- - - Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Clark Kent, don't you dare," Lois said. He'd gotten that far off look again that meant he had to go play Superman somewhere, and, of course, General Lane was still sitting at their kitchen table staring at them, his jaw working.

"What?" Sam said, coming out of his daze slightly.

"Lois," Clark said placatingly, he already had the first few buttons on his shirt open, sending the General back into silence, staring at the bright blue and the top of the "S" emblem peeking out.

"Clark," she held up a threatening finger, "you are not leaving me to deal with this by myself!"

"It's Jason," Clark said calmly, now fully in Superman garb, opening the balcony door.

"What are you still doing here? Go!"

"Two minutes," he promised, shaking his head and smiling at her antics before disappearing from view.

"You," the General started, clearing his throat and taking a sip of water before he could continue. "You married Superman."

"No, I married Clark," Lois told him. "He just also happens to be Superman."

"Oh," the General obviously didn't get it.

Ten minutes of awkward silence later, Clark flew back in the window with a tearful Jason holding fistfuls of his father's primary colored suit. Clark had one arm supporting his son, the other on his head trying to keep him calm.

"Why can't we fly everywhere, Daddy? I don't want to ever ride in a car again!" Jason said through his tears. Clark just chuckled softly, rubbing his son's back and bringing him to sit with his mother on the couch.

"What happened?" Lois asked, taking Jason in her arms and holding him tight.

"They were on their way to the zoo," Clark said, changing back into his jeans and button-up shirt quickly, "and the driver in the next lane tried to change into their lane without looking."

"I hate cars," Jason said decisively.

"Was everyone okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken up," Clark said, rubbing his son's back before heading into the kitchen to get him something to drink. "The Gallaghers called a tow-truck, I brought Matt to one of their neighbors' house so he wouldn't have to look at the cars anymore."

"Y'know, they're going to get suspicious if you keep showing up whenever the slightest thing happens to Jason," Lois said, smirking. Jason sat up a little and took the hot cocoa Clark had warmed with his heat vision. The prospect of the hot drink seemed to take his mind well enough off his most recent trauma.

"I'm not not going to show up," Clark said, watching his son carefully. Lois just smiled; Jason already seemed to have moved on, noticing his grandfather.

"General Grandpa!" He said, perking up and putting the cocoa on the table.

"Hey kiddo," Sam said, his voice only shaking a little bit. Jason's face suddenly got serious looking from his father to his grandfather suspiciously, then turning to his father again.

"Did you tell him the secret already?" He asked, and Clark just nodded. "Does that mean I can show him what I can do?!" Jason was on his feet, excited, standing right next to his father.

"Sure," Clark said, taking the spot on the couch next to Lois. General Lane looked on with nervous curiosity; it was one thing to learn that his daughter married Superman and was having his grandchildren, another thing entirely to realize that his grandchildren would share a few more Kryptonian traits. Jason gave a huge smile and ran over to his bedroom, almost running into the closed door; luckily, Clark was still faster than his son. "It's closed, Jason," he said, letting go of his son's shoulder and receiving an embarrassed smile.

"It was disappeared again," Jason sighed, squinting at the door until it came back into view. He entered the room and came out again a few seconds later with the heaviest thing he could find. General Grandpa's jaw dropped when he saw the boy walk out of his room carrying his thick wooden dresser full of clothes, the things on top rolling around and tumbling sideways as he walked.

"Jason," Clark said, rolling his eyes. "Everything's going everywhere."

"Oh yeah," Jason said, moving slightly so he could see the stuff on top and knocking a few more things off the top.

"Put it back, honey," Lois said patiently. Now the General was looking at her funny; who in their right mind could tell their child to put the almost one-hundred pound dresser back in place so calmly? The wife of Superman? There ya go.

"Did you eat lunch with the Gallaghers?" Clark asked, preparing to take some leftover chili out and reheat it for his son if necessary.

"Yup, we had peanut butter and jelly before we left for the zoo," he smiled, seeming to have forgotten about the trauma the trip to the zoo had included.

"Okay, good," Clark said, sitting down again.

"So," Lois said after a moment, looking from her father to her husband and back; Jason was entertaining himself at the kitchen table with a notepad that was almost full of pictures of the Green Arrow.

"So," the General reflected.

"Any pressing questions we should be answering?" Clark asked. The General was looking at him differently than he had ever looked at either sides of his personality. It wasn't quite the look of understanding he got from other people who knew his secret, just a confused sort of acceptance as the older man tried to assimilate the new information.

"How long have you been on Earth?" He hadn't planned on asking the question, it had just popped into his mouth and come out.

"Since I was about three years old," Clark said without hesitation.

"Really?"

"Yes," Clark shrugged. "My parents found me in the cornfield and took me in… don't ask me what possessed them to take a little boy in a spaceship into their home, but they did."

"Good thing too," Lois said, smiling and leaning back against them. Clark just nodded, smiling fondly at the memories.

"I didn't even know I was an alien until I started high school," the General looked surprised. "My parents kind of left that out of the 'you're special' conversation," he shrugged.

"Did you always have your abilities? I mean, Jason surely couldn't lift that dresser a year ago… and the asthma."

"I always had a few, the strength, the speed," he shrugged, getting an annoyed look from Lois at the repeated movement. "Everything else came later... I had a rough couple of years at the beginning, too, though; we figured it was adjusting to a new planet. That could explain some of Jason's illnesses, but... we'll never really know."

"Hm," the General seemed to be taking it rather well. They continued with the Q & A session until Clark had to run out to prevent a drowning in the English Channel, which turned into a few hours worth of superhero work. As usual, they kept the news on and kept track of his movements on mute so that Jason wouldn't quite get the whole picture.

After a particularly miraculous save involving a psychopath bent on eradicating half the corn in Iowa, Clark called home to ask after dinner.

"What does everyone want for dinner?" Lois asked, turning to her father and son who were playing Yahtzee on the coffee table.

"Pizza!" Jason shouted out.

"It would be appreciated if Superman picked up some Dominoes," Lois said into the phone.

"Can do," was Clark's reply, and he hung up to phone in the order. In the half hour it took for the pizza to be prepared, Clark made a few minor saves and put out a raging fire in New York.

Just a side note that I'm sure will make you all laugh- my Mom noticed me doing research about pregnancies and stuff to make sure I got everything right (like when he would be able to hear the heartbeats and such) and now she thinks I might be harboring a little secret. Great fun- I wish you all could've seen the look on her face, priceless!!