Disclaimer: I only own the kids
A/N: Okay! New Story! And its set in the future! Ok so I guess I can't stay away from family fics. In this one Clark and his wife (identity revealed within the story) had three children( two boys and a girl), before his wife died in a car crash in metropolis. The kids know that their father is strong, but are unaware of any of his other powers or his origin. They also know that they have abilities as well (also divulged in the story). Clark HAS NOT BECOME "SUPERMAN", but he does do the same type of heroic acts that he does on Smallville. Here goes nothing!
Fifteen-year-old Casey Kent woke up to the sound of the radio in her fathers car, being sandwiched in the back seat by her two older brothers. She immediately knew where she was and wanted to start crying all over again. Two months ago her mother had died and it was her dad's bright idea to move the rest of their family away from friends and basic civilization and into Smallville, Kansas. When they were getting close to the Kent farm Clark glanced back at his kids in the rearview mirror.
"Listen guys, I know you don't like this. In fact, I know you hate it. But your grandparents are really helping us out here, so I expect you to be respectful and appreciative. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir." The three teens said glumly.
"Is there ANYTHING but corn around here?" Ryan, the oldest of the kids whispered as they piled out of the car.
"Well there's dust and crows." Will snickered.
Casey was the first to see Martha Kent run toward them. "Grandma!" All three children received their own tight hug from their grandmother before she came over to her son.
"Clark, my baby boy." She said before hugging him. "I am so happy you're home."
They all went into the house. "Jonathan went into town to go get some ice cream for dinner." Martha smiled. She showed the kids their new rooms. Ryan and Will didn't like the fact that they had to share and Casey's room was half the size of the one in Metropolis, but they all pretended to be happy, not wanting to hurt their Grandmothers feelings or disobey their father. They were almost done unpacking when Jonathan got home. He too greeted them with hugs, ruffling the boy's hair and kissing Casey on the forehead. He led Clark into the next room to speak with him.
"How are you holding up?" He asked
"As well as can be expected." Clark sighed.
"And the kids?"
"Frustrated, angry, depressed. None of them really wanted to move, but I couldn't let them see me cry every time we saw something that reminded me of their mother. Besides the fact that, ever since her- her death Will has been running with a pretty bad crowd, Ryan never even talks to me and Casey's stopped eating. I'm running on empty here Dad."
"It's going to be okay, son. Your mother and I will do whatever it takes to help. We're here for you Clark."
After dinner Casey headed to her "room." When she opened her door she found Will going through here drawers.
"What are you doing, you jerk!" She screamed.
"I think I packed my toothbrush in one of your boxes. Calm down." He said.
"Calm down? You don't just go through peoples stuff Will!"
"I'm not going through peoples stuff. I'm going through your stuff. Stop screaming." He laughed.
"This isn't funny. I have personal stuff in there." She said pouting her lower lip.
"What person stuff? If you mean your diary I've already read it like a million times."
It was at this point that Casey threw herself at her brother. Hearing all of the yelling Ryan, Clark, Martha and Jonathan rushed to the room.
"Cut it out you guys!" Ryan said trying to break his younger siblings apart. By the time the adults got there, the three of them looked like they were in one of those little balls of smoke you see in fights on cartoons.
"What happened?" Martha asked.
"Sorry." Clark said to his parents. "I'll handle this." Clark separated each of his kids.
"What's going on here?" He asked. The Kent kids sulked in three different corners of the room.
Looking in from the open door Martha turned to Jonathan. "Looks like we've got teens again."
"Yep"
"Rise and shine guys!" Jonathan said knocking on Will and Ryan's door. Ryan looked at his watch.
"Grandpa its 5:45 in the morning." He whined.
"I know."
"And its Saturday." Will moaned
"I know that too." Jonathan laughed.
Breakfast was already on the table as Clark's children dazedly stumbled into the kitchen. There jaws almost hit the floor when they saw the breakfast spread. Before their mother died she used to force them to at least eat some toast and some juice before they left the house in the morning. Since then, the boys conned their father into letting them eat pop tarts and Casey didn't bother to eat anything at all. But Martha Kent had prepared what looked to them like a feast. Two kinds of eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Clark was already sitting at the table with his mother.
"Wow grandma!" Will said. "This looks awesome!"
As they ate Jonathan explained that everyone on the farm did their part and helped out. Clark couldn't help but smile when he saw the look on their faces as Jonathan explained things like mucking out stalls and bailing hay. These were city kids. He'd always had them do chores, but taking the garbage out and taking in the mail was very different from the chores they were doing here. As he was talking, a teenage boy came in through the kitchen door.
"Mr. Kent, I'm sorry I'm late…" The boy looked at the table embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know you had people over."
"Dave, hi. Everyone, this is Dave Hastings. He's been helping us out on the farm for three summers now." Jon said. "Dave, you remember our son Clark and his kids. They came to visit last spring?"
"Yes sir." The boy said "Nice to see y'all again. I'll be starting with my chores now."
"Have you had breakfast?" Martha asked. "Sit down join us."
"Oh no ma'am, I don't want to impose."
"Its no imposition and after breakfast you can teach Ryan, Will and Casey how things work around here." For the first time, Casey looked up and locked eyes with Dave. The two of them smiled coyly at each other. She thought about. Outside, being all dirty and sweaty with this kid all day. Maybe chores wouldn't be that bad here after all.
Jonathan, and Clark taught Will and Ryan little tricks and skills to help their chores go a bit easier. Jonathan sent Dave into the barn so that Clark and the boys could use their powers to lift several bags of feed.
Martha and Casey cleaned up around the house and baked a pie for dinner. After about two hours of work, the kids were allowed to rest and Martha made sandwiches for lunch. She sent Casey out to get the guys.
"Hey honey." Clark said. "Is lunch ready?"
Casey nodded and headed toward the barn to inform Dave as Ryan snuck up next to her. "You like him don't you bugger?" He asked.
"Who?" Casey asked.
"Who?" Ryan sarcastically. "I don't know. Maybe the kid you drooled over all through breakfast. Gosh, we're here for A DAY and you already fall for somebody. Dad's gonna love that."
"Shut up Ry!" Casey said. "I'm just going to tell the kid about lunch."
"Yeah go ahead. Tell your lova whatever you want." He joked catching up to his dad.
Casey didn't know why, but she kind of liked it when Ryan teased her. She walked into the barn, which somehow looked a lot smaller than when she was little. She remembered pretending it was a castle with her brothers.
"Lookin for something?" Dave asked seeing her space out.
"You actually." She said. "Lunch is ready."
She began to turn around and walk away when Dave said "I remember you, ya know."
"From last spring right?"
"Before that. The first year I worked here. You called me a country bumpkin and made fun of my accent." He smiled.
Casey was so embarrassed. She'd forgotten all about that. "Well, that's only because you called me a, what was it? Oh yeah, a spoiled prissy city brat."
Now it was Dave's turn to be embarrassed. "Yes I did. Sorry about that. You proved me wrong though didn't you. Jumped right into a puddle of mud." Casey giggled remembering the girl she used to be.
"Well we better head in. I know my grandmothers cooking and I know my brothers. if we don't hurry up we'll only be left with the scraps."
As Will sat at the lunch table, he could barely control his gag reflex. Everyone was being so fake. Sitting around like they didn't have a care in the world. LIARS! All of them. He needed something to ease his stress and he had just the thing. He excused himself from the table and went up to his room. He looked in his dresser, but couldn't find what he wanted.
"Looking for these." Will saw his grandmother standing in his doorway with his pack of cigarettes.
"Um… I… Grandma I…" Over the course of the past two months he had effortlessly lied to his father over 50 times. It was second nature. But at that moment, there in his room, he was a complete blank. He couldn't make up an excuse. "Did you tell my dad?" He could just see his father now. He'd be grounded forever. Then Will remembered a couple of years ago when Ryan was caught trying a cigarette with some friends at his school. Clark made sure he didn't sit for a week. Suddenly being grounded didn't sound so bad.
"No I haven't told your father." Martha said.
"Really?" Phew. That was a relief. Who knew his Grandmother was so cool.
"William I want to talk to you." Great! Just when he thought he was off the hook she William-ed him. Martha motioned for him to sit down on the bed next to her.
"I know that things have been…difficult, but you've always been such a responsible young man. What is going on with you?" Martha looked into Will's eyes. They reminded her of Clarks. So lost and alone, yet at the same time determined and strong. Unwilling to accept any help from anyone. "It's okay sweetheart." Martha cooed, putting her arm around him.
"I dunno. I mean, dad says my new friends were 'a bad influence' but at least they liked me." He looked up at Martha. "And as for this being about Mom, well, its not. She's gone Grandma. At least I can acknowledge it. And now I'm left alone." He blinked back a tear.
"You are not alone…"
"I know I've got you and Grandpa, dad and Casey and Ryan, but- but I was Mom's... It just was an obvious fact. Ryan was dad's favorite and Casey is Ryan's pet. I was always mom's. She's gone and now I really am alone."
"Will." Martha said, "Look at me. First of all you're mother will never be gone. She'll always be with you every step of the way." Will looked away, unable to brush away his cascade of silent tears. Martha continued, "Her family was her life. And, well you know how stubborn she was. Do you really think she would have you guys be unloved? You can be the young man your mother raised." By this time Will was visibly shuddering. Martha put her arm around him and just let him cry. He needed it.
Over the next two weeks Clark and his kids began to settle in to life on a farm and life in Smallville. Chores weren't that hard with powers and Dave introduced them to some of his friends and the local teen hangouts. One night after dinner the three teens were headed to the movies on their bikes when it started to rain. The droplets of water pounded as they rode. Ryan and Will laughed as they watched Casey enjoy the rainfall as she rode ahead. She'd always loved playing in the rain. As a young girl she would always get in trouble for sneaking up to the roof of their house in Metropolis and dancing about in the rain.
Without warning a lightning bolt knocked the poor girl off of her bike to the ground where she and her bike tumbled ."CASEY!" Ryan screamed.
" NO!" Will jumped off of his bike. "Not again." he pleaded to himself. But when they reached their sister, she didn't look harmed at all. If it weren't for the state of ripped clothes there would be no sign of the accident. They stared at each other, speechless. They knew they were strong, but there's a difference between being able to do some extra chores and what had just occurred.
Finally Casey spoke. "Wha-What just happened to me?" she asked.
"I don't know." Ryan said "I…I think we should go home."
Clark was in the living room reading when his kids came in. "I thought you'd get caught in the rain." He chuckled. Then he looked at Casey. "Honey, what happened to you?"
"We're not really sure." she said. "I think I was hit by… Well I mean I know I was, I just don't know how- we don't know how. Cuz it really doesn't make sense if you think about it…"
"Casey, I don't understand a word you're saying." Clark said confused.
"She got hit by lightning and then totally ate concrete with her bike." Will said.
"Oh my God!" Clark began examining his daughter. "Are you all right."
"That's the thing Dad. I'm fine. Confused, but fine."
Clark sighed. He'd been putting this off for a long time now. "I think we need to talk."