Lilly was sitting Indian style and watching a cartoon, the baby had went to bed, his mom was dusting the living room, and he was reading the Sunday newspaper.
His mom began to dust the TV.
Lilly jumped up and shouted, "I can help!"
Lilly picked up the heavy TV like she was picking up a balloon. His mom was stunned for a second because this was the first display of strength from Lilly that she had seen. However, she quickly regained her composure and swept where the TV had been. A woman, who had raised a full Kryptonian, wasn't going to be worried about the powers of a half Kryptonian.
The strength was easy to manage. You had to put energy and concentration into it especially at a young age. The kids would be easy to handle until their teenage years, when all the powers began to kick in and they might not get all of them or at least not to the same degree as his.
He went back to reading the paper, when he felt the couch bounce a little.
"Daddy, I want to look at the comics!"
He gave them to her and turned his attention back to the international news. It didn't take her long to look at it because she couldn't read yet.
"Daddy, I want to see your's and Mommy's article."
"What?"
"What did you all write in the paper, today?"
Darn it! That meant that he, and apparently Lois, had gone into journalism. He had found his major and completed the 3rd task without wanting to. It didn't matter though. The kids weren't going to magically disappear. He had to bring them back to the fortress.
"Lilly, your parents didn't write an article," his mom said, coming to the rescue, "it's your bedtime now."
"Okay. Goodnight, everybody!"
He hugged Lilly goodnight.
---
"Clark, you are so uncool!" Lilly said. "It's 2016 and you're still living in the past. He's only 16. That's 2 years apart."
"No. There are more years than that," Clark answered her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. I don't like the idea of you riding in the car with him driving."
"If we wrecked, it wouldn't hurt me! You are such a jerk!" Lilly ran to her room and slammed the door.
11-year-old Jason stood wide-eyed at the scene, as he ate his sandwich.
"You understand, don't you?" Clark asked his son.
He merely shrugged and walked over to the TV.
Clark sighed and went into the kitchen for a sandwich. Jason had eaten the last of the bologna.
He took a photo out of his wallet. Lilly and Jason were 12 and 9 in the picture. He and Lois were also in it. Lois was pregnant with Carol at the time. Then there was 4-year-old Millie and 1-year-old Jake, who were really a younger Lilly and Jason. This picture had been taken right before the kids had been taken back in time.
He realized now that it had been a stupid idea to keep them. His mom had advised against it. As much as he had enjoyed being a father, he had made it harder on himself by being a single parent for 3 years and it had been unfair to Lois that she had missed out on those years. The kids hadn't made their relationship come any faster. She didn't even know Lilly and Jason were her kids. She thought they were his orphaned relatives from Krypton that he had adopted and the kids thought the same thing. When Millie and Jake had left and became Lilly and Jason in 2006, it had torn Lois to pieces because she thought she had lost her children. He had wanted to tell her then how selfish and idiotic he had been. That he had made an unalterable mistake but he was afraid she would leave him. He thought some of Lilly's anger toward him came from her 4-year-old memories that only her subconscious knew about. This was not the life he had dreamed of. He carried such guilt and depression around that he had gone prematurely gray. The truth kept eating at him.
"Daddy?" 2-year-old Carol asked.
He scooped her up into his lap.
"I want Mommy!" she shouted and she kicked her legs.
Clark's eyes welled up with tears. It reminded him of young Lilly. He had promised Lilly that he would fix things but he hadn't. He owed them all an explanation.
That night, when Lois got back from getting groceries, he called a family meeting and told them everything. He watched the shock and pain come into their eyes. Lois left with the kids. She had yelled at him and Lilly had been right behind her. Jason looked too hurt for words. He was alone and he deserved it. They wouldn't be coming back.
"Kal-El, this will be your future if you continue down this chosen path"
---
Clark woke up with beads of sweat in 2006.
He would take them back in the morning.
TBC