The next morning Clark was looking out the window at the warm, sunny day that awaited him. His mom was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when she asked, "Clark, honey, can you go wake up Lois? Breakfast will be ready shortly."

"Sure mom. Come here Shelby, let's go get Lois." The dog sat up at Lois's name.

"Clark." His mom warned.

"What? Shelby loves Lois." Clark smiled.

"Will you two ever get along?"

"Probably not." Clark laughed as he ran up the stairs, Shelby on his heels. When he reached his room Clark slowly opened the door and whispered to Shelby, "Go get her boy." The golden retriever jumped onto the bed giving Lois kisses all over her face causing her to sneeze. Clark started cracking up as she tried to push Shelby away from her.

"CLARK!" she yelled as she bolted out of bed and chased him down the stairs.

"Come on Sneezey, no need to be Grumpy." He laughed as they ran around the living room.

"Well Dopey you are going to need a Doc when I'm done with you." She threatened when they stopped on opposite sides of the couch. Without warning she climbed over the couch and jumped on him.

"Lois!" he screeched in surprise as her arms wrapped around his throat in a chokehold. He tried to wiggle out of her grasp but she wrapped her legs around him to keep herself on.

"Say you're sorry."

"No." came his strangled reply right before he plopped back first onto the couch causing her to loosen her grip. When he was able to move again he flipped over and pinned Lois to the couch. His eyes shined mischievously down at her, and her eyes opened wide in horror when she realized what he was about to do.

"Don't you dare Smallville!" she warned as a smile split his face in two and he began tickling her. The room was filled with her laughs and breathless threats.

"If you two would stop picking on each other, breakfast is ready." Mrs. Kent announced from the kitchen. Clark stopped tickling Lois and looked down at her, still smiling.

"You can get up now, Smallville." She smiled up at him. He cleared his throat.

"Right. Sorry." He stood and helped her up.

"Beware Smallville. I will have my revenge." She threatened over her shoulder before walking into the kitchen. Clark just shook his head with a laugh.

After breakfast Mrs. Kent announced that she had a meeting with another senator in Washington and would be gone for the weekend.

"It will only be for the weekend. Lois, I hate to ask this of a guest but, could you help Clark with the chores around the farm this weekend?"

Lois looked startled for a moment at the unexpected request but quickly agreed, "Of course Senator. It's the least I could do after the hospitality you have shown me." she smiled and Mrs. Kent returned it. Neither of them noticed the frightened look on Clark's face. He relaxed for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Lois if you meet me in the barn I'll show you some of the chores you can help me with."

"Sure thing Smallville." She replied being uncharacteristically nice. As she went up stairs to change for the day Clark turned back to his mom.

"Mom, why did you do that? I can't use my abilities in front of Lois."

"I don't want you over working yourself again. Between keeping an eye on your friends and finding those who escaped the Phantom Zone I can see that it's wearing you down. I don't want to think about what could happen if you added extra chores to all of that." She expressed her worry.

"I'm going to be fine, mom. Don't worry, I'll let Lois help out and I'll try to relax a bit more." He assured her while pulling her into a hug, "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Let's go Smallville! I'm not going to wait all day for you." Lois announced coming down the stairs.

"Bye sweetheart." Mrs. Kent said giving her son a peck on the cheek. "Bye Lois." She said giving the girl a hug. Mrs. Kent took her suitcase and exited the door to the awaiting car. "Behave yourselves!"

Once the car was out of sight Clark led the way to the barn and Lois started rambling on about nothing in particular, just filling the silence she couldn't stand. "You know, I thought if I kept the coffee away from you this morning you wouldn't have the energy to ramble like this." Clark smirked at her and she glared in return, shoving him playfully.

"So what kind of chores are you going to make me do?"

He motioned for her to follow him and he led her toward the horses. He stopped in front of a milk chocolate horse with caramel specks covering its back. "Lois, meet Dante. Dante, this is Lois. Are you handy with a hammer and nail?" she quirked an eyebrow at the question. "There's a fence that needs mending on the back forty. Dante will take you there and when you're done he's due for a wash."

"Okay, so mend a fence and wash a horse? That doesn't seem too bad." She said with a relieved smile.

"All the materials you need are out there waiting for you, so just saddle up and you can get going." He turned to start leaving.

"Um… how do I 'saddle up' exactly?" she asked and he chuckled lightly turning around to help her.

"Can you grab the saddle right there?" he pointed to the one across from Dante's stall. She picked it up and walked it over to Clark but it slipped out of her hands right in front of Dante and crashed to the ground with a loud BANG! The noise and proximity spooked the large horse onto its hind legs while kicking its front ones. "Whoa boy!" Clark exclaimed grabbing for the reins to try and bring the horse back to the ground. When Dante had all four legs back on solid ground Lois stepped forward and put her hand on his long face.

"Shhh boy. It's okay. Shhh, I'm sorry I spooked you. Shhh." She soothed him as she softly stroked his nose and mane. Dante seemed to calm considerably when she did that.

Once Clark was sure Dante was fully calmed down he released the reins. "Good boy." He said patting his neck. "Who knew Lois Lane could be nice?" he teased her with a playful grin.

"I am an extremely nice person, Smallville. I just like picking on you more than showing off that side of me." she informed him, returning the grin.

"Well I'm honored to be your verbal punching bag." He retorts sarcastically picking the saddle up off the ground and placing it on Dante.

"You forgot that you are also my actual punching bag." She added with a playful punch to his shoulder, which he answered with a playful glare. "Oh just admit it Smallville, you love it when I pick on you. It makes your life more interesting." He just laughed as he helped her onto the horse.

"I must admit that things have become slightly more interesting since you first arrived here, in Smallville."

"Only slightly?" she smirked down at him before cantering off on Dante.

About three hours later Clark was finishing up the chores when he heard Dante's galloping hooves heading toward the barn. He finished feeding the rest of the horses and went to meet Lois outside the barn.

"Hey Lois. Are you done with the fence?" he asked as she brought Dante to a halt.

"Yeah, I would have been done sooner, but no one told me the broken portion of the fence was the size of Kansas itself." She said getting off of the horse while Clark chuckled at her statement.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

"I handled it just fine, but I'm sure if you had to do it you'd cry like the little baby you are, Smallville." She teased him while he took the saddle off Dante. "So what other chores do you have for me?"

"Once Dante gets washed all the chores are done." She looks surprised at his comment.

"No other chores?"

"Nope, I finished them while you were taking you time fixing the fence." He smirked at her.

She just rolled her eyes at his comment. "So we just have to wash this big fella and we're done?"

"Yep, grab that sponge and bucket over there and turn on the hose." He said pointing near the door of the barn. Clark led Dante outside and Lois grabbed the cleaning supplies. Using the hose, Lois soaked Dante in water while Clark used the sponge and bucket to remove the dirt. When Dante was almost clean Lois looked over to Clark with a mischievous glint in her eyes, then she turned the hose on him. Clark yelped in surprise.

"I told you I'd get my revenge, Smallville." She said smiling broadly. He glared at her playfully and started walking toward her. "Oh no you don't Smallville." She warned, backing away from him.

"Come here Lois." He smiled, walking toward her with open, soaking arms. Lois's eyes opened wide at the gesture and started to run away from his soaking embrace. Clark chased her around the barn and as they were coming back to where they left Dante, Lois hid around the last corner and when Clark approached she stuck out her foot and tripped him. He went flying and fell face-first in a big puddle of mud. When he rolled over revealing his mud-covered face, Lois couldn't contain her laughter. She was laughing so hard that she didn't notice Clark getting up and reaching for her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the mud with him. Once she realized what had happened she glared at Clark and pushed him further in the mud. Before they knew it they were wrestling in the mud puddle. When they stopped wrestling to catch their breaths, Lois was perched on top of Clark looking down at him.

"So, does this mean we're even?" he asked her.

"Smallville, we will never be even." She smiled down to him. Clark returned the smile wiping some of the mud off of her cheek and moving a stray hair behind her ear. Then without thinking he pulled her head down and gave her chaste, but sweet kiss. Lois pulled away in shock and looked down at him confused. "I'm sorry Lois. I don't know what came over me." he apologized. She smirked at the apology.

"Clark, shut up and kiss me." she demanded and he did just that.