AN: I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed and favorited this story in its previous incarnation, especially JoPoGirlsKickAss and FlyingSolo365 whom both provided tons of support and constructive criticism. I really hope you'll still like the rewrite. Still no Beta, so all mistakes are on me.
Oh and if you were curious Jason and Lara are inspired by Superman Returns and and The Adventures of Superman #638, respectively. Chris is inspired by the Action Comics "Last Son" arc.
Disclaimer: DC owns like everything.
When Christopher Kent was six years old he spent his first Thanksgiving in Smallville. He had been adopted by the Kents only a few months before and it was his first holiday, not just with his new family but ever.
He got up with Clark and Grandpa Kent at sunrise and helped with the chores. Feeding chickens and milking cows, taking delight in tasks most considered work. Lois, ever the city-girl, had woken a few hours later and spent the day sitting at the kitchen table keeping Grandma Kent company while she cooked their Thanksgiving feast, occasionally helping with some minor task she couldn't screw up with her cooking disability. Connor and Kara had made Clark's early patrol so he could spend the morning with Chris and arrived at the farm in time to introduce Chris to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Queen, who would later become Aunt Chloe and Uncle Oliver, had joined them for lunch, which of course had been delicious. The meal had been a boisterous affair and the little farmhouse had practically exploded with familial love.
As the years passed, leaves had to be added to the table to accommodate the growing crowd and eventually a "kids table" had to be set-up. But the menu only varied in quantity and perhaps an additional dessert option and the farmhouse was always warm in a way that had nothing to do with temperature. It was the kind of warmth that came from true compassion, totally acceptance and genuine gratitude. The kind of warmth that always seemed to radiate from the Kents.
Thanksgiving quickly became Chris' favorite holiday, perhaps because he was always so grateful Lois and Clark had kept him away from his birth parents, Ursa and Zod. Regardless of the reason he looked forward to Thanksgiving every year. So even though Chris was exhausted from balancing his internship, college classes and his superhero work, he couldn't help but be in a good mood when he landed on the balcony of his parents' Metropolis penthouse just after 10 pm the night before Thanksgiving.
Chris focused his super-hearing on the apartment just beyond the glass doors and detected 3 heartbeats. He knew without having to look that they belonged to his mother and the twins. The twins were 14 now and high school freshmen. Jason was into art and was on the yearbook team as a photographer. Lara was on student council and wrote for the school newspaper. Journalism was a family tradition. Their mother was now managing editor of the Daily Planet, their father was an assistant editor there as well and Chris was majoring in visual journalism.
Chris heard a familiar sound and knew his dad was now standing behind him.
"Hey Dad." Chris said turning to look at his father.
"Welcome home Chris." Clark said.
"Thanks Dad." Chris replied.
"Excited about tomorrow?" Clark asked with a grin.
"Yeah. You?"
Clark nods. "It'll be weird to not have it at the farm though."
Chris shrugged. "A little but everyone is coming; that's all that really matters."
Clark smiled. "That's what your grandmother said."
Chris grinned at that and finally opened the door, ushering his dad in before him.
"You look tired." Clark said.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to turn in. Night Dad." Chris said with a yawn.
"Night Chris."
Sunlight peaked through the blinds and the beam of light hit a slumbering Kryptonian in the eye. Chris groaned and rolled over, covering his head with his pillow. His little brother laughed quietly from the other side of the room where he was sitting on his bed.
A few minutes later Chris gave an enormous sigh, tossed the pillow aside, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I don't even now why I bother. It's not like I can ever go back to sleep after the sun is up anyway." Chris said.
Jason shrugged. "We're all like that."
"What are you drawing?" Chris asked gesturing to the sketchbook open on Jason's lap.
Jason held up the open book. He had taped a photograph above the spine and there were some trial doodles next to it. Below the spine, filling the entire page, was Jason's drawing of the photograph. The picture was of Dawn Allen, Ally Wayne and Marina Curry outside at Kent farm at the twins' last birthday party. Jason had mostly finished the three girls and was working on the corn in the background. "My art teacher said I needed to work on texture." Jason said.
"It looks great. I can't wait to see it when it's done." Chris replied honestly.
There was a knock on the doorframe and Jason and Chris both looked up. Lara was standing in the doorway. "Morning guys. Are we going?" She asked.
Their honorary big brother, Conner, had recently gotten engaged to his longtime girlfriend Cassandra Sandsmark aka Wonder Girl aka Wonder Woman's half-sister. With both families wanting to spend Thanksgiving with the newly engaged couple, they had agreed to all spend it together. As Cassie's family had the bigger house, it was decided that everyone who normally made their way to Kent farm on the fourth Thursday in November, would make their way to Wayne Manor in Gotham instead. In addition, Martha and Jonathan Kent would arrive a day early so Martha could help Alfred with the preparation of the holiday feast. However this meant that no one would be around to do the chores on the farm so Chris, Jason, and Lara had agreed to fly to Kansas that morning to do them before they left for Gotham.
"Yeah just give me a sec." Chris replied climbing out of bed.
Jason put down his sketchbook and tugged on sneakers and Chris noticed for the first time that he was dressed in work clothes not pajamas. Lara and Jason were dressed similarly in beat-up jeans and a flannel shirt, the primary difference being Lara's shirt was red and Jason's was blue. Chris internally laughed as he put on his own jeans, a gray flannel shirt and sneakers.
"Alright let's go." Chris said standing up.
By the time they got back from the farm, had showered and changed, and made their way to the kitchen their mom was sitting at the round kitchen table nursing her first cup of coffee and their dad, back from his morning patrol, was at the stove making breakfast.
"Morning." Jason said before moving to help his dad with breakfast by making toast with his heat vision.
"Happy Thanksgiving." Lara added before pouring three glasses of orange juice, one each for her, Jason and their dad.
Chris kissed his mother on the cheek, poured himself a cup of coffee and offered to top off his parents'. They both declined, Clark with an "I'm good" and Lois with a "not yet."
Chris pulled plates out of the cabinet and placed one in front of Lois and each of the 4 empty chairs around the table. He put his coffee cup down two seats from his mom and went back for silverware. Lara put down a glass of juice in front of each of the other three seats and sat down next to her mom. Jason followed a silverware toting Chris back to the table with a plate in each hand, one was covered in bacon and the other was heaped with toast. After setting down both plates in the middle of the table he took the seat between his brother and sister. Clark was only a second or two behind them carrying a large bowl of scrambled eggs. Clark took his usual seat between Lois and Chris and the family dug in to a classic American breakfast.
The conversation flowed naturally. Lois and Clark talked about work and current events in Metropolis, Chris told an amusing anecdote about is roommate, and the twins talked about their superhero training and high school. After breakfast Lois went to get ready to leave for Gotham and Clark flew off to answer a cry for help. Chris turned the TV on to the parade and he, Jason, and Lara laughed over the enormous balloons while they cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. By 11:00 they were all piled into Lois' Audi Q7 on the freeway out of Metropolis. Lois chatted with her husband as he drove, while in the back seat Chris showed Lara pictures on his camera, and Jason started a new drawing in his sketchpad.
To Be Continued…
Please review and let me know what you think of the rewrite! Better, worse, wait and see?