Chapter 1 Family Secret

Lois Lane Kent stared at the picture upon her mantle. She smiled at what she saw. It was something she thought was impossible for her to have. Something that had been absent in her childhood, and something as a young adult she convinced herself she didn't need. But as she stared at the picture she knew it represented everything she ever wanted: a family. While she remembered it had not come easy, every hardship and sacrifice she had endured in the pursuit of it was worth it.

"Mom! Have you seen my chemistry book?" She heard the annoyed voice of her oldest child. Colin Jonathan Kent was the happiest surprise of her life. After a year or so of thinking she and Clark could not have children he was conceived on a night of passion when Lois came with in inch of losing her soul mate. Clark had been rendered powerless with Kryptonite and thus adding the one missing component needed for the couple to conceive a child.

Clark walked down the steps finishing buttoning his shirt and coving up his is alter-ego. He didn't miss the eye role and huff of annoyed breath his son offered out. He would have never anticipated the attitude his son would take upon finding out he was Superman. He had tried to talk to his son, but the conversations never got very far.

Clark tried to ignore the behavior of the angry teenage. He went up to his wife and gave her a soft yet passionate kiss.

"Gross! You do know you might be wasting your time motioning what I'm watching on TV if you are going to do this in the living room," said a small yet commanding voice from behind them. They turned to the owner of the voice with her hand on her hips and big brown eyes narrowed in attitude. She shook her head slightly before walking off into the kitchen.

"Oh, she is so your child," Clark said with a laugh.

"You might be right. She hasn't started floating in her sleep yet, when that starts happening she's all yours," Lois quipped back.

"Hey if I do recall correctly, you didn't mind when I did it last night," he said in a low husky whisper.

"Oh Clark, stop," Lois said hitting him playfully and grabbing his hand and leading him into the kitchen. They separated as Lois went to make the coffee and Clark want to the stove to make breakfast.

"Morning Alexis," Lois said to her middle child who had her nose in a book and headphones in her ears.

"Now that ones yours," Lois said with a slight giggle pointing to her oldest daughter and referring to her quiet, almost mild mannered attitude that often mirrored Clark's when he was not dressed as his alter ego.

Colin walked in to the kitchen a defiant look in his eyes and voice to match when he spoke.

"I'm going to play football." For a normal family this would not be a concern, but the Kent's weren't normal. They were truly out of this world. Clark and Lois shared a look before Clark spoke.

"Remember what we said about that Colin. It might not be the best idea. We can talk about it together in a minute," he said trying to talk calmly. The last thing he wanted to do was upset him. If he did he might just join the team to spite him.

"Yeah I know what you said, but I'm done talking. I want to do this. I don't see what the big deal is, I never use these damn powers anyway." Clark and Lois looked at their son in disbelief. Alexis's head shot up from her book to look at her brother as if he had lost his mind. It wasn't the boys attitude that shocked the other Kent's, he had been that way for some time, but rather his thoughtless outburst that left the youngest Kent with a very confused look on her face.

While the two older Kent children had found out about their father quite young and quite by mistake. Lois and Clark had agreed to keep it from their youngest and protect the innocence that their older children had sacrificed the night they had caught their mother kissing the caped hero of Metropolis. The older children at the ages of six and four had agreed to keep the family secret.

Clark believed it was this sacrifice that had led his only son to resent him and the family legacy. Upon finding out about Lois's third pregnancy, Clark had vowed to keep his secret identity a secret from his youngest child.

Keeping the secret up to this point hadn't been that difficult. Lois and Clark had learned from their mistakes with the first two kids and it was also helped that at eight years old Claire had yet to show any signs of superpowers. The other children had shown sporadic superpowers since conception. Both pregnancies gave Lois the ability to float. And Alexis's had given her the ability to see through walls for the last four months of the pregnancy. As babies they had both floated out of their cribs. The only explanation Dr. Kline could give (he had been let in on the secret once Lois had found out she was pregnant with Colin) was that the children were conceived and carried under a yellow sun thus causing them to develop their powers faster than Clark had been give his. Claire was an intelligent kid, but superpowers seemed delayed or nonexistent in her case.

What's going on? What is he talking about?" Claire asked as she watched her older brother slam the front door leaving his family to clean up the mess he had created.

Clark contemplated constructing an answer would explain his son's words, but still allow him to protect his little girl. As he looked into the young girl's eyes, ones that matched his own, he knew she was growing up and lying to her would serve any good. He knew, although he did not want to admit it, that she could indeed handle the truth and deserved to know it.

Clark looked at Lois. She gave him an approving smile.

"Dad she'll be okay with it." He could hear the voice of his oldest daughter in his head. The Kryptonian genes he and children shared allowed him to communicate with them in that way, although only Alexis ever used it. Clark let out a heavy sigh, but just as he was about to explain, he heard a cry for help.

"Oh, no," he said out loud.

"God, I hate to explain it like this, and I swear we will talk later, but I have to go. Forgive me," he said and without another word he spun into a blur and when he came to a stop he was Superman.

"Wow," was all Claire could utter as she watched her father leave.

"Now Claire…" Lois started.

"Hey Mom," Alexis interrupted. "You have to get to work and we need to get to school. How about I walk Claire to her school and I'll answer her questions," Alexis offered out as she grabbed her backpack from the back of the chair. She knew that Claire would have questions that her mother just couldn't answer.

Lois nodded and smiled at her daughters as they exited the house.