The house was awfully quiet when they came back inside. Lois focused on making lunch for the little ones as Clark tried to make sense of each of his children's reactions. He was more worried about Jordan to be honest, he'd already pulled from him so much that this might be the one thing that could make the thread break and even as the Man of Steel, he didn't think he could handle it.

"Maybe we could bribe them with food?" He hadn't even realized Lois was talking to him. "Babe? It will be okay." She hugged him from behind like she'd done the day of Martha's funeral. He held on to her hands as if they were a lifeline, and for him in that moment, they were.

Clark watched Hannah and Owen as they ate and played, smiling at him, to them, the concept of who he was had been so easy to grasp, they had just come around to it, not even asking that many questions, even though he didn't think his son at least wouldn't have any more.

Especially when it came to Superman.

Maybe it was just the initial shock and once it wore off, he'd be asking more about it nonstop, but even as those two put his mind at ease, the sting of Jordan's words wouldn't leave his mind.

"Will it? Because lately, everything I do with the boys just… seems like it blows up in face, I mean is Jordan right? A–am I a bad father?"

"Clark..." She turned around to force him to look at her.

"Cause right now, I…It feels like it's my fault that this is all falling apart."

"Your life falling apart doesn't mean you're special. It means you're human." She finally told him as his attention switched to the distorted voices of the people that were in need.

"Another breach in progress. It's another nuclear facility." He told her, defeat in his voice.

"Hey. We're gonna be alright, okay? Go." And with that he was gone.

Owen turned to look at her, realizing his father was not there anymore. There was no reason for him to hide it from the kids anymore. Lois gave him a reassuring nod.

Dad would be okay.


Natalie knocked on her brothers room. "Guys, can we talk?"

Each of them were in their respective beds, headphones on. Jonathan was the first one to hear her knock. She sat beside her eldest brother.

"That was…" Natalie began. "I mean, Dad?"

"Guess it had to be the less likely guy…" Jonathan said. Jordan was still on the other side of the room, clearly trying to ignore them. "But yeah, Dad…"

"Jordan? Are you not going to say anything?" Natalie asked him. Jordan finally acknowledged her.

"What do you want me to say? They said that me being sick didn't have anything to do with Dad, but that can't be true, I mean, we're not even fully human, think about that for a second. How did Mom and Dad even have kids? Are we even related to them?"

"Dude, have you seen yourself in the mirror?" Jonathan said. "Of course we are their kids, why else would they be worried we had powers?"

Natalie let her brother's words sink in. "So what are we going to do?"

"We didn't say anything that wasn't true. We are allowed to be a little mad for a while. They can't hold it against us. " Jordan said.

"You didn't see Dad's face after what you said Jordan, it was like, he'd just…"

"Yeah, that was a little harsh, I mean he's been a good Dad man, even if he's lied to us our entire life. He had his reasons to do it. So did Mom."

"So now you are on their side?"

"No, we're not, we are just saying that what we said was hurtful, we didn't think before we spoke."

"Because we had just been told we're half alien…." Jordan said to himself more than Jonathan.

"They're still Mom and Dad Jordan." Natalie said. Jordan stared at his sister for a while. He could see how they wanted to make things right and why, but Jordan wasn't quite ready yet. "If either of you want to come downstairs, I'm going."

Her brothers just stared at her.

Natalie found her Mom in the kitchen, she was putting away the lunch leftovers as Hannah and Owen played outside. "Mom?"

Lois turned to her child. There was not denying her kids were theirs. Natalie's eyes were just like Clarks, she was dorky in her own smart way just like him and her heart was always in the right place, even if that often got her in trouble. Much like Lois herself.

"Hey honey." She smiled. "Are you hungry? I sort of made lunch…"

"You?" Natalie raised an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, Smallville can make you do wonders if you have the right ingredients and Youtube."

"So, Dad fixed the router?" Natalie said randomly.

"He did, yeah…" A silence settled between them.

"I mean, I guess I understand it now…" Natalie continued, walking absentmindedly around the kitchen and grabbing a plate for herself. Lois gave her a questioning glance. "Why it was so easy for you to report on Superman."

Her mother took a seat beside her, letting her continue. "You were not just reporting on him, it was your way of knowing he was safe, right?"

"In a way, yeah…" Lois admitted. "Although I didn't really take kindly to Superman at first, when I didn't know he was your Dad, he just put this persona on and I didn't buy the whole thing, even though there was a part of me that always tried to make sense of what kind of relationship I had with this man…" She said. "He'd always give me this look... In a way that made me feel like it was your Dad looking right at me so when I later I found out the truth. It all made sense."

"Like you were not only proud of Superman in your writing, you were proud of Dad." Natalie reasoned, Lois offered her, her hand.

"Your Dad is a very good man, he's made mistakes, but he's one of the good ones kiddo, and I love him so much I was willing to agree on hiding the biggest secret in the entire world, even from my own children because I was not willing to jeopardize what we had. Your Dad might be a hero to the rest of humanity, but he's an even better man."

"I know." Natalie smiled.

Silence.

They heard Clark come into the kitchen a moment later. The little girl stared at him, just to make sure she was ready and brave enough to face her father. She was proud to be a superhero's daughter, but she was even more proud of being Clark Kent's. Nat ran into her father's arms, he stumbled back a bit due to being caught off guard, very Clark-like. Nothing like the Superman she'd seen on TV.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered "I'm sorry I was so mad…"

"You are sorry sweetheart?" He looked down at her. "No, I am, about having to lie to you kids, but your Mom and I wanted to give as normal a life as possible and even though that's not an excuse, at the time we decided it was the right thing to do." Natalie was crying now, her tears soaking Clark's shirt. She was half as tall as him so he knelt to her level to be able to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Hey baby, look at me. I just want you to know something, alright? This family, that's my priority and my greatest achievement and nothing it's ever going to change that."

Natalie nodded as he stood, her arms tightening around his waist. "But we'll try and understand when you have to go save the world too. At least I will." Lois stared at her husband and child and her heart swelled.

"I love you so much sweet girl." Clark said, kissing her temple, with an immense sense of pride over the selfness of her words. "How did you get so wise all of the sudden huh?"

"I might have learned from two of the less selfish people I know." She admitted with a sigh as she sat back at the table, with Clark beside her. Lois gave her husband a look as she reached for his hand and gave it a light squeeze.

One down, two to go.


"Hey, Sarah." Jordan had all but sneaked out of the house to see Sarah, at least his Dad had not gotten to him already, made him turn back and go home.

"Hey, you made it." Sarah gave him a smile, and he felt himself blush. "See you guys later." They walked over after she'd said goodbye to the kids she was hanging out with. "How are you feeling? I still don't understand how you guys didn't get hurt."

"Still figuring that one out." Because apparently, I'm half alien. He had wanted to scream.

"Well, I'm just glad that you made it."

"You promised me trouble." He could use it, any kind of distraction from being so mad and frustrated.

"Well, I will definitely do my best." Sarah said with a small chuckle. "I don't really know how you guys party in Metropolis, but here in Smallville, we do it a little different."

Jordan didn't really party, that was definitely Jon's field of expertise.

Jonathan had been in his room for so long, the four walls were becoming nauseating. He'd seen Jordan leave to meet Sarah and understood how his parents were giving them their space but found it uncharacteristic of them not to have come knocking on the door already to talk to him.

Or go after Jordan.

Natalie hadn't come up, which only meant she'd been able to talk to their parents or otherwise she'd come and talk to him about it, or so he figured. They always talked to each other and he was the one person she'd go to other than their parents if she was dealing with something.

It was not late but the sun had set already, so he figured his little brother and sister were getting ready for bed.

The moment he'd been waiting for to leave the room. Once his parents were occupied with something else. He wasn't sure he was ready to talk to them yet, but maybe talking to his sister would help him.

He could hear his Mom telling Owen and Hannah a story as Jon walked over slowly to the end of the hall. A story about her and Dad.

"And was it scary?" Owen had asked. His little brother was the sweetest, a lot like him when he was that age, his mother had told Jonathan, he always cared for others. Guess, they both took after their Dad then, he admitted to himself.

"Only a little bit." His Mom said. "It was scary because Daddy and I didn't know if we'd see each other soon, but I knew he would come back home, he always did." Jonathan leaned against the door as he continued to listen to the story. It was just like one of the papers she would write, but listening to her telling the story gave it a new meaning.

"Because Daddy loves you." He heard his sister say as his Mom continued.

"He does honey, he really does." She admitted. "And I love him." Jonathan felt himself smiling but when his Mom was almost done with the story he moved away from the door, in search of Natalie.

"Come in." Natalie said as she looked up from the book she'd been reading. "Hey."

"I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were okay." Jon said, looking down at his feet as he moved towards her bed and sat down. Natalie's room was the smallest one of the house, Grandma had worked on getting it ready for her for the summer as she got older, but Natalie had already made it hers in every visit since then, and even more so in this past week.

And it was one of Jon's favorite rooms in the farm.

"I'm okay, I think." Natalie said. "I talked to Mom and then Dad showed up and there was a lot of crying." His sister said gently and with a weak smile. "Mostly on my part."

Jonathan stared at his sister for a moment. "Are you okay?" She then asked him.

"Not sure yet, still trying to figure it out. Especially after what Mom said about sports, makes a guy wonder, you know?"

"I guess, but it's not like you are not good on your own, Jon. I know you are." She offered him another smile. She was always in his corner.

"Thanks sis, you are the best." Jonathan hugged her, Natalie seemed to be better even though she looked worried. " I think I'll talk to Dad later, when he comes home."

"Good, he's probably out saving someone, which is kind of awesome, isn't it?"

"It is I guess." Jonathan said. Then he noticed how sister's mind was clearly reeling.

"Don't worry about him."

"Huh? Who, Dad?"

"Him and Jordan are going to be okay."

Natalie's lip quivered. "He said some horrible things to Dad, Jon."

"I know, but he was just dealing with everything his way, Not everyone can be as cool headed as you and Mom."

"I am not…" She laughed. "Am I?"

"Oh yeah, you are definitely Lois Lane's daughter." Her brother said. They remained quiet for a moment.

"Jordan went out." Natalie said. "Mom didn't even try and stop him."

"I'm pretty sure, he sneaked out." Jonathan told her. "Even if he failed terribly because I know Mom knows about it…"

"What if he gets in trouble?" Natalie said worriedly. "Maybe we should make Mom go and get him."

"No." Jonathan said. "If we do that, he'll be even more pissed at everyone." Jonathan took a deep breath. "I'll go before he goes and does something stupid."


"Anyways…About a year ago, I took a bunch of my mom's pills. I still don't understand why I did it. I've never done anything like that before, and my mom, she made a really big drama out of it. Lots of therapy and whatever." Sarah stared at Jordan, sensing if he was about to feel sorry for her. "I know, for a–for a sad story, it's really basic."

"No. It's not." Jordan had been hanging out with Sarah for a while now, she'd picked hanging out with him rather than being with her friends, he'd been the one to get invited to the bonfire instead of Jon.

She kept choosing him. Nothing like that ever happened to him. He didn't know what exactly happened after, he'd just wanted to comfort Sarah but his lips found hers and….then all hell broke loose.

He'd felt that kid Sean shoving him, he must have been a junior at least because he was gigantic. There was a lot of shouting and shoving and then Jordan heard the word girlfriend.

"Girlfriend?" He gasped. Sarah had a boyfriend? Of course she did.

"I would've gotten around to it, but you sorta kissed me first." Sarah said, still trying to place herself in between Sean and Jordan.

"Hey man, I didn't know…" Jordan tried, but Sean was about to punch him again.

"Back off!" His brother practically roared, shoving Sean away from him.

"Jon…"

"What the hell are you doing? You know how many townies I had to randomly DM to find out where this party was?"

Jonathan was face to face with Sean again… "Back off, you really don't wanna get in my face right now!" He watched his brother come through for him like he'd done every day of their lives. He'd taken on a guy twice his size for him.

Jordan was then pushed to the ground by one of Sean's friends,who started beating him up, his head hit the ground and the rage started to build up, watching those guys take on Jonathan.

Why couldn't he be more like Jon? He'd always got into trouble and he wouldn't hesitate to show up for him. Jordan then thought of their Dad, he wondered what it would be like for him to have to take on guys ten times as worse as these everyday and still come home and try to be a parent.

Jon was just like Dad. Natalie was just like their Mom, always curious and had a sense of justice in her, much like Superman, he figured, Owen had had it worse, he'd almost died as a baby and somehow had so much life and joy in him in spite of everything and their little baby sister saw no fault in people. Ever.

But Jordan had always felt conflicted about who he was and how exactly he fit in the family, he looked like his Dad, sure, but he'd never felt he could be like him . Jordan had always felt like he didn't belong in the family. He'd always been the one outcast.

Never quite able to fend for himself either. That's why Jon would always show up.

He spotted his brother on the ground, he was in pain, he could see it, and the guys around him wouldn't budge. He couldn't take it anymore. He didn't know exactly what happened next but the flames of the bonfire grew larger and his eyes hurt. The kids got thrown around by the fire.

What had he done?


"Yeah, have you still got those contacts at HUD? I need you to check Smallville Community Bank for any unusual activity in the last five or…" Lois was calling any contact she could to try and look into Morgan Edge. She had the TV on as she heard the reporter. "...Six years."

It was the bonfire.

Her mind was reeling. She knew that Jordan had gone, or had tried to sneak to more like, and that Jonathan had gone after him in an attempt to get him to come home. She might have 5 kids, but nothing really escaped her.

She was Lois Lane and she knew things, especially when it came to her children. "Maxy, I got to go." She hung up the phone and moved to grab the ELT from her jacket. "Clark….Clark, come home…"

Come home.

Jon seemed to be okay, the fire department and the cops had gotten there in time. He'd looked for Jordan in the crowd but when he tried to approach him, the EMTS had pulled him away. They were tending to him, even though he wasn't sure what was wrong, Jordan wouldn't look at him.

Then he saw his Dad. He didn't care if he was fourteen, his Dad was there and he was scared out of his mind. "Dad!"

"Jonathan…" Clark wrapped his arms around his son, glad to see him safe, even in the chaos of it all. He'd seen Kyle who had mentioned just how lucky the boys were again.

"Dad, I'm sorry..." He tried. This might not be the ideal place to apologize, but it was a start.

"Hey, I know, it's okay, I promise, right now I just want to make sure you guys are okay."

He grabbed his son's face softly. "What happened?"

"I don't even… I don't…" Jonathan tried to explain. "I don't even know, but Jordan…" Clark looked over and there was Jordan, still with the EMTS, being checked over, his son raised his face for the first time and Clark saw it.

Even in between the tears and confusion.

Against all odds. Jordan was the one with powers. There was no doubt about it.


"So you saved your brother." They were standing in the kitchen with Jonathan holding a pack of ice over his cheek.

"I wasn't sure what 's why I didn't say anything. All I knew is, when I fell, I felt something come over me...It was a strength I've never had before." Natalie stared at her brother with a new found sympathy, she would always take Jon's side, even though he loved Jordan with all her heart, her brother had been a hard wall to try and break. "I felt…control." Natalie stared at her parents, her Dad was looking at Jordan as if he understood what it felt like to be a kid with powers and have a hard time comprehending what had just happened, Mom on the other hand, was keeping a straight face, all of them had faced challenges, but Jordan in a sense that they weren't even able to comprehend. Until now. "I–I don't know. It's hard to explain."

"What's gonna happen to him?" Jonathan asked Clark.

"I'm not sure yet. Jordan's powers are manifesting very differently than mine did."

"But we're gonna help you get through this, okay?" Lois added.

"Yeah, it's probably like learning to drive a car, you know? If cars were indestructible and had giant death lasers as headlights."

"Yeah" Jordan said, walking away, clearly fed up and went out of the house. Natalie turned to look at Jonathan as his mother grabbed his face to force him to look at her, his sister was looking at him with the same disapproving look.

"Apologize to your brother…" She said sternly.

"No, yeah I know, too soon…" Jon said, trailing after Jordan, leaving only Natalie with Clark and Lois.

"How much crazier can this day get?" Natalie huffed, sitting down at the table. "Out of all of us, you'd think it would be Jon, he's the oldest and most obvious,"

"We're not entirely sure on how the manifestation of the abilities work. Dad began to show signs at age six, but since you are only half Kryptonian…It could go either way, I think."

"Unless something triggers them, like it did tonight." Natalie reasoned, for a twelve year old she was more mature than most kids her age.

"Could be…" Clark smiled, sitting beside her. "I'm not sure about that yet, back when Mom got pregnant with the boys, we didn't think it was even possible for us to have a kid." He said. Natalie bit her lip. She honestly didn't think she'd want powers, being a human and trying to fit in, in a city like Metropolis was hard enough.

"Dad?"

"Yeah sweetie?"

"What exactly happened?" Natalie asked. "To your parents I mean, why were you sent to Earth?" She saw his Dad look at her Mom for reassurance. "I know you said that the planet was destroyed, but I mean, didn't other people survive?"

Clark turned to look at his wife again. "As far as I know, I am one of the few ones left in the universe."

Natalie pondered on his words, her head was already hurting from the overload of information and emotions of the day, so she let it slide for now. It was clear her Dad was not yet ready to share more about that part of his story either so she didn't push. "But, Jordan will be okay, right? I mean, you are going to help him."

It wasn't a question.

"Of course, and we'll be right there too. Helping them both, because we're a family." Natalie smiled at her mother's words.

"I love you guys." She reached to hug both her parents as she and Clark stood up.

"We love you so much honey." Lois sighed, grabbing her face like she'd done with Jon earlier. "Don't ever forget that, okay?"

"I know." Natalie told her.

"You should get to bed babe, it's late." Lois said."We can talk some more tomorrow, it's been a long day." Natalie nodded, breaking the hug and glancing back at them before leaving the kitchen.

"You were right…" Clark began, taking a breath once Natalie was gone. "I should've told them a long time ago." He sighed. "Jordan could've killed someone tonight."

"We just gotta be on the same page going forward." Lois said to him. Then Clark thought of Martha. Of what she'd meant when she had wanted him to come home. He didn't mean to see her, even though maybe she sensed her time would be cut short.

"I think I know what my Mom meant when she said to come home..." Clark began. "She knew how busy we are in Metropolis, how absent I've been. I've tried convincing myself that the kids would be fine and that it was okay for me to be gone so much, but…" He explained to Lois. He didn't want to fracture his relationship with the twins any further or have Natalie not come to him if she needed to, or Owen come to resent him like apparently Jordan seemed to or have Hannah not trust him to keep his promises and break her little heart. "I was wrong…"

"You think your mom wanted us to move to Smallville and live on the farm?" Lois questioned.

"It's a simpler life." Clark said. "More time with each other, be part of a community, and now this? I think she felt like this family needs Smallville." He was face to face with Lois now.

God, Lois loved this man so much, her husband who always wanted to do right by everyone. By the world, actually and that's why she needed to be realistic. "As much as the world needs Superman?"

Clark 's face fell. "Look, I know. I know it would be a huge, huge change." She could feel his hands around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Yeah, it would." She said, looking straight into those green eyes she loved so much. "But I think she was right."

"Really?" His face transformed in that moment to what could only be described as joy, but with a glint of surprise. Much like Owen would look at her when he would be unsure of something. She nodded. "Yeah, really."

She kissed him, and for a moment, he felt brave enough to go and talk to Jordan when Jonathan had come in to tell him he was waiting for him. Lois held Clark's cheek as he smiled at her and headed outside.

"You know, I think about my dad a lot." He told Jordan sitting on the steps with him. "How he was just heading off to church one day when a meteor crashed in his front yard. And just like that… He was a father." Jordan looked at him. "I didn't know it back then, but… but he had no idea what he was doing." Clark wrapped his arms around his neck, slowly and his son didn't pull back, much to his relief. But it didn't matter. 'Cause he was always there. You were right. I haven't always been there for you. But I promise you, from now on, I will be."

Jordan had tears in his eyes now as he looked at him. "Dad…I'm sorry about what I said. I really didn't mean it."

"I know, I'm sorry too. It took me so long to be able to tell you kids the truth, because I was afraid of what might happen, but I realize now, how wrong I was and how I should have told you sooner. I love you Jordan, you kids and your Mom are the most important thing to me." He took a deep breath. "Superman is what I do, but Clark Kent? Is who I am."


"Well, that didn't look like a total disaster.." Jon had told Jordan he'd seen Sarah leave the next day.

She'd come with her Mom to the farm because she wanted to see Jordan, that much was clear to him.

And when she started talking about the kiss, Jonathan knew it was best for him to leave them alone.

But as always, he'd come back to make sure his brother was okay. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, look...Um, Jon, about the powers, uh…" Jordan began, he was ready to start making amends, and his brother was a good place to start.

"It's all good." Jon said with a smile.

"Huh?" Jordan stared at his brother, he hadn't even thought about it once.

"Yeah. Powers are overrated anyways." He wavered. "Plus this just confirms what I've known to be true all along."

"Yeah?" Jordan asked with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah."

"My skills on the field are legit." Jon took off running to where their parents, Owen and the girls were standing.

"What's going on?" Jordan asked as they reached the rest of the family in front of the house.

"Um, someone wants to go flying." Natalie said, glancing at Owen. He could see how his Dad was pleading alongside his little brother. "But Mom isn't budging."

"Babe, it's completely safe...you of all people should know that!" Clark said and Lois shot him a menacing glance when the kids looked at each other in wonder, as they noticed their mother blush slightly.

"I want to go flying like Mommy has too!" Hannah said.

"Clark..." Lois warned, getting exasperated.

"Please Mom?" Owen begged again. It was hard to argue with them when they looked so adorable pleading with their matching green puppy dog eyes. Lois had always said Owen looked just like Clark as a little boy from the pictures she'd seen. "You can watch if you if you want to make sure it's okay..."

As if she was about to let Clak take off flying with their kids without supervision.

"And then, can I go next Daddy?" Hannah pipped in which made Natalie and Jonathan laugh much to Lois's dismay.

"Fine." Their mother said finally. "But you listen to everything Dad says." She then turned to Clark. "And you, please be careful, if he starts getting agitated or anything, you come right down, got it?"

"Okay, okay, bu he'll be fine. I promise."

He kissed her. Just to shut her up. Lois turned around as Clark and Owen cheered in victory. "I swear if there's a single scratch on him..."

Clark stared at his wife with nothing but love, but clearly excited. "Alright buddy, come here, button that jacket up." Her husband said, making sure Owen was rightfully prepared.

Lois wished she had taken a picture of the moment Clark settled Owen on his shoulders and was told to close his eyes if he was nervous.

It was the most adorable thing.

Natalie had beaten her to it, she hadn't taken a picture of the actual flying for obvious reasons, of course, just one of of Owen on Clark's shoulder's while still on the ground and it would be one of her favorites ever. Her heart swelled when she heard Owen's giggles of pure joy as Clark held him with both hands from behind and the little boy dared to let go of his dad's neck and stretch his arms out as he lifted them up slowly from the ground.

They weren't even flying above the house's roof, but to Owen, it was the most amazing feeling he'd ever experienced.

Clark took a minute to look down at his family, at his wife who had just the most loving glance in her eyes and took it all in,

Of his kids cheering for Owen, of Hannah being next on his shoulders and kissing his cheek as she told him she loved him, of Jonathan and Jordan smiling and Natalie, making him promise she'd go next.

He didn't know it yet but the future would challenge him in ways he'd never thought possible.

Even for someone as strong as Superman.


Longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoyed it, the plot may diverge a little from the rest of the show now, although I might pick out some storylines to move the story along.
Thanks for reading!