Happy Birthday, Ali! I hope you have a great day filled with lots of fun, cake, and fishies! And I hope you have a great year!

Hope you all enjoy!

Jon couldn't sleep.

The room was too hot, his body too restless, and Jordan's snoring was keeping him up too. He had tried hugging his stuffed puppy, he had tried singing to himself, and he had tried closing his eyes and counting the fake fluffy sheep that bounced over fences, but nothing worked.

He kicked at the blanket that had somehow wrapped around his feet, and let out a frustrated whine. He wanted Daddy to rock him to sleep the way he always did, but Mama had told him that he had to work late tonight.

Daddy always had to work late…

Jon looked up at the ceiling, and tried to count the tiles before he remembered that he could only count to eleven properly. Besides, from the darkness of the room, the glow of Jordan's nightlight, and the light from the city that came from the window, the ceiling was an uncomfortable color and brightness.

He rolled over in his bed that had never felt as uncomfortable as it did tonight, and tried to close his eyes.

And then he heard a crash.

He sat up in bed, and looked over at Jordan. It wasn't his twin falling out of bed. No, Jon was the wiggly one. It was something else.

Jon hesitated, then slowly put his bare feet on the cold ground. He wasn't supposed to get out of bed once Mama and Daddy had left the room, but what if the crash was one of them? What if Mama had fallen and gotten hurt? Daddy wasn't home yet…

As quietly as he could, Jon snuck out of his room and towards the living room and kitchen where he knew Mama normally was at night. When he got to the stairs though, he started hearing more stuff.

Heavy breathing, and what Jon thought sounded like someone in pain. It was quiet, but he could still hear it.

"Hey, hey, stay with me, Clark." That was Mama's voice, and wasn't Clark Daddy's name?

He snuck down the first few stairs and peeked through the spaces in the stair rail. What he saw, he wished he could unsee.

There was blood on the floor, a broken glass too. The window that Jordan and Jon weren't allowed to be around was also shattered… And Mama was bent over someone.

Jon tried to hold back a gasp. It was Superman.

"It's in my leg…" Superman groaned. "Lo, the green k…"

"Shh…" Mama said. "I know, I'm gonna get it out."

Superman let out a cry in pain, and Jon felt his own eyes get watery. Why was Superman here? Why was he hurt? What had happened to him?

Before he could stop it, a whimper escaped his mouth.

The room stilled, and he watched as Superman looked up. Jon's entire body stiffened as Superman's eyes landed on him.

"Jonathan…" He gasped.

Jon's eyes widened, and he almost flew down the stairs.

No… No…

"Daddy!" He cried out as he rushed over to him.

When he had almost reached him, Mama scooped him up into her arms. "Careful!" She exclaimed.

Jon looked down at the floor. There was so much blood, so much glass… He could have gotten hurt.

But Daddy was hurt. Daddy was hurt and he had to make sure he was okay.

"Daddy… What happened?" He asked.

His daddy shook his head. "I'm okay, bud," he said. "But you're supposed to be in bed."

Jon wiggled out of Mama's arms and back to the floor. "You're hurt…" He gently reached out and placed his arm on Superman's muscular one.

How had someone hurt Superman?

"Clark, he needs to go…" Mama said. "I have to get this kryptonite out of you."

Jon shook his head. "I don't wanna go."

"Lo…"

"Clark, it's only going to scare him," she told him.

Superman swallowed, then looked over at him. "Hey, go back to your room and I'll be up there in a few minutes, okay?"

"But…" Jon could feel the tears welling up in his eyes again. He didn't wanna leave Daddy, not when he was hurting so much…

"I'll be okay, buddy," he told him. "I promise. Just go back upstairs, okay?"

Jon knew he needed to listen and do what he was told, so he nodded and then started to make his way up the stairs. He only peeked through the stair rails once.

Once he made it back to his bed, the tears which he had been holding back finally broke through.

He couldn't hold back the whimpering sobs as he squeezed his plush puppy in his arms.

His daddy was Superman.

And Superman had gotten hurt.

He couldn't get the image of the blood out of his mind. Superman wasn't supposed to bleed…

Somehow through all of this, Jordan still hadn't woken up. It took everything in Jon not to crawl into Jordan's bed and curl up to him for comfort, but he knew better than to wake up his twin. Even though now did seem like an appropriate time to break that rule.

In all of his life, Jon had never felt so small. If Superman could get hurt, and Superman was his Daddy… It felt like the entire world had sunk onto Jon's tiny shoulders, the evil and darkness casting a shadow over him.

There were bad people out there, people who wanted to hurt Superman… What would they do to people who weren't strong? Who weren't heroes?

"Jonathan?"

Jon startled at his name, then looked up as Daddy walked in. He didn't look like Superman anymore though. He had on his glasses, and he was also in his pajamas, though Jon could see the Superman that was hiding behind those glasses…

"Daddy!" He exclaimed, then threw himself into his arms. "Are you okay?"

Daddy nodded, then sat down with him on his bed. "Yeah, I'm okay, bud," he told him. "All healed up already, just a bit tired."

Jon curled up to his daddy and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "So… You're Superman?"

Daddy nodded. "Yeah," he said.

Jon tried to imagine his daddy saving buses full of children and stopping robbers, but he couldn't. All he could think of was his silly daddy who constantly knocked things over and couldn't carry heavy things at all.

And all he could see was the blood…

"Daddy, why did they hurt you?"

His daddy winced, but he wrapped his arms tighter around Jon. "Sometimes bad people do bad things, even hurting people," he said. "But I'm here to stop them, okay? And I'll be okay, even if it hurts for a bit."

"What was the green stuff?" He asked.

"Green Kryptonite," Daddy explained. "It's one of my only weaknesses…"

"Oh…" Before this, Jon didn't even know Superman could get hurt.

"But I'm okay, your Mama got it out."

Jon nodded, but then he thought of Jordan sleeping in the bed beside him. "Were you ever gonna tell us?"

His daddy sighed. "Not like this. Never like this, but at some point," he said. "I just wanted to protect you from the world for now, keep you from knowing about the bad guys that could hurt me."

"Oh."

His daddy stood up, and tucked Jon in. "But now that you know, I can tell you everything," he said. "In the morning."

Jon grinned. "Really?" He asked excitedly. He'd get to know everything about Superman!

"Yes, but for now, we both need to sleep," Daddy told him.

"Sing?" Jon wasn't sure if he would get his wish, it depended on how his daddy was feeling. Besides, it was really late at night and his daddy was tired too…

But Daddy just smiled, then started to sing.

And before long, Jon was finally asleep.