Clark Kent was currently standing out on the porch of the farmhouse in Smallville that he'd grown up in, staring up at the stars.
"There you are." his wife and the mother of his twin sons, Lois Lane, said as she walked out.
"Hey, are the boys asleep?" Clark asked and Lois nodded.
"Finally. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if maybe they did inherit some of your physiology." Lois said with a chuckle as she leaned into her husband's chest.
"I hope not." Clark said and Lois nodded in agreement, since while she loved that Clark was using his powers to protect the planet, she couldn't deny that she still worried that someday he wouldn't come back, since right now, he was all alone. She honestly wished that Kara would stop listening to what the Danvers said and would put on a cape to help Clark. But at least they were both fully Kryptonian, which meant that they had all their powers. Her sons however were only half kryptonian, which meant that even if they do inherit their father's powers, they may not inherit all of them, which puts them at even greater risk than her husband and while she was proud of Clark, she honestly did not want her sons to lead the same life as him.
"So, what are you thinking about?" Lois asked.
"About what is harder. Being Superman or being Clark Kent." Clark said.
"And what did you decide?" Lois asked.
"Surprisingly, being Superman is easier." Clark said.
"Can't say I'm surprised, since at least when you're Superman, the problems you face are ones you actually know how to solve. Alien invaders, punch them harder than they punch you." Lois said with a chuckle, which Clark shared.
"Yeah, but being Clark Kent, that is much harder, especially being the father of teenagers." Clark said and Lois nodded.
"Tell me about it. Being parents is way harder than anything else we've ever done." Lois said and Clark nodded in agreement.
"But we wouldn't trade it for the world." Clark said and Lois nodded in agreement, since while there were times her sons drove her crazy, she wouldn't trade a minute of the time she'd had with them for anything.
However, suddenly, Clark's ears perked up as he heard something heading their way. Or rather two somethings, flying towards them.
"Is everything okay?" Lois asked.
"We're about to have incoming." Clark said.
"Can you see what it is?" Lois, but right before Clark could use his vision to see, both items touched down and both Clark and Lois sighed in relief at what it was. Or rather, who it was.
"Kara." Lois said happily as she ran up to hug the closest thing she had to a sister-in-law.
"Hey Lois, sorry for not calling ahead, but I wanted to surprise you guys. Are the boys awake?" Kara asked, since even though they lived in different cities, she was very involved in the boys' lives as their favorite aunt, since they saw her far more frequently than they saw Lucy. In fact, they saw more of Clark's family than they did Lois's.
"No, they're asleep. But who is it you brought with you?" Lois asked, since the man who'd come with Kara definitely looked familiar, but she couldn't tell why.
"You'll know in a second Lois." J'onn said as he pressed his fingers to her temple and his eyes glowed red as he restored her memories of the world before the Crisis.
"What did you just do to her J'onn?" Clark asked angrily, but Lois held up her hand to him.
"I'm fine Clark." Lois assured her husband, though she was kind of reeling from the fact that she'd literally gone from having one newborn baby son to two 13 year old sons literally overnight. She was just glad that J'onn had left her memories of this world intact, since at least that way she still had memories of watching her sons grow up.
"What did you do to her?" Clark asked again.
"The same thing he's about to do to you." Kara said.
"Wait, you know who he really is?" Clark asked.
"Yes and I trust him with my life." Kara said as she prepared herself to have to restrain Clark to allow J'onn to do the mind dump, but fortunately, J'onn was able to move fast enough to restore Clark's memories before he could stop him.
"How were you able to do that? I thought your powers didn't work on kryptonians?" Clark asked J'onn.
"Mar Novu boosted my powers for this situation." J'onn said.
"So, you guys helped restore the universe and this is the result. Us not only getting a second child, but also skipping directly to their teen years." Lois said.
"Yeah, sorry about that. In our defense, we didn't exactly plan on that happening." Kara said, but Lois waved it aside.
"It's fine. I'm just glad that we still have our memories from this world." Lois said.
"Yeah, the whole reason we have them is to allow us to be able to blend in better on this earth." Kara said and Clark and Lois both nodded.
"So Kara, I'm hoping this means that you're going to be putting on a cape." Clark said to his cousin.
"Yeah. I just need to have my suit made." Kara said.
"Wait, what about Lex? I remember now that he made himself one of the paragons." Clark asked.
"Don't worry about him. Novu made sure to wipe his mind clean of the old earth." Kara assured him.
"But how can we be sure it worked?" Lois asked.
"Because before we came here, I actually checked Lex's mind and made sure." J'onn confirmed.
"J'onn, you know how I feel about the DEO storing kryptonite." Clark said.
"I do, but this time around, I'm not going to be getting rid of all of our kryptonite, but I am going to be limiting the amount of people who have access to it, since I cannot allow my agents to go into the field without having a means to protect themselves." J'onn said.
"It's something I agreed with Clark." Kara said.
"Really?" Clark said, looking at Kara surprised.
"Look, I don't like the fact that kryptonite exists anymore than you do, but honestly, I do take a small bit of comfort in knowing that should we fall under mind control and for some reason the other one couldn't help, the human race has a way to defend itself." Kara said, since she'd had a lot of time to think about this.
"They're right Clark. I understand your hesitation about the DEO having kryptonite, considering how many kryptonians have attacked both on this earth and the old one, Zod, Astra and Non, Doomsday, kryptonite is a necessary evil. You have to be willing to bend a little. Especially since I know how left out you've felt every time Kara met up with her friends." Lois said.
"You're the one who acts like a loner Clark. And you seem to have forgotten that on every planet, sometimes working with other people means that you have to agree to things that you don't necessarily like. That's just how life works." Kara said as Clark sighed and nodded, knowing they were all right and he didn't want to destroy his repaired friendship with J'onn over this. Not again.
"I'd like to personally vet every agent you give access to kryptonite too to make sure that they really can be trusted, since I trust you and your abilities J'onn." Clark said.
"It would make you feel more comfortable to meet them for yourself. I understand and agree with that. And who knows, hopefully someday we will no longer need Kryptonite, but as long as threats like Astra and Non and even the Worldkillers exist, it's necessary in order for my people to be able to do their jobs." J'onn said.
"I have to warn you though. If any kryptonite is used on me, Kara or my sons, I will toss you into the phantom zone myself." Clark said.
"And I will let you, but Clark, you should know that I would die before allowing anything to harm you, Kara or your families, especially since you know that Kara is like a daughter to me." J'onn said.
"I know. And that's why I'm willing to agree to this." Clark said.
"Speaking of your sons, are you ever going to tell them that you're Superman. Because I have a feeling that they'll put it together eventually, especially if they've inherited your powers or Lois's mind." Kara said.
"Eventually, but honestly, we're just trying to live a normal life." Clark said.
"Clark, if there's one thing I've learned since I became Supergirl, it's that having a normal life just isn't a part of the life we've chosen. Only way to give your kids the life you want to give them is if you hang up your cape and even after I take up mine, Barry puts on his cowl, Oliver dons his hood and all the others, we all know you'll never forsake humanity like that." Kara said.
"You gonna stay till morning?" Lois asked.
"No, I have some matters in National City that need my attention." Kara said as she and J'onn flew off, leaving Clark to think about what his cousin had said.