Cute, love it. Really great.