"You're gonna knock 'em dead."
Circa June 2036.
Superman had just whooshed into the Kent farmhouse after rescuing some hostages from a building on the other side of the country. The terrorists responsible had been rounded up in double quick time and were now being taken to police headquarters for a thorough interrogation. None of the hostages required hospitalisation. A quick spin and he was back in his ordinary attire of red plaid shirt and blue jeans, about to pour himself a glass of fresh orange juice from the fridge. It was early evening on what had been a very warm day.
The commotion from upstairs made him turn around. Both the voices and the conversation were familiar. Knowing he might have to play the role of mediator, he walked over to the bottom of the stairs. It wasn't an argument, more the words of reassurance from one of the participants falling on deaf ears with the other. Both sounded a little exasperated by the impasse.
Looking up, Clark saw the girl on the stairs, long brunette hair with red streaks set into an updo to accentuate the slender figure in the elegant dark crimson dress. She had been accessorised minimally with a thin silver bracelet on both wrists, a thin silver necklace and little studded earrings. She was ready for her senior prom.
"Wow, you look just like your mom."
Lara really did. Anyone who saw Lois and Lara side by side couldn't fail to notice the obvious resemblance. While not exactly a doppelgänger, Lara's features were so strikingly Lois that she turned heads wherever she went. Her nose and lips were exactly like her mother's, and she had the same beautiful wide smile, but it was in her eyes were where she differed the most. In normal light, they were hazel but when they caught a bright light, they reflected back a curious shade of blue. Saying that mother and daughter looked alike was meant as a compliment to both, but to a currently flustered Lara it was anything but.
"Oh great! Old, grey and wrinkly, just what I needed to hear!" she griped, slapping her hands down against her sides in resignation.
"Hey, less of your lip, young lady! I'm not old, grey or wrinkly, thank you very much!" protested Lois in response.
"Sorry mom."
Lois sighed. She had simply wanted to reassure her daughter that her date would think she was beautiful even if she kept her make-up and accessories subtle. Lois' thinking was that a subtle approach worked better in bringing out Lara's natural beauty but Lara felt that she needed more adornments in order to stand out. She wasn't especially given to obsessing about her body image but as with everybody of her age, there was always going to be a small element of that. She had no designs on being a vacuous bimbo and she knew that nobody would think of her as ugly, but there was a train of thought in her mind that she wasn't among the model elite types at her school. They were generally the ones who had the pick of the guys. Also, as this was the senior prom, she wanted it to be memorable.
"It's OK. Look, trust me honey, Bobby is going to love it."
"Your mom's right," Clark affirmed. "You look amazing Lara. You remind me of your mom before you were born."
"Oh, I don't look amazing now?" Lois decided to feign resentment in order to get Clark to compliment her. It was part of the teasing to and fro that they'd never let go of, and a big factor in the longevity of their relationship. They had been together for 27 years now, 19 of which were as husband and wife. In all that time, neither Lois nor Clark felt trapped by their relationship and neither had made eyes elsewhere. They were soulmates for a reason.
"Lo, you know what I mean. Don't tell me I need to reassure you too?" Clark joked back.
As Lara and Lois headed downstairs, Clark realised by looking at the clock that there was still a fair bit of time before Lara's date Bobby would arrive. Bobby's family were fairly wealthy though not prone to flaunting it like other wealthy families. Bobby's father was a billionaire who controlled a conglomerate which was in some sectors a direct rival to both LexCorp and Queen Industries, but there was no hint of the Machiavellian scheming the likes of Lionel and Lex Luthor were so fond of. He was much less ostentatious with his wealth even if he indulged in one or two of the trappings of his success. He didn't believe in a private education for his children before they went off to university, preferring for them to develop and gain experience in the real world since most of the people they'd be dealing with in future had spent their formative years outside of the elite classes. Even so, he wanted them to attend Ivy League universities just as he had. Bobby would be attending Harvard Business School in the fall.
Lara had been accepted into Yale to study astronomy. She'd grown up with a passion for stargazing and had an aptitude for the physics aspects of the subject. When she was just a little girl, Clark had explained to her about a planet named Krypton, and it had fired her imagination and fuelled a determination to seek ways for humans to engage in inter-planetary travel. She had never divulged her father's secret, and she idolised him for all the good that he did in the world. Lara's other big passion was for swimming. She'd been on the swim teams at all her schools, and though she didn't possess her father's super abilities, she did have the grace, stamina and determination to be a real dynamic force in the pool.
Bobby had persuaded his dad to hand over the use of his personal limo and driver for the evening as he wanted to make a good impression. Though he would have to come out to Smallville to pick Lara up, the senior prom was being held at their school just outside Metropolis. It wasn't too long a drive. They didn't label themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend but the two of them had grown very close over the past two years so to anyone who saw them, that is what they were.
Clark stepped into the living room and switched on the digital projector, swiping away a few times until he came across the folder he was looking for. Sweeping his hand over the display, he sent the series of images over to the plain wall on the side. It was a wonderful tool that captured even older photographs in great detail. Newer ones were holographic and 3D and could be blown up to life-size, enabling users to digitally recreate the moments they'd captured on camera. It was like having them right there in their living room. The wonders of modern technology.
The images selected by Clark were from Chloe and Jimmy's engagement party in 2008. Chloe had archived all their photos and videos on a secured cloud, and there were an awful lot of them the kids hadn't seen. The difficulty in explaining why was a problem Lois and Clark had wrestled with for quite some time.
"Lara, come and have a look at this," Clark called out to her. She came into the living room, now curious as her flustered state disappeared. Lois joined them.
The image Clark had been looking at showed Jimmy standing slightly behind Chloe, his left hand affectionately around her waist. Chloe had placed her left hand on top of his, showing off the blue engagement ring he'd bought her. The happy couple were left of centre, and to the right were Lois and Clark. They were almost mirroring the pose of Chloe and Jimmy. In actual fact, Clark had had to put his arm out to stop Lois from tottering back into him and the ornate fountain behind him. In doing so, his arm had reached around her front. Lois' hand wasn't quite on top of his, but the expression on her face implied that she didn't particularly care that he was holding her. She'd plastered on the biggest grin she could muster, with slightly glazed eyes denoting her tipsiness. The drunken and inappropriate toast was still to come.
It was at this moment that the kitchen door swung open and a tall, gangly teenager strolled in carrying a large holdall. Jason Samuel Jonathan Kent, or Jase as he was known to all. Clark and Lois' son, 14 years old and a high school freshman, had just come home from football training. Unlike his father, he wasn't the quarterback for his school team, but a wide receiver. He didn't quite have the throwing arm or ability to dictate plays to be a true quarterback but he had filled in on occasion when the regular starting quarterback was unavailable. What set him apart on the field was his searing pace. He didn't possess powers of super-speed like his father but he had lightning quick reflexes, a sharp mind and an uncanny ability to make yardage into dangerous territory. Right now, he was swigging an energy drink while sweating, a little out of breath from his workout.
Just as Lara looked like a younger Lois, Jase looked almost exactly like Clark in his teenage years. He was nearly six feet tall and no doubt would continue to gain in height, quite slender in build, though again he would probably fill out as his body developed. Certainly he was taller than his mom and sister, who herself gave away a couple of inches to her mom. Jase had the chiselled cheekbones, charming Kent smile and dark unruly mop of a young Clark, but his eyes were the same as Lara's - hazel in most instances but given to revealing a tinge of blue in bright light.
The Kent children hadn't been born with nor developed any of Clark's abilities. They had normal human blood and the same blood type as Lois, and they were not immune to any of the frailties that may afflict humans from time to time. In terms of their physiology, the only aspect remotely similar to Clark's was an ability to heal faster than normal. As a kid, Jase had once fallen out of a tree and broken his leg. As immensely painful as it had been for him, and as uncomfortably itchy as he'd found his leg cast, he'd fully recovered in about half the time one would expect for kids who had suffered the same injury. For both kids, they'd only developed mild symptoms of the standard childhood diseases which again saw them recover in double-quick time. They remained totally unaffected by the presence of meteor rock.
While Lara and Jase looked like mini versions of their parents, it was noticeable that they had opposite personality traits. Lara was much like Clark in that she could be reserved and internalise her feelings. She was also the more conservative and thought things over much more before making decisions. Jase was by far the more headstrong and the more likely to take risks. He had the more outgoing personality and a take-charge attitude in most situations. Though he was quite mischievous, he was far from being a tearaway - indeed he was often very helpful and took part in voluntary activities regularly. As a 14 year old, he hadn't made up his mind as to what he wanted to be in the future but he thought it might involve sports or physical activity. His Grampa had told him many stories about his time in the army, and a career in the military was something Jase had given some thought to. He still had time on his side before he had to make that decision though.
Other than that, the two together bickered incessantly like siblings usually did. Lois and Clark would sometimes let it play out and allow the two of them to reach some sort of accord, as it reminded them of how they once were with each other. It was the same arguments over hogging the bathroom, hogging the TV remote, finishing the last of the cereal and that sort of thing. Jase had a tendency to call his sister Larry to wind her up, and she'd usually retort with put-downs like 'squirt' or 'kid' to denote his junior ranking in the family hierarchy.
Deep down though, there was no doubt that each would be there for the other when they needed it. Jase had threatened to kick the ass of some punk kid who'd dumped Lara and humiliated her in public. She had come home distraught and Jase had sensed that it wasn't the time to tease. She had opened up to him and Jase was irate that somebody could be so cruel like that to his sister. Lara had once verbally laid into a group of bullies who were picking on Jase, a kid about half their size and several years younger, simply for having the temerity to want to play hoops with his friends on the same basketball court. Jase was her baby brother and no way was anyone going to be allowed to get away with that.
Moving to the living room, Jase saw the image from the projector.
"Hey guys," he announced. "Is that you and mom? Wow, you look so young!"
"These were taken at your Aunt Chloe's engagement party," explained Lois.
Clark pinched his fingers over the image, blowing it up to life-size. "That's Jimmy," he pointed out.
Lara was surprised because something didn't quite add up. "Wait, Jimmy got married to Aunt Chloe? How come we never knew about it?"
Clark cleared up the confusion. "Actually, his name was Henry but he was known as Jimmy. He was Jimmy's older brother."
"What happened?"
"He died, Jase. They'd got married but for a number of reasons, it didn't work out and they got a divorce. It wasn't long after that that Jimmy was killed." Clark looked downbeat as he recalled the memory. That was one of the darkest periods of his life.
"Oh my god. I didn't know Jimmy had an older brother. They look so alike." To Lara, it was like looking at an identical twin.
Lois spoke. "You'd have liked him, Jase. He was a great photographer and a great role model for his brother. We all miss him."
Jase noted the sullenness in the room, and as was his way, he felt the need to inject a bit of levity into proceedings. Looking at his mom in the photo, he decided to point out what he was wondering. "Was mom drunk when that photo was taken?"
"Jase!" Lois scolded. She'd been embarrassed about her behaviour at the engagement party for months afterwards, going out of her way to ensure she didn't provide a repeat performance at the wedding. Her opinion about Jimmy's suitability for Chloe had changed over the interim period, and she couldn't have been happier for them both on their wedding day. Before things took a turn for the worse.
"I'm sorry mom, but it just looks like you were."
Jase turned to look at his dad, who hid a smirk and secretly nodded in affirmation. Jase grinned, mouthing back "Awesome!" which neither Lois nor Lara caught.
Lara was riveted by the photograph. The smiles on their faces clearly captured a more carefree period in their lives and even though Lara knew her parents hadn't got together at this point, they looked good together. And so young. She could see that her mom and her aunt Chloe had gone for similar outfits - her aunt's dress a lighter shade, as was her hair of course, adorned with little splashes of colour from the sequin detailing. She'd never seen her aunt with long hair but in this photo, it looked longer than ever. The two cousins had even chosen the same hairstyle for the occasion and really looked like sisters. Both were extremely pretty with their beaming smiles. Eyeing the photo more closely, Lara was struck by the lack of accessories her mom was wearing. It wasn't 'lack of' so much as 'none'. No earrings, no necklaces, no bracelets. No jewellery of any kind. Even her make-up was on the subtle side, allowing her mom's natural skin tone to shine through. It was now that the daughter understood her mother's point of view. Lois had still looked absolutely stunning.
"Mom," piped up Lara, still captivated by the photograph. "You really do look hot in that dress."
Clark and Lois smiled at each other.
"So there you go honey. When I say you remind me of your mom, I only ever mean it in a nice way. You look just as terrific tonight as your mom did on that night."
The doorbell rang, signifying the arrival of Lara's date, Bobby. Lois moved towards the door, stopping to give Lara some last words before she headed out.
"Honey, I want you to have a really great time, but don't feel pressured into doing anything you don't feel ready for, OK?"
Lara turned bright red. "Mom!"
"I mean it Lara. If you have any doubts, turn away."
With that, Lois gave Lara a light hug so as not to smudge her make-up or crease her dress. Lois then opened the door to Bobby, who was standing on the porch in a well-fitted tux complete with black bow tie. He'd got his hair cut, set into a neat side parting. He was a very handsome young man, and extremely polite too. He was holding a large bouquet of flowers.
"Hey Mrs Kent, Mr Kent. Is Lara ready?"
"Bobby, hey. Well now, don't you look handsome tonight," said Lois. Bobby had always had a slight crush on Lara's mom which was understandable given how he had the hots for Lara, who looked so alike. He felt a little heat flash in his cheeks at the compliment.
Lara stepped into view from behind her dad, causing Bobby to stare, agog. Lara beamed that her appearance met with Bobby's approval.
"W-wow!" was about all Bobby could utter. He always thought he was going out with the hottest girl in school, but now everybody would know it. He'd become a bundle of nerves right now. "Th-these are for you Lara. Y-you look terrific!"
"Thanks Bobby. They're beautiful," replied Lara as she took the flowers. Lois was on hand to take the flowers from Lara, ready to place them in a vase.
"Lara?" Clark called out just as the pair were about to leave. His daughter turned around. "I hope you kids have fun. And I promise you, you're gonna knock 'em dead."
She returned to give her dad a hug, before Bobby offered his arm for her to link with. They left the house as her parents watched on. Their little girl was growing up fast. Their happy-sad moment was broken by little brother, who felt the need to bid them goodnight in his own inimitable way.
"See ya, Larry. Bobby, my commiserations man!"
"Jase? Shower. Now!" ordered Lois, yanking Jase back inside by the arm, closing the door.
Clark watched Jase chuckle as he disappeared upstairs, while the limo pulled away from the house and out towards the main road. His attention now fell on the stairs.
Over the years, the girl standing on those steps had managed to in turn baffle, surprise, mesmerise, captivate and bless him, and then fill his heart with love. Because of that, the girl on the stairs would always provide a moment for him to remember, and she would always be special to him.
FIN.