Good penultimate chapter! I laughed aloud at this:
“We need to go inside,” he said, his voice low and intimate, quickening her heart automatically.
“Why?” she asked, allowing him to lead her toward the door.
“Because I need to kiss you in a way that will scandalize my neighbors,”
I'm going to steal that line and use it on my wife.
I'm also going to guess that the Thanksgiving visit will be in the next long segment. Assuming, of course, that Lois (1 doesn't decide to stay in Smallville right now (2 get seriously injured or even killed while investigating Luthor (3 decide that Clark needs to move to Metropolis so she hunts up a teaching job for him.
I'm eager to see this relationship develop even further. Come back soon!