Hey, guys!

So, I finally decided to get this story on a schedule. Now it will hopefully be updated every Thursday.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Ten

Just like Clark had promised, Jon-El felt fine the next day. In fact, he felt better than fine.

Jon-El wasn't sure what it was, but something about the conversation with Lois and Clark the night before made him feel a bit better. Almost like things could be different on this world if he tried hard enough. If he could get them to like him, then maybe things would be different.

So when he walked downstairs that morning, he could hardly keep the spring out of his step.

"Good morning," Clark greeted as he looked up from the stove. The entire kitchen smelled like coffee and pancakes, a smell that Jon-El barely knew. On his earth, breakfasts had almost always been a quick affair or skipped all together. There just wasn't time.

Jon-El slid into one of the seats at the kitchen table beside Jon. "Good morning," he echoed.

"Jon, where's your brother?" Lois asked as she walked in. Her hands were up at her ears, putting in silver hoop earrings that Jon-El had never seen. The action was something that Jon-El had seen his own mother do so many times though. Normally as they were walking out of the door to go to some gala or press event.

Jon shrugged. "Probably upstairs brooding cause Sarah didn't answer his texts again," he answered.

"Jonathan…" Clark sighed, then looked back to the stove and flipped the pancakes that were in the pan.

Jon sighed before pushing his chair away from the table and standing up. "I'll go get him…"

Jon-El watched as his doppelganger left the room, leaving him alone with Lois and Clark.

Lois gently placed her hand on Jon-El's shoulder. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

Jon-El's eyes widened and he looked up at her. Never in his life had he been called that. Not by his mother, and definitely not by Lois.

But… Now she had. Lois had called him sweetie. Didn't she hate him? Wasn't that what people called someone they loved?

"Uh… better," Jon-El answered once he found his mental footing again. It was true. He felt a little tired, but he no longer felt sick to his stomach or like his head was going to split in two.

"That's good," she said, then turned to Clark. "Pancakes? What's the occasion?"

Clark once again looked up from the stove, and this time he shrugged. "Well, it is Saturday morning," he answered.

Lois walked over to Clark and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just don't get Jon-El thinking that we celebrate every Saturday with early morning pancakes," she said playfully.

Clark looked over at Jon-El. His eyes were filled with a happy and playful glow. Had Jon-El ever seen his father looking like that?

"Maybe we should make him think that," Clark said as he flipped more of the pancakes. "I certainly wouldn't be opposed."

Lois let go of Clark and got out her coffee mug. "That's because you have a super metabolism," she said. "You could eat junk food all day and never suffer the consequences."

Clark shrugged, a playful grin still dancing on his face. "True."

Jon-El looked down at his hands. Had his parents ever talked to each other like that? This playful banter? Had they ever truly loved each other the way that their doppelgangers seemed to? He doubted it…

Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of twin boys thumping down the stairs. How they could possibly make that much noise was beyond Jon-El though, he had always tried to be as quiet as possible whenever he went somewhere.

"Good morning, Jordan," Lois said as she sat down beside Jon-El. She set her cup of coffee on the table. Jon-El's mother had never been a huge coffee drinker, but it was obvious to him that Lois was.

Jordan looked up at her from the black hoodie that he was hiding in. "Morning."

The twins sat down in their seats with Jordan sitting across from Jon-El and Jon across from Lois. Thankfully, neither of them sat beside Jon-El.

"So, where did you go last night?" Jordan asked.

Jon-El looked up at him, then shrugged. Honestly? He was sick and tired of having Jordan try to get under his skin every time they were together. "Why does it matter?"

There was no way that he was going to tell Jordan that he had gone down to the creek that he and his own twin used to play at when they were little. He couldn't share such a vulnerable memory with him. If he did, it would only end up being used against him.

Jordan sat up straighter. "Maybe because you're a criminal," he said.

"Hey," Lois said. "That's enough, you two."

Jordan huffed and leaned back against his chair.

"Hey, Mom?" Jon began, and Jon-El couldn't help but notice how hesitant his doppelganger sounded. "Can Candice come over for dinner tonight?"

Jon-El watched as Lois and Clark shared a glance, then she shook her head. "Not tonight, Jon."

Jon frowned. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because we already have plans for tonight," Lois told him.

"We do..?" Jon asked, and Jordan sat up in his chair.

"Yeah," she said. "First Saturday of the month is family game night, remember?"

Jordan groaned as Jon sighed, but all Jon-El could do was frown. Family game night? His family had never done anything like that. Well, there was one time that they tried…

Jon-El tried not to think about that though.

"Hey, don't even start that," Lois said. "It's going to be fun."

"Is Dad cooking?" Jon asked as Clark brought the steaming pancakes over, then sat down at the head of the table.

"I can if you want me to," he said. "Or I can at least try."

Jon-El tried to immerse himself in the food, but he couldn't. At least Clark seemed to try. His father had never been there for his family, the job was always more important.

"Video games or board games?" Jordan asked. "Cause I don't think I can play Monopoly with Mom again yet..."

Lois grinned at Jordan. "You were the one who made that trade, kiddo."

"Well, can Candice come over tomorrow night then?" Jon asked as he looked over at Clark.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, bud," Clark said as he placed a stack of pancakes on his plate.

"Why not?" he asked. "Is this about the X-K still?"

Jon-El looked up from his plate. He had missed whatever this was. What did Candice have to do with X-K?

"Oh yeah, I guess you missed that," Jordan told Jon-El. "Jon's girlfriend used to be a drug dealer."

Jon glared at Jordan. "X-K isn't a real drug," he snapped. "And you know that she was only doing it because she had to. Her family needed the money."

"Boys," Clark said. "This has nothing to do with whether or not Candice used to sell X-K inhalers."

"Then why can't she come over?" Jon asked.

Jon-El felt Clark's eyes land on him, and suddenly, it made sense. Jon's girlfriend couldn't come over because he was here…

Candice didn't know their secret. She didn't know that he was anything more than someone's theory. In her mind, he probably didn't even exist.

"I think it's best if we just avoid having people over for dinner right now," Clark said.

Because of him…

No one said it aloud, but Jon-El knew the truth. He was the reason why no one could come over, because how could they explain him?

Jon sighed. "Okay…"

The rest of breakfast went by quietly, no one really saying anything. Every once in a while, Lois or Clark would try to start a conversation, but it didn't go anywhere.

Clark ended up leaving first, due to a cry for help, but the twins followed shortly afterwards.

Lois looked over at Jon-El and smiled. "Everything okay?" she asked.

Jon-El shrugged. When was the last time that everything had been okay? Could he even remember it? Had anything ever been okay in his life?

Lois stood up, then carried the leftovers over to the counter and began to package it away. "They'll get used to you at some point, sweetie," she said.

Jon-El carried his dishes to the sink, but didn't make eye contact with her. He still wasn't used to the new nickname she had given him. "You really think so?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said as she put the leftover pancakes in the fridge. "This is a big change for all of us, you know?"

Jon-El nodded. He wished he could put into words just how big of a change it was for him, but he couldn't… Everything was so different, it was so much different than just the color of the sun or the powers that Kryptonians had. They had no idea.

"I know…" he said. He hated how his voice wobbled and his eyes burned with tears. He was such a baby sometimes.

He wiped at his eyes, hoping that it would just look like he was still tired or that he had something in them.

Things had to change. He couldn't live the rest of his life like this… If things were going to get better, then he needed to get Jon and Jordan to like him.

"Hey," Jon-El said as he turned towards Lois. "Can I talk to Jon later today?"

Lois smiled, then nodded. "Of course you can," she said. "Just let me know when so I can be close by, okay?"

Jon-El nodded. "Okay."

That afternoon Jon-El found himself sitting on the porch with Jon while Lois worked on some landscaping in the front yard.

It wasn't exactly the setting he had expected, but it didn't really matter. What mattered was his doppelganger.

With just a glance, Jon-El could tell that Jon was nervous being this close to him without anyone standing right beside him.

And he understood why. He never should have tried to merge with him the way he did.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Jon-El told him, breaking the thick silence between them.

Jon swallowed, but seemed to stand his ground. "Yeah, because you don't want your other half damaged before you merge."

Jon-El winced. He knew he deserved it, but for some reason Jon's words hurt. He had hoped that the past week would have been enough for Jon to realize that he wasn't going to hurt him or even merge with him, but apparently not.

"I don't wanna do that to you," Jon-El said. He didn't realize how much he had hurt Jon before this. Sure, he felt guilty for what he had done, and like an idiot for blindly following Ally, but… He had hurt Jon.

"Jordan would kick your ass again before you could complete the merge," his doppelganger said.

Jon-El nodded. He was well aware of the damage that Jordan could do. "I know…"

A small silence lapsed between them, the only sound being the cool breeze rustling the leaves in the trees. The farm was so quiet, nothing like the crowds of screaming fans that Jon-El was used to.

He knew he couldn't let the conversation end here, he hadn't even gotten to say what he had wanted to say.

"Jon, I'm sorry," he said. Wasn't sorry supposed to be the best place to start?

Jon looked over at him, then crossed his arms. "For what?" he asked.

Jon-El swallowed the guilt back so he could get the words out. "For trying to merge with you without your permission. Even if I thought it was the right thing to do, it was wrong of me to do it without you being okay with it."

"That was a pretty jerky thing for you to do," Jon said, and by the tone of his voice, Jon-El could tell that he was holding back some pretty awful words.

"I'm sorry," Jon-El said. "And I don't expect you to forgive me, but I'm not gonna try to merge with you again."

Jon nodded. "Okay," he said. "Thanks."

Jon-El leaned back in his seat. His apology hadn't gone badly, but it could have gone better… He didn't expect Jon to forgive him instantly, but… He hoped that Jon would one day.

"So…" Jon began. "What did you see?"

Jon-El looked over at Jon. "What?"

"When Ally drugged you and you saw what was going on here," he said. "What did you see?"

Jon-El looked down at his hands. What he had seen had become an almost vivid memory. When things would go wrong with his family, he would find himself retreating to what he had seen going on in this world.

He doubted that the moment had been a special one that would have stuck out in his doppelganger's mind, but it had stuck out in his.

He had seen a happy family, smiles, laughter… There hadn't been any yelling as the four of them had sat around the living room, there was no sadness either. Everyone had been happy. He had seen what his family could have been…

"I dunno," Jon-El lied. He couldn't tell Jon what he had seen. "I forgot."

"I had a shirt on, right?" Jon asked.

Jon-El blinked. What did that have to do with anything? "Uh, yeah… I think so."

Jon nodded, then started chewing the nail on his thumb. "Good…"

Jon-El chuckled as he leaned back in the shade again. He didn't have to know now, but one day, he would find out what that meant. And hopefully by then Jon wouldn't hate him.

So! Jon-El has finally talked to Jon, and family game night coming up as well! I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!