Family situations always made the four-star General, Sam Lane, feel uncomfortable. However, here he was holding his granddaughter's, Natalie, hand listening to her chatter away about the Halloween party her class had had that afternoon, dressed in her fairy princess costume, which he had to help her get into, which resulted in his whole body being covered in pink glitter. They stopped at another house and she stopped chattering for a second, turned to her grandpa, giving him the same serious look her mother gave at the same age and said, "I can go up by myself."
She let go of his hand so quickly that he didn't have time to hold on tighter. Keeping the Kent family safe and secure had been his new job when Lois started having children. His granddaughter, who was almost lost before she was born, especially fostered that particular feeling in his gut. On the surface, she was 8 and she was old enough to run to a door thirty feet from the sidewalk, but on the other hand, the dangers that were truly in the world were a known entity to General Lane, and the fear he felt watching her run from him was real.
Natalie was up at the door with the rest of the trick or treaters when he heard the familiar sound of Superman landing. He resisted the urge to panic and turned to face Clark.
"General." he began. "The threat has been neutralized. Lois is safe." At that moment a crowd of kids had gathered around Clark. He smiled and knelt to give a hug or talk to each kid, and to complement each of the children who were wearing a costume similar to his. Natalie was last and she reached up to hug him and was about to say something when she stopped, pulled away and looked him in the eyes, tilted her head with a question, and then rested her face in the crook of his neck, giggled and said "I won't tell anyone that it is you, Daddy." And she gave him an extra tight hug and before Clark could say anything a boy came up and touched the S on his chest and asked about his suit.
Natalie, smiling went back to her grandfather, took his hand, shook it a little, and said, "Let's go!" she let go and started skipping forward and calling behind her for her grandfather to hurry.
Clark, trying to keep his composure, looked back down at the kids, smiled, and told them that he needed to go, that he had to make sure there were not any bad guys around so they could have a safe time trick or treating. The kids cheered as he took off straight up into the sky.
That evening, Natalie was chattering to her mother about the night she had had, candy spread out on the kitchen table going through it with her brothers, taking what each of them liked, discarding what they didn't like. Clark entered the happy household and smiled at the amount of candy they had on the table.
"It looks like you guys made a haul."
"They did." Lois said reaching an arm around Clark's waist. "It also seems as if Natalie had a little more excitement than the boys did with their friends." She said in hushed tones.
"Dad! Nat got to see Superman!" Jonathan exclaimed adding another chocolate to his already full mouth.
"Did you?" He asked.
"Yup!" She said putting candy into her mouth.
"I think that is enough." Lois said. "You are already hyper enough. You do not need more sugar." Natalie frowned but put down the piece that she had in her hand. "As a matter of fact, I think the three of you need to go upstairs and get your costumes off and put on your pajamas."
When all three were upstairs, Clark turned to Lois. "We may have a bit of an issue."
"What do you mean?" she asked as she began to clean up the plethora of candy that was strewn about the table.
"Nat" he sighed and leaned against the counter not sure how to put this into words, "Nat, she jumped up and hugged Superman." Clark's tripping over his alter ego's name and his tone made Lois stop cleaning for a moment and look at her husband. He only tripped over the word "superman" when he felt embarrassed by the moniker, and it tended to be around his family that the name made him stutter.
"The boys did that last year when they met Superman. It seems to be what kids do, Clark."
"True." He admitted. "But the boys didn't giggle and say 'I won't tell anyone that it is you, Daddy'."
"What?" She asked, hands freezing with fists full of Halloween candy, eyes wide and startled.
"My thoughts exactly. We should talk to her."
"Exactly how Clark? Why would Superman tell us that?"
"But he would tell General Lane." Lois sighed.
"Maybe it is time that they know Clark."
"Lois, all it takes is..."
"One word to the wrong person, I know Clark. But the boys are 10, and Nat is 8, they are getting to an age..."
"Where they might want to impress their friends."
"You really think that?"
"I would have at their age. Wouldn't you?"
"I was raised with a man who kept secrets for a living."
"True." Both adults stood there contemplating their next move.
"You know how she is though. Once she gets ahold of something..."
"She is like a dog with a bone, trust me Lois, I'm quite familiar with that particular trait." Lois smacked him in the chest.
"Let's talk to her tomorrow, and see what exactly she meant by it and go from there." Clark nodded.
"Sounds like a plan."
The next evening, in order to facilitate talking to Natalie alone, Clark and Lois had Sam take the boys to a movie after school. Natalie, like every other day, recounted every single second of her day at school. The amount of verbal energy she had was exhausting sometimes. She was sitting on the couch in between her parents taking advantage of their silence, "So Jayden went up to the teacher and said he didn't feel good, and she was like 'where don't you feel good' and before he could answer he threw up all over her. All over Ms. Kindle. You should have seen it, puke everywhere, all over Ms. Kindle, the floor, and then guess what happened? Ms. Kindle threw up all over Jayden. It was so cool!"
"Wow. That is kinda gross." Lois said. Natalie took a breath to begin anew, when Lois stopped her. "Nat. I have a question for you?"
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Your granddad talked with Superman yesterday." Natalie nodded.
"Yeah, I heard dad on the phone with him earlier." Noth adults looked over their daughter's head, she knew, she knew and she wasn't phased, neither were sure how to proceed.
Clark took a breath and began, "Nat. What makes you think I am Superman? Apparently, you said something to Superman indicating that you though we are the same person."
"You are the same person, duh…you smelled the same." Clark smiled, feeling relieved, he could handle this, he could handle the idea that he and Superman might wear the same cologne.
"Natalie, a lot of men wear the same cologne."
"No. You smell the same." After realizing both parents seemed perplexed she added. "You both smell like summer."
"Summer?"
"Yeah." She shrugged.
"What does summer smell like?"
Natalie stopped and crinkled her little brow trying to find the words. "Like the sun. Like how summer smells warm. It almost smells thick."
"Smells thick?"
Sensing her parents needed more explanation, she shrugged. "I don't know. That is the smell."
Lois looked at Clark over their daughter's head trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Kiddo. Many people probably smell the same." Natalie shook her head emphatically.
"No. Everyone smells different. You smell like the earth. Like dirt. Jordan smells sour. Really sour especially when he is having a bad day, and Jonathan smells like ice...or cold...winter."
"How long have you been able to smell people?" Clark asked.
"I always have smelled people. Can't you?" she asked her dad. He had no words. "Like I said, I won't tell. I won't tell the boys either if you don't want."
"About smelling them?" Lois asked.
"No," she said with impatience, rolling her eyes, "about dad being Superman."
"Natalie..." Clark began. Natalie shrugged again and continued to chatter on about her day like the discussion about Superman and people having a scent never happened.
Lois pulled the blankets back from their bed still processing what their youngest said. "I smell like dirt?" she finally blurted. "Do I smell like dirt Clark?"
"No. Never have I thought that you smell like dirt." he reassured her.
"So it isn't some power she has inherited from you?"
"If it is, it isn't like mine. I smell people's body chemistry, their laundry detergent, their perfumes, their soaps, it can be pretty strong or overwhelming. But people all sort of smell like…humans…." Clark shrugged trying to figure out how to explain and finished, "People don't each have their own unique smell that helps me identify them." Lois got into bed, and Clark, putting his glasses on the night stand, did the same.
"I know she is gifted, incredibly gifted is what I think they said, but still. But being gifted doesn't mean that she can smell people. That is actually kinda weird, even by this family's standards."
"Weird super smell aside." Clark said as he got into bed. "She knows. And she isn't going to be swayed from it. When she learns something, she doesn't forget, and she…"
"Is like a dog with a bone." Lois sighed. "What do we do?"
"I don't know what we can do, other than to honor her promise that she won't tell."
"The boys?"
Clark sighed and closed his eyes tightly, "I don't know, I really wish I did."