"Your mom is what?" Pete asked, his eyes wide.
Clark sighed and straddled one of the rolling office chairs in The Torch . "The ship impregnated my mom. I'm getting a real sibling, a half-brother or half-sister."
"And so I'm straight, the world's foremost authority on alien life told you this and introduced you to a Martian who knew your dad, Jor-El, on the planet Kryptos?"
"Krypton," Clark corrected offhandedly. "But that's basically the gist of it. That and Dr. Swann's colleague said my mom's pregnancy would be fast but safe. She's at about seventeen weeks in effect. We're being flown at to New York tomorrow to hear about the sex."
"Your mom is pregnant with a baby like you," Pete repeated as if the words were in Sanskrit or something equally foreign to him.
"Well half-Kryptonian. We don't know if it would have my abilities. So far the baby is just growing very fast. I have no idea if it would slow down, stay the same, or get even faster. It's pretty scary. I mean, I could get a sibling who ends up aging so fast they die in like a year or one that turns out more or less normal. I wish mom hadn't done this. I don't think if the baby turns out to age lightening fast and dies it will be good for them. In fact, I'm certain it would crush her and dad both."
"So your dad's just cool with the ship knocking up your mom?"
" Impregnating ," Clark corrected. "Knocking up makes mom sound complicit. The ship took advantage of her and it was so wrong. I feel incredibly guilty because it was my idea to use the ship to cure her in the first place. I had no idea it would do this. I get that she probably would have died without the ship, but it doesn't make it any better that this whole thing is happening to her. It's so harsh!"
Pete nodded and leaned back on the sofa. Rubbing at his eyes, he added, "Clark?"
"Huh?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but, uh, you weren't like hatched from an egg or came out green and scaly?"
"I don't know. Did you come out scaly?"
"No but I'm-"
"Human, I noticed. No, the baby should be pretty normal. Dr. Crosby insists it looks good; it's just its blood work and DNA that are way off."
"I just can't even imagine this. You're getting a little brother or sister with basically superpowers."
"We don't know this."
"Your mom is about to have an alien baby."
"A half-Kryptonian," Clark corrected again, impatiently. "It sucks but it's not like it's some monster with an exoskeleton. That's just not fair to me, Pete."
"Oh I know that. It's just weird."
"It's totally a violation of my mom, but she's making the best of it. I think she really wants to give birth just once."
"I don't really buy your dad is happy with this."
"He loves kids. He took me home without a thought and since it's part mom and going to be related to me, I think that helps take some of the sting out of it, but, yeah, that double sucks."
"So one more time-your bio-dad Jor-El rigged your spaceship to basically rape any poor woman with a compromised immune system who wandered by under the right like button press or whatever?"
"Yeah."
"Fucked up, man. That's just super fucked up."
Clark nodded and leaned his chin on the chair back. "Believe me. I know. I wish there was something I could do, but I can't undo it, and mom's dead set on this. I don't get how she can be excited about this. She's convinced herself that if she got rid of the baby, that I'd be offended. I want a sibling, sure, but I get if having a half-Kryptonian would freak her out too much."
"Definitely," he replied and Clark tried not to notice him shudder a little. "So what's the plan?"
"I...well my plan is to take care of the baby as best I can. If it grows really fast into having powers, I'll just have to teach them how to control it, channel my inner Jedi master."
"No, I meant the plan to hide your mom until she delivers in like 6 1/2 weeks and the kiddo if they're growing superfast?"
"Mom's going to just stay on the farm. We're on the outskirts of town. By the final week, she'll be in New York, in case she delivers early."
"So ten weeks? That seems a little long if I do the math right."
Clark shrugged. "Growing fast, hormone levels trailing behind. I think she'll be huge by eight weeks and who knows how it'll go from there. Personally, I hope if the hormones are developing slower than the fetus that maybe the baby's growth can slow down. I can't imagine him or her having to hide on the farm forever. I could pass, you know? You can't explain a kid who's an infant one month and in kindergarten by the end of the year. It just doesn't work."
"Ouch. That really sucks."
"The whole thing sucks," he said, sighing again. "I just want the baby to have a normal life. I was scared when I found out mom was pregnant but hopeful the baby might be my dad's, normal you know?"
"Yeah."
"Now it might be even weirder than I am and I wouldn't wish that on anybody."
"Double yeah, but you're not so weird," he hedged. "I mean you don't turn into a swarm of bugs or a wolf. That's a plus."
"Imagine me feeling so lucky. Such a mess."
"So speaking of messes," Pete segued. "What's up with you and Chloe?"
"Huh?"
"Chloe aka Lois Lane aka possibly a secret superhero or meteor freak."
"It's not nice to call people that. She's not a freak."
"Like I said, Jody Melville. It's all you need to know. You've been on the receiving end of some serious violence from them like with Tina or Sean Kelvin. I don't know how you can be so relaxed about everything."
"Would it change things so much? Chloe's been our friend for almost three years and, yes, she pries too much sometimes, but she's never hurt us. I don't think she ever would."
Despite her Machiavellian leanings, Chloe cared a lot about him and Pete and wouldn't threaten or hurt them. She might have to be tempered in interrogations and meeting new sources of information, but she'd never touch them. He could feel it.
Pete narrowed his eyes at Clark, studying him. "She's really infected, isn't she?"
"I didn't say that."
"You're a terrible liar. I can always tell when you're bullshitting. Chloe's a meteor freak."
"She's not."
"The Florence Nightingale act on the bus in Metropolis. Her being so mad at your own investigation. Definitely a freak."
"What am I to you?" Clark asked, feeling as if he'd been stripped bare.
"Huh?"
"If you're scared of people like Jody or angry about Chloe, what do you really think of me. Either you want to use my powers like a toy or a game or you get nervous around me. What do you really think about me, Pete? Hell about my new little brother or sister?"
"You're my best friend, man. We've been best friends since we were five."
"I didn't ask how long we'd been friends."
"I make exceptions for you. I know you're not infected by the meteors so you're not slated to go batshit."
"Wow that's so diplomatic to the infected."
"And about two weeks ago, you'd call them freaks too and mean it. You're my best friend, you'll always be my best friend, and I'm not getting why asking you to take an awesome slam dunk once in a while or grab a hot dog from the Sharks's stadium at lunch is so bad. You do it."
"I just...sometimes I feel like your pet," Clark replied. "I don't want to show off my powers. I don't want to feel like you're just waiting for me to do them like a trained dog."
"I don't. I've almost been killed for you. I stole something from the government for you. If there are some fringe benefits from knowing you then why is that bad?"
Clark couldn't swallow or breathe very well at that thought. "If you can't see why it's creepy and wrong, Pete, then we're not as good friends as you thought. I got to get home. I don't like leaving mom alone after school."
"Clark, man-"
"Nah, see you later." With that, Clark sped home.
"Mom, I can reach that," he said, easily extending his arms over hers to the next to top shelf of the cabinet.
His mom stood back from being on tip toe and shrugged. "I needed the coriander. I'm not an invalid."
"You're like three and a half months pregnant. You don't need to be exerting yourself at all. You never know what could happen."
She sighed and patted the small bump she was cultivating. It was maybe ten pounds, which was weird enough in so few weeks, but it wasn't noticeably per say unless you knew what you were looking at. It just looked like she'd put on some winter weight.
"The doctors and J'onn insist that I'm fine. I think I can cook dinner."
"Sorry, I'm super nervous. I don't know how this is supposed to work, it really scares me."
His mom leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Sweetheart, it's going to work. Everyone is on board saying that it will."
"Why are you keeping the baby, really?"
His mom frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
"I..." he started, twisting the tails of his flannel shirt. "It isn't just about proving you're not scared of my abilities or grossed out by me, is it? Because I'd rather you just do what's safe and sane than worry about offending me. You know that, right?"
"I know, baby, and it is part of it, I admit that. I know this is a crazy gamble, but I lost a child before and this is something I've always wanted. For Pete's sake, it's a way to give you someone like you, a real blood relative when you'll never have one otherwise."
"You and dad are okay though? I know this has to be hurting him."
She smiled and stroked his cheek. "Your dad has been so great about everything." She shook her head. "It was always my fault we couldn't have a child. Now I can have one...I know even you think I'm nuts for doing this, but it feels right."
"And if the ship like brainwashed you-"
"I don't think it did that."
"We have no idea what it can do. It cures the dying and makes women who can't get pregnant pregnant!"
"I know who I am and what I want. I want you to have a sibling, I always did, especially after Ryan. I want to give this family another person to love, and I want to feel what it's like to give birth. Your father couldn't love you more if you were blood family. I didn't ask for this at all, but I know your father will love the baby as fiercely as he does you."
"I hate this."
"Don't. So, tell me more about Chloe."
"Chloe?"
"You haven't called her in the last couple of days. Since you found out about her powers, you two have been off having all sorts of adventures. Even ones to the Big Apple."
"Desperate times, mom."
"I don't care how scared you are of telling me something. Don't run off again. I'd rarely been so scared."
"I promise."
"Now, why hasn't your partner in crime been around?"
"She's upset."
"Still nervous we know?"
"No, when she came over to cure me, she read me this letter about how she loved me."
"Oh Clark, you shot her down, didn't you?"
"No," he said, sprinkling the spice into the stew, saving his mother the small effort. "I said I wanted to try and she didn't believe me. She said she 'just wanted to be friends' and has avoided coming by The Torch since Monday afternoon."
"You're ready to date her? After everything with Lana?"
"That was Chloe's reaction. Is it so hard to believe I can love her? She saved my life, mom." His mom frowned and shook her head. "What? Why does no one believe me?"
"Is this like Kyla too? Where you fall so hard because she has an ability?"
"That's not what this is. I've known Chloe for almost three years. We're already best friends. I took her to Spring Formal and would have kissed her if not for the tornado. She's the one who insisted on being 'just good friends' after the storm. I care about her so much."
"Then maybe you can back off and give her time. We've all seen how much you cared about Lana and, frankly, obsessed over her throughout the years. It's not surprising Chloe isn't jumping to be your girlfriend. Not at all."
"Are you doubting me?"
"No, but you're young and she saved your life and she isn't quite normal. I don't want you confusing gratitude and a desire to fit with someone who's more than human for love for Chloe. If you don't actually love her and eventually break it off down the line when you can't deliver on your promises? It will crush her and you won't ever be friends again. Maybe Chloe doesn't want to lose what you already have."
"But we could be something better!"
"Maybe not right now. Now wash up. Dinner will be ready in five minutes."
Clark was sitting in his loft, throwing his favorite baseball at the wall. The motion of throwing and catching relaxed him, helped him think. He had a baby brother. Yesterday, Dr. Crosby had confirmed that it was a boy. In a matter of weeks, Christopher Kent would be coming into the world. It made him smile to see his dad already digging out his old toys, the fire trucks and fake carpentry "tools." His dad was talking of group fishing trips and Sharks games when Chris was old enough, which, for all they knew could be two years from now.
It was pretty cool to have a little brother, like Ryan. It wasn't that a sister couldn't be cool, but he did like doing guy things. He thought it was a little easier for his dad if he could plan group activities for both his sons.
Tossing the ball again, Clark let his thoughts wander. God, just let the baby be normal once it got here. Let the aging slow down and let no one notice his mom had ever been pregnant. They could claim adoption. His mom knew people from her lawyer days in Metropolis who could help them with that. He'd be crushed, though, if all of this was for naught and Chris couldn't leave the farm, had to hide in a way that even he hadn't as a kid.
"I hate this. Why on Earth would the ship do this?"
"I have a question," a familiar voice called out as boots thumped up the stairs.
"Chloe?" he asked, turning his head to look at her. "I thought you weren't really speaking to me."
"No, I wanted to be friends."
"'Wanted?' Why does that sound like past tense."
She shook her head and glared at him as if she had heat vision herself. "You told Pete about me."
"No, I lied for you. Back before I figured everything out, I did talk to Pete about my research, about the bus accident. He pieced everything together for himself, but he confronted me about it on Tuesday and I denied it all I could."
"He didn't believe a word you said. He...god, Clark, the way he looked at me. Did you know he quit The Torchtoday?"
"He'd never do that."
"Oh he did do it. He said he couldn't hang out with someone who thought he treated them like a pet dog and someone who was a ticking time bomb. Jody Melville must have really fucked him up because we're not the same at all. What am I gonna do? Heal him to death?"
"He said that about me too?"
"Yeah, he said you fought and that you insulted him. He doesn't want anything to do with either of us. How could you spoil my secret?"
"You told Pete back last year that my adoption was a sham. I was researching. I didn't know how far the rabbit hole went. I'm really sorry. I had no idea Pete was so scarred, that he was such a freaking bigot."
"Is it true?"
"I didn't tell him anything after I knew, that's definitely true."
"No, I know you mentioned he's not always nice to you. Does he really think of you like a pet?"
"I don't even know anymore," he said, laughing mirthlessly. "I didn't want to be asked to do tricks all the time. If he's mad at you and avoiding you, it's still better than him treating me less than human."
Chloe frowned. "You're not. You're kind of a jerk for telling all your research to Pete when it wasn't your damn business, but you're not heinous or anything. I...snooping I understand. It hurts that Pete can't trust me because of one experience with Jody."
"She did almost kill him and you had your run-ins with the sicker meteor infected-Sean, Justin, Ian. You've just been lucky that I was here to save you."
She laughed. "Wish I'd had the time to tell you or the guts that I can't be frozen, impaled, or crushed to death. It would have meant less chance for you to expose your secret."
"And then you'd still have died, even if you heal. I'm glad I saved you that."
"Sometimes I wish even if I can...even if I am an empath, that I packed more of a wallop. Reflecting stuff back isn't useful when someone hurls you off a bridge."
"No, I guess not."
"Clark, what are we going to do? I don't even know if I can trust you. You dug so hard."
"So have you. I'm so sorry about Pete. I thought we were the three musketeers and always would be. I didn't know how freaked out he was by people with powers. Me, he liked, cause I'm like a vending machine. I didn't realize about Jody and his phobia. I wish to god I'd never told him my suspicions. You didn't deserve the treatment he gave you."
"No I didn't but you also take on too much. You can't be responsible for Pete's reaction with the ideas you bounced off of him. You can't be responsible for some booby trap Jor-El set up in your ship."
"Can't I? My planet. The rocks that changed you, the way you can't fit in in the rest of the world. Christ, my brother isn't going to fit either if he keeps aging so fast. I ruin everything."
"You're so Atlas, Clark. It's not true. You can't save everyone and you can't help rocks that followed you here as a baby or something the ship tricked you into. You just can't. I thought you had a plan to care as best as you could for Chris is it?"
"Yup, Christopher Hiram Kent. Dad and mom are excited, getting toys and the crib out. I'm so glad that dad's trying to make a go of it."
She smiled and sat down on the steamer trunk. "Thank god for small blessings, as Grammy Lane used to say. Whatever Chris is or isn't, you're going to be a great big brother. You were amazing with Ryan."
"I really liked him."
She nodded. "I know. Clark, I am mad about Pete but you didn't even know what you were looking at exactly. Just don't tell anyone else. I know you had to explain to your parents so that I could heal your mom. I know that you slipped with Pete cause you didn't get the danger that I'm in. I do understand that. But I cannot go back to Star Labs. I won't ."
"I'd never betray you. I'd die before I did that."
"I thought you were in the practically immortal club!"
"Kryptonite, um, the meteor rocks can hurt me."
"Kryptonite, huh? I guess that's as good a name as any."
"Alright then, we've got the rules down. I have two things I need to do though."
"I'm not going on a date with you."
Speaking of Kryptonite, it felt like she'd just stabbed him in the chest. He had been such a dick to her.
"No, not that. I had two offers. I can't do anything for Chris and Mom but be there for both of them. I can't find an answer to change that."
"Okay?"
"I have free time. Come out with me."
"We just established that."
"No, I mean to Edge City. It's far enough from Metropolis not to be suspicious and only thirty miles from Smallville."
"And what are you doing there?"
"Saving people. I don't mean to go all Wallflowers on you, but we could be heroes."
She laughed. "You already saved half the people in Smallville."
"And you healed more than just a busload in Metropolis. Help me. We'll get costumes and everything. We can do so much together. You said you had this gift for a reason and I believe that about my powers too. I need to know that there's a real reason for all this Kryptonian bullshit and that I'm not like Jor-El or that Zod guy."
"You're not."
"Then help me not be. Also, I am going to be researching The Traveler , whether you want me to or not. The Teagues aren't ever going to stop searching for 'Lois Lane' until they realize she's not the person they want. We have to find out what and who The Traveler is and how to explain to the Teagues they've got the wrong person."
"Clark, I maimed Genevieve for life. She's not going to let that go. What do we do then? Against a freaking witch, more or less. Even if we hog tied The Traveler , which we'd never do, she'll want my head on a pike."
"We'll figure this out, but we need that information or else we're stuck and they already killed 'Lois Lane;' I will not let them touch Chloe Sullivan."
