Chapter Two: A Tough Break

Chloe woke up when her bedroom door opened and light from the hallway blasted in. In the frame of the doorway, her daughter Caryn stood. Chloe pulled the blue and red quilt over her head to block the light. Absentmindedly she reached for her husband, but Clark's side of the bed was vacant, little to her surprise. She vaguely recalled Clark flying off around one o'clock.

"Is Dad back yet?" Caryn asked.

"Honey, you know Dad's busy," Chloe muttered. "Come in and shut the door."

Gingerly, Chloe lowered the covers as darkness returned to her room. Caryn took Clark's spot in her parent's bed as she sat down.

"I know you wouldn't wake me up for just anything. What's on your mind?"

"Mom, Mark asked me to marry him, and I said yes."

What?

Chloe sat up and turned on her bedside lamp. The brightness didn't sting as her pupils were still dilated. Her heart was racing. Maybe she didn't hear right. She looked at her dark-haired daughter. Caryn's cheeks had gone slightly red. Chloe saw the ring glimmering on Caryn's left hand and she gasped with shock.

"Whoa," Chloe said. She was flabbergasted and felt mute. Caryn was not the emotional dunderhead she and Clark were. Those two had figured things out.

"Don't look at me like that Mom. You look so surprised."

"No, I'm not surprised. No. Well, I am surprised, but only because you're so young! You're only twenty, Caryn." Chloe paused as worry took over, "My, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"No Mommy," Caryn said. "No, Mark and I haven't."

Really?

Chloe decided not to question her daughter's integrity.

"Well, I know from experience how quickly things can change, when it's ready to change," Chloe said pushing back the covers and upping her body out of bed. "Is Mark downstairs? Do you want me to start some coffee or something so you can fly after Dad?"

"No, no..." Caryn stood and made her way to the door. "Mark went home. I just wanted to tell you and Dad first."

"Well, I can use some coffee." Chloe decided. She then approached Caryn and hugged her. "This is wild. I have no idea what your father will say."

*/*/*

Clark Kent came home after his Superman patrol to find his wife and daughter sipping coffee and reading magazines. It was three in the morning. Normally the house was dark and quiet at this hour. It puzzled him to see every light of the main floor on when he approached the house from overhead.

Chloe had gone to bed after enjoying a generous portion of holiday eggnog. Alcohol made Chloe sleep like a log. And Caryn was careful to make sure she was rested. She didn't need as much sleep as her mother did, but she still needed some. Her career as a professional model demanded it. They should both be in bed still.

He entered the house and did a super-change into his bedclothes before he meandered into the kitchen. He thought maybe Caryn had been booked for a magazine. He was in the mindset to remind Caryn that she'd stop modeling on her twenty-first birthday and then enroll at Met U. He worried that her career would ruin his cover, that someone would see the resemblance between her and Superman and conclude correctly, that Caryn was Superman's daughter.

The conversation Chloe and Caryn engaged in didn't sound like her work-related jargon. So Clark hung back a bit at the kitchen counter and considered what would make both his wife and his daughter almost giddy at three a.m.

"Two weeks isn't enough time," Chloe said, shaking her head. Caryn was skimming through the pages of a bridal magazine. "It's Christmas Day."

"Mark hasn't had a lot of merry Christmases. I want him to have one to look forward too."

"I suppose on the plus side he won't forget his anniversary, but it's still not much time," Chloe answered. "We have so much shopping to do, and cooking, and the flowers."

"Dad and I have super-speed, there's time." Caryn countered. "Christmas Day is completely possible, even if it's two weeks away."

"What's this about?" Clark grimaced as he tasted the leftover coffee. He then heat-visioned it to his liking. "Have you been booked now on the bridal beat?"

Chloe and Caryn stopped bantering.

"One could say that. Clark, you may want to sit down." Chloe placed her hand on his shoulder when Clark took his spot at the head of the table. "Caryn, do you have something to show your dad?"

She lifted her left hand and showed her father the ring Mark had given her.

Clark's jaw dropped and he stared at his folded hands to collect himself. This was a punch in the gut stronger than a Green K wallop.

"Mark asked and I said yes."

No, no, a million times no. You're too young.

"Chloe, is this true?" Clark asked with a gulp.

"Yeah," Chloe answered in her most comforting voice. "It's a tough break, isn't it?" She hugged him and then resumed her spot next to Caryn and grabbed New Winter Brides for her reading.

"Caryn, you're twenty years old. Why do you want to rush? You have such a long life ahead of you."

"Mark and I have been dating for two years, and we were best friends before that, we're not rushing," Caryn argued back. "Dad, we're in love. Please be happy."

"Have you told him our secret?"

"Not yet," Caryn admitted. "I can't quite figure out how."

"I just thought you'd have told him, if you're that close. You weren't even tempted?"

"Dad, it scares the crap out of me. He's never suspected my powers."

"Well, he should know what he's headed into," Chloe piped in.

Clark looked at his daughter's hands as she twisted them together. Handwringing was a habit that she learned from her mom.

"You don't really think that you can hide this forever, do you?"

Well, no. Of course not.

"Caryn, your mother is right."

Agreeing, Caryn tilted her chin up and pushed her cup of coffee away. "So, you're okay with me and Mark getting married? If I tell him?"

"I think maybe you should try out the secret on him first." He wanted to hug Caryn and reassure her. "Mark's a good guy and if you trust him, I will too, but...I really think you should wait. Have a two-year engagement. Your mom and I will plan a big party, grand as you want."

Caryn pondered the idea.

"Do you trust him?"

"Yes," Caryn whispered, "but Mark wants to be married right away and I can't imagine disappointing him. If I say no, or say 'let's wait' he'll be hurt. It might give him reason to reject me and I can't imagine him not being in my life."

Caryn was notably more depressed from the serious expressions her dad kept giving.

"I love him and he's had to wait on so many things, I don't want him to wait on me. So, if we get married, it will be in two weeks, on Christmas, just like he asked. As far as the other...I don't even know how to bring the subject up. That's my problem, and he could have so many questions, about you or about mom's Kryptonite infection or even Aunt Lois. It's a family thing, and I don't know. I mean, he's never had a clue and the glasses work great for all of us, does he really need to know that I'm half Kryptonian?"

"As much as I don't want other people to know our situation, your husband is not one of them. He might have questions if you have children. If you don't tell him, I will."

"Daddy, no. I'll do it." Caryn said collecting her copies of magazines. "I'll tell him I'm Superman's daughter. I'm just nervous it could end badly."

"Honey," Chloe assured. "I've watched you two since you were sixteen. He's not going to reject you."

"No, I don't think he would, but he'll never see me as the same."

"These things go a bit better than not," Clark assured her. "Sharing something like this with someone you love and trust can be really amazing. And I'll be here."

"So will I," Chloe said.