54

"I feel stupid."

Chloe smiled calmly back at him. "You shouldn't."

He looked down at his hands, which were glowing a bright rose. "I can do the light show but so far, all I could do was a paper cut on Lois."

"Well," she replied, holding out her hand to show the slice across her palm. "I got more ambitious than I thought."

"I can't heal a gash in your hand and everyone's expecting me to undo a coma and deadly pneumonia."

"Bruce talked to Zatanna. There's only one way to bring someone back from the brink and it's an even exchange. Magic's like physics deep down. You have to exchange one force for another. If someone lives, someone else has to die. We don't do that and Jax wouldn't want that."

"No pressure."

"Sorry," she said, contritely, holding out her hand again for him. "I'm coagulating a bit, but you can do this."

Clark sighed and the colors around him rippled gold then almost russet. "I've been trying for thirty minutes. Maybe I got lucky with Lois. It's not like it was a very big cut."

"She wasn't going to volunteer to lose a hand."

"I know. I just…what if I can't, Chlo?"

She leaned forward and touched his cheek. "Calm down. You can't think about what's going to happen or what happens if it doesn't work."

"That's all I can think about. If Jax dies-"

"He's not going to," she said firmly. "Here, just breathe in and out."

"Like how Kon and Maddie do it, I know."

"You have to be calm."

"You weren't calm when you were at the dam with Lois or when I gave birth the first time. I know you were panicked and it just kicked in."

"But calming and tapping into the ability is part of it."

"What's the show stopping part?" he asked, wincing at the sight of the blood still pooling on her palm.

"What?"

"How did you save Lois or Kon and me?"

"I love you."

"Thanks, but what I meant was-"

She nodded and stroked his cheek with her good hand a second time. "I love you. I know that's cheesy but that's the last thing I told Lois in the dam. I was cradling her begging her not to leave me and thinking about how she held me the weekend my mom left. She'd come to town with Lucy and the General and she held me while I cried for hours. It's what I was thinking when I was begging her to live. The next thing I know, I was waking up in the morgue."

Clark quirked his head at her. "Really?"

"Well there's an element of trying to stay calm and focused. It's how I learned to tap into it even if it's not someone I love at stake, but the first few times, the most powerful times, it's for someone I'd trade my life for."

He nodded and closed his eyes, thinking fondly of the first real date they'd ever had, not the spring dance but the night out in the farm in Lois's car, watching The Big Sleep projected onto the barn's side, her hand over Kon. It had been one of the best nights of his life, even floating through the roof hadn't diminished it.

He felt it then, something warm welling up from the pit of his stomach, the heat spreading through his hand and over hers. There was a sharp stab to his own palm, as if someone had cut him too. He breathed in sharply and opened his eyes. "Chlo?"

She held up her hand, which he noticed she'd already cleaned off with a towel. "Seems someone has their inner Yoda coming along."

"Faulty metaphor."

"Yes but inner Chloe sounds dirty," he replied, placing a hand (thankfully not glowing any longer), over Mo.

"Maybe the inner E.T.?"

Clark laughed. "Get a geranium next, let's see what I can do."

He was standing on the other side of the door looking in through the window to the ICU. It was six a.m. and in an hour, he'd be trying to save Jax's life. His ears could make out so many things, the hum of the machines on the other side, the strained thumping of Jax's heart, the hiss of breath pushed through congested lungs.

"You really think you can do this?" Mary asked, her voice hushed.

He turned and looked down at her. "You should be sleeping."

"I haven't slept since I realized he was missing, not more than crashing out for a nap."

Clark cupped his stomach. "I can understand that more than you'd think."

"That's not answering my question. Do you think you can save him?"

"I know that there aren't other options. I know I can heal Chloe of some moderate injuries and that takes a lot of energy just because of her own gifts. Would this work with Jax? I dunno. It's this or find someone who'll go darker with spells than Zatanna would and that's not an option."

"Because there are consequences."

"Cosmic balance, life for a life, someone else has to die consequences," he confirmed.

She nodded. "He shouldn't be here. I tried so hard to keep him out of all of this and I failed."

He wanted to squeeze her shoulder to reassure her but it wasn't his place and he figured it would upset her more. Instead, he kept his gaze planted through the window to where Jax lay. "He was always going to be a part of this."

"Because he got dragged into it."

"No, because of what we are. Dax-Ur gave him something dangerous. He can't get rid of the Kryptonian side. The golden Kryptonite was a spectacular example of why that isn't possible. As long as he's alive, he's one of us and he's valuable."

"For men like Lex to play with."

"It's more than Lex. They've come after me before. It's not just scions of mega companies or scientists. Sometimes it is, but it's the government too. Hell, I was younger than Kon when a reporter found me. He strapped green K to my chest and dragged me out of my parents' house and that had nothing to do with the Luthors. It just had to do with me being stupid and using my powers too openly on the farm."

"It's why we kept the necklace on him."

Clark nodded. "Yes. Kara and I agreed to it because we knew you weren't ready for taking care of him. I don't know if the six years extra he wore it would have made a difference or not."

"He's expendable."

"No he's-"

"Kon was wanted because his powers work and I can only imagine the price on Moira's head. Jax could be played with and I did that. I didn't even know how bad it would get for him. He doesn't use his powers around the house. I didn't know he glitched."

He quirked his head at her. "He never told you?"

"We don't talk about the Kryptonian things. It's not appropriate near his little sister and he doesn't want to talk about it."

"I don't think that's true."

"He hasn't brought it up. I didn't know they didn't work like yours do."

Clark sighed and looked back at Jax. "He's a good kid. He tries all the time. Every weekend since his freshman year, he's been out there, patrolling the campuses around Boston."

"Do you make him?"

"No. He started doing it over a month before I noticed it, but we hear things."

"Like you heard him all the way in Santa Fe?"

"Yes. He could hear girls and their dates and sometimes it became dangerous. I don't have to paint a picture for you do I?"

Mary stilled beside him. "He stops stuff like that?"

"Often. He had to learn how to do it, how to be careful breaking something like that up. People are really fragile, but he's saved a lot of people. You should be proud."

She considered that but didn't answer him directly. "Does he work for you?"

"Huh?"

"With the League? Does he have spandex?"

Clark laughed a little at how ridiculous a way that was to phrase things, though in a lot of their cases no less true. "Batman has a protégé named Robin. He runs a group called the Teen Titans. Jax does a lot of tech consulting for this. I have been told there's an outfit involved. I've never seen it."

Mary snorted. "You people. Jax is almost 24. Isn't that old to be a 'teen' anything?"

"He's applied to the League every year since he turned 18. We turn him down every time."

"Batman?"

Clark shook his head and, despite Jax's condition, lowered his voice as to not be overhead. Perhaps it was reflexive. "Me. I know he's not well on his best days. You think I'd let him front line on anything and take the chance he'd be out on patrol, glitch and end up shot or worse. Jax thinks it's Batman, thinks that Br…Batman has always had it out for him."

"I can't imagine Jax and someone that humorless getting along."

"They don't, really, but Batman is practical. He can see where someone with Jax's power can be useful, but Kara and I…he's not ready."

"If he survives," Mary started, her voice catching. "If he…if he's well enough to ever apply again, don't accept it. If he wants to run specs in the Tower-we all know this is the safest place on Earth, basically- I don't have a problem with that. He's not made for the fray like this. A drunk college kid is one thing, even doing reconnaissance at a monitor where the real members can watch him, but he's not made to be like you."

"He would have been, once, would have been just like Alura or Kon."

"Well. Dexter and I had a hand in that. Never take him on full time, Clark. I don't care how much he hates it. When he doesn't have a bridge collapse write on him or get shot, he'll thank you."

"Or us?"

"Us both," she replied, laying a hand on his forearm. "I don't think I'm ever going to like you."

"Uh?"

"But we don't have any other place to go and I don't know anything about his abilities or his heritage. If this works, take better care of him."

"I'm trying to do that."

Clark was alone with Jax. He knew that just beyond the wall everyone was waiting. He hadn't put it past either Kara or Kon to cheat and be looking through the plaster at them both. Blocking everything from his mind, he took Jax's hand and placed it about where his belly button was, all an effort to give Mo easy access.

"God, I hope this works," he muttered and then started concentrating, calling up memories as he had with Chloe:

The park wasn't large, but he could stay out of sight if he sat on the bench farthest away from the large geodesic dome in the center of the field. Clark was watching Kon in the sandbox. His son was almost 18 months, old enough to sit up on his own, and definitely old enough to dig into the sand and occasionally eat it. There were things that didn't look right. A twenty two year old guy with no kids in the park was one of them.

He could see Mary Donovan from where he sat. She was on her cell, her focus half on Jax and on something very animated with whomever was on the other line. He was taking advantage of that as it was, but he hoped that she'd keep better eyes on him in the future. If Lex had had them tailed once, any alliance between them wouldn't necessarily keep him from doing it again.

"Mr. Clark!" a familiar voice called out and he smiled at Jax. It'd been two months since the last time he'd been to New Mexico and Jax was already taller, more freckles on his face too.

"Jax, hey."

His charge sat down in the sandbox next to Kon and started to dig at it half heartedly. "I think he's eating the sand."

Clark glanced over to where Kon had the tell tale grains around his chin. "He does that."

"Is that bad?"

Clark thought it over. "He could probably drink arsenic and come out okay."

"Huh?"

"I don't think some sand is going to hurt him."

"Will your wife yell?"

"She's not here right now."

Jax nodded. "Kara's not here either. I like her. She talks like dad did."

Clark sighed. "I know."

"You're late. You said you'd visit more."

"I know. I get busy," he replied, vaguely, not sure how to explain what he and Kara did at night in Metropolis. No one really even believed that The Ghost existed. It was safer for everyone that way.

Jax ran his hands over the sand, leaving finger trails through the grains. "I wish you'd come more."

"I try. Your mom doesn't like me very much."

Jax looked over at his mom but didn't wave to her. Smart boy. "Kara says that too. She says I can't tell her that she visits because mom hates it. Why is mom so mad?"

"She's not mad at you."

"No, mom loves me."

"She's just frustrated. It's hard." Kon sneezed then and Clark slid off the bench and kneeled down next to him, wiping the snot from his cheeks.

"Is it cause she misses dad too?"

Clark did not think that "miss" was the right word to describe how Mary felt about Dax-Ur. "I think everyone misses him."

"Kara tells me the Krypton stories. Dad used to tell them too. I like them. Sometimes when she tells them I can pretend he's here."

Clark sighed and patted his back. "We all wish he were." God, he'd trade anything for an adult from his world in the middle of this mess. He was way past his point of expertise.

"I think the house is in pretty good shape," Chloe replied, eying the scorch mark in the wood floor of the kitchen. Once there had been a spare chair there. It had been reduced recently to kindling.

Clark sighed. "Taking in teenagers with superpowers is difficult."

"Especially ones who developed all powers at once, yes?"

"I think he's really doing okay with the heat vision. Lois's eyebrows are going to grow back."

"Yeah, having her visit on the first day was not the best idea we ever had," she said, washing off one of the dishes with a gingham printed cloth. "It's been a month. Do you really think he's doing okay?"

"I don't know. He's not really breaking things anymore."

"Except for silverware."

"God bless Wal-mart."

Clark sighed and scratched the side of his nose. "I don't know. I got my powers one at a time. I don't even know how you deal with all but the breath at once. The fact that we still have a house left and he hasn't had Kon-level trouble with his hearing is encouraging."

"But?"

"I dunno. Did he take the whole 'you're an alien' part too well?"

"You mean he didn't give into Hamletesque mopes all over the loft."

"Hamlet is a classic character and I am thoughtful, not mopey."

"Right," Chloe replied, picking up the next dish. "He seems okay, holding out a lot better than I thought he would, but it's still breakfast time. Do you want to actually go get him? Yelling is just rude."

Clark nodded and walked up the back stairs and to their guest room. Like Kon's room, it was a sunny yellow. When they'd redone the house, Oliver had mentioned something about neutral colors and warm tones. To Clark that just meant girl/guy friendly and happy. That seemed to work. He'd always liked yellow. While he was staying the summer, Jax had put up a collection of posters-some of the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of Einstein and another of Carl Sagan, at least three of different constellations, and one of a girl Clark was too old to recognize from teen television. That one had been taken down the first week. Jax had never said, but Clark suspected it was the reason the guest room ceiling had caught on fire at one a.m. and why he'd had to repaint it.

Clark wondered if Jax had always owned the star posters or if his charge just liked the irony.

Easing open the door, Clark took stock of the room's condition. The blankets were tangled and half the sheets were on the floor. Dirty socks and a few pairs of old jeans were draped over chairs and shelves. Jax had been trying to eat up here, at least a few late night snacks. There were the bent spoons and forks with bites taken out of the tines to prove it. The strength was the hardest for Jax to temper. He hadn't hurt anyone but somehow, getting the right grip on utensils wasn't working. Since Jax was fourteen, a diet steady on the pizza and chips from a bag hadn't hampered him much, but if he was going to make it at home or at school, they'd have to work a lot harder on getting his strength controlled.

"Jax?"

The young man was focusing on his laptop, reading and then rereading whatever was on the screen.

Clark let the door shut behind him. With their hearing, Jax should have been expecting him with fresh one-liner. "Jax?"

"Clark? Oh, I didn't hear you."

"Breakfast. Chloe has-"

"Microwaved pancakes, easily eaten by hand. I know."

"We'll get it. It'll just take time. You've already got the heat vision and the speed and hearing. The hearing's really the worst of it."

"The heat vision is literally killer."

"But you can't think if you hear too much. It drove me nuts and when Kon was a baby, it really irritated him."

Jax nodded and looked back at his screen. "Did you know?"

"That his hearing's really strong. Yeah, he had that issue in, um, utero."

Despite Jax's sour mood, he laughed a little. "Still funny if it doesn't happen to me. No, I was talking about this," he replied, turning the monitor so Clark could see it.

It took him a few seconds to realize he was reading a confidential medical record. "This isn't yours to have."

"Tell me Chloe's never hacked anything and I'll turn my computer off right now."

"You shouldn't hack medical records, Jax. It's rude and illegal."

"I wanted to know."

"What?" Clark asked, slipping into superspeed and pulling a chair from the office inside the room so that he could sit shoulder to shoulder with Jax. Reading over the files revealed details about the rehabilitation of a kid out in New Mexico.

"The kid playing catcher the day my necklace came off?"

"Jax, you really shouldn't be looking at this."

"I broke his collar bone with the impact but when my spikes hit his shin, I snapped it. It got infected really badly. Clark, they had to amputate."

"Oh," he said, his voice measured. He knew that. Kara had found the information two weeks ago. He had hoped no one would ever tell Jax, although considering the way high school worked, that wasn't realistic.

"I did that."

"You didn't mean to. It's not your fault the necklace snapped."

"It's yours and mom's," Jax replied quietly. "I didn't know what would happen. Hell, I'm not fast. I'm not that strong with it on. The only reason I've always been Varsity is because I can't miss the ball. Ninety miles an hour might as well be ten. I just see differently."

"We do more."

"I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to be playing sports, that I was cheating."

Clark sat up straighter. "I played football in high school without any blue K. I didn't even know it existed."

"And Chloe said you'd had an accident too. You're lucky you never killed anyone."

"I was careful."

"Then you also had fifteen years to practice it, every day of your life. I'm gonna be lucky to have the basics of this down by September, but sports is cheating."

"I didn't think so. It's not like I used my powers."

Jax laughed. "Of course you did. You probably didn't even realize it. I mean I've used mine every day of my life and that's just in seeing things differently. When everyone else seems to move in slow motion, how can you not be better?"

"I-"

"He's being fitted with a prosthetic. I ruined his life."

"You didn't know."

"It wasn't right for you and mom to let me play."

"I never thought the necklace would come off and neither did she. We can still play."

Jax sighed and turned the monitor back to himself. "No, I can't."

"She's pregnant."

Clark blinked, almost unable to process what Jax was telling him. "What?"

"My mom. I'm shocked too. I thought she was too old. Guess not! She's pregnant. I'm not even sure she knows yet. I can hear it."

"Wait she didn't just tell you?"

"No, but I got home from school today and she's either grown a second heart or she's pregnant."

"You think she knows?"

"I think she and Steve had been trying. I'm not an idiot. I just…she's like old, Clark."

"She's not ancient."

"But she'll be like sixty by the time my sibling graduates college."

"We don't all start at twenty," Clark deadpanned.

Jax sighed and started pacing the loft. "I wasn't saying that. I know Kon was a surprise."

"That's a way to put it."

"But a younger sibling? I…mom's old!"

"Is this a 'you don't want to think your sibling did anything but came from a stork' thing or something else?"

"Mom can't have sex; she's old!"

"Jax get a grip. What's actually bothering you?"

He sighed and leaned against the loft's railing. "It's like at the wedding. She really is like replacing me and dad with Steve and a baby."

"No one can replace you, trust me. Besides, your mom wouldn't be over the top protective of you if she didn't love you."

"No, I know. I just…it's kind of a mind fuck. Not the mom and Steve and a romantic night moment thing. I mean, I have someone besides mom who's going to be related to me. I mean, you and Kara have each other and Kon and Alura are cousins."

"Yeah."

"My sibling's gonna be here but we won't…we'll be related but not alike. They won't be like me at all."

"Well maybe they can be spared your rapier wit," Clark said. "You're not as funny as you think you are."

"Oh I am," Jax defended before slipping back into his rant. "I wanted a bigger family since dad died but it'll be weird. It's like Steve's not a bad guy at all. He's really pretty nice, but he doesn't know me. It's like the family you see at Thanksgiving, the mom's second cousin twice removed kind. You make small talk, you pretend you have something in common and smile through Uncle Sean in the Schnapp's."

"You have a more colorful family than I do."

"Doubtful," Jax riposted, eyeing Clark's stomach. "I want a bigger family, but I want one I can be honest with."

"One day you might be able to tell them, when they're older like in high school or college, the way we told you or the way like my dad told me. It's not exactly safe for a three year old."

"No, I know, but I couldn't. Mom would kill me. I promised her never to ever let Steve know. No way she'd let me tell the new baby, even when the new baby's my age."

"Jax-"

He sighed. "I dunno. Maybe it's kind of neat, not a lot of aliens out there with 100% human family."

"You're not completely Kryptonian, either."

"I dunno. Maybe I can see mom's side that it'd be best if no one ever knew. I just…a baby. That's…I wasn't expecting that one."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I dunno," he replied, scratching his chin. "It's like I have my family and yours."

"The Els are yours too."

"I borrow," Jax replied dismissively. "I have this human family and the Kryptonian one and they don't mesh. I'm just a very different guy in both places."

"But I know how much being replaced scares you. I'm sure your mom and Steve were feeling more empty nest. You'll be done high school by the time you turn sixteen. Some people actually like the pitter patter of little feet."

"I…no, this is scary but it's cool. I just missed having a big family so much since dad."

"Jax, I-"

Jax stiffened. "I know you're sorry. You were played and I forgave you. Brainiac did all of this bullshit, not you or Kara. I have to hold onto that."

"I know but-"

"It's alright, Clark," Jax finished. "I just…I can pretend well enough. I like Alura and the squirt, but it'll be really cool to be a big brother, a real one."

"You're like a real one now."

" Like is the key word, Clark. You guys rock but you're not my family. It's nice not to impose."

"But you-"

"It's good that I won't have to be as much of a nuisance."

Clark was sitting at his desk, trying to figure out a good lead in to grab the public's attention on utility tax hikes when his erstwhile charge apparated right in front of him.

Clark shook his head and hissed. "You aren't supposed to do that."

"Chloe said you used to do that all the time in the basement."

"Basement reporters aren't as good at the ones under the Tiffanies, Jax. You really could get yourself in trouble."

"Perry would never allow it," he replied, dismissively.

"You know rules better."

Jax smirked. "Yes oh high leader of the Council."

"Not funny. I got elected!"

"Kara declined the job. You know if she'd said yes, you'd have let her have it."

"Probably. I don't like being in charge of a Council. All the ulcers and none of the glory. It's Tuesday."

"I know that."

"It's Tuesday at one. You have classes this week. It's not Christmas yet."

"I have this!" Jax called, placing the large manila envelope on Clark's desk. "Is Chloe here?"

"She's got a report on LuthorCorp. She got a pass to a conference and I didn't."

"Aren't you two joined at the hips?"

"Perry thinks we need to be split up occasionally on assignments since 24/7 with one person can lead to murdering your spouse."

"Good point. I just thought she'd be here. She should share the glory. I mean, she helped whip my essay into shape."

Clark quirked his head and eyed the return address. "MIT?"

"Since they sent me something that weighs like twelve ounces, I doubt it's a rejection letter. Come on, do the honors, Clark."

"You're cocky.

"No, if I were rejected, it would be a tiny regular envelope not a college catalogue."

"I hope so," he replied, pulling open the envelope and reading the letter accompanying several brochures. The fact that it was printed on card stock was very reassuring. "Mr. Donovan, we are writing to inform you that you have been accepted for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's incoming class of 2020…"

Jax's smile was blinding. "See I told you."

Clark laughed and tossed him the letter to read for himself. "You owe Chloe a diamond. You had terrible dangling participles."

Alura was passed out on his lap. He wasn't surprised. Football wasn't really something she liked, but it was a Thanksgiving tradition going back for years on Kent Farm, even all the way back to his grandfather Hiram or so he'd been told. Seven year olds didn't appreciate that. Kon was beside him, half dozing with a head-sized piece of pecan pie resting on a plate on his thigh.

"You look comfortable," Chloe drolled.

"Football. Big games. One day a year, Chlo."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh red-blooded American male love of sports. It can be inherited anyway."

"It wouldn't kill you to just park your brain for three hours and cheer for the Sharks. God, everyone hates Gotham anyway."

"It's a slippery slope, Clark," she started. "And-"

"Wait," he said, reaching for a remote and muting the TV. I hear something.

"Like what?"

"I…" Clark closed his eyes and concentrated on the noise ringing in his ears. "It's Jax."

"What?"

"He's asking for me. I have to go," he replied slipping Alura gently onto the sofa. "I'll be home soon, promise."

"If she's done anything-" Chloe spat.

"Not helpful. We've worked something out with his mother enough that he can sometimes visit or we can stop by his dorm. Empty threats and anger just end up putting him in the middle of it."

"I don't care if she…"

"Chlo, I'll be back," he said, before blurring into existence a block outside of Jax's mother's house. It was a nice neighborhood, the kind where houses sat on individual lots that were like an acre of woods and had the ostentatious size that characterized a lot of the common day "McMansions." Selling the Kryptonite to Lana and to Lex had paid well.

Clark pulled out his cell two houses down from Jax's and waited for it to ring through.

"Clark?"

"You called? I'm outside, but I didn't think that I could just walk into your house when I lived in Kansas."

"No I guess not. One sec." Clark didn't blink when Jax ran up to him. The superspeed wasn't as interesting when you could see in Kryptonian time. "Hey."

"Let's take a walk."

Jax nodded and shoved his hands in the pockets of his khakis. "Sorry I look like a tool. My mom made me wear the sweater. I know it looks like Bill Cosby what with the eight million stripes, but grandma knitted it."

"It looks very Thanksgiving."

"Cool, cause, you know, I don't just wear stuff like this daily."

"I know, Jax," Clark replied, walking in companionable silence for a block until he finally broached the subject. "Why did you call?"

"I had an accident."

"What?"

"No, nothing happened. No one's hurt, well except the turkey."

"The turkey?"

"I'm not explaining this right. Mom was needling me about not bringing anyone home for Thanksgiving."

"You mean like a girlfriend?"

Jax nodded but kept looking straight ahead as they walked. "She's worried. I've started grad school but I've never dated."

"Does she, uh, does your campus reputation precede you?"

"She knows that I'm not a monk, yeah. She's just stuck up about it like you are."

"We're not stuck up about it. It's just not good for you, Jax."

"And that's what she was on. She got on a tangent at dinner. Steve tried to ease her off of it and it just made more conflict and I got really frustrated. I don't get that way often but I did and kaboom! No turkey."

"No turkey?"

"Well it was all over the walls and ceiling."

"Oh Jax."

"Mom asked me to leave the table and to go to my room. I don't know what she told Steve and Jessie. Sometimes things happen. I'm good at the Zen thing, but I'm not perfect. I've had slips before, but this was a huge one."

"Jax, one day we'll get back to the raging fear of anything resembling commitment you have."

"My mom and my dad and you and Lana are all anyone has to know."

"It's not always like that."

"I don't lie. No strings, some fun, everyone wins, Clark. You don't have to make it more than that."

He frowned. His father would hate that. It was not a Jonathan Kent approved viewpoint. "Do you think your mom will tell at least Steve what's going on?"

"No. I know she won't. She's worked for like the last seven years to paint Norman Rockwell for him. She's not gonna back track now and admit we're the Munsters."

"That's not fair to you."

"You know what I mean. Steve's a nice guy. Really. He's never made me call him dad. He's always given me space and respected that my dad was there before him. He's a really decent guy like Jimmy or Chloe's dad."

"You think he'd get it."

"I think he actually might, but you thought once that Lana would get it."

"Not everything gets measured against what Lana and I managed to fuck up. I was naïve and Lana's a sociopath."

Jax stopped and turned to look at him. "I don't want to mess things up for her. She sort of drags me around, you know? The whole thing works because even if I'm a little weird, Jessie and Steve don't know."

"Maybe they should."

Jax sighed and brought a hand to his temples. "I can't. I…Steve is really pretty nice to me and Jessie loves me."

That was an understatement. Jax's little sister lionized him. "I know."

"Things would change if they knew. Not just for mom, but for me. I know it's not real. I know what I have with them is something I made."

"Jax-"

"But I want them to like me. Hell, I need Jessie to love me. If she thinks I'm normal, she will."

"But we're not like everyone else."

"Half my family doesn't know that and they're all I've got."

Clark stopped walking and folded his arms over one another. "Excuse me?"

"My family is messed up and I know Steve and Jessie don't really know me, but they're all the family I have."

"What about me and Kara? Or Chloe and Jimmy and Alura and Kon?"

Jax sighed and looked up at the full moon overhead. "You let me borrow yours, Clark, because you feel guilty when you shouldn't about my dad. We're not related. I'm just dad's mess that you look in on."

"That's not how Kara and I feel about it."

"I'm not an El or a Kent. I know I want to be, but I'm not. Those people down the street are what I have and if I have to make up some half-assed unbelievable excuse for why the turkey freaking exploded at dinner, then that's what I have to do."

"We love you."

Jax blinked. "Huh?"

"I should have brought Kara with me. Maybe you'd believe this more if we both said it."

"I…"

Clark leaned forward and put both hands on Jax's shoulders. "We love you. No matter what, Kara and I think you're family . I could care less if blood's involved. You know I love my mom like crazy and I loved my dad and we weren't technically the same species."

"But you humor me."

"You don't humor someone for thirteen years. If we wanted to foist you off back on your mom, we would have. We all know it would have made her happier. Kara and I stick around, Chloe and Jimmy and the kids stick around because they love you."

"When I pop in enough to see Alura and the squirt. It's not been as frequent since mom got so mad at Kon speeding. I…she thinks they're bad influences."

Clark nodded and restrained the urge to curse about Jax's mom. "If this doesn't work out or if you do tell them and it gets worse, you have a family. You're always going to have one. Come home to the farm, just for tonight. You can call your mom from Kansas."

"I-"

"Come home, Jax."

He felt it then, the spread of warmth through him. With Chloe it had been that same heat one felt sitting by a crackling fire but now? Now it felt supernova, like everything a bright, white heat spreading through him at once. The scorch of it was amazing, not painful, but overwhelming and he felt himself slide out of the chair and to his knees. The light encircling the three of them (Mo included) was so bright it was blinding. It was beyond rose or golden; it was all encompassing.

Jax shot up in bed and started tearing at the tape keeping the oxygen feed to his nose in place. Clark, still reeling from the own tightness in his chest, stood up and helped pull off the tubes.

"Jax?"

"God, what happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Jax's eyes came back to focus on him and he shuddered. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You remember the gold Kryptonite?"

Jax nodded. "I'm okay?"

"You're alive and you're healthier than you've been since Chloe found you. How do you feel?"

"Like shit, but my chest doesn't hurt anymore. It's not so hot."

"That was the pneumonia."

"Chloe work her mojo?"

"Actually," Clark replied. "Mo worked mojo."

Despite himself, Jax smiled and looked down at Clark's stomach. "Mo?"

"They learn fast," Clark conceded. "I…how are your powers?"

Jax squinted at him and hissed a curse. "I can't X-ray anything. Before you ask, it's too quiet too. I couldn't hear Mo even with trying. I…maybe it'll take time to shake the pneumonia?"

Clark nodded and forced himself to smile. "At least you have a shot."

"You sound surprised."

"Well Mo was a bit of a…"

"Last ditch Hail Mary?"

"No, but I wasn't completely sure that it would work either. I, God," Clark replied, sweeping Jax into a hug. They could be manly later.

"Clark?" Jax asked, his voice muffled.

"Welcome home, son, welcome home."