Chapter Text
Lois was unsure if it actually very late at night or extremely early in the morning when she pulled into the parking lot of Smallville High School. Jonathan was sitting in the passenger seat next to her and Jordan was in the back seat. Clark would have done this, he had offered, but Lois realized how much she had been trying to cling onto these moments, even if it did involve driving her sons to school at an odd hour.
She put the car in park and killed the engine but did not immediately move to get out. Instead, she turned in her seat so she could see both the boys as best she could.
“Guys, just remember, this is your senior trip, please, just try to enjoy yourselves,” Lois started.
“Mom, we’ll be fine,” Jonathan insisted.
Lois sighed and started again, taking a more direct route, “Look, guys, no playing hooded vigilante all over DC, okay. I promise, between my newspaper contacts, your grandfather’s connections at the DoD, and your dad, we will find out and there will be consequences. Just, take this opportunity to be normal, well behaved, teenagers, you don’t have a lot of time left before you go to college, I promise, you’ll appreciate the opportunity.” Lois encouraged.
“Mom,” Jordan said with a roll of his eyes.
“Seriously guys, can I trust you to do that?” Lois questioned.
“Yes,” Jonathan answered.
“Yeah,” Jordan responded.
“Alright, I would ask that you call, but you can least try to remember to check in via text, periodically,” Lois requested.
“Sure,” Jonathan responded, but he was already working hard to temper his patience as he watched his classmates line up to board the busses that would take them to the Metropolis airport.
“And, if you need anything…” Lois started.
“Mom, we’re going to miss the bus,” Jordan interrupted.
“Okay, Okay, guys I love you, please be safe,” Lois said as they started to push open the car doors.
“Love you,” Jonathan said as he peeked back in through the passenger side door of the car.
“Love you, too,” Jordan said as he pulled out their bags from the back hatch.
Lois watched from the car as the boys shoved their bags under the bus and lined up to check in the Coach Gaines who was in charge of the spring trip to DC. They were just a few weeks away from their 18th birthday, and they both had a set of powers that rivaled their father’s, but to Lois, she could still see the tiny babies she held close just moment after they were born. Perhaps it was the unusual hour that had her so emotional. The boys were only going to be gone a week and they had certainly both spent plenty of nights away from home at this age, but there was still something about this trip that struck her particularly hard.
When Lois got home, she was not at all surprised to see Clark sitting at the kitchen table, shuffling through a stack of documents related to the farm. He had been up to see the boys off before she had left, insistent that he cook them breakfast even though it was still really the middle of the night.
“Hey,” Lois said as she took a seat next to Clark.
“Did the boys get off okay” He asked.
“Oh yeah, they’re fine, it’s kind of weird that we have the house to ourselves all week, it’s kind of like we’re practicing to be empty nesters.” Lois paused and then started up again. “I feel like we’re too young to be empty nesters.”
“Oh, yeah, no we’re definitely too young,” Clark nodded along. “But I mean, that’s why we were always the cool the parents, because we were so young and you know, still cool.” Clark said with complete sincerity.
“Oh, yeah, we were always the coolest parents, like everyone thought we were totally smooth and awesome.” Lois cracked a smile.
“Alright, alright, I guess to still be cool, you had to actually be cool at some point,” Clark conceded. “Do you want coffee?” Clark changed the subject.
Lois looked out at the still pitch-black sky and the clock on the wall, “I actually figured I’d head back to bed for a bit, and I was kind of hoping that you’d come with me.” Lois gave a knowing smile.
“You know, I am pretty tired all the sudden,” Clark gave an overexaggerated yawn and lifted his arms over his head, letting his arm fall around Lois’s shoulder.
“See, that is a class A, cool guy move,” Lois said as she reached over to take his hand. She then got up and pulled him along as they headed back up the stairs.
***
It was early afternoon by the time the Smallville High School Senior class arrived on the National Mall. They had been given an hour for lunch at the food trucks before they their first official stop on their trip.
“There aren’t many Veg options,” Natalie complained as she examined the menus attached to the various trucks.
“I can’t believe you’ve lived in Smallville nearly 3 years and you are still a vegetarian,” Sarah commented as Jordan and Jonathan hovered a pace behind. “How about you guys, what are you thinking?” Sarah turned around to ask the boys.
Jordan shrugged and looked at his brother. “I’m not really hungry, our dad insisted on making breakfast before we left this morning.” Jordan responded.
“Eh, my stomach is kind of upset from the flight,” Jonathan added.
Natalie turned around and narrowed her eyes, looking at the boys. “Your stomach is upset from flying?” Natalie asked, suspicion thick in her voice. “That’s weird.”
Jonathan just shrugged again, and Sarah looked between Jonathan and Natalie, confused. “I mean, it’s not that weird, the flight was kind of rough and combined with eggs and bacon grease, I could see it being a thing.”
“Wait, how’d we know we had bacon?” Jordan scrunched his nose, as if smelling something foul.
“Seriously, you said your dad made you breakfast, it a solid bet that if he’s making breakfast, it’s bacon, eggs, toast, and sometimes breakfast potatoes.” Sarah filled in the blanks.
“Are we really that predictable?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah,” Natalie answered for Sarah.
“Wait, how about kebabs?” Sarah asked, stopping at a stuck, “I think they have vegetarian options,” She said as she looked at the menu of a truck.
Natalie, Jordan, and Jonathan shared a look, as if asking who was going to tell Sarah.
Jordan, who had remained close friends with Sarah after their failed dating experiment a few years ago stepped up, “Not that one, it’ll pretty much destroy your entire trip. We had those in Metropolis, and everyone knew to avoid them.”
“Wait, are any of these food trucks, okay?” Sarah questioned as she scanned up and down the national mall.
Jonathan shook his head, “Probably not.”
In the end, Sarah and Natalie settled on prepackaged ice cream and chips for lunch. Not exactly the best lunch but is avoided the uncomfortable questions around how long things had been sitting out in the warm spring DC sun. The boys both seemed happy enough to go without.
After lunch, the school group met in front of the Air and Space Museum for an afternoon tour. Overall, the school group seemed low energy after the long morning of travel.
“My dad took me here a few times growing up, this was always my favorite,” Natalie said as they started the tour.
“I’ve never been to DC before,” Sarah mused as she looked up over head at the replicate of a space shuttle hanging overhead.
“My dad used to live here,” Natalie explained, “so we used to visit a lot growing up.”
Before the conversation was able to progress further, a tour guide rounded up the group and started to lead the Smallville high school senior class through a series of stops starting at the Wright brothers and progressing through the first trip to space, landing on the moon, and the Space shuttle.
As the wound their way through the history of manned air and space travel, the finally made it to the early 2000’s.
“… in 2002, everything we ever knew about space changed.” The tour guide explained as she stopped at life size cut out of Superman. “Until Superman made himself known to the world, aliens were simply a thing of science fiction. The galaxy has brought us other visitors over the years, but extraterrestrials are still extremely rare on this Planet.”
Denise raised her hand, “But they hide in plain sight, right, Morgan Edge was an alien, and no one even knew it.”
The tour guide nodded, “Yes, while the government has uncovered extraterrestrials already living on earth, we have gotten much better on detecting new arrivals.”
“The live among us,” Natalie whispered, as she peeked her head in between where Jordan and Jonathan were standing.
“We’re not aliens,” Jonathan whispered back, making sure they were far enough out of range that no one could hear.
“Yeah, we were born on this planet,” Jordan added with raised eyebrows, “The definition of aliens is someone who was born somewhere else. Like another world.” Jordan hinted.
“Yeah, well at least I’m human.” Natalie defended good naturedly.
“We’re human,” Jonathan whispered back.
Natalie narrowed her eyes and gave him a look.
“Ok, we’re half human,” Jordan responded, in mock defeat.
“Right…”Natalie trailed off, though the teasing was out of affection more than anything. This had become well-treaded banter over the years.
“Hey guys,” Sarah said as she migrated back to where Natalie and the boys were standing, “What’s up?”
“Hmm, we were just chatting about…um Superman, and how cool it is he’s from another planet,” Natalie covered.
“Right,” Sarah said. “At least we are headed to the hotel, I truly need a nap and a shower before we go to this dinner thing tonight.”
“Yes, on the nap,” Natalie agreed.
As the group progressed towards the hotel, it was a reminder of what traveling with a large tour group was. There was loading and unloading from the busses, and then the chaos as chaperones handed out room keys and room assignments. By the time the tour guide had their keys, the opportunity to shower and nap was slipping away.
“Kent, Kent, Wellnitz, and Teague, room 509” Coach Gaines yelled as he held up a paper envelope for one of boys to take. Jonathan stepped up and took their room keys.
The boys make their way up the stairs and to the hotel room.
“I cannot believe we have to walk 5 stories up to get to our room,” Malcom Teague complained.
“What, 3 months away from football and your already gone soft,” Jonathan said as he lightly tapped Malcom’s shoulder.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m still running track, and you have literally never finished a football season,” Malcolm counter as he took the lead up the stairs.
“Home sweet home,” Cory Wellnitz said as he pushed open the door.
“Only two beds,” Malcolm complained.
“We’ll share,” Jonathan said, pointing towards his brother, quickly deciding that he would rather share a bed with his twin versus his friends.
“Figured,” Cory said as he placed his bag on the bed near the door.
“Hey, hey, we have a balcony,” Jordan said as he pulled back the curtains.
“Oh, cool,” Jonathan said as he pushed open the door.
Malcolm walked over to the doors and looked over Jonathan’s shoulder, “Ah man, this just opens up into an ally,” Malcolm responded, looking at the small balcony that opened into dark, grimy looking ally.
Jordan and Jonathan shared a look. Their classmates may not see the opportunity, but their classmates were also not two proficient flyers.
“Uf, I was hoping to lay down for a minute,” Cory said as he pulled out his phone, “but we only have 10 minutes before we have to be back downstairs for dinner.”
“I’m starving, at least there will be food there,” Malcolm responded.
Jordan looked at his brother and he shrugged. He was not particularly tired or hungry. If anything, his stomach still felt unsettled from before. Perhaps it was the weird experience of flying in a metal tube instead of under his own power.
Dinner, it turned out, was a somehow unironic murder mystery in the lobby of Ford’s Theater. The main course was a buffet of goopy looking pasta dishes, wilted salad, and slightly stale breadsticks, served on paper plates.
“This is pretty much the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life, but I am starving, so whatever,” Sarah said as she lifted a dry bite of pasta into her mouth.
“Not the worst thing I have eaten by a stretch, but I have no desire to go to bed hungry,” Natalie said without bothering to consider much about the flavor of the vegetarian option.
Jordan looked down at the plate he had filled only to find nothing at all appetizing about the food. He reasoned that he if he did wake up late in the night hungry, he could sneak out to find a late-night snack. He only promised his mom he would not go out and do hooded vigilantly type things, he never made any promises about flying off the balcony to find a hotdog.
Jonathan pushed his full, untouched plate in front of him. “My stomach is still weird,” He explained lamely, “You know, from the flight and the bacon grease.” He had only filled his plate up thinking he would be hungry once he sat down, only to find out how much he did not want to even try to eat.
“Sure,” Natalie looked between the two boys whose plates were untouched.
“I think Nurse Gladstone is around somewhere, she probably has something that can help with your stomach,” Sarah offered.
“I’m good,” Jonathan brushed off the suggestion as the lights dimmed and an actor in a fake beard and stove top hat took front of the lobby. He had a feeling that anything for his stomach was unlikely to make a dent. The sorts of over-the-counter remedies that had worked when he was younger, had been less necessary and less potent as he had gotten older.
“Four Score and Seven Years Ago…” The actor started to recite.
“This has to be in poor taste, right? Like, nothing about this can be okay, right?” Natalie whispered.
“At least we already know who killed Lincoln,” Jonathan said as his leg moved rapidly under the table.
Jordan hid a smile as he ripped up the paper wrapper that came with his straw and then proceeded to twist his napkin until it started to shred in small pieces in his hands.
What proceeded after was the most unenthused murder mystery event conceivable. The actors seemed burnt out, offering the same historical presentation night after night and the students, who had spent the morning traveling and the afternoon seeing the sights, seemed more than ready for bed.
By the time event wrapped up, the students seemed more than happy to quickly and efficiently board the busses back to the hotel and make their way up to their rooms.
“I have cards,” Jonathan offered as he pulled a pack of playing card from his bag. They the group had made their way up the five flights of stairs and had each taken their turn in the shower “Or, we could watch a movie or something.” Jonathan found the TV remote.
“Dude, I am beat, I slept like 2 hours last night and that was a long time ago,” Cory said as he flopped into bed.
“Me too,” Malcolm said as he gingerly got into bed next to Cory. “Also, this is weird. Don’t like fart in my face or something.”
“Gross,” Cory replied.
Jonathan looked over at his brother, “Guess we’re going to sleep.”
Jordan shrugged as pulled back the comforter and climbed in under the covers. Even as he climbed into bed, he knew sleep would be impossible. He still felt too weird, and his stomach still felt too unsettled. Even so, he closed his eyes and fixed his hearing on Malcolm and Cory, waiting to hear their breathing deepen and their heart rate slow, signs that they were asleep. It did not take long for either of them to fall sleep.
“Jon, you still asleep?” Jordan whispered, quite enough that he knew only his brother could hear.
“Not tired at all,” Jonathan replied. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I’ll race you,” Jordan said, and before Jonathan could reply, he was out of bed and back in jeans in a hoodie.
“Let’s go,” Jonathan said as he pushed open the balcony and both brothers were speeding back towards to National Mall.
***
Lois found herself drifting of on the sofa well before she usually went to bed, the early morning drop off finally catching up with here. With the boys on their trip and Clark out Superman-ing, she found the house uncharacteristically quiet. Usually at this time Clark was either bumping around the kitchen or the boys were upstairs playing video games or downstairs working on homework. Usually, at least someone else was home.
With no other family members around to entertain, Lois made the indulgent decision to head up to bed at an unprecedently early hour. Slipping into the cool sheets after an exhausting long day had always been decadent, but Lois never loved to do it alone, but she this was well treaded territory. Going to bed before her husband was something she had done more often than she liked.
Even so, Lois found that she fell sleep quickly only to be woken up to her husband tossing and turning next to her.
“Clark,” she whispered as she turned to face him.
“Hmmph,” he groaned as he sat up and rubbed his face, “Sorry, I couldn’t get comfortable.”
“What happened?” Lois asked suspiciously. Usually, Clark was good about leaving whatever he delt with as Superman at the door, but there was certainly time he struggled.
Clark shook his head, “Nothing, there as an apartment fire in Bangladesh, but everyone got out just fine and I think I got the fire out before it did too much damage.”
“But you can’t sleep,” Lois prodded suspiciously, waking up as she worked through the facts.
“No, I was struggling to…” Clark trailed off as realization set in.
Lois picked up her phone from the bed side table and Clark crowded over her shoulder to watch as she typed away.
“Solar Strom,” Lois read off, “It’s an unexpected one but it doesn’t look particularly big.” Lois looked at Clark knowingly.
“The boys,” Clark responded. “It’s probably just a few sleepless nights, but we should check in.”
Lois tapped on her phone a couple of more times, pulling up Jordan’s number. He was usually better at answer his phone than Jonathan, but it was never a guarantee with either of the boys. She waited as it rang and then went to his unset-up voicemail. She shook her head and repeated for Jonathan, only for nothing.
“How much do you want to bet they are not where they are supposed to be?” Lois asked dryly.
“I’ll go, it’s not like I can sleep anyway,” Clark replied, already getting out of bed. “I’ll be back soon,” Clark reached down and kissed Lois before taking off towards DC.