Chapter 23: A Very Super Christmas

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Snow was softly falling from the sky and the sun was slowly dipping behind the horizon. Christmas decorations were being turned on, people milled about, and two aliens leisurely walked through town.

"I am glad you decided to join us, J'Onn," Kara told her Justice League comrade.

"I thank you for your invitation, Kara," he replied. "I admit I still find it difficult to be among people after so long in isolation, but the idea of being all alone has... lost its appeal."

J'Onn had taken on human form, appearing as a tall, broad man with blonde hair. Kara figured he had taken her as his template, looking almost like a male version of herself, only about 20 years older. They were currently walking through downtown Smallville, admiring the many Christmas decorations. They were on their way to school to collect Clark, who was attending the annual Christmas celebration there with his friends. Afterwards they would all head to the Kent farm for Christmas Eve dinner. Martha had been working in the kitchen almost since dawn.

"Did you have any similar celebrations back home?" Kara asked him, briefly waving at a familiar face.

"We had a festival called S'Aran S'an, which we celebrated during the longest night of the year on Mars' northern hemisphere," he explained, his deep baritone voice tinged with wistfulness. "It was a ritual sharing of warmth and comfort during the long, cold night. We would then greet the rising sun together, celebrating that the days would now grow longer again."

Kara chuckled. "We actually had something very similar on Krypton," she told him. "We called it Kar-Datra. During the midst of winter we would light bonfires to stave off the cold and sing together, beseeching the great Rao to turn around on his long journey across the skies and come closer to us again."

"We also had such songs," J'Onn replied, watching as a couple of kids were running towards the town's only toy store and pressing their noses against the display window. "I think most species from planets that have seasons have similar rituals. As the nights grow long and cold in winter, people huddle together, share their warmth, and pray that the light and warmth will return."

They briefly stopped as an older man with a huge bag of presents came out of the toy store, almost toppling from the weight of it. Kara quickly walked over to him and relieved him of the bag.

"Careful, Mr. Connors," he said, smiling. "I think you might have gone a bit overboard here."

"Bless you, Karen," he replied. "These old bones don't hold up as well as they used to."

Knowing his well-maintained old pickup truck by sight, she gestured for them to walk over. "Why don't I put this in your car and you promise me that you'll unload it piece by piece back home, okay?"

J'Onn, having anticipated their destination, opened the car door (no one locked their cars in Smallville) to allow Kara easier access.

"Thank you both," Mr. Connors said, studying J'Onn. "Can't remember seeing you here before. Are you a friend of Karen's?"

Kara briefly panicked, not having thought of a cover story for J'Onn's presence beforehand, but the Martian easily extended his hand to the other man and smiled an easy smile.

"Something like that," he said vaguely, but friendly. "My name is Jones. John Jones."

Kara nodded, it sounded similar enough to J'Onns actual name to be easy to remember. Mr. Connors frowned though, as if trying to piece something together. He then brightened, a light bulb seeming to go on over his head.

"Oh, Jones? Like Alya Jones? Karen's mother? Are you a relative of hers?"

Kara blinked, taken off guard. Right, her entirely fictional mother had also been called Jones. She honestly hadn't thought of the name in a long time, certainly not since she had told Clark the truth. Jones was a very generic name, though, so it should be easy to write it off as a coincidence. Then she stopped to think. Mr. Connors was a nice man, but also a notorious gossip. No doubt the presence of a blonde stranger called John Jones who looked similar to Kara and was going to spend Christmas with the Kents would be known to most of Smallville before nightfall. And J'Onn needed a permanent human identity anyway.

Smirking, she walked over the somewhat surprised J'Onn and wrapped her arms around his. "Good memory, Mr. Connors. John here is actually a cousin of my mother. I found him over one of those ancestry search engines and he agreed to spend Christmas with us so we could get to know each other better."

"Indeed," J'Onn simply said, looking a bit surprised, but seemingly willing to go along with it.

"Wonderful," Mr. Conners cheered, looking overjoyed. "What better time to find more family than on Christmas? Great meeting you, Mr. Jones. Hope we will see more of you here in Smallville."

"Quite possibly," J'Onn replied, then looked over at Kara with a fond smile. "It seems Karen is determined to gather the lost sheep together, wherever she finds them."

"That's our Karen," Mr. Connors agreed, climbing into his car. "A merry Christmas to you all!"

"And to you, Mr. Connors," Kara waved as he drove off. She then turned towards J'Onn. "I hope you are okay with this, J'Onn. It was a spur of the moment idea, but it neatly explains your presence, especially if you end up visiting more often, which I hope you will do."

J'Onn, clearly seeing that she was somewhat agitated, put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry, Kara... Karen. It was a good idea. And in a strange way, I suppose we are family, somewhat. Tied together not by blood, but by circumstances and common purpose."

Kara smiled at him, putting her hand over his. "That is certainly true... Cousin John!"

They stood a moment, the Christmas clamor of Smallville washing over them, then finally parted and resumed their walk through town.

"I admit I am a bit confused about this Christmas celebration," J'Onn told her. "I have been told it celebrates the birth of the Christian savior, but it seems to have many elements from other faiths as well."

"Yeah," Kara said. "It's a bit of a mishmash of many different traditions. Christian, Pagan, Jewish, and probably a few others, too. I was quite confused at my first Christmas here on Earth, too."

J'Onn nodded. "I can imagine."

Thirteen years ago

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Martha asked, stepping out of the door in a thick winter cloak and her hands protected by mittens. Kara had been standing out on the patio for quite a while now, just gazing out into the darkness. Her only concession to the cold were long sleeves.

"I'm fine," she replied, though her tone of voice told a different tale. "I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet for a while."

Martha stood beside her. "Are you still having trouble with your enhanced senses? We can turn the music down or turn it off entirely, if it helps."

Kara shook her head. "No, it's not that. I...," she swallowed. "It's just..."

Martha put her arm around her, slightly drawing her into a hug. "You are missing your family."

Kara nodded, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "It's all this talk of Christmas, I hear it all over town. Everyone's with their loved ones, everyone is happy to be together, and..."

"I know," Martha told her. "Give it time, Kara. I can hardly pretend to understand what you have gone through, sweetheart, but the wounds will heal. It just takes time. And we are here for you and little Kal every step of the way."

"I know, thank you," she replied, huddling into the taller woman's embrace. "Back on Krypton, we... we had a somewhat similar celebration. There was no baby in a barn or a fat man in a red suit handing out presents..."

"Please don't call Santa Clause a fat man when my parents come over tomorrow, sweetheart," Martha softly chided her. "What was your celebration on Krypton called?"

"It was called Kar-Datra. We... we lit bonfires in the night and sang songs to Rao, the great sun, asking him to come back soon and end the winter season. Mother and father would... we would have a fire outside, near our house, and... and we would sing… mother had such a beautiful voice... father couldn't hold a tune at all, but never let it stop him…"

Kara's voice failed and she burrowed even deeper into Martha's embrace, tears flowing freely from her eyes now. "I miss them so much," she sobbed.

Martha just held her, knowing of no words that could help, and eventually the girl's tears subsided. They headed back inside, Kara checking on Kal, who was happily sleeping in his crib. Martha went back to preparing their Christmas dinner. Kara wanted to help, but after breaking a pot and bending several spoons, she gave up.

Later, after they had enjoyed the delicious foot, Martha asked Kara to collect Kal and follow her outside. Confused, Kara did as told and was surprised to see that Jonathan had been busy at some point during the evening. A huge stack of wood had been assembled outside the farm, Jonathan just putting the finishing touches on it. A torch was already lit and her adoptive uncle came towards her.

"I hope this looks somewhat similar to what you had back home, darling," he told her, smiling. "Want to light it?"

She nodded, not quite trusting her voice. Holding Kal safely with one arm, she took the torch with the other and quickly proceeded to light the bonfire. Stepping back, she found herself between the two Kents, all of them huddling together as the fire climbed higher and higher. Kal was awake, staring at the fire with fascinated eyes.

For a moment she could almost fool herself into thinking that there were other people standing with them near the fire, people in Kryptonian garb, people who could not possibly be here. They were only shadows, though. It was just the four of them, all alone in the night.

"Think you can teach us the Kryptonian songs, Kara?" Martha asked.

Kara swallowed hard, the voice of her mother singing in her mind. Just thinking about the words brought more tears to her eyes. Actually singing them… she finally shook her head.

"No, I... I don't think I can... it's just too..."

"It's okay, sweetheart," Martha said. "Maybe someday. Do you want to hear some Christmas songs from here on Earth?"

Kara nodded. Earth was her home now, hers and Kals. She wanted to learn more about this place. She wanted to not feel so alien here, so strange. Everything was still too foreign, too loud, too bright. Just give it time, Martha had said. The wounds will heal. Rao, she hoped that Martha was right.

"Silent Night," Jonathan began to sing softly.

"Holy Night," Martha chimed in.

Kal giggled in her arms, watching the flames and obviously enjoying the song. Kara listened to the words, not really understanding what the song was about, but after listening for a minute, she began to hum along to the melody.

She knew it was just her imagination, but somewhere in the distance, she could almost believe that her parents were singing along to the alien song.

"Merry Christmas, Kara and Kal," Martha said as the song was finished.

"Merry Christmas," she repeated, smiling down at her happy-looking cousin. "And happy Kar-Datra, Kal!"

The Present

"The Kents sound like wonderful people," J'Onn said. "I am looking forward to meeting them."

"I don't even want to imagine what might have happened had I not met them," Kara confessed. "I was completely unprepared, both for coming to an alien world and especially for taking care of an infant. They saved us and took us in, made us part of their family."

J'Onn smiled. "And now you are following their example, taking in others who have no home and family anymore."

Kara blushed a bit, but nodded. "Maybe. It only seems right. Clark and I were so very lucky, we were shown so much kindness... kindness needs to be returned. Returned and multiplied."

J'Onn nodded, fully agreeing. By now they had reached the school building, where dozens of children were already streaming down the stairs and into the waiting arms of their parents. Kara and J'Onn only had to wait another few minutes before Clark arrived, running over to her for a hug (a short one, he was manly teenager by now, after all). Lana was a step behind him, too.

"Hello, Ms. Kent," Lana greeted her cheerfully.

"Hi, Lana. Did you two have a nice Christmas celebration?"

"It was okay, mom," Clark replied. "Just glad that school's out for the holidays now." He glanced at J'Onn and she saw him stiffen a bit. Given his superhuman senses, Clark probably spotted that there was something unusual about him. "Mom...," he began.

"Ah, right," she interrupted him. "I told you that our cousin John would be coming over for Christmas dinner, remember? John, this is my son Clark, and his best friend Lana Lang."

"Pleased to meet you, Clark," J'Onn said.

Clark frowned, but quickly clued in. Kara had told him who would be joining them for Christmas dinner, after all, and the Martian Manhunter's true name sounded similar enough to John. Lana seemed very interested, though, as she knew enough about the true identities of the two Kents to know that any "cousin" of theirs was bound to be someone very interesting.

"You better tell me about that tomorrow," Lana hissed in Clark's ear, before waving goodbye and going to join her own parents.

"Ready to go?" Kara asked Clark.

"Sure, I'm starving."

Kara laughed. "Hardly! But I know what you mean."

As they walked down the street leading out of town and towards the Kent farm, Kara suddenly got an impish impression on her face.

"I hope you have all your presents ready and wrapped, Clark?" she asked innocently.

Her son frowned at her. "Sure, why?"

"Well, I just want everything to be ready, you know how much I have to do tonight," Kara said, smirking. "Reindeers to bridle, presents to deliver, you know how it is."

Clark groaned, slapping a hand to his face. "Mom, are you ever going to let me live that down?"

She pretended to think about, then shook her head. "Nah!"

Nine years ago

Clark Kent, five years old, was staring open-mouthed at the spectacle before him. His aunt Martha (great-aunt, actually, but that made her sound old and wrinkly, which she wasn't) had asked him to slip on his winter jacket and told him to come outside, because there was something his mom wanted to show him. It being Christmas Eve, Clark had hoped that Santa might have brought his presents early.

Instead, though, he had looked up to see his mom standing on roof of the Kent farmhouse, right next to the chimney. She waved at him, yelled at him to pay close attention, and then stepped off into thin air without falling down. His mom was flying! She did a little spin in mid-air and then slowly floated down towards him, smiling broadly.

"Wow," he whispered.

"I know, right?" she asked. She knelt down in front of him, her hands on his little shoulders. "Clark, I think you are old enough now to learn that there is something rather special about your mom. But I need you to promise me that you will not tell anyone about it, okay?"

Clark nodded, though he was barely listening. His mom was flying. His young mind immediately took all the available facts, put them together, and came to one inescapable conclusion:

"You're Santa Claus!" he yelled joyfully.

The Present

"Well, what was I supposed to think?" Clark asked as they entered the Kent farm. "It was Christmas, she was wearing a red sweater, she was flying down from the chimney, and most important of all: I WAS FIVE!"

"A perfectly understandable mistake," J'Onn assured him, following him into the kitchen.

"See?" Clark told his mother, gesturing toward J'Onn. "Even the Martian thinks so!"

"The Martian?" someone who could only be Martha Kent asked, coming into the room with a set of plates for the table. "Oh, then you must be J'Onn."

J'Onn walked over to help her set down the plates, then shook her hand. "Indeed, Mrs. Kent. And I wish to thank you for taking me into your home for this holiday. I am very grateful."

"You are welcome and please call me Martha. Forgive me for asking, but... well, Karen described you to be..."

J'Onn smiled, then reverted to his natural appearance. To Martha's credit, she only blinked when suddenly faced with a nearly seven feet tall, green-skinned Martian.

"This is my natural form," J'Onn explained. "I thought it prudent, however, to adopt a more human appearance when Kara proposed a walk through town."

"Ah, about that," Kara interjected. "If anyone should mention it, our guest is called John Jones and he is my second cousin on my mother's side. I found him online and he is here for Christmas so we can to know each other." At Martha's curious glance, she added, "Mr. Connors asked."

"So all of Smallville will know by tomorrow," Martha said, nodding in understanding. "Very well. Okay, Cousin John it is then. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Karen, maybe you can help Jonathan with the wood for the bonfire outside?"

"Sure thing," she said, heading back outside.

"Is there anything I can do to help, Martha?" J'Onn asked.

"You are our guest, J'Onn. Besides, I am practically finished. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Well, Kara has introduced me to a human beverage called 'Hot Chocolate', so..."

"Coming right up!"

A minute later he was carefully sipping on his hot drink and studying the many pictures adorning the walls of the Kent living room. Most of them were family pictures, showing Kara and her son at various different ages. His eyes came to rest on a particularly strange one, where it took him a moment to even recognize the person on it.

"Oh, that is one of my favorite pictures," Martha said, coming to his side. "Karen has asked me to remove it more often than I can count, but it's just too good."

J'Onn raised an eyebrow, studying the picture. Kara was wearing pretty strange clothes. They did not really cover much of her body, not to mention parts of them were missing, and Kara's normally blonde hair was colored a vivid range of colors ranging from blue to red and green.

"That picture was taken on Christmas Eve, too," Martha told him. "Karen was sixteen at the time."

Ten years ago

"Karen Colleen Kent," Martha yelled. "What do you think you are doing?"

There were two people lying on the hay in the barn, neither of them fully dressed. One of them, a boy of about 17, jumped to his feet and turned beet-red, fumbling to bring his Jeans back up from where they hung around his knees. Martha recognized the boy despite the fact that he was dressed like a rock band groupie. Tommy Jameson was his name and Martha immediately made a note to call his parents in the morning.

"Ah, this isn't what it looks like, Mrs. Kent," Tommy began, zipping his Jeans back up. "Karen and I, well, we..."

"It's exactly what it looks like," Karen interrupted him. She was still lying in the hay and hadn't yet bothered to pull her clothes back where they belonged. Not that there were many clothes to begin with. A tight pink halter top, a skirt so short Martha was tempted to call it a belt, ripped nylons, and black ankle boots, one of which was currently missing. She had also added yet another color to her hair since this morning, it seemed.

"Tommy, go home!" Martha just said, the boy scurrying away at impressive speed, not even bothering to pick up his winter jacket.

Karen looked after him for a moment, then sighed and got up. "You sure know to ruin someone's good time, Martha."

"You were supposed to be home two hours ago, Karen," Martha reminded her.

"Yeah, we got back from the concert two hours ago, but kind of got distracted then."

Martha shook her head, knowing that this would be yet another repeat of the same argument they had had numerous times by now. She briefly wondered whether non-alien teenagers were just as difficult.

"Clark was getting worried about you," Martha said.

Karen rolled her eyes. "Clark! Clark! It's always about Clark! Weren't you the one to tell me that I needed to stop fixating on him so much? That I should go out and live? Well, this is me, living!"

"You were neglecting yourself, Karen," Martha corrected her. "All the plans you were making, none of them included even a bit of happiness for yourself. But I didn't tell you to take a sharp turn in the other direction and start neglecting Clark instead."

"I am NOT neglecting Clark," Karen yelled at her, rising several inches into the air, probably without even noticing. "I knew he was in good hands with you, you are more his parents than I am anyway, so where is the problem?"

"The problem is that you still refuse to face the real problem," Martha yelled back.

"And what problem is that?" Kara asked, her eyes actually shimmering red.

"Krypton!" Martha told her forcefully.

Karen froze, her feet hitting the ground with a low thud. It made her stumble, due to only wearing a boot on one foot, and she almost fell. Martha was by her side in a second, grabbing her arm to keep her upright.

"You fixated on Clark to avoid thinking about Krypton," Martha told her, her voice softening. "And now you are acting like the world's most irresponsible teenager to avoid thinking about Krypton!"

"That's not true," Karen whispered, half-heartedly trying to shrug off Martha's hand.

"Isn't it?" Martha asked, holding on to her. "You've been here for three years, Karen, and initially you spoke a lot about your former home, but then you just stopped. You spend all your time either studying, looking after Clark, or working on your plans for the future. You told me that your ship contained materials to construct an outpost with Kryptonian technology here on Earth, but you haven't even looked at the ship in months."

Karen's lip quivered. "I'm just trying to build a life here! Like you told me!"

"It won't be much of a life if you cut out the first 13 years of it," Martha reminded her. "It doesn't do to cling to the past, Karen, but trying to pretend it's not there doesn't work, either. You are here now, you are part of humanity, part of Earth. But you are also the last daughter of Krypton! Just like Clark is the last son of Krypton. And one day he will want to know about the world he comes from and he will need you to tell him about it."

Karen dropped to her knees on the ground, Martha following her down, holding down to her. "I don't know how," Karen confessed. "If I start remembering, then the pain comes back. I see the planet exploding outside the ship's view port, I see them all dying over and over again. I need to keep working, to keep busy, because if I don't..."

"I know, sweetheart. But there was more to Krypton than its last day. Happy memories. Try and focus on those."

Karen just nodded, not saying anything. Martha knew there was still a difficult road ahead of them. Probably more fights yet to come. But maybe they could make a first step today.

"Karen?" Martha asked, her arm around her daughter.

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me that Kryptonian song? The one you used to sing at Kar-Datra?"

Kara froze for a second, her eyes shimmering with tears, but then she nodded.

The Present

"You are telling THAT story again, aren't you?" Kara asked, seeing Martha and J'Onn standing in front of THAT picture. "Are you trying to embarrass me to death in front of my team mate? It's not like Tommy and I were off robbing a bank or anything."

"Parental prerogative, sweetheart," Martha replied. "I am sure you have already made ample use of it when it comes to Clark, too."

"Yeah, yeah! Come on now, dinner is getting cold!"

Kara, Clark, Martha, Jonathan, and J'Onn sat at the dining table together and very much enjoyed Martha's wonderful food. When the deluge of food was finally done for and everyone was feeling nicely stuffed, they headed outside. It had stopped snowing earlier, but everything was covered with a fluffy white blanket and the air was crisp and cold.

Motioning for J'Onn to get back a bit, Kara was about to use her heat vision to ignite the bonfire, but then stopped.

"Clark, would you do the honors this year?" she asked.

Clark nodded, excited, and quickly set the wood ablaze with a glance. The flames crackled in the darkness, the snow around the fire quickly melting.

"Kara has told me about the traditions of Earth and Krypton," J'Onn said as they watched the flames. "I would ask if I might share a tradition of my home planet with you."

"We would be delighted, J'Onn," Jonathan said.

"During the festival of S'Aran S'an," J'Onn explained, "every year it would be the task of a different member of the family to compose a new song, by which they would share their thoughts and feelings with their loved ones."

J'Onn, reverted to his Martian form, sat a safe distance away from the fire, and closed his eyes. When he opened his mouth, a deep melody emerged. No one else present understood the language he was singing in, but there was really no need. It was all there in his voice, in the notes, and even the words, alien as they might be.

J'Onn sang of the long, cold nights of winter and how terrible it felt to be all alone in the darkness. Decades of loneliness, spread out across thousands of years, reverberated in his voice. But then the song turned warmer, speaking of the joy of meeting others in the night, of coming together with friends and family to endure the long dark. Martha and Jonathan huddled closer together, sharing a warm kiss. Clark leaned against Kara's shoulder, both of them listening to the Martian's song as it spoke of the tentative beginnings of friendship, the rekindling of feelings long forgotten.

The song ended with the promise that a new day would soon dawn, that the light would return, bringing with it new beginnings, new friendships, and new family. Martha brushed a tear from her eye.

"That was beautiful, J'Onn. Thank you very much for sharing this with us."

She looked over at Kara, who nodded.

"Maybe we can start another tradition here today," Kara said and turned to Clark. "Like we practiced?"

Clark nodded and together the two last survivors of Krypton sat in front of the crackling bonfire and began singing a song in old Kryptonian. Clark's pronunciation was a bit wobbly at first, but he quickly got into the rhythm of it. After a moment J'Onn's baritone joined in, Kara opening her mind to him, allowing him to hear the words and melody. Finally Martha and Jonathan joined them as well, having learned the words years ago. Together the patchwork family sang a song, composed on a planet now lost, beseeching the great sun Rao to turn around on his long journey across the skies and return his light and warmth to the world again.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" Jonathan said.

"Happy Kar-Datra!"

"Blessed S'Aran S'an!"

And to all a safe night.

End Chapter 23

Author's Note: I didn't really intend to write a Christmas chapter / episode. It kind of just happened, mostly because I remembered that awesome Justice League Christmas episode where J'Onn was on the Kent farm for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone. And yes, Alya Jones, Kara's fictional mom, was named with John Jones / J'Onn J'Onnz in mind.