Chapter Eight: Camp Anderson

"This is going to be great!" cheered Kara as she hurriedly stashed her duffle bag in the mini van. Clark chuckled and stashed his bag beside his sisters. Pete grinned and placed the twins as well as his own stuff in the trunk.

"I have to admit, even I'm looking forward to this one," chuckled Pete. Clark nodded and hurried lifted his two younger brothers into the van, sitting them in their seats. Jonathan was strict and had been shortly after Kara's adoption that all their children remain in their booster car seats until they turned seven. Chris and Kyle were just over a year away and didn't mind it one bit.

Kara had come home early June mentioning a great camp that her friends Jenna and Meghan were going to, the twins instantly decided they wanted to go as well. Jonathan did a little digging, found that he knew the man who was running the camp and decided that it would be fine for the three to go. Then Jack O'Brian, the camp administrator had asked if Clark could counsel. Against his better judgment Jonathan had agreed and soon Clark and Pete were signed up for Chris and Kyle's cabin.

"Okay everyone, in the mini van," called Jonathan Kent as he lifted Katie into her car seat. Clark and Pete jumped in the back with Kara, and Martha in the passenger side. The camp was about two hours away, and while Martha was worried about her babies, Jonathan knew they could all handle this.

Jonathan glanced in the back and chuckled, Katie and the twins were fast asleep in their car seats, Kara had fallen asleep against Clark's shoulder, Pete was sleeping against the window and Clark's head was lying on the back of the seat.

"What are you thinking?" Martha asked gently. Jonathan smiled as he glanced over at her then returned his eyes to the road.

"How much I'd love to have another one," he chuckled.

"Jonathan, aren't the five a bit of a handful?"

"They're a huge handful, but look at Katie, can you honestly tell me you don't miss holding the tiny infant in your arms?" Martha glanced back at the innocent cherub faces of her five children and her surrogate son.

"Well I'd trade Pete for them any day, but I do miss them," she loved Pete. Clark did as well, Martha knew Pete was a good influence on Clark and even more the two had been best friends since grade school. She wasn't going to stop them now.

Jonathan finally turned onto a gravel driveway through some woods, the pathway to the camp was beautiful surrounded by trees; the camp was in a large clearing and consisted of one main building at the bottom of a small hill and several much smaller buildings surrounding it. A fenced corral was barely visible off into the wooded area to the right of the main building, and off in the distance was the sparkle of sunlight off a large body of water; most likely a lake.

"It's nice," Martha stated gently. Jonathan nodded and parked beside the other various cars.

"Okay ladies and gentle...teenagers, let's go," Jonathan said rousing his four boys and two girls. Martha helped Chris and Kyle get their gear and then held their hands, meanwhile Clark grabbed his bags and lifted Katie into his arms, Kara held Jonathan's hand and Pete took his gear.

"Hey Clark, isn't that Mr. Sullivan's car?" Clark looked over and noticed the small blue Honda.

"Yeah it is, I didn't know Chloe was coming," shrugged they headed towards the main building. The building was full of children ranging from ages five to thirteen, then there were the older kids fifteen and up that were counselors.

"Clark leaving?" the two year old in Clark's arms asked. Smiling he pecked her on the cheek.

"I'll be back in a week, you'll hardly notice I'm gone," a tall man, with short gray hair walked over to Jonathan, a large grin planted on his face. He reached out and shook Jonathan's hand.

"Jon, nice to see you again, it's been a long time," Jonathan nodded.

"Yes it has, Jack I'd like you to meet my family, this is my eldest son Clark and my youngest daughter Katie, that's Kara, Kyle and Chris; and this young man is Clark's best friend Peter Ross. Guys this is Jonathan Jack O'Brian, we used to work together for awhile," Martha shook his hand.

"Pete, Clark you guys will be with Daniel in the Germany Cabin, Daniel is a friend of mine and he's a genius, I think you guys will like him. Kyle and Chris will be in your cabin with you, Kara you'll be in the France cabin, with Chloe Sullivan, Lana Lang and my beautiful wife Samantha and my daughter Michelle."

"Okay, well then I guess we should probably go shouldn't we?" Martha said. Jack chuckled.

"Take your time Mrs. Kent, I've been doing this for a long time and I know how moms are about their kids," Martha chuckled and nodded.

"Okay guys, give your mom a kiss," Jonathan smiled, the twins instantly hugged her tightly. She kissed them both and grinned as they looked firmly prepared to leave her side. Kara quickly kissed her mother's cheek, gave her a tight hug and headed over to her table. Clark smiled and handed his little sister to his mom, then hugged Martha and kissed her temple.

"Take care mom, we'll call if we need you," Clark said smiling.

"I love you," Martha said squeezing her son as tightly as possible. He smiled and squeezed her gently.

"You have to let go mom, someday you have to let go," she nodded and looked up at him. She turned and gave Pete a deserving hug and kiss. Jonathan had been hugging his three younger children, then left Clark with a strong hug and a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Be careful," was his final words as he and Martha headed out the cabin door back to their truck. Clark chuckled gently as he heard Katie crying softly for him.

"Come on boys, I'll introduce you to my brother and best friend," Clark nodded as Jack led him, Pete and the twins over to the table that had a sign reading Germany on it. There were three boys already there, and more signing in.

"Danny, this is Clark and Pete, they're your roomies, and these are Clark's younger brothers Kyle and Chris," Daniel was tall, he had sandy colored hair, gray blue eyes and glasses. He smiled and shook both boys' hands and then greeted the twins with a hand shake as well.

"I'm Daniel, and so far we have Jeremy Kirk, William Mason, your brothers and Jacob Dawson," Daniel said pointing to each boy. Clark and Pete introduced themselves and were pleased to see the kids were pretty friendly so far.

"So what's the deal?" Clark asked.

"Well it's fairly simple, all the kids should arrive by two, which is in about twenty more minutes. Once two rolls around, we round up our children and take them up to our cabins, where we spend the next three hours getting to know each other with group games. Then around five we join the rest of the group for dinner here and play some more games. Lights out we have to be back in the cabin by nine to get them ready for bed and by ten lights are out. Here's a schedule for the first week, this should be fun guys," Clark smiled as he looked over at Pete as they hurriedly got all the kids signed in. The main cabin was noisy as up to eighty kids spoke at once. It was nearing 2:10 when Jack stood on a chair, a mega phone in hand and called for everyone's attention.