Epilogue: Goodnight, Goodnight

Callie groaned from being knocked out the second time within an hour. Whatever that blast of energy was had been a doozy. Tempus was gone though, and the device Emil had given her had been through the wringer. If she was going to have to start at square one again she was going to throttle something.

She coughed as debris still hung in the air and the night sky hung over her through the hole in the barn roof.

'Great, I'm going to need to patch that again.'

The whine of a dog and feeling of a slobbering tongue to the face drew her out of her thoughts.

"Ugh, Shelby. Come on." She complained as she sat up and pushed the dog away. When her eyes met with the canine's she gasped. "Krypto?"

She grabbed the dog and pulled him in for a hug. "Oh my god, Krypto! I can't believe it's you." She pulled back and took another glance of her best pal. "I've missed you so much."

She reluctantly let the dog go, stood up, and drank in the image of the barn around her. Her barn. She recognized everything in it. Hopping over the debris she had created, she skipped the broken steps and stood in the loft area. It was just as she had remembered. She then ran for the desk and boxes in the left corner.

"My stuff! My stuff is all here! I'm here!" Her breaths were panted as it all dawned on her. "I'm here. I made it home." She walked over to the window and saw lights on in the house. She used her superhearing and picked up her mother's voice.

"NO! You listen to me. I want you to get in touch with him and let me know what he's found out. This is my daughter we're talking about!"

"Mom." She whispered.

She ran down the stairs, over the debris, and out of the barn. Krypto was barking and trailing behind her as she sprinted for the door. She didn't know why she wasn't super-speeding in, but she didn't care. Her feet touching the soil at the hurried pace made her keep reveling in the fact it was all real. The soil was a part of the farm, her farm, the Kent farm 2032.

She burst the door open and stood in the doorway. Her mother was standing in her work clothes, her hair up in a haphazard bun, and a slight scowl on her face meant for whoever she was talking to. She was beautiful.

"Mommy." She said in a childlike voice.

Her mother turned around slowly and uttered the words, "I have to call you back," before hitting the end call button. She walked toward the kitchen and stopped, leaving a gap between them.

"Callista Larella Kent! Where the hell have you been?!" Her mother cried before hurrying to her.

Callie moved just as fast and grabbed hold of her mother. She made sure not to hold on too tightly, but all she could do was fist the clothes on her back. Callie took in her scent and cried into her shoulder.

"Mom, I missed you so much." She cried. "I was afraid I was never going to see you again."

Her mother kissed her forehead and sniffed back her tears. "I missed you, too."

"I'm so sorry, Mom. I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear. I just wanted to get home and back to you."

"I know, baby. And you made it. You made it home."

She held onto her mother for a few more minutes in silence before she heard a boy's voice from the stairs. "Callie!?"

She backed away a fragment and saw C.J. running toward her. He enveloped his arms around her waist.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

"It's a long story."

"One that I know we'll be hearing about in a little bit…" Her grandmother's voice said as she joined them from the other room. Callie let go of her mother to hug her grandma.

"I knew you'd be okay." She said as her slender fingers combed through Callie's hair. "We never gave up hope."

Callie let go of her and looked at all three of them. Her heart sank a little when she realized he wasn't there. He didn't know she was back yet.

"Where's Dad?"

Her mother's mouth opened, but then closed. Her eyes were targeted on something behind Callie. She turned her neck and viewed what her mother's gaze was locked on.

In the doorway her father stood frozen. He was dressed in his normal clothes, sans glasses, but they looked jumbled as did his hair, which looked windblown. The other thing she did notice was the colors he was wearing, blue shirt, with rolled up sleeves, and a red (askew) tie.

"Dad." She choked out.

She ran for him and jumped into his arms with a little more force than she had her mother, since she knew he could handle it. He held her just as tight and she felt her feet lift off from the ground. There were no words. She just began to cry. She let it all out. She even felt a few of his tears fall on her shoulder, too.

She melted into his embrace. She wanted him to know how sorry she was that she hadn't listened to him. That she had caused her family to worry about her absence. That she was so grateful to be home. That Clark Kent and Lois Lane were the most amazing people in the universe and she was so lucky that she was their daughter and the product of their sheer awesomeness.

She felt her mother step behind her and Callie turned so she could embrace them both tightly. She never wanted to let them go. She had also never felt so defenseless against tears in her life. She continued to cry—to let everything she had been holding for so long out. For a good few minutes there was no talking, only tears. Tears of regret. Tears of longing. And, most of all, tears of joy.

Finally, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"I missed you all so much," She declared again.

She wasn't sure they could hear her well, though, since her voice muffled because it was burrowed into her father's chest. His blue shirt was completely wet, but she was sure he wouldn't mind.

She turned her head to the side, wiping her eyes, and saw C.J. standing next to her.

"Get over here, little man."

He smiled and the four of them just stood there holding each other. She basked in the feeling—a feeling at times she hadn't been sure she would ever feel again. She felt whole.

"Young lady, I do believe you have some explaining to do." Her mother said.

"There's so much to say…" She sighed.

"We've got time." Her father replied.

She nodded knowing what he meant.

"Yeah, we do."

Callie took a deep breath as she finally released her parents and brother from the hug.

"I think we're all going to need to sit down for this."

*/*

"…Then she exploded and I thought that I was stuck in the past again, but I was here. I guess the device worked after all." She said then sipped some tea with honey her grandmother had made.

They were all sitting in the living room. Her grandmother was sitting in the chair, her little brother sat on the loveseat, and she was on the couch, wrapped in an old faded red blanket, leaning into her mother's side, while her father sat at the end.

Her mother started to laugh suddenly, but then contained herself.

She turned to her husband, "Sorry, I just keep seeing in my mind the images of Callie shooting Nerf balls at your head and you falling out of a tree."

"Ha. Ha." Her father replied in a dry tone.

They all had a good chuckle.

"Even though it was quite the adventure, it stinks I was stuck in the past for two months." Callie's eyes enlarged in horror as she turned to her brother, "C.J.! Your game! I missed it!"

"No, you didn't." He smiled, "It's next week."

Confused, she asked, "Next week? How long exactly was I away?"

'Had the chronosphere still worked and brought me back to the day I left? But I fell through the roof at night, just before so it can be the exact moment like it was programmed. Time had to get messed up somewhere.'

"Two days." Her father answered.

"Two days? Better than two months, I guess."

Her parents nodded in agreement with that statement.

"And you don't remember anything about me being there?" She questioned. "About Tempus, Zod, or the three of us together?"

Her mother shook her head with an amused grin and then turned to her right. "You?"

Her father shook his head 'no,' as well. Callie leaned forward and looked at him.

"Tempus said that she let the army out of the orb. What happened?"

"We had some speed bumps when it came to Zod and the Kandorians."

"Speed bumps?" Her mother snorted and her father glared at her in return.

"I like to think of them as speed bumps, yes."

"Oookay." She replied.

Callie smiled at the exchange. They never change. It was one of the best facts to know about her parents. It was why she had been able to survive in the past for as long as she did and why she had been able to get home.

"Anyway, I was able to show them a better way of life and, even though Zod did mess up some of the good work that had happened, everything worked out. The Kandorians saw Zod for who he really was, they ascended to a place that they could call their own, and then sent Zod to the Phantom Zone as punishment."

"Until he broke out and had to be sent back again, of course." Her mother added.

"Right…" Callie could feel a memory then creep up.

All sorts of memories were creeping up if she were honest. She was puzzled to think what that actually meant and decided she didn't want to. Time travel and everything that went with it was beyond annoying. If everything was okay, she wouldn't question it.

Though, she couldn't say that completely. She was curious by nature. Her parents' fault.

"And, Mom, when you were missing it was for like a month, right?"

"Three weeks, I think." Her father nodded to confirm.

"So coming back in June is still the same." She concluded.

"June? No, it was September." Her father replied, seeming very certain of that fact.

"September? But—." Then she heard Emil's words about the time lapse again. How time could fold and no one would notice. Time would just move on as nothing had happened. Three months had folded into three weeks she figured.

"A time lapse." She breathed.

"Time lapse?" Her father asked.

"Dr. Hamilton said that the rips Tempus had created, and traveling through them, could have a consequence. Time could fold and days, weeks, months, even years could be lost. When I went back in time Doomsday had struck in May and you said Mom came back in September. Boom, time lapse."

"I never even realized that," her mother commented in awe.

"He said no one would. I don't even want to try and figure out the how or why. Time traveling gives me a headache."

"Tell me about it. Those three weeks I lost were just from being in an apocalyptic future for like a day."

Callie perked up at this new information, "I never heard about this."

'I thought she was with the Legion?' Then it dawned on her, Tempus had succeeded in changing history, but like they had all hoped—everything had fallen into place.

'I'll be damned.'

Her parents coughed a bit and she could see their cheeks turning red.

"Some of the memories are fuzzy since I was suffering from PTSD because of them, but the ones I do recall are ones you don't want to know about. Trust me."

She narrowed her eyes and then they grew three sizes when she figured out what they would not divulge.

"Oh," was all that escaped her mouth.

"What?" C.J. asked curiously.

"Trust me, little bro, save yourself the time in therapy joint sessions with me and don't even try to figure it out. Keep your mind innocent."

"Uh, okay." He resigned giving her a strange look.

"Really?" Her mother groaned.

Callie could hear her grandmother, who had been silently listening the whole time, start to giggle.

"Please, don't encourage her, Mom."

"Oh, Clark. She's been through a lot."

He eyed Callie and playfully shook his head, then he grew more serious and asked, "So, about the past. I know what you told us, but you aren't glossing over things, right? You were treated okay?"

"You fed me pancakes." She smiled at her dad. "You even attempted to make them into bunnies."

"Well, then we know she was well taken care of." Her mother smiled.

"Believe me, the two of you took great care of me. I wouldn't have made it through without you. Both present you and past you. You guys were all kinds of awesome. We were a family there. No matter what, we were a family."

"You hear that, honey? We were a family and we're awesome."

Her father brought her mother into his lap. She let out a tiny yelp and was beaming. "I heard."

They started to kiss and her brother made a face while he covered his eyes. Callie would have done the same, but something inside her had changed. She was more appreciative of their love. Not that she wanted to watch this on replay all day, but doses of it were just fine by her.

When her parents broke apart they looked at her oddly.

"What? No comment like 'ew, gross' or 'get a room'?" Her father asked.

"No." She shook her head. "It's nice."

"Nice?" Her mother hopped out of her father's lap and placed her hand on Callie's forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

Callie started to laugh and swatted playfully at her hand. "I'm fine."

"Maybe she's a pod person." C.J. commented.

Callie rolled her eyes. "Hey! So, sue me if I think that my parents showing some affection is nice. I spent a few weeks where this guy," she pointed back at her father with her thumb extended, "was all mopey over his feelings."

"Ah, so you met Sir Broods A Lot?" Her mother laughed.

"Not funny." He replied.

"Oh, sweetie. I understand." She said patting her daughter's shoulder, "But, I lived through a lot more than you did."

"Actually, I beat you both." Her grandmother added.

"Mom!" Her father exclaimed.

Her grandmother started to laugh then looked at the clock. "Wow, it's getting late. I should be getting to bed."

"I think we all are in need of some good sleep." Her mother said sitting up. "Okay, little man, time to get ready."

With a groan her brother got up and headed toward the stairs. Her grandmother kissed on her the forehead goodnight and Callie gave her a quick hug.

"You are a very special girl, Callie and I'm so happy you're home."

"Thanks for everything, Grams."

She smiled and left the room. Now, it was just Callie and her parents.

"Before everyone heads off to bed, can we talk a little more?"

"Sure." Her father said.

"We might need some coffee."

*/*

As Callie took a sip of a fresh brew of coffee, she looked at her parents; really looked at them.

"So, I know what you've said to me before and what I saw in the past, and just to make sure these things still happened… Dad kissed you as the Blur and you had your first real kiss at the Daily Planet and from the kisses is how you found about him, right?"

"Right. The Daily Planet kiss came first, we dated, and then during the whole Zod debacle was when he kissed me as the Blur in a dark alley. He didn't know I had pieced it together until he told me on his own for real. The perfect day at the Daily Planet, aside from getting my hand stabbed."

"That's right! Cat Grant stabbed your hand!" Callie exclaimed. "You glossed over that part when you first told me."

"It's not the part of the story I like to tell."

"And the part of you jumping Dad is?" Callie laughed.

He brought the cup to his lips and said, "She is the woman who can knock Superman off his feet. How could she not brag?"

Callie smiled at her parents. She was finally content. She felt a little strange, though. Her memories of being in the past weren't as vivid as they had been, but still intact, and she seemed to be remembering information about her life clearer than anything, things she hadn't even thought of when she was in 2009. She didn't know if that was a side effect of the time traveling or what. All she knew was that her parents were okay and moments that had happened while she was in the past still happened after everything had been reset. That's all she had wanted. The future was fine.

She let out a breath of relief, but she still wanted to know one thing.

"Who was she? Tempus, I mean. Why was she so hell bent on coming after you?"

She watched her father take a deep breath, like he had known she was eventually going to ask this question, and look her in the eye.

"Her name was Temperance Pushkin. She was an employee of LexCorp. There had been a project a long time ago that Lex had been preparing that got hijacked by someone else." Her parents shared a look and he continued, "Lex, in his crusade of recovering his past, must have stumbled on to the plans. About ten years ago, Temperance had been a part of the re-launched secret project and was the test subject. She had been working with a scientist, David Clinton, who she was also involved with. Something had gone horribly wrong and there was an explosion. Little did we know that Dr. Clinton had also been working on something called a Chronosbelt that was geared toward time traveling—another of Lex's projects. A prototype was in the room when it exploded."

Clark took another sip of his coffee and went on, "Temperance had been missing for a few hours and when she was found she claimed that the explosion had sent her forward in time. When authorities tried to take her in for questioning she exemplified extraordinary strength, among other various abilities. I had been a part of the team sifting through the explosion and tried to help deal with her. That's when she blasted me with the green energy. She had absorbed kryptonite in the explosion but could control it."

"Which is why that green stuff hurt like a mo-hurt a lot." She caught herself. "But, Chronos? That's the term Dr. Hamilton used with the watch. That name also sounds familiar."

"Yeah. That was the name Dr. Clinton adopted when he and Temperance decided to go on a crime spree. It took four of us on the JLA to take them both down. We had some time traveling mishaps, too. Luckily, we too were able to reverse any damage that had been done. The belt had been destroyed and Dr. Clinton and Temperance had both been taken into custody."

"The time traveling Bonnie and Clyde. I'll never forget that story." Her mother chimed in reminiscing.

"Time Runs Out For Time Traveling Terrorists. I remember that. That happened during that week in the summer C.J. and I were with General Grandpa. He read it to us. I didn't even make the connection."

He nodded and continued, "Well, there wasn't much publicity after it all happened. It was sad that it seemed like Temperance's mind had been altered. She was obsessed with her pocket watch and, of course like all the other criminals I've put away, threatened to get me back one day when 'the time was right'. It was thought best that she be locked away in a facility on Stryker's under heavy sedation. Everything was under control until recently she started exhibiting strange signs. That's when she broke out. Watchtower had been monitoring what she was doing, that is until…"

"Until she came here." Callie finished.

He nodded.

"Dad, how did she know about you? About coming here?"

"She had seen some things during our first encounter and most likely when she broke out found out more information through time travel. Besides, she worked for Lex and had access to files dating back to who knows when."

"That's maybe how she knew about the orb. Then she learned from Zod what to do. She wanted him to destroy you."

"And she failed." He commented.

"Thankfully." Her mother sighed.

"What happened after I disappeared?" She asked.

"We tried to track Tempus' whereabouts. We narrowed it down to 2009. John tried to telepathically link to you with the help of Emil, but it hadn't worked like we had hoped."

Callie smiled when she thought back to her nightmare and the man that had picked her and C.J. up, the man who was eating a cookie as he dropped them off at the farm.

"Believe it or not, he did get through to me. When Tempus tried to kill me for the millionth time, that dream-nightmare thing I told you about, John was there. He got us to the farm."

"He said he did reach you for a moment." Her father confirmed.

"Now, I'm wondering if other things I saw were because of me or because you were trying to get through to me. Or maybe it was just our connection regardless."

"Our family does have a strong connection and to think that something was threatening that...it had us all devastated." Her mother said.

Callie nodded. "I know. I don't know how much I can apologize for what happened, but the whole time I was gone I feel like I learned a lot about myself. I learned I had to deal with some demons of my past, like Doomsday."

She saw her parents flinch and she continued, "I even got to meet Chloe. It was incredible and she said something to me that I think is true. She told me that maybe I had been sent there for a reason. She thought it was to help you get back on track after what had happened with Doomsday the first time around, but I thought it was something different. I still do."

She looked at them thoughtfully, "You told me stories about Jor-El and the trials he put you through before you finally became Superman. What if this was one of my trials? What if this was a kind of rite of passage? I went through so much and I like to think that I came out a lot stronger because of it. Every choice I made I made using the guidance the two of you had given me."

"And we're so proud of that, Callie. We really are." Her father stressed.

Her mouth curled up into a smile before she looked solemnly at the floor.

"I'm just sorry I couldn't save Chloe for the both of you. For all of us. I know how much you loved her and after being around her, I loved her, too. That was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. I wanted to tell her. I had even written her a note and left it, but everything you taught me about time travel, I knew I couldn't. So, I ripped it up. Of course that was before I knew about the whole reset thing, but at that time the thought of saving her and her life being traded for someone else, like one of you, Grams, C.J., anyone….I couldn't." She shook her head sadly.

"It's okay, Callie. We understand." Her mother reassured her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy you got to meet her."

"Me, too." She nodded before pulling away. "I know she'd be really proud of everything, of the both of you, of Watchtower, and all the other heroes. She'd be honored that the program that runs everything, is essentially her. She really loved you guys and the work she did."

Her father clasped her hand on top of hers in comfort. She placed her other hand on his and continued with what she wanted to say.

"I just also want you to understand that even when Emil made me the device I had a choice and chose for you not to remember. I just want you both to know that I do listen. Even though I've made some mistakes, I do listen and you've both taught me so much. I was just happy to contribute in some form, even if it was in the past and even if you don't remember it."

"She does seem wiser, doesn't she?" Her mother grinned as she turned to her father.

"Callie, I know what you're getting at, but it's dangerous. All I've ever wanted was to protect you."

"I know, and I love that you do, but past Clark did want me to pass something along."

He raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"That I could be the world's most mild mannered citizen or its greatest hero, but the person who writes my story is me."

Her father sighed. "It does sound like me to throw my own father's words in my face."

A smile appeared when she added, "Past Lois also said that if you didn't at least consider it that she would, and I quote, 'kick your bulletproof ass'."

Her mother snorted. "Yup, I would say that."

Her father grinned and Callie matched it back.

"Consider it considered."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He confirmed. "You held your own through all of this. And I know you can do it, that you can do anything, but I need to set aside my worry for you. My parents were worried about me too, but they understood when I went off and put myself in risky situations in order to help. I just never wanted you to feel like you had to walk in my footsteps."

"That's my choice."

"I guess, maybe I learned something through all of this, too."

"And he also doesn't want me to kick his ass." Her mother smiled.

Her father sent her another glare her way and she leaned in and kissed him. "You know you're afraid of me." She said against his lips.

He started to laugh and nodded his head and kissed her back. "It's true."

"Cuteness overload." Callie commented.

They backed away from each other and looked at her. "How about we call it a night and resume this 'Back to the Future' synopsis in the morning?" Her mother suggested.

"I'll go to bed in a minute." She said.

Her parents both gave her a kiss goodnight. She hugged them both again and felt all their love pour into her. When they let go and turned to leave, her parents held hands as they walked up the steps. They were so close together, as if they were joined. It was just like the last image she saw of their past selves.

"I kept my promise." She whispered and took another sip of coffee.

*/*

Going to bed in a minute mutated into an hour of Callie looking through old albums. New memories and old memories were all conjoined. She enjoyed looking at all the special moments. She remembered a time before this event, wishing that she could be there to witness these memories in person, but now she was happy to do it in her present instead of wishing to see the past.

The sound of footsteps behind her made her pull her head out of the old scrapbooks. She saw her brother rounding the couch and sitting next to her, a present in his hand.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked.

He shook his head, "You?"

"You know how people talk about jet lag? I call what I'm feeling time lag."

Placing the wrapped gift in her lap he said, "I didn't get to give this to you. I was finishing it up on your birthday."

"So, baseball was an excuse?"

He nodded and then hung his head low and said, "...And when I got here you were gone."

She looked at his sad face and wrapped her arm around him, bringing him closer to her. "Well, I'm here now."

She ripped the paper off and saw that it was a leather bound photo album. It was quite beautiful. Usually, in this day and age, people had electronic photo albums, but this was old school and she loved it. It was like the books she had just been going through.

She picked through the pages and saw all the pictures she loved of her parents, of their family, of her, of C.J., and of her friends.

"Christopher Jonathan," she said using his formal name, "…this is amazing. You must have spent a lot of time on this."

He shrugged. She saw the sadness on his face. Her being absent must have really affected him.

"Callie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really happy you're home."

"Can't be as happy as I am. I feel like I could do a jig, not just a jig, like a Kryptonian jig."

"Does that even exist?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, but I'll make one up."

They both chuckled a little before the room grew silent again.

"What was it really like?" He asked.

She flipped a page and spotted a familiar photo from when her parents had started dating.

"It's sort of like these photographs. A snapshot of a time you weren't present for, didn't know them like we know them now. They weren't quite finished yet, but they were getting there." She smiled. "And they got there. We're still here. Everything's okay."

"Were you scared?"

She sighed, "I was terrified."

"Really? But I thought you weren't scared of anything."

"I was scared about not being able to get home, back to all of this." She then sighed again, "And some other stuff, too."

"I tried to not be scared. I tried to be strong for everyone, like you would be."

She ruffled his hair and pulled him in for a hug. "And I'm sure you did a great job, but Ceej don't ever think that you can't be scared. I thought that too for a while, but it's okay. When we're scared we work through it and we can become better and even stronger from it."

A small grin appeared on his face. "You sound like, Dad."

"Good." She smiled. "But you know what else?"

"What?" He asked.

"Even though we both made it through this, as a precaution, we should probably do what we did when we were younger and felt scared. You remember?"

He nodded his head and jumped up from the couch. "I'll go get my stuff."

"Okay, I'll meet you up there."

She smiled and looked back down at the book. She flipped the page again and saw a picture of her parents with Chloe, Oliver, Emil, and, surprisingly, she recognized Tess Mercer. It was their bachelor/bachelorette party that they never liked talking about. She smirked when she remembered finding the video and splicing it up for their 20th wedding anniversary.

'Good times. Good embarrassing times.'

Seeing Tess threw her for a bit, she had made it through 2009. It was something else she attributed to a slightly altered timeline. It was good to see that, even though she had been affiliated with Zod, Tess had survived to become a member of the good guys. She'd have to ask more about it in the morning.

Pushing aside the oddity, the only thing she was focused on were the happy faces she recalled from her trip. Her hand instinctively went to her pocket and she felt something there. Digging she pulled out the photo-strip from the festival and the photo taken from Lois' birthday/her goodbye party. She smiled brightly. She didn't know how, but the pictures still existed.

"I'll never forget." She whispered.

Flipping to the back page she stuck both photos in and shut the book.

*/*

"You ready?" she whispered to her brother as they stood in front of the door.

He nodded as he held his things. She nodded back and slowly opened the door. She had used her superhearing just in case, because like hell she was going to witness that on her first night back home, and when she heard them sleeping she waved C.J. to follow her in.

They tiptoed over to the bed and climbed into the middle, both clutching their blankets and pillows and squeezing in between the two bodies in the bed. The movement of the mattress had caused them to wake their parents, who both groaned at their presence.

"What's going on?" Her father asked, sitting up slightly.

Callie and C.J. still tried to make themselves comfortable. Her brother was by her father while she nestled up against her mother.

"Nothing, just trying to get to sleep." Callie replied.

"In here?" Her mother asked, groggy.

"Yup, like old times. We wanted to be together as a family tonight."

The door then opened again slightly. A giant mass jumped on the edge of the bed and made himself comfortable in a ball at their feet.

"Please tell me that dog did not just come up here." Her mother moaned.

"The dog didn't come up here." C.J. replied.

'If it wasn't the dog, who would it be? Grandma?' Callie snorted into her blanket to try and muffle the sound.

She felt her father turn in the bed and say, "How about we all just try and go to sleep?"

"Sounds good to me." Her mother replied, placing her hand gently on Callie's arm.

"Me, too." C.J. said.

Callie laid awake staring at the ceiling then turned and looked over her brother's head to face her dad.

"Dad." She whispered.

One eye opened up as he looked at her.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Can I ask you something that I didn't get a straight answer on in the past?"

"What's that?" He asked sleepily, his eyes closed once more.

"When it's not all slicked back, how do you get your hair all poofy? I mean, is there some kryptonian hair poofing gene or what? Though, Mom's hair has that really nice bounce, too. Do you use what she uses?"

"Goodnight, Callie." He groaned with a touch of a smile on his face.

"Ceej has nice hair, too. And my hair, of course, is totes amazeballs. …" She muttered.

"Goodnight, Callie." Her parents and C.J. said in unison.

She snuggled in further into the bed, feeling like she was in a cocoon of warmth and love, and let out a relaxed sigh. She was home, at last. It was going to be the first night in a long time that she would get a good night of sleep. She was with her family and everything was okay.

Callie closed her eyes and felt all her past worries melt away. Finally.

She smiled and let one last word grace her lips before she fell asleep.

"Goodnight."