If I could tell the world just one thing it would be;
We're all okay
And not to worry, 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
Won't be idle with despair
I'll gather myself around my faith;
For light does the darkness most fear
~ "Hands" By Jewel
Kon-El was wise beyond his few years and understood much more than Kal-El could ever have imagined the clone would. They had both come a long way – Kal still wasn't ready to announce that Kon was quite possibly his biological offspring, but he was getting there. Someday, he had promised himself, he would look Kon in the eyes and tell him that he was proud to call him his son. And he was…but he was also afraid to do just that.
Then there were days when Kon showed just how old he really was. Days when he clenched his fists at his sides and glared to keep from jumping up and down in awe as he discovered more and more secrets of the Batcave. Days when he stumbled over his words and told Kal that he thought M'gann was "pretty" in a voice so low no one else could hear it and blushed as if he was in third grade and that one word could betray all his affections for the Martian girl. Days when he could do calculus in his sleep but couldn't figure out politics because wasn't everyone as logical about choosing their leaders as the Team had been? Didn't all the candidates want the best for the people above all? And why would anyone run for a position just to get the glory?
Then there were days like this; when Kon's innocence absolutely broke his father's heart.
"Why?"
The two Kryptonians, as Clark and Connor Kent, stood in front of the pools where the Twin Towers had once stood. Clark looked down at the boy by his side. Connor was frowning, staring at the plaques as if they could give him the answers he was seeking. Black hair blew in the wind and bare, muscled arms didn't even acknowledge the brisk chill in the September air.
"I don't know why." Clark replied.
Connor looked up, the absolute shock on his face making Clark smirk. It would have been hilarious, had the circumstances been better.
"What? I don't know everything." Clark defended.
Connor turned back to the plaques. "I mean, I get that people disagree – but can't they just talk about it? I've seen Nightwing and Artemis do it, so I know the humans are capable."
Clark laughed bitterly. "Yeah, they're capable alright. Of more than they'll admit."
"Then why don't they?" Connor looked at Clark again, and the older man sighed deeply.
"Who knows?" He asked wistfully. He turned his gaze to the dying sun, which warmed his skin and made him feel stronger even as it disappeared beyond the horizon. The playful rays that danced from it were blissfully ignorant of the solemn scene they were so high above.
"I wish I could have done something." Connor murmured softly.
Clark's eyes softened and he laid a hand on his student's shoulder. "Me too." He said.
The two of them turned to the water in the pools, staring at it in silence.
"It makes you think, doesn't it?" Clark commented finally.
"Yeah." Connor replied, his voice distant. "Someday." He whispered.
Clark tensed. "What?"
"Oh, nothing." Connor seemed embarrassed, shuffling his feet. "I was just thinking about how much I tell myself that I'm going to do things 'someday'. I wonder if humans do that. And…I just thought of all the somedays that will never happen."
Clark couldn't help but stare at the boy, hardly more than a biological toddler. There were days when Kon-El seemed to be wiser than his mentor.
"Clark!"
The Kents turned to see a woman running toward them with a messanger bag slung over one shoulder and a pencil tucked behind one ear. Clark's face immediately brightened.
"Lois!" He smiled, embracing her when she approached him. "What are you doing here?"
"I got the 9/11 memorial article – I thought I told you." The woman brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
"That's great, Lois!" Clark exclaimed, grinning. He felt the urge to kiss his girlfriend, but the presence of Connor lingered at the edge of his mind. Seeming to sense the awkwardness, Connor shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I'm going to go get a taxi back to the hotel. See you later, Clark." He said casually, turning on his heel and strolling off. Clark watched him go gratefully.
"Yeah, see you." He offered lamely to the retreating figure. When he turned back to Lois, Clark could see the confusion on her face. He dropped his gaze – as if Connor's sudden maturity wasn't enough to throw the man of steel. "What?"
"Who was that?" Lois asked him.
"That was Connor Kent. He's my, uh," Clark struggled with the words that tumbled around in his brain. Sensing his discomfort, his girlfriend lifted his chin so he was looking at her.
"Clark?" She questioned, confused.
Someday.
"He's my…son." Kal-El of Krypton said quietly, in a voice hardly louder than the breeze that whipped through the streets of New York City. He clenched his fists to keep them from shaking. He had no idea what he was going to tell Lois Lane or even what Batman's approved cover story was. All he knew was that as he stood in the wake of lost and broken "somedays", it seemed disrespectful to say anything else.