47
"Kara, how could you?" Clark demanded, glaring at his cousin.
"How could I what now?"
The four of them-him and Chloe, Kara and Jimmy-were at the The Talon apartment. Lois and his mom had taken Kon out to the Baby Gap in Granville. Apparently Lois was looking to spoil Kon with the leftovers from her Christmas bonus. He hoped his mom would temper her. He didn't want Lois to waste her money on anything. Kon had so many clothes already, but he did grow fast and he was going to be tall. Clark could tell that already.
"Kara, you were harassing Jax."
"I was not. I came by to visit him twice a week at the playground and to teach him the important stuff. I didn't tell him about Krypton, exactly. It's not like he knows where Dax-Ur was from. I just thought he'd like to know more about our language. What's so wrong with that?"
Clark continued pacing. "The thing that's wrong with it is that it's made Mary Donovan furious. She's mad at us and she thinks we're out to undermine her with Jax. I mean, how is it supposed to sound when some strange blonde woman is hanging around her son and teaching him a foreign language. She's not stupid. I think she's pieced all of it together or enough of it to make her very dangerous to us. If she wanted to, she could go to Lex."
"Bitch."
"Kara," he replied, turning to her. "It doesn't matter how she acts. The point is we made her mad at us. We made her feel threatened and now she's in a bad position. Lex is onto Jax and if she gets the choice between selling the three of us out for Jax's sake or keeping quiet, she'll choose Jax."
"And like I said, 'bitch.'"
Clark shook his head. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't trade the lives of anyone in this room or Lois or mom or Kon's for Jax's. I'm trying to find a way to keep our family and, you know-"
"The last fourth of the New Council," Chloe supplied.
He shrugged, thinking of how stupid it was to include a two month old and a third grader in that, but, then again, they were all that was left. "Exactly. We all matter, but Mary doesn't see it that way. If we keep pressing her or go near Jax again, she'll go to Lex herself."
"We can be careful," Kara defended.
"Kara," Jimmy said, placing a hand on her forearm. "Jax isn't yours. His dad had his reasons for not telling him about Krypton and that matters. It's like how you and CK have to be really careful about what you tell Kon when he gets old enough."
"I'm not ashamed."
"And we're not saying that," Chloe replied. "There are things an eight year old is just too young for and Kryptonian is one of them. It was the right instinct but it was the wrong thing to do. Jax isn't actually ours. He's half a country away and he already has a mom and I don't...she just deals with this differently."
"By selling the rest of us out?"
"I didn't say that," Clark defended. "Not exactly. She's scared, Kara."
"Because most humans, no offense, are stupid. Not Lois or Jimmy or Kara or Aunt Martha, but most of them can't handle us. She's freaking because she thinks she knows who Jax really is."
"She's freaking out," Jimmy corrected, "Because her husband was murdered and now she knows the richest man in the country is spying on her. Of course, she'd be upset. Her life's as screwed up as ours have been since CK got knocked up."
"Hey!" Clark objected.
"That's kind of how it happened," Kara admitted.
"You know, one sentence. That was all you needed, Kara. One little 'men can get pregnant back home,'" he groused, mainly for effect than anything else. He wouldn't trade Kon for anything. Still it had been one hell of a surprise.
"Doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we have a truce and it's as flimsy as Kleenex. We leave Mary and Jax alone and she doesn't turn the three of you over to Lex," Chloe reminded.
"So what do we do now?" Jimmy asked. "Are we going to just leave Jax alone for real? He'd get snatched in a second if Lex felt like it."
"No, we're not doing that. I called Ollie. The League's stretched thin as it is. Not as much as it used to be since I'm back at one hundred per cent, but Dinah's distracted right now," Clark said.
"With a psychotic squirrel," Kara grumbled.
"Be that as it may, the League's busy and they're trying to get intel on Asian holdings of 33.1. Ollie couldn't even spare Bart and I'm sure he was looking for an excuse to get a breather," Chloe continued, completely Watchtower in her efficiency. "He's putting a few of Queen security on it. I don't know who or what they look like, but he's doing that much. Jax should be safe. Besides, I tailed the reporter. Lex is getting impatient with Jax since Dax-Ur was at least able to cover his tracks well. There are no incidents in his file, no odd medical things so far. Lex wants the focus shifted."
Clark gulped, "Back to us?"
"Looks like," Chloe finished. "It's a trade-off, if he's focusing on you three, we can do something about that. If it's back to Jax…he's just not as safe, even with Ollie's security on it. He and Mary have no idea, even now, what could be coming for them."
"Exactly," Jimmy replied, squeezing Kara's hands. "If I were going to be worried about someone, I'd be worried about Connor. I think you have to start considering the chance that Lex isn't just suspicious but that he actually knows ."
Clark swallowed and forced back his nausea. "I know that and, after what happened in the back alley, I'm really scared that he's put everything together, but he hasn't done anything yet. He still might not know."
"And he has every color of Kryptonite you can imagine, little cousin. I don't even know what gold does."
He exchanged a brief, guilty glance with Chloe. "It doesn't matter. He's always had tons of green K and that's never changed. If he wanted us, he could have had us a long time ago."
"I don't think assuming he's at Clark Kent square one is helping," Chloe objected.
"I didn't say that," Clark replied, leaning against the fire place and stroking a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do. We're tightening up all of Kara's back story. We're fixing the documents that were obviously faked. Kon's never left alone. I mean, and no offense Jimmy-"
"None taken, E.T." Jimmy quipped.
"But even if Lois is human, she's an advanced degree blackbelt. If she's not with him, I am or Kara is. He'd have to go through one of the three of us first and, not to brag, but a pissed off Kryptonian is a lot to reckon with."
"Not if there's meteor rock," Chloe replied. "I...we're trying. The League's been trying for years to get Lex prosecuted for what happened in 33.1. It's hard and we haven't made that much progress."
"What do you suggest?" He barked back. "Are we supposed to run? Ask Ollie to arrange something nice and low key in Sri Lanka or something?"
"Of course not, but relocating to the Watchtower is not the worst idea ever," Chloe replied.
"I don't want to do that," Kara countered. "I have a life in Smallville and with James. If we ran, then Lex knows we're guilty. That's like a huge neon sign like with that Orange Juice guy."
"O.J." Chloe corrected. "Journalism's lowest moment. However, maybe it's not such a bad idea to take a vacation. You could do that."
"And I've just taken back over the farm and he doesn't have anything solid yet or Perry wouldn't have warned us. We'd already be in Scion or something. The solution is for the League to work faster. Kara and I are still part-timers and we have to be that to keep the farm running and because I can't just pick up and go to Japan because of Kon. But our best hope is to get Lex in jail before he puts the pieces together."
"Clark-"
"He's been trying for nine years, almost, to figure out what I am. I've done a good job so far. I can hide it longer."
"You have so much more to hide now," Jimmy pointed out. "I mean, in the beginning it was just you and your parents. Now there's not just you who's part of the secret. There are three other Kryptonians involved in this and think of how many people know-the League, Chloe, Lana and her doctors-there are a lot of loose ends."
"And we've handled them, James," Kara corrected. "The League can't be compromised. Lana's on an all-expenses paid exile and we'd never tell anyone anything. We're handling it."
"I don't think-"
"We've got it," Clark insisted, defending his cousin. "We get to Lex first. We get him thrown in jail and then we don't have to worry."
Chloe and Jimmy shared a worried glance with each other. "I know you two have this whole invulnerable mentality, Clark, but maybe this time it's not that simple."
"I'm not just picking up and going into Ollie's care or something. I have a life here, Chlo, and it's a good one. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to bring Kon into something like that. We start running and we'd never stop."
"Exactly," Kara said, hopping up and coming to stand next to him, crossing her arms over her chest. "We stay."
"We're not getting an equal vote in this, are we?" Jimmy asked.
"Huh?"
"Whatever you want to call the four of us, we're it. We're all that's left of Krypton. I mean, Chloe and I aren't actually from there, but she's Kon's mom so she's in and one day you know what I hope will happen, Kara," Jimmy said, his face growing as red as his freckles.
"I know," his cousin replied.
"We're in this with you, but you're making the rules as you go along and not asking us if it's okay."
"It's not like that," he defended.
"Jimmy and I think that a few months somewhere Ollie could stash you might be best," Chloe answered.
"And the farm's home for both of us, Chlo, and it's Kon's home now too."
"So that's it? 2 to 2 but you guys win because you're 'The House of El?'" Jimmy asked bitterly.
"Yes," Kara replied honestly. "That's how it works."
"It's a mistake," Jimmy said, grabbing his coat.
"James?"
"I can't right now. I have archive stuff I was putting off anyway. I'll call you in a few days, Kara." He said, slamming the door behind him.
"What's his problem?" Kara demanded.
"I have a pretty good idea. I have a deadline for The Ledger anyway. Tell Lo I'm sorry I couldn't meet her for lunch at the Granville food court. I'll see you guys tonight for dinner, though," Chloe said, giving him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek before she, too, was gone.
"Kara?"
"Uh-huh?"
"What just happened here?"
Three Months
Things settled but uneasily. He and Chloe weren't fighting. It wasn't anything like the months of unease and self-loathing that living with Lana had been like. They still slept together and once, in a great while, Kon slept long enough for it to be a euphemism too. They hung out and took care of their son and laughed and all the things his parents always had. It was just that there was something unspoken between them, something uncomfortable.
Jimmy and Kara were worse, and he couldn't quite figure out why. It wasn't even their son whom they'd been arguing about. It just seemed to him that, while Jimmy, too, came over for family dinners and still played uncle for Kon and, thankfully, guy friend for Clark that Kara spent a lot less time, ahem, playing checkers in Metropolis.
It completely stumped him. Enough that he did the one thing that guys never did: he had a conversation with his bud.
"So, Jimmy, have you ever watched ice hockey before?"
Jimmy took the beer Clark offered him and shrugged. "I'm a sharks and wolverines fan. I'm not so much for the Sting Rays, you know?"
"Oh, I understand that," he answered, sitting down on the other end of the sofa and sipping on his Coke. "We could do more Simpsons?"
"Nah, sports are good. People slamming into walls is fun to watch."
Clark smiled at that. "It's pretty cool if you toss someone thirty feet and I probably shouldn't be that excited by it."
"Remind me not to piss you off, CK," Jimmy replied. "Oh cr...ud. I owe to the swear jar, don't I?"
He nodded and looked over at the portable bassinet that had been set up beside the sofa. Kon was sound asleep under the multi-colored blanket his grandmother had knitted for him. "Nah, I'll let it slide since he's too conked out to care. Just watch it."
"How's eliminating the a-word and all the k-stuff going?"
"K-stuff?"
"K-R-Y-P-T-O-N," Jimmy clarified. "You guys seem to mention that one enough. Nail?"
Clark rolled his eyes and took the offered container. His taste buds would probably never be quite right again, but he liked nails. Besides, maybe Kon still needed the extra iron. Taking a handful and shoving it in his mouth, Clark looked back at Jimmy. "We're working on it." Jimmy laughed and shook his head. "What?"
"You know how much Chloe complains?"
"What?"
"No, not about the K-R...forget it, you know what word. I meant, three months and bam! You look like you did in all the yearbook stuff from when you played football. You're completely back to normal, except for the uh..."
"Nursing part?"
"Only nine months to go!" Jimmy insisted enthusiastically.
"That's one way to put it," Clark replied. "I'm glad to be back to mostly normal for me. I didn't like being sick all that much."
"Humans don't love it either," Jimmy confided.
"Jimmy, I had alternative motives for inviting you over," Clark confessed.
"Really, what would that have been?"
"Well, I was worried. You and Kara seem to be fighting a little."
Jimmy frowned and clicked off the set. "You want the low down now?"
"I just don't understand what's wrong. Chloe seems pissed too. She's not being mean or anything. She just acts frustrated sometimes and I can't figure it out."
"You and Kara are so dense sometimes. Is that genetic too?"
"I hope not," he replied. "How are we dense?"
"CK, I love your cousin."
"I might have noticed that," he deadpanned. "I overheard everything the night that J'onn brought back everything from China. "I saw how you were with her and I know it's real, like me and Chloe."
"It is."
"And the reason you've spent more time with Kon and me than her in the last month?"
"He's very cute."
"Well obviously," Clark replied, picking up his shoulders. "He's mine."
Jimmy shook his head. "No, it's not that, CK. It's just that have you thought about where Chloe and I fit into all of this. Chloe's different."
"If you say a word about her being-"
"Infected?" Jimmy continued, his heart speeding up. "No, it's not like that, exactly. But she is different. She's as powerful in her own way as you are. She's a full-time member in the League. I'm just an average guy in all of this. I can't do anything but take a picture. I mean, even Lois can kick some ass. I can't, and, even considering what Chloe can do, she's still human."
"Okay, I'm following you."
"But Kon's hers. You promised her that, and whatever happens between me and Kara and it would be way off in the future because I haven't even graduated college yet."
"My heart and its continued not stopping thank you," Clark replied.
"Yeah, but that kid, he'd be mine. I'd be responsible for him. It's not fair for the two of you to pull rank because you're Els. That sucks."
"We didn't. We just don't want to move."
"And we can't make you. This whole thing is super-immature. We're worried and you should sometimes listen. You have a huge problem with that."
"Do you want arms?"
Jimmy snorted. "I've caught you nursing. You can't intimidate me anymore and Kara would kill you if I didn't have fingers. She loves mine."
"Oh god."
"Uh-huh. The point is that you never listen. All of us begged you with the Lana thing and we almost didn't get you back. Don't you think that Chloe's right on this thing? She wouldn't be part of the command center for the League if Ollie didn't respect her so much."
"And how's hiding out in Maui or Swtizerland or wherever different from ending up in a lab?"
"Maui's nice. Can Ollie do that?"
"He's a little like a fairy godfather," Clark conceded. "The point is that we can't leave our home. It's not about trusting you or not trusting you. It's about how Kara and I feel. It's comfortable here. It's what we have. She already lost one home. I'm not going to make her lose another."
Jimmy sighed. "Can I keep worrying?"
"Sure, but are you going to make up with her?"
"I think so. Just...and I know this is weird since when we started out you didn't even like me."
Clark shifted uncomfortably. At the time, he'd been a jealous jerk and then he'd been trying to figure out ways to keep Kara's non-existent virtue intact. "I know and I'm sorry. You've been really great for Kara and Kon adores you."
"Uh, thanks. That's a lot of honesty for guys, you know."
"Tell me about it. We can blame the stupid hormones. They're an awesome scapegoat."
"Good to know. The point is that the four of us, even more than your mom, we're family. I'm not going to leave Kara. I'd never do that, but I just want to be equal. I know I'm just a guy, but I'm the guy that's crazy about her and I think that's worth something."
Clark nodded and ate another handful of nails. "I think that's worth something too."
"Huh?" Chloe said, arching an eyebrow at him as she set her laptop case down on the kitchen table.
"Huh what?" He echoed, ladling the fettuccini onto her plate.
"You went all out." She smiled down at where Kon was playing with a few spare strands in his high chair. "Is that a new outfit?"
"I couldn't get a sitter since Kara is out with Jimmy tonight, but I wanted him to look nice."
"And that's why you look like you're about to go to high school graduation all over again?"
He frowned as he set both plates on the table. "Sometimes I wear ties."
"About once a year," she joked, sitting down and waiting for him to join her. "Seriously what is all this and since when were Jimmy and Kara on spending-the-night terms?"
Clark sighed and sat down across from her, but not before he handed Kon his little green alien that Lois had given him. It was something he seemed to enjoy. Kon gurgled and promptly shoved the little alien into his mouth. "Okay, or you could drool on it, buddy."
Chloe smirked. "Is that considered cannibalism?"
"I doubt it," Clark replied. "Look, I think that I've been a jerk lately."
"I'm listening," Chloe said, biting into her dinner.
"Look, when we talked about Jax, it kind of occurs to me that we didn't really talk at all."
"Really and how did you come to this realization?"
"Jimmy came over today and I talked with him. I was really worried about him and Kara, since they'd been fighting and I'd been worried about us."
Chloe gaped at him. "Like worried as in 'Chlo's going to leave me?'"
"Maybe."
"I'd never do that. Not you or Kon ever," she said, accenting her point by kissing Kon's cheek. "I love you guys."
After how long it had taken her to admit to that, hearing it still made Clark feel warm and happy all over. "I know, but just because you love someone doesn't mean that things work out."
"This isn't a Lana thing is it?"
"No, not at all. It's just that Kara and I haven't treated you and Jimmy very fairly. He told me that it felt like Kara and I pulled rank, and he's pretty much right. We were thinking about what we wanted and it didn't matter about your votes and that's wrong. My mom and dad always found a way to compromise. I mean, the thing that didn't work between me and Lana-"
"Besides her being a complete psychopath."
Clark nodded and eyed Kon sadly. It sometimes worried him what kinds of things Kon had inherited from his biological mother and, if he were honest with himself, it had worried him long before Lana had ever tried to subdue the both of them with Blue Kryptonite. "Before that. She didn't listen to a thing I said." He sighed, and reached out to stroke her hand. "I don't want to be like that. I want you to know that what you have to say matters to me. We're partners."
"Always have been," she replied, setting down her fork. "Clark, there's not much to say. You and Kara decided to stay and you did and everything stayed status quo. That doesn't mean that Lex couldn't do something tomorrow, but we're working hard on finding something. Ollie thinks there's a lot of promise in that raid he's got planned in Cairo."
"Does he need me for that?"
"Do you have a sitter?"
He nodded, "Mom says her apartment in D.C. feels too empty and I suggested a grandson could perk it up."
Chloe laughed and kissed Kon again. "Hear that, a stor ? You've been downgraded to decorating flare."
"Well, he is very cute," Clark admitted. "Who doesn't want a cubby little, ahem, K-word to brighten up their living room?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Not that I do all that 'it's not normal' moping you excel at, but other couples find sitters for dates."
"And dates are supposed to be fun. Destroying Lex's property is fun," he corrected.
"And how. Clark, I think it's still dangerous and I'm still trading info with Perry on the sly, but you might have been right. Kon's really happy here and if we had to move all the time. That isn't stable at all for a little kid." She sighed, "I just don't know. I get sick of waiting for something bad to happen."
"I know the feeling," he replied. "Chlo, Kara and I? We're sorry about what happened."
"I know you are."
"You're equal with me, you know that right? Even Steven." Kon chuckled at that and it made his alien fall onto the tray. Clark frowned. "I don't get what's so funny."
"You're the biggest dork on the planet and our son figured that out, farmboy," Chloe replied. "Thanks, Clark. It means a lot to me."
"How much?" He asked, letting his voice become more of a low rumble.
" A lot ," she purred, leaning over Kon to kiss him. "I think that after you put someone down for his nap, we have a checkers match of our own to get to."
His eyes itched at that. "I wish you could eat in superspeed and we could-" He was interrupted by Kon spitting up on himself. It was green and all over his front. Clark glared at his son. "You're in a conspiracy against me getting…to play games."
Kon, who looked a little punky, just wibbled his bottom lip.
"Oh, come here, buddy, I didn't mean it," he replied, scooping his son up and heading to the nursery. "Shh."
"Is he sick?"
"No, I think he just ate too much."
Chloe nodded and sighed. "That's definitely a you thing."
Clark glared at her mostly empty plate. "And which one of us inhaled her pasta?"
She stood up and rolled her eyes. "Give me my son. I'll put Kon up. You just implied I was fat."
"Did not and you guys always made fun of me!" He added, following her up the stairs.
"You were festively plump and kangaroo-like. It was a little funny," she admitted. Then, she quickly added, "But you were still hot."
"Yeah, right. Don't placate me." Kon set his head down on Chloe's shoulder and gurgled a little, and Clark stopped complaining. Reaching out one large hand, he stroked Kon's hair. "I'm sorry, buddy, really. You shouldn't drink so much so fast."
"He'll be okay," Chloe said, reaching the nursery and sitting down in the rocker. "He just needs some attention."
He nodded and sat down next to them. "So this is date night?"
"Yup, pretty much."
Kon shifted a little and looked up at him with huge and irresistible green eyes. Clark smiled and kissed his wife and son in quick succession. "Good then. I wouldn't have it any other way."
