"This is weird, however you look at it, it's weird," Jordan complained in between packing.
"It's not weird," his dad said, standing in the doorway and overseeing the packing. "Don't forget your swimsuit."
"It should be the weirdest of all to you, Dad," Jordan said as he dug in his drawer for the trunks. "You're going on a week-long camping trip with a man that's probably a little bit in love with your wife and with the kind-of daughter of your wife and said man, and the girl hates your guts for being married to her mom, and who would hate your guts even more if she knew you were Superman."
"That's exactly why we need this. We need to work through some emotions and get used to each other. All of us."
"Is he still complaining about this trip?" Jon asked, appearing beside their dad in the doorway. "I think it's going to be fun. How often do you get to meet your sister from another world? She seemed so cool from her photos. Do you know she plays guitar?"
"Great," he said sarcastically, struggling to get the zipper around his suitcase. "We can all sing Kumbaya around the campfire."
His dad came to the rescue by folding up the clothes in super-speed that he'd just thrown in there haphazardly.
"They're here!" his mom called from downstairs. It was for Jon's benefit as he and their dad had heard them coming down the road from a mile back. Graveled roads weren't particularly quiet.
They all joined Mom and Grandpa.
"They're late," Grandpa Lane said, looking at his watch. Jordan was pretty sure that when he'd retired to spend more time with his family, this wasn't what he had in mind, a second son-in-law and an alternate world granddaughter.
"It's a vacation in the woods," his mom said. "There are no timetables. And play nice. I want them to enjoy this trip."
John Henry knocked on the door, and Mom answered. He was smiling, trying to look cool and at ease, but there was no denying this was all shades of awkward for everyone no matter how much they denied it.
He came in and Natalie lingered on the porch. "You remember Natalie," he said.
"Of course," Mom said, a smile painted on her face though the emotion in her eyes belied it.
The last time they had all seen each other was when she'd crash-landed on their Earth.
It hadn't gone well. Mom had been crying as she reminded her too much of her lost daughter, and Natalie had gotten more and more hysterical as she learned that this was not in fact her mother in the truest sense, that the guy next to her was her husband, and the boys, her sons, which made them half siblings of a sort. It would have made anyone hysterical.
He, honestly, was almost starting to get used to crazy though he believed this trip might have been the craziest thing of all. It was going to end in disaster.
At least, Natalie looked calmer this time. Her father had no doubt explained things more thoroughly. Although, the adults had all agreed that her learning Clark was Superman, her mother's killer in an alternate world, would be too much, too soon.
"Grandpa!" she exclaimed. She ran up to him and hugged him.
Grandpa looked intensely uncomfortable. The Lane family didn't hug. Friendly clasps, sure. On special occasions. Like Christmas or birthdays or the end of the world. "Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you, kid."
That was downright friendly coming from Grandpa Lane, but Natalie was reminded this wasn't her real grandfather and the hurt was there. "Right. Sorry. I know you're not him with my head, but seeing you..."
"It's understandable," he said.
His dad slapped his hands together and said in an overly cheerful voice that tried but failed to break through the tension. "I guess we better get the RV loaded. It was so nice of you, John Henry, to invite us all to ride in it."
"No sense in taking separate vehicles with gas prices being what they are. That's one thing that doesn't change between worlds is the crazy expense of oil."
They took their suitcases out to the RV and were getting ready to climb in when Dad said, "Wait, I want to get a picture before we go."
He, Mom, and Jon got into position immediately. Grandpa a second after that.
Dad motioned for John Henry and Natalie to move in. "Come on. I want everyone!"
They moved in reluctantly, and he said, "Okay, on the count of three, everyone say, 'cheddar cheese.'"
"Is he for real?" Natalie asked in a whisper, who was standing closest to him.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"One, two, three."
"Cheddar cheese!"
It was a good thing they said "cheese" to stretch their mouth out because he didn't think there was a natural smile among the bunch, but Dad seemed happy with it and didn't make them do it again like he sometimes did if their smiles weren't genuine. Maybe he knew there wasn't much point.
Seven days. They just had to get through seven days in the wilderness.