Clark was unsure how this evening will develop. But he knew, this had to be a great and unforgettable evening. Nervously he was trembling with his feet under the table, while peeling potatoes like his mother advised him. With his trembling superspeed he already turned three potatoes into chips instead of peeling them.
After the disaster at Halloween, the Thanksgiving-incident and missing the school's Christmas-show, Clark wanted to give the boys a wonderful Christmas.
Being Superman gave him some advantages, like decorating the whole house within seconds, decorating the farm during a coffee-brake, or getting presents within minutes from stores at the other end of the world, or getting home on time without risking to get trapped in bad weather or traffic jams. But being a Superhero had also the effect that he missed a lot of precious time with the boys. The boys were too young to know the truth. They were still in an age, where it was possible that they would slip it too easy. And even if every six year old boy in the world would love to figure out that his father is Superman, it was still to early.
Last year on Christmas, there was a volcanic eruption in Italy he had to help out. The year before, a blizzard at the East-Coast. On their birthday, there was bank-robbery in the city with twenty hostages and a bomb. This Christmas, he has to prove the boys that they are more important to him than 'assignments' and 'work for the Daily-Planet'.
"Clark, are the potatoes ready?" Martha asked when she came down the stairs.
Clark didn't answer. He just looked on the table and saw the chips he made instead. Thinking a lot about the boys and how to make this Christmas better than the previous. It was not difficult, but everything could happen.
"Clark?"
Clark woke up from his imagination when he noticed his mother standing right in front of him. The petite and always friendly figure of Martha Kent stood in front of him, in a dark green Christmas-pullover and was stunned about the chips.
"Clark, I wanted you to peel the potatoes! Or do you want chips for Christmas?" Martha asked and held one in front of Clark's face.
"Sorry, Ma! I was clumsy…"
"You want to talk about it?"
"About what?"
"As much as you can hear every distress in the entire world, I am able to hear in your voice and see in your face when something is bothering you!" Martha said. "This is my superpower! So, tell me my son!"
Clark put the potato and the peeler away and put his hands on the table. Being grateful about his mother's 'superpower'.
"Ma… I feel bad!"
"Bad about what?"
"About the boys!"
"Is something wrong with the boys?"
Clark's eyes wandered over to the window. It's Christmas-eve, but there was no trace of snow. Instead, there was a lot of water coming down from the sky! According to the weather-forecast, the whole region had to expect extreme heavy rainfalls. It was also way too warm for this time of the year.
When he told the boys, that they were going to spend Christmas at their grandmother's house, both boys were excited. Since there was a lot of free space around the house to play in the snow, build snowmen and make snowball-fights. But now they were caught in this mud hole. The boys were with their mom in town to watch the Christmas party in the community-center and would be back in an hour. And in two hours the sun would set.
"No! The boys are okay! It's more about what I did."
"So, tell me son!"
Clark took a deep breath. "I messed up Ma! Their birthday was ruined by my Superman-duty, Halloween was a disaster, thanksgiving was not as planned. I want this Christmas to be great at least! But what if something happens?"
"Clark… you need to stop brooding so much everything! You are a good father!" Martha reassured. "It's true, you are often absent. But just the fact that you realize it and think about it, makes you a good father. If you would fly away on purpose without thinking about them and ditching them, this would make you a bad father!"
Clark considered her words.
"For example?"
"Hmm… let's say… one of the boys is really sad about something and asks you for advice. You promise him to help him but then you leave. You totally forgot it and you spend the day with your other son! Or at your fortress, or with Superman stuff." Martha guessed. "That would hurt! Especially when you don't try to make up for it. But you care Clark! You think about it and you want to be a better father. The boys appreciate that! Believe me, I see it!"
"I try to remember that!" Clark blushed.
He had no clue that in a few years, this exact scenario will be one of his greatest mistakes as a father…
With trembling hands, Clark tried to peel another potato, but the potato squashed in his hand.
"Clark, give me that…" Martha ordered and pulled the bowl with the potatoes, Clark didn't already turn into chips or mashed potatoes towards her, and start to peel them by herself. "Get the turkey out of the fridge and preheat the oven!"
"Yes, Ma!" Clark obeyed and left the table to do what his mother wanted.
"You haven't decided yet, when you tell the boys, don't you?" Martha changed the topic. "I know this is what you are truly upset about?"
"Where do you know that?" Clark asked shocked.
"Clark, this is a small house! The walls are old and thin! My ears are much better than they should be in my age!" Martha told before a sheepish smile appeared on her face. "And Lois told me everything, while you and the boys were away!"
"Oh…" Clark's face blushed. "…well… It's too early!"
"It is! I know you don't like that thought, but sooner or later the boys will figure out the truth anyway. And I know you only see the negative aspects of them knowing the truth. But you have to think about the positive, too."
"What would be positive about that?"
Clark tried to imagine his six year old sons knowing his secret, while he turned on the oven and prepared everything else in the kitchen. Of course they were advantages. He could show them his fortress and teach them about their origin. He could take them on flights and show them the world. His absences would always be excused. As well as his reservations against Superman toys. He would be able to talk openly about what he does all day and don't improvise excuses anymore.
But there were a lot of negative things, too. The boys could get identity issues. Jordan already seems to have them. The boys could be disappointed that they might never get powers. According to the tests he made in the fortress when the boys were born, it was unlikely that either of the boys will ever get powers. They could be jealous. Get themselves in danger. They have a lot from their mother, too. Maybe her bad attitude to get herself in danger, too?
"Everything is possible, Clark! And I am sure, the boys would love to fly side by side with you." Martha said.
Clark was briefly shocked and almost tore the turkey apart when his mother once again proved to him, that she was knowing him so well, as if she is able to read his minds.
"Clark, I know I can't tell you how you and Lois should raise the boys. I can only give advice." Martha said. "But I can tell you one thing! You should be open for all possibilities. You can tell them when they are 11, 12, 13, 14… no matter when, but it should come from you. Imagine Jonathan and Jordan figuring out by themselves at some point. They would be so offended that you lied to them."
Clark indeed tried to imagine the boys finding the spaceship in the basement and getting mad when they realized that they were lied to for so long. Clark made a mental note to keep sure to remember the boys to don't enter the barn alone before he tried to distract himself again by preparing the turkey. There were so many possibilities how the boys could figuring out about his secret…
Clark was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Lois' Volvo coming up the muddy driveway…
"They're back!" Clark said.
"They are back earlier than expected!" Martha realized when she looked on the clock.
Clark washed his hands and went to the front door to see his wet and dirty kids walking through the heavy rain, together with their wet and dirty mother. All three were stressed, freezing, sad, and upset. But the weather could indeed be bad for anyone's mood.
"Get inside, quick!" Martha said when she saw them and already prepared some towels and a warm blanket.
"Aw… this is awful…" Lois moaned. "I never ever saw so heavy rain!"
"You are back so early. Everything okay in town?" Martha asked.
"It's raining so hard, the water is flowing over the main-street like a river." Lois said.
"Why it is not snowing?" Jordan asked sadly.
"Yeah! It's Christmas, it must snow! Not rain!" Jonathan added.
"Well…" Clark shrugged and kneeled to face his sons on eye-level. "… you know boys, the weather is something nobody can predict, control, or even change. It's true, that snow on Christmas is common. Especially for you! But you know, there are also years when the weather is different and there is no snow on Christmas. When I was little we had years, when there was too much snow, or when we had not a single snowflake over the entire winter."
"Is this the climate change?" Jonathan asked. "Our teacher in school told us, that because all the emissions we create with cars, planes, industry and our wasteful lifestyle, Earth is getting warmer and warmer."
"Ehm… you know, we just have a bad year." Clark said while he helped everyone out of the wet clothes and Martha wrapped them into warm blankets. "But snow on Christmas is not normal for everyone. There are parts of the world, where it never snows!"
"For example?" Jordan asked.
"Hm… Miami! You know your grandfather is with your aunt Lucy and her fiancée in Miami to visit his family." Clark explained. "And it never snows in Miami! Or South America! There it is Summer now. In Australia, too! Don't be sad about the weather. Snow might fall in a few days?"
Martha took the boys by their hands to led them to the chimney in the living-room.
"Let's warm you up. And then you can call your grandfather and later help me in the kitchen with the desert."
The boy's mood raised almost instantly. When they were gone, Clark looked after his wet wife, who prepared to go upstairs to use a hair dryer to dry her hair and warm her hands.
"Have you ever experienced rain like that?" she asked.
"Not here in Kansas!" Clark murmured. "There were weather-disasters around the world, Tornados, but…"
Suddenly Clark's attention was diverted to some screaming, he heard a few miles away…
"What is it?" Lois asked.
Clark focused on the screaming. Two men, yelling on each other in the rain, water that was flowing over. Icy wind that made everything worse.
"Open the sluice!"
"I try, we have no power! Something blocks the mechanism…"
"Hurry! We have to get it open, or the whole thing bursts…"
Clark suddenly remembered the old little river-weir, that was build around 1910 outside town to regulate the river. Whenever there was flood, the weir was able to regulate the river and prevent the town from getting flooded.
"AGHHH… HELP ME!"
"HOLD ON!"
"DADDY, NO…"
Hearing the frantic, and panicked scream of a little girl, let all alarms ring in Clark's head. Clark just looked at Lois with the usual 'be-right-back-glare' and vanished out of the house in a blur.
"What was that?" Jonathan asked when he heard the swoosh, his grandmother recognized immediately.
"Just the wind!" Martha lied and thought about the conversation she just had with Clark a few minutes ago. "Let's warm you up and prepare everything for dinner…"
Clark asked himself if destiny tried to test him. It's Christmas-eve, he was worrying about being a good father, wanting to spend time with his sons, but his superhearing and his urge to help were bigger. And when he arrived at the scene, he knew that he had to help.
There was flood. The river-level was higher. The weir was flowing over. The two workers who had to work tonight were not able to open the gates on time and now the water was flowing over the weir. One of the workers was holding on a rail and was just seconds away from falling into the icy water below and get torn away in the floods. And to make matters worse, Clark saw two women and three children in the little control-room next to the weir. The two men obviously wanted to spend some time with their families and celebrate a little party in the control-room. There was food and a little tree. So their wives came with their kids. And now they were all going to witness their husbands and fathers being pulled away by the floods.
Clark didn't hesitate, shoot towards the both men and grabbed them right in the moment, the rail was torn away and they both fell. They screamed, their wives screamed, the kids screamed… but Clark grabbed both men just a feet over the water surface and flew them away from the weir, just in time before several logs were washed over the edge of the weir.
"DADDY…" the little girl yelled again when Clark landed them safely right next to the control-room and the two men ran over to their families to hug them.
"Superman!" a little boy, around Jonathan's and Jordan's age yelled excited.
"THANK YOU!" one of the wives yelled happily while hugging her husband.
"No need to…" Clark began, before there was suddenly loud noise from behind them.
Clark turned around and saw with his supervision that a lot of logs, trash and other debris was pressing against the overflowing dam, weakening the structure more and more.
"SUPERMAN… when the dam breaks, all of West-Smallville will be flooded…" one of the workers yelled.
West-Smallville… Clark knew that this was the poorer part of the town. Many small homes, poor families, a trailer-park… ever since he could think back, Clark remembered his mother talking about the many families in that part of town, that were dependent on donations during the harvest-festival, or the annual Christmas-gift-rally, Martha uses to help out every year, too. Just thinking about so many already poor families loosing the little bit they have on Christmas was too much for him.
And so Clark flew into the water behind the weir to get all the debris away to less the pressure on the weir. Then he went underwater to get the log out of the mechanism, that was responsible for opening the gates. The flood-gates opened, allowing the water to pour into the river below… preventing a disaster…
Clark knew there will be flood. He knew the water-level will rise, but he knew from experience that they will not be a severe flooding and that all the residential areas will be spared from a high flood wave and from destruction. Clark flew out of the water, floating over the weir and watched the damage.
All the debris from the river was now on the shore and the water could flow down the river more controlled. But it didn't change the fact that the rain was still too hard for this river. If it doesn't stop raining soon, the town will be flooded anyway.
Clark looked up to the sky. Feeling the ice-cold water on his skin and in his soaked suit. Then his eyes wandered to the little light he spotted in the distance. The farm where his family was waiting for him to return from "the barn, where he was checking if everything was closed". It was far away and a bit higher, so they wouldn't be affected. But a lot of other people would.
Then he looked down on the river again that was flowing harder than ever. And he had to think about all the families that could loose everything if the water does not get less.
And so Clark shoot up in the air…
Unaware of it, Jonathan and Jordan were looking out of the living-room window and complaining about the bad weather, when both could suddenly see something going on in the sky…
"What is that?" Jordan asked, pointing on the small dot that was shooting through the sky and pushing the clouds aside. "Is it a bird?"
"No, a plane!" Jonathan complained.
"Boys…" Martha said when she suddenly appeared behind them. "…what are you watching?"
"Grandma, look!" Jonathan said, pointing on the clouds that began moving extremely quickly.
Clark usually only used his powers to change the weather when there are tornados and other severe storms, that had to be handled. But right now he only thought about getting these rainclouds away. At incredible speed, Clark shoot through the air in cycles, across the half state to suck the clouds away and compromise them again to stop the raining in Smallville. He was so fast, nobody on the ground realized that it was really Superman, who was changing the weather. At least those who didn't witness Superman saving the dam.
On the farm, the rain was spraying so hard against the windows, that Jonathan and Jordan could barely see anything. Martha shoed them away from the window to prevent them seeing Superman and led them to the kitchen where they helped Lois.
Clark had no clue how long it take to suck the clouds away from the region to stop the heavy rainfalls and dissolve the clouds. With his ice-breath he blew the clouds colder to stop the rain. And indeed…
In Smallville and in its surrounding areas the heavy rain first got less and then stopped completely. In the farmhouse, Lois looked out through the window and saw the sun.
"Hey, it stopped raining!" she said happily before suddenly the front door opened and Clark came back into the house.
Clark was soaking wet and smelled like mud. Lois approached him while Martha put the turkey in the oven.
"I am back! Hey, I am so sorry that it take so long. After I closed the doors at the barn I…"
"Clark, it's fine. You were gone for just a few minutes." Lois said quickly before he start to make up another weird apology.
"What? That short?" Clark asked at looked at the clock on the wall. "It felt like an eternity."
Clark could swear that he spend an hour away from his family. Being away from his family tonight felt so incredibly long. Maybe because it's Christmas…
"See… that's what I meant…" Martha whispered to him while she took his wet jacket and referred to his desire to be with his kids.
"You indeed know me better than I do by myself!" Clark whispered back and went upstairs to change into dry and clean clothes.
Once in the room, Clark changed with super speed into clean clothes when he could suddenly see snow falling outside.
"What the…" Clark said shocked and looked outside to see thick snowflakes falling from the sky. With his supervision he saw that the snow only fell over their area. Further away it was either still raining, or dry.
"SNOW!" Jonathan and Jordan yelled full of joy and excitement from downstairs.
"CLARK…" his mother and his wife yelled shortly after when they realized that it was indeed snowing.
"OOUPS…" Clark said, when he realized that this was his fault.
Looks like he brought the clouds away, but one cloud was over them and Clark blew it high enough to turn it from a raincloud into a snow cloud. It was small and just snowing on them. And it wouldn't last long. But the twins were excited.
"YEAH… SNOW… IT'S SNOWING… YEAH…" the boys cheered.
Clark could hear the boys raving in the living-room, when suddenly Lois and Martha came into the room with stern looks on their faces and their hands put on their hips.
"Clark, did you do that on purpose?" Martha asked pointing with her finger on the snow outside.
"No!"
"Remember what happened the last time, you changed the weather in Smallville?" his mother continued.
"I do!" Clark blushed. "Sorry, I promise, this is an coincidence…"
"Clark… don't promise anything! Well done!" Lois said with a bright smile.
"What?" Clark was confused. Lois was not mad on him for letting it snow on the farm, and just on the farm.
"Yes, the boys are so happy… I mean look at them…"
Clark went downstairs again and saw that the boys slipped into their outdoor clothes again and ran around in front of the house in joy to let the snow falling on them, too. Clark was so happy to see his boys so happy again…
"Super!"
"I love it!"
"I love Smallville…"
"SNOW! Yeah…"
Clark start to smile and suddenly all the disastrous holidays of the past weeks were forgotten. What mattered was that his boys were now happy and joyful.
With all the mistakes he regularly makes and with all his absences Clark was scared to be a bad father. But it were moments like this, even if they were accidentally, that reminded him that it doesn't matter that he is often absent or misses so much time with time. What matters is that he loves them, that he would do everything for them and to let them feel cared and loved.
And so Clark joined his boys running around in front of the house in the snow. Wishing that this moment lasts forever.