Smallville 1. Chapter 1

1

He watched.

Clark watched the small boy half hidden behind rocks, the boy's actions lit by the crackling fire, his shirt turned orange by the light. His son had turned six last week, but they'd waited a bit past Christmas to have a party for him. Most of the League was here, although not in costume. The children of the Kawatchee Reservation, chilled by the winter cold, were already inside Joseph's cabin.

The pinata was about to be burst.

But Kon was sitting out.

That bothered Clark. His son had friends. They'd worked very hard for him to have friends from both the reservation and from kindergarten. Kon had been out for a month before Christmas because he'd had trouble adjusting his new speed, but he had two friends whom he liked very much, a boy named Gerald and a girl named Cassie.

They weren't here today.

Kon was still glitching at best with his speed, sometimes moving too fast for human eyes to see, and they couldn't risk that even his friends would notice.

The Kawatchee, of course, were different. They knew . The children of the tribe had always known that Kon was special and they'd accepted that. They were all related, albeit distantly, after all. Besides, there were several Kawatchee youth with unusual powers of their own. There was a seven year old with a literal Midas touch (when he concentrated hard enough), a boy about Kon's age who could turn himself invisible, and two of Chief Joseph's grandsons were just like Khyla had been.

Kon's abilities were not so unusual here.

Which was why his son's aloofness bothered him.

Clark slid next to his son silently, waiting and watching as Kon practiced. It was quite a sight and, despite his abilities, despite watching Maddie and Kon practice his control for years, Clark was still amazed when Kon used his telekinesis. Perhaps that wonder was what Chloe felt every time she saw either of them use their gifts.

It would explain a lot.

Hovering in the air, about two feet above his head, were three small stones. Seamlessly they slipped in between each other, as if being juggled and, in a way, they were.

"Buddy, are you okay?"

His son startled and the pebbles rained to the ground. "Kangaroo! You scared me."

Clark rolled his eyes. Some things Kara encouraged. "Kon, why are you by yourself. You know we're doing the pinata and then pie."

"I like pie."

He chuckled. "I know. And grandma made apple."

His son nodded and climbed into Clark's lap. "I know. I wanted to think."

"Before pie?"

Kon didn't say anything at first but instead placed his hands on top of one of his. They traced patterns over his thumb. "What's a Nulec?"

Clark just barely kept from cursing. He and Chloe had also worked very hard to keep anything about Kon's real heritage. They told him "fairy tales" about Krypton, but Kon didn't know about the legends of the Numan and his son. It was something they'd argued with over the years with the tribe elders, who were tempted to worship them like the Second Coming instead of like a struggling cub reporter and a five year old.

"Kon, where did you hear that word?"

More playing with his thumb. "Graham. He told me. He said his grandma said that I was gonna save the Kawatchee."

Clark's grip on Kon tightened. Graham Ravenfeather's grandmother had a penchant for wearing cartoon characters on her shirts-today was Woody Woodpecker-as well as for honoring him and Chloe with gifts they didn't want. It wasn't surprising she'd said something to Graham.

"That's not really true, buddy."

"He said it was. He said his grandma said that we were me-ahs."

"Messiah. That's the word."

"Huh?'

"It means she thinks we're supposed to save the tribe. It's not true just because some men painted it on a wall five hundred years ago. We don't have to do anything. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Clark patrolled the streets of the Metropolis, slipping from scene to scene. He tried to stay inconspicuous, unseen. It was how the rumor of The Ghost had started. Kara's actions just compounded the legend. He worked with Oliver and the Justice Brothers, and he liked it. But Kon didn't have to have that life if he didn't want to. Clark wasn't going to force any destinies on his son that he didn't want, especially when he was barely six.

"We have special things."

"Yeah, we do."

"Like Martian Manhunter and he's cool and helps people."

Kon didn't know yet how much his Uncle J'onn had helped their little family.

"I know."

"I can't save stuff."

"Well, you're six and they really shouldn't have said anything to you. It wasn't nice."

Kon burrowed into his side. "I break things."

"I know, but you're much better than you used to be. You're getting so things hardly break at all."

"I can't, kangaroo."

"You don't have to," he replied, stroking Kon's hair. "You have a choice. You get to be whoever you want. You can grow up and be an artist like Maddie or write like mommy. You can take photos like Uncle Jimmy or-"

"Be like you?"

"I think you're a lot like me already. Too much thinking."

"I like it," he defended. "So I don't have to save stuff?"

"No, but you have a very important choice some day. One day, when you're big like me, you do have to choose what you're going to do with your powers. You can use them like the Manhunter if you really want to. You can pretend you don't have them at all, or-"

"What?"

"You know about Gotham, that they have scary people."

Kon shuddered. "Like the Penguin!"

"Right. Some people do bad things with their powers. They hurt people. I know you're a good boy. The one thing you can't do when you get big is hurt people. We have to be good."

"I know, daddy. I'd wouldn't be like the Penguin or the mean clown. I promise."

"I know, buddy, but you asked. So we have to be good."

Kon looked up at him and his eyes were Lana's eyes and Clark flashed back to Scion's labs and to having her hand around his neck. "What happens if I don't? I don't wanna be bad, but I stole things once and I made Gerald sad."

"You're not that bad, Kon. You won't be bad, cause mommy and me and Aunt Kara and grandma and Aunt Lois won't let you be."

"Good! Now pie!" he squealed hopping up and blurring into the cabin.

Clark sighed as he stood up. Lana wasn't here anymore and Kon was his and Chloe's. He'd be good.

Clark would make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Metropolis, Kansas - October 23, 2023

Clark watched.

It was what he spent a surprising amount of his time doing. Even in a city of 10 million, even in a city that full of crime (and while it was not Gotham, it managed), he had to wait, keep his attention focused. He was watching for another purse snatcher, another rape, another attempted robbery. What he should have been watching for was a Kryptonian on a mission.

Kara popped into reality in front of him and he startled a little. He hadn't been expecting her. The patrols in Metropolis were split four ways. He and Kara switched off every three days, while the Angel of Vengeance and Fawkes took turns picking up shifts as well. He and Kara rarely took the same nights, not unless something evil was brewing with Lex or Oliver needed both of their strengths. It allowed both of them to spend nights at home with their families and not feel guilty that the "Ghost" of Metroplis wasn't doing his duty.

It was Thursday.

He always took Thursdays.

"Kal, we need to talk."

Clark sighed and adjusted his black sweater as he sat back down on the Planet's roof. "We do?"

Kara's eyes flared red for a second before she continued. Yeah, she meant business. "Kon's going to be fifteen in two months."

Clark relaxed. "So, did he ask his Aunt Kara to con a great present out of me. He's too young for a car."

"Not funny, Kal-El."

"Kara-"

"I know you used to think I was stupid."

"No, I used to think that you made a lot of stupid mistakes, that you took too many risks. Then I lapped you in the idiocy Olympics."

She sighed and patted his shoulder. "We didn't know about Lana. None of us could have predicted that you'd have Kon."

"Yeah, but I went to ISIS and told the doctors there about you. I made a lot of bad choices after Kon was already on the way, and you were great about everything. Your parents would have been proud, I bet. You're a great head of the House."

"No, Kal-El, not to go all sexist but that's your job. I never wanted it, but sometimes someone has to tell you when you're being an ass. This is one of those times."

"I don't understand."

"Yes you do. How old was Jax-Ur when you told him about his father, about what Blue Kryptonite really does?"

"I-"

"He was fourteen. And how old were you when your dad showed you your ship?"

"This is a pattern thing."

" You were fourteen. Kon's old enough to know."

"And you can't wait to tell Alura. If she weren't nine, you'd have already done it."

"We agreed to this, that we wouldn't hide Krypton from any of them."

"We haven't."

"No, Kon and Alura think they're fairytales. It's not the same. The history of their family and it's as real to them as the Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. It has to be that way. I get that. After Lex stole both you and Kon, I'd never risk it. I can't have Alura say something and have someone like ISIS or LuthorCorp take her. I won't have it," Kara replied, her fist clenching.

"I'm keeping Kon protected," he defended.

"No, he's old enough. He's like Jax or like you were. He'd be smart enough to keep himself protected. You owe him the truth."

"We could wait. Kon thinks he's like Chloe. That we're all like Chloe. Would it be so wrong to let him and Alura think they're meteor infected until they graduate high school."

"You're going to be ashamed of us now? Little cousin, I thought you'd learned better," Kara snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, I'm not. Not at all, but this is hard. He thinks he's human, Kara. Weird, sure, but that's us. I'm about to tell him he never completely was."

"Well he is half-squirrel. That's going to be hard to tell anyone."

Clark blanched. "I can't tell him about Lana."

"He's almost fifteen. He's a freshman in high school and he's brilliant because his bio-mom was an evil schemer extraordinaire and because we're not from here. Kon's not so stupid that he doesn't know he's more unusual than most meteor infected people."

"What?"

"He's been asking me things, James too."

"He's going to Jimmy? What did Jimmy say?"

"Jesus, Kal, he didn't say anything but he did help Kon fix the tile in his bathroom."

"Huh?"

"It broke."

"Right, he slipped or something and offered to fix it instead of make me do it. I didn't know Jimmy helped with that."

"James is helpful around the house. He's a regular Bob Vina."

"Villa."

"Whatever, he's totally helpful. Kon told him how it actually got broken and it had a lot more to do with an extended shower than it did with slipping."

Clark's eyes widened. "What?"

"I really don't want to get into details because I'm not supposed to know. But that's just one thing on top of the hearing he can't control because it didn't develop correctly and the flight and the speed and the fact that he can't heal things like Chloe can. He knows there's something very different about him besides meteor powers and it's scaring him, Kal-El. So either you tell him or I will but we are going to tell him and it is going to be this weekend."

Clark took a deep breath and looked out into the city, the glass walls of the other skyscrapers gleaming in the moonlight. "It's going to be so hard. He's...I never want him to feel the way I did."

"And he won't because you didn't have anyone to show you how to use your powers or anyone to tell you what Krypton was like or anyone else just like you. Kon has a foster brother and a little cousin who are exactly like he is. He's not alone in it."

He nodded. "I know but I don't want to hurt him."

"I think the not understanding his abilities his hurting him more. He's scared, afraid he can't...he feels the way you felt all those years with Lana. I can't let this go on and I technically am the oldest."

"Fine but I can't tell him about Chloe and Lana. For fourteen years, Chloe's been his mom and he doesn't even know Lana, except the way Metropolis knows her-from the stories on page six and Cat's column. He doesn't need to know that Chloe's not blood family."

"Is this because Chloe said this was the way she wanted it or because you're afraid to deal with it?"

"Chloe said it was my call and I don't want to ever do anything to imply Chloe's not the mother."

"Aunt Martha isn't related to us, but I think of her the same way I always thought of Aunt Lara. It doesn't matter."

"It does to me. I just...Lana's dangerous and psychotic and I don't want to explain to him that that's in his gene pool. I think alien from Krypton is enough without her mess on top of it."

"You should tell him everything. These things never stay a secret for long and he can tell that his powers and Chloe's don't match. He can see that he doesn't look like her."

"Well Chloe and Lana are the same height and they both have green eyes," he defended, feeling like an idiot.

"And Lana's complexion is darker by a shade than either of yours and the shape of his eyes are hers, the texture of his hair. He's Lana in so many ways and he has to have noticed it. We had to lie to keep him safe, but I don't want to lie to him anymore."

"It's easy for you to tell Alura when the time comes. You and Jimmy have always been crazy about each other. She comes out of this perfect marriage, but Lana didn't love me and we had the messiest divorce in history and we weren't even married!"

"I understand that more than you think. I know what my parents had and it was painfully like Dax-Ur and Mary or you and Lana are now. But lying about it, pretending it's fine, we always see through it. You've had fifteen years to figure it out. No more waiting, Kal-El. He deserves to know everything."

Clark nodded and folded in on himself. "I just don't want to disappoint him."

"Hey,so how was patrol?" Chloe asked, smiling as he flew through the window.

"I hope Andrea was on top of her game tonight," Clark replied. "Because my cousin ambushed me."

"She did?"

"Yeah, she's on a kick for me to tell Kon everything." Clark would have worried more about Kon overhearing except he was sleeping over at Gerald's tonight. Besides, under the most ideal of circumstances, Kon's hearing was almost impossible to focus. They were working on it, but whatever way his not-quite DNA had lined up, the human half had diminished his ears' capabilities.

"About time. Good for her."

"You're my wife. You're supposed to back me up."

"Clark, I've been begging you for months too. I'm glad Kara and Jimmy are on the initiative."

"Jimmy?"

"Hive mind. They agree on everything."

"Scary when that happens." Clark deadpanned, slumping onto the bed.

"Ha-ha," she countered, taking his hand. "It's going to be okay. I mean, you got over being mad with your parents in like a day."

"True. I just...I get a bad feeling about all of this."

"And you worry too much."

He sighed and squeezed her hand. "You sure you want another? Crazy alien drama all over again."

"If you can take meteor infection madness."

"You're fine, Chlo."

She nodded, "It's a two-way street. We can take each other's weirdness. Besides, I always wanted Kon to have a brother or sister. I finally got that Pulitzer for the meta rights legislation coverage. I just...I'm glad we're trying. I know it's been slow going."

Which was a slight understatement. Chloe had won her Pulitzer almost a year ago and had celebrated by coming home and announcing it was time for a second child. They'd been trying, sometimes several times a day, for almost a year without luck. It had taken Kara and Jimmy much less time, he and Lana as well.

He hadn't said anything to her, but Clark was beginning to worry that the two of them weren't compatible like that. Chloe's heart was concentrated with Kryptonite, her entire body had been altered by it.

He was allergic.

It wasn't so insane to think that maybe a second child wouldn't be possible, at least not without the same methods that his mom had used to get him. He'd been thinking that over-hell Bart in all his subtlety had suggested that too (just to him)-but hadn't dared to say anything to Chloe. She'd wanted this so badly.

"I love your weirdness. Compared to mine, it's boring."

"Meh, I raise the dead. What do you do, Ghost?"

"Everything else," he replied, leaning forward to kiss her and then stopping.

"Hey, I haven't even had garlic today." Ignoring her joke, Clark brought his hand to his mouth and sped to the bathroom, making it there in time just barely to wretch. Chloe was there soon, her hand stroking his hair. "Are you okay? You didn't mention Kryptonite on patrol."

Clark flushed the toilet and then perked up his ears. It was easy and expected this time to picked out the rushing beat. Closing his eyes, he just managed to keep himself from banging his head against the toilet's back. Chloe'd wanted so badly to be the one this time. "Chlo, I didn't patrol at all. Kara got to me early. I haven't been near Kryptonite in two months." He turned back to her and watched her go from frowning to wide-eyed.

"Oh, I...really?" her voice was quiet, unsteady and he felt terrible. If he couldn't do what he could, then they would never have a child of their own between them, but he knew that Chloe wanted this. She'd never breathe a word about it for as long as they both lived (which could literally be just this side of forever), but he knew it was cutting into her.

He nodded. "Really, really." Reaching up, he pulled her arm over his shoulder. He caressed it, letting his fingers trailing over her skin. "I love you."

Sniffle.

"I love you too."

He pulled the arm lower, placed her hand over his stomach. "The baby is yours, you know. All yours, just like Kon. You're the mother."

Gentle lips on his temple. "I know."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Tone forcefully chipper. "This is amazing."

Clark turned around to face her and he sighed at the forced smile she wore. "Chlo, it's okay to cry, just this once. I know what you wanted."

She was in his lap then, shaking with tears she refused to shed. "I have everything I wanted. So, when do we get to tell Kon he's going to be a big brother?"


	3. Chapter 3

3

"Perry, I just can't come in today," Chloe said and she knew it was stupid to try whisper when her husband and son both had superhearing, although Kon's was terrible. Clark was out checking on the cows and the great advantage of dealing with him was that he was easily distracted. He'd tune out his hearing so he could focus on the animals.

She was taking that opportunity.

"Sullivan, something's wrong, isn't it?"

Of course Perry could tell. The Pit Bull had a built in lie detector. She could smile for Clark and set out the cereal for Kon (who frankly didn't notice anything until about 11 AM; he was not a morning person). But she had no chance of hiding things from Perry. He saw too much or, in this case, heard it.

"It's nothing life threatening."

"Nothing for your more colorful associates in spandex to deal with then?"

Chloe sighed and leaned against the kitchen wall, her hand wrapped around the cord of the phone. "Nothing that will even make a dent on the Daily Planet classifieds. It's a personal day, Chief."

"Don't call me that and, forgive me for prying."

"It's what you do."

He laughed. "It is indeed. Sullivan, what's actually going on and please don't tell me it involves any bald mutual acquaintances."

"Not that. I guess you were going to have to know this anyway so you could help Lois and Jimmy and me cover, just a heads up."

"Is Clark sick?"

"Only a little to start," she replied, swallowing. "I... we're expecting."

Perry whistled on the other end. "Great shades of Elvis. I never thought I'd see this first hand."

"Perry!"

"Well, I didn't know that you two were going to try for another child. Kon's so old already. I figured you two kids enjoyed the extra time with him in high school."

"No, I've been...we wanted one after I won my first Pulitzer because there's more time then."

He coughed. "You were expecting to take off?"

"I was supposed to be the one this time, Perry. Long story short and genetic engineering gone awry, Clark only does this when the woman he's with can't."

"Chloe, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"Fine, I just need a few hours. The next few months are going to be really tough and add in the part where Connor's not expecting it at all and Clark's going to need me strong. I just wanted a few hours to myself."

"Do you need me to talk to him?"

"No, I think any special assignments you gave me for the day miraculously in Smallville, he'd see right through. I just need a moment to breathe. I'm happy, believe me. I love Connor so much, but I always wanted him to have a little sister or brother...I just thought I'd be the one.

"Sullivan, you spend 14 hours a day here if I let you. You're the best reporter I have, when you listen to me."

"Ha-ha."

"If you need a more than a day-"

"I can't. Like I said, Clark needs me and I can't make him feel bad. I'm not mad at him."

"I didn't think you were but if you need time, you've never had a sick day since I was editor."

"It's the meta metabolism."

"Just, take as much time as you need and we'll start thinking of ways to work around this for Clark. A lot of fathers take paternity leave. They don't usually give birth but it's Lowell County. I wouldn't bet that Clark's completely unique in this."

"Thanks, Perry."

"I try and make it normal. It's fine, you kids-and I mean Lois and Jimmy too-are like family."

"And you say that because you still wish you could marry Martha."

"Lionel doesn't deserve her."

"Dream on, Chief. So, I'll be in tomorrow and I'll be ready to work then."

"Sullivan-"

"Tomorrow," she finished, setting the phone back on its cradle, just in time for Clark to come rushing into the house.

"Where's Kon?"

"He left early to help Cassie do layouts."

Clark nodded and started toasting some bread with his eyes for his post-chores breakfast. "And you're in fuzzy bunny slippers and a bathrobe?"

"You're not dressed yet either and no fair," she groused and Clark (from her perspective) flickered and appeared back in front of her washed, cleaned, and in a three piece suit.

"I'll be ready to help you beat the morning commute," he said, quirking his head back at her. "But that's not what you want. Are you sick?"

"Never dies and raises the dead, but the stupid flu has got me this year. At least I got it before Christmas."

Clark frowned. "Chlo, look, about last night. Are you sure you're okay?"

"You're the second person to ask me that today. I'm fine, Clark. I just have a little cold."

He sighed and reached out to touch her hand. "I am sorry."

"You don't have to be. I'm just screwed up. Whatever happened, it's probably because I'm infected and don't even get into how that's your fault because Zod caused the shower and no infant can keep rocks from following him. I'm just glad one of us can do this."

She put every ounce of sincerity she had into it. Mostly it was true, she was jealous of Clark a little just like she was jealous of Kara or Margaret down in the basement whose shower she'd gone to last weekend. They got to do something that she never could and it hurt cause she'd always assumed she could.

The meteors sometimes took more than they gave.

But she couldn't say that, couldn't hurt Clark like that because while she hurt, she also was as thrilled as she'd been the first day he'd ever told her about Kon. Clark would get everything confused, make it about him and it wasn't. She was the one who couldn't do such an important thing, not him. And it wasn't like with Lana. She wasn't repelled by what was about to happen nor was she secretly hoping to adopt completely human children. She was more than excited for whomever they had growing between them.

The reporter in her was already curious to see how their child's abilities would line up.

Maybe they'd be immune. Kon in Smallville was complicated. He'd had more than his share of scares with old patches of woods Gerald had dragged him to or the meteor rock astronaut candy that Cassie had bought for him. Once or twice they'd had to go to Oliver's Dr. Hamilton for help because eight year old boys had a genius for getting into things they shouldn't have.

It would be nice if the baby didn't get sick like Clark, Kara, and Kon.

"I know but-"

"Go on off to the Planet. One of us needs to bring home a paycheck and before it takes you by surprise, I told Perry everything. He'll probably have some cigar waiting and a pages thick plan for your leave." She smiled and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Just go, I'll be waiting."

"I love you."

"Love you too," she finished, feeling her hair blow in the familiar breeze. Sighing to herself, Chloe walked over to the refrigerator and dug out the Rocky Road she had hidden behind the frozen liver. Today, just for today, she'd curl into bed, watch bad tv, pig out on ice cream and think about what she'd never do.

Because one day was all she'd allow herself, for Clark and Kon's sakes.

Chloe was half way through a Lifetime movie, something fifteen years old with Shannen Doherty as the lead and one woman's struggle against something. After five hours, they'd all started to blur together. The phone ringing was shrill enough to shock her out of her funk and to, unfortunately, send the last of the carton tumbling to the floor.

Swearing lividly, Chloe picked up the phone. "Kent residence, Mrs. Kent speaking."

"Mrs. Kent? Thank goodness. We tried your husband's work phone but he didn't answer."

"He's hard to track down on the beat and even harder in press conferences. What did you need?"

"This is Nurse Harding from Smallville High."

Chloe found it harder to breathe, felt her lungs constrict. There was no good reason why Kon would ever be at a nurse's office, even if the one at Smallville High specialized often in kids with unique afflictions. "Is he alright."

Dear God, no one could know.

"Mrs. Kent, we're calling because Connor passed out in History class. He's awake now but he's complaining of a migraine. We called you to come get him."

"Migraine. I...it's not class ring day again is it?"

"No ma'am. He was in history class like always and his friend Cassie said he just start clutching his head and passed out cold. He's up now, but unsteady. We'd like it if you could be here soon to pick him up."

"I'll be there yesterday," Chloe said, hanging the phone up.

It was a little after 1 PM. Worrying about what might have been was over, taking care of Kon, which had always been a full time job, had just resumed. And, with that, Chloe rushed to Smallville High and to her son.


	4. Chapter 4

4

"Cass, I have to be honest."

Amused brown eyes twinkled back at him. "You do now?"

Kon sighed. "I can be honest and that's not completely fair. I mean, I've been pretty honest about the whole powers thing, since third grade even. It's an even trade. You show me your and I'll show you mine."

And it had worked out that way. When he was eight, Cassie, still literally a girl in chestnut colored pigtails, had found him making pebbles float under the jungle gym. Even knowing some of the more colorful Kawatchee as he did, knowing that a lot of people in Smallville were like him and his parents, Kon had been terrified. That was the big rule at his house for both him and for Alura. They weren't allowed to show off their powers. Cassie, being Cassie, had just shrugged, touched her hand to one of the dropped stones, and frozen it on the spot.

They'd been best friends ever since.

No one outside of the Kawatchee or Cassie had ever shown him their powers. Somehow, if someone had, he had a feeling he'd do the same thing he had with Cass and let them into the Connor Kent Freaks Only Club. It's just that, even though it was a well known fact that the meteor rocks were mutagens and even though Belle Reve was full of individuals with strange abilities, no one in Smallville ever showed off what they could do.

Oh Kon and Cassie both had their suspicions. There was a girl name Sandra in his art class whom he was about 85% sure could do pastels without the crayons, and Cassie swore her mechanic had arms like Gumby, but no one had ever confessed to either of them. Of course, to be fair, he and Cassie didn't go advertising their powers to other people either. Gerald, who was spending more and more time with the economics club these days, had been Kon's other best friend longer than Cassie had, but he'd never told him.

Gerald was normal.

Cassie just understood more. It made it easier. Besides, when people found out, they weren't always polite about it. Tyler Jenkins from his old homeroom turned out to be a firestarter (he'd set some trashcans and on projector screen on fire last year about the same time he'd shot up four inches). Kids had freaked out, parents had written in letters, and Tyler got relocated to Belle Reve.

Not a pleasant fate.

And he wasn't incredibly strong, fast, and able to shatter glass (or anything else for that matter) with a thought.

No, Kon was glad his mom was doing all that legislation and he was also proud of his grandmother and Uncle Pete, but he wasn't going to come out as meta any time soon, either. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life under lock and key, not at all.

"So what are you being honest about now?"

"I don't like the layout. I think that the lunch menu above the sports game schedule doesn't work. I just think they blur together too much. I'd move the lunch menu to the back of page two."

Cassie saluted "Aye-aye, captain. Anything the editor says."

"Come on, don't joke. It's not that big a deal. We're the only two people who work for the paper."

"Yeah, but you're the one who has to deal with the Nazi Principal Reynolds who just won't retire. I get all the writing experience and none of the clashing with the man. It's a great system."

"So you say," Kon replied. "I don't think it's a great system."

"But it looks good for the Met U transcript," Cassie sing-songed. "Don't disappoint Mrs. 'Have You Seen My Pulitzer.'"

"My mom's really coming on strong, isn't she?" Kon groused.

"Nah, it's adorable. The way your dad does that goofy grin thing, where do I get a family like that?"

"I like your dad. I mean, the whole snow ball fights thing gets old, but he's a great guy."

"Uh-huh, but my stepmom. Ugh."

Cass's mom had been a local artist in Smallville and she'd made jewelry out of the meteor rocks. It was the main reason why after throwing up on Cass's sofa once in fourth grade, he'd never played at Cassie's house. Kon, like his dad, aunt, and little cousin, had a wicked allergy to meteor rocks. His mom didn't. But they didn't share a lot of things in common. Anyway, Cassie's mom had worn her wares for twenty years. It hadn't given her superpowers.

But it had given her bone cancer.

She'd died two falls ago, and her dad, who'd probably been more in grief than in love, had married a much younger woman who clashed with Cassie all the time. That was reason two why Cassie spent most of her free time at Kent Farm. Sometimes reason three seemed to be that she had a crush on him, but maybe that was all in Kon's head. He wasn't often lucky and he definitely wasn't lucky enough to stop being 'just friends' with Cass.

Dream on.

"I'll trade you your stepmom for my Uncle Jimmy."

"You love Uncle Jimmy."

He sighed. "I do, but he goes on and on about so many geeky things. I mean, he came to the school fair and bored Gerald's parents with a long lecture about the X-Men. I just cannot live that kind of fanboy stuff down."

"Well, it wouldn't be family if we weren't embarrassed."

"Very funny," Cass said, frowning as the bell ring.

Kon winced. He hated loud noises. His stupid hearing had started acting up last year and sometimes he just couldn't focus it. Loud noises still threw him, because they were hard to filter out and it had really sucked that this was the year his parents had rediscovered the joys of sex. Weren't all middle aged people supposed to just be too tired and have headaches?

Stupid hearing.

But being in school sucked because the bell went off about ten times a day and every time, it felt like someone rang a gong right next to his ears.

"Kon?" Cass asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Fine. I just…it's the same old, same old. Don't we have history next?"

"Yes, everything you wanted to know about the Pinkertons. Imagine my excitement," she drawled. "Let's go. I can't work here afterschool if I get detention for being late and you know Reynolds-"

"-Is a Nazi, gotcha," Kon finished, locking up the door of The Torch office behind him. "

Kon was trying really hard to pay attention to labor union strikes and whatever else Mrs. Simpson was droning on about. He took effort usually to take notes but not for the reasons one would think. His memory was photographic and he really only had to hear or see something the one time to memorize it. His dad had spent a long time when he'd started fifth grade explaining to him that he needed to keep taking notes so he could look like the other kids. And he was usually good about that, except when his hearing was acting up and Kon just wanted to bang his head against the desk.

Actually, the whole hearing thing was odd. He'd gotten headaches the first week or two he'd had it, but now he felt another migraine coming on. He just hated it. His head was swimming, his vision was strangely blurry, and he felt like someone had taken a railroad spike and was jamming it into the base of his skull.

"Uhn," he muttered, setting his head in his hands.

Cass leaned over his shoulder. "Kon, you need to stay awake."

"Yeah, man, if I can't sleep, you can't sleep," Gerald replied over the other shoulder.

Another tap on that spike and Kon shuddered. "I do not care."

"How can you say that," Cassie hissed. "You don't want to get in trouble. Like I said, detention is no one's friend."

"I know, Cass, I just, ahh!" And it was too much, like a dozen of them instead of the one, driving into his brain. Kon fell out of his desk and hunched over on himself into a ball. "Ow!"

"Mr. Kent. I don't find this funny," Mrs. Simpson chided and he opened his eyes just long enough to watch her start marching toward him. Another stab of pain and for the oddest second, he swore he could see right through her skin, to the arteries and musculature below.

Kon shuddered and clamped his eyes shut. He had to be hallucinating.

Cassie was kneeling next to him, her hands on his shoulder. "Kon, they'll send you to the nurse," she hissed.

"Don't care. Wanna leave."

"Mr. Kent, this is ridiculous."

"Mrs. Simpson," Gerald started. "I've known Kon forever. He's not faking this."

"Oh kill me," he moaned, ignoring the mix of whispers and giggles from his classmates.

He heard the click of firm heels on the linoleum beside him. "Mr. Burlingame, Ms. Carpenter, can you please help him to the nurse's office?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever he needs," Cassie said, pulling him up. It was a good thing he wasn't nearly as big as his dad (yet). "Come on, Kon. I've gotcha." And, despite the pain, he relaxed a little because he knew Cassie always did.

"And that's what happened. It was bizarre," he started, shoveling a forkful of green beans into his mouth. "One minute I'm okay and the next I'm on the floor and it hurt like Hell."

His mom eyed him. "Like what?"

"Oh come on! I'm way too big for a swear jar."

"Connor Sullivan."

"Fine mom, 'heck.' It hurt 'like heck.' And then I was all passed out and loopy and by the time you came to get me, nothing."

His dad frowned. It was Friday. Kon liked Fridays. His parents took turns working late shifts at the Daily Planet and his mom was always busy on Mondays and his dad never came home before one on Thursdays. On Fridays, they got to do the whole family dinner thing and, it might have been a little geeky, but he enjoyed it.

"But you're better now? Are you sure none of your classmates-"

"Had meteor rocks? I know, that did occur to me," he said, sipping his Coke. "But I get nauseated first with meteor rocks and then its cramps and my skin starts burning. This was only my head." He snorted. "I did have the weirdest experience though."

"What?" His mom asked.

"Well, Mrs. Simpson yelled at me and I looked up at her and I swore that for like a split second I could see everything. It was like someone had skinned her.

"What?" His dad gulped and was he choking?

"I know, that's nuts, right? I saw through skin. Right. I think I can add hallucinations to the whole thing." He paused and dropped his fork, splattering mashed potatoes everywhere. "Wait? Do you think I have a brain tumor? Oh god, cause I don't think we can go and get that operated and Dr. Hamilton is nice and all but I don't know if I trust him with my brain."

"Kon, calm down," his mom said.

He stood up and started pacing. "And if I do have a brain tumor, I mean, it's not like chemo is going to do anything for me. I guess mom could…but I don't want her to have headaches again and this is so so bad."

"Connor," his mom shouted, taking his hand. " A stor , you're fine."

"I'm what? Did you not just hear the part about a brain tumor?"

"Your mom's right."

"Cause she has a medical degree."

His parents exchanged a look and sighed.

"Connor," his mom said, squeezing his hand. "You're going to be fine. This is perfectly normal."

Kon closed his eyes. He hated sentence that started out like that. "Perfectly normal" was totally code for "we have a new way for you to be a freak." The last time he'd been told that, his hearing had gone up to eleven and never quite adjusted back to normal. He stopped and looked back at his mom. Yup, all the signs were there, she was worrying her bottom lip and her eyes were too wide and bright. Dad was sitting about six inches lower than he should have, copping that "Why yes, I know I'm guilty of giving you this too" pose. "Normal how?"

"Your Aunt Kara and I have better vision than most people. We can see things telescopically or microscopically, but I was in my twenties before that happened. And we can also see through things."

"See through things?"

"It's like an X-ray," his mom piped in.

Like that made it any better.

"Wait, so me having splitting headaches and seeing my teacher's veins is perfectly normal for me?"

"Yup. I was about your age when this happened to me too," his dad replied, picking the napkin out of his lap and pushing up from the table. Without a word, he cleared his mom's plate and started heading for the sink. "It's all part of your development. It's like the hearing. Alura's going to get them too when she's about as old as you are."

Kon sighed. Of course he was getting more powers. Why wouldn't he? Cause flying, hearing, running, being strong, being literally thick skinned, and telekinetic weren't enough. Just freaking perfect. So much for liking Friday and family dinners.

"Great. Is this the last of it? Do I ever stop growing into things?"

His dad sighed. "It's not much more after this and this one's actually kind of cool. I remember this one time with your Uncle Pete and getting to…" he trailed off and blushed in the direction of his mom. Kon rolled his eyes. He could do the math. Teenage boy, plus girlfriend, plus X-ray vision pretty much equaled free peeks at mom back in the day.

"Oh I don't even wanna be told. I get it, dad, and ohh," he groaned, grabbing his head again. His eyesight better come in better than his hearing or his sense of smell had. He couldn't live with recurring headaches. Aspirin for him? Might as well give him M&Ms.  
>" A stor ," his mom asked, soothing his arm. "Are you okay?"<p>

He brought his hands away and blinked his eyes open. His parents, naturally, had been right. Everything was in X-ray. It was kind of cool being able to see through the beams of the house, to see the bones (and thank God it was skin and stuff this time) of his mother's body, to see his dad and…

"What the Hell?"

"Connor, really."

"No, I mean it," he said, blinking, trying to get his vision back to normal. What he was looking at was scary. His dad had turned around from washing the dishes and now, curled up a little above the hip bones there was a small thing. Kon thought it might be some kind of tadpole. It's bones weren't even all that formed. Oh god, maybe it was a parasite of the Smallville kind, some weird mutant tapeworm was now working its way through his dad.

Scratch that, Kon really, really loathed Fridays.

"Dad?" He asked, blinking and finally everything was normal. But it occurred to him, in a way it hadn't earlier, to perk up his ears. He usually spent a lot of conscious effort ensuring he could only hear like humans could. But right now, he had the oddest hunch ever. As he strained his ears, he noticed four things. One was his mother's heartbeat, which he'd learned to focus on last year and that he sometimes listened to for comfort when he couldn't sleep. The second and third things were his dad and his heartbeats, respectively. But the final sound?

That was a fast whirring, almost like a tiny washing machine.

Tapeworms didn't have heartbeats. He wasn't the best biology student, but he knew that much.

Babies, however, did.

"Oh my God."

"Kon," his dad started, putting the dish towel, down at the sink. "I think I can explain."

"You think you can what?"

"Explain. I'm guessing you just saw something you weren't expecting."

"Understatement. So you're going to explain to me why you're pregnant and then tell me that it's perfectly normal."

His dad sighed and looked at his mom. They did that. That having conversations with just glances thing. "No, it's actually not."

"I could have told you that. I just… you have a tadpole in there!"

"It's a baby but I can see the point," his dad added, trying to keep his tone light. "It doesn't look like much right this minute. I'm about seven weeks, I think. Aunt Kara's better at this medical stuff."

"Wait? Did Uncle Jimmy?"

"No, you know he's not like you," his mom said.

Kon eyed his mother, his mother who could raise the dead, who healed herself always in a flash of rose-hued light, his mother who couldn't speed or see through things or fly. His mother who was a meteor mutant, whose own mother was in a special hospital in Star City because of her infection. What kind of meteor mutant had seven or eight powers and one of them included getting pregnant?  
>"Dad, I don't get this. I'm really trying but I've had about three things dropped on me all today. I just…what are we? What's wrong with us?"<p>

His mother glared at him like she was considering slapping him for the first time in his life. "There's nothing wrong with either of you, not ever."

His dad folded in on himself a little. "There's nothing wrong, technically. If we were on Krypton, we wouldn't have any powers at all."

"Like the stories? I mean, sure if I went to Oz, I'm sure everything would be fine." Maybe his parents had drugged him. Maybe they'd just gone nuts-it happened with meteor mutants, sadly-and he was on an acid trip where his dad could get pregnant and the planet of Krypton that his aunt had always loved to tell him stories about was real.

That made sense.

Way more sense than what his family was trying to tell him.

"No, Kon, you're not listening," his mom replied sternly. "You and your dad, you're not exactly from around here…"


	5. Chapter 5

5

Kon felt like he was going to fall down. He'd rarely been dizzy, at least not around green rocks, but in that instant, he felt as if he couldn't keep standing, as if all the strength had been drained out of him. Those words couldn't be right. They were nuts, even for his family of mutants.

"I don't understand."

His mom stood up and pulled out a chair for him. " A stor , you're going to need to sit down for all of this."

Kon looked directly into her eyes. He wasn't tall (yet). He'd grown a little over the summer but when his mom wore her work heels, they were at eye level. Being equal like that, it made it easy to gaze into her expression, to read the nuances there. His mother was deadly serious.

"Mom?"

"Kon, sit," his dad suggested.

Kon pulled his chair out a little further and thunked down on to it. "Okay, let's start over, because maybe I am sicker than I thought. What I thought happened in the last five minutes was that I'm an alien and I'm developing see-through vision and my dad's pregnant with a tadpole. That's what I thought just happened. So, clearly, I must have daydreamed at some point."

His mom turned to his dad and shook her head. "This denial talent is from you, I know it."

"Not all of it," his dad said, sighing. "Kon, I really didn't intend to do all of this this way. Your aunt and I were going to sit down at tell you about Krypton this weekend, take a lot of time with it. I didn't expect your X-ray vision to come in quite this fast or for anything else."

Kon shook his head. "No, I'm sick. That's what happened. I'm not feeling well and none of this is real."

"Such a Kent," his mom grumbled, placing her hand over one of his. "Connor, we should have told you earlier, probably in seventh or eighth grade, but we didn't know how to break it to you without making you upset."

He looked between his parents. They really believed this was true. They really, really did. "I'm not hallucinating?"

"No," his dad said, leaning against the island in the kitchen, his arms crossed over his waist.

"And you're not playing a mean joke on me, are you?"

"No, a stor , we're not," his mom finished, reaching out and stroking his hair. "This is true. The stories about Krypton are real-all of them. Kara and your dad wanted to share your culture with you and Alura. Aunt Kara's very proud of it." Which begged the question of what his father thought of it. "So we all just decided to tell you they were stories, that they were made up, until you were old enough to keep a secret."

Kon gulped. He felt exactly as he had that time at Cassie's house, just as nauseated. "I don't...what am I supposed to say right now? Thank you for telling me now? Thanks for letting me freak out when new powers kept popping up?"

"I told you that you were like Aunt Kara and I am and that's not completely wrong," his dad defended.

"But it's not completely right either," he snapped. "Something isn't right with me. You two don't have TK like I do and your hearing and sense of smell actually work."

"Yours works," dad defended.

"Not like it's probably supposed to. Things are so loud sometimes."

"And I explained that it's because half of you is like your mother. Whether it's a human and a mutant or an intergalactic traveler and a human-"

"Are you serious?" Kon barked

"Today, yes," his mom added. "You and Alura are unique. We don't know how everything is going to work out because we don't know much about what happens when Kryptonians have children with humans. We're learning it together and we're guessing a lot about what should happened based on when it happened with your dad and with what grandma remembers."

"But you knew it wasn't just some powers thing," Kon replied. "You just didn't say anything."

"And we couldn't," his dad said, hugging himself tighter. "You were little. And you talked all the time. We didn't want you to say anything."

"I'm not little now. I'll be fifteen in two months. I can handle it and you should have said something!" he shouted and behind his father the window shattered. Kon closed his eyes and ducked his head; he hadn't lost control like that since he'd stopped having nightmares as a kid. It was embarrassing and a little scary because he hated the damage he could do. He hated his strength, something he had to temper all the time, something he'd used to shatter the shower upstairs when all he'd wanted...

He couldn't explain that to Cassie, not that they were ever going to date, but he couldn't even try anything with her. And he couldn't let himself get mad, but today all that breathing Maddie taught him and all that focus Uncle Bruce had taught him didn't matter.

He was mad.

And he had a horrible feeling the kitchen was going to pay for it.

"We were scared," his father confessed. "People have found us before. The Department of Domestic Security had your Aunt Kara once and something happened to you when you were very little. We had your safety and Alura's to think about and we waited."

"I wanted to know," Kon replied and he was up again and pacing, moving faster than his mom could probably follow easily. "I knew something was wrong with me."

" A stor -"

"No, there is something, don't say there's not," he snapped and the light fixture above them shook as if Kansas had a fault line.

"Calm down," she replied.

"I don't think I could if I wanted to. I knew nothing made sense; I knew it. I have so many powers. I know Maddie. She has one. I should only have had one, dad should have had one. But we have too many to count and I have even more than dad does."

"By one," his father added weakly. "We just didn't know how to say it either. I know what you're going through."

Kon glared at him and the apple beside his father splattered. To his credit, his dad didn't flinch. "If you came over from Krypton or whatever I doubt it."

"You think everything is a lie?"

"I don't know. I'm having a really hard time figuring out what's true when I'm ALF and my dad's fucking pregnant."

"I know and I screwed this up, I get that."

"You think?" Kon barked. "So I don't think you get it at all."

"Kon," his dad started, "I was three when Krypton exploded. All those family pictures grandma has a real. I barely remember anything about it, just your biological grandmother. I didn't know I wasn't from here. Aunt Kara wasn't around to tell me and Grandpa Jonathan showed me my ship when I was your age. I know exactly how hard this is."

Kon swallowed for he didn't know what to say. He was feeling too many things to keep track of. There was anger and that seemed to be the most of what he felt, anger at his parents for hiding the truth from him for too long, anger at himself for buying the lies when, deep down, he knew their answers had never made sense, and anger at the universe for doing this to him, for making him a freak.

Because besides the anger, what he felt the most of was disgust. There were mutants in Smallville, like his mother or Cass. They were almost common. He loved his family and he liked Cass, he'd just never been comfortable with all the strange abilities they all possessed. He just...they were bizarre and gross and so fucking inhuman. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake that belief. He'd been able to bury that deep down for years cause he knew it was wrong to feel that way. He'd almost been able to be okay with being infected at least until a few weeks ago when he'd realized that superstrong men and (mostly) normal girls probably could never mix.

But, Christ, he'd still been human.

What the Hell was he now?

Why did he feel that way? Why did he sometimes watch Alura use her powers-their powers-and feel repulsed by it.

"No," he said, his voice low. "You don't understand how I feel at all. I can't...are we dangerous?"

His mom shook her head and reached out for him. He shook her off but stopped pacing. "You're not, no."

"But Aunt Kara told me the stories. There are three houses that matter. There's the House of Ur with that Dax guy and he knew the planet was in trouble and he let people die anyway. There's Zod who's just some psychopath who butchered everybody. Is that us too?"

"And," his father replied. "There's a third house. My birth name is Kal-El. Your Aunt Kara's is Kara Zor-El. We're not all bad and the House of Ur, well, Dax-Ur made a mistake. He wasn't evil. He just...he made a mistake." His father was strained as he said that, as if he had to convince himself more than Kon.

Kon didn't think that much of some Kryptonians. Two out of the three houses he knew about were either cowards or genocidal maniacs. Something instinctual, something deep, kept screaming in his ear that aliens-all of them-were evil, couldn't be trusted.

He certainly couldn't trust his father or Aunt Kara. They were liars.

"Your father and your aunt aren't Zod," his mom said. "How can you even ask that?"

"How can't I? I mean aliens . "They"-he would not use the term "we" for this-"take over the world. It's what they do in all the movies. It's how it works. They come to a planet and unleash pods or blow up New York or send out tidal waves. Oh or they burst out of people's chests."

"You're not supposed to watch science fiction movies, Connor Sullivan," his mom said, her tone hard.

"Everyone watches them. I know what they're about. And aliens kill people."

"I've never killed anyone in my life," his dad replied. "Your Aunt Kara hasn't either. This isn't the movies. We're not something with an exoskeleton that spits acid, and we're not here to take over the world. Your aunt and I...we didn't have any other place to go."

"But-"

"We're not here to do anything more than what you see. Aunt Kara and I don't have a plot or much of a plan, really. You saw how well I handled something I had fifteen years to plan. I just want to have my job and you and your mom." He finished and then he blushed and looked down at his stomach. "Well and your little brother or sister."

Kon wanted to throw up.

"I can't believe you did this to me."

"Excuse me?" his mom asked and now she was glaring.

"You heard me. One time around the freakshow wasn't enough?" And he was so glad his dad had flinched. He should have. "You decided to scar me for life by adding in another little alien."

"Intergalactic traveler," his mom corrected.

"Alien," he countered and the light bulb above them shattered on that. "So now I have to watch? I don't want to know how I got here. A stork suffices. I mean, it's bad enough to think you two ever had sex cause eww, you're my parents. But," he added, staring at his father's stomach and shuddering. "I didn't need to see an example of it. This is so embarrassing and gross. Did I mention gross? Don't tell me I can do that."

His dad looked down at the floor and said nothing.

Good then.

Mom hopped up and crowded in on him. "We don't know what you can do. You're half human and the male pregnancy wasn't typical on Krypton. It's genetic engineering and it only happens under particular circumstances. We didn't know this would happen."

"How could you not know? I'm here!"

A second apple splattered and the kitchen was a mess of littered glass and impromptu apple sauce. It was then that his mother bit her lip and glanced at his dad. He knew that look. He'd seen it often and now he knew why. He could tell they were debating how much to tell him that they'd said something they weren't supposed to and, oh God.

There pictures.

Pictures of Aunt Kara when she'd been pregnant. There were tons of baby pictures of him, one of him in an elf hat his aunt had taken when he'd been a day old. There'd never been one of his mom pregnant with him, not one. Their powers didn't match and they'd kept saying it over and over again. He wasn't part alien and part mutant.

He was part human.

His mother wasn't human, not since the first meteor shower.

Kon stilled and looked at his mother, at her wavy blond hair, at her pale skin, at how pronounced her nose was-not huge-but a clear part of her profile. He thought of her ability to heal others, something he'd never even come close to duplicating, and he took a step back from her automatically.

"You're not my mother."

His mo- Chloe rocked back so hard he thought his TK had slipped again for a second. "No, Connor, I'm not genetically related to you."

"Chloe, you don't have to-" his dad started, but she cut him off.

Her voiced wavered a little as she spoke. "Yes, I do. We lied too much to you, a stor , and that was wrong. If we're going to tell you about your heritage, you deserve to know all of it. Right now is the first time your father has ever been pregnant by me."

"I hate that sentence," Kon groused.

"It's true," his mom continued. "You're going to have to get used to a lot of things and I know it's all at once, but we can work on everything about Krypton. I don't expect you to be able to cope with all of that, but I do expect you to treat your father with respect. This is going to be very hard on him and for the baby."

Kon shuddered again. "I can't even believe there's a baby."

"There is and we're going to have to be supportive."

"I don't want to be and you shouldn't have knocked up mom, Chloe."

She flinched. "Fine, if that's what you want to say, fine. As far as the pregnancy goes, we didn't know."

"Who's my real mom? Or the other one, I guess," he corrected. If dad had carried him and like nursed-oh God-and all that other stuff, he definitely was a mom in all of this. Kon had two moms.

Perfect.

"Lana Luthor."


	6. Chapter 6

6

The words hung in the air between her and her son. Chloe had known since the day in Oliver's apartment that this time was coming, that one day Kon would have to know where he truly came from, that they were not related by blood.

"Chlo, you don't have to," Clark cautioned and his hand was on her shoulder.

"No, a stor -"

"Not today, Chloe," Kon said, his teeth bared.

"Connor, that's rude," Clark criticized.

"It's also incredibly rude to lie to someone about everything for 15 years."

Chloe nodded. If acting like an ass for a few hours was going to help Kon deal with this, then she'd let it slide. Besides, she and Clark had botched this in the worst way possible. It was understandable that Kon was upset. "Connor, you can ask me anything."

Clark pursed his lips and folded his arms over his chest. "We really don't have to talk about Lana."

"I think we do," Kon countered and Chloe wondered if he knew that he'd assumed the same posture as his father. "I'm not related to you."

"About as much as your dad and Grandma Martha, but you knew he was adopted."

"So am I?"

"You definitely our your father's son, just as much as the little one. I was there for that. Aunt Kara has a collection of very funny pictures that she can show you now that you're old enough."

"Oh joy!" Kon snarked. "Just what can make the night more scarring. Wait, I know Aunt Kara had Alura, I was there."

Chloe look back at her husband, lingering on his stomach, at where their child was growing. He was able to do so much more than she could ever hope to, and it hurt. "Uncle Jimmy is human for one thing. For another, it's a contingency. It doesn't always happen."

"But it happened with Lana and you."

"The way your Aunt Kara explains it, there was a plague on Krypton thousands of years ago and the women were rendered infertile. They tweaked a bit with genetic engineering until the plague was cured. The pregnancy thing is kind of like the Kryptonian appendix."

Kon glared at Clark. "It doesn't look residual."

"Well it doesn't happen unless...the woman involved has to be unable to conceive. We've been wanting to have another baby since I won my Pulitzer and could take the time off. We were going to surprise you."

"Superhearing, I kind of knew you were trying, believe me."

Clark blushed. "Oh."

"It's all scarring."

"Lana had suffered a lot of accidents in Smallville-trampled by a horse, flung around by the more malicious meteor infected. It's not hard to believe that she took one hit too many."

Kon frowned and looked back at her. "I don't understand. What about you?"

The fingers of Clark's left hand were threading through hers. He was there and that mattered for everything. "I think my power might have affected me. I know some meteor infected can have children but I guess I'm not one of them."

"Without my other mom."

"That's snippy," she corrected. "But both times your father didn't know it was going to happen."

Kon took a step back and furrowed his brow at her. "I...was I an accident?"

"No, no, that's not at all what happened," she amended, realizing her mistake too late. "Your father and Lana were really young and they thought about children just later than you came along."

"A surprise," Clark floundered. "The best one until now."

"Well, I'm glad I surprised you. It seems to have done wonders for your relationship with a woman you never even mention!"

"What happened with Lana was incredibly complicated," Clark replied.

"Did you love her? I mean, were we ever a family?"

Chloe sighed and tried very hard not to take it personally. It was Lana after all and she cast a spell over people even with the mention of her name. "Connor, a -" she trailed off at his glare. "Things with Lana didn't end pleasantly, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you, not ever. Do you understand that?"

"How could I? I don't even know what happened."

She bit her lip but kept herself from looking at Clark, that was their tell and she knew it. "Lana went back to Lex. It wasn't about your father being pregnant with you and a lot to do with the fact she never got over him. It's why the two of them got remarried, why ISIS is a subsidiary of LuthorCorp."

"She left before I was born?"

"Uh, I was about six months, actually," Clark replied and he looked a little like a fire hydrant. "Kon, you really shouldn't worry about her."

"But I just find out I have a whole other part of my family out there, another mom, and I'm supposed to forget her."

"ISIS profiles the meteor infected. How many articles have I or your father worked on trying to expose the whole organization?"

"But Lana knows you, Chloe, and she knows mom, why would she go after people who are different like that?"

Chloe considered the question. "Because you know how many of the meteor infected aren't like me. When we were young more than her fair share stalked Lana and she never recovered from it. She's not a very good person, and we never told you because we'd rather you not be associated with her. Her attitude...it can be toxic."

"But she's my mom."

"And she doesn't treat people who are different like people," Clark added.

"Even me?" Kon asked, folding in a little on himself. "She's my mom. She has to like me."

Chloe had seen Lana with Kon twice. At the time, his eyes had still been preternaturally bright and he'd been unsteadily growing into his telekinesis. Chloe'd found him adorable, while Lana'd barely been able to look at him. God, she never wanted that woman near her son, not after everything that had happened with Lex, but the lies couldn't stand either, not anymore, not when he could tell .

"I think she does care about you," Chloe replied and it was true in a way. Lana was nothing if not territorial and possessive. "But I think you'd like her."

Kon gathered himself up taller, so that he could face her, be right in her personal space. "What if I want to see her? Everyone knows where the mansion is. I could be there before you blink."

"Not before I could," Clark corrected. "You can't just run off to see the Luthors."

"Then I want to meet with my real mom."

Chloe swallowed and ignored the way that sounded. "You can't go to Luthor Mansion. Lex conducts experiments on mutated humans, Connor. Imagine what he could do to you if he wanted and he wants that more than anything, I promise you."

"But Lana wouldn't let him, would she?"

Chloe sighed. "I honestly don't know, but I think she would."

"Maybe you're jealous. An hour ago, you told me you were my mom and I was a mutant. If you lied about that, how do I know that you're not just making things up to keep me away from her?"

"Because you can ask Grandpa Lionel or Grandma Martha or J'onn, any of them. Lana is dangerous."

"But she's my mom."

"No, that's not how it's worked in a long time, Kon-El," Clark replied. "She chose Lex over both of us and I don't think you showing up now would change that."

"But I want to see her. It's not fair to tell me all these things, to open me up to a new life, and then say I can't be a part of it. Aunt Kara said you met your bio-mom once. You have to know I'd feel the same way when I found out. I'd get to know things-why I feel the way I do, why I look so different, part of who I am. Just like with Grandma Lara."

Chloe knew then why Clark, after thinking better of it, had never told his mother what had happened with Lara. It cut like daggers to think of Kon having another mother, someone who wasn't she.

"Kon, you can't."

"And I said I'd go to the mansion."

"And I said you're not."

Chloe stood there, wondering if that was all the arguments back on Kent Farm had always been solved. Sighing, she looked back at her husband. "Maybe we can choose neutral ground or something secure. If we invited Lana here, but made sure Kara and J'onn and you were all here-"

"It's not the National Guard!"

"And you've never met your mom," Clark replied.

"You make her sound like Satan."

"She's not, but she isn't who you wishes she were, and you just can't run to the mansion," Clark continued.

"Of course not. You'll just tell me everything on your time, then expect me not to be upset, just to keep listening to you. Fuck that!" Kon shouted and this time the kitchen window shattered.

"That's it," Clark finished. "Go to your room, and don't even think about slipping out or I'll know."

"Right, fine. Do you want to put bars on the windows?"

"That," Chloe quipped. "Would be useless. Connor, maybe you just need to give your dad-"

"Mom," he huffed.

"Don't be a snot," she chided. "To give me and your father some time. I know you need a bit to think this through and some space. Could you please go upstairs. The mansion...I think you've had information overload tonight."

Kon snorted. "Fine Chloe, but I'm not dropping the stuff about my mom."

"I know that. You've always been dogged."

"Yeah, I thought was from you, but I guess I'm wrong," he snapped before disappearing from sight.

"Clark?"

He cocked his head and nodded. "He's still here." Sighing, he turned and stroked the side of her face. "I'm sorry about what he said. I'm going right up there to talk about all this 'Chloe' and 'mom' stuff. You really...you didn't have to do that, Chlo. No one had to mention, Lana."

"He figured most of it out and we need to keep him away from her or her from having open access to him."

"But he's yours, Chlo. I promised."

She shook her head and touched her hand to his stomach. Despite everything, she was already anticipating the swell of his stomach, another child between them. "But now he's all grown up and he gets to choose."

"Then he's being an idiot."

"Kent men can be," she replied. "Go talk to him. I don't...he shouldn't be alone right now."

"Should you?"

She squeezed her hand against his abdomen. "I'll be fine. I just...he shouldn't be alone."

There was a breeze and then both her boys were together again.


	7. Chapter 7

7

"Kon, look we need to talk about this," his dad called from the other side of the door. Kon rolled over and pulled the pillow from off of his face. He knew that his father knocking was just a formality, a way to be polite. If he wanted, his dad could have pulled the door off its hinges. Although, his dad had a lot to learn about space if he couldn't give him more than five minutes without a sanctimonious speech.

Kon sat up and glared at the door. "Talk! What the Hell? You want to talk now? We had fourteen years, and you didn't talk much then."

On the other side of the door, his father sighed. Right, like he was the put upon one, sure. "Kon, don't make me open the door because I will."

"Of course you will. I'm not allowed to have privacy!"

"Right, I've never once touched your door. Now, seriously, do I have to crunch this?"

"Go away!"

"Oh for the love of..." His dad grumbled and predictably, Kon heard metal snap. It was a useful skill to have if certain things came up, like that time Cass had maybe, just a little, suggested sneaking into school to find the answers to the midterm she'd forgotten to study for. And, yes, he was aware he was a pushover for her. But it was a bitch if you wanted to keep dads out.

Or moms as the case may have been.

"Now, are we going to talk?" His dad, asked, storming in.

Kon put the pillow over his face again. "I don't want to talk. It's why I locked my door in the first place."

"Connor."

"Kon-El, right?" He sneered. "That's the real name, isn't it?"

His dad sighed and sat down at his desk. "It's no more your name than Connor Kent is. It's just that we happen to be both. Aunt Kara's Kara Zor-El and Kara Olsen and I'm Clark and Kal-El. You don't have to be one or the other."

Kon pulled the pillow off his face and glared at him. That little pep talk distinctly did not leave him feeling better. Looking up was a pain because then he noticed his dad and then his dad's stomach and the thought of his X-ray vision freaking out again and him staring at the tadpole...it all made him nauseated. He couldn't imagine what a freakshow his father would be in a few months. Shaking his head, he gritted out, "Then I can be a mutt. Oh joy!"

"That's not what you are."

"A hybrid? A little bit of colonization? A freak of nature? What's the right euphemism,mom?" And the words felt bitter on his tongue, some of them clinical, some cold, but all of them applicable to whatever the fuck he was.

"Don't start that."

"Oh, I'll start," Kon snapped. "What am I?"

"Special."

"Don't, please. Don't tell me that. 'Special' doesn't mean anything. That's what you told me for years when I didn't understand anything. I bought it every time. Have you ever told me anything that was true?"

"Almost everything."

"Not my species," he countered. "Not my parents." And truly his father, term used extremely loosely hadn't done that, hadn't confided anything about who he was or where he'd truly come from. How was he ever supposed to take anything his dad said seriously again, ever believe what he and Chloe had to tell him?

"Is it that different?" his dad asked. "Kryptonian or meteor mutant, you still have powers, and my planet's why."

Kon took a deep breath, if only to keep things from shattering in his room. How could his father even say that. It made a hell of a lot of difference to be one of only four in the whole universe. It meant everything that he'd never technically been human at all. "It makes everything different. Everything. What am I supposed to do?"

"You don't have to do anything. Nothing's different from yesterday."

"Except I'm an alien and my father's my mom and Chloe's not anything."

"Chloe's your mother," he snapped, his eyes flashing.

Kon shuddered. He knew his dad could sometimes heat up toast with his vision, but he'd never thought it could go hotter. Looking at him now, Kon was less than sure. But he was still furious and talk of Chloe exacerbated it. She was just as great a liar as his dad. "She's not related to me."

"You knew I was adopted. Do you think that grandma's not my mother."

"No."

"Then why is this different?"

"I don't know. It just his. Your mom's dead."

His dad swallowed and for an instance, Kon felt bad for picking at him, for reminding him of something so tragic, but that momentary guilt passed. "I know."

"They're all gone. Everyone like you."

"I know, believe me."

"And there's no one like me."

"There's Alura."

"I...oh fuck. This is too much. I don't...you should have said something."

"Kon, you talk more than anyone I know. You'd have told everyone. We couldn't take that risk."

"I could have handled it at 12. I know enough to keep my mouth shut. Do you think I want someone to know what's wrong with me?" Although, there was a point his dad was making. He talked like his mo...as Chloe always had. He could have been foolish, gone to school and said something that ended with him in Area 51 or whatever equivalent there was.

And yet, they'd lied , kept so many secrets from him.

"There's nothing wrong with you."

"How much like you am I?"

"What?"

Kon finally glanced down at his father's stomach and shuddered. There had to be nothing more degrading than what his dad was doing currently. What kind of man did that? "Can I do that?"

"I don't know," he replied, shifting under his gaze. Good, they could both be uncomfortable. "Maybe."

Kon shuddered again. "God, how could you even...it's disgusting."

"It wasn't planned."

"You knew what you can do."

"It's a contingency, like we said, Kon. Lana was infertile. I didn't think your mom-"

"Chloe."

"Your mom was too. We'd been wanting to have another baby for a long time. After she finally won her Pulitzer, she actually thought she had time for maternity leave."

"But you're the who'll be taking it." And he wouldn't let himself think of Chloe and what she wanted. Not today. Yeah, it was said what had happened to her, but in the scheme of everything else, in how badly his life was falling apart...he was still allowed to be mad. "What are you going to tell Uncle Perry?"

"He knows, Kon. He's known since a little after you were born."

"And it never made the front page?"

"He's not that kind of journalist. Look, we don't have to go around about all of this right now. Believe me, I know it's a lot. When your grandfather told me what I was, where I'd come from, I ran away from home. I understand you're confused."

"My dad's almost two months pregnant. There have to be new terms made up to describe how confused I am," he groused.

"I know and I'm sorry."

Kon didn't buy that. Not when they'd known and done nothing to brace him for any of it. "God, who are you to even do this?"

"Do what?"

"Have kids. Do you know how fucked I am right now? How fucked up that little tadpole's going to be. God, is it even going to look human?" So far it really did look like a tadpole but he hadn't had health class yet. God, what if he'd started out like a lizard or one of those aliens from that movie he'd seen with Gerald?

"Do you?" his dad countered. "This is who we are. We've always looked like this. We're more human than you think."

"We're more alien than I thought," he snapped. "Just get out. My eyesight is going nuts and I don't need to see you and the parasite up close."

His dad stood up and glared down at Kon, his eyes still glowing like embers. "You're mad. I get that. You're pissy. I get that too, more than I'd like to admit. But I'm going to tell you two things."

Great, dad was going to throw his weight around. Perfect. "They are?"

"Your mother has taken care of you for fifteen years. You want to call it like it is. Fine. We'll do that. Your mother has protected and cared for an alien as if he were her own flesh and blood for over a decade and she's never once made you feel anything less than completely hers and completely human. You're not going to insult her. It's not fair."

Except for the part where nothing Chloe had ever told him had been true, where she'd kept his real mother from him, that was true. Such a qualified statement. "But I'm not calling her mom anymore either. That's your job or maybe kangaroo."

"Fine, get your jokes out now, Kon. You want to be pissy, you can be pissy at me because I made the call not to tell you when your mom and Kara said differently. But not your mom. She doesn't deserve it."

No, he was never gonna budge on that. "What's the second thing,mom?"

His dad stepped closer and he hated still being short, the way it was always his father looming over him. "Is your vision still going in and out?"

"It's getting better. Head still hurts."

"You can still see your sibling, can't you?"

"Unfortunately."

His dad nodded. "We want this baby as much as we both wanted and still want you. We love the baby already and it is a baby. It's not a tadpole or a parasite or disgusting. And when your little brother or sister is born, you're never going to say a word about this to them. You won't call them or yourself a freak or an alien or a hybrid. They won't know anything."

"Because you want to lie all the time!"

"No, Kon, because it will crush them and it's wrong but mostly because you were right."

"About what?"

"There are some very dangerous people out there and they've hunted us before. If they get their hands on us, there will be needles, and Kara and I have put a lot of effort into keeping you and Alura safe. You're not going to ruin what your grandparents started protecting thirty years ago. Do you understand me?"

"Fine, whatever." But despite his flippant tone, Kon could feel the goosebumps rising on his arm. He'd had nightmares of men in white since he was three. It had never occurred to him that they were based in something more. Could he have been taken? Could he even remember back that far? He remembered so much but could he place that as well?

Again, all questions and no answers.

"No, say it," his dad urged.

"I get it. I'm not going to say anything, but don't expect me to go to your OB/GYN appointments or pick out names."

"Fine. Do you need anything?"

"A new family," he snapped. "The X-ray stuff's not so bad. I'll just ask Aunt Kara. I can't look at you right now. Now waddle on off, mom."

Kon was grateful to hear the door shutting behind him. Sighing, he pulled on a jacket and sped out his window. There was some place he had to be.

Cassie's house, a nondescript white clapboard number in Luthor Hills, backed up onto a lake. Kon enjoyed sitting there, spending late summer nights when he was supposed to be in the loft just sitting there and skipping stones with her. Sometimes Cass got sleepy and would lean against him. He always like that, her soft hair tickling his nose, filling him with the scent of coconut. If it were late enough and she were sure her dad were asleep, she'd show off.

When they started, she'd barely been able to freeze a small corner of the lake, last time they'd been back here-after Cassie had had a fight with her stepmom of epic proportions-she'd managed to freeze the whole thing a foot thick.

Yeah, Cass was impressive.

And she was also glaring down at him, with her hands on her hips. "Kon? Are you okay?"

He laughed, a shrill sound that he hoped didn't seem as panicked as he felt. "No, Cass, I'm really not."

"I think you woke up my dad this time with the whole throwing pebbles at my window bit."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, he's grouchy but mostly just rolls back to sleep."

He frowned. "You do know that it's only ten."

She rolled her eyes back at him. "He has this bowling tournament tomorrow so he's going to be up early to be in Lawrence for the big event. Just go with it."

"Wow, I wish my biggest problem was that my dad was complaining about not being able to sleep."

She sat down beside him and picked up a rock about the size of her palm. It was smooth, worn down a little at the edges. Cass hauled back and threw it, letting it splash heavily into the water in the middle of the pond. "So it's a dad thing?"

"It's an everything thing," he muttered, looking out to the water, dark and nearly indistinguishable in the night.

"Well that was vague. Do you want to talk or is this a just sitting thing?"

Kon brought his knees to his chest and laid his chin on them. "You're my best friend."

"Duh, we've established this."

"I...you know everything about me."

"Including that phase you went through where you were in love with Muppet Treasure Island."

"It's a classic!" He defended, still staring out at the water. "I just...this would be a big thing."

"How big? Like bigger than my astonishing and so qualified for the X-Men ability?"

"Oh I have you beat like ten times over already," he replied, sighing.

A gentle hand was on his shoulder. "Kon, you're scaring me."

"It's been one of those days."

"Well start at the beginning. What the Hell happened in history class. I was really scared. Is your hearing wonky again? I thought it was getting better."

"No, my ears are tip top, you know, for me."

Cass sighed and stroked his back again. "Which means the school bell is still giving you migraines."

"Well, we can't always have just fun superpowers," he grumbled. "No, I happen to be getting X-ray vision."

She laughed. "What did you send away for the cheesy specs on the back of comic books?"

He turned and grinned at her. "No, I mean I can see through things."

Cass raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you scoping me out?"

He wished he could although if she found out about it, she'd kill him, his invulnerability be damned. However, he couldn't get it to do much of anything yet but flicker and give him headaches. What an awesome power it was. "No, I can't focus it yet. I did get to see the skin and muscle of some of our classmates. That's intense."

"God, I can't imagine. I'm sorry."

"Well, if the headaches get better and mom and dad said they would but who knows with them anymore. They breathe and they lie."

"Kon? Since when do you talk like that. I thought you were all Brady Bunch."

"We were," he said and it took a bit of effort but he was able to lift the rock with his thoughts and fling it across the lake, landing almost across to the other side.

"Show off."

"Well I have some advantages," he admitted. "We're more like the Addams Family you know or, I guess, the Munsters and Uncle Jimmy's Marilyn."

"You lost me."

"I don't want to make you hate me."

"Right, unless you've been checking under my blouse on the sly, you couldn't do that."

"No," he replied, looking back at her. "I know I trust you but this is a bigger deal."

"Card carrying meteor freak right here."

"Don't call yourself that and it's bigger."

"Now who's fool of himself. You're infected just like your mom and dad."

"Chloe's not my mom," he said, the truth tripping off his tongue harder than he thought it would.

"Kon?"

He swallowed and continued, barely pausing for breath, not that he needed it anyway. "No, I mean what I said. That's what my mom and Chloe told me, that Chloe's not my real mom and that Lana Luthor is."

Cass's eyes widened. "Luthor? You mean Luthor as in richest man in the country, technically your uncle but you've hardly ever seen him Luthor?"

"Yeah, my family is really fucked up and that's an understatement."

Cass bit her lip and considered him. "Okay, so Mrs. Kent's like your stepmom. Look, I have to tell you, I'd pick her over Mindy any day of the week. She's actually cool and she's also not only ten years older than us."

"True. But it's just...how could they not mention that little fact for fifteen years. 'Oh and you're not even related to me, psych.'"

"Well I doubt they did it as a joke."

Kon snorted. "No the whole universe is in on a joke this big."

"Kon?"

"Okay, this is going to sound nuts."

She shook her head and placed her hand on the water. In a few seconds, it was frozen solid from end to end of the lake. "Really? How nuts is it going to sound?"

"My dad's an alien."

Cass, his best friend in the whole world, took in this solemn pronouncement, stared at him as if he'd grown stalk eyes, and burst out laughing. "Right, sure, you're from Remulac and I'm from Hoth. Totally."

"That's mixing pop culture."

"Same difference. Kon, you know I like you but are you sure you haven't been smoking something or, conversely, that maybe you need to see someone."

"So much for supportive. I'm serious here. My dad and my Aunt Kara aren't from here."

Cassie frowned and stared at him, really watched him with piercing brown eyes. "You believe this."

"Yeah, I do. It makes a lot of sense. How many meteor mutants do you know who have like six different powers?"

"Well, your mom resurrects and raises the dead so that's sort of like two at once."

"And X-ray vision. hearing, and speed, and invulnerability. I have everything, Cass. Just being a meteor mutant doesn't explain that. And neither does how I got here."

Cass perked up at that. "You weren't born here either?"

"Oh no, I definitely am not from Krypton."

"What?"

"Uh, that's the planet's name."

"Like the noble gas?"

He rolled his eyes. "Now who pays attention in chemistry. I didn't name it."

"Well, it's a nice name. Would that make you Kryptonese?"

"I have no idea. I didn't actually stick around my house long enough to get the details. I really don't care about the semantics here. I'm half alien ," he hissed, looking over his shoulders as if the Men in Black would pop out of nowhere and scoop him up.

"I think it's pretty cool, Kon. I mean, normal humans are pretty limited. You get to qualify as a higher life form."

"Considering there was a civil war and the planet managed to blow itself up, I don't know how evolved they were. And are you nuts? I just told you I was E.T.!"

"Do you glow?"

"You are not helping me, Cass."

"I'm sorry. What response are you looking for? I can get a pitchfork but that would make me a hypocrite. I could moan and be a drama queen about it, which isn't really me. Or I can be impressed and I have to tell you I'm the latter. It's amazing...I never thought-"

"Well me neither," he snapped, sighing when Cassie dropped her hand from his back, and he felt terrible. "No, sorry, I've been snapping at people all night. I'm just so mad. It's not that they didn't tell me about the X-ray vision or the fact that I'm half alien or that Chloe's not my mom-"

"I don't think that's very fair to Mrs. Kent."

"Or the fact that Chloe's not my mom," he repeated, in no mood for that argument.

"Right, be a jerk."

"I'm not a jerk. How would you like it if you were me and everything anyone ever told you was a lie. I mean, do you know how I know all of this?"

Cass, being Cass, was already half way there. "Does it have to do with the X-ray vision? A power too far?"

"Technically, yeah, but it's not just because I got another power and it didn't add up."

"Now I'm intrigued."

"Don't be. This is where the universe is evil and mean and a bully."

"Kon?"

"I'm getting a tadpole."

"You're what?"

"I'm getting a tadpole, a little squickly tadpole thing with bug eyes. We probably come with bug eyes anyway."

"Ouch, that's bitter," Cass commented. "Wait so we're clear you mean a baby and not an actual frog right?"

He sighed and squeezed his knees tighter to him. "Yeah, my mom's pregnant."

"Lana?"

"Oh, that would be simpler."

"Right a fracture family like yours, of course your bio-mom being pregnant would be so great. I can see how much fun Thanksgiving is going to be."

"No, I mean my mom ."

"Chloe?" She asked, blinking.

"No, I...this is where it gets really confused and fucked up."

"Gets?"

"Cass!"

She giggled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Look, I get everything in the house of cards came tumbling down tonight, but I'm still here, you know, even if you aren't going to help save my geraniums."

"You don't have plants."

"Frost bite," she quipped. "Kon if Lana isn't pregnant and Mrs. Kent isn't pregnant then I think I'm running out of options."

Kon shook his head and sighed. "Oh this is the really fun part. It's my dad."

"Excuse me?"

"My dad. Apparently pregnancy was for guys on Krypton, sounds great right?"

"Actually, that has its upsides," Cass replied.

"Cass!"

"You are shrill and serious."

He turned to her and gaped. "No, I've decided to convert to a creative writer. I'm dead serious. It's all fucked up. I'm an alien, mostly, my dad's my mom, and Chloe's not anything. And I'm getting a new baby sibling. It's just completely FUBAR'ed and what am I gonna do?"

"Well, you're gonna be a big brother. That's a start."

"I don't want to be a big brother."

"That's mature."

"You did hear me right. My dad's my mom."

"He's not actually a girl is he?"

"I have no idea how it works and the human better cancel that out, that's all I'm saying," he muttered.

"Maybe Kon, sure. I mean, human guys don't do it. But if it's what happens where he's from...well, there are worse abilities to have. It's not gonna kill him like Mrs. Kent's power does."

"True, but it's just...like I said this if fucked up."

She leaned against his shoulder and squeezed again. "I feel like I'm not good at the best friend advice right this second cause I really have nothing to say that makes this better. They don't really cover the response for this."

"You think?"

"I'm sorry, Kon. Do you want to crash on the couch? Dad will be so exhausted rushing to Lawrence that he'll never notice."

"I'd love to. Going home doesn't appeal right now. Hell, it doesn't feel like home at all."

"Sure, no prob but at least call your parents. I don't want to get in trouble for harboring a grounded escapee."

"I am not grounded!"

"Well, I don't want to get in trouble for harboring either way," she replied, standing up. "Come on, then. I've got extra chocolate ice cream in the fridge. That solves everything, you know."

Kon sighed, looking back out on the water. "I wish that were true, Cass, I really do.


	8. Chapter 8

8

"Kal, you're an idiot!"

Clark rubbed the back of his head from where Kara had smacked him. His cousin hit hard and, apparently, didn't make special exceptions for people in delicate conditions. "I'm not an idiot."

Kara arched an eyebrow at him and started to pace the expanse of the loft. "No, really, you're not a complete moron?"

"It's not my fault!" He objected, although he wasn't sure why. It was clear from Kon's reaction that he couldn't have fucked up the big reveal more than if he'd made an effort at self sabotage.

Kara stopped her pacing and turned to him, standing high with all the regal authority afforded to a member of their oh-so illustrious House. "Let me get this straight, just so I'm transparent."

"Clear, Kara."

She shrugged. "Same difference. Just so I have everything together. Chloe knocked you up."

"I hate when people say it like that. It sounds bad," he replied, putting his hand over his hip. He could already her the new baby and he'd forgotten how addictive the sound could be.

"I know. What I mean is you're pregnant and Kon found out."

"Well his X-ray vision came online."

"So then you decided it was the perfect time for the 'You're half-Kryptonian and half-squirrel" spiel?"

Clark let his eyes flare. "I wish you wouldn't say it like that. Lana isn't a squirrel."

"It's better than saying crazy, vindictive bitch and shorter too."

"Oh, I don't like her either and that's an understatement but she's still Kon's other biological parent and mocking her in front of him is going to make this whole situation worse."

Kara shook her head and leaned against the loft window. "I doubt much made this worse. I know you couldn't help the timing. Well, you could have if you'd listened to Chloe and me and told him two years ago."

"I get it. I waited too late and I screwed up, but it's not like the rest of you weren't in on hiding it all with me. It's not like Alura knows the truth."

"Alura is nine years old. She's still too young for all of this and you know that."

Clark snorted. "I don't even know how to hide the 'where does my cousin come from' mystery from her."

"Why do you have to?"

"Have to what?"

"Alura doesn't need to know the part about Krypton was real but if Kon knows about the pregnancy...he's already a talker. I doubt you'll be able to hide this from Alura. She's old enough to know not to talk about our powers and it's Smallville. Like Lois said, as far as we know, you might not even be the only pregnant man around here. Who knows what space rocks can do?"

"Oh joy. I am not going to show off for my niece."

"No, not show off, but I don't think you can hide it either, and I doubt Kon's going to keep his tantrums down. The things you told me he said about you and Chloe totally sucked."

"That's eloquent."

"Okay, is offensive as Hell better. I can't believe he's not even calling her 'mom,' anymore."

"It'll pass."

She quirked her head at him. "Will it?"

"Of course it will. Chloe's the one who sat up with him when he had nightmares or ate meteor rock candy from the planetarium or had growth spurts. She's his mother."

"Blood's very thick, Kal."

"Not always. I hate Jor-El."

"You hate the AI," she corrected. "You loved Aunt Lara enough to clone her."

He bent his head and ran his hand through his bangs. "That was not my proudest moment."

"No doubt about that, but you still felt that. I mean, I felt the same way about that clone of my dad."

"So is that a Kryptonian thing? Fierce allegiance to blood family."

"Right and that's why I was here so often and reliably when I first landed. No, but it's still now that Lana has the allure. She's the family he's never met except for about five seconds at Uncle Lionel and Aunt Martha's wedding. He'd have to be curious."

"Well, he can be uncurious. There's nothing to gain from her."

"Except fun new jewelry. I get that, believe me, baby cousin, but he's not going to. You can tell him Lana's a nutcase until you've run out of oxygen, but he's going to think you're lying."

"I'm not...hell, we're not."

"No, but you embellished about everything else, you know?"

"I might have noticed," he groused, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm not condemning, like I said, I'm totally in on the conspiracy, but I get it. You can be really inflexible and hard to deal with. It's more fun to work around you."

"Fun? So sneaking off to see someone who will probably experiment on him is fun now?"

"He might think Lana's like his mom."

"She isn't."

"But Kon thinks she is, at least genetically. You were really curious about your blood family, don't tell me you weren't."

"Of course I was. But no one knew anything about them. Kon can hear tons of Lana stories from us, starting with how she left us for Lex and ending with how she wouldn't even touch him when he was a baby."

"Falls on dead ears."

"Deaf."

"Whatever," she replied, sighing. "Kal, Kon's half-you which makes him stubborn and hard-headed as hell."

"Now that is an El thing."

"Natch. But he's half-squirrel, like I said, and I think he might have inherited a whole tendency to act all scorned and hold a grudge. This? This is a big thing to hold a grudge on. I don't see him just getting over it in a few days or even weeks."

"It took me years to adjust to being Kryptonian too."

Kara squinted back at him. "But he's not."

"He's not what?"

"He's not Kryptonian like we are."

"That's elitist."

"No, that's not how I meant it. Kon's like Jax. He's someone in between both sides and it's not like Lana was all happy in love with aliens."

"You can't inherit Xenophobia."

"Can't you?" Kara asked. "Kon has some of Lana's least attractive habits. He can be greedy and vindictive and he's definitely one to cut corners if you let him."

"Not all the time."

"No, but when he was little, he tried things. Even I know about his 'let's not be friends, Gerald' letter or his crime spree in Sam's Club. He's just...there's a lot of her in him so why not that?"

"Because he knows his family. He's always grown up with people with abilities. It's not like his first exposure is being abducted by a bug boy. No one with powers has ever hurt him."

"You're oversimplifying things."

"And you're making them too complicated."

"Kon's going to want to see the squirrel now, you know. This is what Lex has been waiting for and what Lana made a deal over. He's gonna ask."

"And the answer is always gonna be no."

Kara shook her head. "He'll sneak out."

"He can try."

"He'll succeed eventually and we both know it. He did it tonight."

"And I can track him and he's crashed on Cassie Carpenter's couch. It's not like he's anywhere near the mansion."

"You still can't watch him the entire time. You couldn't watch me."

"Yeah and you ended up with the Department of Domestic Security. I can do better. Hell, between J'onn and Diana and you and me, Kon will never get passed the back forty."

"Kal-El-"

Clark blinked. Kara rarely called him that.

"What?"

"Kal-El, he's going to want to see Lana and putting him under 24 hour surveillance isn't going to stop that. It'll insure he breaks out in time to go to Lex's and give him the room he needs to take Kon."

"So what do I do? Have Lana over for tea?"

"Not in America, duh," Kara replied and sometimes he thought she'd never grow up.

"Then?"

"If Kon asks, we're gonna have to say yes. I mean, can't we bring Lana blindfolded to the Watchtower? Keep her on neutral territory where she can't hurt Kon, where we can control what she even brings around him."

"Yeah, Lana loved the JLA last time she met them."

"But that's the deal if it comes up. If he meets with the squirrel, it's under our terms and in our territory, not the mansion. That's not safe for him and we all know it. Lex is waiting and he'll have Kon strapped down so fast-"

"Lex can't have him."

"He can if Kon lets it happen. You start throwing out edicts like you always do and he's just going to rebel. I know I did."

"But it's Lana . You know she doesn't love him."

"Not any definition of love I've ever understood. But I think she thinks she loves him, like with my dad and Aunt Lara."

"Meaning?"

"If we control her and bring her to the 'Tower, I don't think she'd hurt him."

Clark stood up and leaned back against his desk. "I'm not worried about Kryptonite, Kara. You should have seen her at the mansion back when he was a baby. She couldn't even look at him."

"The eye thing's over."

"His powers scared her too."

"He's better now, so much better than when he was little and had nightmares."

"You're sponsoring this?"

"No, I'm telling you that Kon is going to do this, that one day he's going to go and seek her out and there's not much we can do to stop that. It's better to be prepared than to ignore Lana ever existed. Clearly, doing that just blew the Hell up in your face."

"But she doesn't love him."

"I think he has to learn that for himself because he's not listening to you right now, is he?"

Clark shook his head. "No, this is all out of the question. He'll be home tomorrow. Steam is all blown off; we'll be back to just 'dad and mom' instead of the more annoying 'mom and Chloe.'"

Kara shook her head and turned around, preparing to take flight. "If you really believe that, little cousin, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought."


	9. Chapter 9

9

Kon woke by smashing onto Cass's sofa, which resulted with him landing less than gracefully onto the floor. Sighing, he picked himself up from where he had rolled onto his face and looked up. Cassie was sitting in the old weathered recliner-for some reason perhaps influenced by 1980s taste it was green striped-and grinning.

"I never get bored with that one."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Not a peep show."

"I know it's not," she huffed, "but you have to admit it's really cool."

He sighed again and leaned against the front of the couch. He'd been able to con his parents into sleepovers at Cassie's when they'd both still been little kids (and it hadn't been inappropriate) by swearing he didn't float in his sleep. That was a little white lie, naturally. He'd floated since he was an infant, and spending nights with her under an old Ninja Turtles sleeping bag (Michelangelo) led to him being a few feet above the wood floor.

Cass had a waking him up before her dad caught him policy in those years after her mom was gone and no more meteor rock artwork was stored at Che Carpenter.

"Sure."

"Look, no one appreciates the ice bit. It's nice for something Christmassy for the front yard. Floating? Whole new levels of whoa."

"Right, I am feeling that whoa today," he groused. "Hey so what about your dad?"

Cass grinned. "He's not a morning person. You could be Elvis or Abraham Lincoln sitting on the sofa and he'd never notice you."

"Your stepmom?"

"I ran interference with her. Convinced her it would be better to go out by the garage. I have skills in covering your tracks."

"Really?"

"Sure. I'm an A+ hider of Kryptonese weirdness."

"No that would be Chloe. You're an amateur and I think it's technically Kryptonian."

Cass considered that. "Hmm, I like that better. It's pretty, Kon."

"Yeah and 'Kon-El' is a great name and it's fun to be inhuman."

"Half. You're half. So that's not as drastic."

"Did I mention you were warped yet?"

"Only every day," she chirped. She stood up and sat down next to him in front of the sofa. "Are you feeling any better?"

"How would you feel?"

"Disoriented, freaked out, exhausted. I guess you feel all of those."

"And then some, Cass. I don't think I feel any better about any of this in the morning."

"Would you feel better over sausage and more sausage?"

Kon laughed despite everything else. "Your stepmom is not working on your dad very well is she?"

"Look, superior white blood cell count, a little something extra from the shower. We can indulge in all the cholesterol we want."

"But Mindy is still big on sprouts and stuff I wouldn't touch," Kon countered.

Cass stuck out her tongue. "No one wants to eat sprouts then, if a bona fide-"

"Alien?"

"Well, who knows what you'd eat. Coffee sure. Reese's pieces, definitely. Am I missing other stuff?"

"I won't do peas."

"Well and then there's pie. Oh my god! Your dad came here to conquer us for pie!"

"Not funny."

"No, come on. You know it's true. I've seen your aunt and your dad. They love Senator Kent's pie. The last of your kind is a likely story! You're here for pie."

Kon shook his head as he slouched down at the kitchen table. "You were dropped on your head a lot as a kid, weren't you?"

She giggled as she opened the fridge and pulled out a large plate, heaping with sausage patties and then proceeded to set it out for him. Kon didn't even bother with utensils. He just reached out and grabbed a patty, shoving the whole thing in his mouth. "No, of course not. I just...sorry, you know I adore you but the glowering is gonna kill me. Besides, I do suspect a pie plot from the Kents."

"We do not have one," he countered, watching as a piece of sausage slipped from his mouth and fell to the table top.

"I think you do," she replied, pulling out a fruit smoothie for herself. Girls. All health food nuts anyway.

"Cass, really, you don't have to try so hard to cheer me up. A few Men in Black jokes aren't gonna fix this."

"Hey, but on the bright side they couldn't hurt."

"Your humor sucks."

"Does not," she replied, sitting down and sipping her drink. "I'm a riot. That's why I do all the cartoons for The Torch."

"You think I'm gonna break if we do the serious thing."

She sighed and quirked her head at him, gentle coffee brown eyes boring into his. "I think you already broke, Kon. I can't even begin to get all hard this is. I thought we both got it because we grew up in the Addams Family and with the Munsters respectively and it was all a Smallville kind of thing. Except now you've had everything crash right down onto you and it's not something you were prepared for. I know how I'd react and it wouldn't be as badly as you-"

"Hey!"

"You brood."

"I do not. I think hard. It's different."

She shook her head and patted his hand. "It's not the same. You think too hard. This is rough. I just wanted to see if I could make you laugh."

"The image of me and some Reese's is a little funny, I can admit that. I just...I don't think anything is ever gonna fix this, Cass. It's like everything's different in 24 hours. I...nothing's the way it's supposed to be."

"I don't think my dad ever wanted to be a mutant but then there was a meteor shower and he didn't have a choice in it. Me neither since it's genetic."

"What do you think that means for the tadpole?"

Cass frowned back at him. "I don't think that's very nice."

"Well you should see it. It's still got a tail."

"Uh, Kon, don't take this personally but, um-"

He narrowed his eyes and dropped the patty. "No, it's a human thing. Come on!"

"Well I failed health class. What do I know?" she snapped. "But I don't think it's a great habit to call you dad 'mom,' Mrs. Kent 'Chloe,' and the baby a tadpole."

"You sound like my mom ."

"Imagine that. Your dad and I agreed that name calling sucks. Kon, it's not just that it's rude, it's just that labels become how you think and the baby is still just a baby. We get conscripted. We can't help who we are."

"Yeah, but I want to sign up to be normal."

Cass rolled her eyes and started playing with her glass, causing the top layer of the juice to freeze and waiting for it to melt back again. "So what else is new? That's a complaint you've always had. I don't think it's in the cards, especially now."

"Then I got screwed, but that doesn't mean I'm not serious. What happens to a baby who is half all powerful alien and half practically immortal?"

"Diaper changes and late night feedings just like any other babies," she countered.

Kon frowned. The thought of his mom and Chloe having a kid...it was a scary concentration of power in one place, someone who could grow to be more impressive than he or Alura with all their telekinesis and everything else could ever hope to be. The thought of someone half-alien with that kind of power scared him and the baby was still less than an inch long.

Why did he even have thoughts like that?

"I was serious."

"So was I. You're going to have to practice your skill with diapers, I swear."

Kon sighed. "My dad's gonna have a baby."

"Well, that part is actually really funny and I want to be from Krypton too, sign me up."

"Cass!"

"It seems somehow like an evolved society if the women don't have to go through all that crap."

"My dad's having a most likely all powerful half alien-half mutant baby and I'm just supposed to suck it up and cheer for my half-sibling."

Cass took another sip. "Being a grownup about this couldn't hurt. I don't think this is easy on your parents either."

"It's Hell on me."

"Mature again," she countered. "Kon, what do you want to do?"

"Go back to yesterday."

"Try again. I mean, who has a time machine?"

"Doc Brown?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, really, just be honest. What do you want?"

Kon considered the question, truly. He couldn't be normal. There wasn't exactly a treatment for being Kryptonian. Apparently, there was no way to make it so Chloe was the pregnant one. His powers would keep coming. Everything that he really wanted, he just couldn't have.

Well maybe one thing.

"Cass, I think I want to meet my mom."


	10. Chapter 10

10

Chloe sat at the kitchen table sipping on coffee. It was nearing ten AM. Kara had flown off-there was always a sonic boom when that happened-and Clark was busy mucking out stalls. She knew he'd chosen that chore in order to avoid confrontation. It was one of the few tasks around the farm that he had to do in normal speed, one of those ways he could take his time and ignore problems. Clark had always had a genius for ignoring the truth of things.

She sighed and took another sip. One didn't need superhearing to be able to overhear what Kara and Clark had argued over. Clark was so incredibly stubborn, he didn't want to admit to problems, that things could actually be happening. It was a miracle he'd admitted he'd ever been pregnant and, if it weren't for his own X-ray vision, he never would have admitted he was in a family way. It was just his nature. Chloe wondered if that had been exaggerated by years of having to pretend he was normal around the farm. She'd never asked him, but she wondered how often he'd fudged about his abilities even with his parents. How many times he'd tried to down play growth spurts. Kon had, at least a few times, because he'd been afraid of admitting he was having problems, that he might be able to hurt her.

That had settled down after Eeyore, after he'd realized what Chloe could do, but, still, the modus operandi on Kent Farm was to pretend that things weren't happening.

It was in a way, how Chloe had dealt with her life as well. She'd shut down into denial after her meteor power had come out, but she wasn't like that here. She couldn't afford to be now that she was a mother. Twice over even. They couldn't pretend that this hadn't happened or hope that Kon would buck up with a platitude of the Jonathan Kent school. He wasn't going to. She found it sweet, always had, that Clark wanted to make Kon hers, and, as far as she was concerned he was and would be no matter what.

But Kon needed space to make up his own mind on the issue.

He was almost fifteen. There was no way he was going to agree just because he'd been told to. It wasn't going to happen. Clark needed...sometimes he just needed to be less Clark .

She was half way through her cup when Kon and Cassie came strolling through the kitchen door.

Chloe frowned. "Cassie, I know you only have a permit."

"It's Smallville, Mrs. Kent. Tell me Kon's dad never drove early."

Chloe shook her head. "Nice try, Cass. I can neither confirm nor deny such speculation."

Cass shrugged. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying, especially when it's a twenty minute bike ride from my house. So, I hear some congratulations are in order."

Chloe glanced at Kon for half a second. Kon could be pissy-he sometimes had Lana's sense of petty vengeance-but he'd never say anything, would he? They all knew how fragile the arrangement they had was, how easy it would be to have it taken away. Kon looked back at her and shrugged, perhaps playing innocent, perhaps not.

"Congrats?"

"Yes, about the baby. You're going to be so cute. I can tell you're a glower."

"If only you knew, Cass," Kon deadpanned.

"Funny," Chloe replied, glaring at her son. Maybe she shouldn't have taken up Clark on his offers. Kon was decidedly less cute than he had been. "Well, it's something we were going to keep quiet for the first trimester, superstition, and then just not advertise. Martha had such a troubled pregnancy and then with when Kon was a baby...we just know it doesn't always go the way you hope."

"Understood. My mom miscarried twice before I got to be the lucky winner in the Carpenter life sweepstakes. But I'm very happy for you. It's great. Even if you'll be like fifty when the rugrat's in college."

"Cass?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't help," Kon added.

Chloe smiled, amused. Cassie was bright but she had an over the top sense of humor and never quite found the limit between funny and poor taste. She wasn't Lois, God bless her, who just didn't know better. She was more just trying a little too hard. However, they had almost finished with one kid. Another superstrong, mouthy Kent might be pressing their luck. Age didn't worry her, however. She could have another thousand years to go. She wouldn't be anything approaching wrinkled by the time she had a second child graduating college.

"Cassie, I understand and appreciate the sentiment. It's going to be interesting getting back into changing diapers but now we have someone to help."

"Mom, I don't do diapers!"

"Neither does your father. He's all thumbs and shreds everything."

"Exciting," Kon replied. "The things you learn."

"Well," Cassie replied, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I think I need to get home. I have this project to do for social studies and there aren't these homework fairies that come around, unlike I thought. It's a total drag."

"It was nice seeing you again. Just bike next time. Your dad and stepmom would kill me for approving illegal activities."

"Mrs. Kent, I'm not going to end up on COPS or anything," she finished, opening the door. "Kon, you're okay about being a big brother?"

"Fine. I'll see you later, 'k?"

"Natch," she said, slipping out but still managing to bump into Clark. "Mr. Kent, like I said, congratulations. Just I get to totally be at the shower. I am a great present giver."

Clark, being Clark, blushed. "What?"

"Kon told her about how I'm expecting," Chloe added, slipping easily into her role as secret keeper. "At least some kids around her are excited."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Oh, Kon's excited. He's just all 'me, me, me' about it. Being an only child is easy, all perks."

"That's completely it," Kon replied hollowly. "Thanks for the ride."

"No prob," she added, going down the steps. "And I mean it about the shower. I see pink balloons everywhere because you are so due for a girl. Chau-chau!"

Clark let the door shut behind him. "She has a lot of energy."

"Imagine that. What's that Freud thing?"

"Chloe, cut it out," Kon snapped, leaning down and crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's like that?" she replied, sighing. She didn't appreciate the name but she understood that she'd lied to him and he was trying to assimilate things over the last few hours.

"I still...I just can't, not right now."

She nodded. "Please don't tell me you're going to persist in all of that 'mom' stuff with your dad."

Kon glanced at Clark's stomach and she watched him shiver. She'd bet even money that he was using his X-ray vision. "If the shoe fits..."

"You shouldn't be rude to your mother."

Kon narrowed his eyes at Clark and then at her. "Real parents don't lie."

"Mine did," Clark replied. "It's the way we have to live. Aunt Kara is clearly Alura's mother, biologically, and we all have to hide the truth. It's the way things are."

"The way things are sucks."

"And there are people out there-"

"Who want us. No, I get that. I might not have been allowed to watch The X-Files . It doesn't mean that I don't know exactly what's out there. I just...I've been thinking all night and no, Cass doesn't know. But she does know I'm upset about the baby."

"Which is exceedingly mature of you," Chloe quipped.

"It's hard when the baby is coming from my 'dad,'" Kon replied, making air quotes with his fingers. "It makes everything more complicated. I just feel like I need to meet my mom. I mean, I know I met her at grandma's wedding but it was for like five seconds and she saw me and then I was all back at Aunt Kara's helping to babysit Alura."

Chloe nodded. She'd expected this, known it was coming. "You want to meet Lana."

"Yeah, I have a feeling the last time we spent any time together, I was in diapers."

Clark stiffened. "Lana isn't safe."

"For whom?"

"For any of us. She took Kryptonite and tried to use it against me."

"Like Green meteor rocks, right?"

"Blue," She corrected.

"Blue doesn't exist," Kon scoffed.

"No, there are a lot of things you don't know about and blue is one of them. It strips our powers and it's how Lex had both of us for a while, made us prisoners. Lana allowed it. So you're really gonna go back to her?" Clark's jaw was clenching and she could feel just the hint of ambient air temperature getting warmer.

Kon swallowed. "I don't know what's real. I know that Lana hasn't done anything to me or against me in 14 years. I know that we're related. I know that...she might be able to help me understand my life because I can't."

"Dangerous," Clark spat.

"Not always," she reminded him, putting one small hand over his. "We can do this if we take them all the the Watchtower."

"Like the Justice League and Batman?" Kon asked, his eyes going wide.

"You don't know everything," she replied, smirking. "Your dad moonlights occasionally and I do tech consulting. If there's a safe place for you to meet with Lana, then that's it. I bet your Aunt Kara said the same thing."

"She was here?"

"She has a radar for when your dad has dug himself into a giant hole. She stopped by. Tell me, Clark, Kara's surprisingly smart. Did she ask you about the Watchtower option?"

Clark looked back at her, posture still rigid. "She even offered to body guard. She volunteered J'onn and Diana too. Hell, I'd throw in Zatanna and Victor, all of them."

"You're so serious about this mom ," Kon snapped.

"It's very serious and I didn't say you could."

"You can't stop me."

"I can try!"

"Enough, boys," Chloe said, looking between them. "If you really want this, Connor, we can set it up but it has to be by our rules or not at all. I know you don't want us to control things and you don't want us to remind you of something painful. But Lana has done a lot to hurt people, especially us over the years. You might be mad at us, but you're still the most precious thing we have, outside of your sibling, so you're going to do this by our rules."

"And the rules say I can actually meet my mother?"

She swallowed and tried to ignore that pain, that deep scorching in her heart. "I'll call her right now, and we can have something set up for you tomorrow."

"Chlo!"

She turned to Clark and squeezed his hand. "I'd rather do this than worry about him sneaking off to the mansion. "So, tomorrow, Kon, you'll meet Lana."

"And I'll be there," Clark said, still glowering.

"We all will. It'll be a family reunion," she finished, the humor drained from her voice. "How keen."


	11. Chapter 11

11

"So the Watchtower?" Kon said, desperately trying to start up conversation with his aunt and Uncle J'onn. "That sounds interesting? What's that like?"

Aunt Kara glared back at him. She wasn't pleased at all with what she'd deemed the Squirrel Plan. Kon wasn't sure why she insisted his mom was a rodent, but he resented the implication that he looked rodent-like. If anything, his mouth had fanged look to it, something very much like his father, like the uneven teeth that proved that aliens weren't one hundred percent perfect. Well, that and Aunt Kara's slightly flat nose.

"You don't know much."

Kon sighed and rocked back and forth on his heels in the back yard by the barn. "I think we established this. I mean, the Justice League? I thought that was a tall tale like The Batman or the Ghost."

"Well," Uncle John corrected. "The Batman is showy enough that most of Gotham knows he's out there. Your father and Kara have been more discreet."

"Vigilantism. How exciting," Kon quipped. "Just another thing to add to the list of stuff I didn't know."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Only the League knows League identities, that's the rules. Lois knows the Green Arrow personally but doesn't know he's the Green Arrow, you know?"

"Um, no."

"Alter egos," J'onn clarified. "Aunt Lois knows that Chloe and Clark are both in the League but she isn't privy to the other identities by mutual agreement. It works for everyone."

"Yeah, well, mostly. Jimmy doesn't know who the newer members are like Batz. It's just the way we do it. The less people know, the less chance civilians can be compromised. It's not like any of us are going to be showing up out of costume, well, except me."  
>"Why?" Kon asked.<p>

"Oh we trust you, it's just policy," Aunt Kara said.

"No, why aren't you in whatever you wear."

"Kon-El, it is black and skin tight. We assumed it would be better for you and you photographic memory if you were never exposed to such a vision. Were we wrong to think so?"

Kon blanched. There were only so many things a guy couldn't unsee. Aunt Kara and skin tight, dear God please don't be leather, was one of them. He eyes his aunt who was tastefully dressed in a red sweater and boot cut jeans. "I love you."

"I love you too, but I still think you're being an ass. God, it's genetic. You and Kal are like the same person."

Kon rankled at his father's nickname now that he knew where it came from, but it was ingrained into his aunt and into Alura's vocabulary. To that side of the 'House,' he was always going to be Kal. "I'm not like him. I'm not a kangaroo for one thing."

Aunt Kara grinned. "You say that now, but you never know what you got to inherit." She was exuberant,, gleeful the way Alura was on snow days.

"No, not that."

"Déjà vu," Uncle J'onn said. "Your father has insisted against less improbable things."

"I'm not dignifying that with a response," Kon countered. "So are mom and dad coming out and the standing in a field thing? That's going to get us to Metropolis."  
>"Why do you assume the Watchtower is in Metropolis?" Uncle J'onn asked.<p>

"Because everything else that's important is," Kon replied. "Am I missing something?"

Aunt Kara grinned wider. "Your mom and dad are taking care of Lana. They took out the Javelin special for it."

"Javelin? Also is there a Cliff's Notes for this shit?"

"Language, Kon-El," Uncle J'onn said and it made him reconsider his attitude for just a second.

"Okay can someone de-vague it for me?"

"The Javelin is a jet, something set up by Arrow."

"Are you overseas? Say Caribbean, say Caribbean!"

"No," Uncle J'onn said, giving an exasperated sigh. "Materialism is not becoming in a Kryptonian."

"Don't listen to that. Stuff rocks," Aunt Kara replied, winking at him. "And we're not overseas or off land so much as off planet."

Kon blinked and choked back his urge to give a sarcastic, "Yeah, right!" After learning his father-the alien-was pregnant by his mother-the mutant-he decided to just keep his mouth shut on what wasn't possible. "It's a base off planet. Is it on the moon like Dr. Evil's?"

Aunt Kara pouted. "No but they didn't even approve my emergency sharks with laser beams plan."  
>"Oh, I get it. That's a joke to ease the tension."<p>

Uncle J'onn sighed again. "No, Kon-El. I fear that it is not. She proposed such a scheme when the Watchtower was constructed over a decade ago."

Kon eyed his aunt who shrugged. "What? It's a cool idea."

Sometimes he forgot which was the grownup between them and which was not.

"Right, so mom and dad, who have a jet cause why not, are going to come pick us up."

"You are also wrong on that account," Uncle J'onn said and then he began to…well, the best term Kon had for it was melt. His skin turned smooth and waxy first, then blended and gave way to thick green scales. He stretched and grew taller until he towered over Kara. As he changed, so did his clothes, going from a black leather overcoat and black slacks to something spandex like. A cape trailed behind him, blowing in the prairie breeze. When his uncle opened his eyes again, they glowed a brilliant crimson and it was enough to prompt Kon to take a step back.

God, he could feel his heart race.

Aunt Kara smirked. "I know. Martians are ugly sons of bitches aren't they?"

Exceedingly mature his uncle "said" but this time it was something that seeped into Kon's consciousness, into his mind, instead of traveling on the air.

"You're telepathic?"

Yes, but I cannot and never have been able to do the things you can. We're mind readers not telekinetics .  
>"Mind readers?" He squeaked. "So every time I meet you, you just skim surface thoughts because I have to admit I have a lot of thoughts and they're…well they're private ," Kon hissed.<p>

I have little interest in the thoughts of a teenage boy. I am not prurient.

"Pruri-what's it?"

"A perv," Aunt Kara clarified. "The Manhunter swears that he doesn't just go reading thoughts. It doesn't mean he doesn't on occasion, but Martians also have a skewed sense of honor."

"Aunt Kara?"

She shook her head. "It's old and bad blood, Kon. J'onn's alright. He's under the level."

On, his uncle corrected patiently. And to answer your question, we have little need for a jet.

Kon's mouth fell open. "You can fly?"

Kara laughed. "In this family, who can't? Except it took Kal forever. I mean, Rao, you were three before it happened."

"Nuh-huh."

"Oh totally. He's just stunted, or it could be cause girls are awesome and mature faster. I dunno, Alura did beat you out to TK by a month."

Yes, as much fun as it is to continually hear about your family's awesome achievements, Kara, Uncle J'onn said and who knew thoughts could "sound" pissy. We're going to be late.

Kon backed up another stepped and looked between his aunt and the Martian. "Okay, now when I fly it's like racing Alura on the back forty and maybe some sleep-floating or in the summer down by the watering hole. That's it, tops. What you're suggesting? I don't…I can't ."

"Most likely? You totally couldn't on your own, but I figure each of us gripping a shoulder would totally drag you with us," Aunt Kara replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Oh and before you complain about the whole lack of oxygen in a vacuum deal, you know you can hold your breath a long time. I can do it for half a day if I try. We have awesome everything!"

Uncle J'onn narrowed his eyes to glowing red slits. Quite.

"I know!" Aunt Kara enthused and she was not getting the joke.

Kon paused. It was true, back last summer, Cass had been incredibly bored while swimming with him in the old family swimming hole. She'd bet him a twenty that he couldn't hold his breath for an hour. After he'd passed that easily, she'd gone double or nothing for three. Gerald arriving had ended the bet early and left them scratched but being at two and a half hours, he hadn't felt a thing from it. A few minutes wouldn't do anything except for the part where it was freaking outer space.

"I don't want to do this."

"Don't be manila."

"Yellow," he corrected, finally understanding why his aunt mangled euphemisms so badly. "I'm not but it's SPACE. Hello? Space as in no one can hear you scream space? Space as in no oxygen or heat space."

"Do you get cold?"

"No, but that's not the point. The point is that it's outer space!"

His uncle nodded. It is understandable if you are nervous the first time.

Why did that sound dirtier than it was?

"No, I mean it's-hey!" he shouted realizing that his aunt and uncle had moved faster than he could follow-and he had no idea he was going to get that fast. He was hurdling through the clouds, through the upper atmosphere, feeling the cold bite into him slightly and the pressure push at his lungs. It was uncomfortable but not painful. He certainly wasn't dead which he knew a real person at this altitude (he could already see stars) would have been. It didn't make the feeling of his stomach sliding into his throat anymore pleasant. He was also keenly aware that, despite his gifts, his aunt and uncle's tight grips were the only thing keeping him from plummeting to the Earth. This scared and distracted, he wouldn't have been able to jump, let alone get into the freaking stratosphere. Kon closed his eyes, waiting for it all to be over and did not open them again until he felt his head snap back with the force of them stopping.

He should have waited longer.

They were still far away-maybe half a mile-from the Watchtower, but the structure was so massive, it was like looking at the LuthorCorp Towers from a distance. Looking down, Kon could see all of the Earth in one glance, the swirling white clouds, the blue water, the blobs of land masses. It was just like on television except he was there. And that whole spacesuit thing?

So not needed.

The Watchtower loomed over them, sleek grey metal. It was long, rod shaped, with a circle of metal around it, equidistant from each end. It was that bit that reminded Kon of a bridge like in those old Star Treks Uncle Jimmy liked so much. Something like that, someone, somewhere would have noticed it being built. Some company on Earth had been a front for its construction. If the sheer size and complexity of the Watchtower had not given that away, the inability to keep its construction so adroitly hidden would have. Someone in the League had serious money and clout.

Perhaps more than one someone.

Kon tried to talk, to express his surprise and rolled his eyes when he remembered where he was. No oxygen, right.

It is breathtaking. I agree.

Kon startled. See and that mind reading thing is why people are not inclined to trust you.

His uncle smiled. But it does not make the sights you are viewing now any less amazing. Come on, we are running late and it will make your father more nervous than he already is .

Being inside of the Watchtower was like being at the circus. Everyone was brightly dressed in what looked like spandex but was probably state of the art fabric that was conveniently skin tight for extra awkward. After they'd landed, Uncle J'onn and Aunt Kara had taken him directly to the top of the bridge, to stand outside of a room with a large metal door, something three times his height and just as large across.

Kon gulped.

"I'm confused."

"She's inside," His mom…no, Chloe called. Kon spun and saw something beyond bizarre. He'd already seen a man in a red leotard and a woman in what looked like an American flag swimsuit. There'd been a woman with a bandana covering her eyes and a large black trenchcoat, and even a man with a cartoon lantern on his chest. But that had been the warm up act.

Chloe had a costume.  
>She had a costume and it fit oddly well with the ensemble of The Batman walking beside her.<p>

His kangaroo was slumming it in jeans, a t-shirt, and that fugly red jacket his aunt made fun of all the time.

Kon narrowed his eyes at Chloe, taking in the maroon body armor, the large cowl that flared out into almost a beak over her own nose, the long cape behind her. She really did look like a mini-batz, except he knew better. Metropolis had the Ghost. It had the Angel of Vengeance whom Kon was pretty sure he'd already met, and, of course, it had Fawkes.

Not that the Metropolis P.D. was going to admit on record any of them existed, naturally.

But his… Chloe was a superhero.

He scowled. "Consultant my ass."

The Batman glared at him and it was terrifying with that cowl and how did that man still manage to skulk under fluorescents. "That was rude."

Chloe sighed. "This mood change of yours is the least cute thing you've ever done, and I'm including that time we had to rush you home from Cassie's because of the meteor rocks and you threw up on me."

"Hey! That's embarrassing."

"But the story is totally hilarious," Aunt Kara replied. Then she turned to his mom and frowned. "I thought I burned that."

"I have a supplier," his dad replied before sighing. "Kon, you really don't have to do this."

"You all act like this is Hannibal Lecter. I get it. Lex is a bastard. He stole us. Lana was complicit. You told me that much. She put meteor rock on you. I know I just…what if she's changed? What if she regrets it? What if she's not about green meteor rocks anymore?"'

"They were blue," Chloe said, her voice slightly muffled by her cowl.

"Excuse me?"

"There's like a rainbow of Kryptonite, meteor rock, whatever. It's this whole continuum thing," Aunt Kara said. "Blue is what Lana had. It strips powers but it doesn't cause blood boiling and rending cramps."

"Strips?" Kon asked and that was intriguing. If there was something out there that could make him normal…

Chloe seemed to read his mind. It was a mom thing. "It can't strip telekinesis, a stor ."

"I'm not," he snapped.

The Batman moved fast for what Kon assumed was a human (unless those stories about him disappearing and flying were true.) "I've heard about the trouble you've been causing your parents," he growled. "You're in the Watchtower now. It's a privilege we've never afforded any of our families, any of them. You'll treat Fawkes and Boy Scout with the respect they merit."

Kon glanced at his aunt. "Boy Scout?"

"It's funny right? I wish I'd come up with it, but the Green Arrow did. I love that guy."

His dad rolled his eyes. "That's not really the point. She's in there, Kon. None of us will go in the conference room with you but all of us will be outside the door. She knows this. If she tries anything, she won't get very far."

"She's not going to hurt me."

He sighed. "We don't know that."

Kon frowned. "Will you and Aunt Kara and Uncle J'onn listen in? Will it even be private?"

His dad dug his hands into his jacket pockets. "We're not going to steal your privacy like that. But if you need anything, just call."

Kon turned to the Batman. "There are video tapes there, though. A place this high tech, you'd bug it all. Are you going to rewatch the feed?"

The Batman nodded. "You are Fawkes's. No but the feed won't be turned off. It's an override that takes three days to implement, but none of the League will watch it as entertainment."

"I asked if you'd watch it?"

He paused. "Only if necessary."

"God, when did my life become cloak and dagger bullshit?"

"I'd say it started with conception," Aunt Kara added helpfully, her tone completely earnest.

" Mom ," he asked, glaring at he of the fugly jacket. "Can we do this already? I'll be thirty by the time I meet her."

His dad nodded and clenched his jaw. "Are you sure-"

"Just do it," he barked.

The Batman shook his head and approached the door, punching in a code sequence that Kon easily memorized by tone. The doors slid open and he stepped inside. The room wasn't overly large. It had a nice, solid steel, conference table surrounded by nine leather chairs. Sitting in the one farthest from the door, leaning back in the seat and turned to look out to the panorama below her was a woman Kon only remembered seeing once before in his life.

His mother.

"Um, hello?"

The woman turned and smiled a beautiful, model's smile. He noticed the way her eyeteeth were a little sharper than normal and it occurred to them that he came into his uneven, snaggled smile from both sides. The smile, while model perfect, was slightly distant but Kon understood that. They'd never really met, except when he'd been a baby.

"Connor," she replied.

And he stood there, just drinking her in. There were so many things besides her smile that were also his. Even though she was sitting, he could tell by where her head hit the chair's back that she was short, no taller than Chloe, that it was why he was still waiting for his growth spurt to be as tall as his dad or even as tall as Cassie. Her hair was long, silky and straight. Chloe and his other mom's curled, was wavy naturally and his always lay so flat. The same eyes, preternaturally large, the same nose, thin and fine, the same toned skin.

It was so plainly obvious that he knew why he'd rarely met Lana before, even with all the bad blood between their families.

"Mom?"

Her smile didn't crack as she waved a hand, signaling for him to sit in the chair next to her. He did as he was asked. "I think it might be a little early for that just yet."

Kon swallowed. "I don't…but you're Lana Luthor, right?"

"I am, but we're just getting to know each other, Connor. I think, Lana is fine for now. Maybe after today or in a bit, if you feel what I feel, you'll call me mom."

"Well, I already call Clark that."

His mother's eyes narrowed. "Clark's pregnant?"

"Lucky me, I'm going to be a big brother. Freakshow, right?"

"That's one way of putting it," she replied coolly. Everything about her demeanor was so calm, so collected. She was under lock and key from clandestine superheroes and nary a hair was even out of place. He wondered how she did that. "I didn't know. So Chloe is-"

"She can't have my little brother or sister, no," Kon replied, feeling vaguely guilty. He could tell that Chloe had really wanted to be the one this time around.

"Interesting. I guess Clark has a type."

"I guess," she replied. "I just never expected him to go through that again, after the last time."

"Because I was an accident?" Kon asked, his voice wavering. "Mom and Chloe…they didn't exactly say it that way, but it's pretty clear I wasn't expected either. Like no planned parenthood, you know?"

Lana reached out and put a hand over his, even her skin was cool. He looked down and watched the light glint off of well manicured nails. "We were planning on you, just not so early. You sped up the time table by about five years."

"And it made everything explode."

"I wouldn't say you did that. Do you want to know who really helped ruin things between your father and me?"

"Lex?"

"Your step-uncle is an afterthought," she replied. "No. Everything with Lex and me happened after your father cheated."

Kon's eyebrows raised. Pregnant was bad enough. Pregnant sex…oh he was not thinking it, he was not thinking it, he was not… "Huh?"

"Do you know where your name comes from?"

"Well, um, the Kon-El is a family name from the other one, I mean. Aunt Kara told me she picked it this afternoon and Sullivan is Chloe's maiden name. Uh, Connor sounds nice?"

"Connor can be shortened easily to 'Kon,' and leave no one the wiser. So you can be called by an alien name and no one will know it." Kon shuddered and Lana's smile actually grew. "You don't like to hear that part, do you? That you're Kryptonian."

"Uh, half, technically."

"But enough to be different. Chloe mentioned how you got here. That's impressive for someone who's just fourteen."

"Well, technically I got dragged here."

"You know what I mean. Kon's not a human name. It's not something I wanted for you at all. It's something your aunt and father insisted on, and Connor was used to cover it up."

"I…"

"Chloe came up with it. She named you."

"Oh, I thought the Sullivan was her idea."

"No, it wasn't," she replied brusquely. "Chloe named you. She was the first person Clark told he was pregnant. Kara figured it out on her own and told him, but he went to Chloe first. He told her you were going to be a boy before he told me. He let her name you. They picked out your nursery together. Do you see a pattern?"

"Did they…I…eww. I came from a stork!"

"I don't think they did, but they might as well have. It's very hard to have three people in a relationship, Connor. Do you see why it failed now?"  
>"I…my kangaroo said you did things. That you hurt us."<p>

"He'd say a lot of things. The pregnancy was trouble and I got and paid for all the medical help. He wanted to stop seeing doctors at all but still got sick. So I tried to force him to slow down, to stop playing superhero. I didn't want him to keep getting shot. I know I over-reacted."

"Wait, shot?"

"Among other dangerous stunts he's fond of pulling. And after you were born, yes, Lex took you back but Chloe had me sent to South America, put under lock and key by the Black Canary, the one in the fishnets. I know she was here. They sent me away and I couldn't even see you."

"They wouldn't."

"They don't tell you much, do they? Never have, have they. You didn't know about that little hiccup in your father's biology. You didn't know where you came from-neither me or which planet. You didn't know they're not so lily white in all of this."

"But they're my…they'd never hurt anyone."

"Lex took you back to doctors when you were still a baby. Your father is so afraid of them. Your grandmother and Kara too. He took you to one when you were six months old and you know what he found out?"

"No."

"You were undernourished, Connor. You weren't getting enough nutrients from human foods."

"I don't want to know what the non human foods include."  
>"You probably don't but I can leave you to guess. But you were malnourished, you were vaccinated, you were startlingly thin for a baby your age. They were going to keep guessing while accidentally starving you."<p>

"They'd never-"

She patted his hand. "Well not on purpose, but ignorance is very dangerous and Clark is good at denial. It was making you very sick. Lex fixed that. I have the records, of course, if you need to see them."

"I-"

"But they didn't tell you those things. Not the name or the mother or the species . It's a wonder they even told you about the other one."

Kon blinked. "They had to tell me about Alura. She's my cousin. Plus, I totally remember Aunt Kara being pregnant."

His mother shook her head. "No, no. I meant the other one. I thought they'd told you about him."

"I have a brother?"

"Not exactly. But you and Alura aren't the only," she paused there and frowned. "I don't know what to say exactly. Hybrid sounds too cold for my son."

"Mutt seems to be a prevailing sentiment," Kon replied, shuddering at the thought of him as nothing more than some weird hybrid cross. He was, of course, but the word sounded like it was about lab specimens.

"Someone special like you and Alura, then," she conceded. "There's another, but I guess they weren't going to tell you. Funny how Clark only tells you what he wants to when he wants to."

"Tell me about it."

"You're not the first person he's done that too either. He lied to me for years about so many things. It just took me a long time to realize that he was never going to be completely honest, too long even."

"But you can tell me. We'll meet here and we'll talk and you can tell me all the things I missed. It'll be great. I mean, we can get to know each other."

His mother leaned close to him and whispered in his ear. It sounded so loud to him that he flinched at the noise, but he knew it was just his quirk, that part of him that had never lined up right acting up again. She was quiet, trying to hide from his father and his aunt. "Your palm, but not until you get out of the tower."

He felt it then, a thin slip of paper pressed against the crease of his palm.

She smiled at him. "Connor, I don't think we can keep seeing each other. I don't feel welcome at the Watchtower and your parents are happy."

Kon tried to keep from grinning. She was good. "But Chloe's not-"

"They don't want me in your life and after fifteen years don't you think it's a little late to start trying. I'm sorry, but I don't think I feel that way."

He swallowed and swiped at his eyes. "But…"

"I just think it's better off if you stay with the family you have, especially considering you'll be a big brother soon."

"But mom."

Lana stood and nodded to him. "No, I think this is for the best, don't you?"

Kon shook and pretended to sniffle. All the while, shifting his vision enough to read the slip of paper in his hand:

You have seventh period free on campus. Arrangements will be made for you to have permission to leave. Go to the mansion.

It took everything he had to keep from smiling. "But mom, I don't. I just wanted to get to know you."

His mother hugged him. "Well now you have and it was a nice visit for what it was. Goodbye, Connor."

With that, she walked to the door, as poised as she had been in the beginning, and knocked on it. "We're ready."

As the door opened, Kon dug his fists into his jeans' pockets and forced himself to think about the other big question gnawing at him. He didn't want J'onn to read anything about Lana's proposal off of him. But also, it was at the forefront of his thoughts because now he was curious. 

What other one?


	12. Chapter 12

12

"Are you ever going to calm down?" Lana asked and Clark was struggling hard to remember why he'd loved her at all. He couldn't remember what had drawn him to her. Vaguely, he recalled a longing to be normal, and then the sense of butterflies, or what he'd thought had been butterflies, whenever she'd been near. Her smile, the way they'd talked easily in The Beanery. Hell, perhaps the way she'd always felt so unattainable on Whitney's arm and then because of his own secrets. There'd been a sweet girl there once or he thought there had been. All he saw now was the perfectly quaffed Lady Luthor, her dark hair pulled back over her shoulders, her sharp eyes narrowed at him.

"No," he said, as they walked shoulder to shoulder back to the holding bay for The Javelin. Dinah, who took a personal and nostalgic pleasure in being Lana's watchdog, and Oliver were both waiting (in uniform, of course) to take her back to Metropolis.

"Really, Clark, this level of security is overkill. I'm not the one with abilities, if you'll remember."

"Oh I remember very well," he replied, still keeping time down the labyrinthine halls of the 'Tower. "Doesn't make you any less dangerous than I am."

She snorted. It was a less lady-like sound than he thought her capable of anymore. "That's a laugh."

Clark stopped and turned to her. "What exactly was it that you got out of this whole visit? Because I'm confused about why you even agreed to come."

"Well, if you'll remember, I requested that once Connor asked for me that you would let me meet with him."

"So now you'll meet with him, say a few words peace and slink back away to Lex's, never to be heard from again."

She quirked her head at him. "You're the ones who don't want me in his life. I thought my decision would make you ecstatic."  
>"It does, believe me. But I think it's cruel to play with him like that. He thought he'd be getting more out of the relationship that a hug, a 'well that's what you look like grown-up,' and a blow off. Jesus, do you ever start caring about anyone but yourself."<p>

She shook her head and laughed bitterly. "And you're still sanctimonious. Visiting has been fun, Clark. I can't wait to do it in another fifteen years."

"I just am amazed," he said, pressing his palm against the scanner for the ship bay. "I don't like you and that's putting it politely."

"I see."

"I hate what you did to all of us and I hate the deal we made to keep Connor out of a lab because I think of all the meteor infected in the basement of LuthorCorp or ISIS and it makes me sick."

She smiled. "But you're free to find new evidence. I guess our track covering is just better than Chloe's sainted detective skills."

"You won't get off scott free forever," he groused. "That's not the point. Chloe and I can't stand you but you're supposed to be Kon's mom. You're supposed to care about him more than you do about yourself and you don't."

"Well you think that."

"You're the one leaving."

"And you wanted me to leave."

"I do, believe me. But that's not my point. You played him. That's what I can't stand," he said as they walked past the assortment of ships for the Justice League, none of the jets as big or as advanced as The Javelin but still a bay of astoundingly advanced technology thanks to what the Lanterns and J'onn as well as Kara could provide.

"Played him?"

"Yes. If you weren't interested in seeing him then you should have said so. To make him come all the way here, to think that you actually wanted to be with him. It's cruel. You set him up to expect more than you could give and now I'm the one who has to go home with him and explain like I always knew I would why his biological mother doesn't want him." He sighed and shook his head, grateful that he could see Dinah approaching them. "After everything that happened with you and Henry Small, I thought you'd just have some kind of empathy."

"I'm sorry. I don't feel it's my place anymore. Didn't you make it that way when you picked her over me?"

"Chloe's not a part of this. This is between you and Kon."

"It's always about Chloe because she inserts herself in everywhere. She decided she was going to be Kon's mother and that's exactly what we ended up with. Well, congratulations. You have your winner. I wanted to see Connor, to satisfy my curiosity with him. That's the extent of it."

"I'm glad he could satisfy curiosity," Clark spat. "I'm really glad he's just out there for amusement."

"Get off it. I'm not talking as if he were an oddity, although, we all know why Lex was interested in him."

Clark shook his head. "He really wanted more from you than that. Even if it had to be under lockdown at the Watchtower, Kon was expecting more from his other parent. I just…I'm glad you're out for good. The longer anyone is around you, the more pain you bring."

Dinah, who despite the fishnets, still looked fearsome behind her mask, grinned as she grabbed Lana's shoulder. "Isn't it funny what we all have in common because I like bringing the pain as well."

"It's okay, Canary. Lana's just leaving," he said. "Don't ask to see him again, Lana. I gave you a shot to try and be better, to actually be a mom even a little and you blew it. I won't have you keep coming in and out of Kon's life when it's convenient for you or when you're curious . It's not fair to him, just like it wasn't fair for Henry Small to see you only when he wanted."

"Leave my family out of this."

"It's all family," he said, shaking his head. "It's all ours and it's tangled and fucked up. Don't toy with him again, please. Just back away and we'll count it as the first decent thing you've ever done."

She nodded and started to the ship with Dinah. "He looks just like me."

"I know."

She smiled, showing all her teeth, even the ones made a bit like fangs. "Does that burn Chloe up? That she plays house withmy son and he looks just like me?"

"It's her son!" Clark snapped. "Good-bye, Lana. You won't be invited here again."

She eyed Dinah who Clark could tell was holding her tightly enough to leave bruises. "More's the pity."

Clark was not excited about family dinners any longer. They used to be the best part of his day. In between the hustle of the bullpen and the long nights on patrol with Kara, he felt that he had a place each night, an oasis with the two people he loved more than anything. Well, technically, he thought, his hand straying over his hip. Now it was the three he loved the most. After the inevitable failure that had been Kon's meeting with Lana, Clark had decided to try something simple-pizza on the sofa-in hopes that they could relax as a family and try and put the Lana issue behind them.

He was the only one eating.

Chloe had a slice of supreme in her lap and, in her nervousness, had managed to pick off all the toppings and was no working on picking off the cheese as well. Kon was alternately picking at his napkin and staring at Clark's stomach. He wasn't squinting, at least, so Clark took that as a sign his son wasn't getting a sneak peek at his sibling. But the stare unnerved even The Ghost.

"So, um, this is good pizza," he said.

"It's pretty much the same that it always is," Chloe replied. "But still good."

"You haven't had much of it," he reminded delicately.

"And I'm not the one eating for two," she said, forcing a smile to her lips. "Clark, I'm fine."

"Kon? You're not eating much either."

His son sighed and finished two slices off in superspeed. "Better?"

"You'll get hiccups," he chided half heartedly.

"Nah, I won't."  
>Chloe's vision finally caught up with the rest of them as she spied the now half empty pizza box. "Connor Sullivan, don't eat like an animal."<p>

Wrong thing to say.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Can I eat like an alien, Chloe ? Cause I think that's what I just did."

"Kon, knock it off," Clark snapped. "And apologize to your mother."

Kon glared back at him. "My mother's too busy to visit me."

"Your mother," Clark corrected. "Is sitting right next to you. I'm with The Batman. She's still your mother and I'm sick of you being rude."

"Clark, really, it doesn't matter."

"It matters to me," he replied. Chloe was as much Kon's mother as Martha Kent was his. Clark held very little stock in blood, had since the ship had first branded him, and did now, especially knowing the disdain Lana displayed for their son. "Apologize."

Kon scowled and it did look like Lana after he'd told her a painfully transparent lie. "Chloe, I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Kon."

"You can still call her mom," Clark reminded.

Kon sighed and set his crust down. "No, I really can't, not right now. I just…I'm trying to sort things out in my head. I know that might not be fair, but I can't help how I feel. I mean, I just came from meeting my mom and she pretty much dismissed me. I can't."

Chloe pushed her plate away and started pulling at her cuticles. "I understand. Sometimes I feel that way about Grandma Moira, especially after she left when I was little."

"But you never left anywhere," Clark objected.

"And the last four days have been a whirlwind and if that's what Kon needs, then that's what he needs." She offered both of them the patented brave Sullivan smile. "I know you'll come around, a stor ."

Kon nodded but said nothing for a long while. When he finally did speak, it wasn't at all about what Clark expected. "So you're superheroes?"

Clark laughed. "No. Aunt Kara and I do what we always used to do. The Ghost doesn't exist, remember? It's all an urban legend."

"Yeah, one that dropped the crime rate thirty percent in the last decade," Kon reminded. "I mean, that's actually kind of cool. Um, so, can you…I mean, with the tad…baby and everything…I mean, you wouldn't?"

"I don't patrol, no. Now that Kara knows she'd never let me. The Angel and Kara will be taking care of the crime in Metropolis for the next six months."

"Nine."

"No it's only eight months and I'm already at about six weeks," Clark corrected, slightly relieved that Kon was showing interest in his sibling, that he was trying to be polite about it.  
>Kon nodded and sighed. "Great because I didn't want to hear about reports of a pregnant man all around Metropolis."<p>

Or maybe Clark had spoken too soon. "Well that's the point about being The Ghost. No one knows or can agree on what Kara and I are and the reports to the police always vary. It's safer that way, untraceable to us or to our family."

"Because anonymity is so key with that whole Roswell thing we have going on." Kon frowned. "Is that us?"

Chloe laughed and sipped her soda. "Nope, as far as J'onn knows that never happened with Kryptonians. New Mexico you've never been to, Kansas sure."

"Oh."

She laughed again and it heartened Clark to hear it. "Conspiracy theorist at heart, a stor ?"

"No, I just figured that that had to be real."

"No one knows. Until Kara and Uncle J'onn came, I knew a lot less than you'd think about Krypton. Aunt Kara's the only one who really remembers it. I was just a baby when they sent me here."

Kon nodded and started picking at his crust, pulling it apart crumb by crumb. "So it's me and you and Aunt Kara and Alura and now the sea monkey-"

"Connor, don't," Chloe said.

"Fine, the five of us Kents and that's it in the whole universe?"  
>When it was phrased like that, it never failed to make Clark feel small and overwhelmed. The legacy of a whole culture rested with them, only the five of them and Jax were like each other in hundreds of different galaxies. God, it was still lonely. "There are some in an interdimensional prison called the Phantom Zone I think, but I have no way to access it and they're some of the worst criminals in the galaxy."<p>

"Like Zod?"

"I think, yeah. He's somewhere in there. But if you're looking for sane, non-evil Kryptonians, we're all there are as far as Kara and I know, J'onn too."

Kon frowned. "There are no others besides the House of El?"

Clark exchanged a look with Chloe. He'd promised Mary Donovan long ago to leave her son out of the New Council and, to a large extent, he had. He still looked in on Jax and encouraged him to freelance for the Titans when he could, but it had been almost a decade since Jax had been near Kon. It was how his mother wanted it, how Jax had left it the last time Clark had issued an invitation on Kent Farm. Clark wasn't even sure how to explain Jax because talking about Jax meant revealing the truth about Dax-Ur and about how Brainiac had destroyed Krypton. He never wanted Jax to know what his father had done, because neither he nor Kara would ever hold Jax responsible for it, but there was still the guilt. Jax idolized his father, how would he feel if he learned the truth. Hell, how would Kon and Alura and the little one when they were all old enough to understand, feel knowing that the only other survivor was from the family that could have stopped it, left them with perhaps a home that would be easier to adjust to.

Clark didn't know.

And he didn't want to deal with it, to bring up anything to sew contention between his son and Dax-Ur's, to pressure Jax into any relationships that he was unwilling to make.

"Nope. I know. It's a lot to deal with."

"Understatement," Kon replied, looking back at Chloe. After arriving home, she'd changed from her standard Fawkes uniform back into grey sweats and an old Met U athletic shirt with moth holes at the hem. She didn't look intimidating anymore. "And you're Fawkes. Now she is a superhero. I mean, you're on TV sometimes. I've seen you and the Angel on the eleven o'clock news."

"We try and keep the League secret, on the downlow. We sometimes show up, but it's better with the mayor and the Metropolis P.D. acting the same way Commissioner Loeb used to in Gotham. If we don't exist no one can track our real identities down or try and get to our families. Besides, it's not really being a superhero."

"You have a cape like Batman's and you're out there crime fighting, what do you call it?"

"Moonlighting," she quipped.

Kon frowned. "That's what it means when you and mom have late nights at The Planet, doesn't it?"

"First, the whole pregnancy thing aside, your dad's your dad."

"Uh-huh."

"Second," Chloe replied, her tone hardening. "That's exactly what it means. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, I patrol with Aunt Kara. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, your dad and the Angel of Vengeance have patrol and on Fridays Kara and the Angel cover for us."

"Whoa."

"Yeah, it's really….we've done it so long that I don't think we could stop, frankly, but it doesn't feel like some big deal, either. It's what we do."  
>"They say Fawkes can raise the dead, that that's where her name comes from like the bird in Harry Potter."<p>

"The Phoenix. Not my idea for a name. Cyborg suggested it since he's a lit geek deep down. But the cape and cowl go pretty far."

Kon grinned. "Yeah, Uncle Bruce has that racket down."

Clark's eyes widened, "You know?"

"X-ray vision and it was easy. I won't say anything. I can't explain why my parents know The Batmen, can I? Not unless I advertise I'm related to The Ghost and Fawkes."

"I guess not."

Kon sighed and set down his napkin. "Do you guys mind if I go upstairs. I…superheroes and Watchtowers and Lana….it's all been a lot to digest. Besides, my hearing's acting up a little tonight and the baby heartbeat thing is wigging me out."

Clark sighed and gripped his hips a little more tightly. He wanted Kon to come around. Four days was far too fast, but he didn't want his son to feel haunted by the tell-tale heartbeat. "Sure. No problem."

Kon blurred up the stairs fast enough to leave a breeze.

"Well, this has been a fun day," Chloe said, leaning back on the sofa in the loft. "I've enjoyed the extreme awkwardness and seeing Lana again. Those were highlights for me, like a root canal before I developed fearsome healing abilities."

"Chlo, about everything. I know he'll get over it and the whole 'mom/Chloe' thing will clear right up. He's just a teenager and they're stubborn."

" Kents are stubborn," she corrected. "I know. I just…Maybe you should check up on him. He left in a hurry."

"You sure you don't want to?"

"Blood relatives right? I don't want to overstep boundaries again."

Clark stood up and walked over to the sofa. Bending over, he gave Chloe a hug and kissed her. "There aren't any, haven't been in years."

"Well, he's marginally more receptive to you. I know we were all being polite with each other because the rest of the day has been so traumatic. I just wanted you to follow up with him. I'm worried about rejection. I know what it's like to think your mom doesn't love you."

" You're the mom."

"Well then," she corrected. "I know what it's like to have a parent reject you. I love my dad and he's awesome but it just leaves this hole. I know you know what it's like. The Kents are awesome and I love Martha, but I know you had to wonder about your bio parents. It's why you looked up Dr. Swann in the first place or got into the cave paintings, you know?"

"I do," he finished. "Okay, I'm going to see him, but if you change your mind, you can always come up."

"I think this is an El thing for the night," she defended. "I don't know what it's like to love and lose Lana."

"He doesn't know Lana enough to love her and I wasn't in love with her like I thought."

"We then," she said, quirking her chin. "I don't know what it's like to be in her snare for a while. She packs a wallop. I just want to make sure that Connor gets over it. I don't care-hers, mine-those are stupid labels. I want him to be happy. Whatever that takes, I'd do that."

"And that's why you're the mom."

Chloe sighed and pulled up the afghan Martha had knitted for Kon for his baby shower. The yellow of the fabric had been bleached almost white by the sun, it was tattered and still had a few unnamed stains, but it was the preferred cover up at Kent Farm. "But not the one he wants right now. I don't get it. I don't get how anyone could meet Kon and not love him. I swear he's addictive."

"I guess you can be immune."

"I'm not, the League's not. That settles is. Lana is some meta immune to Kon's charms. We should investigate that."

Clark laughed and kissed the top of her forehead. "I'll talk to him and then tonight, whatever you need."

"Sleep, Mr. Kent. Literal, solid, eight to nine hours of sleep."

"Sounds good to me," he replied, walking, human speed, up the stairs to Kon's room.

Clark knocked. It was a habit he had developed out of respect for his son. It was a formality, considering he could snap any lock, hear ten miles away, or see through almost any surface, but sometimes formalities mattered more than actualities. "Kon, I'm not trying to bug you-"

"Really?" Kon asked, although his tone was tired and not sullen.

"We just didn't get to talk a lot about what happened with Lana today. I know you were trying at dinner and I appreciate that you were interested in everything about our night jobs."

"The superhero bit?" Kon asked and he could hear shuffling behind the door. Seconds later, the door clicked open and the door was pulled wide. Kon shrugged and waved his hand with a flourish to his desk chair. "Waddle on in."

"You're not that funny."

"I might be. You have to give me some credit for handling this with grace."

"Or like a bit of a brat."

Kon shrugged. "My dad's a pregnant alien. I think I'm allowed to be annoyed."

"Aunt Kara called it bitchy. She said it's not surprising considering-"

"Can I? Can I really do that? I know you said you didn't know but does Uncle J'onn. I mean, he's all sciencey Martian guy now. I'd really like to know if I can get knocked up."

Clark narrowed his eyes as he sat down on the swivel chair. "Pregnant. Your mother and I didn't just have some one night stand."

"Did you and Lana?"

"No," he replied honestly. "She was living with me. I wanted you very much, still do, except when you're being snippy."  
>Kon considered that and looked down at his bed sheets. They were a set with a constellation on them that glowed in the dark. Clark looked around the room, taking in the view, the walls were still yellow. The murals, which Chloe had not been able to part with, were still intact, though hidden under posters of the star players for the Met U Bulldogs and the Metropolis Sharks. There was a massive stereo system and clothes littering the floor, even a Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendar. It was a teenager's room and not a nursery and when had that even happened?<p>

"Mom doesn't want me."

"Chloe-"

"No, I mean my mom, she just said 'hi, bye' and was gone. But she must have wanted me when I was a baby."

"Kon, I don't think you want to hear the full story."

"So you censor," he replied, his jaw set. "I've heard more than you think. Mom told me that you had her dragged away to South America, that Lex had to get her out."

"And that was after she strapped Blue Kryptonite to my list and tried to abduct us!"

"Or about how you went to Chloe first with everything and drove mom away."

"That's not how-"

"You told Chloe first about me, that I was coming, that I was a boy, let her name me."

"Aunt Kara helped name you too."  
>"But maybe my mom would have liked to actually do that. Maybe if you'd treated her better, she wouldn't have left us," he said and Clark watched as the lamp flared and flickered. Kon was angrier than he'd been in a few days.<p>

"You don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. After everything you tell me about trying to be a good person and helping others and all that other crap how can you put someone you're supposed to love under arrest on another continent. And how can you not even tell me about it? You come clean but you leave out all the details that make you look bad. How can I trust anything when you keep editing the story?"

"It's not the way Lana tells it either. We both did things we regret in order to protect you."

"Was keeping me away from doctors and keeping me malnourished part of that too?"

"What?"

The light flared again and the light bulb shattered. "Mom told me that part of the reason Lex took me was because I was sick. You weren't feeding me right cause you didn't know enough about me. I was underweight and not vaccinated and everything."

"We didn't know."

"Mom wanted me to see doctors."

"Doctors and aliens don't mix, Kon."

"But you could have tried. I'm not even like you. I'm a something else and without mom and Lex, I might have died and the way you thank them is by what? Hiding me away and threatening them? Maybe mom doesn't want to see me anymore because she doesn't want to deal with the entire Justice League every time."

"They stole you. They stripped your powers, and they ran experiments on you."

"Mom says that the experiments meant getting the right food!"

"Lana lies."

"Well so far, you're the only one I've caught doing it over and over, even after you promised not to. Mom would have been in my life if not for you."

"I don't want her here. I don't want her near you but, Kon, I don't think what Chloe or I wanted has kept Lana away, I truly don't."

Kon crossed his arms over his chest and glared back at Clark. He wondered if this, once upon a time, was how he'd looked to his father. "You're just saying that."

"You still want to see her, don't you?"

"I don't think she's the evil bitch you make her out to be," Kon hedged.

"She left us first. Hell, she left you. Part of the reason Lex took me wasn't just about keeping you fed."

"I don't even want to know," Kon replied, eying Clark's chest and turning a bit green.

"No, you probably don't, but Lex brought me to the mansion to get Lana to act like your mother."

"She is my mother."

"She didn't do a very convincing job of being it," Clark countered. "First time I tried to get her to hold you, she dropped you. You fell right out of her arms and it's only whatever I have that really is like adrenaline that saved you. She wouldn't even look at you."

"You're a liar."

Clark sighed and pulled the small pasteboard box out from under his arm. "No, I'm not."

Kon quirked his head at him and took the box from his hands. "What is this?"

"They're the pictures I couldn't show you until now, until you were old enough to understand everything. They're your baby pictures and some of me when I was pregnant the first time."

Kon frowned as he pulled the top off of the box. "You said all the pics of me burned up in a fire. That you didn't have anything before I was two."

"Cover story."

" Lie ," Kon countered, and he really did sound like Lana then.

"They're incriminating, Kon. Anyone who gets their hands on these would know we're not normal."

Lip curled, disgust clear on his face, Kon started shifting through the photos. Holding up the one of Clark side by side with Kara at the swimming hole, he shuddered a little. "You mean, that you're not normal."

Clark looked down at his hands. "No, I don't. I…there's a thing about Kryptonian infants, even the half human ones, that you're going to learn anyway. I-"

Kon must have gotten to an example picture because, before Clark could finish, he dropped the rest of the stack and swallowed. "It's not true. You doctored."

"Ask Uncle Jimmy to verify for you. None of these are doctored and most of them are his from various parties and family events."

His son turned the photo in his hands over toward him. It was from a weekend play date with Gabe. Gabe had Kon on his lap and was bouncing him proudly on his knee. His son's smile was so wide and blinding there, you'd have sworn his was biologically a Sullivan. It matched Gabe's expression that well. The incandescent green tint to his eyes was unmistakable.

"It's not real."

"Kryptonian infants are all born with bright green eyes. In the lower classes, Aunt Kara says, it never goes away. In the Houses, it's been bred out. You turned normal when you were about a year old. It's when we could start keeping pictures for everyone to see. It's really not a big deal."

"So the baby?"

"Most likely, yeah. As far as I know it's common in all the Kryptonian-human infants. Alura had it. Don't you remember the special sunglasses that Uncle Oliver had made for her?"

"I thought she just had vision problems," Kon corrected.  
>"In a way, she did. You had a pair just like them. It was the best way we could think to cover it. The Ray Charles look was a little odd, but it was less off than the neon eyes. But it faded and obviously you never knew." He chuckled and took the pic of Gabe on Connor back. "Your Grampy Gabe and your mom call it Irish eyes."<p>

Kon gaped back at him. "I was born deformed."

"That's really not what I'd call it. Just special."

"Different. Everything in this stupid family is. So what does proof that I'm a freak on the outside too have to do with anything?"

"Kon-"

"No, what does it have to do with mom and you taking her to South Fucking America?"

This time the ceramic Smallville High Crows mug Kon kept his pens on shattered beside Clark. "Breathe, son."

"I'm having trouble at the moment," he replied. "I don't understand."

Clark sighed. "It scared Lana. Your powers scared her. The fact that you were strong enough to hurt me when kicking scared her. The telekinesis, your eyes, all of it bothered her."

"I can understand that," Kon answered, his voice low and there was so much disdain there that it made Clark's heart ache.

"Kon, it doesn't matter what Lana thought. She's a bigot. She doesn't like anyone with powers."

"But she was right, wasn't she, at least a little. I mean, I did look like a freak. I can understand why I'd scare her."

"You didn't scare your mother or Aunt Lois or Uncle Perry or Uncle Jimmy or Grampy Gabe or Grandpa Joseph. It's Lana's hang-up, not yours."

Kon put the rest of the pictures back in the box and reached out to take the one of him with Gabe. Clark noticed that he pocketed that one in his jeans. "I don't know if I wouldn't have done the same thing, dad. I…can I just go to sleep now. I'm tired."

"Sure, buddy. I just needed you to understand."

"I do. Now, good night."


	13. Chapter 13

13

It was late or early, depending on how one looked at it. Chloe was lying in bed, leaning her ear against the space between her husband's chest and stomach. She'd always wished for hearing his so that she could hear their children, first with Connor and now with the baby. It was not something she could do, but it never stopped her from snuggling there, from anticipating the life that was coming in a matter of months.

She loved her family, loved all of it, but she could feel it already slipping from her grasp. Lana had that pull, always had, over Clark and now it seemed to have worked its way over Connor. She didn't begrudge her son for wanting to know about his roots. It just hurt her deeply knowing that Lana would always disappoint, would hurt, and that with Connor's stubbornness, she might not be able to protect him from his own expectations.

Clark was overjoyed that Lana had taken her perfunctory glance and then dismissed Kon, much like last season's Gucci, or whatever designer label Lex kept her wrapped in.

Chloe was not as relieved. Lana was like Lex-maniacal. It was what bonded them over the black ship, over Clark's lies, over the need to steal Kon. It was out of character for her to just give up or be bored, not with all she'd done when Connor was just a baby. Something else could be up. Her journalistic instincts were on alert because with Luthors, aside from Lionel, the trouble was never over.

And it didn't matter because Kon had felt that sting of rejection, had been left with few if any of his questions answered. Chloe knew her son, knew the bright-eyed boy angling for Columbia Journalism School. He wouldn't let everything with Lana drop either. She was certain he'd try contacting her again and she feared the rejection he'd keep subjecting himself too.

Kon was so like his father.

Turning her head, Chloe brushed a feather-light kiss over Clark's stomach and then sat up, slipping out from between the sheets. She had someone she needed to see.

Chloe leaned against the door frame and watched Kon. She could see him, as he had been, a slightly lanky baby hovering above a crib older than she was. Now he was so much bigger, lean still, and nowhere near as tall as his father, but he was still young and that would change. She smiled sadly to herself, watching her son float there, his flat dark hair, splayed out across his face.

"Oh a stor ," she said, sighing. "I wish you'd listen to me just this once."

Bright hazel eyes blinked back at her, "Chloe?"

She swallowed. She was not getting used to the way that stabbed at her every time she heard her name from his lips.

"Hey."

"It's three a.m.," he said, coming slowly to land on his bed. He was much better at that still than his father, some innate talent that must have come from Kara.

"I know."

"You couldn't sleep?" His tone was curious, sedate, not overly bitter and she took that as an invitation to continue.

"I was thinking about today, going through all of it. I just wanted to see you."

"Still here," he said, sighing.

"I see. I'm sorry I woke you. I always forget about the hearing. Your father is good at turning his off and he's absent-minded. It's amazing how often he turns it off, how I can still sneak up on him if he's too busy."

Kon looked down at his hands and flexed them. "I'm not really like that. I heard your heartbeat. It wasn't even you whispering." He paused. "I wonder if I'd have been able to learn to focus on my mom like that?"

"Your father never did," Chloe replied. "Not naturally, but he forced himself to memorize Aunt Kara and your grandmother's. Maybe you could."

Why would you want to?

"Maybe. Um, if she wanted to be around me," he added.

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Would it help if I said it wasn't a great loss?"

"Not really. I know you and mom want me to move on from it, but isn't it half of who I am?"

"Not always the better half."

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

Kon glanced at his night stand, at a small polaroid there. "Did Lana not want me cause I was deformed?"

"Lana wanted you desperately. She did a lot of terrible things to try and keep you. But she's sick, a stor and there are just things she can't deal with."

"Things like me?"

She crossed the room then and reached out to cup his face, annoyed slightly when he turned away. "You're not."

"I feel-"

She shook her head. "You shouldn't."

"I do. There's a lot of things wrong with me. I'm not like my mom and I'm not like Aunt Kara and dad. I just don't understand things."

"There's Alura."

He frowned there. "And no one else."

"No," she hedged, thinking of a family that wanted nothing to do with them or with Krypton and of a man who'd let whole world die.

Kon narrowed his eyes. "I guess not. But I was deformed. I can understand if she didn't want to touch me. I can."

"Then you're being stupid. You were the cutest damn baby. Even Perry thought so and he hates all kids on principle."

"I know I just."

"You're tired."

"We're both tired," he said, laying down and putting his arms behind his head. "I don't know if I slept twenty years I could deal with it, Chloe."

"You could try. In a few days, we have to go back to the Watchtower, start checkups with Dr. Hamilton and J'onn. I want you to go with us. I think it's important you get used to seeing your sibling as a sibling and not a 'tadpole.'"

His face wrinkled up in disgust. "I don't want to deal with this."

"It's happening and you have to for your father. You owe him that much."

"I didn't agree to be born into the Addams Family."

"Into this family," she replied. "We have the first check up in a week and I need you to come because it matters to your father and because it really matters to me."

Kon sighed. "Fine."

Chloe paused then, desperately wanting to kiss his forehead but he was too old and too mad for that now. "It's going to work itself out some day. Even if it takes a decade, you'll learn to deal with this because none of us have a choice."

"Prosaic."

"It's late, get some sleep," she finished walking out and closing the door between them.


	14. Chapter 14

14

"Wait," Cass said, a small strand of hair clenched between her teeth. She liked to chew on the ends when she was confused. It was cute to him.

"Wait what?" Kon asked, leaning back in his chair, setting his feet up on his desk at The Torch.

"I think I missed about five steps."

"What steps?"

"The part where your parents are superheroes and you went to outer space over the weekend."

Kon narrowed his eyes at her. "When you say it that way, it sounds weird."

"It was a little unusual," she conceded. "Your mom is really Fawkes?"

" Chloe ? Yeah. I saw her in costume. Which is weird cause they say Fawkes is as scary as the Batman but in the whole get up she's not even that much taller than I am. Plus, it's Chloe . She talks all gruff but it still sounds like her. It's a total mindfuck."

"You're on that calling her 'Chloe' kick still."

"I'm allowed," he defended, not liking Cass's tone. Like she was one to talk. She hated her stepmother.

"But it's Mrs. Kent. She's great. Mindy still gets carded."

"Well, I don't think Chloe and mom age that much. They still look about the same they did when there were in college."

He paused then, not knowing where to go with that. It had occurred to him that even if they'd always told him Chloe had been 22 when he'd been born, she still looked a lot younger than her mid thirties. Knowing that she was the Fawkes and literally couldn't be killed-if what they said was true-Kon wondered if Chloe could really age at all. That was a passingly sad thought for the tadpole. Who wanted to live forever? Of course, his dad and Aunt Kara didn't look as old as Uncle Jimmy or Aunt Lois did. That made Kon wonder and lately he didn't want to do that. It led to thoughts and to fears he could not assuage.

"Meteor rocks and Argon-"

"Krypton."

"I was looking for the right noble gas," she said. "Who knows. Biology is screwy in Smallville."

"Tell me about it. Every stepmom has her downsides. Mine lies."

"Everyone lies."

"You sound like that doctor show."

"It's Smallville," Cass replied, fiddling with the layout. "It's not like either of us have ever told Gerald that we come packing more than most."

"No, I guess not."

She sighed. "Say it with me, Kon, 'L-A-B.' No one wants to end up in one or in Belle Reve. I can get where your parents were coming from. It's not anything my dad didn't hedge on."

"Alien from a guy with a biological mother I'd never met. It's way different."

"No, you're prickly. So, anyway, after you were dissing Mrs. Kent."

"Chloe is her name," he pointed out.

"Wasn't last week."

He sighed and drummed his fingers on the top surface of his desk. "Last week I was hers."

"And now your what? Lana Luthor's? I thought that went badly. It's what you said on the cell."

"Because my dad and aunt hear like beagles," he said. "Okay, so this is where we got. I did the whole welcome to the Watchtower thing-"

"Still cool. I didn't know you did off planet."

"I don't. I can hold breath. Aunt Kara is pretty amazing, I guess," he said, shifting in his seat. He didn't want to think of the particulars.

"Right but next time you go, can I come?"

"It's not a party place."

"But the Batman! I could meet him."

"He's a dick."

"Well of course, but do you think he'd give me a quote for The Torch."

"Bruce Wayne? Nah, still a dick," Kon replied, grinning.

Cass gaped at him, silent for quite a while. "What?"

"You heard me. I give you good dirt. The ghost is real but it's my aunt and mom splitting shifts, Fawkes is Chloe, and Batman is my Uncle Bruce. I'm pretty sure Arrow is Uncle Oliver, but I didn't think to X-ray him."

"And I can't write a damn word of this down. Alien Life! League Exists! Nope, it's Tuna Fish for Lunch!" She said, setting down the type face for that very important scoop as she spoke.

"You're a good friend, Cass, and you're not going to spill it."

"Pulitzers, Kon."

"You're not going to spill."

"No, I'm really not, but you've got the best sources of any reporter ever. I mean if anyone has an ear to the ground it has to be old pointy ears himself."

"Oddly, Uncle Bruce is not a very talkative guy. But that's besides the point. Superhero-vigilante, they're really real crap aside, I met my mom."

"And you told me she blew you off."

He rolled his eyes. "Like beagles! I had to play that up."

She frowned and stopped fiddling with her layout. "Play?"

"My mother wants to see me again. In fact she actually wants to see me now."

"Now? As in this second?"

"Well, she wants me to visit the mansion during seventh period. It's perfect. The kangaroo will never know I'm slipping out and you can cover Torch stuff. I mean, I'd be back after school for those shifts, but I can see my mom now."

Cass frowned. "Kon, if your mom and dad-"

"Chloe and the kangaroo."

"You know what I mean. If they want you to stay away from Lana, not to be an idiot, but don't you think it means that they had a reason for it?"

"Like she's the boogeyman and she's going to dissect me? Stuff like that? Jesus, Cass, she's my mother. You know how warped all that sounds."

"I didn't say that much but I've known your family for years. If there's something they're against, then there's a reason for it. Besides, if you miss seventh period all the time that means that I have to cover for you. You need an accomplice."

"You wanted to have more responsibility at The Torch anyway. You can just take the shifts. It's not so bad."

She crossed the expanse of the room and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm just worried you're going to get hurt."

"It's my mom. How is that going to hurt? And, you know, the whole billionaire husband couldn't hurt either."

Cass frowned. "Isn't LuthorCorp like half yours anyway and since when are you shallow?"

"I'm not but there has to be some advantages to hanging out with the Luthors. I get a mom and I get some perks and it's real. They're not going to lie to me."

"You know someone all of an hour and they're not gonna trick you?"

"I dunno but I knew my other parents for fifteen years and they never once told me things that were true. I'd like to try something different for a change," he snapped, before speeding to the mansion.

Kon decided he was being an idiot in between ringing the doorbell and the time it took for the door to start opening. When it was Lex on the other side, a man whom he'd only met once that he remembered in his life, Kon grew even more nervous and something flashed through his mind, this fleeting memory of the mansion from before, of something sharp.

Of course, his parents had tried to scare him.

Kon swallowed and looked up at his uncle. "Mr. Luthor."

His uncle was well dressed in the kind of expensive suits his grandfather also liked, nothing like his father's J.C. Penny special. It made Kon conscious of his jeans with the holes in them and the slightly worn sneakers. Lex looked him over and grinned. It was a friendly gesture, but something in his eyes left Kon feeling disengaged from him.

"Lex. Just call me 'Lex.' We're family after all," he said, taking Kon's hand and shaking it. His eyes narrowed. "Remarkable self control."

Kon nodded and walked through the doorway, whistling to himself at the array of Medieval armor lining the mansion's cavernous hallways. "Wow."

"I must confess I feel the same way."

"What? How can you be amazed at your own digs?"

His smile broadened. "I meant that I was impressed by your self control. You're as strong as your father, certainly."

"Huh, I kind of doubt it. I haven't even hit my growth spurt yet. I mean, I know I'm not ending up 5'6."

"That's ambitious of you. Of course you know being tall doesn't run in Lana's side of the family."

"Chloe's not tall either. I think I'll grow up like my dad."

"Aren't we all just hoping that?" he said, turning down one labyrinthine hall and then another. "Connor, Lana and I are so glad that you decided to take us up on this offer. I want you to feel welcome here. I know I'm on poor terms with dad and that I'm on even worse terms with Clark, but we're all family here."

"I...I know."

He nodded. "Good and I want you to feel like you can come to us whenever you need anything. If school is problematic, if the stress of your new sibling is too much for you, whatever you need, the mansion is always open to you. Do you understand?"

Kon stopped and swallowed. "That's a lot to offer. I don't...I'm not here to take advantage. I just want to get to know my mom."

"Of course, you do, but I'd been hoping you'd like to get to know me. Your father and I were friends for a time before everything changed. Did you know that?"

"Frankly," Kon replied, "I work for The Torch and I like newspapers. I can go through the archives of Page Six. You and he were both in love with my mother."

"That does tend to end a friendship, but we'd been fractured before that and can you imagine why, Connor?"

"My mom's very pretty?"

"No, although Lana is lovely. It has nothing to do with that. Your father never trusted me."

"He didn't trust me much either."

Lex smiled as he opened the grand oak double doors before them. "Well, then, it seems we have a lot in common."

Kon didn't feel right yet hugging his mother, not completely. He'd just met her two days ago and she was still so very formal. As she'd left and he'd had to fake outrage, he'd needed to give into a desperate hug to sell his case to his parents. But she was just so...yeah, formal summarized it. Her couture clothing, impeccable make-up, the way her hair was swept up just so into a tight bun. She looked like a porcelain doll.

Something he was oddly reluctant to disturb.

Kon coughed as he entered the mansion's office. His mother was sitting in a high-backed leather chair by the fireplace, stiff, yet proper as he'd expected. "Mom?"

She smiled and it matched Lex's. He wondered if that happened a lot to married people. His parents had the same toothy grin when they were happy. He'd been hoping for a more cheerful expression on his mother's face, at least something less calculating.

"Connor, I'm so glad you could make it."

"Of course, you offered."

"I know," she said, gesturing to the chair in front of her. "Sit."

Kon did as he was asked, still feeling as if Lex was watching, which was stupid, since he'd shut the door already and left. Yet, the level of scrutiny was unmistakable from both Lex and from his mother. He wasn't sure if it was because he was half alien or because he was half Clark and they expected him to revert to being down home or less than Metropolitan.

Somehow, he felt it was both.

"Um, so hi."

She smiled wider, giving a little laugh, like the tinkling of bells. "You don't need to be nervous. You don't have to impress me."

"I know but-"

She reached out and touched the top of his hand carefully. "You're my son. Of course, you're welcome here. Now, what would you like to talk about. I doubt you'd care for stories about Chloe and Clark in high school."

"I'm not feeling them right now."

"I can understand that. What would do you want to talk about?"

"About you. I want to get to know you more than everything my dad says but, first, you said there's another one. One who's not me or Alura. Dad said I was confused."

"Clark says a lot of things, but you know he was lying, don't you?"

"He's bad at it. His heart gets so fast."

"So do you believe him about the other one?"

"No, I don't. So please tell me what you know."

"Well that's a bit of a trade, don't you think?"

"I don't understand?"

"If I tell you what I know about him when he was a little and when you get to meet him, I'd love for you to ask him to come our way."

"I..."

"Do we have a deal. I doubt you'll get anything out of Clark without my little push."

He nodded. "But you have a name?"

"Of course."

"I...I'll see if I could get him to come here too. The mansion is pretty awesome."

She nodded and took a sip of water. "Good then. His name is Jackson..."


	15. Chapter 15

15

Boston was already cold, not that Clark could really discern the change in the temperature, but the leaves, the famed New England foliage, had already fallen to the ground, and there was a chill wind blowing through the air when he arrived at a familiar dorm room on MIT's campus. He was poised with one hand above the door, ready to knock when to girls, both disheveled, opened the door before him. By the looks of them, they couldn't have been more than nineteen.

Jax would be twenty-four in March.

Clark sighed and wondered if his prolonged custodial-ship of teenagers was a joke that the universe had perpetrated on him, something to cosmically balance out him spending years whining and being a complicated problem for his parents. First there had been Kara and her tendency to get in trouble, disappear, catch amnesia or do all three at once, not to mention her wardrobe or lack there of. Now he had Kon, an adolescent as sullen and sensitive as Clark had been on his worst days. In between was Jax, who was both family and wasn't, and who, though far enough along into his twenties, was still a child in a lot of ways.

Perhaps near immortals just matured more slowly.

Chloe would agree with that.

Clark shook his head as one of the girls-a tall brunette who reminded him vaguely of Lois-giggled at him. "I didn't know you came with the deal."

"I don't," Clark replied curtly, glad when both girls disappeared down the hall and hopefully to their rooms. "Jax-ur," he started, entering into a room that was more biohazard than dorm, "What exactly does a graduate advisor do?"

Jax grinned and leaned back on his sofa. "They're from two dorms over, Wilson Hall. Second, I'm just helping the sophomores get comfortable with the new school year. Even in October it can be way overwhelming."

Clark sighed. "How many would this even make since the semester started?"

The younger man shrugged. "That's really not your business, Clark. Look, I get it. I know you worry and you have that whole home planet, overbearing must have one true life mate thing going on, which is very Discovery Channel by the way."

"Jax."

"But that's really not me. I bet it wouldn't be Kon or Alura when they're old enough."

Clark leaned against the lofted bed, frowning a little as it swayed under him, less than sturdy indeed. "We've gone through this."

"Yeah, I think we have a bunch of times in the last seven years. I'm not like you."

Clark had had the displeasure of meeting Jax's mother on several occasions. No, Jax was not like him, but he had no doubts that Mary Donovan had brought up her son with the same strict rules and overprotective zeal that the Kents had him or that he and Kara had with their children. It was a mix of overcompensation, love, and the realization that "special" children needed more rules than other children did. She would not be happy with Jax's efforts to imitate Hugh Hefner and Clark seriously doubted if she knew much about her son's life at graduate school at all. It was the Kryptonian in him that knew it was bullshit that Jax could so easily go through one lover to the next in an endless succession of one night stands, but it was the farm kid raised by the Kents who honestly couldn't understand the allure of it. Even on Red K, that just hadn't been in his nature. The women he'd loved-Alicia, Lana (yes her, once), and Chloe-were all deeply special to him.

"I think we're more alike than you want to admit."

Jax arched a skeptical eyebrow at him. "You think?"

And this was where Clark stopped being family and became "just Clark." These were the kind of conversations he had had with his father and what Jax should have been having with Dax-Ur, but he'd been dead for over a decade and left Clark struggling to adjust to everything in his place. There were only fourteen years between them, making Jax technically close to his age than Kara was. It just made it difficult to figure out where the lines between friend and brother and adoptive father all blurred and bet together.

Talk about sex was one of those topics where Clark found himself squarely in the annoying older brother who can't control my life box.

"You could try something a little different. You have to be tired of the co-ed game by now."

Jax sighed and it expelled enough air to make the papers on his desk ruffle. "Should I ask them to spend the night, Clark? Actually let myself fall asleep one night so they can catch me sleep floating? Something like that." His tone was quiet, resigned. It lacked the confrontational nature of Kon's tirades.

"Well you could try actually dating a girl. Imagine a few months without the sex."

"Months? I couldn't go days."

Clark snorted. "You could. You just don't want to."

"I want a lot of things but it's not…it took you five years to tell Chloe and that worked well enough after you screwed around a lot longer. But then you waited your whole life practically to tell Lana and look what a clusterfuck that was."

Clark winced. "I know."

"And I don't even want to get into my parents. My mom totally hates my dad."  
>"I don't think she hates him," Clark hedged, crossing his arms over his chest.<p>

"No, I know she hates him. She gave you all his records."

"I had to ask for them."

"And she sold off everything he owned and then bam, went out and got a new family."

"It took six years," he countered.

"Still, you know what I mean. She has the human husband and the human stepdaughter-the one whose nine and sickeningly cute, even in cheerleading-and then she has me."

He nodded and walked over to the futon, sitting down a suitably manly distance from Jax. "Trust me, your mom loves you."

"I didn't say she didn't. I know she does. She just doesn't get me. She gets me as long as I don't talk about Krypton and keep my pendant on and never show off my powers. She gets Jackson just fine. I don't think she understand Jax-Ur at all."

Clark swallowed. Mary and Lana had a xenophobic nature in common, but while Lana clearly couldn't deal with Kon, Mary Donovan had developed a different coping mechanism-utter denial of anything alien in Jax and an overprotection that had extended over the last ten years into keeping Jax away from the rest of New Council. If he hadn't accidentally come into his powers, it was unlikely, Mary would have ever let Jax see Clark at all, and even then she didn't like for the two to spend much time together, and she hated Kara.

"I understand that, in a way."

"Senator Kent is awesome," Jax countered.

"My mom and dad were great, but it's always hard. They weren't exactly thrilled when I started digging into the Kryptonian side either."

"Yeah, but that Jor-El computer thing is nuts."

"True but still, this whole thing is complicated."

"And my dad never actually had the guts to tell my mom Jack. I get why she's angry. I just wish she'd stop being that way."

Clark reached out and squeezed Jax's shoulder. "That's probably never gonna change."

"I can tell. I just…it's like I said. My mom hates my dad, you hate Lana and with great reason. I don't think telling potential girlfriends the whole E.T. phone home thing is a winning dating strategy."

"Kara and Jimmy and Chloe and I-"

"Got lucky eventually. I'd rather not go through what my mom and dad did. I don't want to tell someone about this and have it just blow up in my face and you can't tell me it doesn't happen. It's not like I go telling my friends either. It's just too out there."

"It's MIT," Clark pointed out. "If you were going to find people who got it, I'd think the guys in theoretical astrophysics might be open minded."

"Code for Star Trek geeks. Maybe, but it's not worth it. Like I've said, no commitments. Anything not to end up like my dad."

"Brainiac didn't hunt down your father cause he had a human life. I…"

"You didn't do it," Jax reminded although there was a hesitance in his tone that had always been there. Clark had been played once and Jax had no father because of it. "But you know that's not what I meant. I just can't, Clark. Besides, I'm having fun."

His leer was right with his inflection but Clark had seen Chloe fake brave smiles often enough. No, Jax wasn't having fun at all.

"I just think-"

"I know but, and don't take this the wrong way, you're not my actual dad, Clark. You don't have to worry about me. I'm having fun in grad school."

"Helps that you have a photographic memory."

"And that the math is easy," he replied. "So so easy."

"Just don't invent time travel or A.I.s."

Jax shuddered a little. "No, I'd be the last person to make a Brainiac, Jr. I'm fine, really."

"Well, if you need anything-"

"You'll be here with the impossibly good looks of the House of El to steal my dates."

"I wasn't."  
>"They wolf-whistled, Clark. God, your kids are gonna grow up to look like supermodels." He paused. "Maybe short ones cause Chloe's a bit midget, but you know what I mean."<p>

"Well Kon's due a growth spurt and wait," he finished, narrowing his eyes. "How long have you known?"

Jax smiled. "From my hallway. Heard you pounding up the steps and a little swishing noise on top. Congrats. How far along are you?"

Clark quirked his head at him. "You're taking this a lot more calmly than I thought. When I gave you the birds, the bees, and the intergalactic kangaroos speech back when you were in high school, I remember a lot of 'Oh god, oh god, this isn't true.'"

"That's how Kara said you took it too."

Clark shrugged and stroked his hip. "It is not the most wonderful news to be told when it's not supposed to be happening."

"True, but I've adapted. The way I figure it, the human has to cancel out the Kryptonian cause, really, that's just dumb. There's no way I'll ever get pregnant. I'm convinced."

He snorted. "With your track record, Jackson, I hope not."

"I won't. It's a you thing."

"Denial doesn't actually stop pregnancies."

"It's a you ," Jax insisted. "So about you. Like I asked, how far along are you?"

"About six weeks."

Jax squinted and Clark knew that it was his X-ray vision activating. "Huh, not really that cute yet. Is it supposed to have a tail?"

"Yes, humans happen to develop that way."

"Okay, I'm just asking. I mean, I figure Kon doesn't have a tail but I've never looked all that closely."

"He doesn't! The baby is perfectly normal."

"For us."

"Yeah, for us."

Jax then went ahead to prove that he was smarter than he let on. "I don't remember Kon and Alura knowing about the alien kangaroo part."

"Alura doesn't."

Jax nodded. "So when did Kon find out? You gave him that embarrassing dad talk about sex?"

Clark blushed. "We haven't had that one beyond 'don't do it, I'll kill you.'"

"Enlightening."

"Just because you were corrupted before I got to you, doesn't mean I can't threaten Kon. No, I just…he found out this week."

Jax narrowed his eyes at him and Clark squirmed a little. "How did he find out?"

"He might have X-rayed my stomach when his power came online?"

"Might have?"

"Definitely did," Clark replied, looking down at the stained floor and feeling like he was on trial.

"Jesus."

"Don't swear in front of the baby."

"I doubt it can hear me even with our hearing. Clark, you didn't tell him before now, did you?"

"No and before you start, Kara, as co-president of the New Council, laid into me."

Jax sighed and leaned back on the sofa. "I wouldn't have a lot of room to lecture. It's your family."

"It's all our family," Clark corrected, steeling his jaw.

"Yeah, I know that, but I mean, I can't presume. You're great about everything but I just am the tag-a-long."

" You're family," he insisted. "You're going to say I should have done it earlier."

"The thought crossed my mind. I thought you started debating this when Kon hit middle school?"

"We did, but I didn't want to…I wanted him to think he was normal as long as he could. My parents didn't tell me until I was in high school. Your mom waited about as long."

"Mom was never gonna tell me except my necklace snapped," Jax corrected, his tone bitter. "Clark, you had to know better than to wait. I like you tons, man, but even I gotta admit the way your parents told you left you with major issues."

"I know, but I just wanted him to think he was human a little while longer. Once it's gone, it's just…I like the illusion. Don't you?"

Kon can run faster than a train, fly, and explode things with a thought. He was never normal, Clark, not anymore than I am, I mean."

"No, but he got to think he was meteor infected like Chloe, like half the town for a long time. Being alien is just harder, lonelier, I wanted to spare him that. Dax-Ur wanted the same for you."

"He wanted to lie," Jax said, his knuckles curling into fist. Clark watched them grow white as the color drained from them. "I knew, Clark. I'm not like Kon that way. I knew there was something special about me, about my dad because I saw his work and I was there the day Brainiac came. I heard it all."

"You what?"

Jax shook his head. "We're not talking about that, ever, but I knew my dad was extremely special. I wanted to be like him and like Kara, when she'd visit, or you. I wanted my powers, at least when I was still a kid. But I always knew there was something completely different about me."

"Kon knew he had powers. He knew the same stories you do about Krypton."

"But I always suspected that they weren't just fairy tales. Somehow, considering how mind numbingly bland the sunny side of Smallville can be, I don't think he believed in them."

"He knew about the meteor rocks…I just wanted to let him feel like he belonged because he does. You and he and Alura, this is where you're from. It's the world Jimmy and Mary and Lana come from. It's home."

"By half," Jax replied honestly. "It's half ours and if there were a Krypton, that'd be the other half, although, I don't think we'd be all that accepted. It's not like Kryptonians seem big on humans unless Zod and world conquest count."

Clark sighed. "Well, I got raised here. It's not like I have noble Kryptonian education. Kara likes to say it's like being raised by wolves, but in a nice way. She does like my mom."

"Oh nice wolves, that's the difference," Jax drolled. "Mutts."

"No, Krypton was just too full of itself," Clark replied. "If they'd listened…they might still be here. You know what's really funny?"

"You're two months pregnant. There's a funnier?"

"Well, ironic, I guess. We…they…whatever…were so xenophobic that we weren't even allowed to have, well you know, with aliens."

Jax furrowed his brows. "Wait, sex? Am I in trouble? Cause I racked up a large count."

"No, but we weren't supposed to have children with aliens." Clark eyed his stomach. "I think that went out the window."

Jax nodded and eyed Clark's stomach. "Is that rule because it makes you and Kara sick?"

Sick was an understatement. Dead was the better term but Jax was being polite. He'd fourteen when Kara had given birth to Alura. Mary's interference had kept him out of it, but he'd known seen Kara weaker than normal and heard about exactly what Chloe had done to save her life.

"I think that might be part of why it started, yeah, but I think it was mostly because other races just weren't good enough, but, like I said, it doesn't matter now. The Kryptonians aren't here."

"No, they're not," Jax said sadly. "Clark, I can't really believe you signed up for this. I mean, even Kara did it just the once. You and Kon are lucky to be alive at all."

Clark swallowed. "I wasn't supposed to be the one this time. We didn't know about Chloe but her mutation makes her…she can't have children."

"Unless she has a Kryptonian husband," Jax intuited.

"Yeah, something like that."

"How is she?"

"Good, she's fine. It's Chloe. She bounces back fast."

Jax shook his head. "I know but she…she really loves Kon."

"Everyone does."

"She wanted to be the one."

"We're fine, really, Jax. It's just complicated."

"Are you going to need me to help cover for you when you get sick? I mean, someone has to be The Ghost, right?"

Clark sighed and stroked his stomach again. Kara could be The Ghost. She was half the time anyway. However, not Jax, not ever. The meteor rock he wore had left him unpredictably week. He'd been helping Dick and the Titans years ago on some mission to help rebuild Gotham after a more colorful Penguin rampage when his powers had given out. He'd almost been crushed to death. Jax swore it was a fluke and one day, one day, the League might give him another chance, but Clark wasn't about to. He hadn't been able to save Dax-Ur but he'd never let anything happen to Jax, anymore than he'd let anything bad happen to Alura or Kon or Kara.

"I'm gonna be fine. Kara can take the slack or Andrea. Nothing is going to go wrong. Chloe has it down to a science."

"A science where you die," Jax countered quietly.

"Don't worry. It's fine. I'm only at six weeks and I feel fine. If it weren't for the hearing and the X-ray vision, I'd barely know I was pregnant."

"Barely?"

"Bananas are making me nauseated again," he replied.

"So no call up from junior varsity?"

"Afraid not."

"Ooh, can I help name?"

"I'll think about it."

Jax sighed. "Then why are you in Boston at 8 a.m. on a Monday when I know that you have work and an other place to be?"

"Because, well, I guess I wanted to ask how you felt about Kon."

"The squirt? You know I like him. He's a cute kid."

"He is almost fifteen."

"And the last time I got to really see him, he was six. I get it. It's the way I want it so mom doesn't find out and get mad at me for, you know, embracing my inner alien."

" Traveler ," Clark corrected.

"Tomato, toh-maw-to. I don't know what he'd be like now, but the squirt's close enough to family in my book."

Clark sighed and looked away from Jax for a second, just so he wouldn't see the frown. One day, he wanted Jax to really feel like a part of the family, not just the tag-a-long he referred to himself as. Clark certainly didn't see him as a burden or a duty, not at all. "Good then. I…he's been asking about other ones. He wanted to know if it was just him and Alura and, technically, the Kawatchee are us, just like five hundred years diluted. But he meant other kids who had a human parent and a Kryptonian one."

"You mean a Clark and a Lana or, in my case, a Mary and a Dax-Ur?"

"Exactly."

"What did you tell him?"

"No, but I did it because it's your secret to tell. You don't have to get more involved in the family if you think it'll give you tension with your mom. I never wanted to risk putting you in the middle at all."

"But you think he'd do better if he had someone who wasn't nine he could talk to about being a mutt?"

"I don't like that term. You're just-"

"Don't say 'special,' Clark. It's not what this is and you know it. We're just shockingly different, and that's the way it's always gonna be. Let me guess. He's not taking the 'we come in peace' bit well, is he?"

"He's taking it worse than I did or you." Clark chuckled. "You took it surprisingly well."

"Like I said, I always knew. I just got the confirmation little kid!me suspected. So, you do want me to give him a bit of a pep talk? A bit of the 'being in the New Council of Krypton isn't so bad' spiel?"

"It's not that bad, is it?"

Jax sighed. "It's lonely, but apparently if you and Chloe keep at it, it won't be."

"I don't think we'll have that many, Jax. If I'd known…I never wanted to put Chloe in this situation again, not beyond the one time she promised Kara. I hate when she dies."

"But Fawkes gets better. I'm sure she'll be up and kicking after the little one too," Jax replied, smiling and slugging Clark gently in the shoulder. "And on the plus side, cute baby."

"You have talked to Kara too much," Clark replied. "But he's still looking for someone whose not his dad or his aunt who might understand."

"And being one of now six in the whole universe is a lot limiting."

"Yeah."

Jax shrugged. "Bring him over. My mom won't ever find out."

"Well I swear she'll never hear it from me."

"No, it's fine. You helped me figure out my powers and everything else, at least I can return the favor by trying to just be there for Kon. It is better when you're not the only one at all, and sometimes you just can't talk to your dad or so I've heard."

"Jax?"

"No, it's fine. I mean, I never got that Oedipal teenage rebellion with my dad, but I know what it's like when my mom and I just don't get it or can't agree. Sometimes, you just need a big brother. I think you'd agree with that."  
>"Right, exactly."<p>

"So, I have midterms this week-snorefest-but you can bring him by this weekend."

"Maybe next week? We have an appointment to meet with Dr. Hamilton at the Watchtower on Saturday."

"Cool. Hey, can I come?"

"No, that's just…there's prodding."

Jax blanched and looked vaguely green. "Oh man, I don't…no next Monday is completely fine. We'll hang out, eat nails. I'll show him how much fun X-ray vision is."

"He is not learning to peep into girls' dorms."

"Like you never once-"

"He's not!"

"Fine, but we'll do the big brother-little brother bonding thing, like I said, it's the least I can do, you know?"

"Great. I should get going. Perry's going to have to compensate me for enough work missed in about two months cause, you know, showing."

Jax grinned. "This is going to be so funny. I was too little to really get it aside from you being fat."  
>"I was with child."<p>

"Same difference. This is going to be a blast."

"I wish Kon felt like you did."

"He'll come around."

"He's not taking the alien/pregnant father/Lana's my birth mother trifecta well."

Jax snorted. "Did he have to meet Lana? That could be why. From what Kara tells me, she sucks."

"That's one way of putting it and he did. He just completely is in love with her. It's 'why didn't you tell me about her earlier' and 'Lana's my real mom.'"

"Shit, poor Chloe."

"I'm working on it. He's being an ass. He keeps calling her 'Chloe' and me 'mom.'"

Jax smirked, "That 'mom' bit is a little hilarious and pretty true."

"Jax!"

"Okay, so it's a whole trifecta. I can learn to work around that. Bring him here and we'll at least get to commiserate over bio-moms who just don't get it. Clark, it'll work out."

"Thanks," he said, standing up and, despite his preternatural agility, nearly tripping over a pile of dirty socks. College kids. "I really appreciate it."

"Tit for tat, man. But, I did want to ask you something."

"Sure, shoot."

Jax looked down at his hands and started to pick at his cuticles. "I've been going through my dad's notes and I swear they jump dates. I just feel like there's something missing. Do you think my mom got rid of some before you ever met her?"

Clark swallowed. The only missing notes he knew of detailed exactly what gold Kryptonite could do and the only people who had ever seen them, including a letter for Jax-Ur, were he and Chloe, not even his mom knew they existed. It was better that way. The more people who knew about the gold K, the more likely it could somehow get back to Lex. Besides, Clark didn't want either Kon or Jax to even start entertaining gold K as some "cure" for being what they were.

"No, Jax. You ask me that a lot and I'm sorry. I know it's hard but that's all there is."

"Oh…okay. So Monday?"

"Sure," he said, leaving out of the room, realizing that he was lying as much lately as he had in high school.


	16. Chapter 16

16

It looked right.

That was what struck Chloe, standing there with a pillow under her shirt and in front of the large mirror in the bedroom she shared with Clark. It looked right to have a bump like that, like it should have been something she could do. She was trying so hard not to be upset. Lana had been or at least bitter that it wasn't she doing the carrying, as if it divorced her from responsibility for Connor somehow. In contrast, Chloe'd never felt more connected to anyone, even Clark. She still felt that way, even if Kon was stuck in some adolescent snit. Chloe sighed and stood there, turning from side to side. She remembered Clark pulling something similar when he was maybe no more than nine weeks along.

It had amused her.

If he did it again this minute, she'd laugh.

Clark never looked quite as funny nor as adorable than when he'd been carrying Kon.

She just wanted…

Chloe shook her head and pulled the pillow from out under her shirt. It wouldn't do any good to think about that. It would only matter if she could be supportive when the actually carrying parent started to show, because by that time, that was when the problems tended to set in. Kara and Clark both, like clockwork, by a little over four months were sick.

It should be easier to have a child with the people she and Jimmy loved, less death involved, but there lives hadn't been simple, even back in the idyllic days of high school. If only she'd known. Chloe would trade League politics and escapees from the Phantom Zone for a regular Greg Arkin or Tina Greer any day of the week, and it only got more difficult.

She made her way down the stairs to the kitchen and started preparing a roast for dinner. It was easy enough that even she could do it, after a few years of practice and Clark's luckily timed superbreath after a few miscalculations early in their marriage. Clark was the gourmet in their house, the one who'd learned well from Martha. However, it was Clark's night to patrol with Andrea. Someone had to muddle through and last week she'd been working hard on the recidivism rate in Metropolis. It had been too much Chinese and pizza carry out. Clark wouldn't be home until late, as he often was-the reason they switched on and off in the first place-but Kon was supposed to come home after putting The Torch to bed.

So she made dinner.

And then she waited.

The roast had had an hour to cool and she'd had an hour to stare at it, mocking her from across the table, until her son finally showed up. Kon was fast, of course, considering his father how could he not be, but he wasn't as fast as Kara and Clark were by a long shot. She could still see him blur and, honestly, she hadn't seen Clark do that in a decade.

"Connor Sullivan, you're late."

The blur stopped half way up the stairs and in its place her son materialized. "Chloe, hey."

It bit fresh into her every time he called her by her name, but he was angry and he'd been lied to. He might not get over that for a longer time to come. She didn't correct because, somehow, she couldn't feel like it was her place, that she had a strong position for her objections. She loved Kon more than anything, had died for him and would do it again in a heartbeat, but she'd always feared that he'd been on loan to her, that when the truth came out, that inexplicable Lana pull would come over him. She just hoped it wouldn't take him seventeen years to get over it as it had with Clark.

"Kon, I know that you were busy with the paper. I get that, believe me, but you were supposed to call if you were going to be late. It's what the cell phone is supposed to be for instead of always texting Cassie and Gerald."

"I know. We just ran late. There was this steroid scandal with the swim team and-"  
>Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Swimming's a winter sport."<p>

"No time like the off season for extra 'training,'" he replied.

She considered him. It sounded plausible. If Coach Walt could supply tests for the football team then it was completely logical that something off the books and over the counter could be doled out to the swim team, but she just felt like something was off. "I thought Gerald covered sports."

"He had economics team today. So I covered for him. I know it's past seven. I just got bogged down. You know how it is at the paper. I mean you and mom run late at the 'Planet,'" he countered, making air quotes for the word, "all the time."

Chloe frowned as she started cutting him a slice for his plate. "We sometimes do run late at the Planet but it's our job and we used to have your aunt or uncle or J'onn babysit you when you were little. I was just asking for a phone call, Connor."

"Am I in trouble for school stuff? I thought extracurriculars were great for colleges. You do still want me to go to Columbia or Harvard, right? The alien thing doesn't change needing a job when I'm an adult."

"Five dollars."

"Huh?" he asked, stepping back down the stairs and sitting at the table. "I didn't say anything."

"I should make it ten. It will be next time. It's five dollars for using that word."

"Which one?" he asked and his face was too schooled in innocence not to be a come-on.

" Alien . Say traveler instead and after the baby's born, it's best not to talk about it at all. It'll just confuse your sibling."

"Or it would be honest."

"Not for a three year old, a stor."

"Chloe, don't. I think I'm a little old for nicknames."

She sighed and mixed the mashed potatoes around on her plate but didn't eat any. She hadn't eaten anything substantive since this mess had started. "Grandma still calls your dad 'sweetheart' sometimes."

"I'm almost fifteen. I'm just too big for nicknames, although 'mom' is still funny."

"That's the other word. We can have a swear jar again. We haven't since you were little and your uncles couldn't learn to be polite, but we can do it now. You can't keep calling your father names. It's not fair to him and it's stressful on top of that and stress is-"

"Bad for the baby. I think I'm getting that," he said, slicing into his roast beef. "Still doesn't make it less true."

Chloe swallowed. "It's complicated and, like I've mentioned, your Aunt Kara has this power point that makes your dad turn green, but technically Lana Lang is still the mother in all of this. Your dad is a little like a seahorse maybe."

"Or a kangaroo," he replied, his mouth half full. Chloe was going to let his table manners slide just this once.

"Just cool it. I know you're mad at both of us, but we're still your parents and you're still a part of this family. I know that we're not related and I know that you're frustrated. If you need time to get to the point where you can call me mom again, I understand that. I'm not the one whose pregnant."  
>"You say that as if it's a terminal condition."<p>

She paused and toyed with the marriage bracelet on her left wrist. She did that sometimes when she grew nervous. It was an old habit she relied on to reassure herself, to remind her that no matter what she still had Clark and her family. They hadn't discussed anything that far yet. Yes, he'd be seeing Dr. Hamilton as far as obstetrics went, and most likely J'onn when it got more advanced, and, yes, she'd seen Perry today and he was going to take care of Clark missing so much work with "mono." Beyond that? It had been too much of a whirlwind. They hadn't decided what to tell Kon about how difficult it was for Kryptonians to have human (well half) children. He'd been so little when she'd helped Kara and they'd told him then only that she and his aunt had to go away on a trip when Alura was born.

She didn't know if it was worth dumping yet another thing on him before Clark's powers started glitching. Considering his sulking, she wondered if he'd even believe her.

"It's not, but it's stressful and hard. You do understand that the baby's half-human."

"I can do the math. Half-Chloe plus half-dad would be half human."

"It's not easy on him to carry that. That part, it's foreign to his body."

Kon shrugged and dug into his broccoli. "Me and Alura are here. It must not be the most stressful thing ever." He paused then with his fork half way to his mouth. "Although."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Although what?"

He shrugged again and took a bite. "Nothing really. It was just this stupid thought."

"Was it snotty?"

"No. It's just if your powers come from the meteor rocks and the meteor rocks can kill me and dad, how does that make any sense? I don't get how those two even out?"

She kept her face neutral. In all their efforts to conceive, it hadn't crossed either of their minds, mostly because of the assumption that she'd be the one going to term. Kon was shrewd as he'd learned to be in his zeal to become a reporter like she and Clark were. He'd seen an angle neither she nor Clark had even considered. She'd have to ask Emil about that soon.

"We don't know yet. Lana and Jimmy aren't infected. It's never come up."

Kon nodded thoughtfully and when he spoke, his voice was calmer than it had been in days, quieter too. "Don't take this the wrong way."

"Sentences that start like that never end well."

"No, I mean, I don't want to make you think I'm trying to offend you or to make you feel bad. It's just that I know that being meteor infected isn't always a good thing. I know you're okay and that even if we don't talk about it, there are kids at my school who can do things they shouldn't."

She snorted. "As long as they keep it quiet and out of Belle Reve."

"Exactly, but the rocks make a lot of people very sick. There's a reason that Belle Reve is so full."

She stilled. "You're trying to ask me if the baby might be like them."

"Well I had a few classmates who were fine and then they got to about eighth or ninth grade and they weren't fine anymore."

"It's like you, a stor ," she said, slipping back into old habits. "Meteor infected people's powers get stronger when they go through hormone changes."

"Ugh, not talking that with you and that's cause it's just…no!" He was red and she took it as something he wouldn't even be discussing with St. Lana.

"We don't know. It's possible, but I'm fine. I've had my power since before you were born and I'm sane, at least assuming there really is a League and your father is a pregnant traveler."

"Oh that's real."

"Then the baby is going to be healthy. It's just a very stressful time and we need to be helpful. Even if you don't like the baby, even if you're mad at us for trying to protect you-"

"Protect and lie sound a lot alike."

"And you're not the only one."

"No," he countered. "I bet you lie to everyone you meet."

As a matter of course they did by lies of omission, although it was amazing how rarely the questions "Are you a meteor mutant" or "Are you an alien from the planet Krypton" came up in regular conversations.

"Grandma and Grandpa Kent…I don't think they were ever going to tell your father where he came from."

Kon frowned. "What?"

"Lex Luthor didn't mean to, but he accidentally hit your dad with his car. He wasn't paying attention and he was speeding and there was an accident, but Clark didn't die. After that happened, they kind of had to tell him."

Furrowed brows and he looked so much like Clark with that expression. "But Grandma wasn't going to tell him?"

"I've never said this to your dad, but I think they'd have waited longer or never shown him at all. They just had a hitch in their plans. We were always going to tell you. Your dad just wanted you to have more time to feel completely human than he got. He has projection problems. Your aunt and I have been on him for years."

"But ever? How would they explain the flying and the everything else?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but I do know that we waited a long time to keep you safe and we waited too long because this is so difficult to hear. We were just trying to protect you-from the world and from yourself. We just did it wrong, but I know how you feel."

"Grampy Gabe doesn't have powers. He wasn't hiding anything from you."

"He hid why my mom left."

"Why did she-"

Chloe swallowed. Moira was in a special hospital in Star City and would be there for the rest of her life, trapped forever not only behind those walls but also in a catatonic state. She hadn't been able to handle having powers, it hadn't agreed with her genetics. So there was a chance that the baby…

No that wouldn't happen.

She'd never allow it. She'd will it not to happen if she had to.

"Not because she was sewing wild oats," Chloe replied. "That's a story for when you're older because it's…because frankly I can't get into it right now and worry about it until after the baby's born."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

Kon threw his fork down and it clattered on his empty plate. "It's always about me understanding later, about what's for my own good, and then it always ends up in more secrets and lies to my face."

Chloe sighed. "Sometimes, a stor , you're so much like Lana that is scares me."

"She's not a bad person. She just didn't want me," Kon said and there was a hesitation in that last part that didn't sound so much like sadness but something more, as if he were trying to catch himself.

"Kon, sometimes people hide the truth because it's the only way to survive. There's not always some evil conspiracy behind it. The only way that you and your dad and Alura and Kara can have any kind of life at all is if people do not know about you. The minute that changes…"

"A lab, right? Like it's some kind of techno-boogeyman."

"It's real," she countered. "One day, when you're old enough, you'll understand. When you have children of your own to keep safe, you'll know how torn up we are right now."

Kon sighed and looked down at the sturdy oak of the table. "I really don't think there are a lot of girls lining up to date E.T. I mean, Cass is great but she's not going to be that understanding."

Chloe couldn't help but smirk. She'd had a feeling about those two. "I thought you and Cassie were 'just friends.'"

"Oh," he back pedaled. "We are. It's just that I can't think that far ahead, Chloe. It's too much to think about."

She reached over and was grateful he let her take his hand. "One day a stor ."

It took a few minute for him to pull away and grimace. "And then I'd end up like dad!"

"I kind of doubt it. You father just has all the bad luck."

"I what now?" And Chloe jumped. Clark had literally just appeared out of nowhere in their kitchen. He smiled back at her. "Huh, I guess you do have a scare reflex left."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Funny. Hey, you're home way early."

Clark pursed his lips and sat down at the head of the table. "Kara took my night. I had to double check something up in Massachusetts."

Chloe looked between her son and her husband. There was only one thing worth visiting up there. He'd been talking with Jax, obviously asking him if he were ready to reveal himself to Kon and to Alura. She shook her head, her anger at Mary Donovan coloring her actions. Jax should have been able to experience everything with them, instead of kept at a distance. First, Mary had done it and then Jax himself, anything to keep his mother happy, and the thing that made her happiest was him ignoring Krypton. Chloe had no idea how a coward like Dax-Ur and someone as weak as Mary had given the world (and the Titans) someone as honorable as Jax was.  
>Maybe it was a recessive gene.<p>

But Jax had kept everything at arm's length before. Clark must have been worried about Kon than he'd been letting on. It had to have been something pressing for Jax to agree to finally get into it.

Her son broke the silence. "What's in Massachusetts?"

Clark took a deep breath and templed his fingers out in front of him on the table. "You asked if there were others like you and Alura and technically there are."

The chandelier over head cracked as Kon glared at both of them. "You lied to me. God, do you ever do anything else?"

"Yes," Clark replied haggardly. "I couldn't tell you about Jax until now because it was his secret to tell. I got permission from him this morning and double checked with him tonight to make sure that it was alright."

"So there are other mutts?"

"Connor!" she chided. "That's a swear jar word too." Almost subconsciously, she felt herself reach out for and touch Clark's stomach. Neither of her children-and Jax and Alura were her family too-were anything like that. They weren't mutts. They just were.

"No, there's just you and Alura and Jax-Ur, the baby too when it's born. I mean, the Kawatchee are descended from a Kryptonian but that was five hundred years ago. You know they don't have powers like we do."

"Whoa."

"That's one way of putting it," Chloe replied.

Kon was frowning at both of them. "So what? Jax and I will just start up a club together? Let Alura in when she gets to learn the big alien secret?"

Chloe said nothing but watched carefully as the tableau unfolded before her. There was something not right about any of this. This weekend, Kon had been desperate for another one, had begged for information about it. Now he was shouting back and forth with his father, his concentration lagging badly enough to have the windows shaking and the chandelier swinging above.

He'd turned a complete one-eighty in his tone.

"…and he's taking the time out from his mid-terms to help you so you're going!" Clark shouted.

"Ooh, so I can have him tell me how lucky and great and wonderful this whole Kryptonian thing is. Well thanks, but I'd rather just tell him to fuck off and that I'm busy."

"Language!"

"The tadpole's a tadpole. It can't even be corrupted yet," Kon countered.

"Well it's still incredibly rude, Connor. We set this up and you're going to go and that's final."

"But I don't want to!"

Another violent jerk of the chandelier overhead and Chloe thought it might fall.

"Too bad. You're going to the doctor's appointment on Saturday and then in a week you're going to MIT to see Jax, and that's final."

Kon shook his head and stood up. "Fine, whatever, mom , Chloe, tadpole, good night." With that he blurred up to his room.

Clark sighed. "Is this because he's a teenager or because we just dropped a bomb on him last week."

Chloe eyed the staircase where her son no longer was. "Clark, I don't know, but I feel like this was something else."

"Huh?"

"I just have a feeling."

One large hand was over his own atop his belly. "It's going to be okay."

"I hope so, Clark, I really do."


	17. Chapter 17

17

The second time he met with Lana (well the second time without Chloe and his dad aware of it), Kon was mildly relieved when the butler answered the door. It was always odd to him to have butlers answer things. His Grandfather Lionel had one for the penthouse (Grandma Martha refused to have on in her townhome in Georgetown). Uncle Oliver had a staff and Alfred had been with Uncle Bruce so long that he just was family, clearly like Uncle Bruce's father.

It sort of happened when your family consisted of billionaires or friends of them.

Oddly, Kon always assumed that everything with Uncle Oliver and Uncle Bruce came from the fact that, once upon a time, Uncle Oliver had dated his Aunt Lois. It didn't work out, none of the three times his aunt and uncle had tried to make it work, but Kon had always assumed his dad had struck up a friendship with Uncle Oliver doing the double date thing with Chloe and that since all billionaires so had to know each other, Uncle Bruce had just been added to the mix.

Now, he wondered if everything between his father and Chloe and his two uncles were more League driven than anything else.

So many things in his life that probably had a real story behind them.

Kon swallowed as the butler, well quaffed but not nearly as friendly as Alfred, led him to his mother's salon. He'd never really liked the formality of butlers (except Alfred cause he was awesome and, frankly, no one that Cockney was formal. Plus he'd been on top secret ops in the army and was just too cool.), there was just something that wasn't his family. He understood. At least he did now. Two years ago, his grandmother and Grandpa Lionel had married. It was the only time, as far as his parents knew, that he'd ever met Lex and the first time he'd glimpsed his mother in person. Lex, apparently bitter about the way the will had been altered, had dropped the fact that Kon was going to inherit the controlling share in LuthorCorp.

It was overwhelming.

Kon wanted to be a reporter like Uncle Perry or like Chloe, when he thought she actually stood for the truth. He had no interest in business. He had no interest in wealth, or at least he thought he hadn't. Life with his family was comfortable, but it was or had been as normal as life could be for a family of mutants. There were chores (not farm ones like his dad cause the land was leased all to the Hubbards now), but he'd always had chores and allowance. He sometimes got things second hand and he'd had to take up a paper route to earn enough for the I-pod he'd wanted last year.

Actually, there'd been a huge fight over that because Grandpa Lionel had bought one and sent it to the house three weeks before it hit the market just because. Kon had rarely heard his father yell as much as he had on the phone with his grandfather. The deal that grandma had come up with was the paper route for Kon to earn it.

So, yeah, technically he knew he had money coming to him and he knew or was related to three of the wealthiest men on the planet. However, he'd just been raised as salt of the Earth as his father. He didn't think his parents really knew how to do the whole spoiling thing. They were more into the intense hard work and late hours bit. Now, world saving instead of late night at the Planet and that burned Kon a lot, but always working and integrity.

Still, there was something to be said for the ornate salon his mother was waiting in, the one with the massive leather sofas and the imposing modern desk that Kon wouldn't mind seeing in his room...if his room at home were three times as large. He'd never allowed himself to think of the what happened later, the what happened when his grandfather handed over the company or when he had access to his own inheritance. He never thought about the differences in his life, if only because he hadn't known. The farm house was where he'd been born-literally and that mental image made Kon throw up a little in his mouth-and it was simple and plain. Then there was the mansion and it could be his, perhaps, if he wanted to press.

It was just a thought.

His mother smiled when he entered and it made Kon adjust the backpack over his shoulder again, just so that he would have something to do with his hands. She made him feel oddly self conscious, as if he wouldn't be good enough, or if she'd suddenly recant their deal and ask him to leave.

He didn't want that to happen.

His mother turned her attention to the butler and nodded her head briskly. "That will be enough Enrique," she said and he'd heard his grandmother use that tone when she dismissed aids on the Hill.

She was nothing if not efficient.

After the butler left, Kon stayed standing by the door. "Uh, I this is okay? I know it's been a few days, but Cass couldn't cover me on Tuesday and on Wednesday I had this, um, appointment thing to go to."

His mother quirked her head at him, her eyes narrowing. "Appointment?"

He rolled his eyes. "I do have a doctor I see. He's someone that my mom and dad trust and who Uncle Oliver recommended. I had this tooth ache thing going on."

She frowned and he felt her scrutiny intensify. "Clark's invulnerable."

Kon scuffed one shoe against the hardwood. "It varies, you know?"

"Does it?" she asked, gesturing to the overstuffed chair in across from her. "Connor, sit down."

He nodded and assumed a seat. Looking down at his hands, he continued. "Well, it's just...there are little things that aren't the same. I..." he blushed and it was something that was definitely his father's. He wondered if on Krypton they'd all blushed that much or if his family were just lucky that way. "Well, if I was here then you know that I can move things."

She smiled and placed one well manicured hand over his. "The telekinesis. I saw you do it when you were a baby."

"Uh, yeah," he added, feeling awkward. Of course she and Lex knew. If Chloe and dad were telling the truth and not just paranoid, then Lex had run experiments to get Kon to use his abilities even when he'd been an infant, but he hated being that open about his powers sometimes. The TK scared him. He had a solid grasp of it now, but it had taken years of intense lessons and training with Maddie and his Uncle Bruce-breathing techniques, meditation, basics of martial arts mindset-before he'd been able to stop breaking things when he'd gotten upset. It was just harder to control than even the strength, something that flared out of his control even now.

He knew it was dangerous.

That he could be, even more than his dad.

Besides, freaks had telekinesis.

"I knew that it's not something Clark can do."

Kon nodded. "Yeah, they used to tell me it came from Chloe, that the mutation warped, but it might be more because it's what happens when humans and aliens have mutts."

His mother narrowed her eyes at the term but she didn't offer him some trite reassurance that he was merely "special." He hated when his...when Chloe and the kangaroo did that because it only made him feel worse.

"Kryptonians, you meant."

He rolled his eyes. "I know the name. I mean my other mom filled me in on that with more scowling and jaw clenching, you know, but I don't think it really matters what Clark says. Vulcan, Ewok, whatever. It's all alien, right?"

"Well I think there's a vast difference between you and John Jones."

Kon shuddered and thank God for it. At least he didn't have scales and red eyes. "True, but I mean, it's like it doesn't always mix right, I think. Alura, you know who she is?"

His mother's smile fell. "Kara and I didn't get along well during your father's pregnancy."

"Weirdest sentence ever," Kon groused. "But Alura's my cousin and she's nine now."

"I was aware."

"Oh right, just filling in the background. That's what good reporters do. Anyway, she has some of Uncle Jimmy's allergies. She has this fabric softener thing, gives her a rash."

"And you?"

Kon sighed. "Well apparently I have a cavity-no idea how that happened-although I'm not going to try sticking my arm in a thresher or anything. I don't think I'm as invulnerable yet."

"A cavity?"

He shrugged. "Do you have weak teeth?"

"Not particularly. It's funny, I'd have assumed that you'd be just like Clark."

"I'm not," Kon replied through gritted teeth. "I mean, if you just assume that I'd do everything weird he does, then I wouldn't. I'm at least half normal."

His mother smiled and it was the first warm one she'd made today. "That's what I used to tell him. He was always very adamant about forcing Kryptonian things on you."

That wasn't exactly how things had gone, if Kon were honest with himself. The fairy tales that actually weren't about Krypton had been part of his life since he was a toddler, but his father hadn't forced much on him, and what had become part of his life, things like visits to the Kawatchee caves, he'd enjoyed. At least on the reservation and with the Kawatchee he could be himself in a way he just couldn't around anyone but Cassie.

Still, now his dad was going to go "It's all okay," and assume Kon was going to just be grateful or some bullshit to be Kryptonian.

Yeah right, like that was happening.

"Well, the kangaroo used to say when I was really little that I got to choose what I wanted and I just would like to focus on the human half. You know, the side that doesn't do what dad does."

"Shred steel and superspeed?" she asked, an eyebrow arched.

Cool, his mom had a sense of humor.

"I meant get pregnant."

"I assumed as much. So," she asked, leaning forward slightly. "How is the baby?"

He blinked. He didn't think his mom would be as interested in the baby. It was the child of a woman she hated and of a guy whom she'd basically divorced. It hurt a little, even that cursory interest, as if he weren't enough, but that was silly. His mom was just making conversation and the baby stuff was pretty much the biggest thing going down in his life right then.

"Um, I think it's okay. I mean, dad has his first appointment on Saturday, which sucks cause I totally have to go."

"You do?" she asked, her tone breezy.

"Yeah," he replied, shrugging down into his seat. "The ultrasound, the whole nine yards. Chloe and the kangaroo say I have to go and it's mandatory. You know how dad gets when he does the imposing, because I said so thing, don't you?"

"Clark can be forceful, but I'd be interested to hear how it goes."

Kon frowned. "Really? I didn't think you'd care."

She grabbed for him with both hands. "Connor, it bothers you so of course I care. I just meant that if you need to vent about the trip that of course I'll be here. Lex had a meeting today that he couldn't reschedule but any time your want to unload about these sorts of problems, we'd both listen."

He considered that uneasily. Even Chloe and the kangaroo admitted that without Lex's intervention, he would have gone on undernourished and underweight. Still, he couldn't shake this annoying voice in his head-for shorthand's sake, her name was Cassie-who kept needling him that getting too close to Lex was a stupid idea.

Of course, Lex was offering his home and the truth and had helped save Kon's life once. His paranoia could just shove it for a while.

"Thanks. You know, I might do that tell you about the appointment, but I definitely can't on Monday. I have to go to Boston."

"Jackson Donovan attends MIT, doesn't he?"

Kon blinked. "You knew all of that. I thought you just had a name."

"Lex likes to keep abreast of people who've sold his company valuable acquisitions in case he should ever need more. A basic dossier on Jackson isn't so unusual."

"Sold things?"

"Jackson's father researched meteor rocks. His mother inherited a substantial collection after Dexter's death and first I and then Lex bought the bulk of them."

Kon wrinkled his nose. "The green stuff? That's toxic!"

She shook her head. "Most of the green has been removed from Lowell County by LuthorCorp initiative. Your, for lack of a better term, uncle has been very dedicated to preventing further mutations and incidents like used to plague Smallville."

Kon shifted at that. Not every mutant was dangerous. Chloe wasn't and Cassie certainly wasn't. The rocks had made both of them sick but they'd also made them both who they were. It wasn't always monsters out there and he wondered if Lex could tell the difference.

"Oh, but not for like me, right?"

She shook her head. "The green was never intended for you, of course not. Chloe and Clark have spread a lot of stories about him and us."

"I know and that's why I'm here but it's a lot scary to hear about meteor rocks. They hurt ."

"I know, but there are none here for you."

"I didn't mean-" he started, but he half did. Sometimes he couldn't shake the shadow of the story Chloe and the kangaroo had spun for him.

"Of course you didn't, but Jackson's mother is a business associate of sorts and we keep track."

"Oh."

"Besides, it wasn't the green we were after. You do know there are other colors."

Kon blushed. He'd found the red once by Hobb's Pond and it was a day he was never going to live down, but his father had also told him about the blue, the one that supposedly stripped powers.

"The red, I know."

"Blue, black and gold, as well."

Kon blinked. "There's no gold."

"There isn't much. It's by far the smallest of Dexter's samples. Perhaps one day we can figure out what all of them do."

"Well they tend to either hurt or make me an asshole." He blushed. "Mom, I-"

"It's fine. Red Kryptonite has unpleasant side effects, that's true."

"I know, but I'd...dad says there's a blue one."

She nodded. "We have quite a bit of that."

"Is it true?"

"What?"

He swallowed and looked into her eyes. "It can take my powers, can't it?"

"Not all of them and only if you kept wearing it," she countered. "But that's really not something we have to talk about."

"But we can, can't we. I mean, if one day, I wanted to not be like my dad...I wouldn't have to be. The telekinesis is mine, I know, but I could be more like you. I could be like a human."

It was hard to say that last word, as if it tasted bitter on his tongue. Kon wanted to go back to two weeks ago. He wanted to be nothing more extraordinary than a meteor mutant, which was bad enough, and if his mother had a cure, she'd give it to him, wouldn't she?

His mother's smile faltered, but she surprised him by reaching out to stroke his hair. "We'll see. Of course, Clark would never go for such a thing, if you were living with him."

"Where else would I live?"

She leaned back in her sofa and shrugged. "We're getting very far ahead of ourselves, Connor. You have plenty of time to make decisions but you're right."

"I am?"

"Of course you are. You have every right to be like me, to do whatever you need to be more human."

Human

Like the damn brass ring.

If being half actually counted for something, if he could make it more, make himself more, he would. It was cosmically unfair that half his DNA or whatever the fuck it was would pass Earth muster. He wanted the rest of it to terribly.

He wanted to be like his mother so much it ached.

Kon sighed and looked back at his lap. "I never understand things."

"You don't?" Her tone was more clinical than Chloe's was when they'd had conversations together. Was it odd that Chloe just came off as more maternal? Was he doing something wrong, not being good enough already?

"I just...I always feel confused."

"Connor, considering how Clark and Chloe treated you and the way they lied to you, I'd be shocked if you weren't confused."

He shook his head. "No, of course I'm pissed about that. Um sorry."

"It's alright."

"I meant that I always felt confused as a little kid or even now. I just...I know I have powers and I know that it's not like Chloe's thrilled to be a meteor mutant or that it's not hard for Alura too. She's only nine and she can bench press a tractor. It's all confusing for both of us."

"There's something more though, isn't there?"

He nodded. "I feel disgusting."

His mother stilled. "You're not."

Her tone was harder than Chloe's would have been and that bothered him a little. It was as if his mother were trying and with Chloe it came naturally. Of course, Chloe lied through her teeth, at least his mother were honest.

"No, not...I know that I am," he replied bitterly. "The alien thing is one thing, but there's something else wrong with me."

"I don't know if I understand, Connor."

"I...sometimes I just hate things. I see Alura speed and it disgusts me and it shouldn't because I do it all the time too. Or Ca...Chloe uses her powers in front of me and I hate it. I know it shouldn't be like that but it scares me. What I am, what I can do, what the meteor infected do...it all scares me and I hate that sometimes."

"You should."

"What?" he asked, blinking. This was not the kind of thing he'd hear from his family. Grandma or Chloe or his dad all would have told him that he was wrong and he was overreacting.

It was why he never told them these things, except the one time when he'd slipped, when he'd been in so much pain from his hearing, and he'd been too exhausted to keep such dark thoughts at bay. It wasn't supposed to be right.

But now was his mother condoning it?

His mother patted his hand. "It's natural. Despite what Chloe can do, meteor freaks are dangerous and most of them hurt people. They've almost killed me. What you feel is completely normal."

"But I should be bigger. I know grandma or dad-"

"Don't always see the world the way it is, Connor. Meteor mutants are dangerous and Kryptonians can be. Not your father or you, of course."

"I know," he said, his throat feeling dry.

"But they told you about Zod."

"A little."

"Then you know what you could do, that the strength is dangerous."

"Yeah, I do."

"Then what you feel is rational and no one should tell you it's not. It's not fair for them to lie to you and tell you everything will be okay or that you shouldn't worry when you should."

"I..."

"Connor, sweetheart, what you're feeling is normal and you can always talk about it here. In fact," she said, leaning forward to hug him a bit stiffly. "I encourage it."

He gaped at her, confused and unsure of how he should respond. So, instead, he just leaned in and accepted the embrace. At last someone understood him.

She pulled back sooner than he'd have liked.

"Mom?"

"I think it's time for your eighth period."

"Oh, right, I...thanks for listening."

"Of course and remember to tell me everything about your trip with Clark to the doctor and about Jackson."

"I promise."


	18. Chapter 18

18

Clothes made the man.

It was one of his father's aphorisms, something he had applied to Lionel Luthor and his Italian loafers and silk suits with impossible thread counts, a point to show how different the Kents were from the Luthor world of power and manipulation. It was no less true, however, under other circumstances. At work, he'd taken to the habit of wearing suits off the rack from JC Penny, stuff that did't quite fit, that was a little too big and rumpled to actually compliment his frame. It helped keep people from noticing him or thinking to much about him since he'd been promoted eight years ago from basement to bullpen. It gave The Ghost even more freedom to work because, frankly, no one would think that his slightly bumbling persona was related to the most famous vigilante in the city. When he wore the old flannel that he'd hidden from his wife to wear for barn chores, he felt like the same farmboy he'd always been. The reds and blues he wore, made him feel like the representative of the House of El that he was.

For his first appointment with Dr. Emil, he wore an ancient Crows t-shirt with the "R" and "S" worn off and a pair of sweat pants. He just figured it would be easiest to maneuver for the ultrasound.

He was standing by the mirror, picking at the crusty letters, watching the yellow fall to the floor. He watched his reflection as Chloe leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Nervous?"

He rolled his eyes. "The ultrasound bit is easy. I've just never seen Emil for something like this."

"It's not like he doesn't know how Kon got here," she countered.

"True and he did help with that infection I got after working with John Stewart and the Lanterns off planet."

She smiled and nodded her head. "Exactly, so you're going to be okay."

"Just embarrassed."

"You should be over it by now. It's cute."

"Oh adorable, Chlo, completely adorable."

"That's what I thought," she chirped. "I've got French Toast cooking downstairs. Can you get Kon?"

Clark considered her. "This is a way to bond with Kon since the last week has been awkward or him spending tons of time with Cassie?"

"Well the trip is for him, mostly, in order to get him to embrace the whole baby thing."

"So I ease him more gently into the field trip idea?"

"Pretty much," she replied, squeezing his shoulders. "Just talk to him. I'm sure he'll come around. Oh and try not to use the phrases 'because I said so' or 'that's an order.'"

"I came off a little militant before, didn't I?"

She nodded. "You might have, but it's okay. Stubborn Kents are what I specialize in. So, I'm going to go finish off some fabulous French toast, and you're going to get our son into this."

"Chlo? When you said you cooked-"

"It's edible, promise," she said, disappearing out the door.

Clark shook his head. He doubted she cooked anything that wasn't burned or that wasn't technically dangerous for human consumption. Luckily, he and Kon had strong stomachs. It was sweet she tried though. He appreciated that.

Sighing, Clark gathered up his favorite red jacket that Chloe had not succeeded in burning and walked into Kon's room. There was no longer a door for it. Kon and Chloe had gotten into an argument on Thursday and she'd had Kara fry the door to ash for her. Clark coughed at least to put in the effort and keep up the pretense of privacy. His son looked up from the European history text he was skimming and glared.

"Is it time?"

"Your mom made breakfast."

" Chloe ," Kon corrected breezily.

"We're not going to fight today are we?"

"Do I still have to go?"

He crossed his hands over his chest. "I want you to come. This is all a big part of our family, and I think it's important we're all together on this. Your mom is really excited and it's her first time, you know, getting to enjoy this."

"She didn't enjoy me?"

"It's not like that. It's more that everything was tense with Lana, and Chloe didn't think it was her place to enjoy the mom things, but now she can. This is what she wanted more than anything, Kon."

"Her own kid?"

"No, she wanted to have a bigger family and for you to have a little brother or sister. She's so close to Aunt Lois but we're still both only children. We both wanted you to have a sibling." He sighed again and rubbed his stomach; his sensitive ears could easily pick out the baby's heartbeat. It was soft and fluttery and it somehow complimented Kon's.

Clark liked that.

"I don't see why I have to go."

"Because I want you there and your mom wants you there and this is your little brother or sister. There aren't a lot of us in the world-"

"You mean universe," he countered.

"That either. There's only the six of us, including the baby. I want you to have someone who understands, whose family even closer than Alura or Jax."

"The random mystery guy I have to give up The Torch to hang out with," Kon huffed and surely Clark hadn't been this big an ass with his family, had he?

"Jax is a good kid. I just want you not to feel alone."

"It's hard not to feel that way when just me, Alura, and some guy I don't know are mutts, ru."

"I know," he said, swallowing. "I get that more than you can imagine because for a long time, until I met Aunt Kara, I felt like I was the only one. But that's why you're coming today, so you can see that you're not alone."

Kon smirked as he squinted at Clark's stomach. "I can see it just fine."

"Smart ass," he said, his tone stern. "You know what I mean. This isn't even for me. I just want you there for your mom. This matters so much to her. Hell, consider it an early birthday present."

"Kangaroo-"

"Just for the day, can we pretend to be a happy normal family."

Kon snickered. "It's your OB/GYN appointment, you tell me."

"Get some French toast, then we'll talk."

Clark was lying on the table and it was cold. Temperatures didn't bother him, but he could still the difference in them. Currently, the table he was lying on was chilly, the metal cool on his skin (it was Bruce's pointers and eye for detail that had to have left the Watchtower equipped with an examining table built for someone as tall as her was). It enhanced his nervousness.

Clark hated doctors and, considering what had happened last time with ISIS and Lex's team, that was understandable. However, he was safe now, secure within the Watchtower walls, a doctor the whole team respected and relied on. It was more that it was embarrassing to be what he was, to try and relate to Emil as something less than your average man (or more, depending on whom one asked).

"Kal-El," J'onn intoned, still leaning against the fall wall. "You do not need to fidget."

Clark pulled at the hem of his t-shirt, which was lying over his chest. At this point, his stomach was still flat and only someone with the enhanced vision that he, Kon, and J'onn were gifted with would know that there was anything different about him. Chloe was standing next to him, her hand laced through his and her other laying possessively on his belly.

Kon was playing with his I-pod in a chair in the far corner of the room.

Clark sighed. At least he'd come along. That was something to be pleased with.

Dr. Emil walked through the door with the same kind of brisk efficiency that typified him, a clipboard in hand. "Clark, how nice to see you."

"Uh, hey, I guess that J'onn and Ollie might have briefed you on everything?"

"The part where the kangaroo here is a total freakshow?" Kon added, finally paying attention to his surroundings for the first time in twenty minutes.

J'onn shook his head. "Kon-El, it is considered rude to mock your father."

"But it's fun."

"Kon, it's not appreciated and it's not germane to my work," Dr. Emil replied, while he applied the stethoscope to Clark's chest. "In, out." Clark did as he was told and managed not even to blow the papers scattered on the desk off. "Very nice. Both heartbeats are strong." He reached for a needled and flicked at the glass tube, ridding it of air bubbles.

Clark frowned. "I'm invulnerable."

"It's a rare alloy from one of the lanterns. It'll pierce," Dr. Emil continued. "And no need for any rocks at all."

Clark bit his lower lip as the needle pierced. He'd never grown accustomed to being poked, even after last time with Kon. Watching the syringe fill with his blood brought up memories that he didn't want to think about, things he'd worked for fifteen years to bury. This was a new pregancy with new doctors and he wasn't going back to what happened with Lex.

He and the little one were safe.

He knew that.

Chloe smiled and squeezed his hand tighter. "It's going pretty well."

Kon squinted at the vile. "It's red."

"What color would it be?" J'onn asked, his tone amused.

"I thought-"

Chloe smiled a half smile. "It's not green, Kon, wrong travelers."

"I wasn't thinking that."

"Liar."

"Okay, fine, so I might have been, just a little. I just...I never saw dad bleed before."

Dr. Emil nodded and placed the tube away. "Of course you haven't. It's not something that happens often and rarely in front of civilians at close range." He was moving through the appointment fast, he already had the gel and the tip of the ultrasound on Clark's stomach.

Clark shivered at the coldness of the gel and turned his attention to Chloe. He'd seen the baby, as had Kon, who was blunt enough to keep calling it the tadpole. He wanted to see the look on Chloe's face when she saw it the first time, when she was able to view what the rest of the family had already.

He knew the moment their baby came onscreen because it was the same moment Chloe broke into a wide smile and when her eyes began to water. "The baby is beautiful, Clark."

Kon smacked some gum. "Looks like a tadpole. Are you sure we're not like those things from Alien ."

Chloe's eyes narrowed and her glare was turned to Kon. "Connor Sullivan, what have I told you?"

"That it's not an alien; it's a traveler or possibly a hybrid."

"You're just charming," Dr. Emil drolled before frowning. "Clark how far along are you?"

"Seven weeks we think. Why?"

"The fetus is smaller than I'd have thought. It looks more at five or maybe six. Are you sure you have the conception date correct?"

"I tend to get sick around the six weeks mark," Clark clarified. "Maybe the ultrasound is blurry?"

"No, it's definitely small for seven weeks, not so much to alarm me, but definitely premature. I'd advise you coming in next week and we can just run some blood tests, glucose processing, growth hormone levels."

Chloe's grip on his hand was so tight that if he'd been human there would have been crunching. "But the baby is going to be okay."

"The heart beat is steady and strong. I'm just taking precautions. One never knows what happens when you combine the DNA of a Kryptonian and a, forgive me Chloe-"

"The meteor infected," she finished.

"Precisely. It's just an unknown quantity to deal with. We'll figure it out, but an ounce of prevention..."

"I see," J'onn replied as Clark sat up and eased his shirt down. "But the rest appears fine."

"Yes. I'd like to have a more thorough exam later on, but I've been told a complete exam won't reveal much until the fifth month."

Kon looked as if he'd eaten chalk. "Wait, what's in the fifth month?"

Clark blushed. "I, well-"

"There is a vestigial opening," J'onn began as if it were the most normal statement in the world. "It will open up with the influx of hormones over time."

Kon's jaw dropped. "Wait, so you're telling me that the kangaroo has a-"

"Vestigial opening," Chloe offered.

Clark wanted to bang his head on the table. "If it makes you feel better, you were Caesarian."

Kon put his earbuds back in. "Freakshow, total freakshow."

Clark tried not to let his first born know how much those words hurt.

"Can I say I am glad there's a Gerald and a Cassie? It's great having Kon sleep over at Cass's tonight," Clark said.

Chloe sighed. "He'll get used to everything in time, and he did manage to come with us. That's a step in the supportive direction."

"I threatened to fry his i-pod."

"Still supportive."

"Yeah, he said, rolling over and propping himself on his elbows, looking down at his wife underneath him.

Chloe smirked. "Was there another reason besides annoyance that you prodded Kon to see Cass?"

He leaned down and kissed her, letting it trail gently over her lips. "We've been busy, Chlo."

"You mean it was too easy with our schedule, Kon in our lives, and superheroing to know exactly when the conception date had to be."

He nodded and cupped her breast with one hand. "We're married and dead."

She smirked and touched his stomach. "Somehow, we're not that dead, not after all that effort." She pulled away from his touch and sat up against the headboard. "You're so amazing."

He placed a hand on her cheek and stroked her hair back from her face. "We're amazing."

"There's some self confidence."

"I mean it," he said, taking her hand and placing it on his stomach. "This is your baby, too. I know you wanted to be the one and I promise you are."

She smiled. "Well, I don't get the stretch marks so I win!"

He knew when she put up a front, but he laughed with her joke and kissed her again. "Invulnerable skin, neither do I. But you're the mom. I don't want you to ever forget that. You're Kon and the little one's mom and you're always going to be, no matter what."

"And should I cue Manilow or maybe Barry White instead since you are putting the moves on me."

Clark shook his head and kissed her again. Chloe had always avoided emotional intimacy. "Neither. I'm just trying to let you know where we stand. You're always going to be the mom."

She nodded. "And you're the kangaroo."

"Sure, Rogue," he said, easing her back down onto the mattress. "Now, I bet I can make you glow all night long."

She smiled, something feral and hungry. "Prove it, Alf, I dare you."

So he did. 


	19. Chapter 19

19

Chloe loved lying there, nestled in Clark's arms, her head pressed to the top of his stomach. She could never do what he and Kon could, would never be able to hear the baby, but she loved that spot. She loved being able to pick out the steady rhythm of Clark's heart and the game she played of trying to hear her unborn child. There was a safety of being held there, which reassured her. Clark, in turn, was tracing patterns on the bare skin of her arm.

She shivered.

He always gave her goosebumps.

Even after all this time together, he still managed to do that.

Her husband kissed the top of her head. "You seem content."

"Now you're just being overconfident, Mr. Kent."

"I made you glow. I think that was a great sign."

"Yeah."

Chloe sighed and picked at the lint on the comforter. Her powers were the most valuable thing she had. They'd saved her family's life on more than one occasion and in six months she'd have to use them again. It still didn't mean that what she could do didn't leave her feeling awkward or like a freak. They were old, stupid fears, especially considering that Clark was far from "normal" as well. Still, she both loved and hated her glow, hated because it reminded her of her mutation, of what had gone wrong with her DNA the day of the first Smallville meteor shower. She loved it because it had kept Clark and Kon alive and most days that was worth the price of being a mutant.

Clark reached down and stroked her cheek. "It was amazing, Chlo."

She had to laugh at that. "Hormones already."

"Hey!"

She laughed louder. "You're incorrigible once you get to about the sixth month. I mean, at first with Kon, I was trying to ignore the more horndog you, but once Lana was off the farm, you definitely had a one track mind."

"They might flood my brain a little, but I think falling hard for you might have had a lot to do with my behavior too."

"I'd hope so. I wouldn't want to think you just have sex with any girl when you're hopped up."

"It's not that bad, but it had been a while. With Kon's hearing..."

"One has to wait for sleepovers or he'll be permanently scarred. Tell me about it," she replied, thinking of the first few times they'd tried after Kon had grown into his hearing. Morning breakfasts had never been more awkward, which was why they now had the sleepovers only rule.

It was crucial to continued parent-child relations.

If Kon would ever get his head back out of his butt.

"It's just hard being pregnant; it does so many crazy things to my head. You'd-" Clark stopped and she could imagine him slamming his mouth shut comically even though she couldn't see him do it from the angle she was laying.

Chloe leaned up and kissed him. "It's sweet that you care. I'm okay. Like I said, I do like you this way." She finished up by kissing him sweetly on the stomach. "It's very hot."

"You mean funny."

"Well, Kara and Lois are going to be amused again when you get to the waddling stage."

"Supportive wife, sure."

"You're so cute, and the baby is going to be cute, and Kon's going to get over everything. I'm sure."

"I wish-"

"I am sure," she said, glaring at him with all her authority. "Things are working out better already than they did last time. No ISIS, no Lex, a real reputable doctor. These are all steps forward."

He laced his fingers through hers. "We're together."

She grinned and kissed him. "That part's not bad either. So, I bet Kon won't be home for another hour..."

"Chiquita, I don't know if I'm supposed to keep this top secret," Bart said, setting her down outside of Martha's Georgetown apartment.

Chloe sighed. Bart was the best way to do things covertly. Kara and Clark had the whole El cabal thing going on and Kara always told Clark everything she heard or saw. It was a level of candor between them that had been forged by arguments over Lana and ISIS. They were almost a hive mind on most things, that last fragment of the New Council of Krypton. She could buy a ticket to D.C., but that would show up on her VISA statement. Bart was fast and reliable and she tended to have a way with him.

He could usually keep a secret.

She pulled out the spare keys from her purse and turned back to him. "It's nothing bad, just shower stuff."

"Shower stuff would involve Kara, Chloerita. I'm not stupid."

"Then it's a mother hen thing. Martha and I, haven't had a chance to talk since everything happened with the pregnancy. There's been that push for the addendum to the recent round of meta legislation and it's important that she do her job."

Bart narrowed his eyes at her. "Kara and I had duty at the Watchtower on Saturday night. She mentioned that the baby was smaller than Kon was at the same age. It's going to be okay? Stretch is fine, right?"

Chloe smiled. Bart thought of Clark as his big brother. It was sweet, except for the part where he still occasionally hit on her and Kara. She figured some things the speed demon couldn't stop himself from doing.

"He's definitely feeling up to his usual standard. He even went out for a quick patrol with Kara. He usually won't give that up until his powers start to glitch."

"But you're worried."

Damn Bart for sometimes being perceptive. "I'm a little concerned, that's all, but he's feeling fine and Dr. Emil gave him a clean bill of health on his blood work."

"Doesn't mean much," he replied. "You're worried, that means it's something to worry about. Chiquita, you're the smartest chick I know."

Chloe ignored the bit of sexism thrown into his compliment. "Then I'll make sure the baby starts growing the way it's supposed to." She smiled broader and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for being the D.C. shuttle for me."

"Keep me in the loop. If Stretch needs anything, you know I'll be there," he finished, blurring away.

Chloe nodded. If something drastic happened, the League would be the second place she'd turn. The first, as always, would be the Kawatchee, the only people she knew with records of Kryptonian-human pregnancies and infants. They weren't as alone in all of this this time and that was something, even though she had the worst feeling. Chloe didn't even have to put the key in the door before it opened and Martha Kent gave her the biggest bear hug.

"Chloe, I've been expecting you."

She pulled back and let her smile turn from forced to genuine. "It's great to see you."

Martha nodded and ushered her from the front door to the sitting room. It was colonial style furniture, upholstered in fine silk, some of it clearly centuries old and picked out with an expert eye. It was as far from the gingham of the farm house as it could be and, naturally, every inch the Washingtonian who was Martha Kent.

Chloe sat and waited a few minutes for Martha to bring her a cup of reheated coffee (Martha was a gifted hostess but as far as Chloe knew not psychic, although she wouldn't be surprised). After her mother-in-law sat down in the high-backed chair across from her, Chloe took a sip of her drink.

It was, of course, excellent.

"Thanks."

"You didn't have Bart Allen bring you half way across the country for a cup of coffee."

"No, I didn't. Do you have a scone?"

"Funny, Chloe, very funny. Sweetheart, what's actually bothering you and I should preface that with telling you that J'onn came by for Oreo cake and to tell me about Clark's first appointment."

"Everyone knows everyone's business here," she replied.

Martha nodded and took a sip from her own fine china cup. "He told me the baby's smaller than Dr. Emil was hoping for."

"It's smaller than Kon was at the same age, but all the blood work is fine," she said, spitting back out the same song and dance she'd given Bart.

Martha set her cup down and shook her head. "Don't lie, Chloe."

"I'm not. Emil did say the blood work was fine."

"But you're still nervous."

Chloe looked down at her coffee, concentrating on her reflection. "Kon brought up something."

"Kon's been unreasonable lately."

"But he's smart, like Kara and Clark."

"Like his mother too," Martha replied, smiling back at her and Chloe knew it was about her and not Lana.

"I know, but he said something that didn't even occur to me before. All that time Clark and I were trying to get pregnant and we didn't really think about what it meant."

"I'm not sure I follow you."

" I'm a meteor mutant. Knox said that there was a huge concentration of Kryptonite in my heart. I practically run on it when I use my powers but it kills Clark. How does that balance out if the baby's half deathly allergic to Green K and half fueled by it?" Her voice cracked a little despite her best efforts and she felt her eyes well up with tears. "What if I lose both of them?"

Martha was there then, offering her the comfort Moira no longer could. That made Chloe cry harder, thinking of her mother and wondering if her unborn child would be as affected by the meteor rocks as her mom had been. She didn't care if the baby had all of Kara's and Clark's powers plus hers or none at all, she just wanted it to be healthy and safe.

Maybe that was too much to ask fro considering her DNA.

"Chloe, shh. You said it yourself, Emil said the blood work was normal for Clark. The baby's heartbeat is strong. Even if everything is progressing more slowly, it's okay."

"Do you believe that?" she asked, sniffling.

Martha stroked her hair. "I believe that you and Clark have been through everything together and I know that both of you are resilient. I'm saying that I bet your child will be as resilient, will get a chance to survive."

Chloe hiccupped a little and wiped at her nose. "I know. I just...I needed a minute without Clark. I don't want him to know I'm worried, and it's not just the new baby."

Martha sat back in her chair. "You're worried about Kon."

"He's not taking this well, but it's not just that. I'd be worried about him for this. It's not something you just get over. I know Clark still has issues about being from Krypton and some days it's harder than others to think about my powers. Except for Diana and J'onn, I don't think there's even one adjusted member of the League. I know that he's going to take years to adjust to everything."

"He could still be more civil. What he said to Clark was beyond rude."

She nodded. "Kara and I are working on it. I don't care if he calls me Chloe or not."

"You do."

She swallowed. "Of course I do, but it's hard for me to object. We didn't handle telling him about Lana the right way. I understand if he's bitter or upset. I know what it's like to feel like your mom betrayed you. I was so mad at my mom for a long time. I know why he's mad at me. I just care about Clark. It's not fair for Kon to make fun of him because, frankly, Kon wouldn't even be here if it weren't for everything Clark can do."

"I was aware, but you don't need to sell yourself short."

"I just want my boys to be happy, Martha, and my baby to be safe."

"Chloe, you matter too. I know Clark can get very one track mind about some things. He hasn't been ignoring you in the rush of being pregnant, has he?"

Chloe blushed. Clark had been more than attentive last night and she knew that he was keenly aware of her, aware of her disappointment. She also remembered the first time around, how Lana had guilted him into things he never wanted to do. She wasn't like that. Truly, with everything on him, with the stress of Kon and Lana coming back into their lives, with the fact that he was facing some serious sickness, she was just happy he was as attentive as he was.

As always, Clark and Kon and now the baby were her weaknesses and her priorities.

God, just let them be safe and happy.

She didn't matter in the equation, just the Kents.

"He's been great, Martha. I know it doesn't matter. You're the best mother I know, even if Clark's from a galaxy far, far away and not from you. I don't think I could love Kon more even if I'd given birth to him, but I just..." she said, pausing to cup her stomach.

Martha nodded and placed one hand over hers. "You wish it could be you. I know how you feel. It's not wrong to feel that way. It's not selfish. You're allowed to be disappointed some time, Chloe."

"I'm allowed to worry about it when Clark isn't pregnant, the baby isn't developing too slowly, and my son has his head screwed back on right. Then , I promise, Martha, I'll worry about me."

"And if you don't take care of yourself-"

Chloe clenched her jaw. "I'm fine. I promise. Clark's been amazing so far and I'm just being a hypochondriac. Emil is brilliant and J'onn is here and I can cure anything. I just needed to let myself worry with someone and I couldn't do it to Kara. I just couldn't."

The other woman squeezed her hand more tightly. "I'm taking off early for the Thanksgiving and Christmas hiatus. If you're amenable, I'd like to float a story, not about a trouble pregnancy-that two times out of two is suspicious-but that Clark's been ill. I need a pretext to come back home, but I think you all need me there."

"But the meta legislation-"

"Has been taken care of and I'm coming home. Now, what has you worried about Kon, besides the fact that he needs to have his mouth washed out with soap?"

Chloe shook her head. "Something's not right. I know he's upset about the truth coming out and the baby. I know he's distraught that Lana didn't want to see him."

"I'm thrilled for that."

"But it hurts him and he blames me and Clark for her not wanting him. That feels genuine, but then there's other things."

"Other things?"

"I know Kon. He's a Kent, and he's just as stubborn and Clark and Kara. He should be needling us a hundred times a day in order to see Lana. He should be complaining at every turn. I remember when we wouldn't buy him a pet turtle. He didn't give up on that for six months. Now, with Lana, it's all okay. Something isn't right there, Martha."

The other woman frowned. "Do you think that something else is going on? That he and Lana might be meeting in secret?"

"The thought had crossed my mind. It's just not adding up. It's the same way with Jax. One day he's begging to see others like him and then he won't stop complaining about how much going to Boston sucks for him. I just...I feel like I'm being played and I don't like it."

"That's why I'm coming home. I'd like to see Kon start sneaking things around both of us."

Chloe sighed. "But you have until Thanksgiving until you can get off, and I don't have connection one with the mansion. I'm thinking of asking Cassie and Gerald if something's up, if they noticed anything. They seem like the best lead I have, except..."

"What?"

"Kon hasn't spent as much time with Gerald since he found out about being Kryptonian."

"But Cassie?"

"She's always been his best friend. They've been inseparable since grade school. I think he's leaning on her more. If anything is up, he'd know it. I'm going to talk to her on Monday when he's in Boston. Maybe she'll tell me something I can use to figure this mess out."

"And if she's as good a secret keeper as you are?"

"I hope she's not. I hope she's smarter than I was because I have the worst feeling Kon's in trouble."


	20. Chapter 20

20

Kon was going to be late. He'd promised his kangaroo and Chloe that he'd be back from school as soon as the bell rang (and he could practically do that) so that he could visit Boston. Kon wanted to be there more than anything in the world, needed to know that there was someone else out there whose life was as messed up as his, as if the solidarity would make it better. He just didn't want his parents to know how into it he was.

Before he went home, however, he skipped seventh period-and why did Cassie have to have so much attitude about it?-and went to the mansion. When the help informed him that Lana was in Metropolis, he found himself speeding to LuthorCorp Towers. That was not a great idea. Grandpa was emeritus on the board and the offices were next door to the Planet where his whole family, even Aunt Kara (she did PR) worked. It made it so much easier to get caught and if he did, well, technically the kangaroo couldn't stop him from going, but he would call out the League to watch him 24/7 and that would never work for seeing his family.

Especially his mother.

His mom wasn't as happy to see him as he ushered by the maid into the bar, not that he was drinking, just that his mom was seated on one of the stools looking over at the view that the penthouse afforded her.

She shook her head as he entered. "Connor."

"Mom, are you mad?"

His mother sighed and took a sip of something that looked like it should have been on Sex in the City (not that he watched that show. Okay, he did but Cassie was a girl, you know, and she blackmailed). "You can't come to Metropolis. Lionel is five floors down in a board meeting and Clark and Chloe are in the office across the street."

He swallowed, unused to her tone being so harsh toward him. "I know, I know it's risky, but I wanted to see you before I met with Jackson."

"I thought you said you'd be by later."

"I did, but I just...I wasn't sure how to act when I was there."

His mother smiled for the first time since he'd been there. "You're asking me for help?"

"A little and why not?"

"Forgive me. I see your father in you."

Kon shrugged. "He says I look more like you. I guess the reminder is weird?"

She laughed delicately. "No, I see myself too, but I always think you'll react the way Clark would."

"I'm not dad."

"I can see that. He wouldn't ask for my advice, never really did."

"Then it was his mistake," Kon added. "I just wanted to say that I've been playing it cool for a while. I was all about meeting Jackson when I first heard, but then I didn't want them to say no and the best way to get dad to do anything is to refuse. He gets all stubborn and 'I said so.'"

"So you've been refusing?"

"Yeah and he did the edict thing and now I just have to go to Boston, which is what I wanted anyway."

"Br'er Rabbit," his mother said.

"Basically, yeah. Is that bad? Should I be more excited and all apologetic?"

"You should probably be more excited about meeting with Jackson after you come back, make a show of 'You were right.'" She shook her head and let a finger trace over the rim of her glass. "Clark likes to hear that, even though he rarely is."

"Cool. I can do that but I guess the angry act is doing pretty well so far. I was gonna keep it up for a little while longer."

"Very well done. I'm not happy that you risked the arrangement. If you want to keep seeing me without the League in our way, you know that it can't be that way. You can't take chances, not yet."

"I know."

She nodded and smiled more broadly. "But I'm glad you trust me, Connor, that's very important."

"Of course I do," he said, frowning a little. "Chloe and mom lied. You and Lex don't."

"That's how I see it," she said, eying her watch and even from where he stood, he could see the diamonds embedded in the face of it. "You'll be late."

He grinned. "Meep-meep, I won't."

He was gone before he could really see her frown.

"Connor Sullivan, you're late," Chloe said as he ground to a stop in the kitchen.

It amazed him that after the last two weeks, after everything had come out, after learning he had a real mother, Chloe's tone still worked on him. Whenever he heard both his names said like that, he knew he was in trouble. He bit back his first urge to apologize and forced himself into brat mode. He wanted to make sure his dad took him to Boston.

"So?"

"You agreed to go with your father today and Jacks's time is pretty precious. He's working on his doctorate and he's got exams. It means a lot that he's taking time out for you."

Kon crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Chloe. She was still in her work heels and had an inch on him. He hated that. "I didn't want to go."

"I thought we'd gotten past that," his dad said as a whoosh of air announced his arrival.

Kon rolled his eyes. "I don't want to hang out in some freak club."

That stopped his dad cold. He watched his father's shoulders fold in on themselves and one hand stray to his stomach. There was nothing there to see, if you were human. Kon kept himself from activating his X-Ray vision. He didn't need to see his sibling, had no interest in it. When his father did speak, he was quieter. "That's not what it is and I wish you wouldn't say that."

"Connor Sullivan!" Chloe said, her tone stern. "I need to see you on the porch.

"I thought I was gonna be late."

"Now or you'll be helping muck out the Hubbard's stalls at regular speed for the rest of your life."

"But Chloe!" he groused.

"Now," she said, storming out of the kitchen.

Kon shrugged at his father. "Hormones?"

"It's a little early and oh...that's rude, Kon. Go talk to your mom."

"Are you gonna listen in?"

"I respect people's privacy, but try and be quick about it. I want to be on time for Jacks or as close as possible."

"Sure, sounds fun," he griped, heading out the door. He found his moth...no Chloe leaning against a post. "Um, did I do something?"

"We talked about this, about you being rude."

"You said 'Chloe' was okay."

She sighed and let her fingers splay over the wood of the railing. "This isn't about me. I don't think 'Chloe' is okay but I know I can't ask you for more than that."

"I have a mom."

She shook her head. "I can't bring up Lana now and make sure you meet with Jacks in time, but, yes, you do have a biological mother and I lied about it and this is some great form of Karma, I get it, but we talked about you insulting your father to his face."

"I didn't. I said-"

" Freak is offensive, a stor ."

"I was talking about me and Jackson. I didn't even mention the baby."

"But meant you're freaks cause you're Kryptonian and because you have powers and you have them because they came from your father and from Dax-Ur. So when you say 'freak' it means just like the baby."

"I can't help if dad's sensitive."

"It's rude and wrong and if you ever say anything like that in front of the baby, I swear to God..."

He quirked his head at her. "What? What would you do?"

"Well, you'd be half way through high school basically by the time the baby is born. If you don't want to deal with it, if you insist on saying things that'll just confuse your sibling or hurt them, then maybe you'd rather finish high school in D.C. with grandma or in Metropolis with-and I can't believe I'm saying this-Grandpa Lionel."

"What?"

"I don't want you to leave the farm."

"You don't? Cause it really sounds like you just gave me an ultimatum, Chloe ."

She swallowed and squared her shoulders at him. "Maybe I did. If you can't be civil to your father and the baby, then you can't stay here, Kon. I love you more than anything, even your father, but-"

"You love your kid more." He interjected and why was his voice wobbling? He didn't care what she thought or said. She was just Chloe.

"No, I love you both so much I can't put it in words, Kon. But I promised to protect all of you, even from yourselves, and if you keep trying to hurt your father and the baby, then I can't have you on the farm. Think for five seconds, a stor -"

"You don't get to call me that."

She nodded. "Fine, but still think. I know you don't want to. I know it's painful to think about being Kryptonian, but have you ever really thought about it?"

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since you two told me."

"Well, Kryptonians on Earth live a very long time. Jackson's father was a prospector in the original gold rush, he was here that long."

Kon's haw dropped and he felt nauseated. "What?"

"Full-blooded Kryptonians can live a thousand years on Earth, maybe more, because of the yellow sun."

"What about me?"

"I dunno. You could be just like Lana and live a normal human lifespan, but you have all your dad's powers, including his invulnerability. You could live longer than most people, Kon, and if you say things now and burn bridges, it's going to be a very long and very lonely life for you. I won't let you start out life by saying things to make your sibling hate you. I won't and it's for you . So please, treat them better."

Kon nodded mutely, although he wasn't thinking most of it through.

Immortal or close enough with freak genes.

God, let Chloe be wrong.

His dad dropped him off outside of a dorm room at MIT. It had a big white board on it and a construction paper blue star with "Jackson Donovan, Graduate Student in Residence" on it. It seemed official enough. The black lace thong hanging from the knob didn't. His father had taken one look at the knob, blushed crimson, and sworn under his breath. His reaction gave Kon the distinct impression that Jackson pulled those kind of stunts often.

Great, one "brother" in the whole damn universe and he was a fuck off.

A fuck off with some savant astrophysics knowledge but apparently the member Animal House forgot.

Kon shrugged and knocked on the door, forcing himself to push down his own butterflies and nervousness. The guy who opened it was taller than Kon was, although that wasn't saying much, but he wasn't as big as his dad. He was maybe six feet and lithe, more of a runner's build than anything broad like Uncle Bruce and his father. The sandy hair and slight smattering of freckles almost made Kon laugh.

An alien with freckles.

Fuck why not? He was an alien with moles.

Made enough sense, right?"

"You're Connor, right?" Jackson asked, smiling broadly. "Hey man, nice to meet you."

"Hi," Kon replied, trying to glare and hoping he succeeded. "I don't want to be here."

"Really? That amazing scowl on your face tells me that you think my dorm's Disney World," Jacks drawled. "Let me guess, your mom and dad put you up to it."

"Chloe and my dad put me up to it," Kon replied, his tone clipped.

Jax sighed and opened his door wider. "Well, come in at least. You can be a jackass on my futon and I can still enjoy my Battle Star Galactica marathon. So, are you coming? I have Cheetos."

Kon was half-tempted to make a joke about bong hits but he figured drugs didn't work on Jackson anymore beer worked on him the one time he and Gerald had tried sneaking it from Gerald's dad. But cheetos wasn't on the approved eating list at home. Chloe was paranoid about him getting sick and now that he understood why he could never see a doctor like ever, he got that. However, he doubted he'd get cholesterol or fat or much of anything really. Kryptonians were just naturally healthy and, judging from his dad's predicament, fertile.

Kon shuffled into the room and surveyed it. There were Cheetos there alright, a lot of them ground into the carpet or littering the futon, along with a collection of beer bottles and adult type magazines. In short, Jackson was a pig. Slipping into superspeed, Kon cleared off the futon and slumped down on it.

Jackson whistled. "I could have gotten that for you."

"But I just got it done. It's ah, more impressive if it really looked instant to you."

"It doesn't," he finished. "But I could speed until I was fifteen so I still think it's pretty damn cool."

Kon frowned. "What?"

"Large things later," Jackson replied. "Cheetos or what?"

"Not really."

"I have nails in the mini-fridge."

Kon scoffed. "Everyone knows they don't keep in the fridge you have to keep them room temperature for best taste." He frowned then. "That was a freak comment, wasn't it?"

Jacskon shrugged and sat down next to him, a Coke in hand. "Maybe, but no one else ever gets this stuff."

"I don't want to 'get' this stuff. I want it to go away."

Jackson nodded. "But it won't." He looked over to the fridge and Kon watched his brows furrow in concentration. In a few seconds, the door opened and a bowl of nails floated out and landed between them on the sofa. "So, snack?"

"Yeah, that was so normal."

"I don't think that normal is in the cards for us, squirt."

Kon rolled his eyes. "I'm not a squirt."

Jackson laughed. "You must take after the squirrel. Clark's like a giant."

"He's not and I'm a late bloomer! I was almost three before I walked."

Jackson laughed again. "Cause you floated everywhere. I was there. I remember."

"I don't remember you."

"Maybe you made yourself forget. Last time I saw you, you were five and I got you in a lot of trouble with my mom."

"I don't remember." And he didn't, not really. Just that he used to visit a kid named Jacks in the desert and his mom had been very cranky and then, one day, he and dad had just stopped going.

"Probably blocked it out," Jackson replied, digging into a handful of nails. "Look, I think the intro spiel should get out of the way."

"I know, your dad was Kryptonian and so you're part alien too. Yippee!"

I prefer the term intergalactic traveler . I'm with Clark on that."

"Yeah," Kon replied, taking his own nail handful. "Like the euphemism makes it better. Also, I bet you've never even been out of the U.S."

"I haven't, but i just don't want to be Alf."

"Tough cause we are."

"You're always this charming?"

"Not always but I get that the kangaroo and Chloe want me here because they figure I'll snap out of everything and just be happy about being an alien if I have someone to talk to who gets it. I don't think knowing you is gonna make me happier."

Jackson smirked and chomped down. "I'm hurt, squirt. I'm not your type?"

"No, I just mean so there are two of us in the whole universe-"

"Four if you count Alura and the baby."

"Yes, let me not forget the baby on the way and my dad the hermaphrodite, awesome."

Jackson frowned back at him. "It's not technically how it works. Kara explained it to me once and it makes me glad for that whole 'we're half human loophole' cause that process sounds like a bitch. Well, it's actually pretty funny if it's not me it's happening too. Your dad looks hilarious when he hits like seven months."

Kon paled. "I don't even want to imagine how weird everything is going to get. I don't. Wait, how did you know?"

"Hi, I'm Jax-Ur, spelled with an 'x' you know cause that's more Kryptonese or whatever, and I'm half intergalactic traveler. I happen to have met you and your dad before."

"Yeah, I, uh, gathered that, Jax ," he replied. "But you've known my dad since before I was born?"

Jax sighed and the levity left him. "Your dad needed something from mine and he came to get it back when your bio-mom was still living with him on the farm and before he got knocked up."

"Delicate."

"It's what happened. Your dad led something called Brainiac to my dad. He didn't mean to, but he did it anyway, and the thing killed him, poisoned his brain. That's how Clark came into my life."

"Jesus and you hang out with us because?"

"Because Clark didn't know. He didn't know he was being played and because that thing would have found my dad another way. Using your dad was just convenient, not necessary, even I can see that. So, after that, your dad got pregnant-"

"Ugh."

"Well he did and then he needed information about it and the only person he could think of who had a half Kryptonian kid and lived to tell the tale was my mom. He just wanted my dad's records at first but then he met me and he and Kara sort of felt responsible for me. They've been popping into visit ever since."

"Pop in?"

Jax looked away, staring at his fridge as if it were fascinating. "Not with my mom, not since I made you speed for me and she freaked out."

"Why would she freak. I mean, she knew your dad. If he's like mine then he did a lot more than speed."

Jax looked back at him. "My dad never told my mom what he could do or where he came from. That's why she doesn't like Clark or Kara. She's still so mad he never told her anything."

"So he just like faked being weak for years?"

"Blue Kryptonite. He wore it and made my mom wear it when she was pregnant and then they made me wear it until I was in high school."

"You sound mad. That sounds like a great deal to me. You got to be normal."

Jax shook his head. "I still had the TK. We're not ever gonna be normal."

"And not in the pep talk way?"

"No, in the facts are facts way. It didn't make it easier, Kon. It made it worse because I knew my dad and Clark and you all had abilities and I was supposed to have them. Besides, we're not supposed to be exposed to Blue K for that long."

"Dad says he had to be exposed to it to get blood draws when he had me."

"Yeah, but my mom always had it on. I...things aren't completely right with me."

Kon paused. This was probably the kind of thing his real mom wanted to know. Hell, he wanted to know it because the Blue K sounded great to him. If he could get rid of all his freak abilities, he would in a heartbeat. So he didn't understand why Jax didn't still expose himself to it. "They're not?"

"Uh, my powers glitch sometimes. They'll fade out completely. They always come back but I just am not reliable with them. It's a pain."

"So that's why you don't wear the Blue K ever?"

"I didn't say that. I said that's why it's not a solution. It's like freaking Uranium man. It's poison."

"But you wear it?" Kon pressed, understanding what Jax hadn't said.

"My mom asks me to when I come home because she remarried and I have a stepdad and a little sister who don't know about the 'I come in peace' thing." Jax shook his head. "You're so lucky, squirt. I'm totally jealous of you."

"Why?"

"You have a mom and a dad and an Aunt Kara and a League and they all love you and accept the Kryptonian part. You have people who'll answer your questions."

"Chloe and the kangaroo lied to me for my entire life," Kon replied. "It wasn't better."

Jax bit into a nail. "My mom only loves the human part of me. Trust me, Kon. You have the better deal."

"Maybe."

"I know it. So, do you want to watch some tv or not?"

"I thought you had exams?"

"Photographic memory. Being an alien doesn't always suck."

Kon didn't say anything but he bet it always did.

"Jax, your door?" His dad asked, his voice booming and doing that uber responsible thing it did.

"Hey Clark. She was blonde and I mean natural cause you can see the difference in a bleach with the whole multiple spectra vision. It was a great night so I needed to commemorate."

Kon snickered at the way Jax could make his father look constipated. He was a cooler guy than Kon could have hoped for, especially with his Baywatch DVD collection, which they'd watched. However, Kon got the distinct feeling Jax wasn't really all the horndog he pretended to be.

"Jax, could you not decorate your door like that the next time my fourteen year old comes over."

Jax smirked and eyed his dad's stomach, from the way his eyes were scrunched up, Jax was obviously using his X-Ray vision. "Kon doesn't know how sex works now?"

"He knows he can't have it until he's thirty," Clark grumbled. "Just, could you be a little mature. You're 25, not eighteen."

"And you're jealous of my Hefner lifestyle," he replied.

"No, I'm not."

"You will be when the nursing starts," Jax sing-songed.

That wiped the smirk off of Kon's face. "Wait there's what?"

"It's not a big deal."

Jax smirked. "It's also pretty funny and, oddly, green."

"Milk's not green!" Kon practically squealed.

"Uh," his dad hemmed. "It might technically be a fresh mint color?"

"Oh, I hate my life," Kon replied, thinking of how Jax knew about nursing and that that meant that once he'd done that and with the kangaroo and just kill him now.

"Seriously, though," Jax said and he was still squinting but smiling at the same time. "Why are you holding out on me?"

"What am I holding out on?" his dad asked, confused.

"Ultrasounds, man."

"But you can see the baby."

"Doesn't mean I don't want pics. I tell you what, you bring the squirt by in two weeks and make sure he has the latest pics of the baby. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"Four more weeks, but you can come to the Watchtower for that. I'm sure the whole League will want to know."

Kon wanted to bang his head against the wall. Every aunt and uncle he had crowded around his dad and an ultrasound machine. He was supposed to be doing better for Chloe's sake and because he didn't really want to move in with his grandparents, but the whole ultrasound spectacle still felt like a freakshow to him.

Instead, he just added. "That sounds fun."

Jax eyed him but looked quickly back to his dad. "I'd love that. Cause it's going to be a boy and you're gonna want to name him Jackson, I'm sure."

His dad laughed. "Dream on, Jax, I...oh," he finished, breathing deeply and bringing a hand to his side.

Jax went rigid. "Clark, are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah," his dad replied, glancing at Kon. "Kicking."

Jax frowned. "I thought..."

"It's nothing. Kon, let's go."

"Clark-" Jax insisted.

"It's fine, Jax. Kon will see you in two weeks." And with that, he and his dad flew home.

It was three days later before he was able to sneak out to the mansion. Sometimes Cass wouldn't always take the seventh period Torch shift and sometimes his mom had other business she had to work around. At either rate, it wasn't until Thursday that he was back in the mansion and, instead of in his mother's salon, he was sitting in his uncle's study with both his mom and Lex facing him.

Kon still got nervous around Lex. He couldn't explain why. Lex was nothing but civil to him, always polite, and, of course, his intervention had helped save his life when he'd been an infant. He'd been coming to the mansion on and off for two weeks now. If Lex were going to harm him, he'd have made a move by now. His parents' damn paranoia was just too strong.

"Connor, how nice to see you," Lex said. "Would you like some water? We have sparkling and Perrier."

Kon shrugged and set his backpack on the floor. "I'm okay really. I don't need anything."

His mother offered him a polite smile. "Was your trip to Boston pleasant?"

"It was pretty cool, actually. Jax is a nice guy." Which made Kon feel moderately awkward about talking about their visit with his mother and Lex. He wasn't going to say anything bad. He just had a feeling that Jax might not like that he'd spread his confidence, but it was still just with family.

"And you went to the Watchtower to Clark's check up on Saturday too, didn't you, sweetheart?" his mother asked and the way she said that cheesy nickname shouldn't have made him smile but it did. She was seeming so much warmer than usual and maybe things with them were really starting to click.

"I did."

"Was that stressful?" Lex asked, his intense eyes focusing on him.

Kon stifled a shiver. "Not too much. I mean, it's a freakshow thing seeing my dad with the whole gel and stuff on him and the ultrasound just confirmed my eyes weren't going crazy. And it's all squirmy. Still has a bit of a tail which is, um, not an alien thing. So that's a plus."

"But you're adjusting to having a sibling?" Lex continued.

Kon noticed his mother was letting Lex take the lead. It was completely not how Chloe and his dad did things, in tandem, and it was odd to watch.

"Well, I just learned that dad nurses so that's something I am not looking forward to seeing ever."

Lex laughed. "It's a different sight, I will grant you, but are you even looking forward to being a big brother? I know that when I learned about Julian I was excited for him."

"I'd be cool with it if the baby were in Chloe's stomach, I think. No offense, Lex, but when you had a little brother, it's not like Grandpa Lionel had him."

Lex stiffened and nodded. "No, I guess he didn't. But that was all from your visits?"

"Um, well, not really. Chloe's clearly upset."

"She was always a jealous type," his mom added.

"No, I mean, the baby is smaller than it should be at seven weeks and she's worried. I am a little bit too, actually, cause dad says it's kicking but it's like the size of a peanut. I checked it out on the internet. Human babies don't start kicking until 19 weeks but I guess it's cause we're sensitive to things. I mean I hear very well so I guess dad just feels it?"

Lex nodded and leaned in closer to him. "The baby is kicking?"

"That's what dad tells me. I looked for it but I didn't see it. He is rubbing his stomach a lot since Monday. I just...another weird thing, right?"

"Exactly. I wouldn't worry about it," Lex replied. "Now, about Jackson..."


	21. Chapter 21

21

He felt it.

A stab into his side, something sharp and painful, that left him reeling and doubled over. Clark gasped and took a breath, realizing too late that he had an audience. Jax eyed him suspiciously while Kon just seemed more confused. It was natural for both boys. Jax was old enough to remember the trouble that Kara had had with her pregnancy. Kon didn't know how serious the matter could be. Not that Clark though things were necessarily serious, just that he was feeling a distinct pain and that it was just too early for that to be happening.

Worse still, it felt more intense than the worst of the cramps with Kon.

"Clark?" Jax asked, touching his shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine, it's just kicking."

Kon shuddered, a normal reaction from him nowadays and Clark wondered if his son would be taking the whole Kryptonian thing marginally better if Chloe were the one pregnant this time around. He had a feeling Kon would be.

Jax shook his head and it was then that Clark remembered that despite his tendency to goof off, Jax was as smart as any of them. "You're only seven weeks."

"Eightish by now," he corrected. "It's nothing. I'm fine. I just need to get home with Kon. I'll see you in two weeks."

"Clark, really, you should rest."

He didn't stop to listen to the rest of it but, instead, took off with his first born. Flying was something that had taken Clark a long time to master but that Kon had always taken to naturally. It was simpler now with a bit a concentration to take to the air, marginally harder when dragging a surly teenager with him, and almost impossible with the pain slicing into his stomach. Clark said nothing as they sped home to the farmhouse as quickly as possible, just kept breathing. When they landed, he was relieved to find that Chloe's car wasn't yet back. He didn't need questions from her, not when it was surely going to be okay.

Kon landed unsteadily and the impact left him taking a few awkward steps away from Clark to reclaim his balance. "Damn, that was fast. Any particular reason why I left my stomach in Boston?"

Clark closed his eyes and swallowed, another hitch. "I just wanted to beat your mother home."

" Chl…," Kon stopped mid-phrase. "Dad, are you sure you're okay? Jax seemed pretty worried and I've known him about two hours but he said he's seen you pregnant twice before."

"Well the first time he just caught a glimpse," Clark corrected.

"Still, you look green and not in the little and green sense but in the about to puke up everything you've ever eaten since. I know there aren't rocks in Massachusetts." He frowned and his voice was softer when he spoke. "Is the baby okay?"

He stood up to his full height and forced himself to resist the urge to bend over. Laying a hand over his stomach, he added. "I didn't think you cared."

"Just because I don't want a little brother or sister and just because I think this whole thing is gross doesn't mean I want you or the baby to be sick or anything. It's happening. It massively sucks that it's happening but what kind of person hopes that you lose a baby?"

Clark wheezed a little at the pressure in his gut and dropped his head. "I didn't think you'd be like that. The whole thing…it's not like that. You've just been so angry, what was I supposed to think?"

"You don't know me very well."  
>Clark breathed again, in and out, and it was amazing how quickly all that Lamaze stuff came back to him. He'd have to thank Kara for the insisted upon practice. "I thought I knew you really well until all this started ad then you started working late at The Torch and insulting me and your mother, even your sibling. I really don't know what you're thinking most days, Kon."<p>

"I'm mad."

"I gathered that."

"I'm sick of being lied to and even more fed up with the rest of the run around. If you all have something to tell me, tell me."

"I told you everything there was to share."

"What's going on with you?"

"Just regular growing pains," Clark replied, his breath still labored.

"Did you-and I can't believe I'm saying this sentence-but did you have them with me?"

"Of course, you were the strongest kicker, Kon."

"When I was tadpole-sized?"

"Kon!"

"I mean it. Babies aren't supposed to kick until the fourth month or so. What's going on? Why does Chloe act like you being pregnant is terminal? Hell, why did she and Aunt Kara have to disappear for a month after Alura was born?"

Clark sighed and leaned against the porch railing for support, the pain was slowly abetting and he was grateful. He'd see Emil as soon as possible and beg him not to worry Chloe if he didn't have to. He didn't want her upset. He wouldn't lose the baby; he wouldn't. It was probably something else, just a small hiccup from the little one being half meteor-infected like Kon had suggested. "It's complicated."

"I hate that word."

"It's still complicated. It's just hard on Kryptonians to have human children. We were never really meant to."

"You and Aunt Kara seem to do it about every eight years," he pointed out.

"We do but it's still incredibly hard. Can you understand that?"

"Uncle Perry would say that that's too vague a term and that you're not going to get a byline like that."

Clark was thrown by the colloquial, almost joking tone from his son, but amused, despite the circumstances, to hear the reporter in him coming out. "What?"

"I don't know what 'hard' means. Does that mean like a little indigestion or does it mean intensive care? I'm trying to understand here. I really am."

Clark sighed and clenched the railing almost tightly enough to splinter it. "We get a little sick. It's not the end of the world or anything like that. Our powers just glitch. They went out when I had you and they did for Aunt Kara too; you're just too young to remember her being weak."

"Glitch?"

"I'll stop being strong and fast and invulnerable before the baby's born but my powers come back and it won't be for months yet when it really hits."

"The kicking?"

"Is all better," Clark replied, his jaw clenched. "I'm fine, Kon. I'm actually touched that you noticed."

"You were doubled over and making air speed records for us to get to the farm. How could I not?"

Clark shrugged, glad that whatever had flared up was abating. It was easier to put on his game face for his son. "I'm just glad to see you caring about the baby's welfare. I really think that once we get past this, and, believe me, I know it's weird."

"Understatement."

"You're not the one who had Kara just drop it on you once you were already pregnant," he reminded. "That was unbelievable."

Kon's features pinched up unflatteringly. "I hate that I was an accident."

"You weren't."

Kon rolled his eyes. "I heard you and Chloe, even if I didn't want to, stupid mutt ears."

"Kon, don't say that about yourself."  
>"Fine, P.C. police. I meant that I know how badly you and Chloe wanted the tadpole. You've been trying for like a year. I get the impression I just showed up."<p>

"I wanted you very badly, Kon-El," Clark replied, putting every bit of honesty he had into that sentence. He needed Kon to understand this, to believe him. "I wanted you from the moment I really listened to your heartbeat and wanted you more after Lex locked us both away and apart from each other. I even want you now when you're decidedly less cute and extremely mouthy. Surprises aren't always bad things."

"But you and mom didn't want me the way you and Chloe want the new baby."

Clark nodded. Of course, Lana's abandonment would come up again. After the spectacular way she'd ditched him in the Watchtower, after she'd dangled hope before him and snatched it away, Clark wasn't surprised Kon was still reeling. He just wished it weren't so. Their family had wasted so much time with her already. If only Kon could remember being at the mansion, if he'd seen the disgust and fear in Lana's eyes when she'd tried to hold him, then they could move past all of it. But issues like that ran deep in him and in Lana, orphans the both of them, and after everything it didn't completely faze or rankle Clark.

He just wanted things to be better.

"No, Lana didn't want you the same way I did. She wanted to control you and own you like a treasure or a-"

"Don't say pet," Kon replied, through bared teeth.

"No, I was going to say like property or even an experiment. I don't know why you don't believe me when I say she can't love. Hell, you can even ask your Aunt Nell, whom Lana stopped speaking to after she moved to Metropolis when we were in high school."

"She's my mom."

A stab of pain flared through Clark at a sentence like that. He'd promised Chloe better. He wanted better for both Kon and for her. " Chloe wanted you from the moment I told her I was pregnant."

"I know because mom mentioned that at the Watchtower. If you just had tried harder-"

"I did everything I could Kon. I had her experimenting on me daily for months, and let her exile me to the living room sofa when I started sleep floating. I let her run around with Lex and convinced myself she wasn't doing that to me. I did everything cause I knew that if we broke up that one day I'd have to answer all these questions for you, that I'd have to explain why I didn't try when that's exactly what I did do over and over again."

Kon shook his head and looked back out at the garden. The pumpkins were growing large and ripe on the vine and Clark got a weird vertigo from seeing the teenager before him and from remembering the toddler he'd first shown how to carve pumpkins years ago. He wished he had those days back. "I never know what to believe."

"We want you here with us and always have. That's the truth. Me, Chloe, Aunt Kara and Lois, Uncle Jimmy and Grandma and Grandpa, the whole damn League…all of us want you here."

Kon looked at him and his eyes were wet. "I don't know how much Chloe wants me at all, mom . I'll be in the loft if you need me. You're sure you're not sick or anything?"

"Kon, wait, what do you mean Chloe doesn't want you?"

"I just…I bet she's waiting for me to go off to college is all. Oh, and can I ask something?"

"Always, buddy."

"Can you not call me 'Kon' anymore? At least try Connor ."

"Like you're in trouble all the time, Connor Sullivan?" Clark asked, mocking the deep voice he often donned when The Ghost lectured criminals on the Metropolis street.

"No, like I'm all human. I don't want a traveler name," he finished, before speeding to the loft.

Clark shook his head and stroked his stomach again. Kon should have just cut to the chase and admitted that he didn't wanthis father's name.

"Clark," Dr. Emil said, bringing his head up from the microscope on his office table. "Chloe should be here."

"She has an interview with the mayor," he hedged, pulling the arms of his sweatshirt back down over the needle marks in his skin. He loathed blood draws.

"You then could have scheduled for another time and you certainly didn't need to come back only three days later."

"I don't need a lecture. I just need you to give me a clean bill of health."

Emil eyed him, one eyebrow raised. "I was on the board at Harvard before Oliver recruited me to be the physician to the highest maintenance bunch of people I've ever met. A little respect would be appreciated."

"I'm sorry. I get snappish when I'm-"

"Pregnant?"

"No, I was going to say nervous."

"And if you're nervous about your health," he continued, pulling off his latex gloves, "Then that's double the reason why Chloe should be here."

"I don't want to worry her," he defended.

"But this is her child too. As I understand it, competent parents share things with each other."

"But I might be overreacting," he countered, "and I'd be a bad husband if I made her worry about the baby for no reason."

Emil narrowed his eyes. "You're taking advantage of the patient-doctor confidentiality we have. I technically answer to the Arrow and I work well with Watchtower. I don't want to hide things from her."

"You're my doctor," Clark reminded. "Besides, what does the exam tell you?"

"First and I know you must have guessed this with your vision, but the baby isn't kicking, that's not what's causing the cramps."

"I didn't think so. I watched all night and even though I had them again, nothing inside moved besides the heart."

"Exactly," he confirmed. "What I think has happened is a reaction. As the baby is developing, its heart is growing larger and like Chloe's, I believe its heart is heavily concentrated with Green Kryptonite."

Clark felt the chill of the room around him. "What does that mean?"

"It's a reaction more or less akin to rejecting an organ, do you understand that?"

"It's a blunt analogy," Clark replied, reminding himself to breathe. "And it can't be right. You have to tell me something else, anything else."

"You're growing a being that runs on Kryptonite inside your stomach. It's not completely surprising this level of pain and complications are occurring."

"Maybe, but do we mean complication like…oh," he wheezed, pressing a hand to his side when the pain started up again and a wave of nausea hit.

"Clark?" Emil asked starting toward him.

Clark held up a hand. "I'm alright. It's gonna pass, but I need to know. Is this a complication like my powers going out and we can come through that or is this something else?"

"I don't know if I should continue."

"Why?"

"Because there aren't any witnesses and you have a quick temper."

"I do not!" Clark replied, rolling his eyes when the steel table he'd been clinging to for support snapped.

"I stand corrected," Emil replied dryly. "What I meant was that you aren't going to like the news."

Clark breathed in slowly and gripped his stomach with both hands. "The baby?"

"I think it could make it if it were at about four or five months, and had some marginal semblance of abilities to counteract your immune system acting on it, but it's frankly too small to survive the onslaught."

"Then you have to fix it, make it so we can get to four months."

"Then," Emil countered. "You have to tell Watchtower about your problems, which you should have done in the first place."

"I don't like lectures."

"It's not one, but I'm going to need something ferociously powerful to counteract a Kryptonian immune system and I'm going to need to synthesize something from Chloe's blood."

"What?"

"She's immune to everything toxic, as far as we can tell. We just need to give the baby some what I'd call 'booster shots' until it's old enough to fend for itself. However, I'd frankly advise that you let nature runs its course and have Watchtower heal you, should you bleed out again."

"Say that again."

Emil wasn't fazed. He never was. It was what made him an excellent doctor for the League. "You and Kara tempted fate twice and won when you had half human children. Trying to carry a meteor mutant infant to term is not only exponentially more dangerous but also infinitely more insane. Had you or Chloe consulted me before trying to conceive, I'd have advised against it, as would J'onn, but you never listen, Clark."

"We didn't think."

"Which is why having a scientific advisor is supposed to come in handy," he reminded him. "Bring in Chloe tomorrow and we'll start the transfusion process immediately. It's merely…" he said, trailing off and eyeing the slides on his desk.

"Merely what?" Clark asked, exhausted by Emil's clinical manner.

"If you insist on this course of action, Clark, things will only get more complicated."

He frowned. "That means painful, doesn't it?"

"Yes, yes it does. What you have endeavored to do tops what you did last time because of what Chloe is."

"Who," he growled.

" What her genetic make-up is. This is beyond your, Kara, or Mary Donovan's experiences. It goes beyond the stories of the Kawatchee, considering none of their skinwalkers ever interbred with the Kryptonians."

"But you said so yourself. Oliver recruited you. You're the best doctor in the country, easily, and probably the world's expert on unusual biology."

"And yet I specialize mostly in human physiology and have struggled to play catch up for you, J'onn, Kara, and Shayera. I have tried my best but, and pardon the expression, Clark, I am merely human."

He ignored the way that phrase rankled. Emil was just being his slightly curt yet efficient self. "It's not like we have a lot of Kryptonian doctors to go to."

"Then why don't you get one?"

"Huh? I don't know if you paid attention but Krypton exploded about thirty years ago."

"No, perhaps it's finally time."

"Time for what?"

"You need to finish your fortress, Clark. In my expert opinion, it's the best chance you have."


	22. Chapter 22

22

Kon was in Boston and Chloe was glad, not because she wanted him out of their lives or even on the east coast. It was just easier for her approach Cassie, to talk with her, when it was almost impossible for Kon to overhear it. Chloe sighed and leaned against the door of her Beetle (she'd gone back to driving one after Kon hit high school). Maybe she hadn't done the right thing being so strident with Kon. It was just seeing the look on Clark's face and thinking about something similar on their child's, the idea of Kon making his younger sibling cry.

She couldn't bear that.

Couldn't bear for Kon to start out what could be a 1,000 year long relationship with taunts and cutting sarcasm and cruelty.

She always had found it hardest to save the Kent boys from themselves.

Taking a deep breath, Chloe straightened her purse strap and walked into the school. It was always funny being back here for parents' nights, although Kon was still a freshman and she hadn't been to many yet. Everything seemed so much smaller and the paint duller, as if time had stripped it of its sheen and of its power. Everything from high school-her rivalry with Lana, the mistakes she'd made to get ahead at the DP, some of the more vindictive articles she'd run at The Torch-it seemed forever ago and so inconsequential. Life had felt complicated then, but it wasn't, not compared to the League or the Luthors or with everything that came from just trying to get such a special family into the world.

She'd never want to be a high school kid again, but she wished things were simpler, that all it took was Clark throwing someone thirty feet or a quick hack into Belle Reve to solve all their problems.

Right now, she had a feeling their troubles had only just begun and that they all settled on her a stor .

Chloe opened the door to The Torch quietly, and she smiled as she watched the girl in front of her. Cassie was tall, not quite Lois tall, but about equal to Kara and towered over her son, who had yet to have his growth spurt. She was cute, all long dark hair-the typical Kent type-and soft brown eyes. Of course, the fact that she had a sense of humor and an honest strength made her palatable.

She'd been a good influence on Kon since they were eight, someone else besides Gerald or the Kawatchee children for him to turn to, someone he had been spending an increasing amount of time with in the last few weeks.

Chloe coughed quietly and Cassie drew her head up from the layout she was working on. The girl frowned back at her. "Mrs. Kent? Is Kon okay?"

Chloe didn't like that Cassie had been expecting Kon to be in trouble, not at all. "He's fine. He's still in Boston with his father. There was an unexpected family trip, but I know he appreciates you covering The Torch."

"Well, it's sort of the Kent family baby, isn't it?" she replied, leaning against the desk. "I mean, you made the paper less about bake sales and spirit days and more about the truth and corruption hiding in plain sight in Smallville. I can see what you got your Pulitzers."

"You mean my meteor-infected series because at first, I wasn't always very fair."

Cassie nodded, "But it wasn't completely your fault that the ones who most often made the news were mentally unstable. They're the ones with the flashy crimes sprees to report about. I guess things like psychic retirement home patients and individuals with memory repo slide under the radar."

"They weren't my most popular articles, no."

"At least someone said something. I can't get it."

"You can't?" Chloe asked carefully. Writing about meta rights was one thing, hiding behind the press and the distance in a published edition wasn't the same as talking the issue face to face. With her words, she could try and remain neutral, even handed. Speaking about it in public made it easier to slip, to let her real emotions show.

It was an issue so dear to her heart.

It didn't matter why Kon or the little one were meta, that at least some of their powers came from Clark, she'd always be invested in what happened to the powered, to her children, her mother in Oliver's best hospital, to herself. She didn't know if Cassie could understand that. In Smallville, it was hard to tell someone's stance on everything. People really didn't talk about the odd incidences that popped up or why Belle Reve was brimming full. If they did, the ones who spoke most openly were the ones dead set against the "Smallville Specials" and against meta legislation. They were the bigots with their signs outside of the capitol when Martha and Pete had pushed everything through.

They usually weren't pretty high school students with New York Times dreams.

Maybe her son hadn't chosen all that wisely.

Cassie continued.

"I don't get how the whole town never talks about it. Something happened in 1989 and then it happened again in '05. There are people here whose whole lives aren't ever going to be the same, and instead people focus on the increase in the price of feed, like that matters."

"Farming matters in a farming town."

"But no one really cares, unless they're going to make snide comments about former classmates who end up in that hellhole."

Chloe quirked her head. "You mean Belle Reve."

"You know it's a bad place, don't you? I've gone over your old work. Hell, I've followed the attrition rate. They're transferring the ones from the 'specials' section at least once every month or so. LuthorCorp and ISIS keep signing for them."

"I know," Chloe replied, her jaw clenched.

That was the trade-off, the price. She had more than enough info from a hack fifteen years ago to land Lex and Lana's sorry asses both in jail, but she couldn't use scrap one for evidence. She'd tried so hard to find something new but Lex had gotten smarter, made sure ISIS was as untraceable now as anything 33.1 undertook. They hadn't found the smoking gun, not her, not the League, not Bruce.

And so people went missing, even from within Belle Reve's walls and, based on what had happened to her son while in Lex's care, she could guess at some of what they were experiencing.

But she and Clark had made their choice. It was selfish, but it had been theirs to make. The price for Alura, Kon, Jax and now the new baby's freedom-Hell, their continued existence outside of a government or LuthorCorp lab-was to let Lex and Lana continue their research. To let the stalemate continue until they finally found something new, something big enough to grind Lex's operations to a halt permanently.

It wasn't the decision a real hero would have made and she knew it.

"No one says anything because as long as the normal people in Smallville don't have to deal with the mutants, they could care less what happens to them. You can get a hundred laws passed and this sort of shit still goes on because people are so scared."

Chloe frowned. "What's your interest in the metas, Cassie?"

She paused. "They're not all crazy but they're all being persecuted. It's not any more fair to them than in the 1950s in the South or Nazi Germany or wherever else. It's just wrong."

"Righteous indignation and fury for the little guy will make you a good journalist."

She shook her head. "It's not about a Pulitzer."

"No, it's not. I understand that more than you know. I'd have covered the meta legislation no matter what. It mattered because I had classmates who were affected and hurt because of it. Clark's first wife-"

"Whoa!" Cassie's eyes went wide. "You're the second Mrs. Kent?"

"It's a long story. Alicia was pretty sick for a long time and she did try and hurt people but she got better and then someone hunted her down and killed her in a roundabout way for being infected. I know it's not right, but I wanted to know yourpersonal stake in it."

"What's yours?" she shot back. "It's not just because you knew people."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at Cassie. Kon had slipped sometimes when he talked about her and the fact that he was clinging to her twice as hard after finding out about his heritage all added up to something. "You're infected, aren't you?" Chloe paused and swallowed. "You're like me."

Cassie stilled. "You're going to admit that?"

"Well it's not on record and Perry doesn't fire people for having different abilities unlike a lot of the employers in Lowell County, but you knew that already because you're Kon's best friend."

"Gerald-"

"-isn't the one he's been seeing since he learned about the baby. Cassie, you have to be completely honest with me. I need to know how much Kon's told you."

"Mrs. Kent, I promised ."

"And I used to do the same for Kon's dad. I know what it's like to keep confidences, believe me, but this is about my son and my family and their safety so I need to know."

"What about my family?"

"What?"

"You work for the Planet."

"They don't cover Smallville unless something extraordinary happens. A high school assistant editor of The Torch isn't under their purview."

Cassie relaxed. "Then cards on the table. You're infected and my dad was infected, back in the second shower. He's where I get my power from. Kon gets his powers from you-at least I assume that's why he's a telekinetic. He might one day get the other one."

Chloe wanted to ask a million questions at once, but she kept it at a certain pace, like any other interview. "How long have you known that Kon can move things with his mind?"

"Since we were eight. I caught him making his toys float under the jungle gym and it scared him pretty badly because he thought I'd tell on him."

"But you didn't."

Cassie shook her head and reached out to touch the mug on her desk that held her pens and pencils. Concentrating, she bit her lower lip and, in a few seconds, the mug was frozen solid. It reminded Chloe of Sean Kelvin and she resisted the urge to shiver. That was a lifetime ago and clearly Cassie wasn't going to freeze her. "I did that to one of his toys."

"How?"

She blinked. "Um, the meteorites?"

"No, I mean, do you suck body heat?"

"Not intentionally. My dad literally makes ice. He can do it out of nothing if he wants to. We do ice sculptures at Christmas. It's really cool."

Chloe let out the tiniest breath of relief. A Sean Kelvin redux was nothing she was interested in, even if Cassie was a sweet girl. "Not intentionally?"

"Sometimes I might make my little brother-he didn't get the fun X gene or whatever-get goosebumps, but it's pretty controllable. I mean, if you've had it all your life, it's like with Kon and the TK. He said he used to make things shatter when he was just a kid and got upset."

"Yeah."

"I used to cry and my blankets got frost on them. It can all be a pain, but that's what I know about Kon's family. You and Mr. Kent are infected and you're sort of Jesus."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I have this whole resurrection thing going on. The catechism in me says that's where comparison stops. Mostly, I heal others, but it's pretty painful to do so I try and avoid it if I can. It's not as flashy a power as what you or Kon could do."

"But you can raise the dead. The best I can manage is a snowball fight in July."

Chloe laughed despite herself. "It's all very 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours.' Cassie, I appreciate you being honest with me. I know how scary it can be to admit that you're infected. I promise that, like Kon, I'll never say anything."

"You'll tell Mr. Kent."

"I wouldn't."

Cassie laughed. "You'll tell him cause I'd tell Kon in your position and that's cool. I mean, he's one of us, right?"

There was a forced joviality to her tone that Chloe didn't like.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he's infected and that's why...oh boy and even in Smallville this is a doozy."

"Cassie?"

"He's, um, well," she said, blushing. "That's to say he's pregnant."

Chloe paused. "Kon said that?"

"Yup, that's why he's so freaked out about the baby cause Mr. Kent is carrying it. He blurted the only thing out when he slept over at my house last weekend. I didn't believe him at first because it's so insane even with the meteors, but it's true, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is true. Kon's dad is a bit unusual too, but that's what Kon told you, that Clark's carrying the baby?"

Cassie's face was perfectly blank and neutral. "What else would he tell me? I guess you all aren't advertising it because it's not so much a harmful ability as it is embarrassing."

"Well, I suppose you figured this part out but Clark's how Kon got here too. He's a bit past the embarrassment part."

Cassie grinned. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's pretty funny."

"Kon's Aunt Kara and Aunt Lois think so," she replied, smiling warmly. "It's just one of those family secrets like how your lawn always has the best snowmen on it or why Kon's never sick. It's just one of those things."

"Kon's not taking it well, but you knew that, what with his charming personality transplant."

That intrigued Chloe. Kon adored Cassie. In fact, she was pretty sure he was nursing a crush. It wasn't like him to be snippy with her. "Has he been rude to you?"

"No, but he's been in a snit and won't stop complaining about it. I think it's cute. Plus, it's not like Mr. Kent is his 24 year old easy step mom."

"Ouch."

"If I had a choice, I'd totally take the pregnant dad over Mindy."

Chloe sighed and sat down on one of the ancient swivel chairs that had been there before she'd even been a freshman. "I walked right into that one."

Cassie shrugged. "I miss my mom but I know you and Mr. Kent. You're really cool and Kon's just being an ass."

"He can be that way. Clark's great but stubborn as Hell, and Kon has a brat streak sometimes. He definitely tried pulling some stunts as a little kid." Chloe stopped then. Cassie didn't need to know that Kon had used his abilities once to steal from Sam's Club or that he had more Lana in him than she would have liked.

"I can see that. You know, they say stress isn't good for the baby."

"We remind him. I think he'll get better about it."

"Mrs. Kent?" Cassie started and Chloe could notice the tiniest bit of frost around her hand and creeping across the desk. She was nervous.

"Yes?"

"That's not all Kon told me."

Chloe's heart began to pound. Cassie thinking Kon and Clark were infected was one thing, but it always became more dangerous for her family when more people were brought in on the real secret of their powers. Cassie was a sweet girl and clearly understood the same stress and fear that Kon had grown up with, that overwhelming 'don't get caught' rule, but knowing about Krypton, being dragged into interplanetary intrigue was an entirely different level of commitment from her.

More danger too.

"What did he say?"

"You're Fawkes. Those rumors from Gotham and Star City and Metropolis are true. There really are people like The Angel of Vengeance and the Green Arrow and The Batman out there."

"The Ghost?"

"Kon didn't talk about her. Just said that he got to meet some of the League because the headquarters is where Mr. Kent goes for check-ups. He just mentioned that he was so like freaked when it turned out you secretly wore kevlar and a cape."

Chloe smirked. "Could be spandex like some of the other women. I can heal but I hate being shot."

Cassie whistled. "Have you been?"

"Vigilantism is a dangerous job," she admitted. "Kon shouldn't have told you that. The League's identities are secret."

Cassie bit her lip harder. "It was just you, just that you're Fawkes and he actually met The Batman." She frowned. "He said that guy was a dick."

"He pretty much is. Cassie, I know this is beginning to sound like a broken record but you can't tell people-not about me moonlighting, not that our family is infected, and not that Clark's pregnant. If any of that got out..."

"It would be as bad as if people learned about me and my dad. I got that. Mrs. Kent, I don't want anything to happen to Kon or to you guys. I mean, I practically grew up on Kent Farm and you were so great to me when my mom was sick. I'd never-"

"I hope so, but there's a lot at stake. So far, the League works as an urban legend. It's still not ready to go full public yet. I'mnot ready."

"I know, but I had to ask about Fawkes."

"Why?"

Cassie ran her fingers over the desk, collecting some of the frost against her fingertips. She held it up for Chloe to see. "See, the way I see it, is that there are three types of metas. There are the ones like my dad who don't hurt anybody and just try and hide. Then, there are the ones like that Poison Ivy chick or some of the really sick people in Belle Reve who make us all look bad."

"Because they hurt people."

"Right."

"And?"

"There's the third group, the really small one, with people like Fawkes or Impulse and they actually make things better."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. It finally occurred to her. "You want in?"

"I'm fourteen. I couldn't do anything if I tried, but maybe one day, like in college or something. It would be cool." She grinned and her hands had the color drained out of them to a hypothermic shade of blue. "Literally."

"Well it's a more active power than mine, but it's not what you'd think working for the League, not at all."

"I know but I want to know that what I have matters. I mean, ice sculptures at Christmas are nice or adding extra cubes to my soda, sure, but I want to be able to say that there's a reason why I'm so weird you know?"

"I can understand that, and maybe when you grow up a little, you can talk to me or I'll let you meet Batz."

Cassie laughed. "No way, you do not call him that."

"I sure do. He needs to have his 'I'm always right' pig-headedness kept in check," she countered.

"So cool."

"Kon was less impressed."

"Kon's being an ass and I've been telling him so, you know."

"I appreciate the help and that's why I'm here."

"I thought you were here to grill me on if I knew the great Kent family secrets."

"I was and the big one is I need to know, Cassie."

"What?"

"I need to know if Kon's in trouble. I have the worst feeling. I know it sounds complicated but I just feel like he's meeting with someone."

"Who?"

"Lex and Lana Luthor."

"They run ISIS," Cassie spat. "Untraceable yet highly implicated."

"Per usual. If he's hanging out with Lana, I'm really afraid she's going to hurt him. What he can do is very powerful and there are a lot of people out there who'd like to get their hands on him."

Chloe hoped she hadn't said too much. There wasn't that much extraordinary about TK in Smallville. After all Justin and Maddie both had or did have forms of it, but she needed to know. She needed to impress on Cassie how much was at stake.

"I can imagine," Cassie replied and Chloe had that feeling again, the feeling that Kon had told her far more than he should have.

"Cassie, I won't be mad. I don't care what Kon told you or what he's doing. I mean that I won't be angry with you for keeping anything quiet this long, but if he's putting himself in danger like that, I need to know."

The other girl looked at her and sighed. "Mrs. Kent, if Kon were doing something like that, I'd tell you."

"Are you sure?"

"If he's meeting with the Luthors, then he's going to get hurt. They've gone after him before."

Cassie frowned. "They what?"

"When he was a baby. Please, Cassandra, if you know something-"

"I don't. I'm sorry, but, Mrs. Kent, I have an edition to finish. So if you don't mind, could you go?"

Chloe shook her head and started to the door. "Kon's lucky to have a friend who's as loyal as you, but I hope you're not protecting him too much."

"So?" Chloe asked, slipping between the sheets and next to her husband.

"So what now?" he asked and he seemed a bit distracted. He'd been staring up at the ceiling when she'd entered and it occurred to her he wasn't even making a pretense at reading or watching the television.

"How did the big trip to meet Jax go?"

"Great. Kon complained up until the second I dropped him off, Jax had a thong hanging from his door, and both boys seemed antsy once I got there."

"Antsy?"

"Kon was huffing about leaving."

Chloe backtracked the conversation in her head. "Wait? Thong? He didn't. Kon's fourteen."

"Apparently so is Jax. Actually, it wasn't terrible. Kon admitted that he doesn't want anything bad to happen to the baby and he seemed willing to go back for another visit in a few weeks with Jax."

"Wait, when did the fact that anything was going to happen to the baby come up?"

Clark stiffened. "Nothing in particular. I had some indigestion that Kon mistook for cramps."

"What?"

Clark looked back at her. "It was nothing, but he doesn't want anything bad to happen to the baby or me. He's just upset about the who's pregnant part. It's not like I sign up for this stuff."

"No, we know," she replied, pressing a hand to his stomach. "But I'm glad we're having a baby."

"Me too. So, I do think he's coming around. I take it that he wants to keep meeting with Jax as a big step, although..."

"What?"

"He said something on after we got back."

"When doesn't he say things."

Clark sighed. "He wants to just be Connor now. He knows that 'Kon' is just short for 'Kon-El' and he doesn't want the alien name," Clark's voice was steady, but she noticed that he was starting to pick at stray threads in the sheets out of nervousness.

She stroked on hand over his abdomen. "He'll get used to it. If he's coming around with Jax, then the other stuff can follow."

"I know, and I think of myself as Clark before I do Kal-El even now, but it hurts a little."

"I know. So, tell me about this indigestion."

"Too many fish tacos at the DP. It's not anything, Chlo. Kon and Jax just overreacted."

"But Clark-"

"Oh and speaking of Jax, he wants to help name the baby. He's thinking that 'Jackson' is such a nice name."

She rolled her eyes and kissed him. "Of course he does. I was thinking Gabriel. It can go either way..."

Three days later and Chloe wasn't buying any of it. Not Cassie's assertions that Kon had never been to see the Luthors, not all of Kon's late nights at The Torch, and certainly not "indigestion." He'd never had it in his life, and not with the first baby.

Chloe sighed and leaned back against the Daily Planet's globe.

Andrea, her long leather coat flaring out behind her, turned and considered Chloe. "You okay, Fawkes?"

"Right as rain, Angel."

"Wanna try that one again, Chica?"

"Fine, between you and Bart I get a lot of Spanish."

"We're educational. Are you alright?"

"I've been better. I think my son is hanging out with Satan and Clark's not being honest about the baby."

"The meathead can be a meathead. What are you going to do about everything else?"

"I'm not above having Bruce talk to Kon or suggesting he trail him for a little bit. If he's doing something dangerous, then I have to stop him."

"You want me to do it?" Andrea asked, shifting from leg to leg as she looked out at the city below.

"Nah, I think Bruce is the scariest. Besides, he's 'not in the League' officially. So if he just gets the idea to trail Kon it's not like I called a league of superheroes out on my son."

"Just the one with the best personality." She frowned. "How are you holding up?"

"If anyone else asks about me and the fact that I'm barren, I'm going to punch something."

"Whoa."

She sighed. "Martha's being great about everything. Clark's wonderful. He always is. I know that everyone cares and that it matters but it's okay. I have a great family-one member needs a serious ass kick-but I have a beautiful family and a great husband and no stretch marks. It's a pretty fair deal."

"I know, but I felt like I'd be a total puta if I didn't ask."

She nodded. "I'm alright. Clark, Kon, and the baby are my priorities. You know me. I do better when I have something to work toward. I can focus on protecting my family. I can't focus on whatever genetics and meteor rocks decided to do to me."

Andrea sighed and her fingers twitched and Chloe wondered if she were thinking of the pack of cigarettes in her pocket. With a supercharged heart, Andrea didn't have the same health concerns of mere mortals. Of course, neither did Chloe, but Andrea was polite enough not to light up around her.

"Sometimes, no all the time, I think Clark and Kara have it easier. It's so hard to remember before when you were-"

"Normal."

"Right," Andrea checked her watch. "You know, it's almost two, and maybe you should take Jimmy and Kara off the Clark sitting."

"They're not Clark-sitting, exactly."

"You just like having them check out for him."

"Well, Kon's at Cassie's since it is a Friday night and Clark needs something that resembles a guy's night."

Andrea cracked a smile. "Before he shows?"

"The guys feel uncomfortable sometimes and Bart's supportive but a motor mouth. He can't stop with the jokes."

"He's Bart and functionally retarded."

"Oliver's a bit snippy about it as if you can catch pregnant. Hell, even Jimmy-"

"He's not squeamish, is he?"

Chloe laughed and adjusted her cowl. "No, he just likes trying to feel for kicks. It weirds Clark out. Kind of makes Kara jealous."

Andrea laughed loudly. "I see. No, it's good he's doing macho things with Jimmy. What were they supposed to be doing?"

"Usually Simpsons marathons where Clark binges on too many nails." Chloe looked back down at the street below. "You're sure that you can handle a few more hours on your own?"

"Por supuesto, go and take care of everything. Vengeance is out tonight."

When she got back to Jimmy and Kara's home in the suburbs of Metropolis, she knew something wasn't right. All the lights in the house were still on, despite Alura's bed time. Using her key, she let herself into the house and found Clark sitting on Kara's sofa, his head resting in his hands. Jimmy was pacing behind him and Kara looked vaguely nauseated, a look Chloe hadn't seen on her face since J'onn had told them all that Clark and Kon were going to die no matter what they tried.

"What's wrong?"

"Rao! Don't sneak up on people like that," Kara protested.

"Superhearing."

Kara, haggard and drawn, stared back at her. "I don't have it keyed up to eleven tonight. I was just thinking."

Chloe nodded and sat down next to Clark. Automatically, she put her hand on his stomach. She'd been suspecting something like this for three days, ever since he'd come back from Jax's.

"It's the baby, isn't it?"

Jimmy stopped pacing and looked at Clark and then back to her. He was always better at delivering news. Clark and Kara got too emotional, she got angry, and J'onn was too blunt. Jimmy was just quieter, more reserved. "Clark came to us after dinner. He was visiting Emil today."

Emil had been Kara's primary doctor too. This was his second time around with Kryptonian-human pregnancies which, by default, made him the world's leading expert.

"And?"

Clark picked his head up from his hands and his eyes were red. "I've been having pretty severe cramps all week. I thought they were just early kicks so I saw Emil."

"Without me?"

"Kal didn't want to worry you. He went straight to Emil to check it out. If it were nothing, there wouldn't be a point to saying anything and worry you," Kara said and Chloe noticed how she moved closer to Clark, grabbing his shoulder.

"But it's our baby," she countered, her tone calm.

"I really didn't want to scare you. I know you've been worried since the baby was undersized. I didn't think it was anything. I just...I was trying to protect you."

Kara nodded. "Rao, it was for your own good."

Chloe's hand stayed on Clark's stomach but she felt herself searching out for Jimmy. He sighed and nodded. It was one of those times, those times where the House of El started deciding on its own what was a good decision for everyone. It was hard sometimes, especially when Kara and Clark were pregnant, to get their votes to count in things. She and Jimmy had certainly been discounted over leaving Smallville when Kon had been an infant, and things could have been so different.

Maybe her son wouldn't have spent the first few years of his life recovering from nightmares.

"Funny, I thought that 'for my own good' included not telling me things. I don't want to sound like Lana, but Clark, if you're sick, I'm gonna find out."

"I know but I thought I'd be okay."

"I didn't really, no."

She sighed. "Please don't hide things from me anymore."

"I don't want to be sick," he replied, laying his head back on the couch.

"How is this a different sick?"

Kara sighed and stroked Clark's shoulder. "The baby's fueled by Kryptonite and its heart just got big enough to effect Clark's health."

Clark nodded even as Chloe felt her chest constrict. Her heart was full of Kryptonite and so was the baby's. God, it made so much sense. How could they have been so stupid to think this was going to work? "And that's the cramps. Do you need bed rest? Should I try healing? What do we need?"

Jimmy and Kara frowned at each other before he spoke. "Emil said it was like rejecting an organ."

"What?"

Clark had her hands in his and he was squeezing them as tight as he could. "I'm not reacting right to the Kryptonite in my system. I'd be okay, but my body's fighting it. The baby's so little that it won't be able to survive or fight back."

"Then what do we need to do?" she asked, her hand was already glowing.

"Chloe, Emil wants to try blood transfusions. He thinks if he can synthesize your healing ability from your blood and give it to the baby for the next eight weeks, then its own abilities will be enough to fight off my immune system." Clark replied.

She took that in. "Would it be dangerous for the baby?"

"Not doing it, would be fatal," Kara added and she was blunt as ever.

"Then a no-brainer, we'll go see him this morning. Hell, we'll leave Alura with Kon and call Andrea to keep an eye on them."

"I already thought of that," Kara replied. "Alura is with Aunt Martha and Kon's still out."

"Good, then let's go," She said, watching as Kara and Jimmy blurred out ahead of them. Before Clark scooped her up, she added. "I'm serious. Please, don't let you and Kara start deciding what's best for this family. Jimmy and I might not be able to bend steel and leap tall buildings in a single bound, but we have a voice."

Clark nodded and kissed her temple. "Promise."


	23. Chapter 23

23

"Do you want more green beans?" Cass's stepmom asked and Kon gulped. Mindy was leaning across the table as she reached for the bowl and there was a lot to her "shirt" to be desired. Kon wasn't sure if he felt worse for Jason, Cass's little brother who was about Alura's age, or Cassie. On one hand, Jason was probably still too young to get that Mindy's basic tube top (which really looked like stuff from Aunt Kara's old wardrobe) was just inappropriate. On the other hand, he had been pretty little when Cass's mom had died and thought of Mindy as his mom.

Cass just thought of the twenty four year old as an embarrassment.

Kon?

He just tried to think about baseball and his calc homework (he'd skipped some math classes).

"Um, you know. I'm good, Mrs. Carpenter," he replied, shoveling the mashed potatoes around on his plate. Next to him, Cass had made a little mountain out of them and was snickering to herself. Kon didn't get what was so funny. In fact, based on how lumpy they were, it seemed like a solid use for them, that or plaster. "What?"

Cass finished her little plateau and blinked at him "Nothing?"

"No why?" he replied.

"Cassandra, don't play with your food," her dad chided.

Cass rolled her eyes. "This doesn't actually count. Besides, I did eat the turkey and the green beans. I'm low carb."

"Since when?" Kon whispered.

"Since I think that she lost a press on in the mix," she whispered to him.

Kon went green. "Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, can we be excused? I'm pretty full and well full." That was less than true but he had a feeling even invulnerable individuals shouldn't eat too much of what Mindy cooked. She could give Aunt Lois a run for her money.

Cass's dad grinned. "Sure, but we have lots of ice cream for dessert."

Kon nodded. "I still love this place."

"Diet kind. It's bikini season," Cass replied, as they took their plates to the sink.

"It's September."

"Not at the tanning booths, so do you want to go out to the back porch?"

Kon sighed. That was code for her wanting to talk to him in private. That didn't really sound like it boded well for his sake. "Sure Cass." He shoved his plate in the dishwasher. "Mr. Carpenter, is this all okay?"

"Sure, kids. I'll call you in for dessert."

With that, he followed his best friend out to the porch.

Cass sat down on the steps, her long legs trailing over the steps. Kon reminded himself that best friends didn't stare at each other's legs even if the other best friend wore really short shorts (and growth spurts were awesome). "No, really? You didn't get that?"

He blinked. "There was a thing to get?"

"The mashed potato mountain, a little Richard Dreyfuss, doo-de-da-da-da?"

"Huh?"

" Close Encounters of the Third Kind? "

Kon nodded, recognizing the title of an alien flick. "Spielberg?"

"Classic. How can you, of all people, not have seen that?"

"My parents have this no alien movie rule, always have. I guess you can see why."

"You aunt loves Will Smith."

"Well, she doesn't count. It's just more that I wasn't allowed to watch that movie or War of the Worlds or Alien while growing up. I guess they thought it might give me ideas?"

Cass shrugged. "Could be they didn't want you to pick up on negative stereotypes. I think that's why mom hated Chico and the Man ."

Lorena Carpenter, Cass's late mother, was Puerto Rican and was where Cass got her looks from.

"I think so. I guess they don't want me getting any ideas about cattle mutilations," Kon replied tiredly.

"Or chest bursting," Cass stopped and frowned. "I thought you snuck a look at that with Gerald last Halloween."

Kon shuddered. "I did. Sigourney Weaver is really freaky."

She laughed. "Maybe your mom and dad were right, but nothing? Not even E.T. ? That's a happy one."

"I don't know much about it. I've heard there are geraniums. I just...it was a rule and I pretty much stuck with it except forAlien and when Aunt Kara shows an ID4-MIB marathon, that too."

"Sorry, I thought I was being clever. My dad has no 'don't read X-men' rules."

"Yeah, well, I think I get some of it. I mean, I think they didn't want me jumping to any conclusions but, really, X-Files is a lot scary or Area 51. I don't want autopsies of vivisections," he replied, crossing his arms over his knees and bringing them close to his chest.

Cass nodded and quirked her head at him. Her dark brown eyes studying him intently. "How scared could you possibly be?"

"What? How can you even ask me that? I'm scared all the time. There's always that pressure not to say anything when you're 'special,' but now that I know. I'm sure there is some evil government conspiracy. My dad said something about my Aunt Kara and the Department of Domestic Security once. I don't want to end up bagged and tagged."

"Weren't you though?"

He paused and glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Kon-"

"Connor."

"Since when?"

"Since I wanted to sound more grown up. Besides, mom calls me that all the time."

Cass snorted. "Mrs. Kent only says 'Connor Sullivan' when you're in trouble."

"No, not Chloe. I mean Lana, my actual mom."

Cass clenched her right fist and scooted a bit away from him. "I hate it when you say that."

"Well, Lana's my mom, a fact that my other parents spent a lot of time concealing."

"So some DNA is all it takes to be your mom now? What about Mrs. Kent? She's the one that took care of you when you totally Ralphed all over my mom's studio or when your hearing went crazy last year. So far Lana has what?"

"Cass, not you too."

"Yes me too. Kon-"

"Connor."

"Fuck you. It's been Kon since you were an even smaller midget."

"I'm 5'6."

"Midget," she sing-songed. "Mrs. Kent came to see me this Monday at The Torch. She wanted to talk to me when you were in Boston."

He stilled. "You didn't tell her about where I go during seventh period, did you?"

"No, but she's a reporter, genius. She knows that something's up with you and she suspects you're seeing the Luthors."

"She doesn't."

"Duh, have you met her? She definitely is. She thinks that you're sneaking out to the mansion and, surprise, you are!"

"But you didn't tell her."

Cass looked down at her hands. "You're my best friend and I promised. You never told things I didn't want your family to know, like about my powers, so I didn't tell your mom about visiting the Luthors."

He let out a deep breath. "Good, she wouldn't let me keep doing it."

"That's not even the point. The point is that you shouldn't be doing it. You talk about being afraid of being taken like to Area 51 but your mom and dad are telling you flat out that the Luthors had you trussed up like a guinea pig when you were just a baby."

Kon stood up and bounded down the stairs. From there, he started to pace, perhaps even a bit faster than a human could have. "You're against me too?"

"I'm asking you to think. You know that Belle Reve, ISIS, and LuthorCorp are all connected and it's shady at best."

"But there's no hard proof."

"Sure, but Lex is pretty brilliant. Kon, they had you when you were a baby."

"And if they hadn't, I'd have stayed malnourished."

Cass glanced back up at him. "What do you remember about being there?"

"I was six months old."

"But you have the best memory of anyone I know. I mean, you can memorize Merriam Webster's in like thirty seconds."

"Yeah, but I was a baby. I just...it's impressions maybe and even then, who knows?"

"What is your 'impression?'"

He shrugged and kept pacing. "How do I know what's even real. There's what Lex and mom tell me on one side and what the kangaroo and Chloe tell me on the other. It probably doesn't mean anything."

"What do you think you remember."

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're doing a lot of very stupid things and it matters to me if you get hurt. I just can't let you keep sneaking out, you know."

"It's not your choice."

"I can tell your mom. Mrs. Kent would believe me."

"But you swore, Cass. I've never betrayed anything about you, not ever, and this is really important to me."

"Why? You don't even know this woman."

"She's my mom!"

"She abandoned you!" Cass huffed, jumping to her feet. "She left you high and dry and you're rushing back to her and I don't get it. What's so awesome about her?"

"She's not some monster like everyone keeps saying."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm not," he said, finally stopping his pacing. There was a divet from where he'd been, at least a foot deep. "I'm already an all powerful space alien from my dad. That's scary drive-in B movie crap on its own. That's where the bad stuff has to come from."

"Bad stuff?" she asked, stepping closer, her sneakers pounding on the stairs. "What does that even mean?"

"Nothing."

"No, it's not 'nothing.'"

"I can't talk about it," he finished and he couldn't. How could he tell her about what he thought deep down, about all the feelings he had, those lingering hints of disgust and fear not just for his heritage but about the Smallville Specials. He was a freak, probably king of all of them, considering the powers he kept getting from his dad (or mom depending on how you looked at it). He understood that, but he couldn't stop feeling what he felt.

At least his mom said it was okay to feel that way.

He needed someone to say it. He needed Lana Luthor to be a good person because he already had so much power at his disposal. He didn't need something deep and dark emotionally pulling the strings. He'd bent the rules before and he knew it. He knew he wasn't really like Chloe and his dad, or even like Cassie.

They just didn't get it.

Lana had to be a good person so that he could be too.

"Kon?"

"I can't, Cass, but at least part of my family is normal. I...she's human . You have no idea how badly I want that."

"No, I don't because the rest of us-my dad, your mom, me-we just try and survive. You don't think I want to be normal?"

"You have a power but you're still from here. You don't get any of it."

"I guess I don't because if you think clinging to someone like her is going to make you a better human being, then you're wrong."

"I'd just settle for human at all," he said bitterly. "Cassie please, please don't tell Chloe."

"I need to know what happened when they stole you, Kon, before I commit to that."

He threw up his hands and one of the fucking planters on her porch exploded. Cass didn't even blink. "I don't know. They...there were all these people in white coats and needles and shots. I had nightmares about it when I was little."

"Your mom said that."

"What?"

"She asked me what I knew about your family, what you'd told me, and I said that I knew you were infected because Mr. Kent was a meteor mutant. You know, that kind of meteor mutant who gets pregnant," she hissed. "And I admitted I knew she was a meteor mutant too and maybe Fawkes?"

"Maybe?"

"Definitely, but I didn't mention that I knew about your Uncle Bruce or who the Ghost really is or, actually, who they are. Then Mrs. Kent told me about when you were little. Christ, Kon, if I'd known he'd stuck you like a fucking pig, I'd never have started covering for you in the first place."

"Well you have to take blood to find protein deficiencies," he countered.

"If it made you scared to sleep for years later, then I think that counts as torture."

"It wasn't!"

"How long did you have the nightmares for?"

"I was still a kid when they stopped," he said, glad for once that he lied as well as Chloe did. He still didn't sleep without a night light, as old as he was, but he'd been six months old. He'd barely understood anything, let alone remembered it. Now that he knew Lex and Lana's intervention had helped save his life, how could he be so upset about it?

"I have to tell your mom."

"You don't have to tell Chloe anything," he said, back peddling. "You know, I'll just stop going. It's not worth the cloak and dagger and having to lie to you. It's just not."

"Really?"

Kon snorted. "What's the point? Chloe and the Kangaroo will find out eventually and hammer me for it. We're at each others' throats. It isn't worth it."

Concerned eyes bored into his. "Can I even trust you on this?"

"Yeah, I'm done skipping seventh period."

And he meant it. Cass just didn't know that he'd be making alternate arrangements around her.

It was late, almost three a.m., but Kon and Cass were still awake. It was mid-September and chilly, around fifty degrees at night, but it wasn't cold if you were a Carpenter or a Kent. There was a very large tent in the backyard (one of those like eight person ones with a line of duct tape down the middle. Cass's dad was trying the "I Love Lucy" method to keep her chaste. Of course, he and Cass were just friends for one. Second, they'd had a pretty nasty blowout and everything felt awkward. Third, even though he knew he existed, that there was a new Kent baby on the way, he just didn't understand how he could touch Cassie without hurting her.

He could shatter tile and steel.

And, powers or no, at the end of the day, Cassie was as fragile as almost any other human.

It just wasn't for him.

He was sitting in one of the folding beach chairs, those canvas deals with the built in cup holders, with a notebook on his lap. In his right hand, he clutched a pen and was working on something. It was mostly an abstract work, inspired by the mural his Uncle Jimmy had painted in his room-the Kryptonian one, not Kent Farm; he wasn't a landscape guy-it was mostly intersecting spires but it was geometrically interesting.

Cass sat down at his feet and handed him a cup. "It's cocoa, but it doesn't exactly stay warm out here."

He chuckled and downed the lukewarm liquid. "There's gotta be a way to heat that up easily. If only your powers worked in reverse."

"Nope, but I rock the hell out of the summer."

"I don't get hot."

"Neither do I. So watcha working on? I put The Torch to bed last night."

Kon's eyes widened. He'd almost forgotten he'd been doodling. "Nothing."

"It's always nothing with you, Kent," she said, pulling the paper out of his grasp. He could have slipped into superspeed and hidden it in his pockets, but he didn't have the energy after a long night. Cass took the notebook from him and stared down at it. "I didn't know you could draw."

"I can't," he gruffed. "It's a doodle."

"You could turn that in for design class right now and ace it. It's pretty intricate, Kon. You must have worked on it for hours or did you speed it done?"

He snorted. "You can't really...it works better if you do it regular speed. The quality's better. I think it's why I like it. It's like typing in that way. You have to slow down and think everything through."

"You never showed me this kind of stuff."

He shrugged. "I used to get board at Maddie's studio when I was little and glass is still off limits to even superkids. She used to give me pastels and stuff. I haven't really done more than doodle in years, not since I got bit by the journalism bug."

"Why not? We could use a cartoonist on staff."

Kon took the notebook back and started adding more lines to it. "I never felt it was right."

"Huh?"

"Reporting is what I do. Art's for Maddie."

"But you're really good."

Yeah, he actually was. Kon liked drawing. He found something Zen and quiet in it, something that appealed to him even more than the chills and thrills of journalism. It's not that his parents had ever discouraged him from drawing. They didn't really know he'd done it on and off, only Maddie had ever caught him at it. It was just that it didn't seem to fit with the Kent-Olsen family tradition.

Of course, Kon was fucking sick of tradition.

"I guess, but it's just a lark."

"Even so, you should start doing us a comic strip and you'd be smart to try drawing next semester. Can't hurt to nurse more than just your writing talent."

"Yeah, I guess," he said and then he frowned. He'd caught something out of the corner of his eye. "Cass, come here."

"To get on your lap. Yeah fucking right?"

"No, just..." he said, jumping up and gathering her behind him. He squinted and was able to activate his X-ray vision with a modicum of effort. When he did, he noticed the skeleton lurking in the bushes in the back of Cass's yard that led to the pond. "You really picked the wrong person to sneak up on. Come out."

The interloper slipped out from under the camouflage and Kon's jaw dropped.

Beside him, Cassie cursed. "Holy fuck. You're The Batman."

"I've been here for a while, Kon-El. Your hearing isn't as impressive as I'd have thought."

"I was concentrating on other stuff and are you stalking me now?"

"No, but I was sent here..." Uncle Bruce stopped and eyed Cass. "We should talk somewhere more private."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Kon's mom is Fawkes, big secret, don't tell anyone. I gotcha."

Uncle Bruce didn't so much as take in a breath but, now that Kon was Listening, he did pick up on the slightest increase in heart rate. "Come again?"

"Chloe Kent is Fawkes and, Hell, there is a Fawkes and all that League stuff isn't just urban legends."

Uncle Bruce turned back to him, his attention laser-focused. It made Kon nervous, even if according to everyone he knew, Uncle Bruce was just a human. "Something's wrong."

Kon's mouth went dry. "What do you mean something's wrong?"

"The baby is sick. Your mother and father are with Dr. Hamilton in the Watchtower." He narrowed his eyes at Cass.

"I knew about that too. Outer space, neat."

"We'll be talking about what it means to be in on League secret, Kon."

"Connor."

"Are you coming?"

"Un...Batz, you can't fly."

His uncle stiffened. "Fawkes has talked to much."

"Chloe has a little, but what do you mean the baby is sick?" he asked, following his uncle to the edge of the pond's far side. Cass was trailing behind him and it occurred to him that they were both still in their pajamas. It didn't really matter, not if his family were sick. He was mad at his dad. It didn't mean...

Nah, there wasn't anything that could hurt them except for meteor rock.

"Your father," he paused and eyed Cassie again.

She giggled. "No, I heard that one too. It's the funniest."

"This part assuredly isn't. Your father's immune system is rejecting the baby."

Kon's eyes widened. "The cramps."

"Exactly. They're already starting a transfusion from Fawkes in order to help supplement your sibling's powers, but your parents were asking for you."

"And we're walking to the middle of the woods because?" Cass asked, her tone strained. Then she gulped. "Holy Fuck, that's a jet."

Kon whistled at the large, streamlined aircraft in front of him. It resembled a stealth bomber in its curves but was far larger and silver colored. Uncle Bruce pulled a small control from his pocket and pressed a button, and the hinge of the jet opened, revealing seven large seats and a control panel that was Star Trek complex.

"The Javelin is ready. I don't have time to mess with you," his uncle said and Kon understood that. He'd been flying since he was a baby but he wasn't out of atmosphere ready and Aunt Kara wasn't here to help him. He paused then and glared at Cass. Kon had to give her credit for not flinching in the face of The Batman. "Or you."

Cass's hand was clenching his tightly and he could discern a slight chill on his skin. Cass always slipped on her control when she was upset. He could relate. "Kon goes, I go. Besides, you all run around in costume. It's not like I'd get any scoops, and Mrs. Kent already told me her big flashy alter ego."

"Civilians don't go to the Watchtower."

"I don't leave my best friend," she snapped, pressing closer to him, her chin held high. "So what do you have to say about that, Batz?"

"I could taser you and have no more problems."

Cass brought up her free hand and started focusing. Even Kon could feel the change in air temperature. "You want to try it? I've got time, but I don't think you do."

"Teenagers. As if Robin weren't pain enough. Get in."

And with that, they were off to the 'Tower.

Kon didn't take his hand out of Cassie's, not in the docking bay when his Aunt Dinah, in way too little clothing, gave him death glares, not when his Uncle Oliver started yelling at his Uncle Bruce for breaching League protocol, not for anything. All he cared about was making it to the sick bay part of the Watchtower so that he could make sure his dad, baby sibling, and, well, Chloe were alright.

He hadn't done anything.

This had all been some horrible backfire of genetics.

But he felt terrible. He hated his dad being pregnant, but it was almost impossible to hate a baby. He certainly hadn't wanted anyone to lose it. God, what if he'd put out some bad Karma just by thinking the things he had?

Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy were standing outside the room. Kara was dead on her feet and was leaning on his uncle's shoulder. His uncle, yawning a lot, seemed to perk up when he noticed Cassie was accompanying him and The Batman.

"Cassie?"

"Uh, hi? You have superpowers."

Uncle Jimmy sighed. "No I have clearance. You're parents are inside. Emil started with the transfusion process. Your mom's back up on her feet but Clark's..."

"He's what?" Kon asked.

Aunt Kara looked up and blinked at him. God, she was wiped. "He's going to be okay. The stuff Emil synthesized is from your mom so it's meteor influenced."

"It's a reaction?"

"Like having the flu mostly. Kal's been Russelling all night."

"Ralphing," Cass corrected in tandem with Uncle Jimmy. "Can we go in?"

Aunt Kara looked down at their hands and smiled. "Sure, but you should be quiet. He's still recovering so not much excitement and Kon-El?"

"What?"

"Don't be an ass."

"I get that a lot lately," he said, still holding Cass's hand, which felt like a block of ice right now. Together they passed through the threshold and into his Chloe and his dad's room. Chloe was sitting in a chair by his dad's bedside. His dad looked fairly pale and had an IV set into him; not far off from him was a small bucket. Kon's keen sense of smell picked up on the contents immediately and his stomach roiled. "Dad?"

Chloe pushed back the bangs from his dad's forehead. It was then that Kon realized his dad was sleeping. "He's conked out, but things seem better." His mom glanced at Cassie and smiled. "You got promoted pretty fast."

"Guest pass?"

"We don't have those."

Cass shrugged. "I might have threatened The Batman."

"I knew I liked you."

"Promoted?" Kon asked, as he pulled up a seat next to his father. Cass stayed standing behind him.

"I want to be in the League when I get old enough. I mean, wouldn't you?"

Kon paused and shrugged. It wasn't time for him to be snippy. Even he got that. "I hadn't thought about it. I didn't even know it was a family business."

"It's cool, but mostly I didn't think Kon should be alone."

"He's not really, but I appreciate that you're here. Of course, now that you've seen this place," Chloe replied, pressing a hand to his dad's shoulder. "We'll have to kill you."

"Chloe," Kon prodded. "How did this happen?"

"Meteor infected mistmatch. It didn't quite match up, but Dr. Emil thinks he's got everything down. The baby's going to need weekly, well, 'booster shots.' They knock your dad for a loop but the baby's white blood cell counts are already so much improved over this afternoon and his cramps died down."

"Except for the Russelling?" Kon asked, using his Aunt Karaism.

"That's because there's a trace amount of meteor rock in it."

Cass feigned confusion. "But Mr. Kent-"

"He and Kon are very sensitive to the meteor rocks. It's why he always got sick in your mother's studio."

Cass frowned. "I didn't know mutants could be allergic, but if it gives out superfun powers and cancer, I'm not really surprised that the meteor rocks can make Kon and Mr. Kent sick."

His mom, jaw clenched, nodded. "It's all reactions, but he'll be better in a few hours, or so Emil thinks, and it's only for the next two months. It's a pain, but he'll manage."

"And I thought morning sickness was a pain," Cass said. "Oh, wait. That sounded bitchy."

Chloe laughed. "It's alright. It's refreshing, very Lois of you." Chlo surprised him a little then by reaching out with her other hand to take his. "Thank you for coming."

"Well The Batman was pretty adamant on it," Cass added.

"Of course, I'd come," Kon replied. "I...do we get to stay?"

"As long as you want, a stor , as long as you want."

12 Weeks

Kon wasn't happy.

It had been a month of transfusions for his father and, so far, his little sister (they'd found out the sex last week) was healthy. She was still smaller than Dr. Emil would have liked, but she was developing healthily, and the cramps weren't happening. His dad still looked peaked once a week after the transfusions, still threw up a lot as a reaction to his mom's blood-more or less-in his system, but the baby was doing well and that was what mattered.

Visiting Jax in Boston had been sidelined because Emil had put his dad off of traveling and he'd been serving as Kon's escort. In fact, Emil had ordered a severe reduction in most of his dad's activities. He was still allowed to go to the Planet (if he drove or had Kara take him), but he was already down to three days a week at most. It evened out a bit. Grandma had come home from D.C. and was home on leave for sickness in the family. Officially, his father had a form of cancer, which wasn't far off considering he had a growth, just not a tumorous kind. It gave Grandma Martha a lot of time to be home and to be fattening his father up, which, between the transfusions and the (dwindling) morning sickness, he didn't seem to be doing.

Chloe was hoping it'd pick up now that at least the morning sickness seemed to be passing.

Kon didn't know how that would work out. He'd rather his dad never showed, if he could avoid it, but that seemed unlikely, judging by the pics his Aunt Kara had smuggled from the first pregnancy.

It wasn't that he was mad about.

It was the fact that he was being followed.

Kon's hearing was always more sensitive than his dad or his aunt's, so it became fairly apparent to him that he was being watched. From the cadence of the footfalls and rhythm of the heart, he had the distinct impression that he was being tailed by The Batman, himself. He bet fucking Chloe had asked for it.

It had kept him from visiting with his mother for weeks. He'd been able to send an e-mail to her account-he could hack well enough to keep stuff from being traceable and he'd sent it from a public library in Peoria-but he'd not been able to make time from school or ditch his uncle without suspicion.

God bless the Lanterns-and his parents knew more aliens than he'd have thought, even this woman with honest to God wings-who had a mission off planet that for whatever reason had required his uncle's services. At least, that's what he'd gathered from Chloe's shop talk and with the fact that the omnipresent heartbeat hadn't resounded in his ears in two days helped him do the math.

Things were finally breaking his way. Jax was coming by the farm tonight. They were having a big family meeting because Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy had finally decided how to broach the subject of Alura getting a new cousin. Part of it included the same cover story of Uncle "Kal" the meteor mutant was pregnant, and part of it included the special surprise that Alura was about to have a brand new older "cousin" from Boston to get to know.

Big wonderful deal.

So he put The Torch to bed early, pawning Cass off on Gerald helped with that, and had finally slipped into the mansion's gate. If Cass was going to rat on him, he'd just go around her. Just because things were moving quickly at Kent Farm didn't mean that he wanted to quit getting to know his mother.

Lex met him at the door.

That surprised Kon a little. "How did you know?"

"Mansion cameras, extremely useful. Would you like to come in or still stand agape outside?"

"I just...I didn't expect you to be home."

"I work from home occasionally, and I enjoy being able to keep abreast of what happens in my hometown. Connor, come in. We've missed you."

Kon swallowed, "That's very friendly of you."

Lex nodded as he walked with him into the main office. His mother was sitting there and she immediately got up to hug him. Kon had missed that feeling. "Connor, what caused the change of heart?"

He smiled a bit nervously and sat down, gratefully accepting a drink of bottled water from Lex. "I've been followed. I stopped coming because Cass wouldn't cover for me with my parents if I did, but I think that The Batman has been following me."

"Chloe always had the most interesting associates. Your father too, but I am still guessing that this was her doing," his mother spat.

"I think so. I haven't seen him, but I hear him and the heartbeat's the same. We've met a few times before."

His mother frowned. "You can memorize heartbeats too?"

"Well it's not something I like to do, but I focus on Chloe's sometimes if my hearing goes wonky. It helps me when my powers act up."

His mother's face pinched up. "I see."

He back peddled. "It's how I learned. I...does that bother you?"

"Not at all, Connor," she replied. "But you've been tailed. What makes today different?"

"He's off planet doing something with the League. I got paroled today."

"And you made a direct path here. I'm flattered," Lex replied.

Kon nodded but sat back in his chair. Lex made him nervous, that much was true. Talking about the nightmares he'd had as a kid with Cass had made some of them resurface and he'd had one just last week, the kind with needles. For his own good or not, it had been traumatizing.

"I just...I didn't want you to think that I was avoiding you. If The Batman found out, he'd tell Chloe and then she'd kill me."

"Because I'm Satan," Lex drolled.

"Maybe, but it's also been chaotic because of the blood transfusions and now Cassie is all part of the family and she's going over nursery patterns with Chloe and it's a lot."

Lex's focus narrowed in on him. "Cassie?"

"Oh, she works with me at The Torch. I've known her since we were like eight."

"And she merely takes the pregnant alien bit in stride?"

"It's Smallville and she, um, thinks we're all just one big happy mutant family, which is close enough, you know? But she stopped covering for me at The Torch, and I couldn't be here."

His mom pursed her lips. "And Clark just let you tell your girlfriend about him?"

"Oh no, we're not dating. I'd never be that lucky."

Kon slammed his mouth shut, realizing that he'd said too much. It was pretty embarrassing to mention he was nursing a crush. He liked his mom but they were still so formal with each other, and even the kangaroo and Chloe had no idea he felt that way about Cass. He was hoping they thought he was still in the "girls are yucky" phase and that dad never gave him the talk again or even part of it. The living proof of what sex brought to El men was enough to turn him off even if the threat of shattering bones hadn't.

Lex chuckled. "Now this seems like familiar territory, but Cassie is in the Kent Cabal."

"Basically, she knows enough to be excited for the shower, ugh," Kon replied, trying to side-step. Cass was, well, she was Cassand she was private. She really didn't even cause him stress. It was more that sometimes he didn't know how to read her, but he figured normal completely human guys felt that way at his age too. He just...well he never talked about her with anyone.

"Shower?" his mom asked.

"Yeah, um, but that's a while and it's more like Aunt Kara and Aunt Lois trying to outdo each other on present buying, but really, it's just been busy."

"I could imagine. You mentioned transfusions?" Lex prodded.

Kon shifted in his chair. This was family business but his mother was technically part of the family. It wasn't completely wrong to share this and watching his dad be so sick and taking extra chores around the farm over the last month had been stressful and Lana and Lex said they just wanted to listen.

"I don't know if I should talk about it."

His mother smiled. "Sweetheart, if it's been bothering you..."

"Well, it hasn't, really, it's just been tense, not because anyone's mad or upset, but just because dad's been pretty sick and my little sister too."

"Why?" his mother asked.

"Meteor mutant and Kryptonian don't mix very well. We're giving dad all these injections that are like adapted from Chloe's blood to bolster the baby's immune system and powers until she's old enough, but the traces of Green K leave dad pretty woozy. It's like a whole mess."

"That does sound quite stressful and with being followed, like some kind of criminal," Lex countered.

"I don't like having The Bat on me but mostly cause I can't come here."

Lex considered that. "I think something can be arranged."

"Not when the world's best detective is on your trail."

"I'll set up a dummy e-mail account, have one of my technician's do it in case Chloe tries a hack of her own. There are ways to keep the League busy, you know."

Kon frowned. "Not like crime spree busy, right?"

He laughed. "Of course not, but every superhero has a day job, don't they? Your parents obviously do."

Kon kept his expression neutral. "I wouldn't know about The Batman. I have no idea what his secret identity is. Um, even if I wanted to know, his cowl is lead."

"So you were curious?"

"I had a migraine once in the Watchtower," he lied. "All I know is Aunt Kara, my dad, and Chloe, not exactly a great bastion of knowledge."

"Oh," Lex replied, handing him another bottle of water. "I wouldn't dismiss yourself like that, not at all."

Kon didn't stay too long at the mansion. He didn't think it would work out so well. If he didn't come home fairly soon for the great family meeting then his parents would worry. Worrying meant questions and also meant that Chloe would start getting even more suspicious and, at that point, he would be just as well to put a big neon sign around his neck that said "Yes! I am hanging out with the Luthors!" Thus, Kon returned to the little yellow farm house and he found a party going on inside.

His grandmother was off with Grandpa Lionel in Washington. He was helping her to clear out the last of the things from her office while she was home to take care of his dad. But it was still bustling. His aunt, uncle, and nine year old cousin were sitting in the living room when he blurred in and Chloe was sitting in the old rocking chair.

Kon frowned. "I thought we were missing people."

"We were totally missing you," Aunt Kara said. "But you seem to have popped right in just fine."

"Dad?"

Chloe smiled, one of those too bright smiles. "He's just feeling a little bit tired from yesterday. He'll come down when Jax gets here."

Alura looked up from where she was reading a tatter copy of Little Women and smiled. Kon laughed because it made the glasses (Uncle Jimmy's contribution) slip off her nose a little. "Kon!"

Despite himself and his frustrations, Kon smiled. He really did like his little cousin. Blurring over to the sofa, he leaned over and hugged her. "Hey, 'Lur, how are you doing?"

"I'm on page 397. I'm reading it the slow way cause it's more challenging. Plus, I run out of books less."

"That sounds nice."

"Alura's already the class reading leader," his uncle beamed proudly.

"It's only October. There's tons of time to catch up."

"It's almost the end, Kon," Alura explained as if it were self evident.

"So I stand corrected. You know if you want, I have some old Hardy Boys and Goosebumps in the at-"

He was interrupted by someone much louder apparating in the middle of the living room, someone with snow flakes coating his sandy hair and a loud mouth. "Did you know it's snowing already this year? I hate winter. The coe-eds always wear fluffy overcoats which are not sex...hey, I thought it was just going to be a guy thing," Jax said, covering his tracks.

Jimmy scowled at him. "Alura's nine."

"I'm sorry. I thought I was making up for missing time with the squirt. I forget sometimes there's an even smaller yet gestated squirt around."

Alura, in the mean time, had dropped her book. "Wow, you're fast like mommy!"

"I need more practice for that," Jax said, smiling and kneeling in front of her. He even took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. "I'm Jax. I'm a friend of your Uncle Clark's."

"Kal," she corrected as he leaned back. "Mommy always calls him Kal cause it's the better name."

Jax laughed. "Clark is pretty boring, isn't it?"

"Definitely. You're fast."

"I'm a lot of things, princess."

Alura squinted back at him. "I didn't know there other grown-ups like mommy and Uncle Kal."

"I'm not really a grown-up," Jax replied. "I'm still in college, but there is me. My dad was from the same place your mom and uncle are."

Alura's eyes were huge. "So you can do everything I can do?"

He grinned. "And more and, yeah, I know a lot of the Krypton stories."

"I like those."

Kara grinned and Kon had to smile and his uncle placed his hand over her mouth. "They've very nice stories," he continued.

"Much better than those stupid elves in Middle Earth, lots!" Alura agreed.

Jax laughed again and sat down on the trunk. "I like her, Kara."

Aunt Kara sighed after his uncle took his hand away from her face. Her expression was muted, her eyes downcast. "You could have visited some time in the last nine years."

Running a hand through his hair, Jax eyed the rest of the room. "I couldn't. Hell, um, heck my mom has no idea I'm here now. I just...Clark said it was very important."

Kon looked back at Chloe who was scowling. He still didn't quite understand Jax's family, but whatever his mom had done in the past, it had left Chloe very upset. He figured it had to be the Blue K in addition to all of Mary Donovan's rules, but he still didn't get what all the fuss was over something that made Kryptonians more normal. Power glitches or not, it seemed like a good deal to Kon.

"I did," his dad said, walking human speed down the stairs.

Aunt Kara stood up and cleared a seat on the couch for him. "Kal?"

His dad shrugged and eased himself down. He was pale and looked a little clammy, but it was a vast improvement from him spending most of yesterday sick in bed. Kon was glad they were halfway done the tadpole's transfusions.

"I'm good."

Alura was on him in a second. "Uncle Kal! I never see you!"

And that was true, at least to an extent. Alura hadn't been around lately because dad had been pretty sick and no one had yet figured out how to explain why.

His dad settled her in his lap and kissed her crown. "You do see me. I saw you when you visited the Planet two weeks ago."

"But we never hang out. You're more fun to go flying with."

His aunt had to snort. "It's because he's less reliable, like a bumpy roller coaster."

"So," Jax said and he was looking toward the door. "Is there a reason it's a big old family and me meeting."

"You're included in the first part," his dad reminded. "Yeah, I thought you'd like to be here for the details."

"Details?"

Chloe shook her head. "I have good news and bad news."

"Bad news first," Jax replied automatically.

"It's a girl."

Jax smiled. "Congrats man. That's pretty awesome. I mean, either way you'd be chasing off potential S.O.'s with a stick. Chloe, I'm sure she'll be gorgeous." Thinking better on it, he added. "What's the bad news? 'Jackson' can be a nice name for a chick."

"Over my dead body," his dad said and there was a drawn out silence that Kon hated. The baby was the one sick so far. It wasn't his dad. It wouldn't be.

"Kal," his aunt said quietly. "Poor word choice."

His dad nodded. "Jackson is not a girl's name."

"Could be!"

Alura was looking from one of them to the next. "I'm confused. Is Aunt Chloe pregnant?"

Aunt Kara looked at his dad and slipped into Kryptonian when she spoke. Kon hadn't really started picking it up until Kara'd taught him at ten. It was a way to talk around Alura. "You're sure?"

His dad nodded. "I think she's gonna notice eventually." Looking back down at Alura, he stroked her cheek. "Alura, Aunt Chloe's not pregnant."

"But Aunt Chloe said there was a baby."

His dad nodded and looked straight into her inquisitive blue eyes. "There is."

"Are you adopting?"

"No, Alura," Aunt Kara added. "Uncle Kal's pregnant."

Alura, in all her nine year old wisdom, just laughed. "Men don't have the babies!"

Kon rolled his eyes and muttered to no one in particular. "That's what I keep saying."


	24. Chapter 24

24

The stars were bright.

They always were in the country.

Clark leaned back in the porch swing and watched the stars above him. Some nights, he could almost recapture the awe he felt as a little kid or even in middle school, back when he'd wanted to be an astronaut. Irony was on him. He already had traveled through more of the universe by the time he was three than any human ever would or, hell, would even realize had existed. Most nights, even now, he hated them. They caused nothing but trouble. Kon was being pissy with all of them over that alien side of himself. Clark reached down and stroked his stomach. He hadn't done anything but lose weight since his pregnancy had started. It was hard to keep anything down with weekly transfusions of Chloe's blood. The small traces of Green Kryptonite in his system left him weak and sick.

He needed to do better.

If he could get through the next four weeks, he might be able to gain something, to keep the nutrients in his system that the baby needed.

She was only sick because he wasn't...because he was an alien and rejecting her.

Clark closed his eyes and let the swing move back and forth, listened the creak of the barely oiled chain. He opened his eyes when someone small sat down on his lap.

"Alura."

"Uncle Kal," she beamed before squinting down at his stomach. She couldn't X-ray anything yet-she was far too little-but he figured she was still trying to find where the baby was. He wasn't exactly showing.

"Hey, sweetheart. Are you leaving soon?"

She nodded. "Daddy has an early shift at the Planet, but I wanted to say good-bye."

"That was polite of you."

"I try," she replied, her tone earnest. Alura looked just like Kara but was as polite and quiet as Jimmy. It was probably for the best. That many Kryptonians running around with Kara's huge ego couldn't be a good thing. "I'm sorry."

He frowned. "What for?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't believe you about the baby."

"Well it's a bit of a surprise. I know not everyone's uncle gets pregnant."

She laughed sweetly. "None that I know of, but Smallville's pretty special like Aunt Chloe and Aunt Lois write about."

"It is."

"And this is like our speed or how well mom can fly."

"I can fly."

She grinned, "It's so fun, but you're bumpy. This is just another thing and I think that's okay."

"You do?"

She nodded. "It's okay, you know, even if Kon's being a jerk about it."

"I didn't say he was."

"He's snippy. Mommy says that he's an as-"

Clark clamped a hand over her mouth. "Your dad wouldn't like it if you said that."

She waited for him to remove his hand before continuing. "I'm nine, not three. It's not like we don't have cable. But mommy says Kon's been mean to you."

"Kon's trying to adjust to everything. It's hard. I think he's used to being the youngest."

" I'm the youngest," she protested.

"Yes, but Kon's used to being pretty spoiled by me and Aunt Chloe. I think it's hard because he's going to be a big brother now."

Alura frowned. "I'm not stupid."

"I didn't say you were." In fact, Alura was as bright as any Kryptonian would have been. That coupled with her love of all things geek-from ham radio to the Sci-Fi channel-made her seem like a perfect nerd in training, a nerd who'd easily be 5'10 and blonde, that kind of mythical nerd.

"Then I know he's upset cause you're the one having the baby and not Aunt Chloe."

Clark sighed. He needed a dumber niece. "That's how Kon got here."

"Not me."

He shook his head. "No, you came from your mom. Your dad, you know he's like Aunt Lois or Uncle Perry."

"He doesn't have abilities."

"No, he doesn't."

"Does that mean Kon and Jax can have babies?"

He laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. "I don't think so. Jax and Kon's moms don't have powers either. They're half normal."

"Mom says Kon's half squirrel."

"She shouldn't say that and you shouldn't repeat that to him. I just meant that I don't think Kon and Jax are exactly like me. I mean, you know your mom and I aren't telekinetic."

Alura considered that. "So Kon won't have to?"

"I doubt it. Besides, he's fourteen. I'd kill him. This is just for grownups."

"And when you get married. I know. Mom tells me that all the time."

Clark frowned. "She what?"

Alura rolled her eyes. "I'm nine. There's no stork."

"Oh jeez," Clark replied blushing.

"There was a special speech in class. We had one about drugs and then the other one. You know, the birds and the bees, one."

"You're nine!"

"It's an early education thing. Besides, it's just biology. You see when you-"

"I know how it works."

Alura nodded and looked down at his stomach. "I think so, but after the speech, mommy took me home and made me promise not to try anything until after I got married cause that's how it works, like with her and daddy."

"Traditionally," Clark said, trying not to blush. He'd always had a habit of doing everything completely ass-backwards. It embarrassed him that he'd let things get so far between him and Lana, that he'd been so stupid to take her at her word about her birth control. It wasn't that he regretted Kon, that could never happen. It was more that he wished he could tell Kon that he'd been planned from the start and that he loved Lana.

Once upon a time, he really thought he had, and Kon had just been early.

But neither of those truths had really ameliorated his son's attitude.

Alura frowned. "Aunt Chloe's not a squirrel."

Clark shook his head and stroked her hair. "Your mom talks too much."

"Sometimes, but that's why Aunt Chloe's sad. It's not because of the baby; it's because Kon's so mad and because he learned about the squirrel."

"Her name is Lana and she might not be a very nice person, but you can't make fun of her, cause that's saying bad things about Kon."

"But he's being mean."

"He's confused."

"He's mean."

Clark sighed and kissed her temple. "He'll learn. Alura, it's just hard. Do you remember when you started kindergarten in Granville?"

Inquisitive blue eyes looked back at his. "A little. That was because that's where all the reservation kids go."

"Do you remember how upset you were when you figured out the Kawatchee couldn't move things with their mind or weren't superstrong?"

Alura looked out at the stars, as if she knew more than she actually did. "I wanted to be more like them."

"That's how Kon feels. He's just upset right now and he wants things to be normal."

"Dad says they can't be, but that's okay cause he likes me and mommy the way we are."

"And he really does."

"Aunt Lois loves all of us and she's normal and Grandma Martha."

"Yup, but sometimes it's just hard. Kon will get over it. One day when you're in high school, you might even feel the same way. You know it's hard having powers."

"Maybe or maybe he just doesn't want to have babies."

Clark shook his head as she hopped off his lap. Kara and Jimmy had just come through the front door. Smiling, Clark watched her run right into Jimmy's arm, her velocity bowling him over a little as she ran.

"Daddy!"

"Princess," Jimmy replied, picking her up and settling her on his hip. "Clark, hey, how are you?"

"Fine."

"Was Alura bugging you?" Clark could tell that the phrase "while you're in a delicate condition" was just on the tip of Jimmy's tongue. The other man was just polite enough not to mention it.

"Nah, we were just talking."

"Kon's a squirrel!" Alura chimed.

Kara turned scarlet. "Kal, I didn't say that."

"Sure you didn't. Cool it with the Lana-bashing. You might have turned out to be a total witch to Kon, but she's still his bio mom and it really hurts him when people speak badly about her."

"He should be upset every time he calls Chloe 'Chloe,'" Kara snapped.

"I know, but I just don't want anyone to get into the habit of insulting Lana. Love her or hate her-"

"And I prefer to loathe her," Kara corrected.

"But Kon can't help that Lana and I, you know."

"Lived together," Jimmy said, floundering for something close to an age appropriate euphemism to say around Alura.

"And they had-" Alura tried to add.

"Kon can't help that, so just lay off Lana. I don't think the rejection goes any easier if you vilify her, Kara."

She snorted. "With kidnapping and radiation poisoning on her resume, it's not hard to make her the bad guy, Kal."

"I know that, but just try for me, would you?"

"Will do, CK," Jimmy said, readjusting Alura on his hip. "We have a long drive back to the city. Kara?"

"That's the way to keep me from talking more, isn't it?"

"You're not always tactful, honey."

"That's just not saying true stuff and I'll totally pass," she replied, leaning over and squeezing his shoulder. "Don't stay out in the cold too long."

"It doesn't feel cold to me."

"Well, the baby's half not cold-blooded," she reminded him. "Take care of my little niece before we do the name thing next weekend."

Alura brightened, "That's so cool. I can't wait!"

"Um," Clark hedged. "It's a permanent, forever name, sweetheart. Think really hard on it."

"I'll come up with something," she chirped as Jimmy carried her down the stairs and out toward his Accord. "Night Uncle Kal."

"Night!" He called, watching as the three of them drove out of sight. Sometimes, superspeed wasn't always the most practical or comfortable, but the two or so hour drive could be a bitch.

"You know," another voice drawled. "She really is a cute kid. I had no idea Kara could make someone so completely not self-centered."

Clark looked up and eyed Jax. "Yeah, she's a good kid."

"Perceptive. I was listening."

"You know, we're not actually supposed to abuse our superhearing."

"I was standing on the other side of the porch. I didn't even have to open up my ears."

"I feel so popular. Everyone wants to see me."

Jax nodded and leaned against the porch railing directly in front of Clark, obscuring his view of the stars. "Alura's sensitive. I can tell that just from meeting her. I guess that's a Jimmy thing."

"Perhaps. Kara's like a bull elephant."

"Agreed, but we both wanted to see how you are."

"Right as rain," he replied, leaning back in his seat. "I'm good."

"You look like shit."

"Well you cut to the chase."

"Clark, I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Clearly, I can't believe you had a thong on my door the same day you knew Kon would be visiting. You'll give him ideas."

"He's fourteen, he's already had ideas. He definitely knows by now that he wasn't from the cabbage patch."

"I wish it had been that simple."

"Don't we all. I'm sorry I forgot about my conquest."

"Charming."

Jax shrugged. "It was mutually fun."

"Don't you ever get tired of just having fun?"

"I'm 23, not forty, Clark."

"I know, I was just-"

"Married by the time you were my age. I know, but not everyone is like you."

"Jax, you know that not everything turns out like your mom and dad."

Jax's posture went rigid. "Everything is not about my mom."

"I didn't-"

"You implied it. I'm a college guy. I'm having a great time."

"Technically your the grad student administrator. Don't you think you're a little old to be, um..." Clark trailed off because there weren't any nice words to describe it.

"Whoring it up?"

"That's awful."

"I'm not easy. I'm just having fun."

Clark sighed and laid on hand over his stomach. "I'm sorry I always come off sounding like your dad."

"Well, he's not here. You know I always appreciate some advice, but it's not exactly your place."

"Yeah, but I just...I want you to be happy."

Jax smirked and forced his tone to pick up a bit of a leer. "You should see my PDA."

Clark nodded and let it drop. He and Jax had a stalemate on that front. Maybe he was just too old fashioned and like his dad, but he couldn't help but think that Jax wasn't as happy as he claimed. "Maybe."

"You'd do well on the campus front. Monica and Kelsey thought you were hot."

"Married."

"Knocked up," Jax added. "You'd never know you were old."

"36, not dead."

"I know, I was just thinking."

"Perry's polite enough not to mention anything to me or to Chloe, and the rest of the bullpen is too busy on a deadline to care or, like Cat, they figure it's luck or work done."

Jax nodded. "Are we like that?"

Clark quirked his head at him. "What?"

"Well, I know Chloe heals and can't be killed, as far as we know."

"She came too damn close when Alura and Kon were born."

"Point, but I know she's pretty powerful. I just...I know dad had been here since the 1840s, at least. I guess what I'm getting at is the you know."

"Are you, Kon, and Alura immortal because of the Kryptonian side?"

"It sounds stupid when you say it out loud. No one lives forever. My dad didn't, even if he had invulnerability on his side."

"No, I guess no one lives forever. We all get our close calls, but you meant if you'd not age like normal."

"You don't."

He nodded, "I don't think so, no."

"My dad definitely didn't. He looked really good for like 170."

"Or older."

"I was rounding."

"I dunno. I honestly have no idea. I wouldn't bet against it, but you could be more human than you think. It's all a waiting game. It, uh, doesn't always suck still getting carded."

Jax laughed. "I was just curious. It's not the worst thing ever."

"But it'll be hard."

The other man shrugged. "What isn't? I was just thinking about it, is all. Maybe planning out hypothetically what I'd do a hundred year from now."

"Prospect?"

"Hardly. Clark, we've established I'm not eight years old anymore."

"Really? I swear even though I know better, I sometimes expect to go to your dorm and see the littler version."

"Nope, not eight."

"I get it, so less lectures about how you spend Friday nights."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I meant, you don't have to pretend everything's going to be okay around me. You don't have to protect me from stuff."

"Who said I was?"

"You're sick."

"Everyone knows that. It's just transfusions because meteor infected and Kryptonian don't exactly mix."

Jax narrowed his eyes at him. "Define 'don't exactly mix.'"

"I'm going to be fine."

"Like you and Kara were the last two times? Or even better off?"

"Chloe can fix anything and Dr. Hamilton thinks that we don't need that many weeks of transfusions before she can fight off my immune system on her own."

"But you'll just keep losing breakfast, lunch, and dinner until then. You do know you look like crap, right?"

"There's the concern I was hoping for," Clark drolled.

"It's obvious you're sick. I just keep asking if there's something I can do to make it easier. I can be serious once in a while. Ask Dick Grayson, I can even be useful."

"I know. I just don't want to put pressure on you."

"You mean you're worried I'll try something stupid filling in for 'The Ghost' and my powers will go wonky. The TK never flickers, you know."

"I don't want to put any pressure on you. You have school and you have the Titans. Don't worry about it."

"I'd like to help. I owe you."

Clark sighed. Clark owed Jax. He'd always owe him for accidentally leading Brainiac to Dax-Ur, for getting Jax's father killed. It was something he lived with every day and kept trying to atone for. He just never wanted Jax to start blaming him for it. He didn't really deserve the kid's trust.

"You can help me by keeping up with Kon. I think he needs someone to talk to still and Alura's just too young."

"Plus she's out of the phone home loop."

"There is that. I just feel if Kon has someone he can turn to about the Krypton stuff, he'd do better. I mean, you don't mind having a tag along every week or so, do you?"

"Never. The squirt's a brat these days, but I don't have a lot of people who can related to having phenomenal cosmic powers in my life. I just wanted you to know if you need help with Metropolis, I'm here."

"Kara's got handle on it. So do Andrea and Chloe. If I get desperate, Bruce can be pried from Gotham."

"Bruce is a dick."

"But he can be counted on in a pinch. I don't want to bother you."

"Sometimes people want to be bothered. Okay, maybe not so much, but you get the gist. I'm not some helpless little kid anymore."

Except Jax was. If anything happened to him, if his powers glitched in the middle of something catastrophic and he died, Clark would never forgive himself.

"I'll consider it. I think you're doing fine with the Titans."

"Thanks."

"No, you're really doing some good things there and on campus. Your dad would be proud of you."

Jax didn't smile, but he stood taller, stopped slouching. "You think?"

Clark didn't know, honestly. He didn't know Dax-Ur well and what he had known about him...clearly superheroing wasn't on Dax-Ur's priority list. But he knew how he and Kara felt about Jax.

So he lied.

He was could at that.

"I know. So, now you know that there are plans in place and I'll be feeling better soon. No worries."

"Don't fake a smile for me, Clark. No one hates pretending shit more than I do. I'm here."

"And I appreciate that," Clark countered. "You know, that's a lot of offers for someone who doesn't consider himself a Kent."

"Or an El?"

Clark sighed and patted his stomach. "I still think of myself as a Kent first. I'm always going to."

"Well I'm a Donovan. It's your family; I just borrow it."

"Jax-"

"It's cool, man."

"There aren't many of us anywhere."

Jax eyed the skyline and didn't speak for a wile. "Believe me, I realize that."

"Then we're all family."

"Very Disney of you. It's fine. I just...I want to make sure you and the baby are going to be okay."

"We will be. I'm going to make sure of it."

"And you won't mention to my mom I was ever here, right?"

"I thought you were an adult now."

"I am. It's easier if mom doesn't know about the Krypton stuff. There are less fights. So, I'll see you in a week. You and Kon, maybe watch some football or something?"

"Of course, Jax, and thanks."

"Sure, Clark, even if it's in a hundred years, I'd be here."

The porcelain of the toilet felt like heaven. Granted, Clark might have lowered his standards a little since the transfusions started, but leaning up against the side of the bowl, letting his temple rest against the stone, he felt infinitely better. He also felt better with his bowl of cereal on its way to the Smallville reservoir.

"Kill me now."

"Dad?"

Clark sighed and looked up, surprised a little to see Kon standing in the doorway. "I thought you had school."

"It's a Saturday."

"No it's not."

"Yeah, it is. You just lose track cause you've been out sick from work."

"Your mom is at work."

"At the 'Tower," Kon corrected. "She had something she wanted to go over with Uncle Ollie and Uncle Bruce."

"You might know the alter egos," he corrected, chewing back his nausea. "But we always use codenames when we talk about each other. You never know who might overhear. Besides, some of the newer members don't know anything but the alter egos."

"Wait, so some of them don't even know that the Batman is-"

"Nope. Mostly the people who know everything are from the old days when Oliver started it up and Bruce, of course. He can find out anything."

"Yeah, well, after you passed out this morning, Chloe went to deal in business. Do you know how weird it is to see her waiting in the kitchen for Aunt Kara in a cowl?"

Clark sighed and leaned against the toilet. He wasn't in the mood for a teenage rant. "I can imagine."

"No, it was so weird."

"No, I meant I get it," Clark replied, quietly burping. "The first time your mom tried on a costume...I never thought she'd insist on going all out as Fawkes. I still never believe it when I see that."

"She looks a little like the Batman."

"Don't tell her that. She just happens to think kevlar over leather is a good idea."

Kon nodded. "Do all superheroes spend their weekends Ralphing?"

"Just the intimidating ones."

His son entered and sat down on the rim of the tub. "Dad, can I get you anything?"

"You're being nice?"

Kon's expression darkened. "You don't have to act like it's never happened before."

"I'm just surprised. You've been in such a snit the last moth or so, I thought you'd forgotten how to be nice."

"If you don't want the help, I'll just go to The Talon or Cass's."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't...I'm glad you're coming around," he said, propping himself up and leaning against the medicine cabinet. "Kon, I feel like we haven't talked enough lately. You've been spending time with Cassie or working late at The Torch-"

Kon's heart sped up a fraction. "I know."

"I know this has all been a lot on you-Krypton, your little sister, Lana."

"Understatement."

"I'm sorry it's been rough. I never wanted to start fighting with you."

"I gotcha."

"Connor," Clark started, pausing as he gathered his thoughts. "I really am sorry about Lana. It doesn't make me happy that she didn't want anything to do with you."

"I thought you were busy burning her in effigies," he snapped.

"It's not that I'm not relieved. Lana's dangerous."

Kon stilled. "That sounds more like you."

"But I know you wanted to get to know her, and I wasn't...if she'd said yes to meeting with you in the Watchtower, your mom and I wouldn't have stopped you."

"No, you'd just have had Aunt Kara and that chick in the star-spangled outfit threaten her"

"Diana, and we were going to take precautions, yes. I know you're trying to figure out where you fit in, now that you know who we really are."

"What," Kon spat.

Automatically, Clark clutched his stomach. "No who , and I know that Lana was a part of that. I didn't want her to dismiss you exactly."

"Just be in a safe little box so I can visit her under lock and key."

"Yes, but just because Lana turned her back on you. You still have your family, and the League, and even Jax now."

"I know. I'm sorry she turned out to suck too," Kon said, his heart still racing.

Clark hated that it was such a sensitive topic for him.

"I just wish things could go back to how they were. The fighting and the tension, I want it to just stop."

Kon nodded. "It's hard. I can't promise anything."

"But today you're feeling charitable?"

"You look terrible," Kon countered.

"Everyone says that lately," Clark replied.

"I feel fine."

"That's why all your breakfast is gone down the drain and you're practically green."

"Maybe a little," Clark defended.

"Do you want to try crackers and soup?"

"No," he whined, leaning forward and placing his head in his hands. "I never want to eat again."

"You're thin. I thought being, you know, worked the other way around."

"I'm only about 12 weeks."

"And Chloe grumbles that you've lost weight. I think she's right."

"You're mom ," he corrected. "And if I have soup, you're right, it'll just end up back in here in an hour."

"Well it wouldn't hurt to try," Kon offered. "I'm mad you're pregnant."

"I noticed."

"But I'd be an ass if I wanted anything bad to happen to a helpless baby. So let's make sure neither of you starve, alright?"

"I like this version," Clark replied, letting his son pick him up off the floor; it wasn't a full carry but all his weight was definitely on Kon's shoulder. "Do you get to stay?"

"I dunno, let's just get you some chicken soup."

"Mr. Kent, you look great," Cass said, as she walked through the door. "Oh and presents," she added, handing him a plain brown grocery bag from Wal-Mart.

Clark shook his head as he took the bag from her. "Cassie, you're a very polite liar. The general consensus seems to be that I look a lot like crap."

Cassie glared at Kon and Clark had to smile at his son-the invulnerable Kryptonian telekinetic-shrinking in on himself. "You look wonderful, maybe a little woozy, but I don't know what people expect."

"Well, I've been a lot under the weather lately," he added honestly. "Kon's really surprised me today. His mom had to run late at the Planet and he was all over me about laying down and having soup. Imagine how surprised I was when he told me you were coming over for dinner."

"Is Mrs. Kent gonna be done with the paper in time?" she asked, hanging up her coat.

"She should be done with her assignment by now and on her way home, but, you're fortunate. That means I cooked. It's just spaghetti but Chloe's culinary sense isn't all that keen."

"I guess it wouldn't be," Cassie replied. "The dinner was my idea. Mrs. Kent came by The Torch to talk to me and well, I folded."

"You what?"

"Open the bag."

Clark frowned but did as he was told. Inside was a small stuffed duck and soft pink flannel blanket. "Oh that's very thoughtful. I'm sure Chloe's going to love it."

"I actually got it for you."

"I don't like the color pink."

Cassie grinned. "It's for the baby, Mr. Kent."

"Then Chloe's going to love it."

Cassie sighed. "Mr. Kent, I know ."

Clark smiled. "Of course you know. Chloe's really excited."

"Kon, you're dense!" Cassie called across the front hall. His son was in the kitchen, at the back burner, stirring the sauce.

"Wait, I'm confused."

Cassie quirked her head at him. "Mrs. Kent and Kon didn' tell you?"

"What?"

"I know you and Mrs. Kent are infected."

Clark stiffened. He didn't like for anyone to know about his family, not after what had happened with Kon as a baby. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Cassie snorted. "Look, I can make this like really fast. My dad and I make ice, which is not nearly as cool as Kon the telekinetic or Mrs. Kent, the healer, but probably cooler-at least for my dad-than being a pregnant guy."

"You what?"

"Card carrying meteor mutant, right here."

"I-"

"Come on, and you can bring the bag," she said and she reminded him of someone. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water from the tap. "Watch."

Clark, his heart still beating rapidly, focused on Cassie. She took one finger and touched the water's surface. As he kept staring, the water froze solid. "Whoa."

She rolled her eyes. "It's not that showy. Kon's is better."

"Kon's?"

"You never tell anyone anything, do you?" she said, slapping Kon on the back of the head, and putting a finger in the sauce. "Also," she said, bringing the dollop to her tongue. "That's a lot of garlic."

"I didn't cook it," Kon defended.

"Connor, what did you do?"

"Oh, no worries, Mr. Kent," Cassie replied as she started setting the table. "I've known about Kon having powers since we were in third grade. I'm a good secret keeper."

"No, but he wasn't supposed to-"

"And," Cassie continued, as if she hadn't heard him. "Mrs. Kent came over and we did the girl talk thing. It's how I admitted I knew she was basically Jesus and you were, you know, in a delicate condition. It's really not a big deal. Good dishes or plastic?"

"Um-"

"We'll do the plastic ones. The good stuff would look funny for spaghetti," she replied, moving at a nice clip and setting down the plate as well. "So, is Mrs. Kent at work or is she at, you know, 'work?'" she asked, making air quotes with her fingers in between putting down the silver ware.

"Work," Clark replied, feeling like his brain was moving in slow motion.

"Oh I mean like work as in the Daily Planet or work as in superhero moonlighting?"

"Connor Sullivan Kent, what's wrong with you?" Clark asked.

Kon's eyes widened and he gulped. "I didn't...Cass!"

Nonchalant, Cass rolled her eyes and set out some napkins. "Mrs. Kent told me the whole Fawkes deal on her own. She's very open about things."

Clark was just going to have to get a cone of silence for his whole family.

"So it's not Kon's fault?"

Cassie glanced at Kon and shrugged. "Nope, I just got the telekinetic vibe from him and maybe a little about abilities. Mrs. Kent really confirmed the vigilante bit."

"The League prefers 'hero' to 'vigilante.'"

"Of course it does," she chirped. "It's like the biggest urban legend running. Can you imagine how surprised I was when I realized it was real?"

"I...see the thing is..." Clark replied, floundering.

"Secret, I can't say anything or you'll have to kill me. I totally gotcha. Kon, noodles."

Clark looked back at his son. "She's bossy."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. So, seriously, do you think Chloe will be home soon."

"I'm surprised you're into the family dinner," Clark said, sitting down at the head of table and waiting patiently as Kon ladled out the plain spaghetti noodles. "No sauce. Spices are not very good for me right now."

"You made it," Kon countered.

"Your mom-"

"Chloe."

"Your mom likes it better that way," he said. "And she should be in any minute. It's not like she had patrol tonight."

Cassie beamed. "This is so cool."

Clark frowned. "It's actually a lot less glamorous than it sounds, lots of waiting around on rooftops and dirty back alleys."

"Still cool, and the whole family dinner thing was something Mrs. Kent and I cooked up, pardon the pun. I figured I might as well just-"

"Ingratiate yourself more into the family?" Clark asked.

"Well, I thought you knew I knew all the big Earth-shattering stuff, you know?"

"I'm gathering that," he said, biting into his noodles. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're a whirlwind?"

"Just my dad," she replied, digging into the garlic bread that Kon had also set out. "So, you say it's all alleys and stake outs. Mrs. Kent must really like it though. I mean, there have been rumors about Fawkes forever, like going back ten or twelve years, easy."

Clark blinked. Cass hadn't mentioned The Ghost. "There are other people out in Metropolis."

"Oh yeah," she said, talking as she ate. "The Angel and The Ghost. I guess they must be real too, huh?"

Clark eyed Kon, who just shrugged over his plate. "Might be. No one can even agree on The Ghost. Way I hear it, none of the eye witnesses reports match."

"Still, the whole thing is just...I'm kind of in awe. I never thought the League was the real deal. It's so quiet. I mean, that Bat-Dude isn't, but half the time, no one buys into the vigil...caped crusader stuff."

"That's how we like it," Chloe replied, entering in through the back door.

Cassie looked at her with her jeans and simple striped cotton shirt and frowned. "Oh."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't wear the kevlar to dinner. It's not really feasible."

"I wasn't-"

"You were," she replied, sitting down next to Clark. "It's a civvies only policy. It's not as exciting as you'd think."

"Everyone says that."

Kon shrugged. "It's not like Chloe and...it's not like Chloe advertised it. I had no clue."

"Until you went to work day. I got it."

"Yeah," Kon said, looking at the table cloth. "I didn't know a lot of things."

Clark sighed but ignored the opening. "So, Chloe, Cassie just got the nicest blanket for the baby."

Chloe nodded as she dug into her dinner. "Thanks, that's sweet but we haven't even planned the shower yet, although Kara and Lois are anxious to outdo each other this year."

"Ooh, I can help. I totally planned my cousin Mina's."

Kon's grip on his fork intensified and Clark noticed it bend. He was putting in the effort because Cassie had been bugging him. Clark wondered if Kon helping him up this morning and the soup had been genuine of if it was an outgrowth of his best friend's nagging. "That's nice, Cass."

"Yeah, um, great," Clark added, still unsure of how to read his son.

"And you're due when?" Cassie asked.

"March," he replied, glancing at Cassie. It was just odd to be so open about everything.

"Nice, that's a lot of time."

"For what?" he asked.

"To get bigger, make a nursery, that sort of stuff."

"Uh, sure," he replied. "I've been a little under the weather lately."

"That sucks. I'm sure you'll get better. Right, Kon?"

"Yeah."

"See, much better. So, Mrs. Kent, I'm dying to know how work was..."

Clark lay down on the mattress and shook his head at his wife. "That was a long three hours."

As she finished shucking off her shirt and folding it into a drawer, Chloe sighed. "How was it long? Because Kon said about five words every time Cassie coached him or was it because you looked like she'd just streaked in front of you the whole time."

"Chlo!"

"Well, you seemed pretty shocked."

"I didn't know Kon was blurting family secrets to his best friend. Does Gerald know?"

"Cassie knows cause she's like Connor."

Clark sighed and patted his painfully flat stomach. "Chlo, no one's like Connor. I mean, if you forget Jax and Alura."

"You don't trust her?"

"She's known Kon was telekinetic since they were eight and hasn't said a word."

"I just..it's hard having everyone know. I wasn't expecting Kon's friend to know and to, well-"

"Roll with it?"

"Nice change of pace. You think we can just adopt her? Kon's a lot more pleasant with her around."

"I noticed that. I think she's a good influence on him. Ooh, and she's interested in the JLA."

"She's fourteen."

"Long term. I like her."

Clark sighed. "If she says anything..."

"Kon trusts her and so do I. You told me, Pete, and Lana."

"Look how well that turned out."

"Pete and I turned out okay," she countered. "You're just put out because she was planning the baby shower."

"She was hinting strongly," he corrected. "I just hate when new people know. I love our kids, and there are parts of going through this that are...well..." he trailed off. He never wanted to rub in the fact that Chloe couldn't do what he could.

"They're amazing. I know."

"Yeah, but it's not all it's cracked up to be," he reminded, wrapping his arms around her. "I just hope we can trust her."

"If she hasn't said anything in six years, I doubt she's going to."

"True. Maybe it's that she knows ."

Chloe laughed and snuggled in closer to him. "I'm sure she'll still find you suitably dad-like even if you're at seven months. Cassie inserts her foot in her mouth, but she's also really sweet. I'm sure she won't say anything mean on purpose."

He kissed her temple. "I love you."

"I love both of you, so stop worrying. I think she's great."

Clark snorted and turned off the light. "Wonder why."

Clark didn't often go to Gotham. It wasn't his city and he didn't like being far from Metropolis. Besides, Gotham, despite Bruce's efforts was stiflingly dirty. It just wasn't the city he loved, but sometimes he had to do business there. It was at least more convenient to speed there than it was to go to the Watchtower. Not that he couldn't do it, it was more that Dr. Hamilton and Kara would never let him hear the end of it if he exerted himself.

He didn't even feel that badly.

Not on a day like today, as far away from a transfusion as he could get.

He felt pretty much normal, which was a qualified statement for him, but he felt strong.

It was definitely the best day to take the elevator up Wayne Tower to Bruce's office. Even though he'd first met Lex when he was just fourteen, even with his mother in the senate or how long he'd worked with Oliver and Bruce, it somehow awed him that he was on a first name basis with some of the most powerful businessmen and politicians on the planet. It should have occurred to him that the League in and of itself was powerful and he knew goddesses and Martians, but nothing threw him as much as walking up to Bruce's secretary and being ushered into his office.

He was playing with one of those desk toys-that kind with the swinging marbles-when Bruce stalked in.

Stalked, truly.

Bruce, when he was himself, always walked with direction and with purpose, with something belying his predatory nature. Despite Clark's powers, the other man made him nervous. He always had. Clark harbored no illusions that Bruce wouldn't carry Kryptonite on him. He knew better. Bruce was never without it. While his mother and Chloe kept their boxes always in their offices and, yes, there was one in the barn and hidden in their home, Bruce kept it on his person.

A quick X-ray when Bruce first became a consultant for the League told Clark as much.

The other man didn't trust him and Clark doubted he trusted Kara or the rest of his family either. It was understandable. Magic and hallucinogens and other meteor rocks had ways of wreaking havoc with him and with his cousin. Hell, Clark really didn't put it above Dick Grayson to be packing as well. But knowing someone always had a way to kill him on hand...it left an edge between him and Bruce that couldn't be smoothed.

"Clark."

He reached out and stopped the marble from moving.

"Bruce."

He hesitated before shaking the other man's hand, not long, but enough for the him to read into.

"I'm a bit surprised to see you here. Does Fawkes know?"

Clark snorted. Like him, Chloe had known Bruce for over a decade, but she was just as stubborn as the billionaire. She never called him anything but Batz and he only referred to her by her codename. Clark figured it was a pissing contest, but hadn't ever said anything.

"I can go out, sometimes by myself."

The other man considered this and sat down at his desk. "What would you like from me? It was something that couldn't be discussed at the Watchtower?" Talking about the Watchtower in Bruce's office wasn't a security risk. There was likely no place as secure as the one Bruce Wayne controlled.

"It's harder to get there than Dr. Hamilton would like," Clark confessed.

Bruce's expression remained neutral. "Officially, Hamilton's put you on leave because of contamination from one of Lex's labs."

"Unofficially?"

"Well, I have to confess that I've rarely seen Impulse as excitable or in such good spirits."

Bart always found the whole thing funny but he made up for it by putting extra efforts in guys' nights and offering to babysit. It was a nice offer and, while Bart did have superspeed on his resume, he wasn't trustworthy with anything, let alone a toddler. It didn't surprise Clark that he hadn't believed in the official excuse for the Boy Scout to be off. He doubted any of the original league bought it.

Bruce.

Now he was the mystery.

"You've been talking to Oliver?"

"No, but Fawkes and Cyborg aren't the only ones who can hack records."

"Excuse me?"

"I keep an eye on Emil's work, especially the psychiatric evaluations."

"Funny how I thought those would be confidential."

"It's prudent if..."

"One of us isn't playing with a full deck," Clark replied, feeling vaguely nauseated. "You really don't trust us?"

"Oliver or Fawkes, mostly. I think someone does need to keep an eye on some of the rest of you."

"Let me guess-J'onn, Shayera, Diana, Kara, and me."

Bruce remained impassive. "Someone should."

"I think Kara and I tend to pass with flying colors, although Emil mentioned I was a little dysthymic."

"That I didn't need a profile for. I do what I have to do, Clark. I work with you, I believe that you and Kara have much to offer the world, but I can't let my guard down around you."

"You wouldn't be the first to feel that way."

"You don't have to be so defensive."

"Those were my records."

"I know and I was honestly surprised by them. That doesn't happen often. All the times I met Connor and I never...it's rather remarkable."

"Is one word for it," Clark floundered, keeping his hands balled at his sides. "They weren't yours to see."

"I don't do it often, but you've never been sick, you or Kara, my concern was piqued, but if you wanted to keep such things secret, I seriously doubt you'd be in my office today, just to see me."

Clark hated that. Bruce's mind, if possible, seemed to work even faster than his. "I'm not. I'm visiting Oliver next but he's not you."

"No, he's not."

"What I need is a good detective not someone handing with explosives."

"Now I'm intrigued."

"Well Sherlock Holmes wasn't available," Clark conceded. "You can read Emil's records, can't you?"

"I'm not familiar with your physiology. I know enough from years of keeping tabs but I can tell you what I've gathered. You're pregnant, but I've hinted as much already."

"Yes," Clark replied, trying not to blush. It was an emasculating position, to say the least.

Bruce didn't smile, but Bruce-the real one, not the playboy for the cameras-didn't joke. He'd never view it with the humor Bart did or the slight anxiety Ollie had (as if one could catch it like a cold). "I see. I think. I thought you were-"

"I am ," Clark gruffed. "I'm not Kara. I just happen to have something vestigial. It's more embarrassing and private than it is relevant. I figured the entire League didn't have to know."

"I was merely asking."

"I'm sure it inspires a lot of curiosity. I was prodded more than enough by doctors a lot less honorable than Emil the first time around."

"That I suspected, knowing that the time Luthor had you coincided with Connor's infancy."

"It wasn't pleasant."

"No, it wouldn't have been."

Clark sighed, more used to humiliation than anyone had a right to be. "It's an ability I have, like the speed or the strength. It doesn't define me."

Bruce arched one eyebrow but didn't answer directly. "It is not something I expected, but I suppose it's because I have a limited perspective. Human men would never imagine something like this."

"I hadn't either. Kara is less forthcoming with information than I am. That's not really the point so much as the rest of the records. You know I'm more than just a little sick, don't you?"

"I know about the transfusions, that the baby's only maintaining her own because of Fawkes's abilities."

"Yeah, but it's more than that. I'm sick. It's worse this time than with Kon because the baby is Chloe's and part meteor mutant."

"Emil is helping with that. He's the doctor."

"I don't need what he can offer. I think I need something more."

Bruce's brows furrowed. "The Watchtower has better medical care than any place on the planet."

"I need more than on the planet."

"Now I'm completely confused and that rarely happens to me."

Clark sat down finally. "Kara and I haven't been completely honest with you."

"I see."

"When I was seventeen, the artificial intelligence that came with my ship-"

"Which I understood to be destroyed."

"The ship, yes. The A.I. didn't die out and I don't understand why. All I can tell you is that Kryptonian technology is really advanced."

Bruce tensed. "The A.I. still exists then."

"Yeah. It send me on this crusade it called it in order to find three stones. They were left by my people when they visited Earth hundreds of years ago and combined they make an crystal castle that contains the most advanced supercomputer in the galaxy."

"Ice castle?"

Clark swallowed and looked at the highly polished wood of Bruce's desk. "It calls itself the Fortress. I don't know how to use it or the weapons. I haven't been back there since I was still living with Lana."

"Why?"

"It told me there were three stones, but it was confused. I got three and put it together. It's technically operational, but I was wrong. I takes four to run it."

"You said operational."

"It works. The A.I. works very well. It's vindictive and abusive. Last time I was there is stripped Kara's memory and powers and J'onn had to help restore them. It froze me and intended to keep me locked away for a century until all my friends and family died. It's a long story but something dangerous got loose and it let me out to stop it."

"Happens often on your watch."

"I was twenty. I didn't know as much then," Clark defended. "You were still at Princeton when you were that age."

"But you created a Fortress that's so violent it attacks even you and the fourth stone does what? Makes it more powerful?"

"It makes it usable. It's like the conscience, the censor for the rest of the Fortress's behavior. Without it, even I can't really control it. J'onn told me about it back when I was pregnant with Kon but I was sick then and couldn't look for it. I've been trying since, me and Kara both, but we've hit dead ends. I thought maybe you'd be up to helping me."

"Fifteen years and it's just been left?"

"It seems to respond the most when I'm near it. So we just avoid it. I'm terrified of it knowing I have children. It tried to brainwash me once and with someone as young as Kon or Alura or my daughter, it might completely take. I'd leave it untouched in the Arctic forever, but it has the best medical resources I can think of. Emil suggested it. I just...I need that stone."

"Where do you think it would be?"

"I've tried dozens of countries. My ancestors made it to Kansas, Shanghai, Cairo, and Guatemala, all over the world. Finding one stone in all of that...I just have no idea. Earth seems like a good description."

"You never make these things easy, Clark."

"I guess not."

"I am still floored by the fact that you had a Fortress, let alone one that dangerous, hidden from the rest of us."

"It was my problem. You know me and Kara. You think we were sitting around planning world domination. If I were, I'd complain less about not getting that raise last year."

"I don't know what I think. I just heard that the two most powerful beings I know have access to the most powerful and apparently unstable computer system on the planet. How am I supposed to take it?"

"You could trust me more."

"I keep an open mind. You want me to start looking for this fourth stone. I need you and Kara both to make a list of where you've looked and all information you have on how you find the first three. I'll see what I can do. Knowing that the Fortress scares you so badly, I can promise that finding the other stone became my top priority."

"I can help."

Bruce eyed him. "Can you? You look-"

"Like Hell. I know, Jax and Kon remind me of that all the time."

"Unwell, I was going to say, and certainly not, what is it? Three months?"

"Well no one's that big at three."

"You're gaunt."

"Chloe's blood makes it hard to keep things down, but Kara and I want to help you find this piece. We've just run out of ideas on our own."

"I promise it's a priority. Earth isn't as large as you think."

"I hope not," Clark replied, starting to stand.

"Clark?"

"More disapproval?"

"No, I think you should know that Fawkes asked a favor of me."

"She did?" Clark asked, assuming she'd taken Bruce aside and asked him to make sure he didn't over exert himself on missions.

"After everything with Lana, she wanted me to keep an eye on Connor. She didn't think he'd stop visiting with her."

"Chloe asked that? We don't... I won't spy on my son."

Bruce nodded. "I have trailed him, I admit that, but my time has been more divided than I'd have liked."

"I don't understand."

"Auditing of all of Wayne Enterprises, an anonymous tip about supposed embezzlement that popped up about a month ago. The timing...I don't think Connor has given Lana up as easily as you'd like to believe. I know you'd like to assume your problems with the Luthors are behind you, but I don't believe this it is."

"I don't spy on my son. I've spent a long time teaching him and Jax that we don't just go all KGB on other people."

"Apparently, Fawkes disagrees."

"Then that's something we need to talk about. I just need help on the crystal with you. I don't need you near my son."

"Not all billionaires are kidnappers," Bruce replied evenly. "I'm merely telling you that if you think the Luthors are going to leave Kon alone, then you're indulging in a fantasy."

"Lana said she didn't want him."

"Lana's psychotic and an inveterate liar. Clark, I thought you'd learned to be less naive. With a second child on the way, you can hardly afford to be naive."

Clark shook his head. "I'm not. I trust my son. He's upset but he's not stupid."

"Fawkes-"

"Should have talked to me before recruiting The Batman," he snapped, starting to the door. "Kara will have a list of everything I know and every place we've tried sent over tomorrow morning. We'll start there."

"Clark-"

"I appreciate the help, but I can actually take care of my own family," he replied, slamming the office door behind him.


	25. Chapter 25

25

Clark was tired.

It wasn't unusual to be so exhausted. The infusions of what was distilled from Chloe made him ill and carrying the baby on her own left him drained, but this was something else, a soul deep exhaustion, something wearying and depressing. He didn't care much for Bruce, never had. He was a brilliant mind and gifted fighter, the top of what a human could be, but he was a suspicious, judgmental bastard and Clark had no doubts that Bruce didn't trust him or his family.

What upset Clark more was not that Bruce didn't trust his son, but rather, that Chloe appeared not to either. The nerve of her, asking Bruce to trail Kon as if he were nothing more than a common Gotham criminal when she knew their son wasn't like that. Angry and bitter, sure, but Kon wasn't evil or cruel or criminal, just confused. If there was something that scared Chloe or made her want further action, then she damn well should have come to him. No secrets between them, it was supposed to be how they operated.

Clark was relieved for once to have Kon out of the house. He was at The Talon with Cass and, for once, Clark presumed, his son wouldn't be able to overhear anything. On Kent farm was one thing, Kon's erratic ears picked up. Tonight, however, he could speak with his wife in peace with no one to overhear, besides whatever the baby might pick up.

Chloe was sitting at the kitchen table when he came home, her JLA laptop-the one Queen Industries had outfitted with tech even he couldn't begin to understand-out as she typed furiously away on it. The grim lines to her face, her clenched jaw…Clark wondered if she noticed how much Fawkes could be like The Batman. It had to be why, among all of them, Bruce and Chloe clashed the most. It was inevitable. They knew how the other thought, were as determine on their stance, as mired in it, and, if truly pushed, he understood that Chloe could go to the mattresses. Not like Lana, Chloe would never be that dishonest, but she wasn't Kryptonian either. Bruce and she, despite her power, were very human and could afford to be more gray, but not when it concerned their son.

Not Kon.

Clark slammed the door albeit carefully. Long ago teenage snits had taught him how to do it for effect without exerting a fraction of his real strength. Chloe's head snapped up and she smiled at him. "Clark, you're home from Gotham."

He nodded and moved to sit at the far end of the table. "We need to talk."

She frowned. "Not the warm welcome I was expecting."

"I don't think I can give you that."

"I don't understand."

"I don't either."

She shut her laptop and pushed it out from in front of her. "Did Batz say something?"

Clark's eyes narrowed. "He said a lot of things. Some I suspected, some I definitely didn't. He's going to help taking some patrols, even if Kara can mainly handle Metropolis with the Angel of Vengeance. He agreed to help look for alternate treatments or anything that might ease dealing with the side effects of the baby. Though I doubt that, as smart as Bruce is, that he can think of anything that Emil hasn't come up with."

"And Lex?"

"He's been on his trail but Wayne Industries is undergoing a strenuous and unexpected audit. Bruce thinks it's not coincidence."

"Of course it's not," she sneered. "Lex plays with us but he knows who most of us are. Frankly, it's like Ollie and the GA. You have to have bank to afford those kinds of toys."

"Yeah, but it's easier to keep Bruce distracted with trouble in his company cause he has to keep up appearances and because even Lex doesn't have a good foothold in Gotham. He and the Clown Prince have never clicked."

"Because Rube Goldberg school of villainy and the batshit insane one can't mesh," she replied. "But I don't think that's what troubling you. Is it Kon?"

"In a way, but not the way you think. I haven't seen him since this morning and I still think Cass is good for him. I think his snits are down."

Chloe, not able to resist it, grinned at him. "Well, you can both be a little bitchy, even Kara thinks so."

"Kara especially thinks so," he replied. "I know about the deal with Bruce."

"What deal?" she asked and her expression was neutral. She had always been a better liar than he.

Clark spoke, low and resolute. "You had Bruce follow our son and you didn't even ask me."

"If I'd asked, you'd have said no," she replied.

"What?"

"You'd have said no and this time we couldn't afford it. Clark, you think because Lana acted like Lana always does and went 'eww aliens-'"

"Hey!"

"That's her stance, even on her own son. Just because she threw Connor aside like that, it doesn't mean he's still not going to seek her out or put himself in a position where Lex or Lana can get to him. It's his mother."

"I can't play with semantics tonight, Chlo. What you did was wrong."

"But I understand. You do too. You did incredibly stupid things to get to meet Lara, things that almost ended the world. When I was little, even though I hated her, I'd have given anything for my mom to come home. She left me-and I get now why she had to-but I would have taken her back, no matter how badly life sucked because she abandoned me. So if that's how we both feel about our bio moms, why doesn't Kon? Why does he shrug it off?"

"Because he has a brain?"

She sighed. "I love you and Kara both, but forethought is not one of your gifts. Kon's not even fifteen. He's frustrated and upset and pretty desperate. I know he's not going to let this drop."

"And did Bruce even find anything?"

"Before the audit started, nothing conclusive and now he's distracted."

Clark shook his head. "So because you have a feeling, it's okay to violate our son's privacy and lie to me for weeks?"

She bit her lower lip. "I was trying to protect him. You gave me that job, remember?"

" We take care of him. We don't go behind the other when it comes to our kids and we agreed on that way back when you got me trying to keep Kon quiet so you didn't have to night feed him."

"Which is why you didn't tell me exactly how sick you were to start? Why you pretend everything's just fine when my baby is still hurting you."

"What?" he asked, eyes widening.

"My child, my stupid fucked up DNA. If things were better, if I were better, you wouldn't even need the injections," her voice stayed level but just barely.

"And if the baby were just human, I'd still be sick. It's just not the best system. There are hiccups."

"You die. Right now you're always strung out and you're too thin. It wasn't like that before because Lana's not a mutant."

"You're not just a mutant."

"But DNA doesn't care. It's clashing and you're sick and you lied to me too, damn it!" She punctuated it, by slamming her fist palm down on the table. "Why can't we just be honest with each other? I don't want to be like Lana."

"You're not."

"I just want Kon to be alright, but I'm so scared of her and what she and Lex could do together. They had him once and what they did-" and then the tears were welling up and Clark was there, as fast as he always was, reaching out a hand to stroke her back.

"I was there. I remember, but we won't."

"I still don't trust her. I don't trust either of them, and I certainly can't…" She stopped then, looking away and Clark was confused.  
>"Can't what?"<p>

She spoke quietly and only after a long pause. "I can't trust Connor. I love him, but I've caught him before in such lies."

"He's not five and he's not stealing candy from the Wal-Mart."

"But he has that in him, that streak to lie to save himself like she would. I love him, but I can't…I know something isn't right and it's going to come down on all of us."

"But you can't just have him tailed as if he were The Penguin either. This isn't Bruce's responsibility, even though he wants it to be."

Chloe nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. "Bruce likes you."

"Bruce doesn't trust me or Kara or Jax or Kon. Hell, he probably doesn't trust even the baby. He's scared of us, deep down."

"He's cautious. He'd never hurt you."

"He carries Green K."

Chloe nodded and reached into her satchel, where a small gray box was hidden. "Martha and Jimmy and I all do. You asked us too, in case something ever affected your minds. We love you and trust you but one witch, one thing of red Kryptonite and you have to be stopped. Bruce isn't different."

"He's very different. You love me."

"Well I'm sure Bruce admires you as a friend, assuming Batz is capable of it."

Clark rolled his eyes. "He's cold and frankly, I trust him with the League but not with my family, not to do what I should be doing-taking care of Kon. I know he'd never hurt any of us, not like Lana would, but I just…this is supposed to be about ourfamily."

"I thought I was doing my best."

He reached out and stroked her hair. "We're supposed to do our best together and we haven't been. I don't want to worry you and I am going to assume, you don't want to worry me."

"Most of that's it."

"I get that, but this is never going to work-hell having two of them running around the house-is never going to work if we're not together on all of this. Please, I need to be able to trust you. Don't ex me out and go to Bruce again."

"Then you have to listen to me about Kon. Something terrible is going to happen and it's not mother's intuition. It's common sense. Lex is brilliant and patient. Lana's unstable as they come but seductive, and Kon-I love him dearly-but he can be a mini-dumb alien."

"Hey!"

She sniffled. "I love you but you know it's true. He's not thinking and we need to be. You can't just keep ignoring everything and hope Kon grows out of being upset. It took you the better part of a decade to learn to cope with being Kryptonian and I think most of that final push was having Kon to care for and Kara by your side teaching you that not everyone was like the AI."

"Don't even talk about it. I sometimes think it can hear us. Not literally, but even thinking about it makes me nervous it'll remember I exist, wonder how to harass me and Kara next."

"But Bruce, his other issues aside, he agreed to hunt the stones with Oliver."

"Yeah, but he wasn't optimistic. 'Earth' is a pretty broad place to search."

"They don't call him the great detective for nothing," she snarked. "But it's going to take more than Cass's support or-and you know I liked your dad-and Jonathan Kentism to make him feel better about this. I think you have to realize that Kon might be angry for months, probably even years over all of this."

"Doesn't mean he gets spied on."

"No, but it means we're smart about this. I will not have her hurting him and worse," she said, reaching down to stroke the painfully flat plane of his stomach. "I won't let her use him to get to the baby or to the rest of the Council. We promised Kara to help with Alura and we promised each other we'd keep Jax safe. If she gets to him, it's six of you at stake here, I just won't have it."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"I dunno, but I think we can try something different. I mean, maybe there's some way to start asking LuthorCorp or mansion staff, hack the cameras on the mansion grounds. I don't know but this time, I have to be overprotective on this. If I'm not, I might lose everything and I won't do that."

"We can ask around town, maybe talk to Cass again. We won't go full out surveillance, not like Lana's ISIS front or what Lex did to bug us. We're not them."

Chloe sighed and he loved the feel of her burrowed against his neck. "It's why I'm afraid we'll lose."


	26. Chapter 26

26

"Ahem," Clark said, staring down at Chloe. She blushed, realizing she'd been caught.

"What?" she asked, opening her eyes wide and hoping she could put one past him.

"Your head is glued to my stomach again. I don't get why you'd think you could hear anything. I'm not even that far along."

"Far enough to know the sex. Definitely far enough for the heartbeat. I can tell from not only the sonograms, but that far off look you and Kara get sometimes. Hell, I even saw Jax with it when he was visiting."

Clark rolled his eyes. "It just comes with the territory. I'm sorry you can't hear it."

"Shh," she replied, pressing her ear even closer to his stomach. "I think I might get something. Besides, if I can have as mutant power, maybe I can will myself into superhearing."

Clark chuckled and stroked her hair. "I doubt that."

She stuck out her tongue at her husband. "Oh watch me," she replied, tilting her chin so it rested on his sadly flat stomach. Clark had lost a bit of weight since the transfusions started. It went with the constant vomiting they induced. She hadn't said anything because she knew he couldn't help it. If she were as sick as he'd been, she wouldn't eat anything either, but he looked downright gaunt. She hadn't seen his cheekbones protrude this much since high school. She suspected if the baby weren't half solar powered and leaching off energy that was, from simple photosynthetic exposure, that she'd be a hell of a lot smaller and sicker than she was.

Sighing, Chloe stroked his stomach. "I can't wait for you to show."

"I can. Kara jokes. Not fun."

"She might be more understanding. She complained for five months about being fat. I knew Miss Sweet Corn was shallow but I had no idea by how much exactly. She might have sympathy this time."

"Nope, I bet she still thinks it's funny. She got me a 'Congratulations, Mom' card from Hallmark when she found out. It was pink and everything!"

Chloe laughed. It didn't bother her-much-that Clark was carrying and not she. She felt some grief, of course. She'd wanted to try carrying as well, but her mutation was something she'd realized long ago she could not change. Attempting to had almost gotten her killed. However, she had just wanted to be the one this time. It wasn't raging jealousy or possessiveness she felt, not as Lana had. It was just a pang, a small gnawing corner of her heart. She wanted to be more normal than she was. She wanted Clark to be healthier, for her child not to be killing him by degrees. She wanted so much.

But, in the end, she was just glad they had a daughter and she hoped that between her natural resilience, which their girl seemed to have inherited, and Emil's treatments, that their daughter would thrive.

She had missed having a baby around the house.

"Thinking hard?"

"Not too much," she replied.

"Bullshit. A normal Chloe is a thinking Chloe," he corrected, stroking her cheek this time. "Chlo, I'm fine."

"Huh?"

"You look worried."

"Am not. I'm just contemplating."

"Sure and it happens to do with you chewing your lip as you stare at my stomach. I have about what? Three weeks more of treatment and then I promise to drink twice the protein crap I did the first time. We'll be okay, you know."

She smiled and kissed his stomach. "Oh I know, except..."

"For what?"

"For the descending horde. My dad, your mom and stepdad-"

"I do not call him that."

"They've been married over a year. Seriously Clark it happened, adjust."

"Oh my dad would kill me if I even thought it. Besides, it's Lionel. Remember, blew you up Lionel. Put me in a Green K bath Lionel."

"Is the Oracle and married us Lionel. Helped give us research and worked with J'onn to save your life Lionel," she countered calmly.

"Sure. I'm not budging on any of that, Chloe. I appreciate him and that he makes my mom happy, but even if she married Perry White or something zany like that, I'd never be able to call anyone even 'stepdad.' I just miss the original version."

She nodded. "I miss my mom when she's lucid."

"I know, so many things we had to give up. I know it sucks that she had to-"

"No dwelling. Now, you think Kon would put the superspeed to use and help clean?"

"He spent the night at Cassie's and then it's homecoming. They have to work hard to get Monday's issue ready with correct box scores. He'll be gone pretty much all day. It's probably for the best. I think he'll set a record in the being pissy arena today."

She rolled her eyes. "He shouldn't be so mean about you and the baby."

"He's not," Clark hedged. "Teenagers are just self-centered brats."

"Were you?"

"What do you think?"

"Just a moper but I was a total shrew sophomore. Even I got to the point where I couldn't stand me!"

"And I should have gotten girl code and pursued you more."

She shook her head. "If you had, as big a pain in the ass as he is, Connor might not be here and we might not still be together. It worked out, I think, except for Lana's wrath. That's far more complicated to deal with."

"Soon. So, what if I call in Jax. He's fast."

"I've heard about his room from Kon."

"Well you and mom can show him and I could-"

"Lay very still and eat crackers to keep something down. Emil was very specific. No chores, light workload from home for the Planet, and no powers."

"I did tell you before being pregnant is completely overrated?"

"I doubt it," she replied quietly. "I definitely doubt it."

"Jax, sweetheart, you can't reuse the same mop water," Martha said and Chloe chuckled. He'd just done the kitchen floor and now the bucket was basically black (it was the risk of having another old golden around and a husband who didn't get work boots should be left at the door).

"Really? Isn't water water?"

"Not when it's black, dear. If you could just dump and refill. It would be great," Martha replied and Chloe always had marveled at her June Cleaver act. She didn't have the ability to say "sweetheart" or "dear" all the time, nor the kind of maternal gravitas that made everything feel like it would be okay, or at least she didn't think she'd inherited that. She still felt like 22 at heart and as if her bullpen attitude didn't leave her with very soft edges. She was glad the kids both had Grandma Martha for the domestic stuff.

"Martha?" her dad called as he came into the room, Endust clutched in one hand. "I was wondering what you wanted me to do next. I think the porch might need some sweeping."

Her mother-in-law smiled and Chloe had the distinct suspicion that was all code for "let's go over our choices one more time" as if she and Clark couldn't come up with good names on their own.

Chloe shook her head and smiled. "Sure, sweep that porch. I think that would be a great benefit."

Jax, who was as subtle as a ton of bricks, gaped at her. "A porch is a porch. Mrs. Kent, I really don't think that anyone is gonna care."

"But, um, porches are very important, crucial even," she replied, her face beaming. "Come on, Gabe, we'll get right to that," she finished, ushering him out the door.

Jax shook his head. "I do not get you people."

Chloe thunked him very carefully on the back of his head. "It's code for them hashing out the baby's name."

"Why? Jackson will be great. Androgynous baby names are in. It's as good as a Morgan or a Jayden."

"Jackson is a boy's name."

"Jacksina? Come on, Chloe. At least go for Jax-ura or something!"

"Doubtful, although Kara and Clark can't agree on which El or Lor Van to go with."

"Huh?"

"Clark's biomom's maiden name. So Jax-ura isn't the dumbest suggestion going."

"What is?" Jax asked, dumping the water into the sink. Chloe shuddered. No, guys were not good cleaning minions.

"Raf-El."

"Ugh, sounds like a turtle."

"That's what Clark told Kara even if the namesake in question had been on the Council."

"I swear, it is so weird to think of Clark's relatives being anything as cool as on the Council of anything."

"Well your dad was a science minister," she added, trying her best not to let her disdain show through or add "until he ran away."

"True, but, you know, phenomenal cosmic powers aside, we're pretty normal and, well, Clark's great but-"

"He's a fuck up. I know. If it weren't for me, the world as we know it would have ended in high school from meteor showers of doom. You can definitely say it. The Noble House of El don't just seem as auspicious as they used to be."

"Or Ur. I think it might be good they're not all around anymore. I just don't think we're intergalactic council leader material, even with the superhero moonlighting."

Chloe laughed. "Well, I think The Ghost and The Eradicator do pretty well, though why you chose that name, I'll never know."

"I wanted to sound tough, sort of balance out the fact that I glitch and basically do the IT work."

She nodded. "I get that. IT support isn't the most appreciated or respected. Until Ollie really trained me in hand to hand, it was almost impossible to get a completely equal say in League stuff. I mean, I was there, but IT sucks."

"It does and I keep telling Dick that I can do more, but they treat me like I'm porcelain. Hello, even if I glitch the TK never goes out. I'm pretty tough."

She nodded but didn't respond to that directly. She, Bruce and Clark, who all rarely agreed on anything, were completely adamant that Jax never be allowed front line on either the Titans or, when he got old enough, on the League. She'd not be responsible for anything bad happening to him. She'd already tarnished her soul in that deal with Lex and Lana to keep him and Kon safe. She wouldn't see him crushed to death or something worse.

Instead, a little segue. "Jax, we missed you around the farm. That summer was a lot of fun and Kon and Alura adored you."

"Mom says-"

"I don't care what Mary says. You should be here. We're family too."

"Technically, the House of El and the House of Ur? Not related."

Chloe snorted. "Don't do the semantics game with me. I basically invented it with my dad to cover for me and Clark scoobying. I meant that you have another group of people who care about you, frankly, a lot more than your stepdad, and we want you here."

"And mom wants me to keep it normal. It's hard enough keeping the superhero stuff on the downlow. I'm sure eventually I'll slip up and get caught coming out here. I just want to be who she needs."

"By never using your gifts."

"I use them. Believe me, superspeed is the best invention ever."

Chloe blushed. This she knew from personal experience. "Ahem, do not tell Kon that. Also, I meant that it would be okay if you used them around her."

"Oh hell no it wouldn't. It's been about 15 years and she's still pissed at dad. I think it's sort of this permanent thing. I have this theory you need to declare your species before marriage."

"Jax-"

"It's fine," he replied, and the silverware she'd been laying out for dinner tonight rattled. "Mom's just mom. I'm sorry I've been MIA, lately, Chloe. With the squirt and the princess and now the tadpole..."

"Kon just says that. We've not exactly nicknamed her yet."

"Well with all of them around, I do like it. It's def like family. Besides, Kon visiting Boston is cool with me if only cause he's snotty and I figure you andf Clark need the rest."

"Kon's copped attitude. He has a lot of Lana in him."

"I think he'll come around and have a lot of you in him...um, you know what I mean. Please don't read Freud into that."

"So won't," she replied. "He's been okay so far. He's been on an insulting anything Kryptonan streak."

"He sulks. I get that. I think Clark gets that. Learning you're not technically human? Or barely half? Really fucking sucks."

"Or a mutant," Chloe added evenly. "I know. I just wished he'd be a little nicer to Clark. He's simmered down since Clark got sick but he's so damn sullen."

"But he's also basically fifteen."

"Well I think Cassie is tempering him since she found out."

Jax grinned and sing-songed, "Kon's got a girlfriend, Kon's got a girlfriend."

"Not that he'll admit it. He has a best friend so far, but she's very supportive of my second career and Clark's current condition."

Jax's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, she knows?"

"She thinks Clark and Kon are meteor infected like Fawkes," she replied, winking. "Cassie's a Smallvillian resident all her life. She has an ability of her own and is practically begging to be in the League already. Her? I trust. It's Kon I just can't. I wish I could but he's smart and shrewd like Lana and he can lie, unlike Clark. I just get the worst feelings."

"Well, I can be a decent spy, work hard on that. I mean, who'd defect to Luthor Land?"

"Someone who wants his mother."

"Who is totally awesome and standing in the room right here."

"I'm the fill-in," she corrected. "I love my son deeply. I'd do anything for him, but Lana has this bizarre pull over Kent men. I just can't stand the thought of her hurting him. Your mom is trying to protect you. I don't agree with how she does it and I never have."

"I know," Jax said looking at the floor.

"But, her motives are in the right place at least. Lana's aren't. She wants to control anything that's hers and, currently, that's Connor. She's terrified of aliens, not just nursing bitterness like Mary. She'll hurt him and I don't know when he shatters I can fix it. Even my abilities have their limits."

Jax patted her shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, sometimes I wish you were my mom. Not often, just when you're especially kickass."

"Like on patrol?"

"No, like right now."

"So," Chloe said, looking down at her sheet. "Here's what we have so far. From daddy - Maureen, from Mrs. Kent - Eustasia, which is a very nice name from Jonathan's grandmother."

"No it's not," Kara replied.

Chloe forced a smile. It was a terrible name. "It's lovely."

"No, Chloe, it totally sucks. If we named the baby that, I'd have to make fun of her too!"

Martha's own smile faltered. "It was something we'd considered when we first started trying for children. I suppose it is old-fashioned..."

Clark glared at his cousin. "It's great mom. We'll just have to, you know, put it to votes."

"Ahem, and Lionel, unfortunately in a conference call with Hong Kong, suggested Catherine, which isn't so bad but I get this image of Catherine the Great from Russia and she liked her horses a little too much but we can still vote," she replied to reassure Martha. "We also have Joanne from Lois, Jackson from Jax, and, more creative at least, Elizabeth from Jimmy."

Jimmy grinned. "We thought about that for the longest time. Elizabeth Alura, but we liked settling on the one name."

Chloe nodded. "It does have some consonance to it. Finally, we have the Kryptonian names and, frankly, no offense to your heritage, but I am not naming my kid something that sounds like a Renaissance painter slash mutant karate master, k?"

"But it's a good one!" Kara defended.

"Eustasia Raf-El," Clark muttered. "I'd have to kick my ass for that one."

"Clark Kent! Language!" his mother chided.

From there it was a free-for-all of shouting. Lois was insisting how Joanne rocked as a name and would be perfect. Kara was giving a boring lecture on all the accomplishments of Raf-El like anyone cared. Jax was back to his insistence on androgynous being in, and Martha was trying to defend the choice of the combined Catherine Eustasia.

Chloe decided to bang her head on the table until she got a nice, soothing migraine that would block out the commotion. It was a soft tugging on her sleeve that got her attention. Alura was staring back at her, her face serene. As with many times before, Chloe was glad she'd inherited her father's temperament.

"Aunt Chloe?"

"Yes, sweetheart, did your blu-ray run out. We can put in the next X-men movie for you."

"No, it's fine, but I had a name for the baby."

Chloe nodded, afraid her nine year old niece had come up with Cinderella Jasmine or some such nonsense. "Sure, shoot."

"Moira Martha, like both grandmas."

"What?" That actually did have a ring to it.

"I said," Alura replied, shouting and making the table shake. "That Moira Martha was good."

Everyone at the table stopped. Jax eyed her. "Da...wow, princess, that's more impressive than I was at that age."

"I practice," she replied politely. "Moira Martha would be perfect. I like it."

Martha smiled and Chloe knew that was the perfect choice. Martha had given more to this family than anyone and she deserved a namesake of her own. "I...really Chloe, it's you and Clark's decision."

"And it's one we're more than happy to make. Moira Martha it is, mom," Clark replied, placing his mother's hand on his stomach, although Moira wouldn't be kicking for a while. "I'd be honored if we could do that."

Lois smiled. "Joanne for the next rugrat. I think that's a great idea, Mrs. K."

"Agreed, Mrs. Kent," Jimmy added.

Jax sighed, "So no 'Jackson?'"

The chorus of 'no's was his resounding answer.

Clark couldn't be kept out of commission completely, no matter how hard they tried to keep him there. He wasn't patrolling. No one would allow that. Hell, both Jax and Kara would kick his ass for that. He was sitting as reconnaissance at Watchtower with both Emil and Bruce watching over him. It ameliorated his pouting but also was a good idea. He'd had a check up anyway, but Chloe'd had a late article to finish. It was good for him, though. Under supervision, he couldn't do anything strenuous but he could still help the League and be active. It was like Perry offering him the work at home/freelance. It helped him maintain some semblance of control and of his image as hero and breadwinner.

She understood that.

She knew from last time it was hard enough for him to stay secure in his identity as a man or even remotely normal (which he wasn't, technically, but even male pregnancy was a new level of weird for Clark). Besides, neither of them had ever been good at sitting idly by and letting Smallville and then the world fend for itself.

Chloe approved as she sat at her office desk, finishing her work.

"Mo-Ru-Cek, huh." She had to admit the name, which Kara had offered as a compromise (a gifted writer from several centuries ago in the Lor-Van line) was beautiful in it's own way and had the added benefit of being possible to shortened from Moira. "Mo" wasn't exactly the most feminine name and it left her thinking of animated bar tenders and stooges, but it had a charm to it and her dad approved, not only because of her mom but also because such a solid Irish name as Maureen was shortened that way too.

It was a miracle to compromise and a bigger shock and perhaps humbling point that it had come from a nine year old.

"Hmm, the city sanitation system is in dire need of-"

"Chloe?" Kon asked and she turned around to find him right behind her. Her heart didn't even skip a beat. He'd been trying to startle her since he was three. She no longer had a scare reflex living with Kryptonians.

"Kon...sorry, Connor, what's up?" He looked disheveled. His shirt was wrinkled and she noticed his hair mussed and the dried tear tracks on his cheeks. Despite herself, she stood up and reached out to cup his cheek. "Kon, a stor , is something wrong?"

He stepped back and she let her hand fall, trying not to let her hurt show.

"Cass and I had a fight. She said I hadn't been around enough and that she was taking over The Torch until I had my head on straight."

"That doesn't sound like Cassie."

"I was complaining about Moira."

"I see," she replied evenly.

"And I said things that she took personally cause Moira's infected and so is Cassie."

"We're going to talk later about you insulting your baby sister, but Cassie won't stay mad. She hasn't in the last ever."

"I...she was so mad. You should have seen her."

"Then you'll have to make it up to her. Get that stick out of your ass would be a help. Being productive at The Torch instead of moping about your dad's condition would be something else."

"She kicked me out."

"Has that ever stopped you before?"

"No, not really. I just...never mind. It's stupid. I just didn't have anyone else to talk to. Maybe I should have asked Jax before he left for Boston."

"I still care about you deeply a stor . That will never change. You just have to make it up to her. She'll understand. We all have rough adjustments to who we are and to our abilities. Yours is just rougher than anyone else's." She forced a smile, even though him pulling away, him refusing to call him mom cut her so. "It'll be okay. She'll understand."

"How do you know?"

"Because I forgave your father more times than even you can count," she replied, thinking of their lives together and this time her smile was genuine, until she caught a glance at the gold watch glimmering on Kon's wrist.

Real gold.

"Connor Sullivan Kent, where in the hell did you get that?"

"I didn't get anything."

She reached his wrist and pulled up his sleeve. "Don't you dare try and speed away or I'll call Jax and Aunt Kara. What have you done? Did you steal this?"

"No, I..."

"This is a freaking Rolex!"

"I..."

She knew then, looking from the outrageous gift to his face. "It's from Lana, isn't it. You have been seeing her."

His expression hardened. "And you've been having Bruce tail me. Fuck you, Chloe," Kon shouted before disappearing on her, leaving her too bereft to even call for Clark, let alone Kara.


	27. Chapter 27

27

"Wow and with a throw like that, you just completely dented The Torch wall," Cassie drolled. "What's the cover story gonna be?"

"Well, you did just publish the expose on the ice hockey team and steroids. Someone took a stick to the wall."

"Or a what's the word again?"

"Connor Kent?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "No, I meant, the word for your people."

"Aunt Kara says squirrel, but you mean the phone home side, don't you?"

"And I'm meteor infected through and through. Neither one of us is exactly average, Kon."

He sighed and smiled back at Cassie. He was lucky to have her. Over the last month, since everything had pretty much exploded in his life, he and Gerald hadn't been able to keep up their friendship. It wasn't like Kon hadn't lied before. Hell, he was pretty sure half the high school was trying to keep their, ahem, altered status from the rest of the class, but now it was lying on a whole new scale. It wasn't just the half dozen odd-very odd-powers that he was keeping under wraps. It was a whole other species thing.

Or half, same difference.

"Yeah, I know. You want to say Kryptonian."

Cassie, being Cassie, smiled. "It's a pretty word, Kon."

"Yeah, it's great. It's so much fun being one of five, sorry, five and a half with the tadpole, in the universe."

"You got up on the wrong side of the spaceship this morning."

"It's bed," he huffed. "Why do you mock my fearsome legacy?"

"The one where your aunt basically wanders around in tube tops?"

"She's getting better."

"Come on. It's all awe-inspiring that aliens are among us and not in the hopping the border way, but, at the same time, you're still not the most amazing guy I know."

"I can run faster than you can blink."

"And you're whiny, Kon. You take the awe right out of everything." Cassie sighed. "Why are you pouting now?"

"Naming. They're all excited about naming it."

"Her and they must be. I remember when Jason was born. We spent weeks trying to come up with my little brother's name. It's a huge deal."

"I don't want it to be a deal at all, Cass."

She sighed. "Uh, this is because you don't like the younger sibling horning in on your attention or is this because of, well, your dad is-"

"The mom?" he replied, shuddering. "All of it. Can I please get a bus pass back to reality now?"

"Well, you grew up in Smallville. There was never going to be a normal time. I think it's kind of cool and I am so jealous of Mrs. Kent. I mean, what a deal, right? She doesn't have to do anything."

Kon frowned. "Actually, Chloe's been really excited about everything. These people are like the cult of cute tadpole, but I think she really did want to be the real mom this time."

"She is the mom. She's just not pregnant and, man, did I think my family was weird. I mean, you should see the ice sculptures my dad makes every year but this? Being second generation meteor mutant is so a dime a dozen in this town."

"Cass, you could be less enthusiastic."

"It's cool, is all I'm saying."

"It's a freakshow. P.T. Barnum would love to sell season tickets."

Cassie shook her head. "Do you talk that way at home?"

"How could I not?"

"Kon, I know you're having a shitty time and your whole worldview got fucked up."

"Understatement."

"But do you ever listen to yourself?"

"Sure. I think I'm justified in complaining. I should complain!"

"No, the things you say. Not just about your dad or, I guess, your cousin and aunt. The stuff you say about Chloe and yourself."

"We're all freaks. It's a hard fact."

"Your mom-"

" Chloe ," he bit back.

"Mrs. Kent didn't ask to get mutated by the meteors anymore than my dad did or I did for that matter. She can't help it. Ican't help it."

He sat up and blinked back at her. "Cass?"

"You know, maybe you're so caught up in that soap opera in your head that you don't care how it sounds, but every time you call Mrs. Kent a freak...it's like you're saying it about me too."

"Cass, I'd never-"

"You did, Kon. I don't get you. You have more abilities than anyone, except, I guess Alura when she's old enough. It's pretty fucking hypocritical for you to go on about anyone else being abnormal ."

"Cass, not you."

She shook her head. "Then stop saying it. I like you a lot. You're my best friend. But I don't think I like you right now. It's hard enough dealing with any of my problems even if this town practically is half mutant. I don't need to hear you rail on like a bigot."

"I'm not."

"Right," she said, gathering up her purse. "Kon, just suck it up and, until you can go through a conversation without putting down your mom or dad, I don't think you can come back to The Torch."

"I'm the editor!"

"Not in the last month you're not. You've missed so many deadlines that if I weren't around we'd have closed. I get your life just got superhard, I do. But you're not dealing and until you do, I don't think I want to be around you all that much."

"Cassie, come on!" he shouted, sighing when she slammed the door to the office behind her. "Perfect, just perfect."

Going home was Kon's least favorite activity these days. Home meant he had to be in the middle of baby stuff. Baby stuff meant that...ugh...no way he was Kryptonian enough for that to ever happen to him. That just couldn't be in the cards. But it was impossible to be home with his dad, now that he'd mastered his X-ray vision. The temptation to look was too much, too overwhelming. There weren't enough words in the English language to describe the wrongness of being able to see your little sister in your dad's stomach.

Nope, not at all.

And everyone was so freaking happy about it. When Grandma was home from DC, it was all she talked about. Aunt Kara stopped by often to check up on him. Even Uncle Jimmy was excited. Chloe was happy and pretty proud, but Kon saw a lot, it came with the heightened vision he had. He knew when she was forcing her smiles to much or being too bubbly. His...no, not his...Chloe had really wanted to be the one.

God, Kon would trade anything if she were.

He was sitting on the sofa in the living room of the farmhouse, trying to read through The Scarlett Letter and trying even harder to shut out the excited chatter of his extended family.

Chloe and the kangaroo-and now that he knew why he'd ever come up with the nickname, he didn't find it as funny anymore-as well as Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy, Grandma, Aunt Lois and Jax were all trying to pick out a name.

They weren't getting very far.

"Kon?"

He blinked up from his book to find Alura standing in front of him. Alura was almost nine and could probably bench press the tractor that never ran. Eight and a half seemed like too young to him to be in on this part of the secret. Alura didn't know where they were from, or at least Aunt Kara and the kangaroo were from. She didn't know yet that the Krypton stories weren't just stories. But she did know that her Uncle Kal was about to do something no other guy on the planet could.

Kon hoped she could keep her mouth shut enough for the rest of them not to end up bagged and tagged in Roswell.

"Yes, Alura?"

"Don't you want to help?"

"Not really."

"She's going to be your little sister."

"I might have noticed that."

Alura frowned and sat beside him on the sofa. "You're mad at Uncle Kal and Aunt Chloe, aren't you?"

"A little."

"Are you mad at the baby?"

Definitely.

"Alura, how can you be mad at something that's the size of a peanut."

"I don't know, but you are."

"Maybe a little," he conceded.

She looked up at him and her eyes were red. "You're mad at me."

"No I'm not."

She nodded. Alura was quiet, like her father. She was thoughtful and patient as he was. She saw a lot and no one even expected her too. "You're mad because of our powers. You're mad because Uncle Kal can do so many things and you might too. So if you're mad at Uncle Kal and we're all alike, then you are mad at me."

"Are you and Cass in a conspiracy?"

"No, but you're mad at everybody and that's mean. I didn't do anything." Alura finished and started to sniffle. "The baby didn't do anything either. She's still in Uncle Kal's tummy."

Oh shit, and now he'd made his eight year old cousin cry. Fuck, he was on a role for the whole day.

"Alura, shh, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the kangaroo because he lied to me."

"About what?"

"Grown-up things, baby cousin. But I love you very much."

"And you'll love the baby too?"

Kon sighed and looked back at Chloe and his "mother." He was so mad at them for lying that he didn't know if he'd ever feel anything else towards them but the same seething anger. It seemed impossible to love the tadpole since she came from them, from everything they'd built together on nothing but half-truths.

"I don't know, pri ."

She nodded. "You should try harder, Kon."

"I know. I...tell me something else. What are they deciding on?"

"They've hit a wall. Uncle Kal and mom kind of like Kala but Aunt Chloe and daddy don't."

Kon nodded. "You're named after Aunt Kara's mom. You knew that, didn't you?"

She nodded. "Mommy told me."

Kon furrowed his brows. "Why not name the tadpole after Chloe's mom and Grandma Martha."

"Huh?"

"Moira Martha Kent. I think it's pretty and alliteration is nice."

Alura giggled. "Grown up words are funny, but I like it. It's pretty."

He nodded. "You can tell them you thought of it."

"But you did."

"If I came up with it, then they'll think I'm coming around. Just let it be between us. We can't call her the tadpole forever, can we?"

Alura smacked his arm and it hurt . "We have to stop calling her that now, Connor Sullivan. Not cool."

Kon sighed and kissed her forehead. "Why do we solve everything with violence in this family?"

"Because it's fun!"

It was Sunday. Kon hated Sundays. There was no Torch-not that he was on staff currently-for him to go to. Cass's dad usually took them to mass on Sundays and it was a long affair. Again, not that Cass would want to see him. He had a half formed plan in his head to rush over to see her, to tell her how sorry he was and that he loved her and it would be fine.

Okay, so he couldn't tell her he loved her. He was supposed to play his crush cool. Cass was just his best friend. He wasn't even sure she felt about him the way he felt about her, and he wouldn't want to make her rabbit on him. Besides, they weren't even speaking to each other. Declarations of love were out. Instead, Kon found himself alone in Granville, on a far flung and little touched corner of the reservation. He didn't know why they were so close to the tribe. When he was younger, Aunt Kara and Chief Joseph both used to say that they were cousins and he'd believed it, back when he thought he was human.

Now he didn't know, but he was grateful.

He needed some place quiet, somewhere he could think about everything and try to sort out his life. His dad was at the Watchtower and his aunt was, as far as he knew, running a patrol with his Aunt Dinah. Still, once Chloe called the alien squad in on him, Kon wouldn't be alone for long. His dad and Aunt Kara could hear anything they wanted and he had no way to cover his heartbeat.

He was so fucking stupid. He'd put on the watch on Friday after visiting with his mother. It was a new gift and he'd put it on right away to show her and Lex how much he loved it. He'd forgotten it was even on, what with sleeping over in his clothes and in an old sleeping bag on Cass's living room floor and all the hassle of tadpole-o-rama. Cass was right and he knew it, deep down. When he ranted about Chloe or his freak show Addams Family, he was talking about all the Smallville mutants.

Even Cassie.

Kon had more powers than anyone he'd ever met, save for Jax and Alura, and he didn't just hate the powers, but he hated himself for having them. He hated the kangaroo for giving them to him, as if he'd asked to be this way. He even resented Alura and Jax. He resented Alura for calmly coming into her abilities and Jax for using them for cheap sex as if they were toys. He saw Jax use his TK to move a bowl of nails or Alura speed or the tadpole's heart beating in his father's stomach, and he was just left feeling disgusted and twisted. He couldn't and wouldn't trust his fucking alien half and he couldn't see things like his mo... Chloe healing Eeyore (an old memory) or Cass's ice trick and not feel disgust.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

He was so stupid too. Sure, Cass telling him to get the fuck out of her life had set him off balance, but that didn't mean he was just going to run sniffling to Chloe. Chloe lied . It was all she was good at. She lied about everything-Kon's whole species-so going to her had just been stupid habit, something spurred on by memories of her sitting up with him after he got sick at Mrs. Carpenter's meteor rock art studio or when his hearing came in. Chloe had comforted him once upon a time, but all of that was not only an illusion.

It was past.

Kon sighed and looked down at the watch glinting on his wrist. He had somewhere else to go. He had a mom that might understand why he felt the way he did. Chloe would just lecture him if he admitted how disgusted the powered made him. She'd give him some talk about acceptance and meta rights and JLA, ra-ra.

He wasn't into it right now.

His real mom wouldn't do that. She'd let him feel this, whatever it was, and encourage it, let him be honest in his feelings. Mom was big on openness and honesty. It wasn't a millisecond before he blurred right into Lex's office.

His uncle, who'd been on a conference call with Berlin, didn't even widen his eyes. He said something terse and efficient in what Kon assumed was German and hung up. Smiling, a sight that always unnerved Kon just a little, Lex spoke, "Connor, this is sudden. It's barely eight."

"Sorry, if I, um, interrupted. I can always just go."

His uncle stepped away from the desk and patted Kon's shoulder. "Don't even think it. I said that Lana and I would be here whenever you needed it. Judging by your sudden apparating act and the early hour, I think you need both of us."

"Maybe a little."

"Then I suppose you'd like food too?"

Kon couldn't stop the family expression from leaving his lips, "Rao yes." He paused then and cursed. Rao was from Aunt Kara and from Krypton, a god for a world that had not only grown past it but long since destroyed itself. It had no place here.

"Kon?"

"Nothing, Uncle Lex, let's just get some breakfast."

Breakfast turned out to be ridiculously good fresh baked croissants and a box of Coco Puffs. Kon had eaten all of it in regular speed, his hand going directly into the box. Lex didn't strike him as a cereal person and his mother's svelte figure didn't indicate she'd ever have a box of chocolate anything in her home.

"This," he said, brushing some crumbs from his shirt and setting the empty box down. "Is totally my favorite."

"You're fifteen, it would make sense," his mother replied, a perfectly passable socialite smile on her face.

"I know, but I mean this is my favorite. I can't believe you have this here and like five more boxes in the pantry. It rocks."

His uncle's smile widened. "We like to keep up on information about you."

Kon frowned. "What?"

"It's not always hard to figure a few details out here or there," Lex continued. "I'm glad you've enjoyed it. You seem hungry, even considering your metabolism."

"Long day."

"So I've gathered," Lex pressed. "Why are you here?"

"Because my life sucks and Chloe's a bitch," Kon blushed. Grandma Martha would have washed his mouth out with soap for that.

His mom smiled genuinely then. "I've often thought that. What did Chloe do today?"

"She noticed my watch," Kon replied, looking up at his mother and uncle through his long bangs. "I am so sorry. I was running late at The Torch and I forgot to take it off and I just wasn't thinking and it's all Cassie's fucking fault anyway!"

The chandelier over the dining room table shuddered and Kon blushed more deeply. He could hear his mother's heart speed up, but forced himself to ignore it. It meant nothing.

"Connor, that's not very polite," his mom replied.

Lex was less concerned with formality than with what he'd said. "Cassie would be?"

"Huh?"

"Cassie, if I recall, she's your friend, yes?"

"Maybe not now. She's so unfair. Just because I don't want to do some meteor mutant cumbaya, doesn't mean she has the right to throw me off The Torch."

His mother snorted. "She sounds familiar somehow."

"Cassie is not Chloe, at all." Well except for being a meteor mutant and The Torch's best reporter and being blunt and liking aliens and she still wasn't Chloe. She was Cass and Cass was taking the meteor mutant stuff way too personally.

"We didn't mean to imply anything Freudian," his uncle continued. "But why would she care about meteor mutants one way or the other?"

Kon swallowed. "I think we've gone round this one before."

"Well, I've found that individuals with vested interest in meteor mutations and meteor mutant rights are mutants themselves. It certainly explains Chloe's pulitzer-winning series or why your grandmother has pushed the legislation so hard. Personal stakes."

Kon swallowed. Something deep inside of him was screaming for him to lie. Lex had been nothing but nice to him, had helped save his life as a baby, but not Cass. Cass was private and her abilities were something she'd trusted him about. He wasn't going to blab about her, not ever."

"I wouldn't know. She's just very liberal, you know? But she thinks it's so wrong for me to complain about Chloe and the tadpole and Dad being the uberfreak of the planet."

"Clark has always been unconventional," Lex dead panned.

Mom shuddered. "Clark's different. It's true."

"Yes, and I am sorry that I'm not jumping for joy to be some alien mutt who so is not in line to get pregnant."

His mother shook her head. "So Cassie and I assume your other family have been especially hard on you for not accepting things and 'embracing it' in thirty seconds."

"Exactly. See, you all get it. Why would I be excited about my pregnant 'dad' or the whole tadpole thing at all. I mean, what if she comes out like a lizard?"

Lex laughed. "I think you're being melodramatic. You were certainly born normally."

"Hyperbole, maybe," Kon admitted. "But it's weird. Why can't my family get that weird is also bad ? I'm not up for pride parades. We're a fucking ten-in-one and everyone's so excited about it. I mean, I used to tell Chloe when my hearing first came in and it was so wonky, powers are just...they're gross."

His mom reached out across the table and squeezed his hand. "And that's a completely normal opinion. There are some extremely dangerous meteor freaks out there and a lot who've tried to hurt me or people I know. It's foolish to try and spread tolerance and understanding for things that try to kill you."

"Cass," Kon blushed and stuttered. "Chloe, I mean. Chloe's not a killer or anything, but she raises the dead. It's not exactly normal." And she'd spent the week his hearing had gone to eleven taking the pain from him repeatedly with her abilities. He knew that. He was just so angry.

His uncle nodded but attention seemed elsewhere, as if a certain idea had struck him. "I see."

"I just don't like powers. Just cause I have them-tons, thanks kangaroo-doesn't mean they aren't gross too."

His mother nodded and her smile was so wide. "Of course they are. You're allowed to feel what you feel. Chloe and Clark were always too interested in everyone seeing the world in their way."

"Exactly, and powers make me nervous and a baby half fucking alien and half resurrecting meteor freak-weird and all powerful much, just saying!"

His mom squeezed his hand tighter. "Really, Connor, I don't know why you stay there. They just don't understand you. I'm sure they encourage you to use the powers that you don't even want, probably grooming you to take care of the Watchtower when the time comes. Be a 'hero.'"

"Or, knowing Oliver Queen and Bruce as I do, a vigilante," Lex replied.

"Bruce?" Kon asked, feigning confusion.

"Yes, of course the Bat's trailing you has decreased along with Wayne Industries' audits. That's all a coincidence."

"I guess," Kon offered. "But what? I have to stay there. It's my house."

Yeah, he was winning awards for good deflections.

"I don't know if you noticed, Connor, but the mansion has plenty of rooms," his mother replied sweetly. "If you don't want to deal with the baby, you can live with us."

The table shook and Kon ducked his head. It was embarrassing when he couldn't control his powers but his mom's comment echoed Chloe's snit a few weeks ago. His mother's hand slipped out of his and she went back to her original position across the table. It made Kon feel worse.

"Sorry."

"No, that's alright," Lex said, his eyes glittering. "Lana seems to have struck a chord."

"It's just that mo...Chloe said that I had to live with Aunt Kara or Grandma in Washington if I didn't stop complaining about the Cult of the Tadpole."

"Huh?" his mother asked.

"Moira, um, the baby. That's he name. She's a Moira."

"Lovely, very Irish," Lex said, although he was laughing a little and Kon didn't know why his other grandmother's name was funny.

"Yeah but she said I should leave if I couldn't be nicer and I am nice, I just have to express the way I feel."

"Honesty is important," his mom said.

"That's what I keep saying. But if Chloe wants me out so badly and you want me in...I dunno. It's not like it'd work. I come here and the entire League would be all over all of you."

"Perhaps we're not at that stage yet, but the offer stands," Lex added. "Should you ever want to leave that farm and its rules behind, you have us. We're family after all."

Kon smiled back at his mother. "Oh I know and you're cooler than Kangaroo and Chloe. You're like generous and you listen and you get not everyone is into superhero crap and being all 'yay, aliens.'"

"Why would we be," his mother replied shortly. "I think-"

Lex cut her off. "I think you misunderstand."

"I do?"

"Yes, I don't feel you should be pressured into League conscription and I agree with you that some of the unstable mutants should be feared and contained. ISIS and LuthorCorp have worked hard to make sure the dangerous infected aren't around threatening society at large. Rehabilitation and clinics, of course."

"Oh yes," his mother agreed, nodding.

"Yeah, cool. Like not everyone. I mean, Chloe doesn't hurt people, but like I saw her old articles. I mean, teleporters who hurl their fathers down the stairs or gil boys who try and drown people. Freakshow."

His mom nodded again. "Exactly, dear."

Kon felt warmer just hearing her use the endearment.

"However," Lex continued. "If you lived here, I'd love to encourage you to explore your abilities further."

"Like an experiment?" Kon bit out.

"No, like growing into yourself. You're not done yet, by a long shot, considering your stature and what your aunt and, ahem,father can do."

"I'm not that small."

"But you understand me. You have so much more to learn about what you can do and the world from which Clark came. I have information gathered from all over the world about your ancestors. Perhaps you'd be interested in sharing the stories Kara has with you and giving me your input on the stones and artifacts I have."

Kon frowned. "I don't read it that well. I picked some of it up cause Aunt Kara went all Samarillion on us and taught it to me and Alura the summer Jax lived with us on the farm. I thought it was like trekkies learning Klingon, not real."

"But you're conversational, so to speak."

"Uh, yeah."

"Lex," his mom hissed.

"One second, dear. Kon you need to think about the advantages of your heritage, and not wallow in the guilt as your father does."

"Advantages?"

"Well the obvious strength, speed and intellectual advantages as well as the telekinesis make you a Nieschtzian dream."

"Double huh?"

"The ubermensch, Kon. Clark, I'm sure, in true Kentian fashion has taught you to be careful, to never be caught, to keep things even a secret from that beautiful fellow reporter of yours."

"I never said that Cass was hot."

Lex grinned and eyed his mother. "Oh your father always had excellent taste in women. I'm sure Cassandra is beautiful too, Kon. But you might have some of the 'embrace it' message from Aunt Kara; she is rather full of herself."

"Yeah, so?"

"But you don't really understand what you are, do you?"

"I-"

"Lex, enough. We never discussed this."

"Not yet, no, darling, but Connor, you should think about things the way your, ahem, Grandpa Lionel in days of old would have."

"How would he have thought of it?" Kon asked, shifting in his seat. He came to bitch about his powers, not talk in depth about them.

"You're not just half Kryptonian."

"Then what am I?"

"You're better than everyone else. Do you understand that? You're better than humans and mutants and even your aunt and father. You, along with Jackson Donovan and your cousin and, eventually, Moira, are one of the most powerful beings on this planet."

"Yeah, it's great. You should see me accidentally shatter things or explode stuff. I love it."

"Maybe you should."

"What?"

"Lex, now I mean it. This has nothing to do with what I-"

Lex wasn't listening to his mother now. Leaning in closer, he lowered his voice. "When you're old enough, you'll be stronger than Clark because you can do things with a thought he'd never be able to imagine. You're stronger than Jackson because we all know he wore the blue meteor rock too long."

"What?"

"Oh we'll get to all the meteor rock colors later, I promise. You're in line to be more powerful than the League, itself, and you're sitting here pouting over one girl and what Chloe Sullivan wants. Why?"

"Because it's Cass!"

"And there can be so many other girls. She's not unique."

Kon rolled his eyes. No, there was definitely no one out there like Cass, and not just because of her abilities. It was their whole history together. She was irreplaceable.

"She's my best friend."

"And she nags," Lex continued. "Tells you how to feel. What you need, Kon, is to remember that you're better than everyone else and one other thing."

He snorted. "And that would be?"

"Whatever you want, you can simply take. You can have anything at your feet. Don't be fooled there isn't a human on Earth who wouldn't trade their desperate dull lives for your abilities. Want it, take it, have it, Connor."

"But what I want isn't material," he argued.

"No, not yet, but I bet it can be. You want answers and truth. You want a family who listens. You want a way for Cass to like you again, am I correct?"

"Rao yes."

"Then maybe you'd like to help me because I think we might be looking for more similar things than you know. What do you know about your grandfather?"

"Um, Grandpa Lionel or Grandpa Jonathan?"

Lana smiled at Lex and took his hand. Whatever rift between them appeased. "No, we wanted to talk to you about Jor-El..."


	28. Chapter 28

28

Clark sighed and look at the monitor. He hated this. He was The Ghost, the strongest superhero in Metropolis, except for Kara in a pinch. He was used to being the person the rest of the League called on when it just didn't look like it could be done. He had been weak once. Pregnancy, though he was loathe to admit it, tended to do that to him, but it had been over a decade ago and before he'd met Bruce. Being weak around either Emil or the Dark Knight left Clark feeling anxious and vulnerable.

Hell, on his best days, Bruce made him feel vulnerable. It was odd. Save for Chloe or Lex, he'd never met a person without powers (Chloe's were non-harmful) who could throw him off balance with a sentence. Bruce's mind was always working, always five step ahead of anyone else's, except for possibly J'onn's or Chloe's. It was most likely why Fawkes and the Batman always clashed. They saw the same angles, but always had a different plan of attack, at least until it came to how best to spy on his son.

"Clark?"

Bruce's voice was gruff. It always was, low and haunting. Clark wondered if he worked at it.

He kept his eyes trained on the excitement of the monitoring screens. No wonder Jax complained about being stuck as the tech emissary for the Titans. It sucked. "Bruce."

"We need to talk."

"I'm busy."

"You're watching the fire hydrant at Fourth and Main in Edge City."

"Well Diana and John Stewart are running a sting and-"

"Lantern and the Princess will be fine."

"I should also be-"

"The position you have is completely ceremonial and everyone in the League knows it."

Clark clenched his jaw. "You're lucky I'm not at four months yet and that Moira isn't breaking things."

He could hear the cowl move from where he sat; Bruce nodding, considering. "I had heard from Kara what Kon could do in utero. She exaggerates so often, I was unsure if it were true."

"Surprise," he replied, swiveling his chair to see the other man. Though Moira was no secret among the League-Bart was already planning the shower as any uncle would-it still made Clark feel more of an equal with Bruce (and the others) because he wasn't showing. Of course, the reason he wasn't was that Chloe's blood infusions left him ill. Weak either way, a damn catch-22.

"You don't have to be so bitter and confrontational."

"I'm defensive," he conceded, letting his hand rest against his daughter. Moira's heartbeat grew stronger every day and it left Clark feeling proud. Three months in, just five to go and he'd have another child in his life. Of course, it wasn't like he was currently doing such a bang up job with Kon.

Maybe he was crazy to have a second.

"We all encourage you and Fawkes. We're all working to ensure Moira makes it to term. It's why Andrea's taken up the slack in Metropolis to begin with."

"You and Fawkes ensure a lot of things, don't you?"

"Excuse me?" Bruce's expression under his cowl, still gave away nothing. It might be why he never felt the need to line it, especially after Clark knew his identity.

"Chloe told me that she had you spy on my son."

"Did she also tell you there was a high probability he was lying to your face and sneaking off to see Lana and Lex?"

"You're not even sorry. At least Chloe came clean and apologized."

"Fawkes loves you and she lets her emotions get in the way of the mission."

"Kon is not a mission. He's my son."

"He's the most dangerous individual on the planet. You do understand that, don't you?"

Clark stiffened and hunched in on himself. "I can still torch you where you stand."

"I'm stating facts. I'm trying to be honest with you. You and Kara have always been scarily powerful."

"You are afraid of us."

"Only a fool wouldn't be," Bruce conceded. "But Connor is so much stronger. You think I'd let his future rest on your judgment?"

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that I'd have started watching Connor, regardless. I have never trusted Lana and her intentions and I trust your instincts less."

"Excuse me?" Clark would have risen to his feet if the latest injection wasn't making him dizzy.

"You believe only what you want to. Lana said she'd not pursue the matter and you let it slide. I haven't been able to prove anything yet, but I know Kon skips seventh period every day. I haven't been able to follow him when he leaves campus. He moves too quickly, even for GPS trackers. They fall off of him."

"You've gotten that close?"

"I've got my methods, but if he leaves school at the same time every day, where do you think he's going?"

"He has The Torch then."

"Well Cassandra Carpenter must be running it for him, because he's never there."

"Kon's not some criminal. He doesn't need to be watched like this and it's not right for the two of you to work around me. I trusted Chloe all these years with our child and I still do. But I carried him. I know him. He's not doing anything wrong."

"Do you think he's so innocent?"

"He's not some monster. Just because our DNA is fucked up-"

Bruce looked at him, concentrating on his stomach, on Moira. "I'd trust Moira more, although her powers, if she survives-"

Bruce had less tact than Kara.

"She will."

"Fine, her abilities will be without precedent but she's Fawkes's. I trust that lineage, at the end of the day. I cannot trust fully someone with Lana's psychopathology in his history."

"Kon's fine."

"If Lex and Lana had a turn at him, could you honestly tell me there wasn't even a chance he'd grow into his mother's son."

"Chloe is his mother."

"Not biologically."

"I don't care about biology and I thought you didn't care about names, Wayne."

"And at the end of the day, we are who we are. Lana is Kon's mother and she's part of him, somewhere. You can see it clearly in his face. His behavior, well, he can be as cunning as she is. He's already run you and Fawkes ragged, sneaking to the Luthor Mansion. Isn't that familiar?"

"My son would never be a Luthor."

"Would Lana's?"

"Damn it, Bruce, I-" Clark felt it, that spasm of pain ripping through his abdomen, the shortness of breath, the dizziness. He thought it had been easing since the infusion three hours ago, but he was feeling it again.

"Clark?"

He doubled over and forced himself to breathe, waiting for the pain to pass. "Fine. I think you made Moira kick." He lied. Stress was never good for him when he was pregnant. This sick, it just exacerbated things.

"She's too small."

"Then you made me, ouch. Damn it!" Then he stopped, something overwhelming him even beyond the pain. It was Chloe's voice.

Clark, it's Connor. He ran off to the mansion.

"No."

A gauntleted hand was on his shoulder. "Clark?"

"Bruce, I'm fine. I'll be fine. I just...it's Connor. He's run away."

"Lana?"

"Yeah, I...get Kara. I need to go."

"You can't speed."

"The hell I can't," he replied and then he was gone.

Clark was at the mansion, already into Lex's study, when something hit him hard, sending him to his knees.

"Oh god."

"Why thank you, Clark, but I'm hardly a God."

Clark blinked up at Lex but his attention was more absorbed by the pain of searing Kryptonite running through him. "God, please."

Lex smiled and knelt down next to him, placing a familiar thick lead cuff around his wrist. The second it had snapped into place, Clark felt the pain of the green K stop. The small lead box that Lex had kept it in was closed tight. "I know you, Clark. I can't afford to have you tearing up my home."

"I don't deserve that," he groused, getting to his feet. "The baby can't take that."

"Lana had mentioned she suspected as much."

"I'm sure she did and that Kon coming to you didn't hurt. Moira's very fragile, Lex, and I don't think a jolt of either Blue or Green K is good for her."

"It'll be less than an hour with the blue meteor rock and you know it. We'll talk, discuss parameters and I'll take the band back off your wrist."

"Where's Chloe?"

"She's not a part of this."

"Kon's her son."

"Lana won't talk with her in the room. Chloe's being held in the security station and, no, it's not a dungeon. There's a comfy leather sofa and a tv with digital cable and some fresh coffee."

"And armed men?"

"Well there is that and perhaps dobermans, but she's a guest currently and nothing is going to happen to her when we talk. She just isn't welcome this time."

"Lana and her fucking ego."

"What a mouth on you. I'm sure you don't want Connor to know you talk like that. Besides, you loved Lana once. Isn't that why you tried stealing her from me?"

"I was wrong." Clark shook his head. "Is there a reason the two of you never had a child. She wasn't close to maternal with Connor and you both know it."

"She's been great with him now."

"As long as she can pretend he's human, of course. When he's not screaming with a migraine triggering his X-ray vision, when his eyes don't glow, then she's fine. But Kon is all of those things."

Lex smiled as he sat down at his desk and the hunger in that look scared Clark. "He's so much more, isn't he. I can't wait for him to grow into his abilities, can you?"

"He's not your game or pet, Lex."

"He's my nephew, isn't he? He comes here, to me, because he can't deal with you anymore, Clark. Do you want to ask yourself why?"

"Because he's confused."

"Because," Lex corrected, his stupid grin still wide. "He can't take your hypocrisy either. You're a fool, Clark."

Clark looked down at the lead cuff on his wrist. He could feel the sweat pool at the beck of his neck and his heart race. He couldn't hear Moira, couldn't see her. He couldn't hear Kon or Chloe or Kara. But it was trauma, everything rushing back to him. He'd been powerless with Lex before and he'd hated it then, just as he hated it now. "I know."

"No, the bracelet, as I've promised, won't last more than an hour. You know I've enough leverage on you to permanently ruin your life. You know I can land you and everyone you ever cared about in a lab, including, Connor's 'mother.'"

"Chloe is-"

"A moot point today. I meant that you're a fool because you made the exact same mistakes with Connor that your parents made with you."

"Mom and dad didn't make mistakes."

"They left you with a sense of shame over your abilities. Clark, I'm glad you have boundaries. I'd rather not have to stop you or Kara from taking over the world."

"Um, thanks?"

"But you did lie to Connor."

"We told him what he could know. We never hid Kryptonian stories from him, we never told him not to use his abilities. We only told him to be careful."

"But Krypton was Oz and 'be careful' is assuredly the Kent code for guilt, as always, Clark."

"I didn't..."

"Didn't you, mom ?"

Clark was relieved and angered by the petulant tone ringing out from the doorway. Kon was there, standing hand in hand with Lana. That angered him more. "What have you done?"

"Clark," Lana said, her tone clipped. He wondered if it was his imagination that he'd ever seen her look at him with more than revulsion. "How is your pregnancy?"

"None of your damn business."

Kon snorted. "See and you can't even be nice to my actual mom."

Clark was tempted to try snapping the lead off his arm at that point. He'd never ever been into corporal punishment with his son, but that tone and those words, it made him furious. "You've lied to us for weeks."

"Well it's not the same as 15 years, is it?" he said, taking a seat across from Clark on one of the leather sofas. Lana sat down next to him, stroking his hair. It was a sight that, years ago, Clark would have given anything to see. Now it merely made him angrier.

That was Chloe's place.

"So, Connor," Lex asked, his tone chipper. "Do you feel like you taught to be 'careful' or 'afraid?'"

Kon eyed Clark and only him. The sneer on his face so like Lana's. "I was never scared. I knew my dad or my uncles would take care of things. Even if I didn't know who Uncle Oliver or Victor really were, I knew they'd take care of me."

"But did you feel like you were trusted?"

"I used to."

"Kon, buddy," Clark said, banishing his anger. "Let's just go home, alright? I'm not mad." Lie. "I just want us to go home so we can talk it all over together with your mom."

"Mom's here."

"You know what I meant. None of this has to do with the Luthors."

"I think it does," Kon replied, breezily. "I think it really does. They get me."

Clark couldn't breathe. This was everything he'd fear he'd hear one day. "Kon, you don't understand. Do you see this?" He asked, holding up his bracelet. "This has blue meteor rock in it. It strips my powers. With this on, I can't do anything. I can't hear you or your sister. I can't use my strength or speed. They had this on my wrist when we were here last time. They locked me up like a prisoner or a breed mare. Pulled me out to nurse you-"

"Dad!"

"And when they were done with me, they shoved me in a locked room again, let you almost starve."

Kon grabbed Lana tightly. "It's not true."

"It was a miscalculation. We had to keep Clark from running away with you, didn't we? And you were exceptionally bright. You refused formula or substitutes. Only wanted, ahem, mommy Clark," Lex replied.

"They took us, Connor Sullivan, and had us locked down in a lab like how you think of us, like aliens ."

"We are," Kon bit back and Clark could see his son's eyes tear up. God, what had he done?

"But we didn't deserve to be locked up or, god, they made you use your powers, Kon. They tricked you. Played loud noises to make your hearing hurt until you couldn't help but use your TK. Please, let's not stay here."

He hated begging, hated that Lex always managed to reduce him to it.

"Is that before or after they gave me the inoculations that saved my life or the nutrients to put weight on me. Kangaroo, how can I trust anything you tell me?"

"Kon, look," he replied, picking up an enveloped from the table and running its edge quickly across his thumb. A thin line of blood welled up. "This is true."

His son's eyes widened. "That's not possible."

"There are so many things we should have told you, that we shouldn't have protected you from. But they took us and they did terrible, humiliating things. Don't trust them."

"I can't trust you."

"We can fix that," Clark begged. "We can do something. Connor," he said, setting his arm on the table with a clunk. "It's a manacle. What kind of people do that?"

"What's Jor-El?"

"What?"

"That's what mom and Lex just asked me about. What's a Jor-El? How do I have other grandfather?"

"We will never talk about this here," Clark replied. "Never, Lex. You won't get anything out of me or my family and fuck you for trying."

"Language," Lex replied coolly, pressing a button on his phone. "Hendricks, let Chloe Sullivan go and escort her out of the gate. Connor and Clark will be joining her now."

"What?" he asked, incredulous. Lex had cuffed him and he lied. Now he was just going to be let go, even with the unique life growing inside of him.

"Clark, my husband is letting you go," Lana said coldly. Then she kissed Kon's forehead. "Sweetheart, it's not time yet."

"But I want to stay, I think."

Clark surged to his feet. "You're not staying here ever."

"It's not the right time, yet, Connor," Lex continued. "Now, I think you need to try working things out with your kangaroo and Chloe."

"I..."

Clark reached out and took Kon's hand, relaxing as Lana took a key and undid his wrist. "If you two ever try touching my son again-"

"Don't make idle threats until you know what your son actually wants, Clark," Lex replied. "Now, see you later, maybe sooner than you think."


	29. Chapter 29

29

Chloe was torn between wanting to hug Connor close to her and never let him go and slapping him. The former instinct won out, but just barely, and only because she never believed in corporal punishment for her son or any child. She drove home, having brought her car with her to unsuccessfully storm the castle. Clark was speeding with Kon, his hand firmly grasped around their son's. No one trusted him anymore.

How could they?

His mother's son, indeed.

It took her longer than Clark and Kon's instant apparation to get home. It was ten minutes from the mansion home, ten minutes that felt like ten years. Time for her to think over what she'd done and hadn't done. The mistakes they'd made with Kon. The truths they should have told him before now, before it all exploded in rage and in confusion. She honestly didn't know how to do things differently. There had to be a limit to what you told an inquisitive three or five year old. She wished they'd explained about Lana long ago, but she'd deferred to Clark and, in typical Kent fashion, he'd insisted on ignoring her.

But they couldn't make him not Lana's.

They couldn't change her instincts, her influence, the part of her that was Kon. She loved her sweet, sensitive boy, but she'd seen it, even back when he was young and had tried stealing candy because he could. She had seen then what he could be, who he could be like. She just hadn't wanted to believe it or, at least, she thought that between the League and his family, they could prevent it.

She didn't know anymore and it scared her, both because of what Kon could be used to do and because, no matter what, he was Clark's son too and he'd live to regret his actions when the dust cleared. It was with nothing short of trepidation and exhaustion that she entered her home. She was only moderately surprised to see Kara in her patrol outfit-a dark jumpsuit with her House's sigil on the chest-and Bruce still in cape and cowl hovering over Kon in the living room.

"Kara, thank you for coming."

Kara's eyes were red and Chloe swallowed. "They put it on his wrist, Chloe."

She closed her eyes. Kara didn't have to elaborate. That fucking blue K had been used against Clark too many times. Lana thought of it like a play toy and Lex knew it as a great leveler. If they ever found out what the gold K did, it would be the end of Clark's abilities and, perhaps, considering what had happened to Dax-Ur's student, his life. "I'm sorry."

"They put it on his wrist. They held him like a prisoner again."

"Kara, it's not...you're family and I love you dearly and you can talk to Connor later but this is about him and us."

"Rao-dracu, Kon-El," she replied. "This isn't over. I'll be in the loft and so help me, if you don't come to see me after this talk, it won't be pretty."

"You'll sick Alura on me?" he snarked.

"I can think up enough chores around Watchtower for you to do in human speed to keep you busy until Doomsday. Don't press me, Kon-El. I'm responsible for Kal first and I'm fucking flu ra . Do you understand?"

"Yes, Aunt Kara."

"Good," she replied, turning to Clark. "Kal, if there's anything you need..."

"Just a little space, big cousin. I'm fine, promise."

She shook her head. "Fucking Lana."

"My sentiments but put more crudely," Bruce said.

Kara nodded and with a blur too fast for Chloe to discern was gone to the barn.

Chloe turned to Gotham's resident vigilante. "Bruce, this isn't the time."

"I've let you two run it your way. Kon's situation is more than just about your family."

She forced a smile and then grabbed Bruce by the arm. "Kitchen, now." There were a lot of people intimidated by Bruce, her husband (though not Kara) among them. That had never applied to Chloe. He didn't faze her, just annoyed her with his self righteous, know-it-all bullshit.

"Fawkes."

"Now, Batman. If you want to treat this like League business then I want a briefing first." Technically, there was nothing she could do that could force him to leave with her, but Bruce, above all things oddly, was a gentlemen and like he often did, he acquiesced to her request. It was almost comical to see the dark cape flaring behind him in the sunlit Kent kitchen.

It clashed with the gingham.

"Fawkes-"

"Take off the damn cowl. It's not like anyone here doesn't know and you're not intimidating me with it. I was fighting off alien invasions in college, try again."

Bruce huffed a little as he pulled off his mask. "What are we talking about? You called the alarm; you're the one who insisted there was an emergency."

"One to find my son. He's home now and we'll take care of all of it."

"As you have before? I was talking with Clark in the Watchtower and I don't think you've handled this at all well."

"The way Alfred kept you in business school or maybe the way he made sure you didn't fall off the face of the planet for seven years?"

"He has no place in this."

"He does. We're trying to reach our son and he's not a criminal. He's associated with Lex, but he's not like him. I appreciate what you did, how you've helped, but I won't have you give Kon the third degree. He's not a League problem."

"If Lana and Lex use him to get to his powers of if he decides to abuse his abilities, then it is our problem. The most powerful being on the planet-or he will be-and he's cozying up to two of the most heinous individuals I've ever encountered. The things ISIS does alone..."

"I know that. Lana's crazy but Kon hasn't done anything buy lie to us and search out his mom. I can't say I blame him for the latter. I went through a frantic phase to find Moira and Clark had the same yen for Lara. It happens."

"I won't let him hurt people, Chloe."

He rarely called her by her name. He wanted to make a point, and the point sickened her. Her son could be trusted. He could.

When it mattered, he'd never hurt an innocent. She knew that.

"Bruce, with all due respect, get the Hell out of my house. The Watchtower is where we run League business and always has been. If you can't respect that, maybe you shouldn't 'consult' for us any longer."

"Maybe I shouldn't," he replied, before stalking toward the door. "Oh and tell Clark I've had no luck so far with the stones. We're trying Iceland next."

"Thank you," she replied, counting down until he shut the door behind him. She felt her knees buckle under her and she forced herself upright. She had time later to feel poorly, to indulge her fears for her son. Right now, she had to be the mother Lana would never be.

Entering into the living room, Chloe sighed at the sight before her. Kon was sitting on the window seat, as far away as possible from where Clark was sitting on the sofa. His scowl was thick and she wondered if his expression would get stuck that way. It certainly did give him a bit of a rodent look and, as always, she was limited in the claim she had over him.

"Connor Sullivan Kent, what the Hell were you thinking?"

"Chlo! I thought we'd handle this with some calm and understanding."

"I am calm. Angry would be strapping a piece of Blue K to him and seeing how he likes it. How dare you go to the Luthors after all the warnings we've given you. How dare you put yourself and your sibling in danger like that."

"Half-sibling," Kon replied. "And nothing's wrong with Moira. She's fine."

"They know."

"Mom suspected as much. I didn't say stuff they didn't already know."

"No one told Lex Luthor your father was pregnant until today. At least none of us admitted it, until they talked about it first. What have you told them?"

"Twenty questions, Chloe? I'm not in the mood to be grilled."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We need to know what Lex knows about your father. Did you tell him about the transfusions?"

Kon paled before her. "I might have."

"Kon, how could you?" Clark asked and she could see the beads of sweat on his forehead, hear the slight wheeze to his breath. He'd already had a transfusion this morning. Now was not the best time for him to be confronting so much stress.

"You don't understand. When I go over there, it's not like they sit down and have some itinerary and today is the day that we discuss dad's illness."

"Watch your tone," she replied.

"Fine, Chloe. I go over there and we talk. We just talk and it's not like they drag out needles and start experimenting on me. It's not like that at all. I talk about Moira and how stressful it all is and how upset I am and trouble with you or dad or Cass. That's all. They just want to listen to anything that upsets me."

"You told them about our family, didn't you?" she pressed.

"I told them whatever was bugging me that day. It wasn't some conspiracy."

"Connor," Clark said quietly. "We worry. There's everything to lose here and Lex knows how to hurt us. He has for years."

"Why hasn't he then? If he's so evil, why wasn't I raised in a cage."

"Don't even joke," she snapped. "You were so very close to being raised like that and we never wanted to tell you the full story because we didn't want to scare you. You had the worst nightmares as a little boy because you could remember just the smallest bits of being there."

"I dreamed of needles," he said, as he turned to look out the window, his voice far away. "I dreamed that it was all white everywhere and that it hurt, but mom said it was because I was getting vaccines."

"And blood draws every single day," Clark replied. "They came here to the farm when you were six months old, when they were sure you had powers, and took us both. They slapped that meteor rock on my wrist so I couldn't fight back and save you and they locked us up like animals. They were going to keep you because Lana wanted you back and Lex wanted a son, and they were going to get rid of me."

Kon turned so fast that it his head blurred. "What does that mean?"

Clark shrugged. He sounded so tired when he spoke. "I don't know. I can guess what it meant but Lex has never been one to waste resources. It wouldn't have left me with much of a life either way."

"I can't...Lex has been so nice to me."

"Kon, of course he has," she replied, her tone softening. " A stor , he wants something from you. He wants the information you can give him and he wants your power."

"He listens."

Chloe quirked her head at him. "You keep saying that. What is it that Lana and Lex do for you that we can't?"

"Mom understands how I feel and if I said what I really feel, out loud, you'd make me leave like you said you would."

It was Clark's turn for sudden movement. He was gaping at her. "What?"

She swallowed under the scrutiny. "I suggested to him that if he kept insulting you and the baby that it might be better if he went to stay with Martha or Kara and Jimmy for a while, not forever, just until you weren't so sick. The stress isn't good for you."

"But you still don't want me here, Chloe, and mom says I can come live at the mansion any time I want. If you're going to kick me out anyway..."

"I'm not, but you can't treat your father like shit and expect us to let it continue either."

Clark shook his head at her. "I'd never want him sent away."

"Kara lives in Metropolis. It's not like it's far," she replied. "I can't let you be so stressed, it might..." It made her throat constrict to think of losing Clark or Moira. She wouldn't even let herself think it.

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied, reaching one long arm out to take her hand. "We're fine."

She knew the lie when she heard it.

" A stor , I only wanted you to try staying with your aunt and uncle if you still felt the need to mock your father or if it got to be too much. It'd last five months and not forever. I'm sorry I said anything if it made you feel like I was pushing you away."

"Do you love Moira more?"

Chloe blinked. She hadn't been expecting that question, mainly because Connor had been so mad at her lately. She didn't think he wanted her to be his mother. "What?"

"Do you love Moira more, cause she's yours? I can see it. I saw it every day all my life, that I didn't really look like you, that I didn't fit right."

"Connor Sullivan, of course you fit. You father belongs to Grandma Martha and you've always belonged to me."

"I didn't always."

"No, I guess you didn't, but I always loved you, even from the first day your father told me you were coming. You can't imagine how excited I was or how proud I was of him. Of course I love you, but I thought you were mad at me."

"I am," he replied. "I just...I don't know how to live the way that I am."

"Same way Alura and Jax do. The same way Aunt Kara and I learned to adjust," Clark continued.

Kon looked up at both of them and the pain was so raw and fresh in his eyes that it was too much for her. She didn't have superspeed but she did have a mother's quickness, the need to cradle her child. " A stor , we can help you."

He shook his head. "No, you can't. You don't understand. I can't tell you the things I tell mom. I can't ." He disentangled himself from her gently, always gentle, her boy.

The words hurt but the fear and despair in his voice hurt more. What in the world could he share with Lana that he couldn't with her and Clark? What couldn't a fellow Kryptonian and a mutant understand about being afraid to be different?

" A stor , it's okay. We'll figure it out."

He looked up at her and wiped at his eyes. "We can't because I can't let you know."

"Know what, buddy?" Clark asked, leaning forward.

"What I'm really like," he said, before blurring away.

"Clark?"

Her husband shook his head. "He's in the loft. It's not like he ran back to them."

"I don't know what we're going to do," she said, beginning to pace. "He can't go back there. He just can't."

"I know."

"If she touches him again, I swear to God..." Chloe spat. She hated Lana, hated her because she knew it was just a matter of time before she got her hooks into Connor further, lured him in enough to start treating him like an object to control or, worse, like a monster. There was only so long that Lana could act before the mask of concerned mother fell away.

Her a stor would never recover from that.

Clark eased himself slowly-too slowly-off the couch and swept her up in a hug. "It's going to be okay."

"Bruce is furious. He'd put Connor under lock and key if he could."

"He wouldn't. He just is an ass."

"Connor's not dangerous. He's my baby."

"Yes, he is."

"I didn't even think he could be jealous about Moira. Why would I? He's been calling her a tadpole since all of this started. I should have seen it, seen that he'd be just jealous like an average only child would be. How can I keep missing things with him?"

"We all did. It's so complicated, but we'll figure something out."

"I don't think we can just put J'onn and Diana on him, Clark."

"Something else. We'll step up his meeting with Jax. Maybe get Cassie to talk sense into him."

"Cassie isn't speaking with him."

"What?" he asked, still cradling her.

"She was fed up with everything he'd been saying about the baby and meteor mutants. I don't know yet how they can patch it up."

"Well if we start from there, maybe if he has better influences, it'll help."

"And maybe Bruce will still trail him. He isn't public enemy number one. He's a fourteen year old kid, Clark."

"I'll talk to Bruce, make him listen."

Chloe considered that. "Clark, have you ever thought of going to Reykjavík?"

"Iceland?"

"Bruce thinks he might have a lead on your stones. Maybe you and Connor just need father-son time. Let Bruce actually get to know him better. Hell, let him glower Kon straight."

"Lots of glowering."

"Bruce can do it, but I know he can't see the Fortress until it's fixed. This is about trying to find his culture. I think it might do him some good, to just spend time with you like he used to."

"And you?"

"I'll talk to Cassie. Mom's have a way of fixing things."

"And the Luthors?"

"That's going to take some thought. If we could only get enough proof on them..."

"Watchtower to the rescue?"

"Victor and I can do more. I just...what is it he can't tell me? I was there the entire time, for everything. Clark, what is he so afraid of."

He reached out and stroked her hair; she leaned into the embrace. "I dunno, Chlo, I dunno."


	30. Chapter 30

30

Kon was in the loft as fast as he'd ever sped, which was still slower than his father or his aunt could run, but he was getting faster. He noticed that last year. Every day he felt a little faster, a little stronger, a little less human than he already was.

It was scary.

Wearily, in human speed, he walked up the stairs and rolled his eyes when he remembered that Aunt Kara was waiting for him. Sighing, he slumped down onto the hammock that had been his father's decades ago.

"Aunt Kara, I'm just not in the mood," he said, rubbing discreetly at his eyes. He felt so trapped. He couldn't tell his parents who he truly was, what he thought deep down in his soul. He had shown that ugly side of himself-the side he was ashamed of-to Cass without thinking about it and now she hated him with just cause. The only people who seemed to understand all these conflicted feelings inside of him were mom and Lex and now he couldn't see them at all.

"Well I am. Futui le am , Kon El, what in the fuck were you thinking?"

Kon sighed and reminded himself not to roll his eyes. Aunt Kara was very strong. "Do we have to do this? Dad came to the mansion and embarrassed me. Then Chloe and dad were all on my case in the house. I get it. I fucked up and now I can't go back and see my mom anymore."

Kara shook her head. "Are you really that self-centered that you can't even see what you did?"

"What I did? She's my mom!"

"She's a whore," Aunt Kara countered.

That was enough to have Kon up across the room, reaching out for his aunt. Before he knew what had happened, he had his hands held behind his back. She was fast. So fast that even he could barely see her move in top speed, let alone anticipate her movements. Kon wondered if he'd ever be that fast or if his mom's half of his fucked up DNA would keep him slow.

"Let me go! You're the one who called my mom a whore."

Aunt Kara dropped his arm and he stumbled back onto the loft sofa. "I'm only telling the truth. Your mother is sitting in the kitchen trying to figure out what to say to keep the League off of your back. Do you even understand the kind of trouble you're in?"

Kon blinked. "The League like in all her costumed friends and, by the way, what is with that get up?"

"It's discreet and it's symbolic of the El line. Besides, I wasn't gonna do fishnets like Dinah. James would never forgive me, just in the bedroom."

Kon wished then he didn't have a photographic memory. His aunt had a tendency to say things before she thought. Alura had not inherited that habit. "Focusing," he replied, rubbing at sore wrists. "Why would the League care? Why the fuck was the Batman even here? Spying again?"

"Bruce was in the 'Tower when the call was placed. He heard Chloe's panic and he followed your father here. He's concerned about you."

"Does concerned mean 'digs out green kryptonite?'"

Kara started to pace, her boots clunking on the floor as she moved. "It means he doesn't trust you. Are you really that stupid? I know you have squirrel in you but Lana's sneaky smart."

"Insults much?"

She rolled her eyes and still felt to him, at times, more like a teenager than even Alura would ever be when the time came. "Not everyone happens to like us."

"I get that a lot. Evil alien conquerors."

"Don't joke. It's not funny in the least. We're not like that, but not everyone in the League always feels that way."

"Meaning Uncle Bruce is waiting for us to break out ray guns?"

Kara shook her head. "He's not the only one. There are a few of the League-some of the newer members and some aliens themselves-who don't trust us because of our strength."

"So aliens can be bigots."

"Pot, meet kettle," she snarked. "Thanagarians are not forgiving and Hawkgirl has all the personality of the Batman. Kon, we work hard to make sure everyone trusts us because Kal and I know how much concentrated power there is between us. It's so so much more between the four of you now because of the telekinesis. It makes Bruce edgy, especially. He's not above taking measures."

"And I'm the bad guy for hanging out with Lex? Apparently the Batman is all judge, jury and executioner!"

"He's not going to kill you, but I don't think the surveillance is going to stop, no matter what Kal wants or how much Chloe yelled at him. He might make suggestions and, frankly, I might vote for them."

"What, like exiling to Romania or something."

"No, but I would love to see some blue K strapped down to your wrist, so you see how it feels."

"Aunt Kara, I didn't make Lex do that and dad's fine."

"No, he's really not, Kon-El."

"Don't," he groused. "Call me that. It's Connor , okay? It's not some fucked up alien name."

Kara nodded. "This is my fault. I've been hands off with this for a while because Kal asked me to and because he trusted you with not just his secrets and your heritage but with Moira's safety and Alura's. You're family and I expected a lot more from you. I expected you to be able to live up to the honor of your name sake who was a great hero on the Council."

"Newsflash," Kon barked. "There's no Council and there's no Krypton. All there is includes you, dad, and four mutts."

His aunt considered this carefully. "You think it's funny, don't you?"

"Not exactly. I think it's a pain in my ass."

"Kal doesn't remember home, not any of it. He was barely six months old when he was sent away. Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan raised him as a human all his life like Chloe and Kal raised you."

"Lies and letting him think he was some kind of mutant, you mean."

"Protecting him from men like Lex," she corrected. "But he's torn too, because he feels guilty about not being human, like it's some sort of special reward. I love what we are. It's my heritage and my world. You're half alien."

"Believe me, I know."

"No," she replied slowly. "You're half alien to me . Humans aren't Kryptonians and vice-versa. There's nothing intrinsically better about either culture no matter what Zor-El taught me or what Lana is trying to teach you. Kon, you don't even know. Krypton was beautiful. It was home and it wasn't some monstrous place and we weren't bug eyed or scaly or something ridiculous."

"But there was Zod, wasn't there? There were enough evil people to end the world?"

"There are enough terrible humans and nuclear weapons to do the same here. I loved my home and it's gone. I need you to think about that for me. Imagine going to sleep and waking up. Imagine losing 17 years of your life and when you came to this farm, your real parents and not the Luthors, Cass, hell just the Wal-Mart were all gone. Everyone I ever met, everything I ever loved was gone in an instant and I've been stranded on an alien planet ever since. Kal was stranded here all alone without me and with people who loved him but couldn't possibly explain his gifts. He grew up scared and hating himself for it."

Kon forced himself to breathe. If he woke up tomorrow and grandma and Cass and dad and even Chloe were all dead...Rao, his aunt. "Like me? No one wants to be what we are."

"I want to be it. It took meeting me and getting to know about Grandma Lara for Kal to change, to stop being so afraid. I think it had a lot to do with having you in his life and someone he wanted to share his Kryptonian side with. Rao-dracu , it probably had to do with finally leaving Lana and her crap behind."

"Why does everyone harsh on my mom?"

"A lab, Connor. She tricked him into becoming a lab rat and when he wouldn't do it voluntarily anymore, she took his powers anyway and his freedom. Can you really live without your powers? Do you know what it's like to be that weak?"

"I'd trade them in a heartbeat to be just human. I hate them and I sure as fuck didn't ask for them. Hell, they don't even work right, Aunt Kara."

"I'm sorry for that. There's always complications with humans and Kryptonians having children. You should consider yourself lucky. We don't even know what's going to happen to Moira yet, if she can make it to term."

"Dad said-"

"Kal lies. He lies to keep us happy and he lies to himself to keep himself sane. He's sick , Kon-El, and it's a race between Chloe's powers and blood and his allergies to see which wins out first. You're a fool not to realize that either. I get it. You're fourteen. The world revolves around you, except when it doesn't. This pregnancy matters more right now. It's bigger than you. I know you're half Lana and that makes you predisposed to be a self centered brat, but this is your family here and it's trying to survive something hard. Act like a fucking grown-up."

"I am a grown-up and I choose to learn the truth from Lana and Lex cause they'll talk to me."

"Until you land in a cage or stop being useful to them. Do you really think Lex gives a shit about you outside of a new science project? Do you?"

"Of course he does. He wants to help me with my powers."

"I bet he does. He's greedy and loves power and you have more of it than anyone else in the world."

Kon swallowed. "But Dad or you-"

"Not always, and not when you're a grown up."

"Then Jax, even if he's sick sometimes..."

"No, just you, until we know what Moira can or can't do. He wants what you can give him, Kon, but he doesn't care about you and he never has, not like the way you want."

"And how do I want it, Aunt Kara?"

"Like a human being. It means more to you than anything now that everyone sees you as only human, that you just get the Kryptonian side to go to hell. Lex wants a science project and Lana wants to own you because you're hers and don't mistake possession for love."

"She does love me."

"She gave you a fancy watch, big deal. Where was she, Kon-El, all these years."

"Quit calling me that!" Kon snapped and instead of floor boards creaking or the shutters of the loft window rattling, as they sometimes did when he was in a snit, he managed to throw his aunt into his dad's old desk. He was over in a flash helping her up. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I wasn't...I didn't mean to."

Except maybe he had.

He'd wanted her to shut up so badly, at any cost. It brought back his uncle's words. Kara was so strong, and he'd thrown her with just a thought. Maybe he could have anything he wanted...if he tried hard enough. Somehow, that thought wasn't as scary as it should have been. It was actually rather intoxicating.

"I know, of course you wouldn't. It's probably just a growth spurt. You didn't used to have that kind of power."

"No, I guess I didn't," he replied, shoving thoughts of everything aside. He didn't need more power, really he didn't.

"Connor, the person who really loves you, took your pain when you heard too much. She's the one who has been there for every doubt you ever had. She's right there and I don't know how more to make you see that."

"It's fine Aunt Kara. I just need to be human and I don't think you can understand that."

"But Kal can. You shouldn't count him out. He's my responsibility. In the hospital, I held him when he was a few minutes old and I promised to take care of him, especially him. I love you, but every day you tear that wound open a little more. He wants some days to be human, just like you do. He wants to be thought of as a man too."

"Pregnant, hello!"

"It's something you're forefathers set up. It was done to him and he can't help. He didn't know about Chloe. It seems to me that if you pulled your head out of your ass, you'd get things." She stood up and started to the stairs. "I think you'll have a lot of time to think in Reykjavík."

"Iceland? What the fuck, Aunt Kara. I'm getting exiled?"

"No, Connor, you and your dad and I have a feeling at least Bruce and Ollie are going there tomorrow."

"Why?"

She turned back and smirked out him. "if I were cheesier, I'd say 'destiny,' but, really, you're looking for a rock."

"What the hell kind of rock is it?"

She shook her head, "You remember the Lord of the Rings?"

"It was like my favorite book when I was little, you know that."

Well, that and Krypton tales.

"Then it's the one stone to rule them all."

"All what? Aunt Kara don't make with the cryptic!"

"You'll see, get some sleep, Kon-El, and if you ever put Kal in danger again, you'll be cleaning the entire Watchtower with a toothbrush."

He waited until she was gone and concentrated on the large bough of the oak outside his window. It shook as if a tornado had stirred it up. It took enough out of him to cause beads of sweat to well up on his brow, but he did it and he knew he couldn't have done that three months ago.

Maybe Aunt Kara wouldn't be able to make him do anything very soon.


	31. Chapter 31

31

Clark sighed and leaned his forehead against the porcelain. Idly, he rubbed his side, where Moira wasn't kicking but did seem to be swimming and stirring things up a bit. "This is how it started, you know. You're big brother made me sick and that's how I knew I was pregnant the first time. Then comes the pregnancy and the death and then the evil step uncle. Oh and did I mention how bad teenagers are?"

No answer of course.

"Please promise that if we get to the finish line with all of this, that you'll never grow up. If you could stay just cute and tiny, that'd be perfect."

"Kangaroo?"

Clark turned his head to look at Kon, who was staring back at him. Once he'd found the nickname secretly cute. It had sounded adorable from an infant saying Ru. It wasn't cute one damn bit coming from a caustic adolescent out to mock him, except Kon didn't sound angry just then.

"What is it?"

"I heard you Ralphing."

He nodded. "It happens when I get tranfusions from your mom or, frankly, when I have a bunch of hormone changes. I'm sure it's something Jax will get to love if he keeps sleeping around the way he does."

"Eww, we're human," Kon snapped back.

Clark quirked his head at him. "Mostly, but I think it'd be fair if Jax finally learned his lesson about love 'em and leave 'em. I've tried to talk sense into him. It's just disappointing."

"You sound like Grandma Martha."

"I should. We get married in this family."

Wrong thing to say.

"You didn't marry mom."

Clark nodded and tried to ignore the bile in his throat. "Mom told me not too at first, that it might make things even messier to dissolve if I had to. I guess she saw the things in Lana that I either couldn't see then or didn't want to admit were there."

"Grandma? No way."

He leaned back against the wall. "Yes way. I wanted to marry Lana very badly but for the wrong reasons. I didn't...I knew my dad would never have approved of a grandson out of wedlock, even if I was the one carrying him. I did want to make an honest woman out of Lana."

"Or you know, she out of you."

"Funny, that's what I love at five in the morning is funny."

Kon shrugged and slouched against the door frame. "So you would have married her?"

"Then, the minute she said yes, but once everything blew up with ISIS and her affair...I'm so glad I never did it, not because I didn't love you and not because I didn't once care a lot about Lana, but because it would have been so much harder and more fractured."

"I'm still a bastard," Kon replied casually and Clark flinched. Fifteen years later and it still sounded bad.

"I'm sorry. It's not because you weren't wanted."

"You and Chloe want Mo more."

"Mo, huh?"

"It's shorter. Look, I just...I know how hard you and Chloe tried. It took a year, you know?"

Clark blushed. "I'm sorry about your hearing."

"Well just once or twice," Kon replied and he was blushing as badly; it was like a mirror. "It must be nice not to be a mistake."

"It's a surprise, Connor Sullivan, that's all. If we didn't want you, we'd have let Lex and Lana keep you. Instead the whole Justice League took you back-Uncle Ollie and Bart and AC and Victor and J'onn. Your mother and Kara-they all did everything to get you back because we wanted you."

Kon snorted in typical teenage fashion. "Whatever. So, can you stand?"

"I hadn't tried actually." It was all he had to say and he found himself propped up and standing, leaning into his son's shoulder. "You're helping?"

"I don't want to see you or a baby suffer. I said that. I might be grounded for eons, but I'm not a jerk."

"You've been a jerk to your mother," Clark pointed out as Kon led him down the stairs.

"I haven't done anything to mom."

"I meant Chloe."

"She's-"

"Please don't argue about this with me this early. I can't play semantics with you and I won't when I'm this tired. You're mother has been savaged for two months and I heard you've made Cassie pretty upset and I know you made Alura cry at the naming."

"I don't go around trying to make Cass and Lur cry."

"Just Chloe. That's not how I raised you, Kon."

Kon's face pinched up like Lana's-the hamster look, Kara called it-as he lowered him onto the couch. "How did you raise me?"

"Excuse me?"

"How did you raise me?"

"To be a good person and I thought you knew that."

"You raised me to be a person."

"I'm a person. Your mother just says Kara and I have more character than most other people out there."

"But I was raised to be human and I'm not. I was raised on fairy tales that weren't at all. I-"

"It's not always about you. Your mom had to tell me that a lot too when I was younger and Grandma. I raised you the best I knew how, the way my parents raised me and Kara is raising Alura, the same way I tried to train Jax."

" Train . That's the word I wanted. Do I have to be like you when I get old enough. Put on dark colors and patrol Metropolis, hang out with other vigilantes?"

"We just try and help people and your Uncle Oliver has been the GA for the better part of two decades now. It's not vigilantism."

Kon shrugged. He hated that motion. "I never said I wanted to be a superhero."

Clark placed his hand over Moira, Mo . "You never have to be. If one day, when she's old enough, Mo tells me she just wants to be a dog groomer or all Alura ever does is be an archaeologist like she goes on about, that's fine. No one makes this a family business."

"But Jax, is he League material?"

"Jax isn't in the league, no, but he does help out with Batman's protege, Robin."

"She sounds cute," Kon joked.

"He's a guy."

"Okay then," Kon said, giggling. "But he's a Robin's Guy?"

"It's called the Teen Titans and he does reconnaissance like your mom used to do for us before she really got her powers mastered. He chose it."

"Sure he did. Like you didn't push just a little."

"I didn't. He started patrolling MIT but doing it the wrong way."

"Not enough saves in a month?"

"He broke people's arms, Connor. We can do a lot of things, but we can't use our abilities to hurt others. We're not gods and we don't punish the guilty. If we started abusing what we can do, can you imagine where it'd end?"

Kon paused for a second and looked down at his hands. "We could have anything we wanted. Couldn't we?"

"Then, Kon-El, then we'd be monsters, like you used to ask me when you were little and you broke things with you're telekinesis. I know you didn't mean to then, but now you're older and you're practiced. You know better when you're not upset or having a growth spurt."

"Uh, yeah."

"I don't expect you to ever break that one rule."

"I thought we don't get caught."

"That's rule two. We absolutely do not hurt anyone else. Do you remember when you had your fifth birthday party?"

"Eidetic memory."

"It's an expression. I was making a point. You asked me then if you had to be a hero or a messiah or anything like that and I said no, but you couldn't be the Joker either."

"Do you think I would be?"

" Bruce thinks you could be. I'd never believe it, but I never thought you'd lie to me or go to Lana so much. I get it. She's your bio-mom. I looked for Lara too-clones, long story-but it's dangerous and she's hurt people. I expected more of you once. I'm almost scared to do it again."

"You don't trust me?" He asked, and it wasn't petulance in his voice.

"That's what happens when you lie, Kon. I don't think I know you. I hope to God that you wouldn't hurt people, that you would never ever think like Lana, but I never thought you'd take expensive gifts or insult Chloe so much either. I don't know my own son and that scares me a lot."

"I don't know my 'mother,'" Kon shot back, making air quotes with his fingers and staring pointedly at Clark's stomach. "Once I was just mutant and now I'm what? Last Scion of an alien race?"

"Just you."

"Why do the Kawatchee think we're messiahs?"

"What?"

"Why did Graham say I was supposed to be a messiah anyway? Why do they know when no one else can?"

"Because," Clark replied, patting his stomach. "They're family."

"They're what?"

"It's a long story and I was going to tell both you and Jax on the way to Reykjavík. Bruce is coming. He won't let you out of his sight and Ollie too. He's helping fund this misadventure."

"For what?"

"Your birthright."


	32. Chapter 32

32

"Fawkes, we have to talk."

She saw the curtain flutter in her bedroom, knew it wasn't supposed to sway that way, but wrote it off. She should never do that, not now that she knew a ninja. "Bruce, I think I said to get out of my house. What if Connor heard you or Clark?"

That damn cowl looked stupid in her home, contrasted too sharply with the warm blues and the plaid. "They went into town to grab supplies."

"For Iceland."

"Yes. For that. Oliver and I are going."

"Is Kryptonite?"

Bruce froze just a millimeter. It was enough for Chloe to know what he intended. "You're taking some aren't you?"

"A small bit of green. Had I a blue sample..."

It was polite, the British syntax that sneaks in, the influence of Alfred. Sometimes children find a way to love their adopted parents, just not Kon and her. That thought tasted bitter in her throat. "You don't."

"Do you, Chloe?"

"I said I don't."

"Clark's a terrible liar. How no one ever collected him in a cage before Lex did, I'll never know."

"People like Clark. They look out for him. I know that's a novel concept for you..."

"Don't distract. It's not your style." The cape fluttered behind him as he moved and Chloe realized that her life was surreal. She didn't often; she'd long adjusted to being a mutant married to a Kryptonian, but there was something about the costume Bruce wore that was so over the top, it-

Well it wasn't scary.

Just slightly intimidating, not that she'd ever let him know that.

"I've done more research since Jax has come back visiting and since Kon has learned his heritage."

"And?"

"Dax-Ur researched all meteor rock samples. I know that's where Lana's bracelet came from."

"J'onn."

"Yes. How much more was there in his workshop when Brainiac killed him?"

"You want a leash, Batz? Want something to cripple a fourteen year old boy?"

"I want an insurance policy. If you son were to become violent-"

"He's not. There are no samples, none that we have. Before we realized all that Dax-Ur had been hiding, it was sold."

"What? Surely Mary Donovan would be invested in having the weapons to be used against her son under lock and key."

"She didn't know what she had, but Lex did. He gave her such an offer. It's not your money, Bruce, but it's enough to leave them as comfortable through for decades."

"Not the rest of Jax's life, though."

"Clark and Kara are immortal, or at least have a good 1000 years in front of them. I don't know what Jax or Kon have. It could last Jax the rest of his life if he's more like a human than we thought or it could be seed money."

"You know so little about your child."

"If that's a hint that we should do more testing with Emil..."

"It's not. But you're telling me that Lex has the world's largest supply of multiple shades of Kryptonite and has had for over a decade."

"Yes."

"And you've never tried to get it back?"

She shook her head. "What Lex and Lana have between me and Clark is complicated and it's not just Kon. They know . They have enough proof to put me and the people I love the most, my niece and cousin-in-law, my other son, in government issued cell until the end of Clark's life."

"You're not one to be bullied."

Even by him.

"It's my family. I have enough proof to bury ISIS and have since I was in college, but Lana has enough to make my son a lab rat. She has the upperhand because no matter how many people they hurt or how ISIS and LuthorCorp turn my stomach, I can't lose Kon again. I won't."

"Haven't you?"

"Get out of my house or so help me god, I will sick Kara on you and set her on maim. Do you understand me?"

"You resent me because I see the truth."

"I hate you because you're like Lex."

"In that Kal-El and Kon-El scare me? Yes, they do. Clark's a great ally and he's a kind man and Kon's bee my nephew for years, but I know what else they can do and there's more Lana in Kon that even I could have predicted."

"Get out, Batz. If you ever even hint about hurting Kon-"

"I only suggest containing him."

Chloe jumped to her feet. It didn't intimidate. Bruce was as tall and even broader than Clark. But she surged toward him regardless. " Contain my son, do it. I dare you. I won't even ask Kara. Hand to God, you won't want to deal with me. Now get the fuck out."

Clark was vomitting. He and Connor had come home from getting supplies. They didn't need parkas from the Sam's Club, but they did need to keep up appearances. It made Chloe wistful. If her son weren't being such a brat about it all, this would be something amazing for him, a way to learn about the full extent of his heritage. Hell, a quest. She imagined that the chill of the arctic circle was close to what Krypton had been like-ice and crystal. But Kon wouldn't care. He'd see that they were taking him away from his mother and, god, did she hate Lana. This wasn't the time to dwell on those feelings.

She was needed.

She was always needed.

She slipped her feet into her bunny slippers and walked quietly up behind her husband. "Clark? Are you alright?"

"I heard you."

"My feet were cold and I like to practice Fawkes stealth regardless."

"Funny...oh," he said, retching again.

Chloe stroked his back and helped hold back his bangs. It felt like hours doing that. Clark had had morning sickness before and it had lasted into the first three months with Connor, but this scared her. She knew that it wasn't about pregnancy. It was about Moira and the genes she carried.

Clark was allergic to their child.

Would he eventually reject her?

Chloe just barely kept herself from shuddering. She had to be strong. She just had to be.

"Clark, are you?"

"Fine," he said and he tried to stand, only to lean against the wall and slide to the floor again.

"Please don't lie to me."

"You lie to me." He countered. A diversion-Clark excelled at those-but the first time he hadn't flat out denied that he wasn't hurting.

"What?"

"I know Bruce was in our room."

She blushed. "It's certainly not like that."

"You're not having him tail Kon again?"

"No. He wanted to know if I knew where to find Blue K."

Clark's eyes widened. "For Kon?"

"I don't know."

"For all of us?" and she watched as he grabbed his stomach. God, he was far too thin.

"He's thinking of Kon and it doesn't make him happy. He hasn't said anything about Moira, but I...don't let Kon do anything to give Bruce reason."

"Chloe?"

"You have to make Kon understand that Bruce is dangerous, not the way Lex is, but he is. If Kon does something...if he harms someone, Bruce will find a way to detain him."

Clark turned pallid and then retched again. His timing was impeccable. He sat up, taking ragged breaths. "Bruce wouldn't. Connor would never touch anyone."

"He'd never lie or take extravagant gifts either."

"But he's not like her !"

No, Kon snuck off to see Lex and lied. He wasn't like Lana at all.

"Clark, just look out for him...for both of them. Now, can we talk about how sick you actually are?"

"I'm fine, just morning sickness."

"Four or five times a day?"

"Well and your blood-"

"You're vomiting more, even when it's as far as possible from the transfusions. You're thinner than since high school."

"But I'm still here and I can hear her, Chlo, she's so strong."

"Are you?"

Clark smiled sadly and clutched his stomach with one hand while using the other to clutch her shoulder. "I don't matter as much, just them. It'll be fine."

She wanted to scream at him. To demand what 'fine' was supposed to be. Was it fine if Clark died if Moira lived? It wasn't an either/or equation. They both had to survive. She'd see to it.

They were off.

Her husband, who was possibly rejecting her baby; Bruce, who wanted her son's head; and Kon, whom she no longer trusted but wished to God she could. At least there were her heroes-Jax, who was stronger than he seemed, and Oliver, who, despite his reputation, would keep Clark and Kon safe. Funny she'd have to rely and them, but she did. She just hoped it was enough.

Chloe felt a chill spread through her and shivered in her sweater. Looking down, she noticed the coffee in her cup had a thin sheen of ice over it.

"The Hell?"

She jumped up fast and assumed a defensive pose. It would figure that Lana would send a minion from ISIS over to snag her, some petty revenge for stopping Kon from coming over anymore. Chloe took a breath and steadied herself. When the knob to the Kent kitchen door twisted, she didn't wait, just launched herself across the floor and collided with her captor.

"Tell Lana to try harder."

"Oww," a familiar voice moaned. "I will."

"Cassie?"

"Yeah, um ow again," she replied standing up. She didn't offer her hand to Chloe and she would have been offended but then she noticed the coat of snow on her palms. Cassie didn't want to touch her-couldn't-or she'd give her frostbite.

No wonder she'd found comfort with Connor. Even upset, Cassie couldn't hurt him.

Chloe smiled up at her as she got to her feet. She took the same tone she did with rookies to the Titans or the League. Ones who had come cause they had no other place to go or had messed up or couldn't understand their powers. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"My head hurts a little," Cassie snarked, hiding her hands behind her back.

Chloe sighed and reached out for Cassie's arm. "It's okay."

She back up. "Mrs. Kent, no offense, but I don't think you get how bad an idea it is to touch me right now. I've been...I'm so upset I can drink, I can't eat. It's like being fucking Midas. I had to come over to talk it out with Kon cause this can't go on. I mean, Mindy is gonna notice!"

Chloe heard that a lot too. There were a lot of Leaguers whose families didn't even know what they could do. Her family hadn't for the longest time either. She knew that shame. "Cassie, it's okay." And she reached out and took her arms and it was cold, like dry ice almost. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her ability, letting Cassie's chill flow into her completely.

It knocked her over again.

Young arms held her up. "Mrs. Kent? You're blue!"

She shivered and felt the warmth rushing through her, returning slowly, as her skin kept glowing. "It's fine. I just, sometimes it helps get powers under control if I take some of the side effects away." She stood up and smiled. "Now, I can't cook like Clark can, but if you don't mind some PB&J, I'd love to help feed you."

Cassie blushed and looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm just..."

"Mutant. I can take a licking and keep on ticking. It's fine."

"I just...I try and avoid touching people when I'm upset. Not Kon, cause he can't get cold, not really. It's embarrassing."

"I glow. It's always something with powers. I've seen everything working with the League. Sometimes with new members, sometimes up against the Legion of Doom. It's not that surprising anymore."

"But I'm such a fr-"

"No, don't say that. It's the first step to really bad things," she replied, picking out a plate and setting it on the counter.

"Like being an ass like Kon?"

Chloe ignored the jab as she spread the peanut butter. "Or letting a man cut open your brain and erase six years of your memories. Stuff like that."

"Mrs. Kent?"

"We all hate being different eventually. If you think Fawkes and The Ghost are so well adjusted, it's only because we were all messed up kids once, not that I mean you're messed up, just that you're frustrated and that's pretty normal."

"I never had a hard time controlling it. It's just Kon and I...is he around?"

Chloe finished slathering on the jelly and set the sandwich on the table. "He's in Iceland."

"Very funny."

"You do know that Oliver Queen is a close family friend. They flew off this morning."

Cassie frowned. "How long will he be gone."

"A few days, probably more like a week. Cassie, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, if he'd been here, we would have fought again."

"Kon told me about it. You didn't want him to be so mean about Moira."

"Is that her name?"

Chloe smiled. "That's my girl."

Cassie stared down at Chloe's stomach. "Is it weird?"

"What?"

"That Mr. Kent's kind of like the mom?"

"We say kangaroo."

"Oh."

"No, it's fine. No one ever knows how to say it and, well, Kara does call him the mom." Chloe replied, forcing a smile. "Maybe I should grow a mustache and be dad."

"It wouldn't look good. My grandma had one. Totally not a great look."

Chloe laughed. "It's not weird. It's the way it is. It was really cool the first time. I couldn't believe it."

"Freakshow?"

"No, it was-this is cheesy-but it was beautiful. Ask Kon's Aunt Lois or Uncle Jimmy. I'm biased, but it still pretty damn amazing."

"This time?"

"He'd be more handsome if he could keep the weight on," she admitted. "I just worry about the baby, is all. It can be so hard. Humans and K..." she caught herself. "And meteor rocks it's very unpredictable."

"No shit."

"Language," she chided.

"And you?"

"I just want Moira and Clark to be okay. He's not feeling too well right now."

"The transfusions. I thought they'd help."

"They do...it's just never easy. So, Cassie, I'm sorry Kon's not here but I am. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I don't think I can say what I'm really thinking, Mrs. Kent. It has too many bleepable words in it."

"Kon's been an asshole." Chloe said, laughing at Cassie's wide eyes. "Bullpen, remember? Oh and spandex or not? The League has some definite language issues. Bart's like Sam Kinnison."

"Who?"

"And my references never pan out. Kon's been rude and mean and if he's been rude to you, I apologize."

"He's been mean to you and Mr. Kent."

"He'll get over it. I hope that going to spend some real time with Clark will help him."

"Do you believe that. He's so mad. He doesn't exactly want to be an al...pregnant some day."

Chloe paused. "You know, don't you?"

"What?"

"Cassie, you've lied to my face for over a month, covering for Kon. Don't do it anymore. It's not right."

"Mrs. Kent, I-"

"He told you flat out, didn't he?"

Cassie pushed her plate away. It occurred to Chloe that this table was where all the truths had started coming out. "Connor, Mr. Kent and Ms. Kara aren't from here."

Chloe nodded. "I should have known earlier that he told you."

"We're best friends. How could he hide it?"

"For a long time," Chloe bit back. "Have you told your father?"

"God no, it'd sound nuts, even for Smallville and it'd be wrong. We didn't even mention it to Gerald and we're friends."

"God, Connor. You and Lana. I just don't know what to say about any of it."

"I'm not like Lana. I'm not some creepy psycho bitch. Um, sorry."

"No she's a creepy psycho bitch. You're completely right."

"I...I'll never tell anyone. He never ever told anyone about what I can do and he's never been mean or scared about me. Why would I turn on him?"

"I'm glad. We've put a lot of trust in you, over the League and over everything else. But, just so you know, if you ever tell anyone...Kara will make you forget."

"What?"

"The Manhunter calls it the 'Kiss of Lethe.' It's a rare ability even in Kryptonians on Earth. She can kiss someone and take huge chunks of their memory. We've never used it because it's not fair to someone's free will, but we could if we needed to."

"I'd never tell."

"I hope so; I never did but we have so many people after my children now. I don't want to have to worry about you."

"Mrs. Kent-"

"I just had to issue the disclaimer. Now, what about you and Connor?"

Cassie blushed, belying her feelings. "We're just friends."

"I know but are you friends anymore. Kon was very, very upset."

"He hates us," Cassie said, looking down at her hands. "He hates aliens and mutants and Smallville freaks. I know he does. He doesn't mean to hate us, I mean, I know we're friends and he likes me but sometimes the things he says...I don't think he can control it. I mean not like he's mindwhammied-like what happened with the senior class and the special tomato sauce pizza last year cause, hey, Smallville-but I don't think he even realizes how awful it is."

"Cassie, he's just angry."

"He hates aliens, Mrs. Kent. How can you hate what you are?"

"I hated being a mutant for a long time."

"I don't...this is different. I think these are things he's been feeling for longer than just the big alien reveal. I think it's always been there and he's been too afraid to say it."

"But now?"

"I dunno. He's so angry and Lana's working so hard on him. I never should have helped him...I just wanted to make him happy."

Chloe nodded. "That's how it starts."

"How does it finish?"

"I don't know yet."


	33. Chapter 33

33

Kon could feel it, his Uncle Bruce watching him. He could feel the intensity of his gaze and it unnerved him. He'd never thought of the League members as anything other than his uncles and aunts, even after he'd figured out what his parents moonlit as. Bart was Impulse but still his zany, cool uncle. Uncle A.C. was still a hippie at heart. Uncle Oliver, who had smiled at him at the runway, was still the cool one who gave him dating advice.

But looking up into Bruce's face, the stern set of his jaw, Kon realized that his uncle wasn't really his uncle anymore.

"Connor, did you bring everything you needed?"

"A coat-even though I don't get cold-some changes of clothes and my Ipod, total check, Uncle Bruce."

He nodded. "Then buckle up, Queen Industries' jets aren't as steady as mine."

"Bruce, isn't he just charming?" Uncle Oliver said, clapping Kon on the back. "It's more than comfortable. Bruce and I'll be in front and team Kryptonian get to ride in the back with all the comfy leather seating."

"And the cognac?" Jax joked, slinging of his backpack. "I hear you have a fine stash."

"Wasted on people with supermetabolisms," Uncle Oliver quipped. "You'll drink Coke and like it."

Jax rolled his eyes and settled in an overstuffed leather seat. "You know I like you, Kon. All dudes in Iceland for a like a week. Nothing even remotely fun."

"Gee thanks," Kon replied. Like he'd asked to go either.

"I think you'll like this," his dad replied and Kon turned to watch his dad enter the plane. His overly sensitive ears picked up on his dad's slight wheeze. What the hell was Mo even doing to him from the inside out?

Did even Dr. Emil know?

"Kangaroo, I'd like Cancun. There's nothing in Iceland that I'd want."

His dad smiled and eased himself down into a seat next to Jax. Bruce-who no shock now that Connor knew he was Batman-was piloting the plane with Uncle Oliver sitting in the side seat to more than likely just annoy him. The engines started and Kon leaned back in his seat, embarrassed that he chewed back a hint of his own nausea as they swept up toward the sky.

"I'm hoping to find something very important in Iceland, finally. I think that's a good thing."

"What? Gold plated nails?"

Jax grimaced. "Dude, it's the iron!"

"No, it's not food," his dad said sighing. "There's a lot I should have explained to both of you earlier."

Jax arched an eyebrow at him. "We really are lizard people. Oh god."

"A) Not true and B) not a good joke around Kon."

"We're not lizard people though, right? Cause that's not a joke. If you're gonna reveal a spare set of tentacles or something, man, I'm gonna need that cognac."

Dad rolled his eyes. "No, we're same old, same old, but there is something more I've been holding back because, frankly, the truth about it scares me and I don't know how to protect you from it."

Kon's throat went dry. "What does that even mean?"

His dad leaned forward and laid one hand over his knee. "There is a reason that some of the Kawatchee treat us differently, like how Graham's grandmother seems so odd."

"She that lady in the cartoon sweatshirts who always greets me like I'm a Beatle?" Jax asked.

His dad nodded. "In a manner of speaking. I...we told you all the Krypton stories but we didn't tell you the Earth ones. Kara and I aren't the first Kryptonians to visit Earth."

"Well, duh, my dad."

Dad shook his head. "Not just Dax-Ur either. Kryptonians have been coming to Earth for hundreds of years."

Kon snorted. "They kept visiting a planet that gave them ultimate power and didn't just take it over."

"Some," dad admitted. "Some were scientists who came just to watch. No experiments, just watch like a Margaret Mead thing. But you're right, there were some of Zod's predecessors who tried for more. Terrible tales in China of a reign of terror there. J'onn found similar tales in Cairo. It's why, eventually, the Council outlawed trips to Earth at all. The urge to dominate humans was too great."

"And you know this because?" Kon prodded.

"Because people left behind records. Kryptonian artefacts that psychically link the person who touches them to the individual who left the testament. I saw the Numan's memories."

"Who?" Jax asked.

"The tale of the Numan is a legend I've worked very hard to keep from all three of you, including Alura. I didn't think it was fair to put so much on any of you as children."

Kon snorted. "Of course we're protected. What was it from this time?"

"Dude, shut up," Jax said, slapping his shoulder. "I'd actually like to hear about this for once."

"Should have heard earlier."

Jax shook his head. "You ever not complain?"

"When someone lies to me-"

"You'll never hear this if you fight," dad said and, despite himself, Kon's natural curiosity won out over his annoyance at secrets and lies again. "The Council was always Xenophobic. It outlawed visiting Earth first except for anthropologists and scientists on one year passes. They were to go, observe, come back. Affect nothing of the 'lower' culture. But the Numan fell in love with the Mother of the Kawatchee nation."

Jax snickered. "They could have gone anywhere and seemed to and Numan chose Bumfuck, KS to study, really?"

"I guess it wasn't boring to him," dad's tone was a little strained. Jax could do that to you. "But he fell in love with her and they had a child together, the Nulec, and that's where the Kawatchee come from. It's why they live to be over one hundred and it's why they didn't get sick when all the smallpox spread out and killed other tribes. They don't have our abilities, too many humans in the gene pool now, but they have a few fading traits."

Jax smiled and somehow Kon almost understood that; he almost felt relieved somehow. "So they're family?"

Dad nodded. "Really distant, yeah. The Kawatchee have a Kryptonian ancestor."

"So you couldn't mention that for 14 years?" Kon asked, his mind already running the traps. There was more here.

His father looked down at his lap. "The Kawatchee deified the Numan, were impressed with his powers-the strength of ten men and the fire from his eyes. You're right, Kon, they made him into a messiah. When he disappeared, they started a legend that he'd come back again and save their tribe."

"Us?" Jax asked.

"Well, it was supposed to be just one and just a guy," dad admitted. "I think it was a story really popular during the times of reservation life and being moved off their land. The idea Numan would come with his powers and liberate them. I think now it's way more that Chief Joseph and the elders expect us all-even Alura and Mo when they're big enough-to sort of extend saving the tribe to saving the world."

"No pressure," Kon groused.

His flinched. "That's why I kept it from you and told the Kawatchee not to tell you. I didn't want to tell a five year old or even a fourteen year old when I first brought you back to the farm, Jax, that they had to be Jesus. That's not fair and it's just a story. In reality, all Numan was was a Kryptonian who fell in love and was then murdered by one of the House of Zod for having a half human child. He wasn't a god and neither are we. But they expect so much from me and Kara, the Kawatchee. I didn't want either of you to feel pressure to be something you're not."

"Which is?" Jax prodded.

"Heroes, messiahs, pick your word. Jax, you started patrolling cause you chose to. Alura's too young to know anything and Kon's reached the age where he'll have to make his own choices about how he'll use or hide his gifts. Kara and I...we just didn't want you to feel you owed Joseph and his people anything."

"I don't," Jax answered. "I don't feel like I owe The Titans anythng either."

"Sure, like having 'The Ghost' out there all the time didn't put some pressure on you," Kon replied.

Jax frowned. "What makes you think that? Clark never made me do anything but not break arms."

"But it's a family business. The League. I mean, it's all something we'll do eventually."

"Would it be so bad if you did, Connor?" Jax pressed.

"I..." Kon stopped. He didn't know anymore. He wanted to be a reporter. He wanted to help people that way or he had, but Lex's words kept playing in his mind. He could have anything he wanted.

Anything

Why did he settle for a farm and a family that rode him so hard?

He could have so much more.

"That's not really the end of the story. The part that Chief Joseph and I found by research is what happened to the Nulec, the chief's grandson."

"And?" Jax asked, transfixed.

"He became the strongest warrior, literally, of the Kawatchee tribe. The chief trained him against his daughter's wishes and the Kawatchee became unstoppable, slaughtered opposing tribes. They made the Nulec a monster."

Kon shuddered and noticed Jax do it as well. They knew what they could do if given free reign to use their abilities. Telekenesis or Kryptonian strength against some bows and arrows? Hell, against nuclear weapons.

"That's horrible," Jax said.

"It goes either ways. Sometimes people want you to be the second coming and sometimes they want you to be a weapon. Kara and Jimmy and Chloe and I, all we really want is for you four to be as happy as possible. If you never use your powers, if you hid them forever, we'd support that, if it made you happy."

"I guess no one is supposed to sign up to be Nulec," Kon replied. "Like what you told me when I was five about the clown in Gotham, about being a villain."

His dad nodded. "We can't be bad."

"We can be powerful," Kon replied quietly and then shook his head. "I just wanna be left alone. If someone can take these fucking abilities away, I'd give them away. Be honest, wouldn't you get rid of them Jax?"

Jax hesitated, "I..."

Dad glared at him, a look saying that they'd talk about it later when Jax wasn't crammed up with them. "There's no way to take your abilities, we've been through that."

"If we had more blue K. I mean strap that sucker down on me. I'm game."

His dad eyed the door to the cockpit. "Be careful what you wish for, Kon-El. You may get what you ask for."

Jax had recovered enough to shake his head and laugh. "No one wants blue K on, trust me."

"I want to be human."

"You wouldn't be, squirt, you'd be you but with a radioactive lump strapped to you. Brilliant, right?"

"You wear your necklace at home, don't you?" Kon watched Jax squirm. He liked it. "You don't ever take it off there do you, I'd bet? Your mom's such a flaming bitch about it; she wouldn't even let me run that time when I was little and she got so mad at the Kangaroo. I bet you put it around your neck like a collar, like a good little dog for her."

"Shut up."

"I bet you'd be first in line to get rid of our powers. Wouldn't you? Make mommy say she loves you."

"My mom does love me. She didn't run off to fuck her way into the Forbes 500."

The plane shook, and Connor known he'd done it.

"I hate both of you and this trip fucking sucks. I'm going home the second we get to the landing strip."

His dad frowned. "Jax, I expected more from you."

"But Clark!"

"Kon, you're not leaving."

"And why not?"

"Because, then you won't be able to help me find the final piece fo the fortress."

Holy Fuck.

"The what?" Jax asked.

"The Fortress," dad replied. "Now do you wanna hear more about that or are we gonna turn this jet around?"

"I'll be good," Kon replied.

He wanted to be. He wanted to hear about that part.

He really did.


	34. Chapter 34

34

Clark looked from Jax to Kon, both of them had their jaws on the floor. He figured it was the word "fortress" that did it. He hated that he had to say it. It made it sound like he had an invasion planned when he truly didn't. The Fortress, however, was to be taken seriously. It had frozen him and it had stripped Kara of her memories and powers until J'onn had been able to fix her. It wasn't trustworthy.

Which is why he'd spent the last fourteen years trying to find the fourth stone because the Fortress would never stop whatever plans it had, would never be the library it was supposed to be for him and his family, would be a threat like Zor-El had made it.

Jax stuttered a little when he replied. "Let me get this straight. You have a fortress?"

Clark shifted under the scrutiny. "Technically, yes, but it's not like I spend time there plotting to blow things up."

"Defensive much," Kon replied. "I think this is interesting."

Clark didn't like the sudden enthusiasm. "It's really complicated. The long story short is that it's this environment in the Arctic that mimics what Krypton used to be like. It's lorded over by this crazy AI that's supposed to be like my bio-dad Jor-El. It's supposed to be used as a library and repository for Kryptonian knowledge."

"Clark, that's a lot of 'supposed to bes' in one sentence. That doesn't sound right. It sounds like it's dysfunctional."

He nodded. "When I was in high school, I went on a quest to track down the three crystals that made up the Fortress. One Lex found in Egypt and I stole from him. One Grandpa Lionel found in South America in Mayan ruins and it ended up with me, and one in China."

"How did all those stones even get here?" Kon asked. "I thought it was mostly just the Numan in Kansas. If you're talking pyramids that's like 5,000 years ago."

"I told you the Kryptonians visited before. The Kawatchee come from a pretty recent traveler, but they've been all over the world for thousands of years. The stones, I think, were left as a failsafe so that Kryptonian knowledge wouldn't die out completely. When you combined them you got the Fortress but I swear I really don't know how the weapon side works. I honestly don't know and I don't wanna know. It was supposed to exist to help train me."

Jax frowned. "For what?"

"Well, as crazy as the Fortress is, I also can't tell. Something big but I don't think anything good."

"Define 'not good,'" Jax pressed.

"Once I got to close to it, trusted it, and it made me this automaton interested in going on Crusades. Grandma Martha saved me."

Kon pulled his knees to his chest. "It wants you to take over the world?"

"That's what it might want now but that's because it's broken. It's nuts and it's abused me and Aunt Kara. I never told you about it because I'm scared of what it'd do if it knew I had children. I haven't been there since before I got pregnant the first time. If the Fortress knew you and Mo and Alura existed, I'm afraid it'd try to control you too."

"Thanks? I mean, why not tear it down?" Kon pressed.

"I can't. The last time it got upset with me, it froze me for over a month and stripped Kara's powers. It's seriously powerful and it cannot be trusted. It's why we're looking for the fourth crystal; it's the only way to balance out the Fortress and calm down the AI."

"Fourth?" Jax asked.

"There was a fourth one. No one told me that. I wasn't supposed to put the Fortress together without it. But I never know anything. It was before Aunt Kara and Uncle J'onn had found me. I was seventeen and was just trying to figure it all out. So I did what it asked and it was a huge mistake. The only consolation is that I'm the only one who can control it. It's not like anyone else can use it."

"Then it should be simple," Jax replied. "Never go near it again. Seems to have worked so far."

"But it's not that simple. Eventually that thing tricks people and the worst part is is that if it did work, it could be valuable. It could teach all of us about where we came from. Some part of me hates to think that everything from our culture is just gonna die out cause I didn't try hard enough to de-psycho it."

"See and words like 'psycho' when applied to a Kryptonian fortress make me nervous. Even if you found the fourth stone, would the Fortress let you put it in?" Jax asked.

"I don't know, but I can't leave it there like that, unstable. It's not safe. Oliver and I have been looking for the stone for almost 15 years, we have to find it. We'll eventually run out of places to search, especially with my speed."

"So the Fortress only works for you?" Kon asked. "Not Aunt Kara? Is that why it took her powers?"

"And her memory. It was awful. But I put it together so I think it only responds to me." Clark hedged but Kon had always been smart; it didn't surprise Clark when he asked the next question.

"What about me or Mo? We're your kids."

"I don't know. I was always scared it'd try, that it'd use you and brainwash you if it still couldn't get to me. It's ferociously dangerous and the thought of it touching either of you? I've had nightmares about it."

Kon nodded. "Then we have to find the fourth stone to make it work, gotcha. So we're in Iceland because?"

"Short answer is we've tried Australia, South and North America completely-me and Kara both-and have come up short. We just keep trying every place that has a rumor of 'ancient gods' or might be related to Kryptonians with weird writings."

"Damn, we got around," Jax joked. "I never really thought all that Chariots of the Gods stuff was real. I thought dad just came to run some rock experiments and that, well, you and Kara were stuck here. I never imagined like just bunches of Kryptonians coming here to pretend to be gods."

"It's why the Council had to step in. The temptation to set up a cult was just too much, but it took a long time to get those rules enforced. I mean, you get it pyramids? Advanced math in Guatemala? That was the Kryptonians."

"So if we got the fourth stone, then the Fortress..." Kon started.

"...still could be unpredictable," Clark snapped. "But to answer why Iceland, we're checking up on a mix of two things. One is the Norse legend of Odin and his brothers."

"You know myths?" Jax asked and then he laughed. He stopped when Clark frowned at him.

"It sort of comes with the territory. We weren't discrete coming here. So every really out there legend about gods could be a Kryptonian really on a power trip. The point is that Odin had two brothers and the big tip off for it is that their names were Vili and Ve. They're Kryptonian names."

Jax sobered. "And the other point?"

"Is that there's a myth of Odin losing his 'eye' because he saw too much of the world, like collected knowledge. Now the story has it set somewhere in Norway."

"Which is next door to Iceland, sure," Kon huffed.

"No the reason we're in Iceland is because of the Rauðhólar."

"Ah, God bless you?" Jax said, assuming he'd sneezed.

"No, it's a set of craters outside of Reyjavik. Craters could be like the one made by my ship or Kara's. So you take an 'eye' or a stone of knowledge, two Kryptonian named 'gods' and craters..."

"It's a distinct possibility," Jax conceded. "So the big plan is to go out and crater hunt? That's gonna take a while even with how fast we are. I mean we don't even know what it looks like."

"It'll be a shiny, polished gem stone and it'll have the Kryptonian symbol for 'earth' on it. You'll know it when you see it," he replied.

"That does narrow it down," Kon replied. "So we're going rock hunting?"

"Yes, yes we are."

Clark was tired. He felt stupid. It was eight thirty at night and even if one counted jet lag, it was still early. It wasn't like even when he took the Javelin or one of Oliver's planes, he'd never felt that kind of exhaustion before. He turned in the air and tried to get comfortable. Even at almost four months, it wasn't like with Kon. He didn't have to readjust positions, get used to weight he didn't normally carry.

He just couldn't stop feeling drained.

There was a knock on his door and Clark groaned. He'd sent Kon out to the pubs with his uncles (Kon was of legal age here and could drink battery acid). Clark figured having one cool story to brag to his school about would maybe mollify him, make him feel like they were treating him like an adult. That and he couldn't deal with the scowls and attitude currently, let Oliver do it.

"Kon, are you and Ollie already done? Cause I'm sure there's got to be like sight seeing. You wanna try that?"

"Clark, it's me." Jax replied.

Clark blinked and landed less than gracefully on the bed below. Jax not wanting to go out and find a girl? The Apocalypse had to have started while he was trying to sleep. Figured. He didn't get vacations. Quickly, but still human speed, Clark pulled on his jeans over his cotton shorts. Pulling the belt tight didn't even work anymore. He had to use his strength to poke another hole through the leather to keep it on. If Chloe saw him do it, she'd kill him. Slipping on his shirt, Clark opened the door.

"Hey, did pub crawling get boring?"

Jax rolled his eyes. "Dude, the girls here? Totally hot. Hello tall and blonde, score."

"And yet you're in my room."

"Have you met Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen? With Oliver flirting with anything in a skirt and showing off his black AmEx and Bruce lecturing Kon on responsibility and boring shit, I am batting a 0."

"Yeah, I can get that it might be hard to go out with the two most eligible billionaires on the planet," Clark conceded.

"Grad student! I get paid in Ramen. Besides," Jax said, reaching out for the hem of Clark's t-shirt. "Other priorities."

"Uh, Jax..."

"Dude! I knew it!" Jax replied pulling up the shirt just enough to see his creative belt making. "You looked like immortal hell on the plane. I knew you seemed thinner."

"It's nothing. You know I don't appreciate the whole Legaue and Titans and everyone else on me about eating. Mo makes me sick. I can't help that."

Jax shook his head. "We can't help that we worry. Clark, I've never seen you this, um..."

"Not strapping?" He asked, working his way out to the iron railed balcony overlooking the city.

"Like shit. It's not that you're quite at concentration camp yet, but you don't look much like a superhero right now either. I swear Bruce could crush you one handed. Hell, Ollie could."

Clark snorted and sat down in a chair, waiting as Jax came to lean against the modest balcony's railing. "My powers haven't started going wonky yet."

"Metaphorically speaking," Jax amended. "I worry."

"I appreciate it, but mom and Chloe have that corner covered. Emil's good at his research. I promise it's-"

"Card carrying mutt here. We never know if it's gonna be okay. We don't even have a standard of what 'ok' is supposed to be for Moira yet. Just don't lie to me or to Chloe, ok? We're not idiots."

Clark nodded and stroked his stomach. He ignored the fact that when his hand dipped low, he could feel the bones of his hips jutting out. "I know you're not. I know that you're probably smarter than Kara or I, you just hide it under being a frat boy."

"No frats," Jax replied sadly. "Not exactly good at having a roommate."

"Yeah, private space is a good thing," he admitted. "Jax?"

The young man turned to him. "Yeah?"

"Do you think Chloe and I were selfish about Mo? I mean, I love Kon, but he was coming one way or the other. I didn't get a choice and I'm glad on that. But, I dunno, do you think Chloe and I shouldn't have? It'll be so hard on her, just like it is on all of you."

Jax considered him. "Sometimes, I'm really mad at my dad. Is that stupid? I'm mad at him cause he left and it's not anyone's fault that that happened so don't start. Brainiac played you and dad wasn't ready in case anyone ever tracked him down. It was all the bad guy's fault. But sometimes, I just get so mad, like he didn't tell mom the truth and he just got an easy way out cause I'm still trying to figure out my powers and my glitches out and he's not here for it."

"Jax, I'm so sorry. I-"

"Dad didn't tell mom. Dad put the bracelet around mom's wrist while I was in utero. Then he insisted mom keep it on me. That was like nine years of radiation before I'd ever even heard of you. It'd have been too late either way."

"But I didn't help matters."

"Mom wasn't...she's my mom and I love her but she's not Martha or Chloe. She couldn't have dealt with a kid with superspeed or heat vision. It wasn't gonna work that way. I just meant that it's really hard. I have so many questions about things and you and Kara can't answer them. I wanna know what his life was like, why he chose my mom, what my cousins and aunts and grandparents on Krypton would have been like. Things you just can't know."

"We try."

"No one ever said that you hadn't." He replied, sighing. "I don't know if it's selfish, frankly. I know you want Mo. I know how hard you and Chloe have been trying. Hell, I'm super excited cause I think it's great. It's hard to be us, but I'm not sure I'd want to not exist at all on the other hand. I can tell you that I'll help her out when she's here. That I like being back around you guys and Alura and even the squirt."

"That's nice," Clark added, noncommittally. He had a feeling that Jax had come to him for more than just checking up.

"Kon's not really wrong, you know."

"How so?"

"I...my powers are half not there anyway, at least they're not reliable. If I had a chance to get rid of them, I really would."

Clark blinked. That was not what he'd been expecting. "What?"

Jax's voice wavered a little. "It'd make my mom happy. It'd keep me from having to lie all the time to my baby sister. I'd be able to...maybe I wouldn't love 'em and leave 'em so much, I dunno. I really wanna make my mom happy."

"Your mom isn't ever going to be happy because she's always going to be angry at Dax-Ur and he did that, not you. You have to always remember that about your dad. He did things and that's not related to you or what you do now. It's not related to how people see you."

Jax frowned. "Did you go over my dad's records again?"

"No."

"You just sound like you found something out more than lied to get married ."

"I told you. If there were anything more out of your dad's records besides notes on rocks, I'd tell you. I just don't think you should be scared that just because your parents' relationship was rocky. You aren't your dad."

"Only half of him. I like the League."

Clark laughed. "You like half of them a whole lot."

Jax blushed. "True, but a human who gets us. There aren't a lot of them out there. I mean there's not a lot of Jimmies or Loises or Marthas out there who want to hang out with aliens. Kara's insanely lucky."

"She knows that, believe me."

"Meh, even human couples are like 65% divorce rate. I probably shouldn't be all mellow dramatic about it."

Clark held his tongue. He didn't need to mention that hearing Mary Donovan complain about his dad nonstop for fifteen years would affect anyone, would scar anyone. "That's a way to look at it. You're twenty-three and you don't have to pair bond for life like Kara and I did. I mean, humans can be more casual about it all. Just what works for you."

He grinned and looked more like himself. "Man, I am so going out on the town without any of the billionaire's club tagging along. The girls here, man? They are so hot."

"That sounds more like you."

"Sure does. I just...Kon took a low blow, is all."

"He's doing a lot of that lately. I'm really sorry. Don't low blow back. I know you're above it, Jax, and it's not cause I'm worried about Kon. I'm worried more about you. He's smart and he'll dig at you harder until he says something like this again. Your mom loves you and she protected you the best way she knew how. Anything anyone else says is a lie and we both know it."

"Yeah, exactly!" Jax replied and somehow Clark was reminded of the exceedingly polite eight year old who called him Mr. Clark. "So, I'm gonna hit the scene. You gonna be okay? Can I bring you nails or something? Get a little iron in you?"

"I'll be fine. I-"

"Clark," Jax replied, sighing. "I'm not Kon. I don't have that Lana-gene that makes me go all nutso about secrets and lies, but I'd like to think you respect me. You don't have to lie about feeling fine."

"I have to say it."

"But it's not true."

"Not really, but if I don't say it and believe it, well, it's psychosomatic for me . If I believe in it, maybe it'll happen for both of us, me and Mo."

"Just so you respect me. I can handle whatever happens with you and Mo."

"Of course, Jax. Now go get a lot of phone numbers."

He smiled wolfishly, "You know I will."

"You know," Oliver replied, stepping into his room like it was Grand Central Station, you're gonna need a flow chart.

Clark leaned back in his seat on the balcony. "Did you bug my room?"

"Me, nah. Bruce did. I just got a listen in."

"Charming. That's what I like about Bruce. The constant paranoia."

"But sometimes it has its advantages," Ollie replied, leaning against the doorway to the outside. "You'll need a huge flowchart, lot of arrows."

"For what?"

"To keep everything straight. You'd think after lying to Kon blew up in your face, you'd do something else with Jax."

"How long did it take you to tell Lois what you did for a living?"

"Touche," Oliver replied. "But Lois, despite her bravado, isn't a superbeing who could go postal when the truth comes out."

"Jax doesn't have a postal button."

"He might have a hate you forever button like Kon seems to have come with."

Clark sighed and looked out to the snow below. "Jax has a hate himself button. I know Chloe's cursed Dax-Ur quite colorfully over the years. But Jax can never know what his dad did, not ever. I mean, Brainiac and Zod took advantage of the situation. It's more like Dax-Ur did nothing."

"That's sort of like passive evil, Clark. Doing nothing. His doing nothing killed what? Four billion people?"

Clark pursed his lips. "Dax-Ur wasn't evil. He helped me when I needed it. He just was scared."

"He was a lot of things, none of them that admirable."

Clark sighed. "Jax had this reverse reaction to his mom hating his dad and now he's completely idolized him. If he knew...he barely feels like he belongs in the New Council cause he's not an El, no matter how many times Kara and I invite him to do things. To me, he feels like my son, as much as Kon is. But Jax has always seen himself the odd person out cause he's an Ur."

"So? You all totally like him. He can get over it."

"If you found out your dad caused the deaths of four billion people, how would you feel?"

"Like shit."

"Exactly. I don't want Jax to know because he'll blame himself."

"Out Clark you in the guilt Olympics?"

"Exactly and he doesn't have to feel that way for something that happened decades before he was even born, but he will. He's one of us and whatever his dad did or didn't do doesn't matter now. But it will to him. I don't want him to hate his House because his dad was a coward, okay?"

Oliver nodded. "But it's like Veritas. Eventually, these things always come out. It's just a question of how much it's going to bite you in the ass when it does."


	35. Chapter 35

35

Kon's room hadn't changed since he was a baby.

The paint was peeling and the crib had been replaced by a double bed (for a while it had been a race car), but the sunny yellow walls and the murals of Krypton and the Kent Farm were still there. Chloe and Clark were going to ready the office down the hall for Moira. Chloe was running out of suggestions for mint green was not a color that Clark liked. Purple was out automatically for being Luthorian and pink for being too Lana as she had been in high school and too peep-like. Chloe was hoping maybe a nice coral would work. Jimmy was already sketching out the murals he wanted for Mo.

It was a mess, of course. Teenage boys bred clutter and old socks strewn across the floor. Still it was the room she'd been so proud of unveiling for Clark over fifteen years ago, an effort to make up for what Lana had tried to do. There would be no clowns here, no purple walls, no expensive and boutique furniture. This room had been made for a Kent. Chloe just wondered if one still lived here.

"Mrs. K?"

Chloe smiled and turned to Cassie. "What can I help you with?"

"Well the three PB and J's were a start. Sorry, I just get very hungry," she replied, blushing.

Chloe nodded, going into Wall of Weird mode seamlessly. "It's not anything to be ashamed of. It didn't happen to me because I developed active abilities after I finished growing but a lot of meteor mutants have that issue. The extra calories help fuel your powers."

"As they grow?"

"Yes."

"You do these spiels a lot?"

Chloe shrugged. "We run into a lot of metas. Some contact Watchtower looking to join and just aren't ready, some need massive therapy in order to, well, you know."

"Avoid Arkham and Belle Reve?"

Chloe sighed, remembering her mother. "All of us worry about that."

Cassie squeezed her shoulder. "I heard about Kon's grandma. I'm really sorry."

"Me too. She was a good woman," Chloe replied, sitting down on Kon's desk chair and picking up Norman from the shelf. Kon had never thrown the old, worn cow out. Considering it had once, long ago, been bought by Jonathan, Chloe was relieved.

"Is the baby?"

"Mo, we call her Mo," Chloe corrected, her voice low.

"Will Mo be like her grandmother or like you?"

She took a steadying breath. "No one knows. I think Mo will be fine-we all hope for it-but my mom was fine for a while with her powers. I even thought for a while that my powers would drive me crazy. It's hard to know much of anything," she finished, kicking out her leg a little and feeling it strike something hard under Kon's bed. She rolled her eyes and started digging out from under his spilled bed sheets. "Oh that better not be a bong."

Cassie snickered. "Yeah right, what a waste of money. Kon could smoke poison ivy and it'd be as useful."

"Then what is this?" she asked, finally grasping the edge of something. Pulling it out, she gasped. "It's an easel?" Getting even lower on her hands and knees, Chloe began digging out the papers carefully hidden underneath and the slightly scuffed leather portfolio. The loose papers were sketches, some anime style, some carictures, and a few line drawings, something that would have come from an elementary 2-D class. It was when she opened the portfolio that Kon's originality popped out to her. Shocks of colors, reds and pinks in every shade she could imagine and some she hadn't. Gradations so subtle only someone with Kryptonian vision would have been able to mix all the colors up.

They were landscapes.

The tall spires, the hanging moons, the pink hued clouds.

She knew damn well what it was. It was Krypton and painted with such startling grace, one would have thought he'd seen it himself.

"I don't understand."

Cassie quirked her head at her. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Kon's been taking art as an elective all through middle school. He's the cartoonist for the paper."

"Those are signed 'El Duderino,'" Chloe countered, suddenly feeling very stupid.

"He didn't want anyone to know about it. He was keeping it quiet."

Chloe frowned. "Why?"

"Because he knows that you and Mr. K want him to be a reporter."

"But he loves the paper."

"He does, but he likes what his Aunt Maddie does too. He tried glass a little bit. I mean, I tried to sort of explain to him how I do things with ice and little tricks my dad taught me for sculpting, but it's just not his medium. Kon's totally a drawer. I'd love to see what he'd do with real oil paints."

Chloe flipped through the book and shivered a little. It was like seeing Richard Dreyfuss making eight million potato mountains. The portfolio had an occasional sketch, something obvious at Smallville High, even Cassie a few times making funny faces, but the bulk were pastel landscapes of Krypton. He must have collected four or five dozen over a year. If Clark ever sold off the story as the next Lord of the Rings , he'd have an illustrator ready to go.

"How did I not know this?"

"Kon can be real private."

"I think I'm getting that. I just...he's been doing this for almost four years and I didn't even realize it. I know he had mandatory art class in school, but I used to get clay pots and macaroni pictures. I didn't know at all what he could do," she said, finishing flipping through. There were landscapes abounding, all hauntingly beautiful, but then charcoal sketches, the last few-one of his locker from high school, one of the Torch, one of Cassie in her Homecoming dress.

There were three that gave her pause.

The first she recognized. Kon had drawn it from the one of the pictures his father had shown him, the secret stash saved from Clark's first pregnancy. It was as if she were back on that rock overlooking the Kent swimming hole. Kara and Clark smiling (in his case forced to smile) at the camera, she in a bikini and he with his belly overhanging his swim trunks. The second was dated later, after they'd learned the baby's sex. It wasn't from life but Chloe sincerely hoped one day it would be. It was of Clark passed out in the rocker with a baby held to his chest. She was in a Minnie Mouse onesie and looked very little like Kon, lacked the distinctive almond shape of his eyes. Chloe noted herself there, smiling fondly. The only one not in the family portrait was the artist himself.

"Mrs. K?"

She turned and showed the picture to Cassie. "Did you know?"

"That he'd even think to draw Mo? Nuh-uh, I knew he asked me to like bring him a pic of me from Homecoming, that he had requested that, but I didn't know that he was drawing the baby. I didn't think he would."

"Me neither."

Chloe flipped the book back toward her and eyed the final picture. She wasn't sure what it was at first. It confused her, the intersection of images, the clear asymmetry behind it. When she studied it closer she began to make out more beyond the nightmarish, lizard like half a face on the left with scales and all. The right half was Kon's face or close enough, still distorted, as if through a funhouse mirror, his eye more slanted than normal, the bit of his upturned nose that was Lana's more visible, his skin tone shaded more darkly.

"Oh Kon."

"Mrs. K?" Cassie asked, reaching for the sketchbook.

She shook her head and shut it, shoving it back into the leather satchel and everything under the bed. She felt worse than if she'd stumbled onto Kon masturbating. She knew that the Konless family portrait and the Kafkaesque one were private, not meant for an audience ever.

"Cass, I think it's time for you to go home."

"Chloe, I don't agree with this option."

She rolled her eyes. Some days, Emil was nice to have around. It was good to have someone who spoke geek. Other days? He tested her too far. Chloe sighed and leaned against the metal cabinets behind her. "It's not a request, Emil."

"Feeding tubes aren't advisable and they aren't supposed to be permanent."

"You have a pregnant patient who's lost twenty pounds since August. He's almost four months in and he's the thinnest I've seen him since eighth grade. Emil, please, we have to do something, at least get him to stable."

"It's not the normal practice."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. "Damn it! It's not normal even by Kryptonian-human standards. This is me. This is all because of me. I have to fix it. So please, when Clark gets back, figure out a way to get that implanted for him."

"His skin..."

"With the amount of my blood pumping through him and the fact the baby starts leeching powers in the fourth month, it might not be hard for you to pierce his skin. He's weaker than he was the first time around and the lack of nourishment is why."

"Chloe, I don't think this is a magic bullet."

"I didn't say it was, but it's a thought. Tell me that if Clark loses another ten pounds Mo will be fine. Say it to my face."

"I can't," he said turning away. "It'd be a lie."

"Exactly. So when he comes back, we have to do this. At least if he gets sick, he can still have the calories he needs."

Emil nodded. "Alright, I just want you to know that I don't advise this as a cure all."

"Will it last us four months?"

"Yes."

"Then that's all I need."

"Fawkes?"

She blinked, unaccustomed to hearing her codename from his lips. "Yes?"

"It might be best, for you to make arrangements, think ahead to the Caesarian. If Moira's vitals were to crash-"

"They won't."

"You're not Clark and even you don't know what you can do for someone with half your powers. I need one of you to be realistic. What arrangements should I make?"

Disgusted, Chloe shook her head. "You get her here and keep my husband alive anything else is unacceptable, Emil."

"But-"

"Unacceptable."


	36. Chapter 36

36

"I can't believe you're trying again," Kon said, eying Jax. He was at the mirror combing the same patch of bangs back and forth in some imperceptible difference only he could see. It all looked gelled out and forced messy to Kon one way or the other, like the Icelandic chicks would know the difference one way or another.

"Squirt, there are many fish in the sea. There's another bus that comes right along. There's..."

"I get it. Uncle Oliver is like a giant cock block. Rich and handsome and rich."

"You said rich twice!"

"He tipped the waitress 200 American for one Gray Goose."

Jax frowned. "You'll see. One day I'll take my fabulous MIT education and invent a fucking time machine or a teleporter or whatever and patent that stuff. Then who'll be richer than whom?"

Kon frowned. "Hmm."

"You know, squirt, I assume you've also heard that expression but if you keep scowling and things, your face will get stuck that way. At this point, it might not be a pity, but you can't pick up girls looking like Hammy the Hamster, you know?"

"I don't need to pick anyone up."

"C-A-S-S-I-E. She's cute. I saw your yearbook. Definitely choice gams too. I mean, her volleyball team picture. God? What is she 5'8?"

"Jail. Bait," Kon reminded. "And eww!"

"She's hot. It was just an observation."

"Um."

"Are you two?"

"We're friends."

"A girl that hot hangs out with you ? Shouldn't you like get down on bended knee and thank every deity under the sun for that one?"

"Thanks."

"Well you're nice enoug looking, I guess, but short."

"I've not growth spurted yet!"

"True, but you have to like Cassie. Any person with eyeballs likes her."

"Well of course I like her. She's my best friend."

Jax narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I get it. Dude, that's cool. I mean, I have a friend who's gay."

"I'm not gay!"

Jax winked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"I'm not-"

"It's from a show you've apparently not caught in syndication. I just mean, that if you're not into Cassie cause you're not into girls, that's totally cool."

"But I LIKE Cassie!" He shouted and blushed when the lamp next to his table shattered. "Oh crap."

"Reverse psychology, I knew you liked her. It's obvious. So then the next question becomes why don't you ever ask her out. I...she knows, right?"

"That I'm a card carrying member of the Phone Home Club, sure."

"She hangs out with you still, yes, and treats you the same?"

"She did."

Jax sighed. "Oh, I see. Then bitch! You can do better. There's this girl in the Titans now and she's really cute and-"

"No, it's not...she's not a bigot. I just said some stuff that made her mad."

Jax arched his eyebrow. "You? You pissed someone off? Imagine that."

"It's not funny! She's mad at me and we'll probably never be friends again anyway."

"If she's known you, what? Since lower school?"

"Yes."

"Then she knows you're an ass. She'll forgive you."

"I don't know."

"Well, you've been a huge jerk about the baby, and you sound like Lana."

Kon bristled. "I just am not jumping for joy to be extraterrestrial. You don't have to insult my mom."

Jax shook his head. "You went there with mine, Kon. My mom is not at all like yours. She's not . She loves me a lot."

"If you play by her rules," he finished, enjoying the pokes at Jax. It was something there, the digs, the control it gave him, like with saying Chloe's name. Some part of him liked that. He tried not to think about it too hard, but the intoxication was overwhelming him.

"You think Lana won't have them? She will. She left your dad first. She went to Lex because of Clark being Kryptonian."

"And pregnant. Can't say it doesn't weird most people out."

"Clark's a terrible guy, sure, but the dude they say runs 33.1 and steals mutants out of Belle Reve? He's a saint."

"Lex-"

"Would have you and me and Clark in a cage if he could, you moron and once he did. Lana supported that. Some mom."

Kon's bed shook as he choked back his anger. "Takes one to know one. Your mom-"

"You don't know much about me. I don't know if in your pout fest last time you were in Boston, but that cute little nine year old with braids I hang out with? She's not my kid, she's my little sister."

"I figured it was," Kon replied.

"She's my fully human little sister from when my mom remarried. I play by the rules because my nine year old sister is like Alura. She's too young to understand the difference."

Kon nodded and smiled. "Or because your stepfather knows the difference real well and she wants him to stay more than she cares about a rock around your neck?"

Jax shook his head. "That charm, Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"Is why Cassie is out of your league. Now I'm off."

"...to bed another girl who'll never know she's made first contact."

Jax took a deep breath. "Like I said, Cassie's better than you. I'm not gonna trade insults with you or blows. I'm not gonna rise to the bait every time you insult my mother or my family. But I am going to be honest. You were a cute kid, squirt, but you're a crappy person right now. Either pull yourself out of it or you'll end up alone."

With that, he shut the door.

"One more please!" Kon asked, leaning on his elbow on the bar.

"Just because there's no age..." the bartender started.

"One more Vodka, please."

"Alright, you've had nine."

And he could have nine more and never feel it. He just wanted something to occupy his time and block Jax's words out. What the fuck did he know? He'd never even met Cassie. "Out of my league? I'll show him."

"Connor."

Kon gulped his next shot and grumbled under his breath. "Uncle Bruce, great. Don't you have something to patrol?"

His uncle shook his head and sat down next to him, still glowering as effectively as if he wore the cowl. "I am."

"On me watching, duty, great," Kon snarked. "Hey! I was gonna drink that."

"You're not even fifteen."

"I could drink arsenic."

"It's moot. You're-"

"Embarrassing my family, being a jerk, possibly the antichrist, okay? I hear it from everyone. So you can go fly away a bit, Uncle Bruce."

"Kon, what did your mother and father tell you about the League?"

Kon looked aroudn and lowered his voice. "Superheroes in costumes that kind of thing?"

"We're watching you, Shaiera and the Lanterns and I. We don't trust you and we're not going to let you be a loose cannon out there, do you understand that?"

Kon's breath escaped his chest in a hiss. "Are you threatening me?"

"No, threats imply an emptiness, that they will not be backed up. I'm telling you the truth. We don't trust you. We don't care that The Ghosts and Fawkes have vouched for you. We are watching, Kon-El, and if you push it, we will contain you."

"I'm fourteen!"

"You wanted to be treated like an adult. You act like your mother, sneaking out, cozying up to Lex. We'll treat you the same way we've treated Lana."

"I thought you were my uncle."

"I thought, once, you could be trusted, but you're the most powerful being I know. I will not allow you to become a threat to the world I love on my watch."

"So it's anti-christ then?"

"It's a precaution. Kon, go upstairs and sleep. We've an early morning tomorrow."

"It's 'we have!' You're not actually Alfred, Batz."

His uncle shook his head. "We are who raised us. I had hoped you'd be more Fawkes than you are. She's a pain but she's a hero. I am less sure about you."

He watched his uncle storm out and could even imagine the dark cape behind him, Uncle Bruce was that much of a drama queen. "One more, barkeep, I think I need it."

The Rauðhólar looked like an alien landscape, the red rocks, the desolate craters, the wind blowing harshly against Kon's skin. It was only 30 degrees, nothing that even came close to chilling him or chilling Jax. The parka that he wore (and hated) was for show, to keep the cover and to keep up the illusion that he was normal. The Kangaroo was wearing a thick blue coat from Wal-Mart as well, but Kon occasionally noticed him shudder. He didn't believe it was an act, not at all.

"Kangaroo?"

His dad looked up from scanning the ground, utilizing the X-Ray vision that Kon had yet to truly master. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

His dad sighed. "I wish people would quit asking me that."

"Clark, man, you just seemed cold is all," Jax added, his own face focused on the ground, his brows scrunched up. Both of them were X-raying the hills for all they were worth.

"I'm a little chilly but it's not too warm here. It'll be better the sooner I can get home to enjoy time with my wife and off my feet. Oliver, Bruce? Did you find anything yet?"

Across the landscape, his uncles were working with the latest equipment Wayne Industries had to offer. Uncle Oliver shook his head. "Not a blip, Clark? You guys?"

"Well gee," Jax drolled. "We only have miles to go."

"Kangaroo, maybe you could just sit in the car?" Kon offered.

"I'm faster than Jax and you're not good with X-ray vision yet. We have five people on it and we'll get it done faster."

Kon decided it wasn't worth arguing anymore. He just trailed over the next hill and start X-raying the soil, trying to keep himself from passing out with the perspective change. He knew what Krypton looked like, knew about the crystal and the ice, the sky that was always sunset. Here he felt like he was wandering through a Martian landscape, the great craters calling back to what had happened long ago to really start off his family's life in Smallville.

He searched, always moving in human speed, unable to X-ray and run at the same time. But there was nothing there.

"So, that was exciting," Jax said, swinging his legs like a five year old while sitting in the seat beside him. They were back at the airport, waiting for Uncle Oliver's plane to be gassed up and readied for take off. "Dude, though, you should have seen the twins I met last night. I mean twins ..."

Kon started tuning Jax out, as he'd learned to do through their rekindled relationship. The boy could talk. However, as he tuned his hearing off of Jax, he felt it focus on something else, something piercing that made him wince, a ringing like nothing he'd ever heard before.

"Kon!"

"Huh?"

"You okay, man? You look like a migraine. Oh, is it the jet engine stuff? Chloe mentioned you have really, really sensitive hearing."

"Uh, yeah, yeah it is the engines. I have to just take a walk a bit. I'll be back before we take off, promise," Kon replied, speeding out to the far reaches of the airport tarmac. God the ringing wouldn't stop. He just...he had to make it stop. The closer he drew to the sound's point of origin, the shriller the noise became, the more it pierced through him. Kon stopped in a far point of the runways by the fence around perimeter. He reached up and slammed his fist through, going as far down as his shoulder until he felt it, the tangle of metal and rock in his hand.

He pulled it out and saw what he'd expected and yet, not even believed he'd find.

The stone, twisted in lead and gravel, but the "earth" sigil shining brightly.

He'd heard it, even buried in the lead, a stone mined over from the Rauðhólar seventy years ago to build the airport. The legends had been true and now, muffled safely from the others in it's lead covering, the stone was his.

Now he just had to figure out what to do with it.


	37. Chapter 37

37

Kon?" Clark called, frowning at his son. Jax was conked out on a far sofa. Clark tried not to think about what or whom had been done on that couch over the years of Oliver's playboy life style.

His son startled and glanced back at him. "What?"

"Are you alright. I mean, outside of the obvious?" he added, patting Mo. "You seem distracted."

Kon, who had one hand firmly shoved into his pocket, blinked. "I'm fine."

Clark sighed. "I know it's been a rough week. I know you feel bad about everything we've said regarding Lana."

"I didn't talk about mom."

"No, I know, but I do understand what it's like to want to know your biological parents. When I was a little older than you, I searched out the AI. I can't even begin to explain the how or whys of it, maybe Dax-Ur could have, but it lived in the caves before it settled in the Arctic."

"Huh."

"It's confusing. It's part of why the AI is so scary. I have no idea how it works, but I was drawn to the caves cause I knew it was part of my other family and it made Grandpa Jonathan upset."

"Did you stop?"

"No, but then the Fortress wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Jor-El, whatever it is, is cruel and cold. It tricked me, tested me, branded me like an animal-"

"You don't have a scar."

"Not now, no, but I did. Ask your Grandmother or Uncle Pete."

"But Lana's not an alien supercomputer."

"No, but I am just saying I wanted to connect with my other family so bad that I didn't listen to the warnings grandma and grandpa kept giving me and I made a huge mistake. I...the AI killed Granpa Jonathan because of it, weakened his heart and killed him. I've never forgiven myself for it."

Kon frowned and leaned forward towards him. "It what?"

"It said I had to have a 'balance' cause the Fortress saved my life, a heartbeat for a heartbeat, basically. It chose to take your mother-and I mean Lana-the first time and I begged for a do over, for it to turn back time. The second time over, it took my dad and refused to give him back."

"I...he had a heart attack."

"Because the Fortress set it all up for its own machinations. It's extremely dangerous, Kon, and it's merciless without the final stone. I'm not comparing your bio mom exactly to something that can block out the sun or open windows to prison dimensions-"

"Holy shit."

"Basically. It's why it scares even J'onn and Grandpa Lionel who is the 'oracle' for the Fortress. But what I am saying is after pressing so hard to know my 'father,'" he said, making air quotes with his fingers. "I met someone I didn't like and it ruined a huge part of my life. I can't trust Lana; I simply cannot after she slapped locked me away like a lab rat-locked us away. I know you'll try seeing her again."

"Batman knows," Kon huffed. "Did you ask him to watch me?"

Clark sighed. "I knew Bruce would try talking to you. Chloe threatened him twice to leave you alone. She doesn't want the League near you."

He snorted. "She had Batman tail me."

"She's scared for you. The League's a democracy. Kara, Chloe and I aren't the bulk of it. Even if you threw in your aunts and uncles, there are so many members now. If they deemed you a threat, they wouldn't kill you-we don't do that-but they would..."

" Contain me. I know. The Batman was clear on that. What does that even mean?"

Clark shuddered and felt his throat go dry. How could he even be discussing this with his son. His boy was a freshman, wasn't even fifteen. "I don't know. He asked Chloe for blue Kryptonite. If things became severe enough, I think they'd take some from Jax or from the bracelet Lana tried once on me."

"I...they'd make me like Jax?"

Clark bristled. "There's nothing wrong with him."

"He's handicapped."

"I thought you didn't want your powers," he countered. "There's nothing wrong with Jax. He's just...unreliable. I just am saying, if you're not careful, the League will outvote your family and take care of you and you'll never have your powers. Emil will find a way to even dampen the telekinesis. I never underestimate him, never."

Kon shivered and Clark reached out to grab his shoulder. His son jerked away. "I bet you'd like that!"

"What?"

"Let the Batman take me away, so you can just have the perfect family with Chloe you want, pretend my mom never existed and you never fucked her."

"Language," he reprimanded. "Kon, I don't...I died the day you were born."

"What?"

Clark breathed deeply and clutched Mo as he spoke. Four more months and there'd be a repeat performance. "I died the day you were born. A human if they're given temporary powers can carry a Kryptonian baby to term safely, if the pregnant parent is Kryptonian, then it's always fatal to both the baby and the parent."

Kon did not double take. He just nodded. "Chloe went away when Alura was born. She said that it was going to make Aunt Kara sick."

"If your real mother weren't as powerful as she were, we'd both be dead and Alura wouldn't be here."

"Is she powerful enough to handle Mo?"

"Yes," Clark replied adamantly. "But I wanted you. I can't want you more than to die for you, do you understand that?"

Kon paused for a second and Clark could almost see him relax his posture for the first time in months. Then he slumped back in his seat. "Whatever, kangaroo, whatever."

Clark sighed and held his stomach tight, Kents really were stubborn.

The best part of coming home from a trip was having Chloe's arms around his neck. "I missed you!"

He smiled and spun her around a bit, still amused after all these years at the disparity in their heights. "I was gone for three days."

She kissed him and squealed a bit until he set her back down. "Three days is a long time. That's 72 whole hours and then it's...well it's a lot of minutes."

"259,200 seconds," Jax replied. "Calculators are for the weak."

Chloe smiled and kissed Jax's cheek. "Did you take care of my boys?"

"Most of the time but Chloe, you should have seen Iceland. Those-"

"-girls were hot. I know, Jax. You're a broken record some days."

"But," Jax replied, pulling a bouquet of sunflowers out from God knew where. "I'm your favorite."

Chloe laughed and took the flowers. "You did look after them?"

He nodded. "Kon's ears rang a lot in the airport and I think he's got puppy love-itis bad, but he's his usual sunny self."

"He's still in the limo?"

"Bruce and Oliver had uncle advice to give to him. I, on the other hand, have a test in quantum mechanics tomorrow and a lecture to prep for my undergrads. Say, Fawkes, what should I invent for you next?"

Chloe rolled her eyes tolerantly. "How about something that improves teenagers' moods?"

"Don't do soft sciences," Jax said, laughing. "Clark, man, always a pleasure. I'll see you in Boston next week with the squirt?"

Clark nodded, a little overwhelmed by the scene before him. Somehow, he had a feeling that the tricks Jax had pulled to make Chloe smile-the superspeed, the math-were things he'd longed to show off for Mary Donovan. Maybe he had once, but Clark knew her response would never mirror Chloe's. "Of course, now don't-"

"-be a 'cad,' gotcha."

"I am not that old."

"You're like superold, like over thirty old!" Jax quipped, before slipping away in superspeed.

Chloe grinned and sniffed her sunflowers. "I like him."

"I can give you flowers."

"No, he makes you flustered. I like to see you moderately on your toes."

"And Kon?"

"Makes blood pressure rise, which is bad for the baby. Jax is...colorful."

"Manwhore?"

"Totally," she replied, giggling. "Did you explain to him where Kryptonian-human babies come from?"

"Repeatedly and Mo's an object lesson. He's sure the human cancels it out."

Chloe laughed again and he'd missed that sound. "I bet he does. It'll be even funnier than with you and Kon when Jax gets pregnant. No one in history will have earned it more."

Clark gasped. "I'm not cute with Mo?"

Chloe sighed and put a hand to his chest. "You're not waddling like a penguin."

"I...can we talk about this later? Kon's home and we should try just...things were tense."

"They often are," Chloe replied, frowning when Oliver stepped out of the car. "Ollie?"

"Hey, I was thinking. I can take Kon to the city tonight. Dinah and I will hang out with him, show him the penthouse. He'll like that."

"Oh Oliver," he said. "You really don't have to do that."

Chloe's eyes widened and she nudged him in the ribs until he clued into it. "That'll be fine. Bring him back in the morning."

Oliver grinned lasciviously at both of them and Clark felt his cheeks heat up. "Fawkes, Ghost, see you tomorrow. Try not to do anything I wouldn't do."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "That include things not legal in the lower forty-eight?"

"You know it."

Clark didn't have Chloe straddling him enough lately, although, when they were trying for Mo, that had happened two or three times a night. It was a nice return to form. She leaned down and kissed him, reaching low and tugging at his shirt tail. Leaning in, she whispered into his ear, "You know what I want."

Clark's eyes widened. Mopey teenagers and world saving really had cut into quality time. Sitting up, he obliged. He leaned forward to kiss her and frowned when she pulled back. "Chlo?"

"I knew it!" She said, putting a hand on his clearly prominent hip bone.

"Excuse me?"

"You're completely skin and bones."

"You tricked me into taking off my shirt?" he huffed, about to slip his shirt back on until she sat on it.

"No more than you did me. I haven't seen you shirtless in a month and it's no wonder why. Clark, you look horrible."

"Jax said like shit."

"Either is true," she finished, stroking over his stomach. "Either both of you aren't getting enough or Mo's getting it all and neither explanation is acceptable, did you know that?"

"Chlo," he started, trying to squirm away.

"Clark, I talked to Emil. We both think giving you a feeding tube would really help you."

"I'm fine! I just need to eat more!"

Chloe sighed and took a small object out of her pocket. "I don't think you are."

"Is that a safety pin?"

"Clark, it's forty outside and you were shivering. I know you're not at four months yet, but I don't think this is like with Kon."

"I...you won't be able to get a tube in me and I won't have blue K on with Mo. I just have to eat even more."

Chloe frowned. "Give me your finger."

He rolled his eyes. Sure, if she needed proof he was still fine. "I'm telling you," he started, giving her his forefinger. "It's not gonna...ow!" Chloe's eyes watered a little as they both stared at the drop of red welling up on his finger. "I...that's not possible. I have a lot longer before I glitch, like three weeks. I didn't even notice it."

"It's Mo."

"It's both of us," he said, pulling her close to him. "I'll do it, you know. I'll put in the feeding tube if you think it'll help her."

"Help both of you."

"But she matters the most, you have to promise, if...she goes first."

"I can't."

"Promise or I won't put in the tube. If it comes down to it, you take care of Mo. Do you understand?"

Chloe was crying now, the tears freely flowing. "I understand. I just wish I didn't."


	38. Chapter 38

38

Chloe was letting Clark lean on her as she walked him up the stairs to their front door. "Clark, how are you feeling?"

He sighed. "A little whoozy. I don't know what Emil and J'onn came up with for me as anesthestia, but I'm really dizzy."

Chloe nodded and pulled her keys from out of her purse. "I know but the tube going in only took like twenty minutes and then you'll be able to keep nourished. It should be, um, well fun's not the right word, but it'll be better now, for you and Mo. Dr. Emil is even sending over some stuff with Bart. It's a high protein drink that won't clog the tube."

"Yum."

"Sorry it's not all cherry pie this time, but calories are good," she chirped, trying to stay cheerful. It was her job. "Now, we'll get you upstairs and you two, especially you Miss Mo, will be getting a nap."

"You take this mom thing seriously."

"Dam...Darn straight," she finished, not wanting to deal with the swear jar. "Almost got the key..." she mumbled, gasping when Clark (and Mo) started to tip backwards. There was a blur and then the next thing she knew, her eldest was keeping Clark from sinking to the ground. "Kon?"

"Uncle Oliver let me leave the penthouse in order to come home. He said he had to get something from the Watchtower. Now what's going on?" he asked, supporting his father as she opened the door.

Chloe pushed the impulse down to snark and ask why he seemed to care. It was that petty part of her she'd outgrown years ago. "Your dad's shaking off some anesthesia."

"He had surgery?"

"Minor procedure," Clark replied. "I just needed a feeding tube."

Kon frowned between the two of them. "I thought the baby was better."

"She is, but she's just thin. They both are, so Emil and I thought a feeding tube in addition to other meals would help," she finished as the both led Clark into the house and toward the stairs.

Kon's eyes widened and Chloe noted he was basically carrying his father up to the bedroom. Clark was leaning on him, but he was far too out of it to make much progress on his own. Kryptonians were useful; Chloe never would have been able to do it alone. "Feeding tube?"

"It didn't hurt!" she defended.

"No...I mean, ru said he was okay," Kon replied, setting his father down on the bed.

Clark curled up into a ball and Chloe rolled her eyes patiently as she pulled off his boots. "You're not the only Kent who has a tendency to lie, a stor . Your father's lost fifteen pounds at least since the pregnancy started. He's probably never going to be heavy. If we get him to gain 25 or 30 before she's due, we'll be lucky."

"I..."

" A stor ," Chloe started, grateful that Kon was too startled to complain about the nickname. "I need to have a few minutes with your father. Can you start dinner. It's Friday and I was thinking spaghetti. Lots of plain noodles should be easy for him to keep down."

"Sure, just water and salt to get it to boil?"

"Olive oil in the water. It's how your grandma makes it."

He nodded and, then, he wasn't there.

Chloe turned to her husband and straightened his bangs back from his forehead. "Clark?"

"Mhmm, mom, I don't wanna go to school today."

"I don't know how to take being called your mother."

Clark uncurled and rolled over onto his back. "I promise I won't speed to school. Five more minutes."

Chloe had to laugh. Kon was the same way. If they didn't have superspeed, they'd be late every time. Hell, Clark was late enough to keep Reynolds on his case throughout most of high school. "Clark, it's Chloe."

He blinked up at her. "Wow, I need to ask Emil what the Lanterns gave him."

"J'onn did."

"Whatever, this is pretty awesome," he replied, grinning.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Kon and I are going to be making spaghetti. I can bring you some plain strings in a little bit and-"

"Not hungry."

"Emil says the feeding tube is a calorie supplement only. You're going to try keeping protein and carbohydrates down on your own."

"Maybe later, mom. Pete's coming over and..." he replied, his eyes falling shut and a slight snore escaping from him.

"Yeah, J'onn really knocked you for a loop. I might wanna keep some of that for your next mope-a-thon after Mo's born," she finished, pulling the old yellow blanket on the mattress up to his chin. She kissed his forehead and then his stomach. "Mo, take care of your dad, okay? I know you're a good girl."

Kon was standing by the stove, stirring the bot which was not yet boiling. Chloe smiled to herself. In a year or two, Kon wouldn't have to curse at the burner to work faster. He'd just be able to look at the water like his aunt or like Clark. They grew up so fast, way too fast.

"Hey."

Kon looked up from stirring. "I did what you said but it's so slow."

"Yes, amazing how long oooking actually takes. The food doesn't appear magically. No dinner elves like Cassie's homework ones."

Kon sighed. "Oh Cass."

"She was here the other day, you know, while you were in Iceland. She came here to talk."

"She did?"

"Yes."

"To me?"

Chloe nodded as she started stirring the prego on the other burner. "Cassie's powers go wonky when she's upset, don't they?"

"Yeah. At midterms you can literally feel the cold spots in the classroom."

"She had a spell like that. She was freezing everything she tried to eat."

Kon stopped stirring. "So she only wanted to talk to make the symptoms stop?"

"I think she misses you."

"She was so mad, Chloe."

She nodded and let the name roll over her. " A stor -"

"Chloe."

"Connor then. You've been harsh to everyone. If she weren't mad it'd be a miracle."

"And I fix that how?"

Oh snippy. That was more familiar.

"You have to admit you were an ass to her first. That usually helps."

"Hey!"

"It goes both ways. I've had to apologize to your father and him to me. That's how relationships go. Sometimes you make a mistake and sometimes she does and if you really care about each other, you make it work."

Kon stiffened. "Why couldn't the kangaroo and my mom do that?"

Chloe ignored the second sting; it never got easier. "Because she doesn't bend, Connor Sullivan. She had edicts and it got so far that he was chained up at ISIS. I just wish you'd understand that and not be so much like your father."

He frowned. "Don't you mean like my mother?"

"No, like Clark. He...there's something about Lana that he held onto for so long, like a spell, not literally, but something held him. I know she's like that. That people love her more or think they do, but it doesn't end well, Connor."

"She listened."

"You told her what she wanted to hear, gave her the info about us she wanted. I know that I can't hold you back from her forever, that Bruce's threats or your father's begging won't either."

"You're jealous."

"I am. In a way I'm fifteen again and everyone loves her more. It's what it feels like but I'm mostly scared for you because I know how she works. She can't love, a stor , and it's going to break you."

"Everyone says that."

"I know you're a skeptic but sometimes when everyone says it, it's actually true," she finished turning off the burner and moving the pot of sauce toward the sink.

"She isn't like that to me."

"What?" Chloe asked, setting the pot down and turning to him. "What is she like? What can she do that we can't?"

Kon sighed and put the noodles into the pot. "She understands me."

"You keep saying that. Clark and I know she's a bigot. We know what ISIS does that the government can't prove."

"ISIS has good press."

"You can buy that at The Journal and the Inquisitor," she huffed.

"Chloe, I can't...I know this isn't my family anymore. It's why you asked me to move away."

"I said it was an option because you can't start off your relationship with Mo by making her hate you and everything you say to her."

"She's a baby. She doesn't know the difference."

"One day she will. You were very bright. By six months, you understood so much around you, were talking. You grew fast."

"Figures."

"Yes, and your father is dying." Kon gaped and the water started to boil over and onto his skin. "Kon!"

He blinked and looked down at his hand and moved the pot away from the heat. "I...he said that but you'll fix it. It's what Fawkes does."

Chloe smiled sadly. "It's supposed to be. Kon, Emil and I have been talking lately. It's why we started with the feeding tube."

"I know."

"Mo's being rejected by your father's body."

"But that's why there are transfusions."

"Well exactly and they help Mo , but it's weakening your father more than he was even with you. Emil doesn't...I've never tried healing someone poisoned by me."

Kon turned and for a second she saw her sweet boy again. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're saving Mo. I know I have sucked about some things, but I'm serious. I don't want dad to die or for the baby to be sick. I'd never want that."

"Sometimes, it's hard to tell."

"I'd never wish that," he groused. "But they can't die. You fix things."

"You take what I can do for granted, a stor ."

"But you're not poison!"

"I'm Kryptonite," she replied. "But we're going to fix that. We'll just keep working around it all."

"You think you can save them?"

"I hope so. I hope that once Mo's big enough in gestation, we won't need the transfusions anymore. Your father could be feeling a lot better by Christmas."

Kon breathed in relief. "Good...I, good."

"Now, Connor Sullivan," she started, pulling out the plates. "I have to talk to you about something serious."

"More serious than the fact that dad and Mo could die?"

"In its own way, it worries me more. Cassie and I were up in your room and we found your sketchbook."

Kon was on the other side of the room before she could blink. "You what? God, did Cass? I mean, I didn't draw bad things of her. I just...I see her a lot so it's natural I'd draw her."

"She didn't see anything but the landscapes and we all know you like her, except maybe Cassie, herself. It's transparent, a stor ."

"I...we're friends."

Sure, like she and Clark had been, long ago.

"But there were other pictures. Kon, the self portrait, it's-"

"None of your goddamn busines, Chloe . I can't believe you went through my possessions. Do you keep wanting to spy on me? Batman and now my art. It's mine, like your journals."

"I know but Kon, I didn't even knew you drew and what you do...we love you. You're not some mon-"

"I don't have to listen to this. You invaded my privacy. I'm just..." he said, throwing up his arms. "I'm so out of here."

All she was left with was the breeze.


	39. Chapter 39

39

Kon sat by the pond outside of Cassie's house. When he was younger, maybe eight or nine, he and Cassie had spent long summer days hunting ducks, trying to catch them. He could have caught one with no real effort, considering his speed, but Cassie and he had a pact to do things the hard way. She wouldn't freeze them in the lake and he'd not put on an extra burst of speed to catch them. They never caught a one, but the game had kept them busy and entertained through long summer days.

It was cold now in Kansas. It was not cold enough for the lake to completely freeze, but it was chilly, with the surface crystalized. He liked the way it felt, much better than the heat of the summer.

It was comfortable.

His mo... Chloe had found his sketchbook. He'd never had a Jack and Rose moment from Titanic. He had a crush on Cassie and, yeah, he was almost fifteen and had those kinds of thoughts, but he wasn't going to sketch her like a Peter Paul Reubens or a David. He just found her inspiring when he drew. It made it easy to do the candid sketches at The Torch on those days when he was stuck for comics fodder. Based on the way half the school looked at her, it didn't look like he'd picked a bad model.

But, oh god, if Cassie had seen what he'd drawn. Those sketches were private for a reason. They were his and he meant it, they were his the way his mother's journal collection was hers. He was a writer, sure, and he aspired to Columbia-if aliens aspired to anything-but there was something cathartic in drawing, something that was his and only his. Maddie had taught him some skills with it and he'd tried scuplture with his own version of telekinesis, but what he loved was the feel of the pastel or the charcoal or the pencil in his hand. He loved the pastels perhaps the best, being able to recreate the world from his aunt's stories. Since he'd learned it wasn't a Tolkien fantasy, he'd still been unable to stop drawing, something instinctual driving him.

He wondered if he'd fit in better there if there were a Krypton, if he'd feel the same way. He didn't know and it wasn't an option.

Kon sighed and looked back down at his pad. He stolen it out of his room before Chloe could look at it again. What did she know? It was his and it was how he felt put more accurately than any tirade. Pulling out the self-portrait that had made Chloe so upset, he stared at it, tracing the lines of the other half's scaled, textured face with his fingers. It wasn't technically what he was underneath but it was how he felt. He couldn't take his portfolio back, not to his home, not where Chloe and the Kangaroo would see it.

So he tore it, slipping into superspeed and making confetti of all he'd drawn, letting it blow away in the wind.

"Kon?" Cass cried, a mix of indignance and worry coloring her words, "What the Hell are you doing?"

"Making it snow."

"That's pollution and this is your work. This is years' of you work. It was so beautiful. Mrs. Kent showed me the landscapes, they're amazing. You could have put them in the art show this spring."

He glared up at her. "You weren't supposed to see it. It's my art. I...it was private, Cass."

"They were beautiful. Mrs. Kent even thought so. I mean, if you're worried about her not being into your work. She really liked them. I can't guess what all you made, but some even made her tear up. I think it takes a lot for an artist to be able to do that."

"Or maybe you just need the right hook. I can't believe she did that and I can't believe you told her that I drew at all."

"She found it under your bad. Of course she figured out they were yours and that you drew. Kon, I don't get what's so wrong?"

He sighed and looked off to the water. "It doesn't matter now."

She sat down, long legs splayed out in front of her. "It always matters."

"I thought we were fighting?"

"We are but we took a break."

"From fighting?"

"We're mad, but it doesn't mean I still don't care about you. What did you draw?"

"None of your business, Cass. What I draw is for me and no one had a right to violate that. I just...I can't talk to anyone."

"But Mrs. Luthor?"

"She tells me everything is okay, that I'm okay."

"Cause she has a reputation for loving the meteor infected and ISIS is so legit."

"Because she doesn't judge me. She's okay with how I really feel. Chloe and the Kangaroo, it would kill them to know who I really am, but Lex and Mom are okay with it."

"I'm sure they love encouraging meteor freak hate. Do you want a white sheet too, Kon?"

He stood up and bit back his frustration when Cassie did too, Her chin at his eye level. "I don't. I didn't say I was gonna round someone up."

"You know what they say about LuthorCorp. I don't care how many charities Lex gives to. You know they had you as a baby. You know a million things that should add up for you and you keep pulling this crap."

"It's not crap! How am I supposed to tell Chloe and the Kangaroo that I hate them? That I hate me and I hate Mo even if she's not born yet. How can I tell them there's something deep down in me that is disgusted all the time with what all of us can do!"

"You mean me?"

"I mean all of us, like I said. I can't make the feelings go away. I can't sit on them forever and shove them out of my mind but I can't share them either. It'd crush the Kangaroo and he's already dying and I'm not an ass!"

"What? Your dad's what?"

"He's really sick, okay, and I don't want him or Mo to be. I don't want a baby to die and I don't want my dad to be sick. I just wanted him not to be pregnant. I can't fix anything. I can't stop whatever the hell is going on with him. I can't fix how I feel, and I can't make it go away either. My mother doesn't make me pretend to be what I'm not."

"What's that?"

"Someone better than I am."

"You just suck at adjusting, you drama queen."

"I'm not who you think I am."

She shook her head. "I think you're a stuck up brat, but that's not a terminal condition. When you're not all 'me, me, me,' you're a good guy."

"No, Cass, I'm really not because I just can't-"

"Can't what?"

He turned away from her. "I was born deformed you know. My eyes weren't right. Not mine or Alura's or Jax's, too bright and too green."

"Alura wore sunglasses to your sixth birthday party. I thought it was just a nice thing to do cause they were Oakleys and it was obvious Mr. Quenn bought them."

"She didn't look right. I wasn't right. I can't even look at my baby pictures. I just can't . I hate us."

"Kon!"

"I do and mom lets me and Chloe said I had to leave the farm."

"No she'd never-"

"She did!" and now the branch of the weeping willow above them was shaking furiously with his frustration. "She said I had to go if I couldn't stop being so angry and I tried and I can't . But it's an excuse. Chloe has a kid with the Kangaroo. She doesn't have to borrow me. It can be her and Ru and Mo."

"Sounds a little like Winnie the Poo."

"I'm serious. She wants me gone anyway."

"Do you know how nuts that sounds? Mr. and Mrs. Kent love you, you idiot."

"They don't know me. If they did...I just can't anymore."

"Kon, it's okay. You just, you have to talk to them."

He shook his head. "I don't want to see them hate me back. Cass, I have something I need you to hold onto for me, okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. I just have something for you. I made it on the flight back from Reykjavic," he said, pulling out the stone. It was still trapped mostly within the faded lead of the airport's infastructure. Most everything tarnished and rusted, save for the center where something as bright as diamond shone with the sigil gleaming.

"It's pretty inside, why not take it out?"

"That's not the point of the piece." The point was that the lead made its pitch too muffled for his father or aunt to hear.

"What is?"

"It's for you. I know you try hard and you almost keep me grounded."

"I don't get it."

"Abstract piece, Cass. Now I'm headed back to the farm, but you'll save it for me? Keep it some place quiet?"

She nodded. "Of course. Anything, Kon, anything."

He was counting on that.


	40. Chapter 40

40

"Kal, you're snoring!"

Clark opened his eyes to see Kara sitting in the recliner next to the bed he shared with Chloe.

"I don't snore."

She grinned and why was she so bouncy? "You always snore. Chloe just won't tell you."

Clark sighed. "God, what did J'onn give me. I had the weirdest dreams. I think I was in Candyland."

"Huh?"

"It's this board game that mom used to play with me when I was really little. Basically, I think I was eating a house of peppermint."

"You're weird."

Clark smiled and shifted into a sitting position. "I'm a pregnant male Kryptonian stranded on Earth and my Candyland dream is the weird thing about me?"

Kara nodded. "Pregnant Kryptonians are a proud tradition in the House of El."

"Not."

"Okay, just you, but pregnant is cute. Babies cute. You in Candyland is just odd."

"I think it was the drugs. I'm like 99% sure it's the anesthesia. I just...wow. That stuff's strong."

"Don't become a junkie."

"I won't," he replied, resting on hand on his stomach. "So, why are you the wake up brigade?"

"Chloe's out so I get to Clark-sit."

"I do not need sitting."

"Yup, you do. I am here to make sure you eat a lot and put in your fluids and then we have some fun."

"Define fun."

"I have the newest Will Smith downstairs. It's not even about aliens this time."

Clark laughed. "So you've come over to force me to eat and to make me watch your favorite actor. This is fun now?"

Kara nodded. "I'm a good Clark sitter."

"You dropped me on my head once."

"Well you're mostly better, and, apparently, if Kon's proof then the Lana thing is weirdly genetic and not a head injury."

Clark sighed. "Are we going to get into an argument about Kon and Lana today?"

She shook her head. "I'm on strict orders to keep you happy and rested so Mo gets big and strong and so maybe you can get big and strong too. You look like sh-"

"Shit, I know. Everyone says that."

"You're skinny. You're never skinny."

"Hey!"

"I mean you're either pregnant fat or you're very, very broad. I mean you usually make Bruce look tiny. Now you just look like you need a sandwich."

"It's hard, pri ."

"Then make it not hard. Come down and eat some cherry pie with me. Aunt Martha made some and I picked them up from Washington this morning."

"Was Kon here? I think someone got me up the stairs and superstrength isn't a Chloe power."

"He was here, had a bitch fit, went to Cassie's, came back, went to class with a stick only half up his ass."

"Ouch. What this time?"

Kara sighed. "I really don't know. Chloe said she'd tell you tonight...after the surprise."

"There's a surprise?"

"That's why she's out running secret errands. Anyway, you, me, pie and Will Smith. Plus, a certain adorable niece might be downstairs waiting for cousin time with Mo."

"Mo's not even five months along yet!"

"Well she wants to touch your tummy and listen for the heartbeat," Kara corrected. "Come on, let's just get you down the stairs."

"You want to say that I should waddle but I'm not fat this time."

Kara shook her head. "No, Kal, you're really not."


	41. Chapter 41

41

It was good to see Kara lead Clark into The Talon, better still seeing all of the League-well the Justice Bros part of it-greet Clark. Chloe smiled as Clark grew red at the sight of streamers and balloons. It was a simple party, really too early for a shower, so she had had Victor design and print out a "Welcome Home" banner.

They were having a post Iceland party.

That was something they could be happy about, that her boys and Bruce and Ollie had all come home safely even if it had been a dead end again on leads. Wherever the Kryptonians had hidden the final stone, they'd done it well because fifteen years of Oliver, J'onn and Clark looking had netted them nothing.

"See Chloe, I Clark-sat!" Kara enthused and Chloe laughed. Somehow, Kara would always be nineteen to her, always that young girl on the farm and, even though she was learning Earth customs and most of the idioms, she was still the girl to be kept away from party planning. Poor Eeyore still wasn't quite right from pin-the-tail back at Clark's first shower.

The Bros all laughed, especially Bart. "Chica, you can sit me any time."

"Hey!" Jimmy objected, frustrated at the response. Bart never changed either, pinging back and forth between downright flirtatious and oddly sweet. Of all the Bros, he liked Clark the most, even if he found the pregnancies incredibly funny. Chloe figured he still and always would think of Clark like the big brother he'd always wanted.

Alas, he thought of Kara as the supermodel he'd never get to date.

Clark looked around and smiled. "Wow, I feel special."

"You should, bro," A.C. replied. "We have five kinds of cake. One has nails in it. That'd be yours and Kara's."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Hello! Not all of us even like nails. Sometimes, I thinky you really just need to add in some good seaweed while preggers."

Clark blushed. "Thanks. I take the iron hint."

He frowned. "Where's mom and Connor?"

"Connor had stuff late at The Torch. It's legit by the way. Your mom is finishing squaring away an extended leave of absence at home for cancer in the family. It's a better story than troubled pregnancy again," she replied.

There was a beat where everyone looked away from Clark. That's not at all what this was and already they all loved Mo. It was natural somehow to fall for Kents. Maybe it was how Kryptonians had planned to take over the world in the first place-surreal cuteness. Lord knows the League had wanted to give Kon anything he'd asked for as a little kid. They'd be twice as bad with Mo, Chloe was sure of it. However, Clark was sick and all of them knew better than to pretend it wasn't there, than to let him shrug it off and promise things he couldn't deliver on like "being fine."

"Mom doesn't have to do that."

Everyone, wisely, went over to the food table as she led him to the back part of The Talon's kitchen.

"Clark, your mom loves you and wants to be here with you and with Kon acting up. It really couldn't hurt."

"I...will it hurt her career?"

"Only assholes hold someone's son being sick against them in re-election. Your mom wants to do this for you and for Mo."

"Besides," a familiar voice rang out. "You get all the chicken soup you can eat. It's what mom's are good for."

Chloe smiled and then squealed as Jax picked her up in a hug. "I thought you said you had a class to teach!"

He set her down and squeezed her shoulder. "I am making them watch a film strip. It's from 1954 about DNA. They'll laugh so hard at the bad poodle skirts that they'll thank me later. But I have to be back in Boston in 30 minutes, short visit."

She smiled. "You sped all the way to Kansas for our part, how nice, Jax."

"Well, it's my party too, sort of. I came back from the horrors of Iceland as well."

She laughed. "There weren't any. Tons of Norse beauties-"

"Who were mostly after single and handsome billionaires! I can't compete with that unless I show off my amazing cosmic powers. How am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, Oliver does have that hot and blond thing going."

"I'm blond."

"Meh, you're almost a redhead plus Bruce is objectively attractive in that tall, dark, broad shouldered way."

Jax pouted. "My father was a scientists. Apparently they don't come in tall and broad."

"Not normally but you are a cutie."

"I don't have a billion dollars."

"Neither do Bruce or Oliver. They have billions, plural."

Jax shook his head and looked at Clark. "I can't even compete with you. The girls in my dorm keep asking when my friend is coming back. I am done hanging out with really, really ridiculously good looking superheroes."

Clark rolled his eyes. "You're not."

"No, but you're not allowed near my dorm again. Drop the squirt outside next Wednesday like we agreed on. I wanna do this Xena marathon with him. Lawless, leather, my dream date."

"You're a nerd, Jax," she riposted.

"I," he replied, heading for the swinging doors. "Am an original. So do I get the carrot cake or what?"

With that, he was gone.

"Kryptonians. You all go through food like no one I've ever seen. We had to have a cake for Bart's metabolism, a cake for Kara, a cake for Jax, and I think one just for you cause you're gonna eat it."

"Chocolate and nails?"

"Always."

Clark nodded and then leaned down to kiss her. Chloe let herself fall into the embrace. Soon they were kissing with the same fervor they'd had back in the year after Kon had been born. Back when thing were simple.

Okay they were never simple but somehow a baby and only monthly world saving seemed doable compared to everything now.

She pulled back panting and blushed as her skin glowed rose. "Oh."

He kissed her again and traced a pattern against her cheek. "I love that I can do that."

"I know you do."

"It's beautiful."

"To you."

"And apparently," he replied, touching his hip. "If I can ever gain enough to show, it's hot to you. We all have our quirks."

"Yeah, look, Clark, about Kon. I need to-"

"Chlo?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me tomorrow. I'll bring it up with him and Jax or something in Boston. I just...I need us today. Cass has Kon and we'll help him. I just...I've missed this."

Chloe smiled and kissed him again. "Tomorrow we parent."

"Today? We party."

She nodded and kissed him again. They were going to be a while.


	42. Chapter 42

42

"Is there a reason why we're taking Uncle Oliver's jet instead of just a quick run to Boston?" Kon asked. Oliver paid his people absurdly well. They were clear to talk freely. Of course, the sound proofed captain's cabin helped too.

His dad sighed and turned to him. "Kon, your mom and I were talking-"

"No sentence that starts like that is ever good."

"She couldn't show me your sketches but she described them."

Of course Chloe would do that to him. She was such a snoop. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Then you don't have to. I want to talk and you can just stare into space but I know you'll remember because I would."

"Whatever," he huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. "Ru are you gonna lecture now?"

"I didn't know you could draw."

"It was private."

"Your mom said it was beautiful, some of the landscapes you could do. That some of the drawins of Cassie were really good."

"Chloe wouldn't know good art."

"She knows when something has heart in it. Kon, she's sorry about asking you to live with Aunt Kara or Grandma. You don't have to feel like we're going to push you out for Mo."

"Right. I'm not even related to Chloe."

"I know how you feel."

Kon snorted. "Sure."

"Grandma Martha was pregnant when I was a sophomore in high school. We don't talk about it becasue she lost the baby, but she was. I wanted a little brother badly but, at the same time, I was really scared. It wasn't just because I was adopted and he wasn't. It was because-"

"The baby would have been human."

His dad nodded and Kon noticed his voice catch. "I was really excited for your grandparents. I mean they couldn't do things with me at all, no birthday parties, no little league. I had so many special needs and the baby wouldn't. I had so many problems with my powers, especially when I was younger. When I was three and had just really gotten my strength, there was this accident with a barn kitten...I just...how were two people who hadn't even heard of Krypton supposed to deal with floating."

"Barn cat?" he asked, intrigued and fearing where that was going.

"It's exactly what you think. I wasn't allowed to even touch an animal again until I was six. I wasn't allowed to ride until I was about 12. Everything had to be adjusted for me and mom and dad were gonna have a normal baby. I'd be gone to college in two years and they could just start over, you know?"

"Grandma Martha wouldn't."

"But I felt like it. I get feeling replaced but Mo's not doing that. She's just an addition. We can love both of you, you know. Even if you've been an incredible ass lately."

"That's the way to win me over."

"You know you've been a jerk lately. I don't care about my feelings but it's not fair to pick at your mother like that and she's right. When the baby is born, you just can't say mean things. You can't talk about who we are."

" What ," he corrected.

His dad was silent for a time, twisting the hem of his flannel shirt in his hands as he gathered his thoughts. "I'm not going to argue with you about having made it. I can't even say I never felt that way."

"Right."

"Yes, right. How do you think I felt waking up three feet above my bed or able to survive being hit full on by a Porsche? I was so scared I'd keep changing, especially after I knew I was a travelere but didn't know where I was from or what our people were like. I was really scared, Kon, so believe me I get it. I'm not judging."

"I'm not scared."

"Of course you are. I'm not an idiot. It's just the six of us, now with Mo. Six of us in a world of seven billion humans and metas. I'm not Aunt Kara, I wasn't raised on Krypton. I didn't even know the name until I was 16. I'm as trapped between two worlds as you and Jax and Alura are, as Mo will be. We don't really fit either place, but Earth's all we have."

"I'm half normal, you know."

"Half won't matter if Lex can get you in a lab. It certainly won't matter to most humans and we all know that. We're very lucky. Uncle Perry and Grandma and Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Lois and Grampy Gabe, the League, they care about us and they don't care. There are humans out there who are okay with who we are. There are metas like Cassie."

"I don't wanna talk about her. We're just friends." He was not talking his non-existent love life with his father.

"So were your mother and I once upon a time. She's meta. She understands having to hide, having powers you can't control. I think she's good for you. I think Jax is good for you or I wouldn't keep taking you to Boston. There are people out there we can trust who do understand. Lana's not one of them."

"She listened."

"What to?"

"To me being frustrated with Mo, to me being scared of my powers. She listened to me."

"We can listen."

"No, you can't."

"Because you hate being an alien. Kon, you're not the only one. I'm not in love with it. As much good as I do being the Ghost and patrolling Metropolis, as much as I can help the League, I have to tell you if I had a chance to be human...I'd at least be tempted. Back when I was in love with Lana, I thought about taking the blue K I had and hiding on the farm."

"What stopped you?"

"I don't get to choose if the world needs me or not. I want you to. I want you and your sister and your cousin to have a shot. If all you ever want to be is a mild mannered reporter or an artist, it's fine. It's not some family business you have to do."

"Jax does it."

"Jax wanted to do it. We didn't force him. But I promised you once when you were little. You can be whoever you want to be, as long as you don't hurt anyone."

"I'm not hurting anyone."

"If you choose Lana and Lex...hurting people is what they do. It's all they know how to do. Please forget them. They stole us. They experiment on people like us. It'll only end badly."

"She's my mom."

"She's your human half you mean."

"I didn't say that."

"You're thinking it. I swear that spending time with her will make you the monster you think being Kryptonian makes you. That there are things worse than being a traveler."

"I doubt that," he huffed, looking back out the window.

"Squirt. Not that I don't love hanging with you when you scowl, but Candy down the hall needs help with freshman physics and I promised her an hour during our Xena fest to help her."

Kon paused the DVD and scowled at him. "You mean you're gonna do her."

"Oh yes. Eighteen is like a fine wine."

"You're creepy."

"I'm doing a public service. Besides, you have to see her, man. She's a total ten."

"Why are you a manwhore?"

"Well the obvious answer," Jax replied, his tone clipped. "Is that I can be."

Kon glared at him. "What do you think would happen if she knew."

"Knew that it's a one time deal. I always explain it's a no strings thing. I give them the thrill of their lives and move on. It works for all."

"You don't tell them the real important part, that they're fucking ALF."

Jax stilled. "Excuse me."

"Do you ever tell any of them? Give them a Close Encounters of the Third Kind disclaimer?"

"I don't think I have to."

"Do you think they'd still be up for it if you did," he spat.

"It's not their business."

"Don't you think you wanna know what they're fucking? Your mom sure didn't."

"You don't get to talk about my mom, ever." And Kon had struck a nerve because the pile of papers on Jax's desk were shaking.

"Ooh, mommy issues?"

"I'm not playing games with you. Your mom's a rancid bitch and everyone knows it."

"My mom at least knew what she was getting into. Your mom can't stand anything about Dax-Ur. Can she really stand the sight of you? Isn't that why she remarried and you have a little sister now? A real kid."

"Fuck you, Kon. You wanna come back to Boston? You'll learn to shut your fucking mouth." And now the papers had shaken enough to fall to the floor. Hell, the whole desk was moving like a scene from Poltergeist .

Oh he'd definitely gotten something and he liked doing it, manipulating people could be so easy, so rewarding.

"Dad makes me come but you, you're interesting, aren't you. Fuck enough idiot freshman, make you human? Fuck them so you don't get tangled up with someone like mommy?"

"I am not playing this game anymore. I'm going to go see Candy and you'll be gone when I come home. Don't try me, squirt. I'm bigger than you still. I'm faster and I'm a hell of a lot stronger."

"That a threat?"

"That? Is a fact. You mention my family again and you'll know exactly how strong I am, you asshole. Now get the fuck out."

Kon was on his own to run home. Dad had some stuff to deal with at The Planet. It had all been about some father-son talk on the plane. So Kon did what he'd been planning on for a while. He went to the MIT library's computer lab.

Bruce was monitoring his email by now, he was sure, and no doubt would be watching anything from an IP in Smallville, probably all of Kansas. Good thing computers were ridiculously easy to use. He wasn't Jax. He got science but it bored him. Jax was gifted even beyond what Aunt Kara could do. He'd heard Jax brag about the time he'd hacked NORAD.

He'd been 12.

But Kon could route things well enough that even a master detective couldn't trace him.

He just set it all right and he could talk to him mom, finally.

November 16  
>From:<br>To:

Set up account like you suggested, can't wait to hear more from you.

-C

November 17  
>From:<br>To:

Excellent. I hate that this is the only way you have to contact us, but you always have the option to come to the mansion. The League thinks it has the power, but we have recourse. If you need to come to us, you can. I do want my son back.

-LL

November 23  
>From:<br>To:

Sorry to be late. It's hard sometimes to slip away at schoo, even from Cassie. I had a long Thanksgiving. I get tired of all the togetherness and baby talk. No one ever mentions that it's scary too. An even more powerful Kryptonian than we are. Mo will probably get everything Chloe has too. Who even knows if she gets here, if she'd like live forever. I guess it's good there's magic. I mean, she's big enough not to count as a tadpole but, I just, sick of everyone focusing on her.

Other people exist you know?

Dad's still sick. He couldn't even keep down apple pie. Good thing there's a feeding tube or he and Mo wouldn't get anything.

Miss you.

-C

November 24  
>From:<br>To:

That's interesting. I hadn't heard about a feeding tube. Clark was always the type to rush into things. I don't know what he was thinking trying to do anything with Chloe. Kryptonian plus meteor mutant with a green K heart, of course it wasn't going to mix.

Do you think he'll lose the baby?

Lex has amazing doctors, you know?

-LL

November 27  
>From:<br>To:

I don't think so. Mo's really healthy. Dr. Emil says so and he's pretty smart. I think dad's not so hot. I get mad at the kangaroo a lot but I don't want him to...well Chloe and Dr. Emil always figure out something. They came up with the tube in the first place so he keeps up with calories. He's really thin. I've never seen him that thing before. I think you could like count ribs now if you wanted.

Chloe cries sometimes.

I hear her cause my ears kind of flare up and I guess I'm set on hearing Chloe as a default.

I used to listen to her heart to focus my hearing. I'd like to learn some day to focus on you instead, but Chloe's definitely upset.

I just...I think things will go fine.

The League saves the day, doesn't it?

-C

December 1  
>From:<br>To:

Fascinating. I do hope Clark is alright. Of course I wish him well. Like I said, Lex and ISIS have fantastic staff. Perhaps a change of medical regime would suit him. I'd hate to lose Moira either. She's very special, isn't she?

-LL

December 1, 10:55 pm  
>From:<br>To:

I hate it here.

Fucking Jax. I was forced to hang out with him again. I guess he got over the "wah is me, mommy doesn't love me" bullshit. (Even though it's totally true because that Mary Donovan is a flaming bitch and hates aliens.) Anyway, asshole squealed on me. So I took an I-pod, not like I became supreme dictator of Earth or whatever.

Stores are insured, say it with me.

Ugh, glad none of them found the rest of my stash. I'm not dumb enough to keep it on the farm or in The Torch offices. I mean, I'm not an idiot.

I bet you'd understand.

-C

December 3  
>From:<br>To:

You wouldn't have to steal with us. We all know that Clark and Chloe don't make that much reporting. If you came here, you could have everything you ever wanted. Wouldn't that be nice?

Mostly, you wouldn't have to talk about alien things or try and deal with people with powers. It'd be nice not to be surrounded by the "circus" as you call it.

We're here for you.

Always,  
>-LL<p>

December 15  
>From:<br>To:

Sorry, got grounded for the fucking I-pod thing. Ugh, like dad didn't steal more that summer in Metropolis. I heard from Aunt Kara that there were ATMs involved. Cassie's not talking to me again. I tried to make it up to her, that whole thieving thing by painting for her.

She didn't want to talk.

I miss her this time of year. She makes the best ice sculptures. I guess sometimes meteor powers are helpful.

Miss you

-C

December 16  
>From:<br>To:

Interesting.

I swear you have the most interesting things to say, sweetheart. I am still interested in Moira and Clark's health. You need space from all of this. Remember, any time you need Lex and me, we are here.

And Jax and Alura how are they.

Again, if you have to complain, I love listening to all you have to say.

It's invaluable .

-LL


	43. Chapter 43

43

When Clark slept, Chloe liked to lay her head on his stomach so that she could feel closer to Mo. She envied Clark, could understand in a small, sane way, some of Lana's frustration over the first pregnancy. It wasn't something that merited the extremes Lana went to but, at the same time, watching Clark and Kara lean down and just hear her daughter, see her with a squint. Chloe wanted to do that badly. She had watched Alura at dinner that night grin after putting her ear to Uncle "Kal's" tummy.

She wanted to be able to feel the world the way her very special family could. What a blessing to know Mo so thoroughly before Clark was even at six full months.

Chloe loved Mo, wanted to feel her kick, longed for the closeness and connection that her husband and daughter shared. She accepted that it wasn't her role, and couldn't be her role. She was okay with that most of the time. It was painful, but she had so many other things to worry about, from her son's dangerous behavior to Clark's illness to everything with the League, that she didn't have time to dwell, just to live with it. It was only early in the morning, when she couldn't sleep and she could be alone with her thoughts, that she allowed herself the luxury of thinking about it.

It was then she would lay with her ear over Clark's navel and listen, even though it wasn't something within her power. She laid and listened and it was then she talked the most, thankful that Clark, despite his hearing, often slept dead to the world.

"Moira, you're going to have to promise mommy not to be a know-it-all pain in the ass when you grow up. It's not that I don't love your big brother. Mommy loves Kon very, very much but right now she wants to hit him upside the head with a very large green rock."

Chloe sighed and toyed with the bracelet on her wrist. "I don't mean it that way. I'd never hurt either of you, not for anything in the world, but I'd like to knock some sense into him somehow. I just…I'm sure he loves you very much. He just could show it better for you and your dad. It's not easy for any of us."

Clark let out a shuddered breath and the curtains in the room fluttered. She stilled, wondering if she'd woken him. After a moment, her husband sighed again, and curled onto his side. Chloe moved with him and kept her hand planted on his lower hip.

"I can't imagine what it's like to be like you. I can try. I'm infected but there are so many metas out there and the rocks around Smallville still make more every day, no matter what Uncle Perry keeps trying to tell the EPA. I want to help him. I want to help you when you're old enough and you find everything out. I just don't think I know how. I can't find the answer, Mo, and I want to so badly."

Chloe sighed and leaned down and kissed Clark's painfully flat belly. "I'm supposed to take care of all of you."

"Chlo?"

She smiled and hoped Clark hadn't heard any of that. "Yes?"

"Were you talking?"

She nodded and moved up the bed, settling her head on his collar bone. "Lullabyes."

"It's 3 a.m."

"Sometimes I just need to talk. I think it's the perfect time for the adventures of Norman and Harry the hippo."

"Or you do what you always do when you worry and you talk."

"Were you listening?"

"Just enough to hear maybe the last part." He kissed her temple. "You don't have to have answers, you know."

"I usually find anything."

"Well, I come with a lot of unprecedenteds. First Kryptonian raised on Earth, first pregnant guy Kryptonian, first meteor mutant-Kryptonian child."

"I wish that were the one that were worrying me the most."

He smiled and pulled her closer. "See, I told you Mo would be fine."

"Mo, I don't worry about. She's strong. Sometimes I worry about her daddy."

"I feel good, really. I throw up a little here or there, but the tube helps."

"Were you like this for your mom and dad?"

"Chlo?"

She blushed, realizing in bed that sounded wrong. "I mean, were you like this for them, when new things came. Was it always like a best brave face for them?"

"No. Sometimes I was a downright brat. I was a lot like Kon when we were in high school. I must be the most selfish person I know to have even had a family because being a teenager really sucked."

"I think that's a universal sentiment, no offense. It's never fun."

He nodded at that. "I know but I just…sometimes I'd lie. To them I mean. A lot of the times I had to come clean. You can't exactly shoot fire out of your eyes and play it cool, you know?"  
>"I can't even imagine. I wish I'd known back then."<p>

He shrugged and stroked her arm, letting long fingers trail over the turquoise stone in her bracelet. "Pete knew. It didn't change things. I mean, what would you have said?"

"That's so cool?"

"Probably not all that helpful. It was scary. I didn't know what was happening to me or how to make it stop or that it would ever stop. Mom and dad didn't know where I was from or how to ever find out to help me. Kon and Alura and Mo, they have it easier. I tried to make it as easy as I could for Jax, even with his mother."

"The bitch."

"But she's his mother. He's not ours, not truly. We can't just keep him on the farm and pretend she doesn't exist."

Chloe rolled her eyes. Oh she didn't want to pretend Mary Donovan didn't exist. Instead she wanted to plant her foot right up her ass. "Couldn't we just trade kids? She can have Kon for a while until he outgrows his 'everything Kryptonian' sucks phase. We can just keep Jax forever. Interest for her getting to poison him for 14 years."

"She didn't-"

"She knew , Clark. She knew exactly what she was doing to him and she kept on doing it. She kept doing it cause she's just like Lana."

Clark sighed and the curtains fluttered harder, just like her hair, caught by his breeze. "I don't think she is. I think she's angry at Dax-Ur. No, I don't think Jax would be here if his dad had been honest, but I do think she loves him. I think she wants to protect him from all of it. You just can't. I tried running away and it won't stay gone."  
>"That summer-"<p>

"Also sucked," he confirmed. "I think she loves the part of Jax that she can understand. The rest of it, the Kryptonian stuff, I don't even know if I understand it some days. Lana wants to own what she lost. It's different. I was there. I saw her almost fucking drop him. She can't love even a little, not Lex and not Kon. It's very different."

"A rock's a rock."

"You can't cure what we are."

She sighed and traced a hand over Mo. "You can't cure who you and Kara are. You can't cure the part of Mo that's me."

"I don't understand."

"There's a meglomaniacal billionaire and his xenophobic wife out there with a rainbow of meteor rocks. I don't worry about them splitting Kon or even strapping a bracelet to Alura's wrist or giving Jax a class ring."

"Losing you here."

She nodded and kept stroking his stomach, where the swell should have been by now. "The other colors don't scare me, Clark. Gold does."

"Kara and I aren't dumb enough to get near it and we have better medical care than Dax-Ur's graduate student had access to. I mean it used to be what? Ether and a straight saw back then. It'd never-"

"No, you two I don't worry about. Mo I don't think worrying matters. If she's anything like me, she'll just wake up and brush it right off, no matter what she catches."

"But?"

"The boys."

"Huh?"

"Kon and Jax, if they knew what it did and where to get a piece, do you really think they wouldn't run for it?"

"What?"

"Our boy. If they had a shot to get rid of everything but the telekinesis and the prodigy stuff, you really think they'd step away and not do it?"

"I'm so glad Kon's sleeping over at Cassie's tonight. With his hearing, you might have just given him the worst idea in history."

"I'm serious."

"I can tell."

"They have human immune systems from their mothers. If you gave them a shot to 'cure Kryptonian,' you have to know they'd take it, don't you?"

Clark huffed. "Kon would beat down the mansion doors looking for it. Of course he'd want it."

" Jax would want it."

"Jax?"

"Yes, you know him. So tall, strawberry blond, manwhore. Ring a bell?"

"He wouldn't take it."

"Of course he would. How can you have a million types of vision and not see that?"

Clark sat up a little, propping himself up on his elbows. "He's a Titan. He applies every six months to join the League and he has since he started grad school."

"They can never know. Not just Lex and Lana, I mean the children. They can never know that gold exists or what it does. You do understand that, don't you?"

"We don't have it. Only Lex and Lana do. It's not like there's mounds of the stuff. Of course, they're not gonna get access to it. Why would I even think of letting them touch it, get near it?"

"Would you tell them?"

"Kon's a sieve. After everything that happened with the Luthors, I wouldn't tell him crap about Kryptonite, not until he hits 20 and gets a massive attitude adjustment."

"Oh god, not five more years of this."  
>He shook his head. "I was exaggerating, mostly. Kon's in a bad place right now but I honestly hadn't thought about when to tell Jax."<p>

"When?"

"Yes, when. If we ever got the piece back from Lex, I was gonna have J'onn take it far away to the other side of the solar system and tell no one where he left it. I can't risk something like that where my enemies can get to it."

"But?"

"But," he added, taking her prompt. "I would have given Jax a chance. I don't believe, not for a minute, that he'd touch it, not with the work he does for the Titans, but it's his birthright."

"His birthright is a poisonous radioactive hunk of trash that could kill him."

"It was what Dax-Ur wanted," Clark reminded patiently.

"Fuck what Dax-Ur wanted," she hissed, sitting up in bed. She tried to keep her voice low, mindful of Martha in the guest bedroom. "Dax-Ur did exactly what he wanted for a long damn time. He wanted to make an all powerful artificial intelligence and he did. He wanted to pussy out and take a permanent vacation on Earth and he did. He wanted a human family and he went out and got it!"

"I have a human family. We all have a right to that," Clark replied, his tone short.

"No, not the way Dax-Ur did it. When the time comes for the children, if it comes, they have to be like you and Kara."

"How like us?"  
>"It's not fair not to tell someone who you all really are. I love you more than anything. I have since we were thirteen, but this is so much to ask of someone. Jimmy and I, we love the both of you and we'd do it willingly no matter what. Some people aren't like us or Martha or my dad. Some people aren't made to deal with you."<p>

"Deal with me?"

"Not in a bad way. Cut me some slack. I mean, that you and Kara are amazing. Our children are amazing, but you bring with you all baggage and interplanetary intrigue and world saving. People aren't always ready to deal with an apocalypse every week. You, Mr. Kent, are damn lucky you know me."

"I'm beginning to realize."

"Took long enough. Dax-Ur should have fucking told her. He took her choices away and I can get why she's mad. It's toxic to Jax but I understand the frustration. Dax-Ur was a selfish ass and a coward and you've spent fifteen years trying to clean up his messes. If it weren't for him-"

"I wouldn't have a great mom and dad and I wouldn't be on this planet or have you and Mo. I can't hate him for what happened."

"I can ."

"It doesn't help anyone. It doesn't bring Krypton back. It doesn't even bring Dax-Ur back to get yelled at some more. All it does is build resentment between the House of Ur and the House of El and that's not fair."

"I'm not mad at Jax. I just want five minutes alone with that sorry piece of shit, Dax-Ur."

"It can't be fixed now," he said, taking her hands. "It goes both ways, Chloe."  
>"He let Krypton be destroyed. He let your birth people die."<p>

"I led Brainiac right to him. I took the only connection Jax had to his Kryptonian heritage because I let Brainiac play me."

"And you've been making up for it ever since. You don't have to do what Dax-Ur would have done. If we ever get those rocks out of Lex's filthy grip, never let anyone know but J'onn what they are and only so he can dispose of them."

Clark sighed and lay back down again, turning from her. "Jax wouldn't take it."

"Don't offer it," she said, settling onto her side. She didn't know how they'd gotten to this point when things had started off with just airing out their feelings. "You'd take it."

Clark stilled and didn't answer for a time. "I can't take it."

"Of course you can't. It'd make you the boy in the bubble."

"No, I can't take it because I promised myself that I'd be the Ghost with Kara. That I wanted to be a part of the League's mission. I made a choice to live up to being the hero my dad thought I could be."

"But if it didn't make you sick, if suddenly all the evil in the world went away-"

"That'll happen."

"You'd want the gold K if you didn't have other commitments."

"I believe in what The Ghost does."

"That's not what I said."

He sighed and rolled over toward her. "It's hard, Chlo. I understand a lot of what Kon's feeling. I felt it. I know it'd be easier to be human. I mean, you're right. I was lucky. What if Kara and I used up all the free thinking humans out there? What if Kon and Mo end up all alone?"

"What if you had ended up all alone," she added.

"Almost did. I just…it would be tempting. I've thought about it more than once over the last fifteen years. If it wouldn't ruin my immune system, I just..." he trailed off and was silent for a long time. "Being human seems easier."

She heard it then, the confusion and self loathing. Once upon a time, in this very bedroom, he'd defended everything about Lana, told her that she was all he could ever hope to deserve. He'd sounded like that then. Chloe thought that over the years, it had abated but she wasn't so sure anymore. Maybe years of hiding and fear and Jor-El's trials and Lana's labs, maybe it was something all the love in the world now couldn't undo.

She turned and wrapped her arms around his stomach. "I love you."

"I know."

"I love all of you. I love the boy who got me The Tales of the Weird and Unexplained . I love The Ghost who saves Metropolis. I love the reporter who normally sits next to me at The Daily Planet ."

"I love you too, Chlo."

She nodded and leaned up to kiss the back of his neck. "Do you know what I love most?"

"No," and he was so quiet.

And for a moment, as much as she adored Martha, she had to hate her a little too. The hiding had started there, the shame, with being hidden on the farm. The Kents hadn't known better but what damage it had wrought. Chloe leaned in closer and squeezed more tightly. "I love the father of my children."

"Funny choice of words there."

"I mean it. I love the two amazing children you're giving me, even with Kon being a brat. No one else in the world could give me Mo."

He nodded but was still quiet. "Was I wrong?"

"What?"

He placed her hand over hers, over Mo. "Was I wrong to want what everyone else had?"

"God no."

"Good…I, good."

Chloe woke up and walked into the kitchen around seven, surprised that after everything in the middle of the night that Clark was awake and humming to himself as he made pancakes.

"Someone is cheery today."

He nodded. "I was hungry, actually. I wanted to get something really good and I figured you have to be at The Planet soon so why not blueberry pancakes. Mom's recipe."

She laughed and stood next to him at the stove. "I'm still glad that Martha taught you how to cook and that it stuck."

"You do better now," he hedged.

"We're probably just lucky we're all invulnerable to food poisoning."

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. "No, I think some of the stuff you make is fine."

"What an effusive bit of praise. I do fine and don't kill anyone."

"Well I don't recommend that mom eat it, frankly."

She shrugged and leaned against his shoulder. "I wish I could stay all day. God, I wonder what you could whip up for lunch."

"But someone has to work. It's the whole fun of paternity leave."

She sighed. "Don't pout. Perry's so great about all of this. He says anything freelance you do, he'll look over and most bosses wouldn't get the need for pregnancy leave for, you know, you."

"He wanted pictures!"  
>"He finds it funny."<p>

Clark quirked his head as he flipped the pancakes unto a plate and turned off the burner. "It's not funny. The whole thing is like a guy's worst nightmare. No offense, Mo."

"I'm sure she has none taken."

"Every guy who knows, except for A.C. cause of the seahorse thing, thinks it's hilarious or the scariest thing ever, like you could catch pregnant."

"Well," she said, helping him set the table. "Not every guy can be as lucky."

"That's a way to put it. Perry's probably marginally disappointed I'm not waddling this time."

She bit her lower lip. "Not really. Perry's funny in all of this. I swear he adored Kon as a baby and likes our kids. Mostly, though, he's not a kid kind of guy."

"Well some people don't do cute."

"Nope, Perry does Elvis memorabilia. He doesn't do little league, but we still couldn't do this without him. So, really, what brought on the cooking fest?"

He sighed and sat down at the table, piling four onto his own plate. "I dunno. When I get worried I cook sometimes. I was just so whiny last night, felt like high school. I just…things are better in daylight, don't you think?"

"I do. It's good to see you eating and keeping most of it down."

"Oh month five, how I love you."

"But, that said, you did manage to get a paper cut on Tuesday. I'm glad Martha's on the farm now full time to Clark-sit."

"I am not four."

She bit into her own pancake and God was it good. "You're not but it's good to have someone around all the time if you and Mo feel poorly. It makes it easier for me to concentrate at work. No one is gonna take better care of you than your mom."

"True. Grandma is very nice, isn't she Mo?"

"Did she answer?"

"They never answer. It makes you feel a little schizophrenic." Clark's eyes widened comically and he clamped his mouth shut. "I…I didn't mean it, Chlo."

She swallowed. "Mom's technically catatonic. Fun of space rocks." She pushed her plate away; her appetite had faded on her. "If Mo's like her, I-"

He shook his head and in a blink was kneeling in front of her. "Chlo, she's not. I know she's not."

"She's not even here yet."

"She's very active, likes kicking!"

"I just…I hate my DNA."

"I hate the meteor rocks. I am so sorry that I brought them."

"You were three and Zod sucks."

He nodded and brought her hand to his stomach. "Mo isn't going to be like her grandmother. I know she won't be."

She nodded and waited to reply until she was sure her voice wouldn't waver. "I know. I just-"

He was kissing her then and she had missed that, missed the part of their lives that was just them. It was hard to squeeze in anything with kids and work and world saving, but they had before, before the shadow of Lana had come back into their lives. There had been stolen moments, but right now with the thing Clark was doing with his tongue, Chloe wanted to ditch work altogether. Leaning in, eyes closed, she threaded her fingers through his hair.

It was about them. It had always been about them somehow.

Feeling a familiar warmth spread through her, Chloe opened her eyes to smile up at him and couldn't help gaping at the sight in front of her. "Whoa."

"I know."

"No," she said, holding up Clark's hand so he could see the rose-colored glow emanating from it. "You're pretty happy today, huh?"

Clark blushed. "Wow."  
>She nodded, touching his face that was equally as illuminated. "I guess Mo's powers are coming in a different order. Healing and, um, the glow thing first." She had to admit on someone else, it was beautiful. When it involved herself, she just hated it.<p>

"Neat."

"Huh?"

Clark leaned down and kissed her again. "Now we match."

"Jax!" she called, knocking on his door. "I don't care what's hanging on your doorknob. There is always something hanging on your doorknob. I need to talk to you."

No answer. She knocked harder.

"Jax! I'm serious."

Finally the knob turned, but the tall brunette who answered the door was definitely not Jax. She was, however, a ten. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Jax."

"Chlo! Come on. I'm in the middle of something here," Jax called and she could see him off in the corner of his room. He was wearing a pair of boxers and throwing on a t-shirt. There was something lumpy moving on his bed, something with a few strands of blonde hair trickling out.

"If I said this was an emergency, would that help?"

Jax's expression sobered. "How big?"

"Enough that I could use your skills, please."

"Sandra, Emily, you guys have gotta go."

The blonde poked out from under the comforter. "I don't have my clothes. You ripped my t-shirt last night."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake. Here take my blazer and your jeans and please leave."

The blonde huffed and did as she was asked, both girls moving past her as she entered into Jax's room. The blonde-she was gonna just assume 'Emily'-leaned over and whispered in the brunette's ear. The brunette glared back at Jax and it was a good thing not everyone had heat vision.

"Doesn't she know the rules?"

"Excuse me?" Chloe asked, confused.

"The rules. Jax is a one time deal. Everyone knows that."

"Oh gee, you reputation proceeds you, dear," Chloe snarked. "Bye girls." She felt gratified watching the door slam in their faces, before turning to him. How anyone was supposed to take him serious in some ironic throwback "Frankie says Relax" t-shirt and Spiderman boxers, she didn't know. "What was their problem?"

"Jealousy."

"Oh god. I'm almost old enough to be your mom."

"You don't look it."

"Huh?"

"Look, Chlo. You and Clark come here and I love when you just try knocking my door down. It's great," he deadpanned. "But you come here and you expect to be taken seriously as adults-"

"I'm thirty six."

"You look about twenty-one, you and Clark both. I just never mentioned it before cause the whole immortality thing has a drawback to go along with the looking awesome for just this side of forever. You come here acting all mom-like or Fawkes on a mission and the girls see an objectively attractive and pissed off blonde and get snippy. It's logical."

"I would never-"

"Of course not. You've known me since I was eight. Eww much? No, I mean that that's how they see it. I have a special, arguably hot, blonde girl who wants my time and gets it. So, jealous."

"I'm not here for, oh God. They all think that?"

"A lot of my friends want your number. They call you the spitfire. I think it's hilarious."

"And Clark?"

He snorted. "I hate it when he comes here. Every girl in this dorm wants his number. They always ask when he'll visit next. New rule, we have to meet not in my room. It's cramping my style."

Chloe eyed the pile of pizza boxes and old Mountain Dew bottles. "I sort of doubt that. Now that we've all had a paradigm shift," she was brushing it off but the subject of her immortality had been broached earlier that year by Perry. It was getting more obvious every year that she and Clark weren't aging. One of the newer reporters to the Tiffanies had even barked orders at her, thinking she was an intern. Perry was suggesting they transfer to The Journal for a while to restart their careers-something Chloe abhorred-or start learning the art of theatrical make-up.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You trailed off. Is it bad, the emergency? Are we talking fire, flood, Joker or Lex?"

She sighed. "I might have exaggerated a little."

"Chloe, Tri-Delta girls and Emily's a gymnast. Repeat that with me: gym-nast."

"Oh, get over it. I just meant that it's not Apocalypse or League related. I still think it's important. I need your computer skills."

Jax frowned. "You and Victor have great skills. Everyone knows it."

"Not like yours. I don't know any hacker anywhere as good as you are."

Jax nodded. "It's really easy."  
>"I know."<p>

"I just get it. This stuff is so completely easy, Chlo. It feels obvious to me, like a game. I keep thinking of all these things I could do to just tweak a P.C. and jump technology a hundred years forward. It's not even cause I have my dad's notes or anything, I just know what would work."

"You hold back in class, don't you?"

"The professors are so wrong most of the time, especially in physics. Dr. Glander goes on about how there is no way you can have faster than light travel but if you just rework the idea that-"

"Don't think about it."

"Huh?"

Chloe sighed and sat down at his desk chair. "It's not cheating. They're your gifts. It makes sense since Dax-Ur was one of the most imminent scientists on Krypton that you'd not only be smart for a human but gifted for a Kryptonian. You could make Bill Gates look like Larry the Cable Guy, if you wanted, be a multi-billionaire."

"I don't need the money. I just like the math."

She nodded, "I know you do, but some things…you have to let us get there on our own."

"I know," he pouted. "But they're always so wrong. If they could just see it."

"We can't. Stick to theoretical debates. I think 'MIT Grad Student Reinvents Space Travel' might blow your cover a little."  
>"It'd be cool though. If we could, I mean, it'd be amazing. Maybe meet other races. Hell, maybe there are others like us out there. See I think that if Clark's parents got smart before the explosion, some other Council families had to, you know? So if we just tried looking for them…"<p>

"You won't find them. Kara went looking for the remnants of Kandor once, for about a year and a half. It was after she realized she'd never find it that she had Alura. Jax, the six of you are always going to be all there is, until you have kids of your own."

"I'm not dad material but see if you just invert the-"

"Sweetheart, it's not going to work out the way you want it to."

He sighed and flopped down on his beanbag chair. "I know that, logically. There aren't others. I just want there to be. Now, tell me about the mission of the day. Still must be big if you got off work. Bart or Kara?"

"Kara, actually. She's at Starbucks by the quad waiting for me. Clark's not allowed to speed."

"I know," he said, scratching at his arm. "I'm sorry I got all science geek tangent on you."

"No, it's fine. It's just that sometimes more technology isn't better. Brainiac is how Krypton died."

"True. I just am very tired, Chloe."

"I know."

"Steve wants to move. Did I mention that?"

She quirked her head. "You mean your stepfather?"

"Yes. I've been in college a long time and he's tired of New Mexico. He and mom are thinking of packing up and going to Texas. I think it's a mid-life crisis want to be a cowboy thing. I mean, it shouldn't matter. I don't live in New Mexico and it's not like we live where we used to. They just move on, you know?"

"You mean your mom did."

"I love my little sister. She's great. I really mean that. I wouldn't trade her for anything but, not gonna lie, sometimes I'm envious. Her life is going to be so much easier than mine. I can get why she's the favorite."

Chloe gritted her teeth. She was not a good liar on some things. "Mary loves you."

"Mom totally does. She just is excited to have my sister. I'm not blaming her. I have special considerations and my sis doesn't. It makes total sense."

Chloe leaned over and patted his head. "You're amazing. You save the world, Jax. The Titans would be lost without you. You're a genius. You're gonna be a doctor who teaches at MIT soon. That's…any parent couldn't even hope for that for their child."

"I wish the League would take my application. Dick's a jerk most of the time."

"Learned it from Bruce, I'm sure."

"And I'm twenty-three. I'm older by far than Clark was when he and Oliver started the League. Oh and you, Fawkes."

"Damn straight."  
>"Why do I keep getting turned down? Does Bruce hate me that much or maybe it's J'onn? I don't have enough 'Kryptonian dignity.'"<p>

"You'll get promoted some day, I'm sure." Chloe sighed and hated herself then. She knew damn well it was Clark every time who vetoed. One day, he'd get overruled, but Jax's reputation proceeded him, both his lax attitude and his disability. He needed someone to vouch for him and push him through and Clark always argued against him.

He was scared being in the League would get Jax killed.

Chloe wasn't convinced Clark was wrong yet.

"Alright, enough of the mom moments."

"Mom moments?"

"I dunno. These are the kind of conversations I think I'd be having with mom sometimes, if she knew I were a superhero or wanted to talk about my powers. I like them, Chlo. You're good at them."

"Practice."

"Kon's dense. He'll come around. You rock!"

"Flattery won't get me to get you Cat Grant's phone number."

"Eww, nice boobs but I do have standards. No, I mean it. You don't have to take time with me, but you do and that's cool."

"You're a good kid and I am sorry Kon's been a pain. I don't know what he said, but I'm sure he was just lying through his teeth to upset you."

"Uh, yeah. So, what's the 911?"

"Oh, I need you to see if Kon's been doing anything off on the internet."

"You can't hack his email and facebook?"

"I can and did."

"Big sister action," he replied, whistling.

"I don't trust him to be away from Lana. He's been a raging brat lately and sullen, but I know Lana and Lex don't quit. I am double checking bases."

"So you want me to hack an email account that might or might not exist which can be on any server on the planet. Sure, not too bad."

"That's why you're my guy."

He pulled down his laptop and started typing furiously. "It's not hard. You run an algorithm looking for a certain correlation of keywords. Everyone has phrases they like. I'll just put in 'Chloe, kangaroo, and the baby' and see what comes up."

"Right."

"No, really. How often are 'Chloe' and 'Kangaroo' mentioned in one sentence? The statistical anomaly would be high and got something. It's from a account. Password cracking now, gotta give squirt credit. He at least used a random letter number sequence. Fairly complex. I'm just better and oh crap!"

"What?"

Jax paled and looked back at her. "It's bad, Chloe."

"How bad?"

"He's been emailing Lana this whole time. I…stuff about Clark's illness, things about me and Alura. Wow, I didn't know Cassie was a meteor mutant. Score, squirt, hot and meta? If he's not tapping that-"

"Jax! Focus!" She said, pulling the laptop from his grasp and reading the latest from e-mail. It was from just this morning: 

December 17  
>To:<br>From:  
>Last day of classes until the New Year. I like that. It kind of sucks having my birthday on Christmas cause you get like one sweatshirt that is for both days, you know? I mean, I know mom and dad try and they get good pay I mean from The Planet, but I keep thinking about a PS5 and so know it's not happening this year, not with the tadpole coming.<br>Dad's doing okay. He's had more energy lately which is a relief. Cassie is marginally talking to me again. I think I only got to sleep over last night cause she's about to fail Calc and needed a cram session and cause she's big on Operation Give Chloe and Kangaroo Alone Time. Ugh, like that's not how Mo got here to start.

Things seem pretty the same all the time. It's weird. I just feel like something coming. I know why I feel that at least one thing is gonna change, something I've just not gotten to talk about yet. I wish the stuff changing would be me and

Cass and stuff. I just…it sucks lately. 

You said you had something about Lex to tell me?  
>Something about a cool collection he had? I bet he has tons. I mean rich people collect all kinds of things. <p>

Yours,  
>-C<p>

**

Chloe felt the nausea over take her. How stupid was her son? How dumb could he be to have given Lana everything she wanted in correspondence? She didn't want to think that they were dumb for trusting him; he was their child. How could they not involve him in his father's treatment or in Mo's life? How big a mistake had they made?

Whose child were they raising, Clark's or Lana's?

"Jax, call Bruce now. We have a problem."


	44. Chapter 44

44

"I? Am a Geometry goddess," Cassie proclaimed, stepping into The Torch office and Kon gulped. Even in an argyle sweater and jeans (which god bless them were skin tight), Cass looked amazing. She was a goddess alright.

"No, I have superior intelligence and can get you through a cram session. So Mr. Shepra said you passed?"

"I got a 78. I don't care! No more proofs for me. I don't need this crap to be a journalist. Go get your isoceles fix somewhere else, world."

"There should be a big thank you to certain people out there in your life, you know."

"Thank you. I needed the extra tutoring sessions."

"So, now that we're good, you could come over and hang out at teh farm. It's only a week til Christmas/my birthday and there's always tons of cheesy yet nostalgic Christmas specials on."

She frowned and started cleaning up the layout table. No one would be setting out layouts for a few weeks yet while school was out. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Kon."

"Wait? Did I just get shot down? Since when do we not hang out? We spent like fifty hours together with me playing Mr. Wizard, you know?"

She blushed, her tanned cheeks pinkening. "There are things that are about trading favors. You needed someone to listen when you came back from Iceland and to take care of the stone you etched or whatever and I am happy to do that. You helped me with math."

"Friends help each other," he defended.

"We are friends but we;re friends on a break."

"So we're all like that old tv show Aunt Lois likes?" he huffed.

She didn't look at him as she moved over to placing the laimnated pages in the file cabinet. Ouch. "Kon, I understand that you're being an ass because you're also very scared. I get that you're lashing out and not just doing things without what you think is a reason."

"Think ?"

"I adore you. We've een best friends since I caught you floating Donatello."

"It was Raphael."

"Whatever. We're always going to be friends in some form."

"It doesn't sound like it."

"Well I keep saying, if you can get that stick out of your ass, we can do more than study buddy or do The Torch but right now, I don't really want to hang out on the farm with you."

"Why?"

She slammed the door to teh cabinet with more force than she needed and he felt the ambient air temperatre drop enough for his breath to start fogging. "Because I know how it'll go. We'll head over tehre and you'll be there with Mr. Kent and start making fun of him or saying nasty things about Mo."

"She's five months old!"

"She can still hear and it is enough for your grandpa to be giving her tapes of Monty Python."

"I just, Cass, it's not about you. I don't know how to make you see that."

If he were just human, he figured he'd have had goosebumps by then. She glared at him. "Until you see that saying that about one of us is the same as saying it about all of us."

"Cass, I...just hang out with me today. I promise it'll be fine. I really mean it."

She shook her head. "No, then you're just behaving to make me feel better about it. You wouldn't be doing it because you care about your dad's feelings or about Mo, or even because you'd stopped being a fucking bigot."

"I can't change, I just-"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her bags. "Get over it, Kon, or get a sheet. Either way, until you figure it out this is as much hanging as we can do. I...the stone is nice, and I get it's a gesture in a very Kent way, but I just gotta go."

He was too distracted to notice if she'd slammed the door after her or he'd done it with a thought.

"Chloe? Kangaroo? Do we have anything with loads of sugar around cause my day totally sucked," he shouted, rushing into the house. He came to a skidding stop when he finally noticed his dad on the sofa.

His father, the glowing, pregnant kangaroo.

"Huh."

His dad shrugged and his cheeks flared rose. "Mo's abilities are kicking in."

Kon considered that. "She's been healing for a while. It's why the transfusions stopped."

His dad nodded. "Yeah, I think she's been self-healing for a long time, which makes sense cause she gets that from your mom-"

" Chloe ."

"From your mother and me. She's double dosed for that."

"I know." That fact scared him, the kind of power one being would have.

"But, ah, she might have come into the glowing part of things too."

"You're hurt?"

"No, see, well, your mom and I were um-" His dad looked like a sign on the Vegas strip.

Kon got it. There was only one thing that made his dad that inarticulate. It reminded him of their father-son talk when he'd started Life Skills in middle school. "Oh gross."

"It was just a iss. We're older than you are, not dead! But, well, unforeseen side effects."

"Chloe...she, uh, oh this is bad. I did not need to know that."

His father narrowed his eyes at him. It wasn't really that imposing considering now there were days with Mo zapping his strength that the pickle jar confounded him. (His kangaroo had this totally gross craving for nails, pickles and tons of whipped cream, although the nails were good.) "It's not really relevant. I'm just waiting for the light show to tamp down a little. It doesn't feel like anything. It just happens."

"Well, I know when Chloe heals it hurts. I get that much, like with Eeyore."

"But the glow is a side effect. It doesn't feel bad. I just haven't figured out the off switch yet."

"Peachy," he deadpanned while heading into the kitchen for his traditional post school snack of a footlong with everything. A growing whatever the fuck he was needed a lot of energy.

His dad sighed and Kon felt his hair flutter. He needed friends and family with less control over the surrounding room. "I know this is another, uh, complication, but you don't have to always be snippy."

Kon sighed and started slathering on the mayo to the bread he'd set out. Actually, now that he'd thought of it, some nails or at least a few tacks would be good. "I don't have the energy to keep it up today anyway, Ru."

"What?" his dad asked, grabbing a handful of salami for himself (and Mo).

"Cass is still mad."

"I thought the big sleepover was sign things are better?"

"It was a sign that she needed to pass Geometry," he huffed. "Cassie doesn't think we can be more than study buddies from now on."

"Because of the argument you had over me and Mo?"

"It's not all you," he defended, spreading out the meat. He shrugged and sped out to the barn and back, a jar of Grandpa Jonathan's oldest nails in his hand. He could use the vintage taste. Nails and wine were a lot alike. Grandpa Lionel would talk a lot about oaky or nutty flavors. Kon wasn't sure about the metaphors for tastes, but he did know that the older and more rusty the nail, the richer the flavor. It was just one of those things. "Nail?"

His dad waited patiently for him to set out a sprinkling and took the rest for himself. "Thanks."

"I was famished. Anyway, Cass and I might have just grown apart."

"Your mom and I had patches like that, especialy in sophomore year. I really thought for a while that we wouldn't even be friends again."

He scoffed and spread out the tomatoes and banana peppers. "You and Chloe are joined together like twins."

"Sometimes we weren't."

"Was it the whole alien thing then?"

"No, it was something else, something normal."

"So not a meta thing? What was there?"

His dad's skin falred brighter and he started picking at the rim of the nail jar. "Lana."

"Ah, now that sounds like what Mom was saying."

"Lana isn't-"

"She said that Chloe was always inserting herself beteen you, that she named me and stuff."

"Well not in high school," his dad corrected. "The relationship between the three of us has always been complicated, even when we were younger than you are. When there's actually a person in the middle of all of it, when it's you being torn between us, it's almost unbearable."

"I wanted to see her."

His dad's glow muted. It was all very reminiscent of a mood ring. Sighing, he placed a hand over his stomach. "I don't know how to protect the two of you anymore. Every instinct I have wants me to get Uncle Oliver or Uncle Bruce to build a tower and to shove you and Mo in it until you're a hundred, maybe get crocodiles and a moat."

It was not the response Kon expected. He thought he'd get a lecture or more posturing about how his mom was Satan in heels. "Huh?"

"I'd like wrap you both in that bubble stuff even if you are invulnerable and self healing. The world's not going to be good to either of you."

"We're not talking about the world, just mom."

The glow completely ebbed out and died and his dad shoved a handful of nails in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a long while. "She's the part I worry about the most, cause she means the most to you."

"I-"

There was movement, a breeze and a blur out of the corner of his eye and the next thing he knew he had two strong hands pushing down on either shoulder. His aunt was pinning him on the left and Jax on the right.

"Rao-dracu, Kon-El, a chib zui, mere?" his aunt spat.

He blinked. Something serious had hit the fan. There was no way they could know about the e-mails. He'd routed it through a dozen relay points and it just wasn't possible. He knew Chloe couldn't trace it. "I do think."

"Kara, Jax, what's going on?" his dad asked, easing down onto a stool.

"What's going on, Clark, is that Connor did exactly what we thought he was going to do," Uncle Bruce replied, storming into the kitchen. Did he ever take off the cowl?

"Bruce? Where's Chloe?"

Chloe at least had the sense to come casual in jeans and a t-shirt. " A stor , how could you?"

She didn't yell, nor was her tone harsh. The overwhelming disappointment was not something he'd heard in a long time. It brought back memories of the first time he'd ever stolen, back when he'd been five and just gotten his speed. It was worse that she wasn't yelling.

"Chloe?"

"Yes, Kon, it's me. What were you thinking?"

"People keep asking that but no one has told me what Kon supposedly did," his dad said.

Jax shook his head and handed him a sheaf of papers. "It's emails, a ton of them, all with Lana."

"What?" his dad asked, grabbing the stack.

"You did it," Kon said. Of course Jax had. He was so smart, wasn't he? Just so eager to please.

"Squirt, are you suicidal? What part of 'in a cage' and 'caught as a baby' do you not get?"

Kon swallowed and looked up at Jax. He could feel something begin to well up in him, so much anger, so much frustration from everyone being against him. The stool under him began to shake. "It's not your business, Jax. It's not even your real family."

"I was doing Chloe a favor-"

"You're doing her a favor cause you wish she was your mom cause Mommy Dearest Donovan hates you."

"No one hates him," the Kangaroo interjected.

Kon didn't care. He smelled blood again. Over him the pans began to shake. "Your mom hates you. You can't show off for her ever, so your shove your nose in other people's business. You are not a Kent and you're not an El either. In fact, Aunt Kara says that-"

His aunt's hand was over his mouth faster than he could blink.

"Kara?" Jax asked and there was something delicious in it. They had had time, a whole summer once when Jax had been on the farm, to tell him what Aunt Kara used to say about the House of Ur. No one ever had, of course. The kangaroo and Chloe kept things from the people who should know it.

Bruce looked at Chloe and then at Jax. "It's not relevant."

Jax's eyes narrowed. "Kon was gonna say something."

Aunt Kara gripped him more tightly. "We're focusing on make Kon sorry, 'k?"

Jax's grip on his shoulder was loosening, inch by inch. Good. "No, he was gonna say something not to blow smoke."

"Jax, buddy," his dad said. "We can talk about it later."

"Kon, esc me hor, no ve ?" his aunt said. "I'm going to take my hand away and, keep listening carefully, you're not going to talk."

Kon glared and the pots overhead shook harder. "Mphmm."

"Kara, take your hand away please," his dad asked. "We're not threatening each other here. Kon, we have things that Jax can ask about later, and we have things that are important now."

"Kal-"

"Please, big cousin."

His aunt shook her head. "Alright. Don't say a word."

When her hand was taken away from his mouth, Kon looked back at Jax. "I don't talk to traitors anyway."

"You're the one cozying up to the head of ISIS," Jax riposted.

"Enough," Uncle Bruce said, tone steady. "Connor, what you've done was incredibly stupid. I think it's time for you to be remanded to the Watchtower."

"What?" Chloe demanded.

"Fawkes. He told Lana everything about Clark's health. What do you suggests we do?"

"He's not going to the Tower," Chloe replied.

"Wait? This is a trick! Everyone is ganging up on me." Of course Chloe had been in on this. The theatrics were so bad. They'd been waiting to ship him off to a satellite for Mo's sake. The pans were swinging wildly now.

"Kon, buddy, calm down," his dad said. "You're not going anywhere."

"Certainly not to the Watchtower, except to clean it with a Q-tip," his aunt replied. "Bruce, what the Hell?"

"I've let you mishandle this in your own way," his uncle said. "If you eliminate the temptation, at least until Clark no longer has top secret medical care-"

"You are not locking up my son in the Watchtower. I invited you here to show we were serious," Chloe snapped.

"I am serious."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Kon shouted and one saucepan broke free and slammed into his sandwich; mustard splattered everywhere. Bruce reached for his belt and hesitated. Everything on the counter was shaking too, as if it there were a poltergeist loose. "Open it."

His uncle paused. "I don't know what you mean."

"The compartment. I can't see through it. There's only one thing inside."

"Precaution."

"Open it. It'll make me and Kara and Jax nauseated. What'll it do to Mo?"

His uncle's resolve wavered. "Then perhaps someone can tell me what else we plan to do. This is an impasse."

"Open. It," Kon said. "You're like that girl with the wings. You don't really trust us, anyway."

Chloe and Kara were both glaring at his uncle by then and his aunt's fingers were digging in intenseley enough to shatter marble. His dad, his dad just looked resigned. "We don't have to do anything. We should just talk abotu this reasonably."

"Sometimes reason doesn't work."

"My a stor is not The Joker."

"No," his uncle said. "He's worse."

It was enough then, with everyone staring at him, with all the pain and betrayal and frustration. He felt everything he'd ever had surge to the surface, to simmer to a boiling point inside. He wanted them off of him, he wanted his uncle half way across the county. "Fuck you, Batz."

And he released it then, everything he'd kept inside for months.

The shock of it even sent him reeling back into the sofa in the next room.

Dazed, Kon stood up and walked back into the kitchen. The rack of pots had been torn down and was litterling the island. One of the support pillars was cracked in half, splinters littering the air. There was an indent the size of his uncle in the referigerator. He didn't see where Chloe and the Kangaroo were yet, just watched as Jax and the Batman got up and brushed themselves off.

"Rao, Squirt, what did you do?"

"Not dangerous, Fawkes?" his uncle groused and then realized she wasn't around. "Fawkes? Kara? Clark?"

There was a burst of light, light so bright that Kon had to look away. Then a thud. He knew what it all was. He and Jax were racing each other around the corner of the island. Kon wanted to throw up when he got there.

Aunt Kara was cradling his father in her lap, a trail of blood pouring from his left temple. He must have struck a corner of the island in the concussion. He was breathing, Kon could tell that much. It was shallow and erratic but Kon could hear both his father's breath and Mo's fast heartbeat. Jax fell to his knees and rolled Chloe over.

She wasn't moving.

At all .

"Chloe?"

"Oh my god." Kon did wretch then. He hadn't meant it like that. He'd just wanted to get Bruce off of him. "Aunt Kara, I-"

"Get out."

"What?"

"You want out. Futui le am , get the fuck out."

"I-"

Her eyes were red when she looked up at him; it was not with tears. "You made your choice, Kon-El. Now run before I let Bruce and Shayera have you."


	45. Chapter 45

45

Clark sat up gasping for breath. His first reaction was to reach for his stomach and perk up his hearing as best as he could. The same constant swishing noise that had been in his life since August was there, as steady as it had ever been. Looking down, he could see his stomach swelling just slightly, the feeding tube trailing from it.

He must have been out longer than he'd thought.

He certainly hadn't had any weight on him, even five or ten pounds, to indicate Mo was growing there and the mottled collection of bruises on his stomach were also new.

"Mo, god, what happened?"

"You've been out a month," his cousin answered, striding into the room. It was then that Clark even noticed he'd been lying in a hospital bed, the antiseptic sheen of the Watchtower's steel walla surrounding him.

"What?"

Kara nodded and she looked older or maybe just felt that way. Of course there were no wrinkles, no gray hairs. Clark wasn't sure when there ever would be. Still, her shoudlers seemed hunch and her voice tired, more sure. She didn't have that valley girl tone to her that he often associated with her.

"You've been out for a month. Coma. We've had you on life support here at the 'Tower. I haven't left your side."

"I woke up alone," he countered.

"Well, I alternate shifts. Aunt Martha just left and Emil will be in soon now that you're awake. Jimmy is in the room across the hall with Chloe."

"She's hurt?"

Kara pulled a chair up next to his bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kal-El, lay down."

"I don't want to."

Her hand was on his shoulder, applying more pressure. He realized then that whatever strength he normally had was out. It wasn't painful, the feeling of her palm on his arm, but it was a big enough hint for him to lay back down. "Kal-El, what do you remember?"

"That you only say my name like that when you're serious. Kara, we were talking. Kon...he was emailing Lana and we were all talking about it and then he got mad and I...I don't remember. I was there talking and it got so tense and then...was there an explosion?"

"Kon got angry."

He frowned. "Kon doesn't have that kind of power. He's 14."

"Fifteen, Kal. It's the 14th of January. His birthday's come and gone."

"What?"

"I said you'd been in a coma for four weeks. Keep up."

"I don't appreciate the tone. Kara, I just don't understand what's going on. We were in the kitchen and then it was like a bomb ripped the whole place apart. Kon sometimes makes windows shatter when he's upset. He doesn't...he can't do what I felt."

She glared at him and he didn't understand the anger. "Kon's what? Grown three inches in a year."

"He's not that tall."

"He's hit his growth spurt. I should have...I talked to him in the loft after he was taken home from the mansion. He got upset and the next thing I know I was flung half way across the room. I didn't think anything of it more than Kon having a slip. I was so stupid."

"No you weren't."

"Kon wasn't slipping, Kal. He was testing us."

Clark's hand went lower, to Mo, some instinct rearing forward to get him to protect her. "Kon's a good kid. He's not Lana."

"He killed you."

"I'm fine."

Kara shook her head. "You're not fine. Kon ripped the kitchen apart and you broke your neck. If Chloe weren't Chloe, you and Mo would both be dead."

"I...but it was an accident. He's not capable of hurting people."

"I thought he was."

"Was?" Clark was sitting up then and he wished he had his strength, any strength, to show off against her. As he was, he had so much less than a human of his size would have, let alone what Kara had in her little finger. "What did you do? What did Bruce do?"

"Bruce? He's in Gotham, 'patrolling,' which is a euphemism for brooding because I wouldn't let him have Kon."

"Where's my son?"

"My nephew," she corrected. "Is exactly where he wants to be. He's at Luthor Mansion with that bitch. Problem solved."

"You what?"

"I let him go, Kal-El. He wanted to spend his time with Lana, kissing up to her, being an idiot, so I let him go."

Clark bolted up, ignoring the whoosiness in his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he reached down and yanked the IV from his arm. It would leave bruising, but it didn't matter. He had to get to Kon. "He's not safe there. Do you understand that? They hurt him last time, made him an experiment. How could you do that? Just let him leave?"

"He's not my concern."

"He's what?" Clark asked, spinning to face her. He still towered over her at least.

"Kon is not my concern. My family, this Council is my priority. I promised Lara I'd take care of you and I'll do anything to protect Alura. Kon can't be trusted to obey the rules so he can't stay."

Clark paused, considering what Kara was and wasn't saying. "He didn't leave on his own, did he?"

"I sent him away. If he wants to be Connor Luthor, then fucking let him. I'm not going to put your life, Mo's life, and my daughter's life at risk hanging on to a Kon that doesn't exist. It's madness, Kal-El."

"Kon's still Kon. He's just confused."

"He broke your neck. Tell that to someone else who didn't hold your cold body, who didn't see the angle that couldn't be where your spine was sticking out. I don't care. I'm not going to protect the one at the cost of the rest of us. It's not prudent."

"You sound like Zor-El."

She nodded. "Maybe I do sound like my father, but sometimes that's not always a bad thing. I promised to protect my baby cousin. I promised you to keep Connor Kent safe, I know. But I don't deal with Luthors and that's all he is now."

He walked over to the small chest of drawers beside his bed and started to pull on his jeans. It was suddenly much colder in the Watchtower. "Lex and Lana starved him. They tormented him and his hearing until he was forced to use his powers for a gallery of scientists. They treated him like a lab rat. You could not have possibly sent him off to that."

His cousin blurred and when she was clear in front of him again, she had a copy of The Inquisitor clutched in one hand. "Here."

He finished shoving on his pants and putting on a red t-shirt. "What's this?"

"Front page. Headline about Lex and Lana returning home from a European tour. Guess who's arm and arm between them!"

Clark shook his head and took the paper from her. The headline was some sensationalist trash about long lost illegitimate heir or who knew what. Any journalist with half a memory knew about Lana's son and the most infamous love triangle in Metropolis history. Of course the idea that Lex had an heretofore unknown heir probably sold more papers. It was a slightly blurry shot, telephoto lense, of Lex, Lana and Kon in the Metropolis airport. Kon was wearing a silk sweater and tailored slacks and Clark had known both Lex and Lionel long enough to know it cost more than a mortgage payment. The expression on Kon's face was closed-off, unreadable, but dressed up and hair slicked-back, pressed there next to Lana, it looked like he fit.

As if Kon were made for the world that Lana had wormed her way into.

"It's got to be a trick."

"Maybe Lex just wants a pet Kryptonian and Lana wants spawn, I don't know. But I hardly doubt a tour of Madrid, Paris, and Rome count as child abuse, do you?"

"Kon wouldn't leave us."

"Correction. Kon-El did leave us and he has to live with that. I have to go home now and take my husband with me. It's your turn to watch Chloe now that you're up. It worries Alura when we're working late and it worries her more to know her Uncle Kal and Aunt Chloe are sick."

"She's what?"

"Chloe's dead, Kal. Why do you think you and Mo are even breathing. It's been four weeks. It's longer than last time, but she had someone with a hell of a lot more power to heal in Mo. We just...there's no rigor mortis. There's just no heartbeat either."

Clark stumbled and was grateful at least that Kara caught him. "She can't be."

"She is. We're waiting but even after this fall and all his tests, Emil doesn't know how her powers work, if we reached her limit. You know where Kon is now. You can go drag his ungrateful ass home from European spoils or you can stay here with the mother of your child and wait to see if she wakes up." Kara took his hand and led him to the room across the hall. Chloe lay in front of him, her face pale and her lips ice blue. "I know which one I'd choose."

"Mo, mommy's sleeping. That's all. Sometimes mommy sleeps a lot. It's because she's special, like you are. One day, when you're all grown up, you'll be able to do things just like mommy. Sometimes, it'll mean you'll have to rest like she does. That's all. It's all going to be just fine. I promise."

Clark didn't know what the point was of lying to Mo. She could hear him but he'd never been a good liar. His voice sounded too shrill even to his own ears. Even if Mo weren't yet six months, she wasn't dumb enough even then to buy he wasn't worried. His children had always been so extraordinarily sensitive, even in utero.

He held Chloe's cold yet pliable hand in his and, with his other hand, stroked his stomach. "Mo, we're gonna be fine."

"Clark?" The voice that called out was tentative, confused.

He turned and his eyes widened. He'd not expected to see Jax in the Tower. He hadn't been by in the week since Clark had woken up. Kara had mentioned something about a tough teaching schedule for the spring semester.

Clark had never really bought that.

Somehow, he'd felt that all his lies-no matter how well-intended-had driven off both sons.

"Jax? Kara said you were busy."

"I was but even MIT has MLK Jr. day off."

Clark nodded and pointed at the spare chair at the foot of Chloe's bed. "You missed Gabe coming by. He put in Ace Ventura for Chloe. Shh, big family secret, but it used to be her favorite movie when she was ten. I don't...I'm not sure if she can hear things when she's like this. I thought you'd have enjoyed being here for that. You and Gabe get along so well."

Jax smiled a little. "He's a cool grandfather. Lionel mostly creeps me out."

"That goes around," Clark admitted.

"How is she?"

"The same. I...she usually isn't out this long. Emil thinks that Mo is like a parasite in some ways. Kon used to suck off energy from me when I was pregnant and Mo's like that too. He thinks that when Chloe healed both of us, Mo sucked more energy out of her than anyone ever had before. It just takes longer."

Jax nodded. Clark looked away. His mom, Jimmy and Kara, even Jax all had the same expression. It was pity. As if they were just humoring him and Gabe Sullivan, letting them share this vigil when the rest of them had already decided it was hopeless.

Not for Chloe, not ever.

She was special.

"If anyone can kick ass and wake up, you know it's going to be Chloe." At least Jax's admiration was genuine. He'd always liked her.

"I know."

"Have you seen Kon?"

Clark shook his head and held Chloe's hand tighter. "I read a lot of the articles out there from The Planet and The Journal , even a few international things. He seems happy. They're all these pictures of him in Louvre and Prado and things." He laughed bitterly. "I didn't even know Kon liked art. I thought I knew everything about him and I didn't even know it wasn't just journalism he was into. What kind of father does that make me?"

Jax reached out and patted his shoulder. "I'm not sure."

Clark looked away from Chloe and concentrated on Jax. His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles under his eyes. Jax could teach the faculty a thing or two at MIT; there was no way a spring class of freshmen was keeping him up like this.

"Why did you finally come?"

"I visited you both every day when you were sick. I just...I had to have some time to think."

"About what Kon said?"

"They weren't lies, were they? You and Chloe have been lying to me about my dad, haven't you?"

Jax wasn't Kon. His tone was plaintive, desperate but not sneeringly accusatory. It threw Clark. He was so used to be yelled at. Maybe it was the difference between twenty-three and fourteen, sorry fifteen .

"I never wanted this day to come."

"I'm taking that as a big neon sign of yes. I tried to ask Kara what Kon meant. Hell, I even asked Alura if there were 'Krypton stories' I didn't know. Do you know what it's like to have a nine year old hug you and pat your head?"

"Actually, I do. I seem to remember one who used to say I was fat a lot."

Jax didn't laugh, but his expression softened. "You were." He sighed and started tapping his fingers against the bed railing. "Even Alura knows more about my family-even if she thinks it's as real as Oz-even she knows more than I do, doesn't she?"

"If she does, it's cause Kara told her about the House of Ur. I wouldn't have."

"What is it?"

How could he explain Dax-Ur to Jax? How could he even explain what Brainiac and Zod had done and how it wasn't Jax's fault and make him believe it? Jax didn't have Clark's Christ complex, but he'd never felt like he fit with the rest of them. The rest of the Council was linked by blood, and Jax never failed to joke about that. Clark and Kara, they didn't care where Jax had come from. He was theirs to take care of as much as the other children.

Jax just didn't see it that way.

What would the rest of this do to him?

"Can we pretend Kon never said anything? Can we just say it doesn't matter now and move on?"

"You sound more nervous than I do, Clark."

"I think I am."

Jax nodded. "I've always been pretty rational about this stuff. I've never been stupid."

Clark chuckled at that. For all his manwhore tendencies, Jax was by far the smartest of them. "No, you're not."

"I broke some kid's collar bone sliding into home and you show up out of nowhere to take care of me. I'm fourteen and freaked out and I know my necklace is off and that I just feel so different, all of that. Instead of freaking out all the way, I keep having thoughts in the back of my mind and let it all piece together. I knew I wasn't human. I think I knew just seeing you that day at the park when I was eight. I knew you were like me and we saw things we shouldn't have been able to, did all those special things with math that no person could even understand. I think I knew it always in the back of my mind and it at least made sense. Scary sense, but sense."

"I'm sorry it's never good news."

"Not your fault on the big alien reveal. Not like you can help your DNA either," Jax said, shrugging it off. "So, I'm not a dumb guy. I always knew, even with the blue K on, that I wasn't human, not really. I've always known there was something about my family you won't tell me. My dad's records are missing something."

"Please don't make me tell you."

"I have a right to know if my dad wanted me too. Please, Clark. I don't know much about my Kryptonian side. I can't talk about it with my mom, ever. I can't ask her more 'what was dad like' questions because she hates him and wants to pretend it was always just like this-just her and Steve and Jessie. Me too, I think."

"Jax-"

"She loves me, but she hates him. If someone's gonna tell me aboout who Dexter Donovan really was, it's going to be you."

"It doesn't matter now."

"It must matter a whole hell of a lot because you're scared."

"Not the way you think, Jax. I don't care if you're mad at me and at Chloe. We both made the choice to keep this from you, long before even Kon was born. I don't want you to be mad at yourself."

He frowned. "Why would I be mad at me?"

Clark sighed. "Please let it go. You won't like what I have to say. It'll hurt."

"It already hurts, Clark. I never say this. I have never once held it against you, not in fifteen years. You're family, some fucked up big brother/dad type. I don't even know where the line is there."

"I doubt you called you dad Dexter."

"No, I guess I wouldn't have."

"But?"

"But," Jax continued, sitting straighter. "Brainiac used you. It set you on course to get my dad killed. If it weren't for you fucking up, dad would have told me whatever deep, dark secret this is. You stole that from me."

"Jax, I-"

"You got played but it changed my whole life. If my dad were still around, well, I'm not dumb enough to think it'd be all candy and rainbows but I think life could be easier for me. You owe me, Clark, and not the other way around."

Sometimes he forgot that Jax wasn't the same kid he'd met years ago in New Mexico, the one with too many questions and too much candor about his powers. He wanted to protect that boy, even with the man he'd beomce, Clark wanted to protect that child from the pain Dax-Ur had left behind.

Why couldn't he protect any of his children?

"I know."

"Good then."

"I...Jax this is going to hurt you. I'll tell you but you have to be sure you want this. You can still back out and we'll just pretend that Kon's full of crap."

"But he never was, was he?"

"Not on this, no."

"Tell me, don't make me beg for a birth right."

Clark nodded. "You know that being head of the Council of Krypton completely sucks, right?"

"I might have noticed."

Clark wanted to look away but he wouldn't let himself. Jax deserved the truth told man to man with full eye contact. "Your father, I think, was a good man."

"You think?"

"I think he did a lot of good things, from what I can tell. You know he was a scientist. All the records even you have show that he had tons of patents on Krypton. He'd forwarded science there so much, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence research. He really gave a lot to our other planet."

That's how Clark liked to think about it. There was Earth and there had been Krypton. The New Council belonged equally to both, especially the children, whose parents were human as well as Kryptonian.

"Cool."

"I...this is where it gets hard. Brainiac, the Brain Interactive Construct, was invented in order monitor environmental changes in the planet's crust. It was an early warning system for upcoming natural disasters. It was a noble idea that your father came up with."

Jax's jaw dropped. "My father made Brainiac?"

"It's why Brainiac used me. He needed to find his creator in order to fix himself. Dax-Ur was the only person on Earth who could have fixed him."

"Brainiac and Zod teamed up to kill Krypton though. I mean, Zod started a war and then he corrupted the AI to start destroying the planet's core."

Clark nodded. "That's technically true but you have to remember the AI wasn't originally programmed to do that. It was just a way to try and help people, not hurt them. Your dad inveted something that helped keep people safe from earthquakes and hailstorms and floods. He didn't intend to make something that could kill."

"But Brainiac did. Hell, it threatens this planet all the time!"

"Your dad didn't make it to do that. Zod corrupted the programming."

"Zod was a moron. Some kind of military thug. If he could see the potential in the programming then there's no way my dad didn't. Hell, I can see where a computer engineered to monitor a planet's crust could be tweaked just enough..." Jax broke off and blushed. Chloe had told Clark more than once that they had to keep a watch on Jax or he'd end up pole vaulting human science a couple of millennia. He was so smart, as Dax-Ur had been. He already saw the angles in something that Clark still didn't even understand.

"But your dad didn't mean it."

Jax was running ahead of him. His mind making the connections again. "He knew, didn't he?"

"I-"

"He knew the potential in what he'd made. The records, the stories, they all just stop some time in what adds up to Earth's 1840s. He was there and then he had a voyage here and he never went back."

"The House of Ur on Krypton went with him."

"Cause he did the big scaredy runaway and ended up here . He knew he'd created a ticking time bomb and instead of stopping it, he ran away. Your dad and mom-I mean Lara and Jor-El even Kara's father-they all tried to convince the real Council that Brainiac was dangerous. No one listened but if the fucking inventor had said something, anything."

"Zod still led a genocide with or without Brainiac's help."

"My dad knew the world was going to end and that he'd helped ensure it and he ran away to hide."

Clark reached out to touch Jax's shoulder but the younger man bolted away. He was on the other side of the room in an instant, pacing. "It's not that bad. He was scared, Jax. He wasn't some superhero or anything. He was just a guy and he was afraid and sometimes people do things they know are wrong. It doesn't make him a bad guy."

"It makes him weak." Jax ran a hand through his hair and kept pacing. Clark noticed the railings on either side of Chloe's bed shake.

"Him. It was his choice and, like I said, he helped me when I needed it. I don't think he was a bad guy."

Jax stopped and his eyes glistened. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"I had fifteen years to think about it. What does it matter now. By the time I had even met Dax-Ur, Krypton had been gone for almost twenty years. It's all something we can't change."

"My family let our world die. How can you not hate my dad for that. If he were a better person, you and Kara wouldn't be orphans."

"I'm not. I happent to have a mom that I love very, very much. There are terrible things that came out of his choice, I'm not going to lie. But there are other unexpected things too. Kara and I have lives here. You and Alura and Kon and Mo wouldn't even exist if not for Earth. There wouldn't be a New Council."

"But you'd have a real home. You and Kara. Hell, me, cause I'd still exist or whatever. We could be somewhere where we wouldn't have to hide. I was old enough, Clark. I remember when Kara came to get us in the middle of the night. I thought it was an adventure, to go to New York and have Detective Jones show us around Central Park, but I know my mom cried at night. I could hear it. What happened to you and to Kon scares the ever loving shit out of me. I don't want to end up in USAMRID or with the Pentagon or LuthorCorp or wherever."

"You won't. Kara and I will never let anything happen to any of you. Kon's living it up in Europe and New York apparently. If I thought for a minute that Lex had started in on him like a lab rat, I'd burn that fucking mansion down. No one is ever going to take any of you."

"I...my dad killed Krypton."

"Zod killed it. Brainiac was corrupted to help. Your dad was just a guy who made a mistake."

"He's a coward." Jax said and the bed was shaking harder.

"Jax, breathe. We don't want Chloe's bed to come apart."

He stopped and did as he was told, his breath coming out so strongly that Clark's hair fluttered in the breeze. Eventually, the bed stopped moving. "My mom was right. All this time, I stuck up for my dad. Every time she criticized him or called him a monster. I said he wasn't."

"She what?"

"I...nevermind. All that time and I was defending someone who let 6 billion people die."

"His choice, not yours."

"How can you and Kara even look at me?"

Clark stood up then and walked slowly over toward Jax. He didn't want to rush him. Jax could be in China if he got spooked enough and it would leave Clark just standing there, blinking. Slowly, awkwardly, Clark approached Jax and hugged him. He hadn't done it since Jax was about 12 and Clark had been banished from New Mexico.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

Jax squeezed him back, tightly, and just when Clark thought he'd never be able to breathe again, his charge let go. "It's okay, you know. If the House of El doesn't want me around. I wouldn't want me around either."

"Of course we want you."

"Your dad's some like folk hero, at least the not the crazy AI part, and mine's a murderer. It's pretty drastic."

"Your dad made a mistake. He did it over a hundred years before you were born. How could you have stopped something like that if you hadn't even been born?"

"Don't you always think the meteor mutant infections in Smallville are your fault? You were an infant in a spaceship and couldn't help the rocks coming with you. I wasn't born but my dad should have known. He chose having a family and me over doing the right thing. I mean, how would you feel if you only existed at the cost of a whole world?"

Clark blinked. He didn't know what to say. Chloe always knew what to say. His mom was great at that. He always fucked things up. His wife was dead, his daughter was finally barely growing, and his son was in the heart of darkness. What could he possibly say to make Jax feel better?

"Overwhelmed."

"No shit."

"Language, Jax. I...the only thing I can tell you is that Kara and I do not care. We love you. Jimmy and Chloe love you. Alura practically worships the ground you walk on cause you're all big and cool to her. You're family and we wouldn't give anything, even Krypton, for you."

"I'm not family, not really."

"You're as much family as my mom is. I never put a lot of stock in blood. You know that."

"They all died, Clark. All of them and now we're stuck here, on our own. Dad isn't even here to help us!"

"I know."

"It's just us. I mean, I know I defer to you a ton, but let's just be honst here. You're like 13 years older than me. I...why would he even do this to me, to us?"

"I don't know. It's not what I'd do."

"Of course not. You're a decent person."

"Your dad...I still don't think one mistake should define his whole life. He loved you. He loved your mother. He gave up infinite power-if you wanna look at it that way-for both of you, to live as a human. Please don't stop caring about him because he had something in his past you didn't like."

"A whole planet."

"I know, but he loved you and I've tried to take care of you as well as I can for his sake and for yours. So what I tell you now, I tell you because he wanted it. Chloe will kill me when she wakes up, but you have to know this."

"Know what?"

"Kryptonite comes in gold, Jax."

"No it doesn't. That's just stupid."

"I'm pregnant. You're a telekinetic. And we're both aliens on a satellite by the moon. How impossible are we talking here?"

"Point."

"There isn't much, maybe a sample the size of a golf ball. Your father and his graduate student found it back in the 1840s."

"My dad didn't have a graduate student."

"No, he didn't when I met him. The gold Kryptonite strips a kryptonian of all the powers the yellow sun gives them-healing, speed, heat vision-all of it just goes away. His student made the mistake of touching it just once and all his abilities were gone, like that."

"He died, didn't he? The student I mean."

Clark nodded. "It took his immunity. Without any protection from diseases, he caught tuberculosis and died. Dax-Ur locked the sample away and buried whatever else he had of the gold in a place even Chloe and I don't know. But he left a pieve in his collection."

"The one mom sold to Lex when she didn't know what it was."

"Yeah. Lex and Lana have it but they have fuck all idea what it does because no one knows. Dax-Ur did. Chloe and I do. I never even told Kara about it. Because the more people who know, the more people who could be tortured for the information or tricked out of it."

"Why do I know this then?"

"Because the small sample was left for you, as a present."

"Wow, first the radioactive rock to wear around my neck for a decade and then the radioactive rock to give me TB, thanks dad."

"I...you're half human. Mary has a normal immune system. Your father was betting that you'd gotten that much resilience from her."

"I don't understand."

"He left you a cure. He knew that with me finding him, others wouldn't be far behind, that somehow you'd find out who you really were and where he'd come from. The gold K is the last gift he ever left to you so that you could blend in with humans. It won't take the prodigy stuff or the telekinesis. Those will always be yours, but it would take any Kryptonian ability you had."

"He wanted to make me human?"

"He wanted to make you indistinguishable from humans so that you couldn't be found or caught, so you wouldn't have to lie to the woman you loved like he had to with Mary."

"Yeah, that went so well."

"It doesn't matter. Lex has the sample and you'd have to be crazy to touch it. It got his grad student killed. Even Dax-Ur wasn't 100% sure that exposure to it wouldn't kill a human-Kryptonian."

"So that's what you've sat on since before Kon was born? My dad let Krypton die and I could touch a magic rock and be almost like everyone else if I wanted?"

"It's a radioactive rock and...yes."

Jax considered that and leaned back against the wall. "If I found that rock, if I touched it, I'd be almost like Jessie, my little sister. I'd be more like my mom."

"If it went right, I guess you could say so."

"If I touched it, I wouldn't float four feet above my bed or set things on fire sometimes when I-" Jax blushed and coughed. "If I touched it, I could maybe have an actual relationship?"

"I have a wife and a family. Kara does too. You don't need to be 'more normal' to find someone who'll care about you."

"Tell that to my dad. I can't know this. You shouldn't have told me this."

"I lied too long."

Jax started pacing again. "No, you don't understand. It'll be all I think about. It'll be the thing I always think about. It's better than the Blue K. It'd make me someone that mom could...nevermind."

"Jax, it'd cripple everything you ever were and can be."

"It'd make me like the rest of my family."

"We're your family."

Jax shook his head and looked for a long time at Chloe's prone form. "God, I wish you were, but you're not and my real family? I'd fit so much better there. I know Lex has it and I'll never find it. I know that I do good things with the Titans and when I patrol MIT. There are so many girls who'd be hurt if not for me."

Jax had taken it upon himself as a freshman to be a campus patrol officer for most of Boston. If there was a girl with one too many at a frat party, he was always there to escort her home or to step in if things got more complicated. When he said it was a lot of girls, after seven years, he wasn't just bragging.

"Yes."

"I can't give up my powers but knowing that it's possible. God, Clark, I want to."

"I know."

"No, you don't because Martha is amazing and because your family gets you."

"Your mom loves you."

"She does but she and Jessie, forget about my stepdad, she and Jessie can never understand me. I want to be part of their world so badly."

"Jax-"

He looked down at his watch and sighed. "I have a class I'm supposed to be preparing for tomorrow. It's the week before the first round of exams so my office hours are totally booked. Look, I'll be back tomorrow anyway. We don't ever have to talk about this again. I'm not mad at you and Chloe. I know why you didn't want me to know, but I just need some time to think. I need to think abotu where I belong."

"You belong here, with us."

"I belong to a lot of places-MIT, my family, the Tower, the Titans-and I don't really belong to any of them," he said, smiling sadly. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Take care of Chloe and Mo for me. Oh, tell Alura I'll bring her the journal article she wanted from Harvard."

"She's nine."

"She wanted the piece from Archaelogy about Midwestern glyph collections."

"Huh."

Jax's smile grew genuine. "Supergenius abounds."

"See that's the Jax I know. Brag more."

He nodded. "I'll see you soon and, I promise, Chloe is gonna get better."

With that he was gone, using the speed Clark would no longer have until the pregnancy was over. Clark shook his head and sat back down to resume his vigil.

"You better, Chlo, you just better."


	46. Chapter 46

46

Chloe sat up with a start, taking in great gulps of air.

"Clark!"

Strong arms were around her shoulders then, drawing her close. "Chlo, we're okay. Mo's fine. She's strong."

Chloe looked up and couldn't stop herself from running her hand over Clark's neck, from trying to reassure herself that it wasn't crunched in that horrible angle. Intellectually, she knew it shouldn't broken. She'd seen it snap back to place before she died. It was the last thing she'd seen. The rest had been darkness, no dreams, no anything.

Just dark.

"You're alright!"

Clark smiled softly and kissed the top of her head. "Yes, thank you."

She looked lower and touched his stomach. It surprised her that it wasn't completely flat anymore. "I was out a while wasn't I?"

"Seven weeks."

"What?"

Clark nodded and she could tell he hadn't slept much, even for him. "It's February."

She grazed her hand over Mo again. "Six months."

"Yeah. Who knew I could actually keep on a whole fifteen pounds. Mo's so strong, Chlo. Emil says her vitals are great."

"And yours?"

"Excellent, actually, and you can ask Emil about it. You outdid yourself when you healed us both. I haven't felt crappy since I, um-"

"Since you died?"

He looked away. "I mean, I glitch. Strength and speed are gone for good and I don't think my X-ray vision is doing so well, but everything else...I haven't felt this good since before I got pregnant."

"Huh."

"You don't think you did all that?"

She frowned. "I dunno. I never had to heal you in the middle of a pregnancy before, you or Kara. I guess it makes some sense, maybe?"

"You think Mo's helping?"

"Well if you glow already, can you heal?"

Clark rolled his eyes and then, furrowing his brow, looked down at his hand. After a few minutes, a rose-colored grow spread out from his palm and down to his wrist. "I had a lot of spare time to play with it though. I make the world's most interesting nightlight. I think the meteor mutant is offsetting a ton. I don't have a hint of the TK like with Kon but I feel so much better and the light show, though not practical, is kind of neat."

Neat, sure.

"You must have been very bored."

"I had three extra weeks to be awake but to watch over you and wait. I had to do something with it. It's like anything else, extreme emotion..."

"You were glowing all over the place, worrying for me weren't you?" She smirked. "That's sweet. Weird and totally us, but sweet."

He nodded and the light went out. "Maybe Mo's helping a little. It's nice for once. I just, physically, feel much better."

She considered that. "Connor, where is he? Is he okay?"

Clark looked away from her. "Chlo, he's not here."

"What does that even mean?"

"He's with Lana. Has been since before Christmas."

She wasn't hearing this. It didn't make sense. Clark and Kara, the entire fucking Justice League to boot, had just let her son wander off into Lana and Lex's hands. "What?"

"It's not what you think. I woke up and he was already gone, had been for a month. He's not a lab rat. He's been on some European tour. He was off in France and Spain for a while and then around this country-New York, L.A.-you name it. He's been doing the silver spoon thing with Lana. It's in Gossip Gerty and Cat Grant's columns like every other day. His heart rate's normal and has been for three weeks."

"You've been listening."

"Yes. If I thought he was in danger, I'd have busted him out myself, no matter how much dirt Lex and Lana have on us or how much kryptonite."

"He's okay?"

"I don't listen in on conversations, but he's never been scared. If he were being experimented on, with his old nightmares? It would be through the roof."

"You gave up on him," her tone was flat.

"I had to stay with you."

"No, I trusted you to watch a stor , to take care of him. I don't matter, but Kon does."

"But he's happy with her . The second Lex tries anything, the second his heart rate even accelerates, I'll be there, but I had to sit with you."

"If you use 'Mo wanted to sit with mommy' as an excuse, I'll kick your ass."

"No, I just couldn't leave you."

"Kon wouldn't leave us."

Clark sighed and took her hand. "I felt the same way. It's surreal and impossible until you see him plastered all over page six at this fancy something or other between Lana and Lex. I thought they'd cut him into pieces and instead they're spoiling him rotten. It doesn't make any sense."

She nodded. "They could wait to get him the second he came into his powers. I don't understand it. I really don't."

He stood up and she followed his lead. She'd been in bed too damn long. Sighing, Clark ran a hand through his hair. It was longer than she'd seen it since their junior year of high school. "I don't know what to do. I...we could go get him, but he'll go back. I can't compete with glamorous world tours and money. I mean, I guess I could if I got Oliver or Bruce in on it, but you know what I mean. He's drawn to them and they're treating him like royalty. How could I have been so wrong?"

"As if Lex and Lana never had an alternative motive in their lives. They want a pet, Clark, not a son. Do you really think they'd keep a Kryptonian and not start experimenting?"

"Either Kon's gotten over his needle phobia or it's not him. I've been straining my ears for him 24/7 and he's just not scared."

"Then something's even less right than usual."

"Or he's happy."

"Yes, with a meglomaniacal pair of psychopaths. Even if they're not hurting him, they can't be good for him. He's already been stealing Clark and now he's violent. I can't imagine Lana Lang is teaching him to go out there and hug puppies and work at soup kitchens!"

"I...you were dead."

"And now I'm not. I want my son."

He nodded. "Alright, we can try."

Correction.

Chloe could try.

There was so much Kryptonite around the perimeter of Luthor mansion (and she assumed the walls of the mansion itself were now lined with lead to keep the poison out), that Clark hadn't been able to get within fifty feet of it without sweating.

Lex and Lana weren't taking any chances that Kara or Clark would get in.

It chilled Chloe. They also weren't taking any chances that Kon would get out.

The second big surprise, in addition to the mounds of Kryptonite, was that she was instantly admitted. She thought she'd be turned away at the gate and then have to call Bruce for one of his grappling hooks. Instead, the butler issued her right away into Lex's office. He was there, alone. The smirk on his face was insufferable and she wanted just to punch him. It might be easier to deal with if it contained a few less teeth.

"Chloe Sullivan. How pleasant. I'm sorry Clark couldn't come."

"I'm sure. With that much Kryptonite around the house, I'm surprised your staff doesn't have superpowers."

Lex snorted. "Precautions. Last time, I had Kara tear down my house."

"You deserve it. Where's my son."

"He was never yours, Chloe. Didn't you know that?"

She didn't rise to the bait. "I want to see Connor."

"Interesting. He came here seven weeks ago in tears because his Aunt Kara kicked him out of the family. We've been nothing but generous. He only needs to ask and we give him what he wants. He's enrolled in Excelsior, so superior and education to Smallville High."

"I suppose he already has a car to practice for his permit, something sporty and Italian?"

"Several."

"Yes, because a child with superspeed needs a Lambourghini."

"Are you jealous because we've given him what you can't?"

"We chose not to. Lionel or Oliver would have been more than happy to give us the money. We wanted Connor to grow up learning there were limits."

Lex laughed. "There aren't, are there? Not for him. He's stronger than his father already."

"Clark's pregnant and it was a shock, whatever Kon did. It wasn't exactly even."

"True, but his abilities are growing so fast. How long do you really think Clark and Kara could contain him if he didn't want to be contained?"

"I don't like that question."

Lex nodded and leaned closer to her from across his desk. "Lana's son is the second most powerful being on the planet and we all know it. The only one with more power in her hasn't even been born yet. If he doesn't want to go with you, he's not going to go."

"Kon would come home."

"Ask him."

She blinked. "What?"

"He's in his room. I'll show you to it. Ask him to come home to you."

She glared at Lex but said nothing, merely followed him down the hall and up the stairs. He opened the door on the left, about thirty feet from where the stairs emptied out into the second floor. She had to gasp at the sheer magnitude of the room. It was bigger than the whole first floor of the farmhouse and it looked like a Best Buy and and American Eagle had exploded in it.

"My god."

Lex's smirk grew wider. "Of course he'd leave this torture."

"Shut up, Lex." She replied, stomping into the room and fighting her instincts. Half of her wanted to pull out a green rock on him and the other half wanted to hold him tight and beg the boy playing video games in front of her never to leave again.

Since she lacked a rock, the hugging too much instinct came out.

Kryptonians might have had the speed, but they only used it when they weren't distracted by Grand Theft Auto. Kon gasped when she wrapped her arms around him. "Oh a stor , you're safe."

"Chloe?"

It still cut and damn Lana and her hold over her family.

"Connor Sullivan, you're alright."

Kon sighed and pulled away from her and she wanted to scream. Not here, not with Lex. She was done with teenage snits. "Chloe, what are you doing here?"

"Well it's amazing what happens when you wake up and someone tells you your son is in the heart of darkness."

"I take offense at that," Lex quipped.

She didn't even bother to glare at him, but instead cupped her son's chin. "Connor, come home."

"I can't."

"Why not and don't say video games and Air Jordans. These are just things, a stor ."

Kon looked away. "Because I don't belong with you and because this is my home now."

"I know Aunt Kara was mad. It's okay. Dad and I are okay. Mo's okay. Come home."

"No."

Chloe wanted to scream. Kara had made a mistake almost two months ago. Her son shouldn't be so stupid as to believe she and Clark didn't want him. "Please. No one cares."

He shook his head and stood up. It surprised her that even with her heels, he had an inch on her, maybe more. Her boy was growing. "I care, Chloe . You told me that mom and Lex were gonna cut me into little pieces and they haven't. They're great!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, her reporter's instincts piqued. That part was too forced, too bright. Lana was never great for anyone. " A stor -"

"Don't call me that. I'm not coming home and you can't make me." His declaration was accented by the flickering of the chandelier overhead.

"Are you five?"

"Try me, Chloe."

"Alura's worried."

It was a low blow but it was no less true. His little cousin was asking for him. Kon had always adored her.

Kon hesitated and the flickering stopped. "I said I won't."

She nodded. "Please don't do this. It'll only be a mistake. Eventually, it'll only be a mistake."

Kon sneered at her. "You're just jealous, Chloe, now get the fuck out."

She didn't cry as she recounted the story for Clark in the kitchen of their farmhouse. She was proud of herself for that. The young man who had greeted her at Luthor mansion, the one who was taller than she, who didn't even care about Alura's sadness, he did feel like Lana's son. Clark and Kara had a point. If he didn't want to stay with them, even if the whole League dragged him out kicking and screaming, he'd go back to Lana and Lex.

"I don't know what to do."

Clark squeezed her hand. "Me neither. I thought Lana would show her true colors, that he'd realize who she really was."

Chloe shook her head. "If only Kara hadn't sent him away. He's so scared of Mo replacing him anyway."

"He doesn't believe that you want him back?"

"And why would he? I suggested he live somewhere else. Kara told him he wasn't one of us anymore. He was already sensitive about Mo...we messed this up so badly, Clark."

"I'll say," another voice said. Chloe looked up to see Mary Donovan, of all people, standing in their kitchen doorway.

"I am not in the mood for this," Chloe snarked. "What the Hell are you doing here?"

"Where's Jackson?"

Clark frowned. "Huh?"

"Where's my son?"

" Jax ," Chloe said, emphasizing his given name. "Lives in Boston, you might want to try there."

Mary opened the door and stepped in. "No, he's not. His advisor called three days ago. He hasn't been in class. They had a few class days off for some in-faculty work day. His students didn't notice and if they had a class canceled, they didn't report it."

"I don't understand." Clark said.

"The last time anyone can remember seeing him on campus was 10 days ago. I tried everyone, including most of the BU freshman girls' dorm," she replied, her head shaking. "He didn't just go on a college tour either. No one in the whole city has seen him."

"And he didn't go to visit you in New Mexico?" Chloe prodded. "He's fast when he wants to be. Maybe he just checked in to say hi to Jessica."

"Jessie hasn't seen him either. I came here because you people have been unreachable. Where did you go that no one had cell phone reception?"

Chloe considered saying outerspace just to be difficult, but thought better of it. She knew what it was to miss a son. "We weren't available. I was sick and we were at a hospital out of town to deal with it."

"Because you're a mutant."

Maybe being nice wasn't always an option. "I'm meteor-infected, yes."

"Where's Jax? Was he with you?"

Clark shook his head. "He visited about two weeks ago. He had some articles from Harvard to drop off for Alura and he wanted to make sure that Chloe's health was improving. He said his schedule was really packed coming up so I didn't think much of him not being back. I know he takes at least his teaching seriously."

"If not his reputation," Mary said. "I know it procedes him."

Clark nodded. "Well I assumed you knew if you'd been checking like Boston College and University for co-eds who'd seen him."

"Would he be off anywhere else?"

Chloe gave Clark a glance. Jax was a Teen Titan, the oldest now by far, but his application for the League was always turned down. Clark saw to it. For the Titans, Jax mostly did tech work and something akin to what Barbara Gordon did for the League. But the Titans were secret and they had nothing to do with this. Besides, Jax had never let his mother know he used his powers. She frowned on that, among other alien things.

"No," Clark replied.

That much was true. If he were with the Titans, they'd know.

"Then where would he be?"

Chloe shook her head. "We don't know. I...Clark, Listen please."

Clark blushed. "I hadn't even thought to keep up with him. I was so busy monitoring you and Kon."

"Listen?" Mary prodded.

"I can hear Jax's heartbeat no matter where he is. That's how I knew to find him when his necklace came off."

"Creepy," Mary said, but offered no more.

Chloe wanted to slap her.

Clark quirked his head in a posture vaguely reminiscent of a dog. She knew he was tuning it in. He gulped and looked back at both of them. He didn't have to say a word for them both to know something was wrong. Clark had always been a lousy poker player.

"I don't know where he is, can't lock down a location somehow but I can hear his heartbeat. It's faint but it's racing. Wherever he is, he's scared."

It clicked then for Chloe, how Lex could be so intent on spoiling Kon and not even start in on experiments with him. Kon was the one to be groomed and charmed into being Lex's heir. The real Kryptonian with all the power, but Jax?

He was defective, the spare.

"Oh god, it's Lex."


	47. Chapter 47

47

He was at the mansion's gates before he realized something was wrong.

There was pain burning through him, so much. It was worse than with Cass's mom's art. It was worse than an occasional find in Lowell County. This was agony. The way his veins went black, his blood boiled.

Kon screamed, scrambling for the call box on the gate. "Mom! Let me in."

He was barely awake when the staff dragged him into Lex's office. There, his breathing was easier, less labored, the pain subsided and his veins had shrunken back into his skin.

"Connor, I'm so sorry," Lex said. "You didn't let us know you were coming."

Kon blinked up at his uncle. "What?"

"After your father's last visit, we upped security. The walls inside are sheathed with a thin layer of lead to keep the radiation out but the levels on the outside of the mansion..."

"Ugh, I think I'm never going to eat again," he said, rolling onto his side.

There was a cold compress on his head and when he opened his eyes again, his mom was looking down at him. "Connor."

"Mom! I'm sorry, was I asleep?"

"No, but I can understand why you'd need time to rest," Lex said. "The exposure was fairly extensive. We just didn't know."

"You're afraid of the Kangaroo?" Kon asked, not sitting up. He loved lying there, having his mom press the cool, wet rag to his forehead.

Lex paused, considering his words. "We wanted to have an option to prevent Clark or Kara from breaking in. She did that once, when you were an infant. It was hell on the repair bill."

"It was a lot of Kryptonite," Kon offered. "I don't even know how you found that much."

"I am my surprises. I don't choose to use it but if your family keep violating the sanctity of my home. What choice would I have?"

He thought it over. "It's sort of like having warheads outside your house to greet company."

"Kara's made no secret of hating us."

Kon nodded. He remembered being younger, maybe a year or two ago, at Grandma and Grandpa Lionel's wedding. Kara had threatened to kill Lex where he stood the second he'd asked about Alura. "I know the feeling."

His mom sat up and set the compress on his forehead but took his hand in hers instead. "What happened?"

"There was an accident."

"What kind?" Lex pressed. "Is the baby okay?"

"I think so?" He said, but how could he know. His father had been breathing and Mo's heart had been beating but he wasn't sure that they'd both recover. The way Chloe had been lying there, deathly still, he didn't know if she'd even wake up ever again.

"You think?" Lex asked. And why did he care so much about Mo?

"I...we had an argument and I didn't mean to but my telekinesis got out of control. I'm having a growth spurt and when that happens my powers glitch, grow too fast for me to keep up with. We were arguing about the emails I was sending mom and I just got mad and it was like a bomb exploded."

His mom frowned and looked at Lex but his uncle shook his hand. "Did you hurt Clark?"

"Chloe had to heal him. I don't know how badly he was hurt, but when I left he and Mo were still okay, just unconscious. Chloe wasn't doing so well. She looked dead."

"She tends to look that way after she heals someone so ill." Lex's expression, hardened. He almost looked hungry. "You hurt your father?"

Kon shifted under the scrutiny. Pulling the compress off his head, he pulled his hand away from his mom and then began to pick at the threads, anything to keep from facing his uncle and mother directly. "I didn't mean to. He's not at his best and it was a shock. The concussion sent me slamming into the sofa. It's not like I planned it."

"I suppose not," Lex replied. "So why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the Tower waiting for Chloe to wake up or making sure your father and sister are 100%?"

"That bitch Kara threw me out," Kon replied, his tone hardening. "She said that it was all my fault and that I couldn't stay. If I did, she'd let Batman have me for punishment."

Lex nodded. "Kara has always been tempermental."

"No, it's not like that," he protested. "Chloe said something similar months ago. Just because I was complaining about the tadpole. She said that maybe it'd be better if I went to live with Grandma in Washington or with Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy. Now Aunt Kara. They just don't want me around."

"We want you," his mom said, patting his hand. The touch was light, uncertain, and it didn't quite escape his notice that she was watching Lex as she spoke.

"I know! It's like you said in all your emails. I can always come here if I'm upset. Well Kara kicked me out and Chloe doesn't really want me around anyway, not when she has her own baby."

"Chloe has always been selfish," his mom agreed.

"Exactly! So it's not my fault there was an accident and fucking Kara's ready to have the Justice League string me up or something. I can't go back there." He was cursing and angry, sounded more confident than he felt. That farmhouse, as ambivalent as he'd felt about it lately, was home. He'd been born there, grown up there. He'd lost his first tooth there, taught his father to fly in the swimming hole, had so many birthdays there as well.

He didn't understand how Kara could kick him out.

He hadn't meant it.

"Connor?" his mom asked.

"I didn't mean it."

"Of course you didn't," Lex said. "You're not a killer, Connor."

"I didn't exactly..." But hadn't he? If Chloe was dead, she'd had to heal someone in that same state to get there. Had he killed his father?

"It was an accident and Chloe's powers nullify the situation."

"That's what I'm saying!"

"Connor, you've had a terrible day. I'd like to take you to one of the guest rooms, if you'd not mind. I think you could use the rest. You don't have to worry about Kara coming for you or the League. We have an understanding."

"You what?"

"You're safe here. This is your sanctuary. Do you understand?"

He nodded and got to his feet. "I hope so."

The "guest room" had turned out to be roughly the size of Oklahoma. Kon was in awe of the cavernous space. He was even more thrown by the way it was decorated. It was all Sharks and Wolverine memorabilia and a few posters from action movies. His favorite movies. It contrasted with the gothic look of the rest of the mansion. He spun around upon entering and quirked his head at his uncle.

"This isn't a guest room, is it?"

His mother smiled stiffly. "We've had this for you since you started visiting. We had hoped Chloe and Clark might loosen up and let you spend time here-"

"Fat chance."

"But," she continued. "The room's yours now. If there's anything else you'd want, well your birthday is in a week, perhaps that can be a surprise for you."

"I...this is completely amazing," he replied, bouncing down on a bed that would have been too large for Shaq. "This is-" Extravagant would have been what his grandma would have called it.

"For you," his mom replied. "Lex has some business to get to so you'll have to forgive us for not being here."

"Mom?"

"Yes, Connor?"

"Can you stay. I mean, it's been a rough day. When I had bad ones before Chloe would stay with me, like when I got my hearing."

Lana stilled and looked at Lex again, as if she were waiting for orders. After a pause, she replied, "I'd love to, sweetheart."

If she and Lex always seemed to talk about things between them, have those little, private looks, so what? His...Chloe and the Kangaroo had done that too. It didn't meant anything.

Nothing at all.

His mom stayed for a while-not the night, that would have been creepy-but she stayed with him at least until he passed out. He awoke the next morning to an honest to god maid setting out a bowl of Cookie Crisp, his favorite cereal. Tons of sugar, zero nurtrients.

He was done his first bowl when Lex, of all people, entered in with the rest of the box and some milk.

"I thought you had people for that."

"I do occasionally do my own errands, Connor. Besides, I wanted to talk."

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" he asked, pouring more cereal into his bowl. A growing Kryptonian was a hungry boy, after all.

"Are you expecting us to evict you? It doesn't work that way, Connor. I respect family."

"You and the kangaroo are technically related," he pointed out. "I mean, since Grandma married your dad."

He nodded. "An irony I have not failed to find amusing. I've offered olive branches to your father. He merely refuses to take them."

"He says you stole us."

"Have I done anything against your will, Connor? Are you suffering? Perhaps I should have had cook make a balanced breakfast instead of giving you the finest refined sugars, but I don't think that social services would be called in on me for that one."

"No, of course not."

"Your father tends to over react, just like his cousin."

"Yeah, Kara's a bitch."

"I wouldn't exactly describe Clark in those terms, but he and Kara both are exhausting."

Kon nodded. "So I can stay here with you and mom?"

"As long as you'd like. As I said, anything you want you can have. You don't have to steal with us."

Connor blushed. "Mom told you huh?"

"I was aware."

"I wanted a new i-pod and the Kangaroo said I had to save up. I don't quite get why. I mean stores are insured and I can just blur so fast that a security camera can't even see me."

"Fascinating."

Kon didn't like the way that sounded, but continued anyway. "I have a lot of stuff that I've gotten. I was thinking a lot over the speech you gave me about if I wanted something, I should just take it, you know?"

"Yes."

"And it made so much sense."

"But when you have the means, stealing like that is beneath you. Connor, you merely have to ask and you can have whatever you want."

"Anything?"

Lex nodded. "I won't even say 'within reason.' You can have whatever one can buy. I can't promise you that you'll be able to win Cassie back-"

"She's really pissed. She's not exactly the kind of girl you can buy with shiny jewelry either."

"Of course she's not or you probably wouldn't find her so captivating. But anything else you want can be yours. There are no limits here."

"So no chores?"

"Why would you need to do them. I have a staff for that."

"And no lectures about 'your sister this' and 'your sister that?'"

"No."

"And nothing about how I have to be careful with my powers or someone might catch me like a Boogeyman."

"Since I'm the purported Boogeyman, as you call it, then I don't think so. I will say, however, that you have to exercise some restraint. Showing off isn't necessary. On the mansion grounds, you can do as you please. Should we go out in public-"

"I don't like to show off too much in public anyway. I don't want anyone to look at me weird."

"But no, I don't lecture about what someone should be doing. You're almost fifteen. You're old enough to make your own choices, Connor."

"Damn straight."

The first few days at the mansion, Kon spent it staring on and off at his cell phone. When his ears heard his uncle or his mom approaching, he'd quickly switch on the television to MTV, but, really, he was waiting. His aunt would call and forgive him. They always had before. They always took him back.

No call came.

He'd almost been tempted to take the initiative, to call Jax or Aunt Kara in order to ask how Chloe and the Kangaroo were doing. He wasn't some monster. He had never wanted to hurt anyone like that. It wasn't who he was. Mo was just a baby; she wasn't even born yet. Yes, he was scared of her and how much power she had, but he didn't want to kill anyone. Not that he had exactly. Chloe had fixed, set the slate clean. He had just had an accident. That was all.

But he was too scared to call Aunt Kara and try explaining that.

What if she were still that mad?

What if she did send Bruce and that girl with the wings for him?

Kon sighed and glared at the phone again. His birthday/Christmas were in three days. "Come on!"

"Master Kent?"

He blinked and then blushed up at Enrique, the butler. "It's not what it looks like."

"It is not my place to guess what you are or are not doing, sir. Only to inform you that your mother would like to see you in the dining room. You're late for lunch."

Kon nodded and smiled. Mom was busy at ISIS but she made time to take the helicopter from the city into Smallville to see him at lunch. It was their time. He'd offered to run her back and forth to Metropolis himself.

She'd declined.

He took no offense at it.

"Shall I'll tell her-"

He was in the dining room before the butler could finish his sentence. "Mom, I'm sorry."

His mother startled and dropped her water glass. He caught it, but not before some of the liquid spilled onto the hardwood floor. "I'm sorry. Everyone's so used to the speed at home. Chloe doesn't even startle anymore."

His mom nodded and patted his shoulder. "We'll have someone get it."

"No, really I can just get a towel-"

"You have people for that, dear."

He nodded. Of course he did. It was just too bizarre to think that he, Connor Kent, had people for that.

"How was your morning?"

He sighed and set his napkin on his lap and bit into the burger before him. The staff even asked him what he wanted the night before so they were sure to have something he'd enjoy on hand. It was surreal. All he needed was some playboy bunnies and to convince Lex to put in a grotto and you could call him "Hef."

"Mom, it was pretty good. I mean, slept in, swam-"

"The indoor pool is nice, isn't it?"

Kon blushed and mumbled a noncommittal answer. He'd actually swum outside. The polar bear club had nothing on an anxious Kryptonian looking to burn off energy, but he figured that would be too weird to bring up. "Uh, yeah."

Silence.

Awkward.

Kon sighed and started picking the poppy seeds off of his bun. One could assure you that the Kent household was never quiet. He always had uncles and aunts-whom he now knew were the Justice League-dropping by. Uncle Bart, for one, never shut up. Chloe was always the type to talk a mile a minute about everything and everything. His mom? She was quiet, thoughtful. Kon wanted to try filling the silence.

"What was I like?"

She frowned and set down the spoon in her pea soup. "Excuse me?"

"As a baby, did you get to spend a lot of time with me, when I was here before?"

She considered that. "Lex spent more. He was down there with the doctors making sure you were getting the right vitamins, but there were other things. We'd take you out in the lawn for picnics to get you enough sun. Clark...they made sure milk was available for you outside of your father."

Kon pushed the image of the Kangaroo nursing him out of his head. There was so much no in that idea. "Did you do the bottle feeding thing?"

She pursed her lips. "I did, of course. Mint green is something you don't forget."

"It's green?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Huh," he sputtered, poking at a few french fries. "Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I was born deformed, wasn't I? My eyes, I mean. I saw the pictures. Was it like that here or had I outgrown it."

His mom considered him. "You were different, yes."

"Did you hate that?"

"It wasn't your fault."

"That's not exactly an answer."

"Did you hate the pictures?"

He nodded. "I guess Mo will look like that too. Jax said he did too and I know Alura had a little pair of sunglasses when she was little. I thought she wore them cause they were this ridiculously expensive gift from grandpa, Oakleys for a baby, you know?"

"But now you know better?"

"I do. I just...thank you."

"For?"

"You understand. If I told that to Chloe or dad, they'd give this lecture about how weird's just fine but weird's weird, you know? Some things are just gross. Most of the Smallville specials are gross."

His mother quirked her head at him. "The what?"

"Smallville specials. It's what some of the kids at school sometimes call the meteor infected." Some meant mainly Gerald, but that was neither here nor there. "Not all are bad. I know that Chloe saved my life, but there are so many who have-"

"There's been murders. I was stalked by so many of them, Connor. At ISIS, we do try and help those who want help but we also try and monitor the ones who are dangerous."

"Like how?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you monitor them?"

"Track medical files, offer counseling but red flag records. We want to help the Specials as you call them, but we want to make sure they don't hurt real people more."

"Yeah, that's how it feels sometimes."

"What feels?"

"That they're not real, like a whole comic book exploded over my hometown. Sometimes I don't know if I feel real."

"You are but, Connor, if you don't want your abilities, you can get rid of most of them. I wanted to do that."

"Dad told me. You put the blue K on his wrist so I'd be more normal."

"He was...resistant to the idea."

"You still have samples?" He asked. He didn't know his mom or his uncle had more than just the green kind.

"I was able to buy some for a fair price off of Jax's mother. If you'd like, I'm sure we can fashion something for you to wear, like a pendant or a wristwatch, just for you. Would you like that? To be more normal?"

"If I wore it long enough, I'd end up like Jax though. I'd be deformed."

"You don't really want your powers, do you sweetheart?"

"I..." Did he want them? He'd always had them. He'd been able to move things with his mind since he was six months old. He'd been floating that long too, had been strong since he was three. He didn't know how not to use them, to rely on his heightened senses. As much as he hated being a freak, he didn't think he wanted to give up the power either. Slapping the blue K on him would eventually leave his powers unreliable, which was worse than none at all.

"Lana," his uncle said and his voice was tight. "We don't have to talk about this here or right now. That's not really what Connor's here for, is it?" He asked as he strode into the room.

"Lex, I-"

"You know," Kon replied, pushing his half-eaten plate away. "I think I'm okay. I'll just go upstairs and do the satellite tv thing."

He was gone before they could object.

Christmas was amazing. He woke up and somehow, even with his hearing, Lex had managed to blanket his room with a million presents. Okay, not literally a million but Playstations and Wiis and I-pods and Laptops. Name the electronic device and it was laid out on his floor. Clothes, the real, tailored kind (Lex had taken measurements, insisting that handmade was best), were placed neatly on the spare bed. He couldn't even keep track of all the board and card games around him.

It was cool, but somehow impersonal.

Lana and Lex said the right things. They did the right things. Lord knows they gave him a mint's worth of crap, but it didn't feel right. He spent his nights with nightmares about his dad and Mo, about them being dead, despite what his senses had said. He spent his days staring at his cell, wishing that Aunt Kara would call and hating that no matter how many voice messages he left for Cassie, she would not return them.

Everything was perfect, but nothing fit.

At home, he'd get a fraction of those gifts, maybe a new video game or three if he were lucky. It wasn't because his dad and Chloe were poor. It was because they believed in limits. So, he wasn't exactly complaining that he won the present lottery. It was more that the gifts were impersonal. They were not, even though he was 15, the continued adventures of Harry the Hippo and Norman the Cow (written by Chloe and illustrated by Uncle Jimmy), nor something that his dad had made. His father had learned a bit of woodworking from Grandpa Jonathan before his death. Kon always liked the simple carved animals he received each year, like collecting a Noah's Ark.

He wished he had both right now.

"Connor?" his uncle asked and he was disappointed.

He wanted to talk to his mom. She'd seemed distant tonight, even over his birthday cake. Even her hugs were hesitant, with as little pressure as possible, as if he'd wrap his arms tighter around her and crush her or something.

He had control.

He did.

"Hey Uncle Lex. Thanks again, this looks like you raided the Granville Mall."

"I wouldn't settle for something so plebian," Lex countered. "You seem upset."

"Oh no. Everything's great. It's just great!"

"Your father was never a gifted liar."

Kon rolled his eyes. Of all the things to be hereditary. "I miss home sometimes. Is that funny? I spent six months trying to get here and now I wish I had a slice of Grandma's pie, like it's not Christmas without it."

"Are you unhappy here?"

"Oh no. I just wish I knew how Dad and Mo and Chloe were. I don't want to hurt anyone. I swear it."

His uncle considered this and pulled up his leather desk chair, so that he could better face Connor on the bed. "Do you?"

"Huh? I'm not Ted Bundy here. I just had an accident was all."

"Did you ever think that you could be whatever you wanted."

"Dad said that, that I could grow up to be anything, but I don't think it's true. He said that I don't have to be a superhero, grow into the family business, but I just don't believe it."

"Would you rather be someone else?"

"Well I don't want to be The Joker!" he shouted and the windows rattled. He blushed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"No, I find it fascinating. What is it like?"

"What's what like?"

"When you make things move like that, how do you do it?"

"I dunno. I've always done it. Dad said that if he got upset when he was pregnant, things would explode. I maybe couldn't do it for a few months as a baby and then I could. If I just feel really upset or scared or even too happy, things explode."

"So it is extremes in emotion."

He nodded and took a breath. The windows stopped moving. "Maddie Wilson, she's a friend of dad's."

"The artist. Her gift is amazing, what she's done with it."

"Well it took her a long time to learn that much control. She spent a lot of time when I was a little kid teaching me meditation and tricks so I didn't hurt people. I don't want people to be hurt, but I want to feel I can have my own life, that I don't just have to be The Ghost like Aunt Kara and Dad are."

"Jackson, that's the other one, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"He patrols too, doesn't he?"

"Exactly! Dad's all like 'you can have your own life' but then even Jax works for the Teen Titans."

"He's in his twenties."

"Well, he's the oldest by a lot. It's cause of all his glitches. The League won't have him. Heh, maybe if I put on mom's watch then I won't have to ever worry about a family business."

Lex's expression darkened. "She what?"

"Gave me a watch today. It has blue K in it. I thought you knew?"

"I did not."

"Oh. Well I didn't want to wear it. I dunno. I hate mutants and aliens, but I don't want to give up all my abilities either. Does that even make sense?"

"If it's all you've known then I can understand that you don't want to be without them. Lana shouldn't have given you the watch without consulting with me."

"You don't want me to wear it."

"I'd prefer if you did not, yes. You're extraordinary, Connor. You have more power than anyone on Earth, save, perhaps Moira. Why would anyone want to give that up?"

"Because I'm a-"

"Freak is a subjective term. There's not one person on Earth who wouldn't give up a limb to just be able to fly, and that's a fraction of your powers. You've been running from your father's destiny."

"So you want me to get a trenchcoat and skulk in the shadows?"

"No, but I suggest you keep your abilities and embrace something else."

"Back to the Rogues Gallery?"

"Lana's my wife."

"I was aware."

"She was never able to conceive on her own. I assume you know this. It's how Clark had you. You're the only child she'll ever have."

"Uh, yeah," he replied, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"I want you to think about that."

"Because?"

"I want an heir."

"Cass, come on, Cass. I really need to talk to you. I mean, it's Boxing Day! Okay, so we're not British, who gives a fuck, really, but you didn't pick up for Christmas/my birthday. I am reaching out for any holiday I can here. I really want you to talk to me. You have no idea what Lex wants from me. I mean, Lex Luthor wants to leave it all to me. Isn't that ridiculous? I...I miss you, Cass. Call me."

It was some time after the New Year, maybe the third or fourth, when he woke up early to the sounds of a fight. He knew that Lex had sound proofed his home, but even if it was up to Aunt Kara and Dad's standards, Kon would be able to hear it. He didn't mean to snoop, to invade people's privacy, but sometimes he couldn't help it.

His ears were beginning to train on his mom's voice.

I don't care what you want, Lex. This is about what's best for Connor.

I'm not having you handicap him. He's too valuable.

He's not a collection or a piece of artwork, Lex. He's my son.

With whom you spend abundant time.

Don't tell me how to spend time with my son. Lunch is a start.

I won't have you poisoning him, Lana.

His mother snorted. You and Clark are incredibly alike...

Kon rolled over onto his side and shoved the buds of the i-pod in his ears. He didn't want to hear the rest.

By the fifth, he was beginning to go stir crazy. He was having his records transferred over to Excelsior. It was Lex's idea but he agreed. It was too hard to see Cassie in the halls and know that the most they'd ever be again was co-editors and maybe the person who tutored her through geometry.

He couldn't live like that.

Still, Excelsior had a winter break that lasted to February (it coincided with ski season) and he was bored, listless. He didn't think one could get bored in a mansion, but loneliness was loneliness nevertheless.

It was why he had taken out the art supplies he'd asked for for his birthday (and Christmas). Applying the pastels to the canvas was soothing, comforting. Once they were on the surface was where his work began. He needed to convey the right shades of red and pink. The colors he was going for truly didn't exist on Earth; there were no words even for them in English. Yet, he tried as hard as he could, to show a land that never would exist again.

"That's beautiful."

Connor was halfway done with one of the spires of the crystalline structure he was making when he heard his uncle's voice. His head shot up so fast that he knew it would have blurred to a human.

Perfect.

Freakshow.

"What is it of? I doubt you're doing your own Starry, Starry Night ."

"I...it's hard to explain."

"Is this Krypton?"

"I don't know. I sometimes draw from the stories Aunt Kara told me and sometimes I just feel like I can almost see it."

"Race memory is a theory of some biologists." It was cold, detached, the way his uncle said that. It sent shivers down Kon's spine.

"Uh, yeah, but everyone thinks I just draw like fantasy crap, like Lord of the Rings stuff. I never correct them. Chloe and the Kangaroo didn't even knew I drew but then she snooped and found my portfolio-"

"I imagine it was private."

He thought back of the fucking self portrait that Chloe wouldn't shut up about. "Beyond private. I should have known. Chloe's a reporter and so's dad and they can't turn it off. I don't even think they get that sometimes art can be private."

"You have a lot of talent, Connor."

"You say that cause you and mom are trying to be nice to me."

"No, I say that because it's true. Come with me," he said and, hell, it was more interesting than brooding in his room, so Kon followed.

They walked down the hall and Kon, even with his eidetic memory, still couldn't keep the labyrinthine halls straight. When Lex opened the door, Kon gasped. The collection of sketches and charcoal drawings was vast. The room almost serving as its own gallery.

"Did you draw these?" he asked, his fingers grazing over a drawing of a horse in motion. It was technically excellent, but cold, soulless. It confused him, to have so many drawings that looked like examples of technique one could show to a first year in art school, but that had no heart in them.

"Your mother did."

"Mom draws?"

"Clearly you didn't get your talent from Clark."

Kon laughed. His dad couldn't do stick figures. Alura out doodled him. "No, I guess not."

Lex nodded and walked through the myriad of landscapes and drawings of the manor's animals and staff, until he reached a piece of manuscript paper. The art style there was different, older and medieval. "She studied at the Sorbonne, did you know that?"

"Why did she come back to Smallville?"

"True love?"

"No, seriously. She and dad hate each other. There's no way she gave up Paris for dad."

"She did, in a way. She gave up Paris in a hunt for something. Can you X-ray yet?"

Kon nodded. "That's how all of this started. Hard to pretend you're normal with a tadpole in dad's stomach that you can see. Why do you ask?"

"Can you read Kryptonian?"

"It's very cross examiney of you. Some, not a lot. Aunt Kara hadn't taught me all of it," he replied, finally noticing the glyphs on the sides of the page. Look deeper . It said. So he did and gasped when he saw a map underneath. "What is this?"

"This is not your mother's. It's a page from a manuscript that Rasputin was obsessed with. It says that it can lead one to ultimate power. It actually leads to a temple in Shanghai. Your mother said she found a stone there with this symbol on it. Lex pulled out a small notepad from his pocket and sketched a symbol Kon would have known anywhere.

It was painted on the wall of his nursery.

It was the symbol of his House.

"I..."

"She gave it to your father, back when things were sunshine and kittens. He took one from my plane, a second stone from Egypt, and I believe my father gave him a third one. Lately, I've come to suspect that there was a fourth he's missed."

Kon's throat was dry. "Huh."

He couldn't lie, god he couldn't. Don't make him.

Lex turned and eyed him. "We always assumed there were three and that there were only supposed to be three, but I've done some research."

"More records from mad monks? Maybe Stalin had a page too!"

The lights above them flickered.

Perfect, way for him to keep it together.

"No, your father has spent a lot of time flying in and out of the country, especially in the last few years. Chloe is not the only one who can trace records."

Kon stilled and the lights stopped flickering. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Help me. Help me find the other stone, Connor. Your father doesn't deserve it if he's spent fifteen years looking for it and still can't find it."

"I don't know about any of this." He swallowed and hoped he sounded surer than he felt.

"But you do now. The stones are Kryptonian, left for you. The Fortress they made...Lana never saw it but she knows it exists and was frenetic at best. The final stone could make it something great."

"I don't know anything about a Fortress. I didn't even know I was Kryptonian until a few months ago. I can't help you."

"But I want us to do this together, as a family. Aunt Kara and you father didn't trust you with this information, clearly."

Kon nodded, hoping his uncle couldn't see through him. "I...I don't know anything about this. I wouldn't know where to start."

Except with Cassie...

"Then it'll be a grand adventure. We should go to France first and try from there. It's where your mother started after all..."

Witches.

Witches and mystic stones and alien intelligences.

If Kon couldn't fly without a plane and hadn't seen Mo is his father's stomach, he'd never have believed it. It was the stuff of poorly crafted science fiction.

They spent the next few weeks on a tour of Europe. They'd started with Paris, working their way through ancient churches, mausoleums and the Louvre. He wanted to make a crack about the Da Vinci Code but didn't think his mother or his uncle would appreciate it. The Louvre made his mother so excited. She had bonded with him over painting, again deferring to technique over feeling. She'd spent two days with him in the Louvre lecturing him on the merits of the great flemish and other masters.

He'd been bored.

It had been too stuffy.

The Prado in Madrid was better. Even though he couldn't understand why Velazquez's Las Meninas was considered so epic. It seemed cheesy to Kon that the artist had put himself into the picture. The one thing that did strike him were the meninas, the maids themselves. Some were normal-sized but some were little people, dressed up to match with the princess in the painting, like toys or court oddities. Some terrible voice, something deep down that he'd tried to shove away since he'd overheard his mother and uncle arguing, nagged at him. Was he like that?

The court oddity?

The museum that Kon loved the most was the Picasso in Barcelona. He had his own version of Las Meninas which blew Kon's mind. Everything squiggly lines and boxes. Angles for the curves of the body, abstraction for reality. He loved everything Picasso did, loved that sense of surreality in his work. He felt that way, that nothing was right, that it all could melt away at any minute.

His mother had hated it.

It wasn't formal enough, wasn't "right."

He wasn't sure she couldn't understand feeling over form. That same niggling, traitorous voice asked him if she could feel much at all. She certainly didn't go out of her way to touch his shoulder or to hug him. Chloe had always been very touchy-feely. She'd given it up a lot when he'd turned thirteen and told her that it wasn't what the cool kids did. His mother just wasn't like that.

Sometimes he wondered if she were like a porcelain doll.

Chloe and Aunt Lois, they felt tough, like bulls in a rodeo. Mom felt like even looking at her might break her.

It wasn't what he thought.

It never was.

It was three days before time to start Excelsior when things fell apart. Kon was on his phone again, leaving his seven billionth message for Cassie.

"Cass, hey. I brought you something really beautiful from Paris, um France, not the one in Texas, you know. I guess you do since that stupid Cat Grant had me in her column when I got back from the airport. Anyway, can you please call me? I can't believe it's been two months. I miss you."

It was then that he heard something he hadn't in seven weeks.

His...no Chloe's shouting. She'd visited several hours before and he'd been an ass about it, but now she was screaming loud enough that even his hearing wouldn't have been needed to hear it.

He was down the stairs in Lex's office before even he could think.

"Whoa."

His mother and Lex were both standing behind Lex's desk as if the glass made any real barrier between them and Chloe. Chloe was dressed as she normally would be in jeans and a cotton shirt, green for the record. It was The Batman, the Martian Manhunter and what was her name again? The one in the star-spangled outfit that made Kon's eyes itch? Right, Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman was a hard nickname to remember. It was his Aunt Diana and she really shouldn't be wearing that.

What surprised him more than the spandex brigade was the woman next to his mother, Mary Donovan.

"Where's my son, Lex?" Mary asked.

Kon blinked. "Wait, Jax is missing?"

Lex smiled. "No one move, please. Chloe, you know the rules. If you so much as come near me and mine and Connor's mine now, make no mistake, then I give every record I have to the government. How long do you think Moira will last with them or Clark? Do you want Alura raised behind bars?"

"Okay," Kon said, walking further into the room and holding up his hands. "What's going on?"

Chloe turned to him and the pain there was raw on her face. " A stor , have you seen Jax?"

"I...no. Why would I?"

"He's been missing for ten days."

"I...where is he?"

"I can guess," the Batman said, glaring at his uncle. "Where have you taken him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about but Chloe knows the rules. She does anything, even tries to accuse me of something, and her husband will be in USAMRID by morning."

Uncle Bruce's jaw worked with the frustration. "Fawkes?"

"We'll find him, Lex, and so help you God when we do."

"I'm terrified, Chloe."

Chloe paused as the rest filtered their way out of the house. "Come home, a stor . No one's mad anymore. Just come home."

"Chloe?" his mom said, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes?"

"Get the Hell away from my son."

When Lex woke him up at five a.m., Kon wanted to make some joke about camping. He was solar powered but had never liked waking with the sun. His dad was like that too. Chloe practically had to throw a bucket of water on his head to wake him up in time for work.

Of course, the Ghost did work late nights.

"Lex?"

"Come with me."

"I was sleeping."

"Now, Connor."

The tone brooked no arguments. He followed Lex to the elevator down the hall (yes, the mansion was that large). His uncle pulled a chain out from under his shirt and put the key into the slot in the control panel. Placing his hand on flat slot, he entered in a code-232.

"You're going to a bunch of floors at five a.m.? Can we just do this after breakfast."

Lex didn't answer but Kon felt his throat drop when the elevator went down and down and down. Whatever part of him felt attached to the sun, that alien instinct, told him they were far below ground. His uncle got off the elevator first and Kon followed, shuddering at the sight before him. The elevator opened out into an ampitheater, the walls antiseptic white. There was a small collection of tables with laptops humming even this early and three middle aged men in white coats watching the far corner of the room with rapt attention.

Kon followed his uncle to the small glass enclosure, and he felt like he was at the zoo, at the corner of the room.

Jax was inside.

Kon backed away from his uncle, the bile rising in his throat. No, Lex had said...no wait. Lex had never denied having Jax. He'd threatend Chloe but he'd never denied having him. Kon had asked at an unusually stilted dinner, but even then, Lex had refused to talk about it.

Jax quirked his head as they approached and it occurred to Kon that he was listening. "What the hell?"

"The glass has a thin sheath of lead built into it. He can't see out unless we undo it. It makes it a one way mirror for him."

"Jax!" Kon shouted, waving despite himself. "Can you hear me?"

"Kon?" Jax shook his head then. "Are you in on this?"

"No! I...this isn't right." He spun around and faced his uncle. "You have to let him out. He's my friend, um, mostly."

His uncle smiled. It wasn't a pleasant sight. "I've waited fifteen years to have you both. Why would I let you go now?"

"What? You're going to put me in there?"

His uncle laughed and tried to touch his shoulder. Kon blurred out from under his grasp. "Don't touch me."

"No, Kon. You're special. You, I want with me."

"In a Darth Vader way? What the fuck?"

"I'd prefer a better allusion. You are not to be wasted down here, but Jax? You said it yourself over and over. He's 'defective,' isn't he?"

"Fuck you, Kon. You told him about me?"

"I...I wasn't thinking and most of it I told mom in my emails."

Lex laughed and Kon wondered if heat visioning his uncle was that big a crime. "Lana never read those."

Kon blinked. "Yes she did. I set up the account like she asked."

" I corresponded with you. Anyone in this house can sign 'LL' after all."

"I...just let Jax go, please. If you let him go, I'll stay. You just leave Chloe and dad and Mo and Jax, even Aunt Kara and Alura. You leave the rest of the Council alone and I'll do whatever you ask."

"Isn't it a little late for that, Connor? I have some of what I want. I'm waiting, of course, for Moira. She's so special, isn't she?"

"She's not even born yet."

"I'm a patient man. I waited so long for you."

"I...Jax didn't do anything."

"But he makes for trial and error."

"What?" Jax squeaked.

"Huh?" Kon asked.

Lex nodded and one of the scientists picked up a lead box and slipped in through the door to the enclosure. Lex pressed a call button so that the doctor could hear him through the glass. "Jax, you have nowhere to go."

"Duh."

"Do you know what's in the box, Connor and Jackson?" Lex said the names like they were a joke.

"Well lead means green K so that's fun," Kon snarked. "We get it. Kryptonite hurts. You don't need to subject him to it."

"It's not green, Connor."

Jax went pale. "Oh God."

"Do you know what color it is, Jax. Can you guess?"

"Well there's blue and red too. Aunt Kara explained there's some black maybe?" Kon added.

The doctor opened up the box and Jax rushed back, putting himself as far away from the box as he could. To Kon's confusion, his veins weren't writhing or blackened. "Is that gold?"

Lex nodded. "Your mother sold me this, Jackson. She didn't even realize what she had. Do you know what it does?"

Jax swallowed. "Please don't."

"Don't what?"

"I...it strips powers. That's what it does. It ruins our ability to filter the yellow sun the way we do. It'd take everything from me but the TK."

"Is that true?"

"I said it was," Jax replied tersely, trying to almost push his way through the walls of his cell. "Please."

"Uncle Lex, don't or do me! I'll take it."

"No, you're too important," Lex replied. "And I'm too curious. Dr. Sondar?"

The man approached Jax and the other man let out a burst of heat vision. It was a warning shot.

"Don't make us turn on the green light, Jax."

"Fuck you."

The light was blinding and then Jax did go to his knees, the boiling of his blood in his veins too much for him to bear.

Kon watched, horrified, as the doctor brought the small gold piece and, truly, it was no larger than a golf ball, to Jax's throat. The other man screamed and passed out. Kon got as close as he dared to the glass. Jax's heart was going so slow. "Let him out."

Lex shook his head. "He'll be going to the infirmary in a minute. They'll evaluate what the Kryptonite did from there. Now, we have another surprise for you. Come along, Kon. You have so much to learn..."


	48. Chapter 48

48

Clark couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't focus on what Mary Donovan was saying. It wasn't possible. He'd promised. He'd promised her and Jax both fifteen years ago that he'd protect them both.

He'd failed.

Connor leaving of his own volition was one thing, and something he didn't know how to counteract, not a life of luxury, but Jax?

"Lex Luthor?" Mary asked again, glaring at him.

Clark nodded. "I...he's always kept an eye on us and Connor ran away from home two momnths ago. He's living with Lana at the mansion. We've been feuding with the Luthors for the better half of a year."

"So," she said, advancing on him. "You're in a feud with Lex Luthor, again, and he steals my son, again. Why is this the same song and yet a different verse, Clark?"

He sighed and looked down at the counter. "Because as long as Lex is out there and as long as he knows what we are, he's not going to leave us alone. He's just been waiting for his chance to take us."

"He's been waiting for his chance to attack your family and, like always, my son's in the middle of it."

"My son's over there too, Mary," Chloe replied. "We didn't know. There was an accident and I was dead for seven weeks. I just woke up."

Mary shook her head. "Of course. It's something like that always with you people."

"If we'd known Jax was missing from MIT, we'd have come earlier for him, I promise you."

"I wanted him out of your lives. I wanted him away from you because I knew that the danger that follows you around was going to catch up to him."

"He's in danger because of who is father was," Chloe replied. "We can't help that he was born Kryptonian. We can only try and keep him safe."

Mary glared at Clark and he could see it, all the hatred and frustration she'd held onto for Dax-Ur. "You failed. You dragged him into your world and you failed to keep him safe in return. Are you happy?"

"Are you happy that the reason Lex has a rainbow collection of Kryptonite to use on both our children is you?" Chloe snapped. "Don't even answer. Batman," she said, pressing her hand to her earpiece.

"What the hell?" Mary started.

"Batman, Fawkes here. We need to see Lex and we need to see him now. I wanted Diana and J'onn on this with us. Kara and Clark aren't to go near that hellhole." Chloe finished and turned to Mary. "Get ready. The Javelin will be here in thirty minutes."

"The what?"

"Welcome to the League," Chloe barked. "Now try and keep up."

Clark was waiting by the phone in the Watchtower. Alura and Kara were with him. They hadn't decided what to tell Alura to make this alright, to keep cover. He considered having his cousin give her the Kiss of Lethe and take this incident from her mind. Lex had taken Jax, Clark was sure of it. Lex and Lana had lured Connor to them. They wouldn't lose Alura too. The only place on Earth-or near it-that he was sure was safe for them was Watchtower. He and his family were surrounded by Andrea and Victor by dozens of the League's best. Lex could not get them here.

But he had already struck.

"Kal, can you stop drumming on the table?"

"I'm sorry. I just want to know how things went."

Kara glared at him and looked over to where Alura was reading an article. It was one of the journal pieces that Jax had brought her. "I hope someone breaks his sorry neck is how I hope things went."

"We don't kill, Kara."

"I know, but I can hope or that his ridiculously expensive shoes slip on the marble floor, he hits his head and bleeds to death or that-"

"Kara do not."

"Jax is...he's neutral territory. He's not related to Lana. He's not any part of the feud between you and Lex at all. He's never hurt anyone."

"I know."

"This is war, Kal-El."

Alura looked up from her article finally and frowned. "What's war?"

"Alura, honey."

"No, you put a blindfold on me and then sit me in this boring room that looks like a hospital almost cause it's all gleaming and metal and then you talk about scary things like war and uses Uncle Kal's full name. What's wrong?"

"It's a big people thing, pri ," Clark replied. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. Jax's mom is yelling and she never visits and he's not here. Kon won't come home cause he's mad at us and Aunt Chloe was sick. What's going on?"

"I-" he floundered.

Kara looked at her and sighed. "Lex Luthor took Jax because he has special abilities just like yours and Mo's. We're some place safe with friends of mine and Uncle Kal's because we don't want Lex to grab you too."

"Is Jax coming back?"

"Aunt Chloe and Uncle Bruce went to get him," Kara answered honestly. "They took Uncle J'onn and you know he's strong like us."

"But Jax is coming home, right? He's going to be okay?"

Clark sighed. "We don't know."

"Are they going to come for me too, Uncle Kal?"

He leaned over and gathered his niece in a hug. "I love you. This is the safest place in the world. No one is going to take you and we're going to bring Jax and Kon home, I promise."

"Kal-El-" Kara chided.

"No, they're both coming home and they're coming home today."

"Clark, you can't be serious!" Chloe said, pacing in front of him in the bridge of the Watchtower.

"I am serious. You were nice. You asked Lex where Jax was. We played into the script."

"It's not a script. It's a deal. He has everything on you and the children. He loves to remind us of that every time we come up against him. If you move against him, he'll have all of you in a government lab."

"He has Jax and Kon already. We both know whom he really wants," he said, trailing a hand over Mo.

"He can't have her."

"We played by the rules Chloe and we were wrong. You know we were. Lex and Lana could have been in a federal pen for life with all the dirt we have on LuthorCorp and on ISIS. They could have been there over fifteen years ago. I don't care what the League does. What Kara and I have done outside of a cage in those years. A lot of people have suffered because we chose to let Lex call the shots, when all he was waiting for was a chance to have us all. I can't live with myself knowing that I've thrown a lot of people to him to save my family, and it didn't do a damn bit of good."

"If Diana and I break into his home and tear it apart lookiong for a top secret evil lab, then that's it. It's a declaration of war, Clark. He'll mail everything he has to the fucking president and you know he could."

"If he really wanted to, he would have."

"It's a gamble."

"I'm not leaving him in that place anymore. I can't go and Kara can't because of the stockpile of kryptonite that he has, but someone has to save him."

"And if Lex and Lana sell all of you to the government?"

"Then we'll hide. I'd rather see Lex in jail and have my family with me somewhere underground than continue with this crap, Chloe. We were stupid to deal with him ever."

"I...what about Alura? You expect to explain to a nine year old why she's been moved to witness protecttion at best or been put in a government cage at worst. I don't want her to grow up that way. I don't want Mo to grow up that way after how hard we've worked to bring her here."

"I want my sons back, Chloe. I can't do it because I don't have my strength or speed right now and because Lex isn't stupid enough to leave his home unguarded. If Lex wants war, we'll bring it to him."

Clark was a liar and he knew it. In a day, he had everything mapped out the way he wanted. Everyone sent to the four winds. Kara and Dinah were going to ISIS together to search for Jax there. Victor and A.C. were going to Luthorcorp, and Andrea Rojas and Bart were going to Lex's penthouse.

Diana, Bruce, Chloe, Wally and Shayera were all going to the mansion to tear it apart. The strongest going there to find Jax and to bring him to the Tower.

"You won't tell anyone what I want, will you J'onn?" he asked, bundling himself up in a parka. He was at the point where he could feel the cold, not as deeply as a human could, but he was no longer invulnerable as Kara o as J'onn were.

His guardian shook his head. "I don't advise that we go there. We don't know what the Fortress will do."

"I know, but it's time to seek it out. I've run from everything for too long."

"Even without the stone?"

"Because I can't find it. I have to learn to live with Jor-El as he is. I have to ask him for help because the Fortress can do things."

"You cannot set back time this time, Kal-El."

"But maybe it can help us hide, help us escape Lex. I don't know, J'onn, but I have to go."

"And you have to make sure everyone else is on a goose chase as you do so?"

"I know that Jax can be found. I know where Lex kept me. Chloe and Bruce will bring him home. I am just trying to make sure he can live some kind of life that's not on the lam or in a cell when he does. That Kon and Mo can have that life too."

"If Jor-El freezes you or strips your abilities or mind controls you?"

"Then at least I tried. Now let's fly," he said, waiting for J'onn to take him off and to the Arctic.

Chloe would forgive him, if he came home.


	49. Chapter 49

49

She was pacing in the bay where they held the Javelin. The others were coming, even Diana would be flying with them in the jet in order to make sure the whole team was together. They'd split everyone up as best they could so that every team had at least one member with superstrength with them and ensuring that J'onn would be staying behind in the Tower to watch over Clark and Alura. Diana on her own was incredibly powerful, like having Clark's powers and none of the Kryptonite-based weaknesses. Wally, newer to the team, at least not one from the Golden Age of The Justice Bros, was faster than even Bart. Shayera she had never liked, not her militaristic attitude or her lack of humor. Hawkgirl and Fawkes, ironically, considering their names, would never flock together.

Bruce was so...he was Bruce of course, probably the most intimidating of the lot of them. No one wanted to admit that and she, personally, wouldn't. Bruce didn't bulldoze her like he did others but, even she could admit, there were advantages to having him on her side.

She hadn't yet put on her gloves or her cowl when Clark walked in. Despite the gravity of the situation, Chloe smiled. Clark was feeling so much better. Since he'd woken up, they'd been able to remove the feeding tube and he was keeping food down. At fifteen pounds over his normal weight and over six months pregnant, he'd never be as big as he'd been with Kon, but he wasn't painfully gaunt anymore either. She wanted to take credit with what she'd done to save his life, but she'd not been able to heal him before.

It was Mo.

Her powers were growing already.

"Chlo?"

She smiled and tossed her cape ove her shoulder. It wasn't a theatricality thing. It was practical. Bruce was an ass but he knew his body armor as did Lucius Fawkes. Long ago, she'd talked him into designing something for her similar to Bruce's, feminine and her size, a matted maroon, but still body armor and useful shape holding fabric. Even if she could survive a hail of bullets, didn't mean she wanted too feel them.

"This is a little funny," she said, staring up at her husband.

"Because usually we're on missions together or you're the one in civvies waiting to go home to stay with Kon?"

"Well, yes. Superman doesn't sit stuff out."

"Kangaroos," Clark said, with no trace of irony in his voice. "They do."

She reached out and hugged him. "I hope the other teams find the Kryptonite or files. I know that Lex would keep both boys close to him. We'll bring them back, you know. You just need some time to rest. Color with Alura, rest. We'll be back in a few hours."

"You're optimistic."

"Practical. It won't take that long to tear the mansion to the ground."

"Which isn't usually our practice," he sighed. "I wonder what would have happened if we'd never taken Lex and Lana's offers, if we turned them over when we had a chance. How many people-"

She pulled back from him and shook her head. "It won't do any good to think about that now. We made our choice and now Lex's time's out. I hope he looks good in federal pen orange."

"It'll clash," Maddie called, walking into the bay.

Chloe shook her head. Maddie's outfit, sorry, The Glass Menagerie's outfit, had been suggested and designed by Kara. It at least had pants, a leotard instead of skirt or almost bathing suit like ensemble. That wasn't saying much. The ice blue spandex was tight and fit over curves that Chloe still refused to believe little Maddie had. Of course, Maddie was almost thirty now wasn't she?

"You're going?" Clark asked, surprised.

"I happen to have some experience in Smallville territory," she quipped. "I also think if you're going to be assembling your best...well, the mansion always had too much pretentious stained glass, don't you think?"

"I...aren't you?"

"Junior Varsity?" She quipped. "Someone who ends up on reconaissance and tech reports? Sometimes, but that's because someone seems to be overprotective."

Clark blushed and Chloe laughed. Oh caught. "But it's the mansion and-"

"There's no glass in the bay or the Javelin, Clark. No one's that dumb, but, trust me, I can handle myself. Besides it's Kon. I have a soft spot for the brat. Who trained him like a pro?"

Chloe shuddered, thinking of the angle of Clark's neck when she'd healed him. Kon might still need a few more lessons after all. "Alright. Everyone else is on the bridge and will be coming in in a minute."

"Oh I get it. One of those private moment things. Don't let me stop you," she chirped slipping back out the door.

Clark shook his head. "Why do none of the female superheroes wear clothes?"

"I wear clothes. Mo will wear clothes when it's her turn."

He laughed but he sounded distracted. "Clark?"

"Just worried. Don't worry, Alura will have the best coloring partner ever today."

"Well one who can stay inside the lines. You can't draw for anything, Clark."

"I try," he defended, reaching out to stroke her cheek. "Chloe, be careful, alright."

She leaned into the touch and started to pull on her gauntlets. "I always am."

There was nothing more obvious than the landing of the Justice League. For their own secrecy sake, it was great that there were many acres on Lex's land and a huge gate around the mansion.

Diana turned off the engine and turned to her. "You're ready?"

Chloe adjusted her cowl and looked her team over. "Of course."

She hopped out then and was surprised that everyone followed suit. Often she expected some rebuttal from Bruce or a protest from Hawkgirl. Lord knows that Bruce had argued against going full force if they could help it. He could be level headed when the Joker had Dick at his mercy and tell her how that went. She doubted even the implacable Bruce Wayne would be so calm then.

It was a risk, but it was calculated. They weren't going to play chess against Lex anymore. They were going to throw the pieces off the fucking board.

So, in that spirit, it felt odd to have Diana kick in the door and enter into an empty hall.

Wally blinked under his red mask. "Uh, shouldn't there be security for something like this?"

Maddie laughed. "Lex has the worst security team that anyone has ever seen."

"They're on better assignment," Lana replied, coming slowly down the spiral staircase. "Chloe, great look. It's best you didn't try for something sexier," she said, shaking her head at Diana's venture into patriotism gone wrong.

"Better?" Bruce growled and did anyone take his voice seriously?

Lana nodded. "I'm flattered. You brought The Batman and Wonder Woman to my home. The rest of you, pardon if I don't remember all the names."

"Well since the flash is on my shirt," Wally started before Bruce held up his hand.

"So Lex?"

"Is out. Kon is with him. They have something larger and more international looming, Chloe," Lana continued, as she reached the staircase's end.

"And I believe you because you're so honest," Chloe snapped.

"It's true and all LuthorCorp guards have been recalled back to the main offices and ISIS. It seems that the League's been very busy today."

Chloe wanted to strangle her, that cold condescending tone. She hated that Lana was implying the Luthors had the upper hand. "It has. We want Connor and we want Jax."

Lana was standing right in front of her. Chloe, in her boots, had a slight height advantage, but Lana was unmoving, undeterred. "Connor is my son. He came here, Chloe. He wanted to come here. He calls me 'mother,' does that burn yet?"

The stain glass window on the stairway shook and then shattered. Maddie smiled and waved. "Chit-chat is boring. We just want the kiddos."

Lana's breathing was a little more temperamental after that. "Connor isn't here."

"Is Jax?" Diana asked. "We'll take him too. In fact, I'd advise that you give him to us or we'll tear this place down. Don't think that Hawkgirl, The Glass Menagerie and I can't do it."

"I'm sure you could," Lana replied. "League's always been big on thug tactics. I never approved much over The Green Arrow's methods and I think you've gotten worse."

"I asked nicely yesterday," Chloe reminded. "I brought his mother here to ask for him. Where is he Lana?"

Lana shook her head. "You're good at messing with other women's sons, aren't you?"

"Where is he?" Bruce repeated. Apparently no one else wanted to hear Lana rattle on either.

She sighed and shrugged. "There's a lab built into the mansion. It's about forty feet underground. The elevator would take you, if you had a key and a code."

Chloe laughed. "It won't take me long to hack it."

Lana smiled. "I hope not."

Chloe nodded and eyed Maddie. "Glass Menagerie?"

"Fawkes?"

"Tear it down. You're right, the glass here is ugly."

She, Bruce and Diana were crammed into the elevator. She'd needed Diana's strength to tear open the steal surrounding the key pad. Bruce, of course, preferred to interject where he wasn't wanted. It probably hurt his sense of honor that Maddie was busy making sure anything glass-and in that house it would take her a while-was smashed to pieces.

"Fawkes, that was beneath you."

Chloe bit her lip and started entering her favorite unlocking algorithm. Lex was probably counting on the sheathing around the key pad to keep people out or more worried about people trying to get out than break in. "The house is pretentious, Batz. Reminds me of this other place I know."

"Stop it," Diana said, her tone calm. "Fighting among ourselves won't solve a thing."

"No, it won't," Chloe replied as the code hummed in the box and the elevator started moving down. "But it makes Bruce's conscience feel better. I know. Maddie and I did it. It was wrong, blah blah. Lana just..."

"She will face Justice, the American court system kind," Diana reminded her as the continued their descent.

"You bet she will," Chloe groused.

"It's not only about Connor," Bruce reminded her. "Whatever can be found at ISIS with the records you already have saved. It's a long trail, Chloe."

"I know," she replied, balling and unballing her fists. "Too long."

The elevator stopped and the door opened. She took in a breath and surveyed the room around her. It was bright white, antiseptically clean. Chloe wrinkled her nose at the smell of bactine and ammonia. She wondered how it had been down here for Jax, whose nose was inhumanly sensitive.

"It's quiet," Bruce mused.

"If you say 'too quiet' so help me," she replied.

"It's just quiet," Diana agreed as they walked the expanse of the room. Chloe ignored the flashing of the flourescents overhead.

She nodded and approached the plexiglass box in front of all of them. It was up on a platform, like a stage, and it sickened her that there wasn't a space in it that was private. Glass on all sides and open for the best views.

"The bed's been tipped over," Bruce said.

"I can see," she snapped. "Where are they?"

Diana nodded toward a door at the far left of the room. "I suppose we have to go deeper to find them."

Chloe didn't like that idea of going even farther, didn't want to think about what she'd find, but it was her mission and she led them, Bruce and Diana trailing behind her, through the door and down the narrow corridor.

Diana stopped and held up a hand after they passed one of yet another nameless doors. "This one."

"Are you sure?"

Diana never smiled. She had no sense of humor but an honesty and sense of sisterhood that Chloe admired. "I promise. It's faint but it's breathing."

"Faint?"

"Yes," Diana replied, snapping the knob and pushing open the door. I

There was no staff in the room, no scientists and no guards. Chloe wondered if they'd been called away by Lana through another exit or if they'd simply left Jax alone now that he was of no use to them. Pale, he lay still on his bed, a tube set down his throat, a respirator breathing for him.

"Jax!" Chloe took off her cowl and her gloves then. "Jax, can you hear me?"

Dull, glassy eyes looked up at her but made no flicker of recognition.

"Could be a reflex to the sound, Fawkes," Bruce replied.

"I...oh god," she said, placing a hand over Jax's chest. "Come on, wake up for me."

The customary glow rose through her and she stumbled back, the pain of what she felt so raw that she'd rarely experienced anything like it. It felt like being stripped apart, layer by layer, as if her very cells were torn asunder.

She stepped back and wanted to scream when Jax's vitals remained the same.

"Fawkes?" Diana asked, steadying her.

"You didn't heal him?"

She shook her head, "I can't heal DNA. I...they stripped him."

Bruce frowned, even under he cowl, she could see the way the corners of his mouth turned down. "I don't understand."

"They took his abilities, all of them. God, Bruce. It's a death sentence. Help me get him to the Tower."

Chloe was crying. She sat over Jax's bed and had some perverse hope that her tears would work the way they had once upon a time on Lois. Jax was still pale and still unconscious. His temperature was high, 104, and they'd taken out the breathing tube but kept him on oxygen via tubes in his nose. The idiot doctors had put him on the tube when he'd crashed but it had left him with a rapidly escalating case of pneumonia.

It wasn't something that most people couldn't fight off.

They weren't talking hemorrhagic fever.

But he had no immune system, whatever he'd inherited from Mary wasn't enough to stand on its own, and the bacteria were working their way through him.

Chloe'd been trying for three hours to fix it, but she couldn't change what the Gold K had done to Jax's DNA, had stripped him of at the cellular level, even she had her limits. Mary Donovan was on the other side of the bed, so lost in her own thoughts and prayers that she'd not had time for accusing Chloe. Frankly, Chloe wondered if Mary were evaluating her choices too. Chloe had let Lex and Lana run free too long, but Mary had sold Lex the key to her own son's destruction.

Chloe wasn't a fool.

It had not been greed driving Mary all those years ago. Her husband had been murdered, had left her alone with no job or savings and a son to raise, one whose intellectual gifts demanded he go to an Ivy when the time came. She had needed the money. She couldn't have known.

Chloe reached out over Jax's bed and squeezed Mary's hand. "I'm sorry I can't save him."

"Me too," she replied, her voice dull.

Mary looked up at her and out through the window in the sick bay. Alura and Kara were waiting to come visit. Clark was not. The selfish asshole had convinced J'onn to take him to the Fortress. Chloe hadn't been able to contact him yet and she was terrified still, terrified of Jor-El's wrath leaving Alura and Kara the only two of the Council safe and sound.

She wanted her husband and their daughter with her.

"I would give anything if-"

Mary nodded again. "Me too. I just...I need the quiet."

And so they sat together in tentative peace, only the sound of the respirator between them.


	50. Chapter 50

50

"You can't just leave him like that," Kon said. "He's sick."

Lex narrowed his eyes at him. "I didn't leave him. I have a team of the best doctors in the world and any one of them will be able to take care of him. Besides, as I've said, he's a minor prize."

"He's not an anything. He's a person!"

Lex smirked as he led Kon down the corridors of the lab. "Now you've changed your tune around a lot, Connor. In all those emails to 'Lana,' you railed a lot against the Smallville Specials and even your own biology. Now you're going to claim Jax is a person?"

"I...we are!"

"It's a loose definition," Lex conceded. "Who are you really, Connor. Either you're a person or you aren't. Either Jax deserves all the consideration afforded anyone else legally and constitutionally or he doesn't. Are you going to jump around to suit the way you feel today? What about if you have a change of heart tomorrow or in a week from now?"

"He doesn't deserve to die."

"Don't be melodramatic. He's still too valuable as a subject to be let to die. He's just worth less than you are. He's expendable, if he has to be. I don't go wasting resources, however. He'll have the best care available and, as I've said, my doctors are superb."

"You made him sick. What if he was telling the truth? What if his dad knew? If you stripped his powers-"

"We'll see what happened, won't we. I have little reason to believe what Jax would tell me of his own accord."

"He looked like it hurt."

Lex shrugged as he stopped at another door. It had no window, so Kon didn't know what sat behind it. Leaning over, Lex pressed his palm to the security panel and waited for the scan. "I suppose it might have. I'll be interested in what my staff can verify over what Jax can fake."

"I...we should go back."

Lex turned and his smirk broadened. "I've got another surprise for you, aren't you excited?"

"If it's my dad or Mo..."

"Now, I don't know why you'd think I'd have them. According to you, they were sick."

"God, if it's my family-"

"I suppose you'll threaten and whine more, Kon. Don't be so vocal. You're not a complete fool. You understand that I have the power here and I know you understand that. I have it not because of the rocks-though I could resort to such a thing if I chose-I have them because I have what matters most of all to you," he finished, pushing through the door.

"Cass!" Kon cried, speeding past his uncle and to the glass box in front of him. Reaching out, he touched the side and almost hissed at the heat. He was too old, too strong to be burned, but he could appreciate the temperature, that it was way past 1000 degrees.

Kelvin.

Cassie, if she felt the heat, wasn't showing it. She was glaring instead at him. "Did you do this?"

"What?"

She walked foreward, her hair plastered down with sweat. "Did you ask Lex to put me here?"

Kon shook his head. "Cass, I'd never do that."

"It's too hot, you know. I don't know how he keeps the glass high enough but not too high to melt, but he does. I tried freezing it to bust out the first day I was here. All I got for my trouble were some wicked blisters. How does he know what I can do, Kon?"

He gulped but held eye contact with her. "I told my mom. I was emailing with her about everything and I let it slip. I wasn't even thinking when I talked about your dad's ice sculptures. I just...I was just sending her a letter but Lex read it instead."

"And he decided to invite me to an extended stay at LuthorCorp. Kon, you asshole!"

Lex arched an eyebrow, amused by the tableau before him. "Ms. Carpenter, what a mouth on you. I've been fair, haven't I? Haven't touched your father or your brother, even if he seems to be latent or a carrier for the trait."

"You come near my family-"

Lex laughed. "I can see why you like her, Connor. She makes idle threats like you do. Maybe that's something the League teaches new recruits these days."

"I'm not in the League," Cassie barked. "But if you let me out you bald son of a bitch..."

"I intend to," Lex replied, entering a code in wall. The glass began to cool instantly and a panel in the room's wall slid back.

Cassie glared at them both but didn't move. "If this is a trick..."

"It's not. Like I've been trying to explain to Kon, information is more powerful as a weapon than any amount of heat or Kryptonite. If Kon gets out of hand, even a little, I'll have you killed. If you don't cooperate, I'll have you family hauled into ISIS. In the end everyone cooperates, and you get to live and your father and brother continue in suburbian ignorance."

Kon swallowed and looked at his uncle. "You wouldn't."

Lex shrugged and pulled out a nine millimeter from his left jacket pocket. "I wouldn't want to. Like I've said, Cassie is a thousand times more valuable alive, as your chokechain, than she is dead. Similarly, what she can do is interesting, even useful, but not fascinating enough to merit her whole family being dissected for it. Again, sometimes leverage is what I truly want. Your mother should have taught you more about that, Connor. Lana's always been great at figuring out what to hold over someone else."

Kon edged closer to Cass. He tried not to take offense when she shied away to push her shoulders flat against the wall. "Cass, I didn't know."

"You talked about me to him. God damn it, Kon. I warned you about the Luthors. I told you to be careful."

"I...I thought Lana was reading it."

"And you're that shocked Lex read them too?"

"Cass, I, how long have you been here?"

"I don't know. At least three days. But it's hard to tell when there's no natural light. I was walking home from Fordman's and the next thing I know the Men in Black have a rag at my mouth. I woke up here and thought you'd done it."

"I wouldn't kidnap someone."

Cass glared at him and it withered something inside of him. "You made it possible. You spent all that time complaining and emailing and crawling to them and you didn't think about what would happen to the rest of us."

"I wasn't thinking."

"Fuck right you weren't thinking."

Lex watched them, his head moving back and forth as if at a tennis match. "As entertaining as this is. I have to admit alternate motives besides control and the sheer amusement factor for taking Miss Carpenter."

The ambient air temperature dropped twenty degrees. If he'd been human, Kon might have shivered at the drop. She glared back at Lex. "Like what?"

"I needed a reason for my people to be combing your property. Half the kidnap squad out at your home are LuthorCorp employees undercover."

"What would I possible have that you want?"

"Kon mentioned that he wasn't dumb enough to hide his stolen I-pods and video games on Kent Farm, but I had to think of where else he'd put things of value to him. When I had a priceless artifact, I gave it to Lana. I had to ask myself if Connor might do the same. Love does cloud judgment."

"I don't have anything and if I'd known Kon was hiding half the Granville Mall by my pond, I'd have called his parents."

Lex nodded and opened the door to the outside. Three men came forward, all in matching black suits and sunglasses. The tallest man and he was at least as tall as Kon's father, handed a twisted hunk of metal to Lex. The billionaire's smirk broadened.

"Cassie, you've seen this before?"

She eyed the stone, the one still twisted in the rubble from the Iceland airport. "Kon gave it to me, yeah. I thought it was a bad souvenir from his trip or experimental art. I dunno. He wanted me to have it. As art went, it wasn't his best effort."

Lex nodded. "I have a feeling that you've starred in some of his better ones."

Cassie, despite herself, blushed. "It's never been like that. Kon does landscapes and sometimes I let him draw me just chilling by the lake. It's not Titanic ." She shot Kon a hateful glance that told him after this it would never be like that.

"Do you know what you have?"

"A hunk of metal and rock?" she snarked.

"Kon, undo it."

"I-"

"Now."

Kon didn't even bother to untwist the metal with his hands. With a thought the asphalt and iron around the amber stone untwisted as simply as a human would have unwound twine or Christmas tree lights. The stone underneath shone with an ethereal light. In its center was a triangle etched into it. There was a dot in the center of the triangle and a dot equidistant on the outside of each triangle's side. It was balanced, centered.

It was Earth.

Cass swallowed and looked down at what she'd been keeping. "You didn't make it."

"No, Cass, I didn't."

"What is it?"

"It's part of my father's fortress."

Cass, being Cass, burst out laughing. "Mr. Kent has a fortress? Like weapons and big thick walls and stuff fortress?"

Kon shuffled a little. "I don't really know what it does. I know that it takes four stones to complete it and that this one has been lost for a very long time. He's been looking for it since before I was born."

"And you gave it to me instead?"

He nodded. "I didn't know if I trusted my dad or Aunt Kara with a fortress or, hell, especially me. I wasn't about to give it to mom and Lex either. I didn't think anyone should add to it, one way or the other. You were sort of Switzerland."

"You gave me an ancient alien artifact that controls a Kryptonian fortress and told me it was abstract art?"

"Maybe?"

"Fuck, you really need intense supervision, did you know that?"

"I think even Connor will agree to that," Lex replied. "Do you know what all of us are going to do now?"

"Does it involve really sharp scalpels?" Cass spat.

"Actually, it involves the North Pole."

"So reindeer," Cassie added.

Lex smiled and it wasn't pleasant. "I like this one, Connor. You have better taste in some ways than your father."

Kon was beginning to see that.


	51. Chapter 51

51

"Kal-El," J'onn said, watching him as he held the key over the slot in the altar in the caves.

"Yes?" he asked, looking back at his mentor. J'onn had chosen what Clark always thought of as his "Shaft look." Gone were the red eyes and seven feet of scaly skin. In its place were the still badass leather coat and the countenance of John Jones of the NYPD.

"You do not have to do this."

"It's my family. If there's a way that the Fortress can get Kon and Jax back, if it can find a way to keep our secret even with Lex knowing it, then I have to try."

"Do you think it will listen to you any more than it has in your entire life? It froze you, Kal-El. It left you there in hopes it could unthaw you in a century and that you would have left your family behind. If it tries again?"

"I'll get back to Chloe. I need a Deus Ex Machina, J'onn, and the biggest one we have on our side is the Fortress. I'm really out of options," he replied, dropping the disk into its slot. The familiar bright light swirled around them and Clark barely had time to feel disoriented before the scenery changed and he was standing in the Fortress.

It didn't look as it had fifteen years ago. Fifteen years ago, Lex Luthor hadn't been standing with five armed guards flanking him and with his hand wrapped around Cassandra Carpenter's wrist, a large semi trained at her rib cage. Fifteen years ago, his son hadn't been approaching the console. Fifteen years ago, no one had ever seen the fourth stone, the one that Clark now saw glinting in Kon's hands.

"What the Hell is going on?" Clark called.

Lex turned to him and smiled. "You have uncanny timing."

Clark ignored him and started walking to the collection of crystals in the center of the Fortress. Once, long ago, he'd impaled Brainiac on them. "Kon, buddy, what's going on?"

His son looked up at him and turned the stone upward in his palm. Clark was hypnotized by the way it shone in the Arctic sun. "I found it."

Clark nodded and kept talking as he used to to the new foals on the farm. "Kon, how long ago did you find it?"

"A while."

Clark eyed J'onn and his friend started to ease toward Cassie and Lex. Lex turned to one of the guards who held up a lit Zippo lighter. J'onn froze.

"I've had some time to study the League. I noticed a few incidences of Detective Jones being injured in response to emergency calls. Fires."

"Lex-" Clark started.

"And of course, there's what the Phantom put in both your heads. Lana's been very forthcoming. She didn't know where to find the exact location of the fortress, but she knew it was up north. It was enough for my satellites to start digging up information years ago. I just needed the Kryptonian to use it for me."

"It's not something that gets used," Clark replied honestly, one hand held out to Connor and the other pressed to his stomach, as if as he was, he could protect Mo from any gunfire that broke out. "It uses you. Manipulates. None of us should be here."

"Why are you here, Clark?" Lex pressed. "You didn't even have the right crystal."

"I had some faith," he replied. "Kon, give me the stone please."

"I can't," Kon replied, as he hovered over the console, trying to find the place where the final element fit. "He'll kill Cassie if I don't."

Clark looked back to his former friend. The muzzle of his gun was buried deep in Cassie's side. Three out of the five guards had guns trained on her as well. The fourth had his aimed at Clark and the final one was still brandishing the lighter high. Clark couldn't blame J'onn for going rigid. Fire and Martians had the same reaction to each other as Kryptonians and Kryptonite. J'onn could no more resist succumbing to the fire than Clark could to green K.

"You could let her go," Clark said, looking at Lex. "Do you really want to kill someone you barely know?"

"I've killed a lot of people, Clark. As long as I have her, I have Kon, don't I?"

He looked at his son's eyes, the way he started at Cassie with such longing. He knew that look. He had given it a million times first to Lana and now daily to Chloe. "Yes."

"Kon, son ," Lex said, forcing the gun deeper into Cassie's side. "Put in the stone."

Kon looked between him and Lex and then at the podium and at Cassie.

Everything happened at once after that.

A concussion ripped through the Fortress, an explosion impossibly forceful, sending Clark falling to his knees. As he watched, the guards and Lex were both thrown to the ground. J'onn was over Cassie in a second, trying to pull her to her feet and away from Lex and the others. Kon dropped the stone and kicked it over to Clark, all the while rushing for Cassie. One of the guards recovered and flung the reignited lighter. It landed and the flames licked and consumed the leather of J'onn's coat.

His friend screamed.

Cassie ran forward, her hand already outstretched with ice crystals forming on it, desperate to put out the fire. Lex took his gun and aimed for her and Clark started running, one hand wrapped around the element. The billionaire emptied his round and Cassie still stood, uninjured, over J'onn's side, her ability leaving a sheaf of ice over his ruined coat. Kon was standing between Cassie and Lex. He opened his hand and let the bullets rain from it.

He eyed his uncle. "Uncle J'onn?"

The martian stood and assumed his true form, his own version of heat vision making his eyes gleam brighter than even their normal incandescent red. "Yes, Connor?"

"Can you watch the guards, please?"

J'onn nodded. "I can do all that The Ghost of Metropolis can do. I assume you've heard the stories. If not, I can help illustrate," he replied and where he stared a crystal heated and then shattered. "Don't move."

"You wouldn't kill us," the man who'd trained the gun on Clark said.

Clark agreed. "We wouldn't, but I wouldn't want to be maimed much either. Please sit still now." He walked over and hugged Cassie to him. "Cassie are you alright?"

Her skin was ice cold to the touch, as if he'd had any less of his abilities left intact, the chill of her cheek against his neck would have left frostbite.

"Fine, I..." she glared at Lex and the Fortress grew still colder. "You tried to shoot me!"

Clark held her arm and pushed her between him and J'onn. "Cassie, it's not worth it."

"You shot at me! What the Hell!"

"Kon was going to break his deal. I can't be held to a contract when one party breaks it, can I?" Lex answered. It was efficient, oddly logical, and pure Lionel answering back.

Kon was breathing heavy, still positioned between him and between Lex. "You hurt her."

Clark reached out and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Kon, it's not worth it."

"He tried to kill her. I saw, dad. I saw what he did to Jax. He took his abilities with some color of Kryptonite I didn't even know existed."

Clark could barely swallow. "It was gold wasn't it?"

Lex quirked his head at Clark. "Lana radioed me to say that Chloe and her friends had come back this morning, taken Jax from our lab. You didn't know, did you?"

Clark fought the feeling of his legs giving out from under him. "It's not relevant," he replied, sounding more sure than he felt. "It's over Lex. This is our Fortress, not yours. The League has everything it needs on you."

"Threats, Clark? I thought you remembered our deal or do you want Moira to grow up in a plexiglass box."

Clark pulled back and slugged Lex hard, putting all his weight and the rest of his strength behind it. The other man wasn't ready for the blow and reeled back with the hit, his head slamming hard on this ice.

"Not a threat if it's true." He replied simply. "Kon, can you keep everyone from being a problem?"

"I don't know how you mean."

"Can you tie them up?" he asked, pulling out a length of nylon rope from his coat. He didn't want to explain he'd packed it in case Jor-El tried trapping him in an avalanche of some kind. Despite his moniker from Oliver, Clark did tend to be overly prepared.

Kon nodded and sped. In an instant, all five of the guards' wrists were bound to one another. J'onn was still eying them. Cassie touched Clark lightly on the shoulder. "Mr. Kent?"

"Yes?"

"May I?"

"Um, what?"

She grinned and bent over Lex. She rolled him onto his back and placed her hand over his wrists. As Clark watched, a brick of ice grew and surged over Lex's hands, locking them in place. "I can be useful."

Clark nodded. "Thank you. Cassie, J'onn, would you wait here a minute?"

"You're still going to place the stone in the console, aren't you, Kal-El."

"It's time. Kon, come here."

His son turned to him and the words came out in a tumult. It reminded Clark of Kon's mother, of Chloe. "Dad, I'm such an idiot and I didn't mean to and I'm incredibly sorry and you can kick me out of the family forever and I didn't meant to break your neck and Aunt Kara said that-"

Clark held up the hand that grasped the stone. "I know. We'll work it out."

"Whoa, Kon!" Cassie said. "You've been busier than I thought."

"Cassie, we'll get to everything later. This, son? This is important."

"But I fucked up."

Cassie nodded. "I second that."

Clark shook his head and walked back to the console, grateful that his erstwhile son followed him. "This is for both of you," he replied, caressing his side with his free hand. The Fortress is mine and yours and Mo's. No one of us gets utilateral decisions. Do you understand? Even if you're afraid of my judgment, you can trust yourself and your little sister."

"I don't trust me either."

"Then we split it together, the three of us," he replied. "Put your hand over mine." For once, Kon did as he was told. "Now get ready to meet your 'grandfather.'"

When Clark and Kon placed the stone in the console, they could both feel it, the hum of energy, the change of the wind around them. The crystals before them shone so brightly that even they had to look away, like staring into the center of an eclipse.

Clark was expecting the loud voice that bore into his skull, into his bones themselves. The way Kon and Cassie blinked and shuddered at the reverberations, told him that they hadn't been. What Clark had not been expecting was for the voice to be delicate, feminine.

To remind him of a voice from a dream he'd had long ago.

Kal-El, my son, you've come home.

Instinctively, he bowed his head. He knew Lara's voice when he heard it. "Lara, I can now."

Rich warm laughter bubbled throughout the cavern.

And you have brought so many others. Your son. I can tell just by looking at him and you bring someone else not yet born.

"Uh, dad?" Kon asked.

"Yes?"

"The nice disembodied voice of migraines is a girl."

"Kon-El, Mo-Ru-Cek," he said, feeling it unfair to leave them both out. "Forgive me. I didn't realize what the final stone would do. This is your grandmother, Lara."

The pleasure is all mine. she replied. The way she talked, the power behind it. It no longer felt threatening. It felt safe, like a warm summer ocean he needed to dive into. You've been very busy, Kal-El, but I can understand why you have not visited us. We were not stable before. The Jor-El half of the AI means well-

"You could have fooled me, mother."

But it has to be tempered.

"I know," he replied. "Lara, there's another one of us. A few more actually. Kara Zor-El, my cousin and her daughter. There's one whose father is no longer with us and his name is Jax-Ur. He's sick. Gold Kryptonite was used on him and it stripped his powers. Is there anyway you can save him?"

Lara did not respond for a long time. When she did, her "voice" was soft, mournful. It is not within our power. We can care for you when it comes time for Mo-Ru-Cek to be born. We cannot restore what was stripped from him. It is best if you went home to be with him. If he's been exposed as you say, he will not have much time left.

Clark didn't have time to respond before he was falshed back to the caves.

"Whoa. How'd we get to Granville?" Kon asked, blinking in confusion.

Clark adjusted his gloves and took out the key. "This was always here. It's why we stay so close to the Kawatchee. They guard one of the last portals of the Numan. Family, like I said." He took a step back and almost stumbled. Cassie was there, leaning up against him, her shoulder under his arm.

"Mr. Kent, you look tired."

"It's what happens when I go to the Fortress and can actually feel some cold." He reached to his earpiece, which he'd conveniently shut off earlier. "Chloe. Yes, I'm an idiot. No, I'm alright. Can you send the Javelin? Our son and Cassie are coming home."

When Clark stepped off the jet, which, to his immense relief had been piloted by a surprisingly quiet Wally, he almost turned around and jumped back on. Chloe was there in the main bay, wearing her civvies, and glaring at him like she was considering strangling him. Him being the father of her child ancillary to her anger.

"Clark what the Hell were you thinking?" she rushed up and slugged him on the shoulder, probably a move she'd learned from Lois, and he rolled with the movement. He didn't have his invulnerability at the moment, but Chloe punching right him to him wouldn't feel great under normal circumstances.

"I wanted to save our family."

"Did it help? Jor-El didn't freeze, brainwash, or brand you?"

"What is with you guys?" Cassie quipped. "You have a top secret Fortress and its main function for two decades was to abuse you ? That's really fucked up."

Despite the situation, Chloe laughed and hugged the taller girl. "I didn't even know you were down there."

"I wasn't, not when you came down for Jax. We were enjoying the fun of an Arctic field trip," Cassie huffed. "Is there a phone on your top secret satellite. I need to call dad and tell him I'm alright. It'd help if someone could vouch? Maybe Mrs. Olsen? Or is Senator Kent here?"

Clark nodded. "Mom and Kara are in the commissary. Kara can take you home if you need, Cassie."

"I think I can stay an hour or two while you all settle things. Dad and Mindy must be freaking out though!"

"I'll take her," J'onn said, again slipping into his more conventional appearance. "Miss Carpenter, if you would?" he asked, holding out a crooked elbow.

Cassie laughed. "See, Kon, and this is how you treat a lady."

"Cassie?" Clark asked, nodding to wear Lex and his henchmen were being taken by Dinah and Diana to the Watchtower's version of the brig.

"Yes?"

"Nice work. If you're free in about seven years..."

She grinned brightly. "That? That would be badass."

With that, she and J'onn marched out of the bay, leaving him, Chloe, and Kon alone (well unles you counted Mo).

"So Jor-El played nice?" Chloe pushed and, even though her tone was harsh, her hand still sought out his, still held his close.

"Jor-El wasn't available. I was talking to Lara."

She blinked. "Not possible."

"Chloe, I found the fourth stone. I've had it since we left Iceland," Kon admitted, not daring to meet her eyes. "Dad got to the Fortress at the same time Lex and I were there. Cassie and J'onn took care of the henchmen types."

"Kon helped."

"Yeah, maybe, but then dad and I put the last stone in the console. Apparently the sane side of the Fortress acts like Grandma Lara."

"You saw Lara?"

"I talked to her," Clark corrected. "It's like any other time you yell at the Fortress. It's just that this time I got her voice in my head and not Jor-El's and, you know, she was very nice. She offered to take care of Mo's prenatal needs and that when the time came, Mo could be born there."

"We, uh, we asked about Jax," Kon said, his shoulder hunched so low.

"And?" Chloe asked, hope rising into her voice.

"There's nothing it can do to change what the Kryptonite did, Chloe. Kon told her when the infection started and she gives him 72 hours. I'm sorry."

Chloe didn't break out crying. She wouldn't do that when Alura and Mary were near to understand how desperate the situation was. She did, however, draw both him and Kon into a hug that felt as crushing as any he'd ever had.

"Come with me to see him then. He's not really awake, but he'd want you to be there."

So, he did.


	52. Chapter 52

52

Chloe leaned into her husband's embrace. Her husband was home. Her son was back. Her family was whole and healthy, but that just was the immediate part.

"Chlo, shh."

"I can't...Mary's a wreck. She's got the kind of stare that my mom had back at Fairview. I can't lose it."

"You won't," he replied, holding her close to him. "The Fortress said it couldn't help. I believe it. Lara wouldn't lie to me. I know she wouldn't, but that's not the only option we have."

"You mean me?"

Clark nodded. "I don't want to use you like that, especially after you just woke up, but yes."

Chloe hugged him tighter. "I can't."

"Well, I know it could be a close shave, but you're very powerful, Chlo."

She looked up at him and rubbed the corners of her eyes. "I can't, Clark. I've been trying for the better part of a day. I can't make him better. Even I don't have that kind of power."

"Then we'll find something else, go over Dax-Ur's notes again. Jax is half-human. There has to be something we can do to save him."

Kon was watching them both silently. Chloe didn't know how to read her son anymore. Just two days ago he'd told her to fuck off in no uncertain terms. Now he was watching the conversation between her and Clark with tired resignation. He hadn't called her 'mom,' when he'd gotten off the Javelin but, on the other hand, he'd helped subdue Lex and his lackeys.

Was he one of them again?

Or was he waiting to go home to Lana.

" A stor , you don't have to come in. It might be difficult to see Jax like this."

"I saw Lex touch him with the Kryptonite. I saw it suck the life out of him, Chloe," Kon shook his head and shivered a little. "I couldn't save him."

Clark nodded. "Lex would make sure of it, make sure you got a front row seat to understand exactly what he could do and the kind of power he had over you. It's his standard way of operating in the world, buddy."

"I am so sorry," Kon said and she could hear the franticness in his voice. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't stop it and there was Kryptonite-the green kind-in the room and they made him sick so he couldn't fight it when they put the gold on his neck. I should have been better."

" A stor , it's going to be alright," Chloe lied. "It's going to be fine."

"No it's not."

"We'll figure something out. We can talk to your Aunt Zatanna. We might be able to do something with magic or maybe the Kawatchee have something. If we'd quit long ago, you and your father wouldn't be here now."

"Maybe Jax would be better off," he huffed, as they entered into Jax's room.

"Maybe he would," Mary replied, looking up at them all. "You have a lot of nerve coming here, Connor."

"I didn't do this."

"How much wonderful information did you tell Lex and Lana while you lived with them. Did you tell them what the gold would do?"

"I didn't even know gold existed."

Mary looked down at her son's ashen gray skin and kept her focus there. "Maybe you did and maybe you didn't, but you don't get to side with those monsters and then come here and pretend you care about my son. Get out."

"I wanted to see him."

"I don't have a lot of time left with my child, and I don't want you near me. It should have been you, Connor. If they wanted to play with a Kryptonian's DNA, it should have been yours. Your her child, Lana Luthor's playtoy. You should have been the one to suffer like this."

"I-"

"Go away."

"Mary, stop talking. You're better when you don't talk," Chloe said sternly. "Kon, Clark, maybe it's best if you go see Alura and Kara. They've missed both of you."

"Chloe-"

" Connor Sullivan , I said now," she said, waiting with baited breath to see if he'd follow her orders.

He looked between her and Mary and then lingered a while on Jax. "I...if he wakes up, tell him I'm sorry."

He had blurred out before Chloe could blink.

"No, Kon, you don't get to say 'I'm sorry!'" It's only a fucking miracle I'm not dead. I don't care how many bullets you can catch."

Chloe ducked back into her quarters as Kon followed Cassie down the hall.

"I save your life. I said I was sorry. Your family knows you're safe, Cass. Come on, you can't ignore me forever."

"It's a big fucking satellite, Kon, and I think I can. The ego on you is unbelievable. Is that how your mother acts? Is that much entitlement fucking genetic?"

"I don't really want to talk about my mom. I want to talk about us!"

Cassie spun and crowded over him, all 5'9 of her, "There isn't an 'us.' We were best friends, Kon, and then you pissed all over it and now we're not anything. You put my life in danger. You put my family's life in danger when you gave me that relic-not because of what the Fortress can do but because of what Lex would do to get it-and it was all just another game. It was another part of the 'what Kon wants' contest. Well, fuck it. Cassie wants to be left alone."

"Cass!" he called and from the way his weight was just barely over the balls of his feet, Chloe could tell he was preparing to slip into superspeed.

"Don't follow me," she replied, turning away and starting back down the hall. "I've said everything I have to say."

Kon cursed and punched the wall beside him. Then he howled when the metal didn't give. "Fuck me."

Chloe shook her head and came out from her place. "It's an alloy from the An'derex Galaxy. John Stewart's contacts recommended it. It's stronger than any Kryptonian or Martian." She sighed and reached out over his hand. "It's sprained."

"You don't have X-ray vision."

She shrugged. "Sixth sense. I can feel what I'm healing. It's not a break, Connor Sullivan. Do you want me to fix you or would you rather go to the infirmary and I can give you an Ace bandage?"

Kon considered that. "You've had a lot on you lately. I know about dad and what I did. You can just wrap me up. It'll probably be healed by tomorrow anyway."

She held his hand longer than she had to. "Are you sure I couldn't help?"

"Chloe, it's okay. I put everyone to enough trouble as it is. You're not a bandaid service."

"I suppose not," she replied, leading him down the halls and into the sick bay. It was as gleaming and sterile as the rest of Watchtower. Her son hopped up on the hospital bedd and held out his left arm.

"I didn't know you knew first aid."

"It's a survival skill from Smallville. Long before I was invulnerable myself, I had to know how to clean a wound and give myself some bandages. It's a skill I keep up. You never know when someone will need a field dressing," she said, grabbing the bright green bandage and shrugging. "It's ugly but self adhesive. It'll avoid the butterfly clips."

"Least of my problems," he said, swaying his legs a little and looking down at his laps. "Thank you for doing this, Chloe."

"Kon, can you do me a favor?"

"I don't know," he replied, his tone quiet and reserved.

"You don't have to...I guess Lana's still your mom even if Luthor Land turned out to be everything we told you it would be."

Kon looked up at her and his eyes were red and swollen. "I can't just go back to things the way they were. Cassie's right about that. I fucked up. I fucked up for six months. I got Jax killed."

"Jax isn't dead yet," she reminded, wrarpping the bandage between his forefinger and thumb. "And Lex and Lana used you, played into your own insecurities to get what they wanted."

"What would you know about it?"

Chloe sighed and continued her ministrations. "Because once, before he was the Oracle and on our side, Lionel Luthor was worse than Lex. When I was a sophomore in high school, your father and I weren't speaking to each other. I was angry and hurt that he chose your mother over me."

Kon nodded. "I see."

"So Lionel asked me to spy for him, to find out your father's secret, and I said yes."

Kon's head shot up in superspeed. "You wouldn't do that to dad."

"I didn't. I backed out of the deal, but when people like Lionel Luthor have you, they don't want to let go. It took a long time to get out of his clutches and even longer to prove to your father that he could trust me with his secret. It took years, Connor, to rebuild trust that broken."

"So Cass and me?"

"That's really up to Cassie. But I was telling you this story because I know better than you think how much Luthor money and privilege blinds, how much fun it is to have them buy you."

"Chloe?"

"Lionel bought me my first column at The Daily Planet . I was weak and he gave me what I wanted and Grampy Gabe almost got blown up because of it."

"Whoa."

"Yes, so I know what it's like to make the wrong choice, a stor , and what it means to have someone give you a chance again. Cassie's hurt feelings are her own, but I forgive you."

"I was an asshole."

"You're my son, the asshole," she replied, grinning and finishing off his wrap. "You're lucky I'm very open minded. Many people don't deal as well as I do with assholes."

Kon laughed. "Chloe!"

"Look, let's just have a deal. I know you're old for kiddie names. I'll stick with 'Kon' and you can call me 'mom,' if you want to. You don't have to earn it, like a right. I'm giving it to you freely because I know you made a mistake and cause I know someone a hell of a lot smarter than any of us was playing you, alright?"

He nodded and sniffed a little. "Alright but I fucked up."

"Yup and you're grounded til you are thirty, Connor Sullivan."

"Now that sounds like a mom."

"I think so," she chirped, smiling as he climbed off the bed.

He paused and looked down-and when had he grown?-at her. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for offering to heal me. I know it hurts, like back with Eeyore, and it's amazing that you still offered."

"It's what I do."

"It's what Mo will do," he added offhandedly and then his eyes went wide.

" A stor? "

"Mom, I need you to call everyone. I...is there a good conference room?"

"What is it?"

"I think I know how to save Jax."


	53. Chapter 53

53

Kon looked around the table. The League was not assembled there. His Uncle Bruce in full regalia was sitting in on the proceedings, but it was mainly him, his father, his mom (and how she'd let him call her that again, he didn't know), Aunt Kara and Mrs Donovan.

"Repeat that part again," Bruce asked. God his uncle never quit with the gravelly-voiced bullshit.

"I think we can save Jax, and I'm not talking about going to Zatanna and hoping she has some last chance magic solution."

"I don't necessarily endorse that," his uncle said. "There are always consequences with magic."

"Well I don't think that he'd be a zombie or there'd be a price tag on his soul, I'm just afraid magic wouldn't work. Aunt Zatanna has a bad track record." Kon offered, thinking of a bad birthday party gift. She'd been the entertainment and it had gone well, but Gerald had spent an hour as a rabbit. No permanent harm done, but he still didn't trust his aunt with a spell.

"What do you think can help now, Connor?" Mrs. Donovan asked, her tone bitter.

"I...mom can't heal him because she's not Kryptonian."

Kara narrowed her eyes at him. "We don't heal, Kon-El."

"No, but I don't think I'm explaining this right. Cassie and I were having a fight."

"That's not exactly germane," Mary snapped.

"No, I mean that we had a fight and the room got so cold that I could see my breath. That's Cass. When she's that upset her powers flare up and she sucks the warmth right out of a whole room. Hell, she sucked some of the warmth, whatever there was, out of the Fortress."

His mom frowned at him. A stor , you have to work harder to paint the picture."

"Cassie is second generation, right? Her dad's power isn't as strong. He can make ice, sure, but he can't suck the heat of a room. He can't sometimes drain it from people on accident. Cass's powers got stronger because she was born with her powers. It's like Maddie. Everyone knows she's stronger than her dad. She just uses her powers for art and good instead of to rob people."

"So you're saying?" Aunt Kara asked.

"I think Mo could do it. Mom's incredibly powerful but she doesn't have the strength to repair something at the cellular level. Mo's already feeding off of dad. She's Kryptonian, she's second gen, and she healed herself and dad. He doesn't even need a tube anymore."

"Yeah, but Mo's not born yet," his father countered. "Whatever she did to help me not need the tube, it's some reaction she had. It's not like I can do it."

Kon shrugged. "I don't know. If it's emotionally harnessed, maybe you could make it work. You didn't have a way to make the TK work when you were having me, but if you got mad, boom stuff just exploded."

"So I have to get upset?" Clark prodded.

"I don't know. I doubt being mad makes anyone heal. You should talk to mom about it. There has to be something she thinks or feels to make it work as accurately as it does now."

"I don't want to substitute in a chance for what Zatanna might be able to do," his aunt pressed.

"Well working on two fronts doesn't hurt. I think that if something Krypton-based did this then it makes a perverse amount of sense that Mo, who's Kryptonian by half, could maybe fix it."

" Maybe is such a reassurance," Mrs. Donovan said.

"I don't have a lot of ideas. We've tried Mom tons. We've tried the Fortress. We're looking into magic. We're running out of time. Jax will be dead in three days if we don't do something. I'm not saying we give up other avenues, but I think dad and Mo can do this."

"And if it lands your father in a coma?" Bruce asked.

"It won't."

"How do you know?" his mom asked.

"Because we all know how strong Mo is already. She's all of mom's strengths and all of dad's and none of the weaknesses. No one ever wanted to admit that before, but I've always seen it."

"Kon-El," his aunt started.

"No, I mean it. This is what she could probably do."

"Probably," Mrs. Donovan repeated.

"I think we're running out of other options. Dad, maybe if you and mom just work on it, like any other ability?"

"We'll try it. Batman, talk to Zatanna and see what she knows about illnesses and mystical cures," his dad replied.

"Um, that wasn't my full plan."

"You have a lot of thoughts for someone who has been gone so long," Uncle Bruce said.

"I had time to think or maybe just try and get thoughts together when we got here yesterday. We can't hold Lex forever. It's not our place."

"No, we're going to turn him, Lana, and the evidence Fawkes had and that Dinah and Kara got from ISIS yesterday over to the FBI. They can face trial for crimes against humanity," his uncle confirmed.

"But it doesn't stop them from pulling the real trigger. Lex won't let us run around free and have a Rockwell life while he's behind bars. He's got enough government contracts and informants that he could have us sent somewhere to wait until he got out. We're practically immortal and he's meta. They've got the time."

His aunt shivered. "That's not funny, Kon."

"It's not supposed to be. We have the hard copy stuff from ISIS, but who knows what drives and computers he has with back up files?"

"Well you can't just send a virus into every computer on Earth," his mom snarked.

"Actually, yes you can. Brainiac did it. He sent a virus that time for Dark Thursday. A Kryptonian computer could do it with the right programming."

"But we don't have the programming," his dad countered. "I barely know how to make the Fortress work, even with the right stones in place."

Kon nodded and offered a small smile. "Save the programmer, save the world."

"Kon, you really don't have to do this," his dad said.

"Mom's busy teaching you how to get in touch with Mo's powers. Uncle Bruce is tracking down Aunt Zatanna, and Aunt Kara is trying to keep Alura happy and calm. The rest of the League is freaking out and staring down Lex..."

"They are not 'staring down,'" his dad replied.

"Aunt Dinah won't leave the containment area. Neither will Uncle Bart or Uncle A.C. or Uncle Victor or-"

"Lex has made a lot of enemies in the League. With all of them plus Diana watching him, he's not going anywhere or getting any worried messages out."

"But mom...Lana...bio-mom, grr, whatever will know something's wrong since we never came back from the Arctic. She's free to send all her ISIS files off to the proverbial Uncle Sam and we can't let her do that. We need a virus to wipe any mention of who we really are out and the only person who could possibly make what we want is unconscious."

"If any of this works at all," his dad replied, tiredly.

"If you have better ideas, I'd love to hear them."

"It doesn't have to be you. We'll send Diana and J'onn; it's the muscle job they're great for."

"And Uncle J'onn is already are coming. I just...I need to do this."

"Going to see her, talking with her before J'onn takes her into custody, it wouldn't change anything. It doesn't prove anything."

"There are things I need to say and to hear out loud. I need things from her, does that make sense?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"When dealing with Lana? Yes, that does make a lot of sense."

In the end, he went just with his Uncle J'onn, although his uncle had decided to go in his best Chloe-wear. It was very disconcerting working with his uncle, hearing his uncle's thoughts in his head, and looking over to see his mother instead. Kon needed the bodyguard but he just didn't want Lana to know he had one. Luring her into a sense of complacency was best for all of them. Besides, he doubted she'd try just setting "Chloe" on fire.

He was pretty sure she wouldn't.

Like 90%.

Kon-El, I suggest we do this quickly.

Kon rolled his eyes but didn't answer out loud as he came to the gate. The wall of Kryptonite around the place was no longer there and he wondered if his Aunt Diana and Maddie had something to do with the sudden clean out. It was smart thinking on their behalf.

Just please don't do that reading thing you do. I don't like people getting into my head.

To his side, J'onn arched his left eyebrow in a way that was eerily like his mom. Kon wondered if J'onn practiced all their mannerisms in case he was needed for undercover. "I don't read teen-agers' minds. There's rarely anything interesting there," he deadpanned.

Keep it that way. he replied, reaching for the call button. "Mom, it's Connor."

There was static and crackling and, finally, a reply. "You brought her with you."

In a manner of speaking , Kon thought to his guardian. Aloud, he said, "I'm never exactly allowed to go around on my own. If you remember last time you saw me, Uncle Lex was dragging me off to the freaking Arctic."

"I notice he's not with you now."

"I can hop the fence. I'm just being polite," he countered. "May I come in or not?"

"Where's Lex?"

"I can tell you that. Please open the gate," he asked, taking in measured breaths as he waited for the gate to open. As with Lana's replies on the intercom, it was slow and hesitant in coming but eventually the massive iron gates swung forward and he walked to the door, his uncle trailing behind him. Idly, Kon wondered what it was like to change even sizes as frequently as his uncle could. Kon was not tall but he was now taller than his mom. For every step he took, J'onn would trot a step and a half. It surprised him that it was Lana who opened the door. Perhaps the servants had off for the day or perhaps she wanted to send "Chloe" a message about whose territory they were on. Kon didn't know.

Lana regarded them both coolly, keeping her gaze planted on his Uncle J'onn. "Where's Lex?"

"It's funny how when I ask that question about Jax, I don't always get an answer," his uncle replied.

Kon blinked. His uncle was good. Maybe he should go into acting.

"Where is Lex, Connor?"

"The Watchtower, now do you want to talk here or inside to get the details?"

"Why aren't you in the Watchtower? Did you defect back?"

He blushed and looked away. He'd been fickle and he knew that. It was only obvious and right that his bio-mom would call him on that. Hell, he'd probably gotten some of that from her, joy of joys. "I'm here to explain terms. I can do that here or in Lex's office. It's all what you prefer."

"Or at the Tower in cuffs? I didn't expect you to be this much like Clark."

Kon looked back at her but ignored the bait. "I didn't expect a lot of things," he replied brushing past her. Instead of going into the office, Kon instead slumped to a seat on the stairs. He was high enough on them to be eye level with Lana, but he still decided to sit. He was not big on looming over people.

"Comfortable?"

"Mainly," he said, as he watched his uncle shut the door behind them. "Will you call security?"

"It'd be pointless. Wonder Woman took every bit of Kryptonite I had at the mansion, and we both know that unarmed, normal people don't have a chance against you."  
>Kon swallowed but kept working to ignore the bait. He knew what she was doing. It was what he'd enjoyed doing with Jax a dozen different times before the other man kicked him out of Boston. He knew the transparent jabs when he heard them.<p>

"I understand that. The League has Lex. They broke into ISIS, but you knew that."

"And LuthorCorp and the penthouse in Metropolis. They were busy breaking and entering yesterday. Like old times, wasn't it, Chloe?"

His uncle shrugged. "If you keep taking things, Lana…"

"It's not stealing if it's yours ," she corrected, and Kon shivered at that.

"I'm me," he replied. "I don't belong to you or to Chloe, not like a pet."

"I didn't say it like that exactly," Lana snapped. "Chloe meddles."

J'onn stared at Lana but said nothing. He was less volatile in some ways than Chloe. It made him being there preferable to the real item. The very sight of his "mother" was enough to set Lana off, make her tongue unguarded.

"She's here because this is the end of the line," he continued. "The League has reams of proof about what you did back before I was even born and, now, the fifteen years after. It has so much on you and Lex that you'll be serving back to back to back life sentences. Illegal cloning, abduction, civil rights violation, murder-"

"Sometimes people die on the table."

" Murder ," he continued, spitting out the word.

"Quick to turn, aren't you?"

"I didn't get it."

She smiled like he'd seen Uncle Lionel do on occasion. "Of course you didn't."

"I didn't!" The remains of the brass casting for the chandelier shook above him. Maddie had already gotten to it first.

"Connor Sullivan," Uncle J'onn started.

"I know. I am calm. I just…you know what you and Lex did."

"You didn't want to see it, did you? Or maybe," Lana said, climbing just one step. "You knew and wanted to turn your head. Maybe it's what you think, deep down. Some of those meteor freaks are dangerous. You've always said as much."

Kon looked away, ignoring the gleam in her eyes. "No one deserved to get sliced up."

"Conveniently now after you were taken up by Clark and Chloe."

"Lex hurt Jax. We don't even know if he's going to live. He threatened Cassie and her family."

"So it matters when it's your family. How decent and outstanding of you," she drawled.

"I didn't say that."

"You only seemed to care when someone you knew was affected. You didn't want to dig deeper when it was just 'them.'"

Kon took deep breath but didn't change his gaze. "I know."

Kon-El don't let her bait you.

He eyed his uncle. "I know I have a lot to account for but the rest of it ends here with you. I'm willing to give you something."

"What?" his bio-mom asked, her posture rigid. "What could you possibly offer me?"

"Mercy."

Kon-El…

He shook his head a little, just enough for J'onn's keen eyes to notice the movement. "I know that if we leave without you, without taking you to the Tower that you'll go straight to the government about us out of spite. That you'll ruin dad and Aunt Kara's lives, probably mine."

"I could protect you. I have the resources."

He shrugged. "You wouldn't want to."

"I could. You can come home and let the rest to whatever happens."

"Like having Alura in a cage? Or like what Lex did to strip Jax of his powers? Mo's not even born yet."

"And you know better than anyone that that kind of power has to be contained."

"You can teach someone to contain their own powers. Mo shouldn't grow up under lock and key."

Lana smiled slowly. "You're here because you know what I'll do. What Lex and I built is in danger, everything we made."

"Yes the secret evil labs. How could anyone live without those?" his uncle deadpanned.

Lana ignored him and inched closer up the stairs until she had height over him. "You choose a side now, Connor. Either you stay with her and get rounded up with the rest of them or you come home to be with me. We can get Lex out."

"I can, you mean."

"Of course. They'll hand him over to a conventional prison that anyone with your strength could break through."

"That's not the deal I want to offer."

Kon-El. I think that-

I have this, he replied, not looking at his uncle. To Lana he added. "We have the cards here. You don't. I'm offering you a very simple chance."

"What kind?"

"You leave my family alone, agree not to whisper a word to anyone about who we are, keep Lex from doing the same, and you get a head start to any non extraditing country you prefer. I'll take you myself."

"Connor!" Uncle J'onn shouted. "That's not part of any deal."

"It's mine to offer," he replied, his eyes going red for a moment. "If you can show mercy, I'll make sure you have some."

"They'd be after me. Everyone knows what the Batman did to Lao, dragged him out of Hong Kong."

Kon nodded. "I can take you some place today in an instant. You know that. If you're smart enough to keep a low profile and drain from whatever Cayman's money you probably have, then that's your business. I can't stop the Leauge, I can just make it more difficult." His uncle started to him and Kon thought hard to keep him planted in place.

Not funny, Kon-El.

Wait for it. I need this, J'onn.

"No strings. If I want to be in China in five minutes, you'd do that?"

"Filial loyalty," he replied. "But the cost is still there. You and Lex never touch my family, never go near them or Jax or Cassie again, and you can do whatever you want as long as it's not on this continent. You wouldn't want to come back anyway."

"I'd have to agree not to make Clark or Chloe suffer?" she asked, eying J'onn, who still was trying but failing to step forward.

"You touch them, and the deal would be off and I'd drag you to Commissioner Sawyer myself."

"No."

Kon let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to keep up the bargain had she taken it, but he didn't think she would have. He just wanted to know if there was any part of her that could be reached, that could even be bothered to care. He wanted to know if she were capable of mercy.

If he could be capable of it.

"What?"

Kon let his uncle go and he stumbled forward, almost landing on one knee. "Connor."

"No, mom?" he said, gritting his teeth on the word as he spoke to Lana. "You won't take it?"

Lana walked down the stairs and came to stand nose to nose with his uncle. There was barely a foot between them. "I want her to suffer. She took what was mine . There's no deal good enough for that."

He stood up and nodded at his uncle. "Now is fine."

"Now for what?" Lana asked.

His uncle said nothing as he melted then grew to his full seven feet. Lana was screaming by the time he was done. Clamping one hand firmly on her wrist, his uncle started dragging her to the door.

"The Watchtower's waiting, mother ."

"Is it true?"

Kon looked up from the picture he'd been coloring. Alura had crawled to sleep with Aunt Kara in one of the guest rooms of the Watchtower. He was still busy giving Ariel the right shading of red hair. It wasn't manly but it was distracting. Shading in and of itself was a lost art, but not something he could ever get right with just crayons. He needed some pastels or greatly cared for colored pencils to really give things depth.

Cassie was standing there, the circles under her eyes still dark, her hair tangled.

"Have you even slept?"

"I went home to see dad and Mindy and everyone this afternoon but had your aunt bring me back for a while before bed. We're not all nine year olds and it's still just ten."

"They're cool with that?"

"Your aunt vouched that Kent farm was okay territory."

Kon looked around the gleaming metal of the Tower. "It's not very farm like."

"But what's safer than the League's headquarters? No one can get you here."

"That's somehow not going to make living here any easier if someone gets word out to the government about us before Jax can counteract it."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "You have a lot of faith all of a sudden in a tadpole you used to hate."

He winced and closed the book. "I earned that, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you really did."

"I don't hate her."

"Shocker," Cass said leaning against the wall.

"I…I'm scared of her. That's why I think this will work. It's not faith or love or any of that. I can do the math. I know how powerful she's going to be. Hell, since her powers really came online, dad's not really even been sick. Yeah, his powers are wonky but that's part of the deal. She's kept him in better shape in the last two months than he's been since he got pregnant."

"And she's not even born yet."

"No, I guess she's not, but I can just feel it, Cass."

"Does part of feeling things include offering that bitch an out?"

Kon grew pale. "Did J'onn?"

"He told me. He didn't tell your parents or Kara, just me."

"Is he going to?"

"Kara half wants your head anyway and your dad's trying to harness whatever inner chi he has to save Jax's life tomorrow. J'onn didn't find it a good idea."

"But you?"

"He said he had experience with women talking sense into the House of El. You? You're a jack-ass."

"It's not what you think," he said, leaning back in his chair and squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"You were going to offer that bitch immunity. She came after all of us. She and Lex combined have enough to ruin all our lives cause you dragged me into this bullshit with them too, and you'd not just let her walk but help her pack?"

"She was never gonna take the deal."

"You offered it. That's what matters."

"I…I had to know what she'd do."

"If given a free pass to France, a lot of people would take it."

"I had to know if she would. If she'd let it go. I don't want to make Jax create a program if he can be woken up."

"If again."

"It's a lot to ask. I thought I could reason with her. I just…I had to know, Cass."

"What? That she's a heartless bitch?"

Kon looked down at his hands and sighed. "Yes."

Cass stilled, some of the fight taken out of her. "What?"

"I knew, deep down, that she wasn't going to take the deal. Owning things matters more to her than anyone. It's not that there's a person attached to the ownership. It's like she's permanently five years old. She might not want the toy when it's no longer shiny, but god help her if someone else has it."

"You mean her and Mrs. Kent?"

"Over me. Mom and Lana over me. I know that's not how mom thinks about it but Lana does. It didn't matter when I asked her for mercy that she was putting a fucking fetus and a nine year old in the line of fire. As long as she could make Chloe suffer, she was gonna go for it. I was a side thought."

"Or not one at all."

"No, I was a thought. I think as a means to an end. It's funny, she gave me this," he said, pulling the watch out from his pocket.

"A rolex?"  
>He nodded at it. "Can you see it?"<p>

"What?"

"Look closer," he replied, holding his hand up to the watch. It glowed a bright turquoise.

"Wow, that's different."

"It's blue Kryptonite. She gave it to me for Christmas."

Cassie nodded and walked over to the table, pulling out a chair for herself. "Nothing says I love you like a radioactive rock."

"Maybe. I thought of wearing it," he said, tapping his fingers against the face.

"It's not on."

"I don't…I like a lot of my powers."

"News to me."

Kon sighed and looked down at his hands. He'd started really hating his powers when the hearing came, when his head felt like it was splitting in two and he'd never be able to control it. Then there'd come other things. It wasn't so much the 'alien' thing, although that was huge. It was knowing that he could hurt someone so badly. His… he'd manage to do damage to shower tiles just doing that . If he could…if just showers led to bad things that shattered tile, he'd never fit with anyone, even a meta.

"It's hard. It goes both ways. I can do so much and I don't know how to live without the speed and stuff. It'd be like being handicapped."

"But?"

"I can hurt people."

Cassie sighed and touched the face of the watch. As she closed her eyes, he watched as the metal turned cool under his touch and then began to crystallize and crack as it grew cold. Reaching back, Cassie smashed the whole thing, what had once been gold and glass, under her hand. It was as if it had been dipped in liquid nitrogen.

"I can too. When I get excited…you don't notice it as much as everyone else does. I have to be so careful around Jason or Mindy. I have to think hard and not get upset. I let things get lax with you cause I can, cause you can't freeze or at least I'm not strong enough to drain even you."

"I-"

"You're not the only person who was ever scared of what they could do," she replied, one hand cradling a chunk of ice. "Your dad, me, a lot of the League, I'd bet. A lot of us have dangerous powers."

"It's not the same."

"Nothing makes you more special than I am," she gruffed.

"Not in an elitist way. I can't explain this right."

"At least you're trying for once."

Kon sighed and reached out for the back of her chair. Cass's back went rigid and he hated that he was still mad enough at him that she didn't want to be touched. He'd done that to himself. "I wasn't going to…here," he finished, crushing the metal behind her neck, leaving his finger prints in the metal.

She frowned and twisted to look behind her. "Kon?"

"I can hurt you. I know it. I get it. Dad and my bio-mom and Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy and Mo's here now. I know my dad and my aunt can do it. I just," he sputtered, blushing deeply.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, Cass, it's too late."

A gentle yet cold hand was on his cheek. "It's not nothing. You were thinking like that about me?"

"I…not in a bad way. I mean, okay, fifteen, but not in a creepy way, more like in a we could go to the movies and end up back on my parents' couch way or whatever."

"You mean as in a 'date.'"

"It's stupid though."

"Well now that's not going to happen any time soon, no. You just ignored everything. I put trust in you, when I told you what I could do and you broke that to Lex Luthor of all people. I can't…I have to learn to trust you again. You have to show you can be the guy I thought you were." She dropped her hand and scooted back.

He frowned with the lack of contact. He had a feeling that would be the last of it for him for a long time. "But you don't get what I did with Lana?"

"You were gonna let her walk."

"I was gonna see if she could be reasoned with and she can't."

"Duh, could have told you that. She's crazy."

"She's my mother."

"I thought you and Mrs. Kent were on better terms."

"We are. Dad apparently wore her down into the second chance giving category when he was young and bone headed, but Lana Luthor's still my mother. I mean, biologically-"

"Which means a lot of shit."

"She's my mom. If she's a crazy, vindictive psycho…"

Cass took his hand and squeezed it. "You're an asshole a lot of the time, Kon. You're not crazy."

"But I'm a lot like her. I just…she wanted dad and everyone else to hurt but she used to love him, right? I mean, I'm here. They were clearly fucking a lot."

"I think they thought they loved each other, if it makes you feel better. I think your dad loved her and that Lana thought she could love, at least tricked herself into it."

"I don't think that's better. Like I said, that makes Lana sound like a sociopath because she can't love anyone else. I don't want to be like her."

"Then don't be."

"What?"

Cassie quirked her chin up at him. "Don't be like her."

"It's not that easy. The things I think-"

"They suck but it doesn't make you her unless you act on them. So just don't be a jerk anymore."

"That's not very prosaic."

She shrugged. "It's honest. Stop being even a little like her. Everyone thinks bad things. Everyone has moments where they want to be the bad guy, or think it would be easier. You just don't act on them."

"I don't want to think that way."

"Then more meditation with Maddie, I dunno. They're your hang-ups, but if you don't want to be your mother, then maybe you just made a start."

"How? By offering her a trip to China?"

"Warped her not, you did give her one last chance to show she could change. I think that's something your dad would do. I know it's something I can't do, not with her or Lex."

"Or I could just…my bio-mom basically needs a black mustache to twirl, Cass."

"Then you're very lucky Mr. and Mrs. Kent rock."


	54. Chapter 54

54

"I feel stupid."

Chloe smiled calmly back at him. "You shouldn't."

He looked down at his hands, which were glowing a bright rose. "I can do the light show but so far, all I could do was a paper cut on Lois."

"Well," she replied, holding out her hand to show the slice across her palm. "I got more ambitious than I thought."

"I can't heal a gash in your hand and everyone's expecting me to undo a coma and deadly pneumonia."

"Bruce talked to Zatanna. There's only one way to bring someone back from the brink and it's an even exchange. Magic's like physics deep down. You have to exchange one force for another. If someone lives, someone else has to die. We don't do that and Jax wouldn't want that."

"No pressure."

"Sorry," she said, contritely, holding out her hand again for him. "I'm coagulating a bit, but you can do this."

Clark sighed and the colors around him rippled gold then almost russet. "I've been trying for thirty minutes. Maybe I got lucky with Lois. It's not like it was a very big cut."

"She wasn't going to volunteer to lose a hand."

"I know. I just…what if I can't, Chlo?"

She leaned forward and touched his cheek. "Calm down. You can't think about what's going to happen or what happens if it doesn't work."

"That's all I can think about. If Jax dies-"

"He's not going to," she said firmly. "Here, just breathe in and out."

"Like how Kon and Maddie do it, I know."

"You have to be calm."

"You weren't calm when you were at the dam with Lois or when I gave birth the first time. I know you were panicked and it just kicked in."

"But calming and tapping into the ability is part of it."

"What's the show stopping part?" he asked, wincing at the sight of the blood still pooling on her palm.

"What?"

"How did you save Lois or Kon and me?"

"I love you."

"Thanks, but what I meant was-"

She nodded and stroked his cheek with her good hand a second time. "I love you. I know that's cheesy but that's the last thing I told Lois in the dam. I was cradling her begging her not to leave me and thinking about how she held me the weekend my mom left. She'd come to town with Lucy and the General and she held me while I cried for hours. It's what I was thinking when I was begging her to live. The next thing I know, I was waking up in the morgue."

Clark quirked his head at her. "Really?"

"Well there's an element of trying to stay calm and focused. It's how I learned to tap into it even if it's not someone I love at stake, but the first few times, the most powerful times, it's for someone I'd trade my life for."

He nodded and closed his eyes, thinking fondly of the first real date they'd ever had, not the spring dance but the night out in the farm in Lois's car, watching The Big Sleep projected onto the barn's side, her hand over Kon. It had been one of the best nights of his life, even floating through the roof hadn't diminished it.

He felt it then, something warm welling up from the pit of his stomach, the heat spreading through his hand and over hers. There was a sharp stab to his own palm, as if someone had cut him too. He breathed in sharply and opened his eyes. "Chlo?"

She held up her hand, which he noticed she'd already cleaned off with a towel. "Seems someone has their inner Yoda coming along."

"Faulty metaphor."

"Yes but inner Chloe sounds dirty," he replied, placing a hand (thankfully not glowing any longer), over Mo.

"Maybe the inner E.T.?"

Clark laughed. "Get a geranium next, let's see what I can do."

He was standing on the other side of the door looking in through the window to the ICU. It was six a.m. and in an hour, he'd be trying to save Jax's life. His ears could make out so many things, the hum of the machines on the other side, the strained thumping of Jax's heart, the hiss of breath pushed through congested lungs.

"You really think you can do this?" Mary asked, her voice hushed.

He turned and looked down at her. "You should be sleeping."

"I haven't slept since I realized he was missing, not more than crashing out for a nap."

Clark cupped his stomach. "I can understand that more than you'd think."

"That's not answering my question. Do you think you can save him?"

"I know that there aren't other options. I know I can heal Chloe of some moderate injuries and that takes a lot of energy just because of her own gifts. Would this work with Jax? I dunno. It's this or find someone who'll go darker with spells than Zatanna would and that's not an option."

"Because there are consequences."

"Cosmic balance, life for a life, someone else has to die consequences," he confirmed.

She nodded. "He shouldn't be here. I tried so hard to keep him out of all of this and I failed."

He wanted to squeeze her shoulder to reassure her but it wasn't his place and he figured it would upset her more. Instead, he kept his gaze planted through the window to where Jax lay. "He was always going to be a part of this."

"Because he got dragged into it."

"No, because of what we are. Dax-Ur gave him something dangerous. He can't get rid of the Kryptonian side. The golden Kryptonite was a spectacular example of why that isn't possible. As long as he's alive, he's one of us and he's valuable."

"For men like Lex to play with."

"It's more than Lex. They've come after me before. It's not just scions of mega companies or scientists. Sometimes it is, but it's the government too. Hell, I was younger than Kon when a reporter found me. He strapped green K to my chest and dragged me out of my parents' house and that had nothing to do with the Luthors. It just had to do with me being stupid and using my powers too openly on the farm."

"It's why we kept the necklace on him."

Clark nodded. "Yes. Kara and I agreed to it because we knew you weren't ready for taking care of him. I don't know if the six years extra he wore it would have made a difference or not."

"He's expendable."

"No he's-"

"Kon was wanted because his powers work and I can only imagine the price on Moira's head. Jax could be played with and I did that. I didn't even know how bad it would get for him. He doesn't use his powers around the house. I didn't know he glitched."

He quirked his head at her. "He never told you?"

"We don't talk about the Kryptonian things. It's not appropriate near his little sister and he doesn't want to talk about it."

"I don't think that's true."

"He hasn't brought it up. I didn't know they didn't work like yours do."

Clark sighed and looked back at Jax. "He's a good kid. He tries all the time. Every weekend since his freshman year, he's been out there, patrolling the campuses around Boston."

"Do you make him?"

"No. He started doing it over a month before I noticed it, but we hear things."

"Like you heard him all the way in Santa Fe?"

"Yes. He could hear girls and their dates and sometimes it became dangerous. I don't have to paint a picture for you do I?"

Mary stilled beside him. "He stops stuff like that?"

"Often. He had to learn how to do it, how to be careful breaking something like that up. People are really fragile, but he's saved a lot of people. You should be proud."

She considered that but didn't answer him directly. "Does he work for you?"

"Huh?"

"With the League? Does he have spandex?"

Clark laughed a little at how ridiculous a way that was to phrase things, though in a lot of their cases no less true. "Batman has a protégé named Robin. He runs a group called the Teen Titans. Jax does a lot of tech consulting for this. I have been told there's an outfit involved. I've never seen it."

Mary snorted. "You people. Jax is almost 24. Isn't that old to be a 'teen' anything?"

"He's applied to the League every year since he turned 18. We turn him down every time."

"Batman?"

Clark shook his head and, despite Jax's condition, lowered his voice as to not be overhead. Perhaps it was reflexive. "Me. I know he's not well on his best days. You think I'd let him front line on anything and take the chance he'd be out on patrol, glitch and end up shot or worse. Jax thinks it's Batman, thinks that Br…Batman has always had it out for him."

"I can't imagine Jax and someone that humorless getting along."

"They don't, really, but Batman is practical. He can see where someone with Jax's power can be useful, but Kara and I…he's not ready."

"If he survives," Mary started, her voice catching. "If he…if he's well enough to ever apply again, don't accept it. If he wants to run specs in the Tower-we all know this is the safest place on Earth, basically- I don't have a problem with that. He's not made for the fray like this. A drunk college kid is one thing, even doing reconnaissance at a monitor where the real members can watch him, but he's not made to be like you."

"He would have been, once, would have been just like Alura or Kon."

"Well. Dexter and I had a hand in that. Never take him on full time, Clark. I don't care how much he hates it. When he doesn't have a bridge collapse write on him or get shot, he'll thank you."

"Or us?"

"Us both," she replied, laying a hand on his forearm. "I don't think I'm ever going to like you."

"Uh?"

"But we don't have any other place to go and I don't know anything about his abilities or his heritage. If this works, take better care of him."

"I'm trying to do that."

Clark was alone with Jax. He knew that just beyond the wall everyone was waiting. He hadn't put it past either Kara or Kon to cheat and be looking through the plaster at them both. Blocking everything from his mind, he took Jax's hand and placed it about where his belly button was, all an effort to give Mo easy access.

"God, I hope this works," he muttered and then started concentrating, calling up memories as he had with Chloe:

The park wasn't large, but he could stay out of sight if he sat on the bench farthest away from the large geodesic dome in the center of the field. Clark was watching Kon in the sandbox. His son was almost 18 months, old enough to sit up on his own, and definitely old enough to dig into the sand and occasionally eat it. There were things that didn't look right. A twenty two year old guy with no kids in the park was one of them.

He could see Mary Donovan from where he sat. She was on her cell, her focus half on Jax and on something very animated with whomever was on the other line. He was taking advantage of that as it was, but he hoped that she'd keep better eyes on him in the future. If Lex had had them tailed once, any alliance between them wouldn't necessarily keep him from doing it again.

"Mr. Clark!" a familiar voice called out and he smiled at Jax. It'd been two months since the last time he'd been to New Mexico and Jax was already taller, more freckles on his face too.

"Jax, hey."

His charge sat down in the sandbox next to Kon and started to dig at it half heartedly. "I think he's eating the sand."

Clark glanced over to where Kon had the tell tale grains around his chin. "He does that."

"Is that bad?"

Clark thought it over. "He could probably drink arsenic and come out okay."

"Huh?"

"I don't think some sand is going to hurt him."

"Will your wife yell?"

"She's not here right now."

Jax nodded. "Kara's not here either. I like her. She talks like dad did."

Clark sighed. "I know."

"You're late. You said you'd visit more."

"I know. I get busy," he replied, vaguely, not sure how to explain what he and Kara did at night in Metropolis. No one really even believed that The Ghost existed. It was safer for everyone that way.

Jax ran his hands over the sand, leaving finger trails through the grains. "I wish you'd come more."

"I try. Your mom doesn't like me very much."

Jax looked over at his mom but didn't wave to her. Smart boy. "Kara says that too. She says I can't tell her that she visits because mom hates it. Why is mom so mad?"

"She's not mad at you."

"No, mom loves me."

"She's just frustrated. It's hard." Kon sneezed then and Clark slid off the bench and kneeled down next to him, wiping the snot from his cheeks.

"Is it cause she misses dad too?"

Clark did not think that "miss" was the right word to describe how Mary felt about Dax-Ur. "I think everyone misses him."

"Kara tells me the Krypton stories. Dad used to tell them too. I like them. Sometimes when she tells them I can pretend he's here."

Clark sighed and patted his back. "We all wish he were." God, he'd trade anything for an adult from his world in the middle of this mess. He was way past his point of expertise.

"I think the house is in pretty good shape," Chloe replied, eying the scorch mark in the wood floor of the kitchen. Once there had been a spare chair there. It had been reduced recently to kindling.

Clark sighed. "Taking in teenagers with superpowers is difficult."

"Especially ones who developed all powers at once, yes?"

"I think he's really doing okay with the heat vision. Lois's eyebrows are going to grow back."

"Yeah, having her visit on the first day was not the best idea we ever had," she said, washing off one of the dishes with a gingham printed cloth. "It's been a month. Do you really think he's doing okay?"

"I don't know. He's not really breaking things anymore."

"Except for silverware."

"God bless Wal-mart."

Clark sighed and scratched the side of his nose. "I don't know. I got my powers one at a time. I don't even know how you deal with all but the breath at once. The fact that we still have a house left and he hasn't had Kon-level trouble with his hearing is encouraging."

"But?"

"I dunno. Did he take the whole 'you're an alien' part too well?"

"You mean he didn't give into Hamletesque mopes all over the loft."

"Hamlet is a classic character and I am thoughtful, not mopey."

"Right," Chloe replied, picking up the next dish. "He seems okay, holding out a lot better than I thought he would, but it's still breakfast time. Do you want to actually go get him? Yelling is just rude."

Clark nodded and walked up the back stairs and to their guest room. Like Kon's room, it was a sunny yellow. When they'd redone the house, Oliver had mentioned something about neutral colors and warm tones. To Clark that just meant girl/guy friendly and happy. That seemed to work. He'd always liked yellow. While he was staying the summer, Jax had put up a collection of posters-some of the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of Einstein and another of Carl Sagan, at least three of different constellations, and one of a girl Clark was too old to recognize from teen television. That one had been taken down the first week. Jax had never said, but Clark suspected it was the reason the guest room ceiling had caught on fire at one a.m. and why he'd had to repaint it.

Clark wondered if Jax had always owned the star posters or if his charge just liked the irony.

Easing open the door, Clark took stock of the room's condition. The blankets were tangled and half the sheets were on the floor. Dirty socks and a few pairs of old jeans were draped over chairs and shelves. Jax had been trying to eat up here, at least a few late night snacks. There were the bent spoons and forks with bites taken out of the tines to prove it. The strength was the hardest for Jax to temper. He hadn't hurt anyone but somehow, getting the right grip on utensils wasn't working. Since Jax was fourteen, a diet steady on the pizza and chips from a bag hadn't hampered him much, but if he was going to make it at home or at school, they'd have to work a lot harder on getting his strength controlled.

"Jax?"

The young man was focusing on his laptop, reading and then rereading whatever was on the screen.

Clark let the door shut behind him. With their hearing, Jax should have been expecting him with fresh one-liner. "Jax?"

"Clark? Oh, I didn't hear you."

"Breakfast. Chloe has-"

"Microwaved pancakes, easily eaten by hand. I know."

"We'll get it. It'll just take time. You've already got the heat vision and the speed and hearing. The hearing's really the worst of it."

"The heat vision is literally killer."

"But you can't think if you hear too much. It drove me nuts and when Kon was a baby, it really irritated him."

Jax nodded and looked back at his screen. "Did you know?"

"That his hearing's really strong. Yeah, he had that issue in, um, utero."

Despite Jax's sour mood, he laughed a little. "Still funny if it doesn't happen to me. No, I was talking about this," he replied, turning the monitor so Clark could see it.

It took him a few seconds to realize he was reading a confidential medical record. "This isn't yours to have."

"Tell me Chloe's never hacked anything and I'll turn my computer off right now."

"You shouldn't hack medical records, Jax. It's rude and illegal."

"I wanted to know."

"What?" Clark asked, slipping into superspeed and pulling a chair from the office inside the room so that he could sit shoulder to shoulder with Jax. Reading over the files revealed details about the rehabilitation of a kid out in New Mexico.

"The kid playing catcher the day my necklace came off?"

"Jax, you really shouldn't be looking at this."

"I broke his collar bone with the impact but when my spikes hit his shin, I snapped it. It got infected really badly. Clark, they had to amputate."

"Oh," he said, his voice measured. He knew that. Kara had found the information two weeks ago. He had hoped no one would ever tell Jax, although considering the way high school worked, that wasn't realistic.

"I did that."

"You didn't mean to. It's not your fault the necklace snapped."

"It's yours and mom's," Jax replied quietly. "I didn't know what would happen. Hell, I'm not fast. I'm not that strong with it on. The only reason I've always been Varsity is because I can't miss the ball. Ninety miles an hour might as well be ten. I just see differently."

"We do more."

"I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to be playing sports, that I was cheating."

Clark sat up straighter. "I played football in high school without any blue K. I didn't even know it existed."

"And Chloe said you'd had an accident too. You're lucky you never killed anyone."

"I was careful."

"Then you also had fifteen years to practice it, every day of your life. I'm gonna be lucky to have the basics of this down by September, but sports is cheating."

"I didn't think so. It's not like I used my powers."

Jax laughed. "Of course you did. You probably didn't even realize it. I mean I've used mine every day of my life and that's just in seeing things differently. When everyone else seems to move in slow motion, how can you not be better?"

"I-"

"He's being fitted with a prosthetic. I ruined his life."

"You didn't know."

"It wasn't right for you and mom to let me play."

"I never thought the necklace would come off and neither did she. We can still play."

Jax sighed and turned the monitor back to himself. "No, I can't."

"She's pregnant."

Clark blinked, almost unable to process what Jax was telling him. "What?"

"My mom. I'm shocked too. I thought she was too old. Guess not! She's pregnant. I'm not even sure she knows yet. I can hear it."

"Wait she didn't just tell you?"

"No, but I got home from school today and she's either grown a second heart or she's pregnant."

"You think she knows?"

"I think she and Steve had been trying. I'm not an idiot. I just…she's like old, Clark."

"She's not ancient."

"But she'll be like sixty by the time my sibling graduates college."

"We don't all start at twenty," Clark deadpanned.

Jax sighed and started pacing the loft. "I wasn't saying that. I know Kon was a surprise."

"That's a way to put it."

"But a younger sibling? I…mom's old!"

"Is this a 'you don't want to think your sibling did anything but came from a stork' thing or something else?"

"Mom can't have sex; she's old!"

"Jax get a grip. What's actually bothering you?"

He sighed and leaned against the loft's railing. "It's like at the wedding. She really is like replacing me and dad with Steve and a baby."

"No one can replace you, trust me. Besides, your mom wouldn't be over the top protective of you if she didn't love you."

"No, I know. I just…it's kind of a mind fuck. Not the mom and Steve and a romantic night moment thing. I mean, I have someone besides mom who's going to be related to me. I mean, you and Kara have each other and Kon and Alura are cousins."

"Yeah."

"My sibling's gonna be here but we won't…we'll be related but not alike. They won't be like me at all."

"Well maybe they can be spared your rapier wit," Clark said. "You're not as funny as you think you are."

"Oh I am," Jax defended before slipping back into his rant. "I wanted a bigger family since dad died but it'll be weird. It's like Steve's not a bad guy at all. He's really pretty nice, but he doesn't know me. It's like the family you see at Thanksgiving, the mom's second cousin twice removed kind. You make small talk, you pretend you have something in common and smile through Uncle Sean in the Schnapp's."

"You have a more colorful family than I do."

"Doubtful," Jax riposted, eyeing Clark's stomach. "I want a bigger family, but I want one I can be honest with."

"One day you might be able to tell them, when they're older like in high school or college, the way we told you or the way like my dad told me. It's not exactly safe for a three year old."

"No, I know, but I couldn't. Mom would kill me. I promised her never to ever let Steve know. No way she'd let me tell the new baby, even when the new baby's my age."

"Jax-"

He sighed. "I dunno. Maybe it's kind of neat, not a lot of aliens out there with 100% human family."

"You're not completely Kryptonian, either."

"I dunno. Maybe I can see mom's side that it'd be best if no one ever knew. I just…a baby. That's…I wasn't expecting that one."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I dunno," he replied, scratching his chin. "It's like I have my family and yours."

"The Els are yours too."

"I borrow," Jax replied dismissively. "I have this human family and the Kryptonian one and they don't mesh. I'm just a very different guy in both places."

"But I know how much being replaced scares you. I'm sure your mom and Steve were feeling more empty nest. You'll be done high school by the time you turn sixteen. Some people actually like the pitter patter of little feet."

"I…no, this is scary but it's cool. I just missed having a big family so much since dad."

"Jax, I-"

Jax stiffened. "I know you're sorry. You were played and I forgave you. Brainiac did all of this bullshit, not you or Kara. I have to hold onto that."

"I know but-"

"It's alright, Clark," Jax finished. "I just…I can pretend well enough. I like Alura and the squirt, but it'll be really cool to be a big brother, a real one."

"You're like a real one now."

" Like is the key word, Clark. You guys rock but you're not my family. It's nice not to impose."

"But you-"

"It's good that I won't have to be as much of a nuisance."

Clark was sitting at his desk, trying to figure out a good lead in to grab the public's attention on utility tax hikes when his erstwhile charge apparated right in front of him.

Clark shook his head and hissed. "You aren't supposed to do that."

"Chloe said you used to do that all the time in the basement."

"Basement reporters aren't as good at the ones under the Tiffanies, Jax. You really could get yourself in trouble."

"Perry would never allow it," he replied, dismissively.

"You know rules better."

Jax smirked. "Yes oh high leader of the Council."

"Not funny. I got elected!"

"Kara declined the job. You know if she'd said yes, you'd have let her have it."

"Probably. I don't like being in charge of a Council. All the ulcers and none of the glory. It's Tuesday."

"I know that."

"It's Tuesday at one. You have classes this week. It's not Christmas yet."

"I have this!" Jax called, placing the large manila envelope on Clark's desk. "Is Chloe here?"

"She's got a report on LuthorCorp. She got a pass to a conference and I didn't."

"Aren't you two joined at the hips?"

"Perry thinks we need to be split up occasionally on assignments since 24/7 with one person can lead to murdering your spouse."

"Good point. I just thought she'd be here. She should share the glory. I mean, she helped whip my essay into shape."

Clark quirked his head and eyed the return address. "MIT?"

"Since they sent me something that weighs like twelve ounces, I doubt it's a rejection letter. Come on, do the honors, Clark."

"You're cocky.

"No, if I were rejected, it would be a tiny regular envelope not a college catalogue."

"I hope so," he replied, pulling open the envelope and reading the letter accompanying several brochures. The fact that it was printed on card stock was very reassuring. "Mr. Donovan, we are writing to inform you that you have been accepted for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's incoming class of 2020…"

Jax's smile was blinding. "See I told you."

Clark laughed and tossed him the letter to read for himself. "You owe Chloe a diamond. You had terrible dangling participles."

Alura was passed out on his lap. He wasn't surprised. Football wasn't really something she liked, but it was a Thanksgiving tradition going back for years on Kent Farm, even all the way back to his grandfather Hiram or so he'd been told. Seven year olds didn't appreciate that. Kon was beside him, half dozing with a head-sized piece of pecan pie resting on a plate on his thigh.

"You look comfortable," Chloe drolled.

"Football. Big games. One day a year, Chlo."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh red-blooded American male love of sports. It can be inherited anyway."

"It wouldn't kill you to just park your brain for three hours and cheer for the Sharks. God, everyone hates Gotham anyway."

"It's a slippery slope, Clark," she started. "And-"

"Wait," he said, reaching for a remote and muting the TV. I hear something.

"Like what?"

"I…" Clark closed his eyes and concentrated on the noise ringing in his ears. "It's Jax."

"What?"

"He's asking for me. I have to go," he replied slipping Alura gently onto the sofa. "I'll be home soon, promise."

"If she's done anything-" Chloe spat.

"Not helpful. We've worked something out with his mother enough that he can sometimes visit or we can stop by his dorm. Empty threats and anger just end up putting him in the middle of it."

"I don't care if she…"

"Chlo, I'll be back," he said, before blurring into existence a block outside of Jax's mother's house. It was a nice neighborhood, the kind where houses sat on individual lots that were like an acre of woods and had the ostentatious size that characterized a lot of the common day "McMansions." Selling the Kryptonite to Lana and to Lex had paid well.

Clark pulled out his cell two houses down from Jax's and waited for it to ring through.

"Clark?"

"You called? I'm outside, but I didn't think that I could just walk into your house when I lived in Kansas."

"No I guess not. One sec." Clark didn't blink when Jax ran up to him. The superspeed wasn't as interesting when you could see in Kryptonian time. "Hey."

"Let's take a walk."

Jax nodded and shoved his hands in the pockets of his khakis. "Sorry I look like a tool. My mom made me wear the sweater. I know it looks like Bill Cosby what with the eight million stripes, but grandma knitted it."

"It looks very Thanksgiving."

"Cool, cause, you know, I don't just wear stuff like this daily."

"I know, Jax," Clark replied, walking in companionable silence for a block until he finally broached the subject. "Why did you call?"

"I had an accident."

"What?"

"No, nothing happened. No one's hurt, well except the turkey."

"The turkey?"

"I'm not explaining this right. Mom was needling me about not bringing anyone home for Thanksgiving."

"You mean like a girlfriend?"

Jax nodded but kept looking straight ahead as they walked. "She's worried. I've started grad school but I've never dated."

"Does she, uh, does your campus reputation precede you?"

"She knows that I'm not a monk, yeah. She's just stuck up about it like you are."

"We're not stuck up about it. It's just not good for you, Jax."

"And that's what she was on. She got on a tangent at dinner. Steve tried to ease her off of it and it just made more conflict and I got really frustrated. I don't get that way often but I did and kaboom! No turkey."

"No turkey?"

"Well it was all over the walls and ceiling."

"Oh Jax."

"Mom asked me to leave the table and to go to my room. I don't know what she told Steve and Jessie. Sometimes things happen. I'm good at the Zen thing, but I'm not perfect. I've had slips before, but this was a huge one."

"Jax, one day we'll get back to the raging fear of anything resembling commitment you have."

"My mom and my dad and you and Lana are all anyone has to know."

"It's not always like that."

"I don't lie. No strings, some fun, everyone wins, Clark. You don't have to make it more than that."

He frowned. His father would hate that. It was not a Jonathan Kent approved viewpoint. "Do you think your mom will tell at least Steve what's going on?"

"No. I know she won't. She's worked for like the last seven years to paint Norman Rockwell for him. She's not gonna back track now and admit we're the Munsters."

"That's not fair to you."

"You know what I mean. Steve's a nice guy. Really. He's never made me call him dad. He's always given me space and respected that my dad was there before him. He's a really decent guy like Jimmy or Chloe's dad."

"You think he'd get it."

"I think he actually might, but you thought once that Lana would get it."

"Not everything gets measured against what Lana and I managed to fuck up. I was naïve and Lana's a sociopath."

Jax stopped and turned to look at him. "I don't want to mess things up for her. She sort of drags me around, you know? The whole thing works because even if I'm a little weird, Jessie and Steve don't know."

"Maybe they should."

Jax sighed and brought a hand to his temples. "I can't. I…Steve is really pretty nice to me and Jessie loves me."

That was an understatement. Jax's little sister lionized him. "I know."

"Things would change if they knew. Not just for mom, but for me. I know it's not real. I know what I have with them is something I made."

"Jax-"

"But I want them to like me. Hell, I need Jessie to love me. If she thinks I'm normal, she will."

"But we're not like everyone else."

"Half my family doesn't know that and they're all I've got."

Clark stopped walking and folded his arms over one another. "Excuse me?"

"My family is messed up and I know Steve and Jessie don't really know me, but they're all the family I have."

"What about me and Kara? Or Chloe and Jimmy and Alura and Kon?"

Jax sighed and looked up at the full moon overhead. "You let me borrow yours, Clark, because you feel guilty when you shouldn't about my dad. We're not related. I'm just dad's mess that you look in on."

"That's not how Kara and I feel about it."

"I'm not an El or a Kent. I know I want to be, but I'm not. Those people down the street are what I have and if I have to make up some half-assed unbelievable excuse for why the turkey freaking exploded at dinner, then that's what I have to do."

"We love you."

Jax blinked. "Huh?"

"I should have brought Kara with me. Maybe you'd believe this more if we both said it."

"I…"

Clark leaned forward and put both hands on Jax's shoulders. "We love you. No matter what, Kara and I think you're family . I could care less if blood's involved. You know I love my mom like crazy and I loved my dad and we weren't technically the same species."

"But you humor me."

"You don't humor someone for thirteen years. If we wanted to foist you off back on your mom, we would have. We all know it would have made her happier. Kara and I stick around, Chloe and Jimmy and the kids stick around because they love you."

"When I pop in enough to see Alura and the squirt. It's not been as frequent since mom got so mad at Kon speeding. I…she thinks they're bad influences."

Clark nodded and restrained the urge to curse about Jax's mom. "If this doesn't work out or if you do tell them and it gets worse, you have a family. You're always going to have one. Come home to the farm, just for tonight. You can call your mom from Kansas."

"I-"

"Come home, Jax."

He felt it then, the spread of warmth through him. With Chloe it had been that same heat one felt sitting by a crackling fire but now? Now it felt supernova, like everything a bright, white heat spreading through him at once. The scorch of it was amazing, not painful, but overwhelming and he felt himself slide out of the chair and to his knees. The light encircling the three of them (Mo included) was so bright it was blinding. It was beyond rose or golden; it was all encompassing.

Jax shot up in bed and started tearing at the tape keeping the oxygen feed to his nose in place. Clark, still reeling from the own tightness in his chest, stood up and helped pull off the tubes.

"Jax?"

"God, what happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Jax's eyes came back to focus on him and he shuddered. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You remember the gold Kryptonite?"

Jax nodded. "I'm okay?"

"You're alive and you're healthier than you've been since Chloe found you. How do you feel?"

"Like shit, but my chest doesn't hurt anymore. It's not so hot."

"That was the pneumonia."

"Chloe work her mojo?"

"Actually," Clark replied. "Mo worked mojo."

Despite himself, Jax smiled and looked down at Clark's stomach. "Mo?"

"They learn fast," Clark conceded. "I…how are your powers?"

Jax squinted at him and hissed a curse. "I can't X-ray anything. Before you ask, it's too quiet too. I couldn't hear Mo even with trying. I…maybe it'll take time to shake the pneumonia?"

Clark nodded and forced himself to smile. "At least you have a shot."

"You sound surprised."

"Well Mo was a bit of a…"

"Last ditch Hail Mary?"

"No, but I wasn't completely sure that it would work either. I, God," Clark replied, sweeping Jax into a hug. They could be manly later.

"Clark?" Jax asked, his voice muffled.

"Welcome home, son, welcome home."


	55. Chapter 55

55

"Let me get this straight," Jax said. "You want me to use a computer that just got de-villified and no one has effectively used in probably thousands of years based on the age of the stones to create a virus that is guaranteed to infect every computer on Earth off the bat but will only wipe the ones that have very specific mentions of us and that means trying to make sure The Daily Planet computers that Chloe and Clark use don't get wiped out as an after thought or any of our personal stuff?"

Kon was leaning against the door to Jax's room, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment. Chloe watched her son straighten and nod. "Basically."

"Do you want me to invent a flux capacitor while I'm at it?"

"No," Clark said. "We just want to know if this is something you think you have the ability to do."

"I don't even know how the Fortress works."

"It's a learning curve," Kara replied seriously. "Kon has access to the Fortress. He or Kal can affect it or use the computer systems there. If the three of us went, you, me, and Kon, then I could show him what to enter after you'd designed the program."

"You want me to do this because you think I could. Cause Brainiac could," Jax pressed.

Chloe and Clark exchanged a look. Caught. Clark sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We know it's possible for Kryptonian technology to infect Earth computers, we just don't have the skill set to do it."

"Well, I'm not exactly my dad and Brainiac is wicked smart and always evolving. Taking me to the Fortress is like introducing someone who only used a classic three color gameboy to see Bill Gates's private pad circa today."

"We know," Kon continued. "But you'd have a better shot at it than Aunt Kara. She does some decent hacking on Earth computers and so do mom and Uncle Victor but this is another level."

Jax narrowed his eyes at Kon. There was a lot left unsaid there. "So you have the idea and I fill in the time and labor. That's fair."

"I can't do it."

"But since my dad made Brainiac of course I must know the default quickest way to spread Kryptonian computer viri."

Kon winced. "I...bringing up that was shitty."

Jax shrugged, when he answered, his voice was tight. "Why? My dad did it. If even Alura knew, I appreciate being in on it."

"Jax-" Clark started.

The younger man shook his head. "I'll try it. Give me a few hours to get some deep breaths and some air back to the brain. I can't promise anything but I'll try."

"Well, it's that or move to Fargo and start hiding out there," Kon deadpanned. "Lex and Lana probably have in case files with lawyers or who knows what. Holding them here isn't going to keep them from sitting on this info long. It'll just delay it."

"No pressure," Jax muttered.

Chloe eyed her husband who nodded and then said. "Kara, Kon, can you give us a minute?"

"Kal-"

"Sure dude. Aunt Kara come on."

"But I thought we were having a meeting."

"And we mostly did," Jax replied. "Though I get the feeling everything was reached unilaterally. Come back in two hours and I'll be ready for world class hacking, okay?"

Kara nodded and touched the foot of his bed. "For Alura's sake, I thank you for trying."

"I haven't done anything yet."

"You agreed," she replied simply before following Kon out the door.

Jax laughed. "Since when did I hit the Twilight Zone?"

"From birth," Chloe replied drolly. "But you meant since you woke up."

"Squirt's acting like a human being, mostly. The Fortress is suddenly playing for Team Us, and Lex and Lana are a few corridors over in the Watchtower brig. I missed a hell of a lot."

Clark sighed. "Kon's trying to make up-"

"For being a complete asshole by coming up with really insane plans?"

"It's not that insane," Chloe countered. "Don't bullshit. We know you can do this and you know you can."

Jax looked back down at the blanket draped over his legs. "Yeah, I really think I can. I can already see the programming loops I'm going to use. It's going to be tedious and time consuming to get the right algorithm in place but it's not going to be impossible."

"Are you afraid?" she continued.

Jax shifted and she knew she'd hit her point. "Not exactly. I just thought we all agreed I wouldn't be jump starting science a few thousand years."

"You're not going to be selling this to Microsoft," Clark corrected.

"I know. I just...it's weird to know I could make programming like Brainiac, if I wanted to. I think I can even see how my dad would have had to set it up."

Chloe swallowed, keeping her breath measured and even. Kryptonians knew bluffs when they saw them. "You won't. We're just sending you and Kon and Kara to the Fortress to design something to go after Lex and Lana's hard drives. That's what really matters. Is getting rid of any record we can find related to us. You don't have to worry about anything beyond that."

"I'm just saying that it makes anything after that seem incredibly easy," Jax replied. "I don't like thinking about these sorts of things because I know I could do them, but I don't get a choice do I? Lex and Lana wouldn't stop until they ruined us."

Chloe sighed and watched as Clark patted Jax's arm.

"No, I don't think they would," he said. "Either we do this or we go on the run and I really don't want that to happen to any of us, especially the girls. I don't want to explain that to Alura."

Jax nodded. "Using the munchkin card against me, I see. Alright, I'll try but do I have to be paired up with Kon? I'm not exactly feeling him right now."

Clark shrugged. "It has to be him or me. One of us can affect the Fortress and Kara should know how some of the tech works but she can't affect it."

"You could come!"

"We'll be there soon enough. We just need to talk," Chloe added.

Jax narrowed his eyes, reading both of them at once. "You mean go back to the holding cell and talk to Lex and Lana."

"It's complicated," she replied. "We've known them since we were about fourteen, a lot longer with Lana and Clark. It's just-"

"Things left unsaid, gotcha. Give me a few minutes with my mom and then we'll head out to superhack. I need to feel useful."

"You are useful," Clark countered.

"I've been the damsel in distress lately. I could use a change of pace," Jax quipped, eying the IV still in his arm. "I got this. I do."

Chloe wasn't sure if she were relieved or scared.

You don't have to go in. J'onn intoned.

She was long since used to having his voice sound in her head. It was not intimidating, even when she saw J'onn stand there in his true form, all seven feet of him red-eyed and grave. It worked as well on her as any of Bruce's attempts at instilling fear.

"J'onn," she replied, placing a hand on his forearm. "It's alright. I know between you and Diana and Dinah, they aren't going anywhere. Not while the three of you are watching the room and, if they did run, there's no place to go on a satellite."

That's not all that can come from this.

"Closure matters a lot and not just the closure of seeing them arraigned or up on trial. I need to see more from them, J'onn."

They won't have apologies for you.

"We don't expect any," Clark replied, hooking his arm around hers. "Can you open the door please?"

J'onn nodded and pressed the key code into the pad. I merely wanted to go on record with my objections.

Chloe nodded but kept her eyes forward. She and Clark walked through the door and sat down at the steel table. Lex faced opposite from her and Lana from Clark, each with their hands manacled. No, no one would be staging an Attica here.

"Chloe, how pleasant," Lex said, his self satisfied smirk still in place. "And Clark and Moira too. I should feel honored, shouldn't I?"

Clark shifted to hide his stomach under the table as much as he could. "Don't forget who's being held here and who's not."

"I suppose you've forgotten who has the most leverage here. You don't really want to end up the property of Uncle Sam, do you?"

Clark clenched his jaw but kept his tone even. "We're not falling for threats anymore and we're definitely not cutting deals with you. That was the mistake last time and it just bought time. It didn't help."

Lex nodded. "It certainly didn't save Jax, did it?"

"He's alive," Chloe countered.

The widening of Lex's eyes betrayed his surprise. "What?"

"Alive, Lex, no thanks to anything you or gold Kryptonite did to him. You touch any of the children again and we won't even think about involving authorities," Chloe pressed.

Lex's smile widened. "Moira did it, didn't she? My one regret is that I don't have my hands on her. What secrets she has."

"She's not yours to have and she's never going to be," Chloe replied tersely. "Kon, Jax, Clark, Mo…they all have stopped being your play things."

Lana finally deigned to look at her. "Kon was never yours."

Clark dropped his head. "None of the six of us-"

"Your 'Council,'" Lex interjected, laughing a little.

"None of the six of us are anyone's to play with. No ISIS, no basement labs, no tricks. Any hold you had on us," he said, staring at Lana. "It's over."

She nodded and drummed her fingers against the table, her stare trained on Chloe. "Is it?"

"Excuse me?"

"How well do you think you know your son, Chloe?"

"Not as well as I used to," she answered truthfully. Once she had known her son well, known his pains and his sorrows, and now she wasn't sure she recognized whom he'd become. She certainly couldn't pretend to know who he'd grow into.

"When he and the J'onn came to me, he offered me a deal."

"What kind?" Clark asked, leaning toward her.

"He would have taken me anywhere I wanted, any non-extraditing country I chose. Ask J'onn."

Clark reached out and grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed it. She took the reassurance where she could get it. It was hard to breathe. "If he did he had a reason. You aren't in Cancun currently, if you noticed."

Lana nodded. "Someone knows who their mother is."

Chloe shook her head. "I'm done. We've played this game fighting over Connor since before he was even born. It's over. You tried, Lana. You tried to lure him with everything you had with the lies and the charm and the million gifts we couldn't afford. You had your shot and it didn't last."

"Interruptions," she spat.

Chloe laughed bitterly. "No. It didn't work because you're a cold, heartless bitch and he's not like either of you. This? This is over. We'll see you in court."

"If you're not locked up first," Lex chimed in.

"You think you have everything figured out," Clark replied quietly. "You don't."

Lex shrugged. "I'll get what I want some day and you know that's Moira, don't you?"

Chloe let Clark pull her up out of her seat and they walked to the control panel, letting the door slide open. "Try, Lex, just try," she said, letting the door slam shut behind her.

"Chloe, marry me!" Jax called as he scooped up the order of hot wings she brought him.

She grinned and handed him a bowl of nails as well. "Now what do you want me to do?"

Jax rolled his eyes and set everything down on a collection of crystals that she assumed served as a table. "We can run to any place you want right now, preferably some place tropical. This cold stuff is for the birds."

"You can't get cold."

He shrugged and turned back to the monitor. Kara was standing next to him, trying to explain the function of some of the symbols scattered out before him. Chloe hoped it was sinking in. "I don't like the desolate winter landscape look either, Chloe. You brought me nails and chicken. It must be love."

"It's pity."

"Ouch, hit me where I live," he replied, putting his hands over his heart.

She sighed and kissed his cheek. "You three have been up here a week. I just felt bad about all the hacking we've put you up to."

"It is world champion, extraterrestrial champion even," Jax conceded. "The actual artificial intelligence behind the virus isn't hard. It's the algorithm making sure it's discreet and doesn't just rip apart a ton of computers."

"Like the ones at the Planet where Clark and I are on payroll?"

"Basically," he said, digging into a wing. "But I like a food break. The squirt's been asleep for twenty minutes while Kara and I figure out a snag."

Chloe eyed her cousin-in-law. Kara had held it together while they'd been ill, but she'd also sent Kon away when she'd had no right. Chloe wasn't sure how to reconcile that. If someone had made her afraid for Kon and Moira's safety, the way Kon had made Kara fearful for not only Alura but for Clark, she'd have reacted almost as rashly; she was sure of it. Her family mattered to her, but Kara should have known better.

Kon was home now but she wasn't sure at what cost, wasn't sure that Cassie and Jax would have been taken regardless of where Kon was staying. She couldn't tell what final piece of information pushed Lex over whatever edge of "decency" he had and she guessed she'd never know.

"Chloe, you're staring," Kara said, her tone brusque. "I have other equations to run with Jax."

She nodded and felt the key warm against her palm. "Are there even beds here?"

"There's a small alcove and a few sleeping bags over there," Kara replied, pointing behind Chloe. "You're stopping in to say hi?"

"Yup. You all need a break. Tonight at least come to the farm for some dinner that's not pre made or carry out from god knows where in the world."

Kara smiled tightly. "I think we can do that. I know Alura wants to see her cousins. She talks about Uncle Kal and Mo all the time."

"They're doing well. I can't believe we're almost through to March. Not much longer to go."

Kara's expression darkened as she turned back to the read outs. "No, not much longer at all."

Her boy looked his most like Lana when he slept. She could see his soft, straight hair fanned out against the pillow, the contrast of his dark cheeks with the ice and crystals around him, the shape of his eyelids that had just the hint of Lana's Asian heritage in them. She saw Clark in him too. In the last six months, his shoulders had broadened. She could tell he'd be larger than Jax, even if his height was still lagging. His cheekbones were high and defined, and he had a mole over his right eyebrow.

It amused her on some level that Kryptonians had those, almost like calculated imperfections.

Despite herself, despite his age and their situation, Chloe reached out and stroked the hair back from his eyes. Kon stirred and looked back at her, "Mom?"

Chloe's throat caught a little at that. She hadn't talked to him about what Lana had said. After that, they'd kept Lana and Lex under strict Watchtower lockdown. Lionel was running LuthorCorp and making excuses for the CEO's absence. She'd gone back to the farm and the Planet, taking care of Clark and Mo, and Kara, Kon and Jax had been on their programming mission. Kon's hands accessing the Fortress and entering any equation or code Kara and Jax could dream up.

Normal Kent family things.

"Hi a stor ."

"Did I oversleep? What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"No kidding. I…did I sleep too late? Aunt Kara said I could have a break."

"Jax said you've been out about twenty minutes. I brought snacks. If Jax doesn't hog all of it, there are nails for you too."

He blushed a little. "Nails, heh."

"They're a perfectly acceptable source of iron if you're invulnerable."

"They are good," he admitted. "God, it feels like we're never gonna get this right."

"Jax and Kara think you're close though."

"And then we don't have to worry about little cages for everyone," he said, eying Jax as the other man typed.

She cupped his chin. "He doesn't blame you."

"No, Cass took point on that one. She's back to the not taking my calls stage."

"She might yet come around. There's time."

"It feels like forever! Cass and I always talk."

"I felt that way with your father after he found out about my deal with Lionel. It's like this gulf that doesn't close."

"But you two got married."

"It takes yeas, a stor . You have to prove that you can be trusted again. Saying it doesn't mean anything."

"What did you do?"

"Almost froze to death in the Fortress. It helps."

"I think I need a better plan, mom."

"I suggest time and groveling. Girls like groveling, but there's no diamond shiny enough-even if you could afford it-to make up for what Lex did. You spilled her closest guarded secret and it got her in massive danger. It's just going to take time."

"You said that."

"Years, sometimes, Kon. There aren't easy fixes to things."

"Like being an asshole for six months and calling you everything but a child of God."

"You might have gotten to that too," she quipped, sitting down next to him on the sleeping bag. "Lana said some things the last time I saw her. I was going to dismiss them, but J'onn said the same thing."

Kon stiffened. "About the deal?"

"Yes. I don't think J'onn wanted your father or me to know about it."

"But Lana said it."

She nodded. "Would you have taken her, if she said yes?"

Kon licked his lips and looked down at the flannel of the bag. "If she promised not to hurt Cassie or Jax or any of us again, if she promised to let it go and destroy all the records, I would have."

"Because you love her?"

"I wanted to love her. I thought I did when she was telling me what I wanted to hear."

"And now?"

"I was a lot in love with being human. I wanted to be just like her in that way. I'm so scared to be what I am."

"There's nothing wrong with it," she replied, nodding toward Kara and Jax. "I happen to know some very good Kryptonians."

"I don't know if I'm one of them. Lana's my mom."

"I was aware," she drolled.

"No, I mean she's my bio-mom."

"Still aware."

"I'm not explaining this right," he said, sighing. "I mean she's a sociopath and she's related to me. What does that say about me? What if I end up like her and want to hurt people. I saw her. I begged her. She was supposed to have loved dad and all she wants now is for both of you to suffer. What if I turn out like that?"

"You stopped Lex when you had to," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She'd wondered about this the first time she'd caught Kon doing something like Lana. He'd shoplifted at five because of how easy it was with his speed, because he'd wanted something.

"I was cruel to all of you and I liked it. I liked going after you. It gave me like this high."

She kept her attention on him and forced herself to keep her breath even. "But you don't want to hurt people anymore, do you?"

"I don't want to be like her. I saw who she is and it's scary, but I could be."

"Grandma Moira's catatonic."

"I know."

"Her mutation has affected her mind. I'm scared every day that I'll go insane and end up in a hospital of Uncle Oliver's. I still think about that every day."

"Mo?"

"We'll see when she's born and when she gets the bulk of her abilities in puberty. She won't be that much like Grandma Moira. She's half dad and a quarter Grampy Gabe, after all."

"You wouldn't go crazy."

"I could. I could go catatonic one day and be like that for centuries. You think I don't know that? It's possible and I am scared shitless of it every day of my life, but I have a lot of people to live for while I'm still me."

"Mom-"

"You make decisions. Lex told you dad once when they were friends that evil was a journey and not a lightswitch. You choose every day if you're going to be cruel to people, if you're going to abuse your powers, if you're going to grow up like her."

"I have so much power. It's so easy."

"Of course it's easy. Taking whatever you want is easy and hollow, Connor. Earning it, that's a test. I can't tell you 'don't be like the Joker!' and expect you to follow that like you're five anymore. You have to choose and whatever you decide, your family-all of us-have to live with it."

"Meaning?"

"We'd stop you."

"I just…she's so terrible. Why can't she..."

"Love anyone? I dunno, a stor , but I know you can. Go and finish helping Jax and come home. You aren't going to be like her."

"You don't know that."

She forced herself to smile and kissed his forehead. "I promise you you won't be, no matter what I have to do."


	56. Chapter 56

56

March 5

Things moved quickly once Jax and Aunt Kara had cracked the coding problem. Lex and Lana and a mound of evidence regarding illegal cloning, experiments on metahumans, kidnapping and other assorted crimes against humanity had been delivered personally by the Batman to the Metropolis district attorney. Batman was not an urban legend in Gotham, more like a public nuisance. Kon's aunt and kangaroo still didn't want the ghost to step out of the shadows and into reality.

Kon thought that was outdated.

Metas were coming out of the woodwork and not just at Belle Reve or in Arkham. His grandmother and his Uncle Pete Ross were already discussing legislation to help extend civil rights laws undeniably to the meta community. Connor really didn't think that his aunt and father and what they could do would stay shadowed forever.

Sometimes Kon watched the trial. It was big news. Lana and Lex were the richest and most powerful couple in Metropolis, the pinnacle of taste and everything else for a whole city. Even if the cameras weren't allowed in the trial room, there was always a throng of reporters outside of the courthouse, trying to swarm the Luthors as they went in and out of the grand jury hearings. His uncle's face remained impassive at best, although sometimes an air of the Luthor cruelty eeked through, that confidence that even now nothing would touch him.

He worried often about that.

The best lawyers in the country could make a mound of evidence disappear if Lex tried hard enough, paid enough and even if it weren't Gotham, Metropokis had its own corruption. Judges could be bought and sold there as well.

His bio-mom. She always looked away from the cameras, but still was impeccably dressed-clothes that cost more than cars, real jewels, her hair in a tight bun, always the high bun. Sometimes, though rarely, he'd catch a flash of her face full on in the camera's lens, her almost unearthly jade eyes, his eyes.

It was on days like that that he did extra chores, even beyond the stall mucking and the fence repairing he had to do daily now. His parents, after consulting with Dr. Emil, had made him a small ring with the fragments of the blue K from Lana's watch. He was going to wear it the next six months when he mucked out stalls or, worse, was on Watchtower cleaning duty with the Batman. It was the only way his muscles would feel the ache of the effort, the only way he wouldn't just be tempted to speed through everything.

He was working tonight, his clothes already reeking of sweat and horse manure, when his aunt materialized beside him. His vision and perception never changed with the blue K. He had seen her coming and didn't startle, but he didn't appreciate that she could do what he couldn't at the moment.

"Aunt Kara?"

She nodded and he could see the nobility in her, the long golden hair that cascaded down her shoulders, the grace in even the way she stood and held up her shoulders. Sometimes even he forgot she'd been raised somewhere else in a world where she was of high position and standing.

She rarely acted like it.

"Kon-El, I apologize."

"You didn't actually startle me," he replied, setting down the pitchfork. "So there's nothing to be sorry for."

"No," she said, sitting down on the stairs of the loft. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I was harsh to you when everything happened with Kal and I shouldn't have been. If I'd been more tolerant or calmer, maybe bad things wouldn't have happened to you and Jax and Cassie."

Kon stilled, thinking of all he'd inadvertently caused, of all he'd cost Cassie and Jax and his family, of what he had to atone for. "I was a brat."

"I wasn't a good cousin. I was mad about Kal and Mo and I wasn't thinking about you, that sending you to Lex and Lana would be dangerous."

He shrugged and picked up his pitchfork again. "They didn't hurt me though."

"They could have and they hurt a lot of other people by using you. I have a hand in that."

"I ki…" he stopped, unable to say what he'd done to his father. "I hurt dad pretty badly. I get that everyone was scared. Hell, I understand exactly why none of you could trust me and why you wanted to turn me over to Uncle Bruce."

"But we're family. We're blood. We don't turn on each other. I know you couldn't help your powers when they acted up, that you'd never ever hurt Kal-El and Mo-Ru-Cek."

"I did though. I freaked me out with that. I never thought I could do that. I didn't think my abilities were that strong."

His aunt sighed. "You all grow so fast. Alura will be asking questions soon instead of just accepting that Uncle Kal had a baby, she'll want to know how."

"And soon causing explosions cause she got upset?"

"You didn't know. I didn't…I promised your grandmother Lara that I'd always take care of Kal-El, that I'd keep him safe on Earth. My promise was to him first, but it should be to the rest of you. I promise from now on that I'll keep you and Mo safe."

"Well maybe someone needed to do what you did. It was like an intervention and being cut off. I got to see a lot of who Lana really was by living with her and she couldn't hide it like she could an hour at a time. I don't know if I'd ever have seen that at the farm."

"It wasn't what Lara would have wanted. It pissed Chloe and Kal off."

"A lot of things can make mom and the kangaroo mad," he said, picking up a shovel in his right hand and giving it to her. "I'll tell you what. You help me muck today and we'll call it even."

"I sent you to Satan and his wife. I don't think it's ever gonna be even."

"I can call it even. You should see how much mess Eeyore can make."

The next day, Kon decided to press his luck and see how many people he could apologize to in a week. It was how he found himself sitting outside the lake by Cass's house. It was sunset and he watched the flecks of gold cresting on the water, feel the sun's ebb and flow over his own body. Sighing, he finished unearthing the fireproof box he'd buried there. Inside was a collection of consumer electronics from I-pods to the newest Kindles. He was going to return them to where he'd lifted them from tomorrow.

"Kon?" A familiar voice asked and his heart broke.

"Hey Cassie," he replied, turning around from his loot. "I had to collect what I owed to all the stores I stole from."

She shook her head. "I should have known you'd keep it here, just like with the stone."

"I couldn't use the loft. It's a little obvious. I should have just used the fucking reservation for all of it."

"You used me a lot, Kon," she replied, stepping closer to him. He could feel her breath on his cheeks. It was the first time he noticed that the gap in their heights wasn't so great. He was standing nose to nose with her now.

"I shouldn't have. I know I should have told you what you had. I should have kept you out of everything but when Lana wanted to talk about how I felt, I wanted to talk about you."

"Didn't you want to complain about tadpoles?" she asked, her tone clipped.

"I earned that."

"Maybe."

He sighed and kept himself just barely from brushing the hair out of her face. "I talked about things with you because I'm in love with you. I have been for a long time, maybe since you first started annoying me."

That made Cass soften and laugh just a little. "You were the one who insisted on floating his ninja turtles at school. I just was there."

"And I'm lucky it was you and not a teacher who wanted to give a hint off to ISIS or to Belle Reve, I know. But I mean it. I love you."

"You don't betray the people you love."

"Maybe you do, if you don't even mean it. I didn't…I slipped in an email talking about your dad's ice sculptures at Christmas. I didn't even think, Cass. Lex was playing me and he ran with it. It doesn't make it better but I didn't do it on purpose. I never wanted to hurt you," he said, reaching out finally, brushing fingers against her arm.

Cass stilled but didn't reject the touch. It was a start. "I was so scared and it wasn't even for me. I…what if they'd taken my dad too? Or Jason even if he didn't get the power? I didn't know if my family was okay, Kon, and that killed me the most."

He nodded. "I can't undo it. I just promise it'll never happen again. I won't drag you into my family's crap and I won't use you again."

"I like your family. I like getting to hear Mrs. Kent's stories about the League. I like stopping by to see how your dad is doing and I can't wait for Mo. The shower was fun even if I don't get what your aunt was trying to do with a donkey."

"Long story," Kon said. His aunt's definition of pin the tail on the donkey would never be the normal one or even the safe one for Eeyore.

"Even the weird traveler stuff?"

"If I know that I'm holding the key to an alien fortress when I'm given it, sure. I'm game, but you have to be honest with me. I need to be able to trust you because, believe me. You're not the only one who's missed their best friend all these months."

Kon sighed. "'Best friend?'"

Cass nodded and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "For now, Kon. Let's see if we can build up the trust for something more later."

If the weeping willow above them shook, well, he was allowed to be a little excited, wasn't he?

March 12th

"Jax, hey!" Kon shouted, knocking on his dorm room door. "I was supposed to come over. We were gonna try that hang out thing but without the me insulting you part. Jax! I've been out here twenty minutes."

Kon eyed the door knob and didn't notice a tie, sock, or any other piece of clothing hanging from the knob. It seemed unlikely that Jax was entertaining a lady friend.

Sighing, Kon tried again. "Hey, don't make me break the knob."

A girl passing by giggled. "That's what we've been saying. Jax hasn't been making the rounds at the parties in like a month!"

Kon frowned at the redhead before him. "What?"

"He's like a hermit now. Never leaves his room, and he used to be the life of the party. If you manage to get him out, can you tell him that Carter Hall misses him. He's supposed to be teaching the freshman girls about Jell-O shots and he hasn't done it yet."

Kon would have rolled his eyes at Jax's antics, but he was too concerned. Jax always hung out with freshmen girls. Okay, that sounded bad. Jax didn't give up a chance to part with the strictly legal and willing. It wasn't his style. "What?"

"Her-mit," she repeated. "Tell him to come over when you get him out of his room. The girls miss him!" With that, the redhead started walking down the hall again.

Kon shook his head and focused on the lock. He didn't have to break it if he didn't have to. In a second the pins holding the lock in place slid back and he was able to open the door. When he did, Kon wished he hadn't. The room was filthy. He couldn't even count the number of moldy pizza boxes and Chinese cartons littering the cramped floor. Jax had never been neat, but he'd always kept things acceptable for any of the girls he brought home. The place as it was now? It should have been condemned.

Jax was sitting at his desk, furiously typing on his laptop. Kon's nose had always been sensitive, almost as high strung as his hearing, but he wouldn't have needed it to smell his brother. Jax reeked. Kon doubted he'd remembered to bathe that week.

Reaching out carefully, he touched Jax's shoulder. "Jax?"

The other man's head jerked up and he glared back at Kon. "I'm working."

"I can see and smell that," Kon quipped, opting to stand instead of sit on a sofa that was suspiciously furry. "Jax, what the Hell is going on? Have you even been to class?"

"Dropped the semester. Working."

"You what?"

Jax shrugged and turned back to typing. "I'm working on something. Let's be honest. I just used the Fortress to hack every computer on the planet and I did it in about ten days. There's nothing anyone at MIT can teach me. I just liked the social interaction part."

"Liked?"

"I'm busy. I thought I explained this."

Kon sighed and looked at the screen. It was a mix of formulas he had no hope of understanding and, oddly enough, Kryptonian. "Your comp types in that?"

Jax huffed and kept typing. "It's an adaptation, not that hard. Clark said Dr. Swann could do it and he was just human. I'm working."

"Yeah, I heard, but I don't get on what. I'm sorry if I don't read engineering genius."

The other man didn't even break from the rhythm of typing. "Fourth dimensional modification."

Kon frowned as he translated geek speak and then his eyes widened. "Time travel?"

Jax nodded and kept up at the keyboard. "The Fortress could send your father back in time to save fucking Lana. What a waste."

"Hi, I'm standing right here!"

"Sorry, you're okay, mostly. I just mean he wasted the one crystal that the Fortress had that could manipulate time. I need something like that so I'm just gonna make it."

"You can't actually time travel," Kon said, feeling stupid. Even if he were half Kryptonian and a million other weird things happened in his life, time travel wasn't possible. It was the stuff of 80s sci-fi movies.

Jax shook his head and stopped long enough to glare at him. Kon noticed how red his eyes were. It was probable Jax hadn't slept in weeks either. "I said Clark did it to save your bitch bio-mom. He wasted it on that psycho. If he hadn't, guess whose dad would be alive?"

"What?"

"Clark used it to save someone he was dating. I can make one to save my dad. I just need to keep at it. It's hard but if the Fortress could do it once. I'm sure I can get it to manufacture one again."

"You can't affect the Fortress."

"Clark can. He'd do it for me. He made this mess anyway," Jax replied.

"You can't just play with time. Your dad died sixteen years ago. How much shit would it change if you went back in time?"

"Don't care. Time is fluid, no one but a Kryptonian would even notice the changes. I want my dad."

"Jax, why don't you get up, shower, and we'll go to a real restaurant where you can eat a salad or something with nutritional value. We'll even eat outside. I think the lack of sunlight and the pizza is rotting your brain."

"No it's not. I can do this. I can do anything with a computer if I wanted."

Kon reached over and placed his hands over the keyboard in superspeed, too fast for Jax to be able to return to his fanatical typing. "You can't, Jax. Your dad's dead."

"You moved fast. That's cheating. I can't move fast anymore," Jax said, slumping in his chair. "Kon?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to look as sympathetic as possible. He wasn't even sure Jax was all there currently.

"If you answer me something, I promise I'll stop."

"Sure, anything and then we'll get you a shower and some real food."

Jax paused as if he'd just had the air let out of him and gazed into nothing for a disconcerting amount of time before asking. "Why do you get to have a dad and I don't?"


	57. Chapter 57

57

March 12th

Clark reached out across the bed and pulled Chloe flush against him. "Can I say I'm glad Kon's in Boston tonight?"

Chloe giggled and kissed him while doing other, better things with her hands. "Me too. Sometimes you don't need kids around."

He laughed and pulled her hands up to place on his stomach. He'd managed to gain and keep on about twenty-five pounds over his average weight. It wasn't nearly as large as he'd been with Kon, but it was enough to hopefully insure that Mo would have a close to normal birth weight and would be getting all the nutrients she needed.

"They're always around."

She nodded and trailed a line of kisses over his stomach. "I know but this one's quiet."

"She'll be a teenager some day. She'll get louder."

"Then don't give birth."

Clark rolled his eyes and hugged her stroked her hair. "Can't keep her that little forever."

"But teenagers are so much trouble. Let's then just have a baby forever."

"Diapers? Midnight feedings? Teething?"

She lifted her head up and frowned. "Kill my fantasies, why don't you? Why do we do this again?"

"Because you love them and you're the best mom in the universe."

She laughed. "That's probably Martha."

"Then you come in a close second. There aren't a lot of good moms for travelers out there. We need special care."

"And a ton of feeding," she replied, setting her chin on the slightest swell of his stomach. One wouldn't ever see him and ever really think "fat," let alone pregnant. "The neuroses are the worst. I swear the superpowers are nothing compared to the mopes."

"I do not mope."

"Trust me, E.T. You most certainly do and Kon's like mini-Hamlet."

"But you love us."

She nodded and kissed his lips. "Always and all of you. In fact, I can-"

"Kangaroo, mom we have a…Oh god!" Kon shouted slamming the door shut again.

That was enough to kill the moment. Clark cursed under his breath and put on his jeans and t-shirt in superspeed. "We need a lock for that door."

Chloe, blushing scarlet, started dressing as well. "We do . Someone picks locks telekinetically."

"Well someone used to do it with bobby pins and credit cards, to be fair."

"Very funny. Oh he's never gonna unsee that."

"There was a sheet," he countered.

"Oh god."

"That's what he said," Clark countered. "I'll go talk to him. You take your time. He's gonna be more embarrassed that he saw you than me."

"Why?"

"Cause sheet and nothing really from the waist down visible. Plus you're his mom."

Chloe, despite her panic, smiled a little. "I am, aren't I?"

"Kon?" he called as he stepped into the kitchen. Clark frowned a little as he watched his son drain half the chocolate milk from the carton. "Your mom says you shouldn't do that."

"You do it all the time."

"I know and it does taste better from the carton, but moms are like that. Grandma's like it too."

Kon set down the cartoon and looked hard at the kitchen tile. "My life is over."

"Did you, uh, see anything?"

"Old people. Old people having sex. Old people and touching!"

"I'm thirty-five and not dead. Second, did you see, uh…"

"No. I mean there's a sheet and stuff but I know what you were doing. I can't, oh I'm going to have the worst nightmares."

"Me too," Clark replied, sitting down at the island. "The door was locked. Your mother locked it."

"I might have picked it?"

"Well now you know not to ever do that again. There's a reason adults lock their doors and there's a reason you were supposed to be spending the night in Boston."

"Oh god. Is that even good for the baby?"

"I do not want to continue this line of conversation anymore."

"Me neither."

"Good then."

"Yeah great," Kon replied, still staring at the floor.

"Son?"

"Yes?"

"You're going to have to look at me if you want to share whatever was so urgent with me. If it required lock-picking are we talking an Apocalypse."

Kon looked up at him and swallowed. "I did see my parents having sex. I think that's Doomsday right there."

"Funny," Clark quipped. "I'm serious. What's going on?"

"It's Jax…I think he's sick."

Clark couldn't breathe for an instant, couldn't think to form a response after that. "Do you mean he's relapsed with pneumonia?"

"No, I…he's not acting right. He hasn't left his room in a month and he hasn't showered. He keeps working on his computer and talking about this crazy plan."

"What type of plan, son?"

"He wants to invent a time machine or a crystal that'll do it, same difference. He wants to save Dax-Ur."

Clark nodded, ignoring the voice in his head reminding him that if not for his own idiocy and meddling that his Jax would still have a father. "Where'd you leave him?"

"Uh, that's the weirdest thing. You see…"

"You know," Clark called, sitting down beside Jax in the stands. "I don't know how you got in here."

Jax didn't look back at him right away but instead fixated on the great expanse of Fenway Park, the largest patch of greenery in most of the Boston Metro area. Finally, he turned his head to focus on the massive wall in the outfield, the Green Monster.

When he spoke, it was not about his father. "Sometimes I tutor the kids of the night guards. I started with one about four years ago to get him through Calculus and sort of got recommended around the whole place. I do the tutoring free of charge and they let me hang out here if I want to. I don't even need the speed to get in. Just favors."

"Jax, I'm sure it'll come back."

Jax shook his head but kept his eyes focused on the wall. "It's been over a month and everything's the same. I mean, thank god I have my strength and immunity. It's not like there aren't Titans or Leaguers or people with less. I like not being sick, you know."

"I do."

"But nothing else is different. Don't get me wrong. I think Mo packs a wallop, but I just don't think my senses or my other powers are ever gonna come back the way they're supposed to be."

"They might. We can talk to the Fortress again and get it to scan you or Dr. Emil or-"

"They never even worked right to start with. I'm gonna miss the speed the most. It was fun and then there's this thing you can do with heat vision and-"

"Jax!"

"Sorry, I just am missing what I used to be able to do. I didn't really have it very long. I should have used them all more."

"You did good work with the Titans."

"As a techy," Jax replied dismissively. "I won't be able to patrol the same way. I mean, I still can but I used to be able to cover the whole city so easily. People are gonna get hurt without me."

"A lot would have been hurt over the years without you. You can adjust. Bruce does a lot or Dick and they're just normal."

"Bruce has a sweet car."

"Maybe you can get one," Clark replied, sincerely. "Maybe we could ask Lucius or Oliver if they have any ideas. "You can adjust."

"I'm not that worried about my powers, Clark. I learned to live with them spazzing out on me. I can learn to live with most of them just gone. I'm the one who puts on the blue K just to go home for the Holidays anyway. It might even help me more with dating or my family, less weird."

"Jax-"

"Kon squealed, right? He said that I've been working on a time crystal of my own."

"You can't do that. You promised not to jump start science a few millennia."

Now Jax did look at him, his anger barely contained. "Only when it's convenient for you, of course. You used up the crystal. You told me so the summer I learned to use my powers. You saved that bitch, Lana."

"I did but I didn't understand the cost."

"What do you mean?"

Clark steeled himself a little, trying to keep his voice even. "My father was the price. There had to be a balance with the Fortress, a life for a life. It saved Lana but it killed my dad. I loved Lana so much. I swear I did before it all got fucked up. Kon…at least on my end came from love."

"Afterschool special of you," Jax quipped.

"I mean it. I loved her until she slapped the blue K on my wrist and dragged me into a lab. But there's not a day I don't still go by that I don't want my dad back. I want him back so badly. Every time I see my mom, even now that she's remarried, I know she misses him. I did that."

"But I could make it so I don't have to trade."

"Jessie," Clark reminded him. "If your dad lives, there's no way your mom remarries Steve and no way Jessie is ever born. Do you want to do that? Do you want to lose her to have him back?"

"Well maybe I could…and then there's…I could figure something out."

"No, you couldn't. Your dad lives and your mom never has Jessie. You could have your dad back but not have your sister and I know you love her."

"I do but I need my dad. He could fix this."

Clark quirked his head at him and set a hand on his shoulder. "He can't get your powers back, either."

"Fuck it was his sample, his present."

"What do you think he could fix?"

"I don't know. I can't sleep at night cause I'm back there. It was bad, Clark."

"You should have told me and Chloe earlier."

"We were all busy with our jobs and then…it's humiliating. Lex made sure it was humiliating, and I didn't want to go through that with you all. Mom…I don't want her to know because she'd just feel guilty and there's nothing she could have done."

"So you want to bend time?"

"I want my dad, Clark. You know what that's like. You've tried so hard and you're a good guy but you're not my dad and you're not going to be him. You know that I have fuck all chance of explaining this to Steve. I just wanted someone who was mine to explain this to."

"But I-"

"You're here for Kon and Mo, just like Kara's here for Alura. I don't have anyone. I know what you keep saying and I appreciate it, but some things are just for a dad."

"What did Lex do?"

Jax gulped and looked away, shaking off Clark's hand. "I…it was very clinical . I wasn't vivisected or anything but there were samples, every day for a week. I had to give them in my cell and it was a see through box, Clark. I know you can guess what types of samples, what things he'd ask just to see me squirm."

Clark felt nauseous. "He didn't."

"Oh, he did. He didn't need that much; I'm sure he was just amused to be putting me in that situation."

"Jax, you should have told us."

The younger man swiped at his eyes angrily. "I didn't want to. Christ, Clark, do you have any idea what it's like?"

"I do, actually. Lex had me 'expressed' daily so that he could try and have Lana bottle feed Connor. I know what it's like having a room of people look right through you because you're not human, not technically."

Jax nodded. "Yeah, like that, but worse because Lex chose his staff very, very carefully."

Clark swallowed. "I don't understand."

"He chose a bio-chemical engineer from MIT to be the head doctor of his team, a Dr. Liebowitz. He was my freshman year advisor before I declared physics as a major. He knew me."

"I…did it make it easier?"

Jax still wouldn't look at him, but Clark could tell he was crying. His voice was muffled. "Worse. He was my favorite teacher in undergrad. I had him for the mandatory biological sciences too. He knew me really well and I thought he liked me but then he saw my DNA or whatever the fuck it is and that was it. It didn't stop him from encouraging samples ."

Clark wrapped his arm around Jax's shoulder and was glad the other man didn't pull away. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry we didn't even know you were missing. I'm sorry we didn't get you out sooner. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"I just want my dad. I know it's stupid and I know I wouldn't trade Jessie for anyone, but I want to be eight again. I want him to hug me and tell me it's okay."

"It is okay."

Jax looked up at him and his eyes were so bloodshot. "You're lying."

"I'll make it okay," Clark finished, untangling from him. "Kon said you withdrew from your classes. I think it'd be best for you to spend most of it at home with your mom and-"

"My human family."

Clark nodded thoughtfully. "I want you home with us for a week or two, until you can get some sleep. You know there's no place safer than we are, but I think you need to remember what a good family you do have and I mean even with Steve and stuff. You have a lot of people to take care of you, Jax. I know you miss your dad, but we're still here."

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"We'll cheat and give you something. I don't endorse you wearing your necklace, but if we get you some sleep with some Xanax or whatever first for a while, I'm not opposed."

"I have flashbacks," Jax said, voice hollow.

"Then we'll be there when you wake. I'll call Kara. She and Jimmy and Alura can come over. You know she can kick a lot of butt and nothing would touch you with her on guard."

"I…okay but don't tell my mom, not ever."

"I think she might be able to help if you explained some of it."

Jax glared at him. "Not ever. I won't go with you if I think you've told her. She can't know. I…it was too embarrassing and she'll blame herself when it's not true."

"I won't, son. Now come home."

"Son of a bitch, I'll kill him right now!" Chloe spat, circling their room like a shark honing in on the kill.

"Chlo, I know how you feel but Lex is in custody now and we don't do that."

Her hand glowed for effect, even if she couldn't harm anyone with her abilities. "I'm sorely tempted. He did all of that to Jax because he could. Do you know how heinous all of that is?"

"Lex excels in psychological torture. It's why he took Cassie in the first place, to get to Kon. It's why he kept me locked away from Kon without my power. He likes making people suffer."

"I'll make him suffer," she groused. "He can't do that to Jax and get away with it."  
>"He won't. He'll face the toughest D.A. in Metropolis history. The best you can do is stay with him tonight."<p>

"Where are you going? You can't even speed."

"Clean-up. Kara and I will be back by morning, but he needs some sleep and rest, maybe Fawkes can help him with it."

"I don't usually heal pain of the psychic variety," Chloe confessed.

Clark leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Just stay with him. We'll call Mary in the morning."

"Yes, she'll fix it."

"Maybe she would this time. I think he just needs to feel human and safe."

"So I don't make him feel human?"

Clark laughed softly and started to the door. "No, but you'd make him feel safe, Chlo. Take care of him."

Clark was grateful that his cousin was as fast and strong as he'd ever been. He was down to just some heat vision and his Xray vision and hearing. Kara was good enough as Kent shuttle, good enough to get him to the well-kept home in Boston he was looking for.

When they apparated in front of the bespectacled little man, it was gratifying to see his eyes widen and to hear his heart jump a beat. "How?"

Kara's eyes shone red like a demon's. "I can imagine you'd know."

He was trying to push up from his desk, panic flowing off of him, but Clark held his shoulders down. He was still strong enough for a man his size. "Stop."

"I…there's no money here. I don't have anything of value. I'm not married, so there's no jewelry."

"That's not what we want," he hissed. "But you know that."

"I don't know what you want."

"You know who we are," Kara said, blinking and setting the lampshade alight.

"My god. Lex never said there were others."

"Like the one you abused," Clark replied. "Funny like that. You know Jax. He's just a kid."

"He's extraordinary."

"Wrong answer," Clark said, squeezing the old man's shoulder. "Who else knows? We want names and addresses, all of it. Anyone who worked on Jax's case, we want to know."

"Confidential."

Kara set a few books on the shelf on fire and the alarm sounded. "Not to us. Tell us everything you know or you're next."

Clark nodded. It's not like Liebowitz knew that he and Kara wouldn't touch him. The paper and linen of the lampshade smoldered more, sending smoke into the air. The shrill noise of the alarm overhead bothered Mo and she began to kick. He stifled the urge to cup his stomach. He was here for another child.

"I can't."

Clark added more pressure. "You can and you will and if you ever go near Jackson Donovan again, it won't just be lampshades we burn."

Liebowitz looked between him and Kara and Clark could hear the heart racing like a mouse's would have, like a freight train, such speed. "I…I can give you the names. What are you going to do to me?"

Kara shook her head but kept the fire in her gaze. "He does nothing. I? I kiss you."


	58. Chapter 58

58

"Chloe, I don't think I can sleep," Jax said, pacing in the guest room. He was wiry and still quick and Chloe found herself taking two steps for every one of his.

"You'll sleep better if you actually try a bed."

He stopped and eyed the bed in corner hesitantly. "I don't want to dream."

She nodded and held out her hand. "Do you have your necklace? If you don't, you can borrow Kon's ring for the night."

"Kon has blue K?"

"For supervised punishment. Emil determined that a few hours a day for a few months wouldn't cause permanent damage. Kon's too old for it to affect him."

"Not like me, when I was a baby."

Chloe's heart broke. "No, not like you, but whatever I have to help you sleep, it won't work if your immunity is working."

Jax nodded and finally stopped to face her. "Of course it wouldn't. I…I'm scared, Chloe. It's stupid. It didn't really even hurt until the gold K but I don't want to be back there."

"It was degrading, sweetheart. I know what that's like. I know how Lex thinks. He wanted it to be as traumatizing on a personal level as it could be. You don't have to feel foolish about any of this. He set you up." She held out her palm on which was a small pill. "It's just Xanax. It'll help you if you have some blue K."

He sighed and pulled the chain out from around his neck. "Like a totem. Clark was gonna take me home after here. I never go home without it."

Chloe bit down the anger that always rose when she saw the symbol for hope etched out in that poison. It had crippled him to begin with and she wanted to get her hands on both Mary and Dax-Ur for it. Now she was using it for his benefit. She felt sick. Handing him the glass of water and the pill, she waited until he swallowed both and then stroked back his bangs. "That's good, now lie down."

"Chloe-"

"I said now and no one messes with Fawkes, not even the Batman."

Jax smiled a little and crawled into the bed. "No, he really doesn't. Chloe?"

"Yes?"

"Would you stay with me? I mean there's a chair, duh. I…what I said in the Fortress was the extreme hunger talking. I wouldn't marry you."

"Cause I'm old?"

"No, because sometimes I wish you'd been my mom. You're a really good one."

She nodded and sat done in the high backed chair by the bed, her fingers playing over the faded red fabric. What she said next pained her. "Mary's your mom and she tries really hard."

"I know. I just sometimes wish my mom were at least meta so she got it too."

"She'll get you're upset and all moms want to fix that," she replied, squeezing his shoulder. "Close your eyes, Jax."

"I can't…I'll…"

"Close your eyes and just listen," she said, waiting for him to do as she commanded and then singing the same old lullaby she'd sung for Kon, that her Grammy Sullivan had sung to her as a child.

His snoring was a great reward for her efforts.

Going downstairs was not as peaceful as Chloe would have liked. Mary Donovan, who must have been gotten by one of the League for only the Javelin flew that fast, was standing in the living room with her daughter in tow. Jessie was a short girl. Even though she was Alura's age, she was a head shorter, with white-blonde hair and large brown doe eyes. She was peppier too, curiously looking around the house. She had probably been insufferable poking around the Javelin.

"Mom, why are we here?"

Chloe sighed and looked back at Jimmy who was sitting with a sleeping Alura against his shoulder. "Surprise guest?"

"Victor and Bart had a run," he replied. "They didn't stay. I've sort been trying to figure out what to say."

"We were in a cool jet!" Jessie said. "It was neat and out of nowhere and I wish dad had seen it but he's on the road."

"And that's why you had to come," Chloe said, eying Mary. "I see."

"It was very neat. I've never been on a private jet before and that one was tricked out."

"Hey, Jessie, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Jax's sister said, more subdued now that she knew Chloe knew her name but didn't have the return courtesy.

"Jax is upstairs. First door on the left. Why don't you go upstairs and see him. He's sleeping but I'm sure he wouldn't mind company even if you wake him a little."

Jessie looked nervously at her mother. "Mom?"

Mary nodded. "Go on Jessica. Mrs. Kent and I need to talk."

With that, Jessie rushed up the stairs to her brother. Chloe sighed and sat down on the sofa on the other side of Jimmy. It was odd that once, long ago, she'd thought she'd loved him. Truly she did, come to think of it. He was as much family to her as Kara now, the other human of the Council, so to speak, but it was something filial, born of the trials of loving Kryptonians, a shared knowledge of grief and joys.

"What's going on?"

Chloe fervently wished that one day, they'd have a conversation that didn't start like an interrogation. "He's having a hard time adjusting to being held by Lex. He withdrew from classes and he hasn't left his dorm room in about a month. Kon was visiting him and Jax's behavior scared him. Clark brought him here for some rest but we all think he'd do better resting with you all in Santa Fe."

"Because? Aren't we always the ones who don't get him?" Mary asked.

"Because he's human too and he needs to feel protected by his human family. Clark and Kara can share their own captivity experiences, but it's not the same as having his mom and sister take care of him."

"How bad is it, Chloe?"

She sighed and reached out to stroke Alura's hair. "They're so fragile."

"I don't follow."

"Kryptonians," Jimmy finished, understanding. "The five…sorry, almost six of them can do so much. Even Jax can still crush coal to diamonds if he wants, but all they really want is to fit in. All of them have such raging insecurities, even Kara under her bluster. Jax needs security right now and you're his mom."

"I just…I know that. I just want to know what Lex did to him. I need to know it," Mary agreed.

"We promised Jax we'd never tell you everything. He's not hurt, physically, more than the gold K, but it was humiliating for him. It was hard for him to live with the reminder he's not fully human. I…you understand that's why he never dates," Chloe continued.

"What?" Mary asked.

"He doesn't date because he's scared of being rejected like Lana did with Clark or you and Dax-Ur," Jimmy offered.

"But I'm mad at Dexter for lying and saddling me with something I can't keep up with. I know I'm out of my league trying to protect someone as special as Jax. I know it. If Dexter had just been honest for one minute, if he'd tried, I wouldn't have been so bad at all of this."

"He thinks you hate his father," Chloe said. "I can't say he's the only one."

"I hate the lies. I hate being left alone in this. Dexter seemed like a good person to me. I didn't know it was superficial but I thought I loved him."

"Jax needs to hear that," Chloe continued. "He needs to know that a human can love him, that anyone can love him."

"I…of course a human can love him. You two are mostly human," Mary added.

"I'm totally, nothing special," Jimmy reminded her, hugging his daughter close. The fact he'd stayed for this long with Kara and was such a good father to Alura was a contradiction to his statement. Jimmy was special and he had grown into a good man.

"I didn't understand. I just thought he was a bit wild."

"He's so scared and Lex made it that much worse," Chloe said. "He needs you and he needs his family. Frankly, I'd advise he comes clean about being a meta at least to Mr. Deitter and Jessie but I doubt that he can or would. He wants Jessie's adoration."

"Then?"

"He just needs you," she said, forcing a smile. "I'll take you to him."

"Yes please," Mary said, following her up the stairs.

When they reached the doorway to Jax's room, both women smiled a little. Jessie was snuggled next to her brother, who was awake, yet groggy. She was recounting her harrowing journey in the Javelin, complete with exaggerated hand motions to explain her points. Jax was in rapt attention, smiling indulgently at her.

Chloe's smile widened. Maybe they'd found the right medicine after all.

April 1st

"I hate you!"

"No you don't," Chloe replied calmly, watching as Clark grabbed with ferocious strength onto Kon's hand. She healed but there was no need to have her bones be crushed to powder.

"Yes, yes I do," Clark replied, in between deep Lamaze breaths. "I'm never ever having sex again."

"I'm standing right here!" Kon shouted, eyes going wide. "Why am I here?"

Kara looked up from the other end of the crystalline table Clark was laid out on in the Fortress. Chloe's husband was placed under a sheet for modesty, which was for the best. After all, some things couldn't be unseen. "It's a magical moment of life deal."

"This is very traumatizing and I think he broke my hand."

"I'll fix it," Chloe said, holding the cool towel to Clark's neck. "Come on, not much longer. Is it J'onn?"

J'onn, in what she'd come to think of as his "Shaft" persona, shook his head. "No, Kal-El is fully dilated."

"So, so wrong," Kon muttered. "Hey! That squeeze was on purpose," he howled, glaring at his father.

"No it wasn't. This hurts . I passed out last time. Let's do that now."

"Too late," Kara snapped. "Now push."

Chloe watched this go on for an hour-Kon's complaints, Kara and J'onn's vigilant coaching, and Clark's curses and shouts. In the middle of all of this, she held the damp rag to his forehead and try to help keep him breathing. Eventually, Chloe's ear was blessed with the most beautiful sound they'd ever heard.

Her daughter crying.

"Oh god," Kon said and then he fainted.

Fainted.

As in on the Fortress floor.

Chloe rolled her eyes and waited for Kara to take his pulse. "Is he alright?"

Kara nodded. "I think it's the blood. But it's all good, the vessels are closing up. I assume Mo did that as she came out. She's very talented."

"But she still needs to be cleaned off a bit," J'onn intoned, taking a towel and wiping off the blood and mucus. "She'll be okay." In fact, the more J'onn cleaned, the more beautiful she became and Chloe didn't even think that was possible.

Kara smiled after setting her nephew into a sitting position. Then, she walked over and picked up her niece, handing her to Clark. "Kal-El, I present to you the newest member of the House, Mo-Ru-Cek."

Chloe felt small in such a grave moment, during something so noble and ancient, words passed down in his culture for eons. Then Mo sneezed and the spell was broken. She leaned over her husband's shoulder and smiled at the red-haired beauty in front of her. "Hi Moira."

Mo blinked up at her but didn't cry.

"This is your dad," Chloe said, giving her husband a deep kiss. "And I'm…I'm…"

"This, Mo, is your mom," Clark added, hugging their daughter tight to his chest. "She's definitely your mom."


	59. Chapter 59

**59**

**Epilogue**

May 16th

"You're so hungry," Kon said, holding the bottle up so that Mo could get the last drops. "Also, don't tell anyone this, but I sort of like that it's green. I think white milk is weird or I did when I was little. Still, mint green is just…do you think it tastes minty too?"

Large blue eyes looked back up at him and blinked innocently.

"No I guess not," Kon said, setting the bottle down and placing his sister over his shoulder. He began to delicately pat her back to make her burp. He'd done this every night since the first week his sister had been home. He could hear her wake earlier than his father could, his hearing was that much more acute. He wanted to spare his parents some of the waking and exhaustion. It's not like League duties completely stopped or The Daily Planet for mom either.

He wanted time with Mo too, to make up for how he'd been.

"Shh, Mo. You can do it. Just a little one," he said, thinking sadly over the last week. The Luthors had staged an escape from prison and were now hiding out in Switzerland. All the money and power of LuthorCorp had defaulted to Lionel, but that didn't mean that Lex and Lana didn't have recourse or some of their power in a non-extraditing country.

His mom was arguing daily with Uncle Bruce to pull what he had with Lao in Hong Kong years ago.

Kon didn't know if his bio-mom would ever be in the States again, if she'd ever face justice. Worse, he didn't if Lex would come for them again, would come for someone as truly special as Mo.

"I'll take care of you," he promised, smiling a little as she burped. "I'll always take care of you."

"So you're the one getting up early with her?" dad asked.

"Caught," Kon replied, blushing. "I just know you all are tired."

"It's appreciated," his dad said, slumping down into the other rocking chair in Mo's nursery. "You don't have to worry about Lex and Lana. We'll never let them touch any of the four of you."

"I know but he wants Mo. You know he does. She's really powerful."

His dad nodded. "You're all very special and you have to learn to live with the idea that many people want you or would want you if they knew. I grew up with that too."

"Yeah but this is Lex and Lana."

"And we'll be ready when we have to be. You won't fall for her twice."

Kon thought over everything that had happened, of his betrayal, and of his idiocy. "No, I won't."

"Then it's alright. We have the Council-"

"Which is two adults and like four kids."

"And we have the League. Kon, nothing is going to touch you or Mo. I'd die before I ever let that happen."

"I know."

"Besides, the Ghost is on duty." Kon wrinkled his nose on that. "What?"

"You and Aunt Kara…it's outdated."

"Huh?"

"The Ghost. With all the metas coming out, with Poison Ivy or the Penguin or Metallo out there, people want to know that there's a counterpart."

"There's a Batman."

"But he's scary," Kon replied, rocking his sister.

"So?"

"I think you need a make-over. Keep the House symbol but go primary colors, go bright and welcoming."

"Be like mom, you mean. You want me to have a real costume."

"Totally. You could get a new name even if you're not hiding in the shadows. Ooh a new name, maybe Superman!"

Clark rolled his eyes. "That's terrible."

"Maybe," Kon countered, passing Mo to his father in case she was still hungry. "But Supermom isn't quite right."


End file.

Smallville, Drama, Family