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They had 90 minutes to put the paper to bed. Lois was sitting at her desk at the Gazette typing frantically to finish her last article. Chrissy had a red pen sticking out of her mouth as she finished editing and Clark was…Lois looked up from her desk, Clark was staring off into space.
“Kent,” Lois called from her desk, pulling her husband out of wherever his head was, “You still owe us that article on last night’s schools board meeting, and we need to get this over to the publisher.”
“Huh?” Clark asked, turning his attention to Lois.
“What is it?” Lois cocked her head and examined the closest thing the Gazette had to an employee. If you could count the husband as one of the owners as an actual employee.
“I…I’m not sure,” Clark looked out the window perplexed.
Chrissy glared over towards Lois, but Lois brushed it off, “Do you need to go?” Lois asked, giving him an out. “I can finish the school board write up.”
Chrissy raised her hands, “We’re already stretched.”
Clark shook his head, “No, I’m…I’m good.” He replied.
“Great, perfect, I need that article in 20 minutes,” Chrissy said, looking between Lois and Clark. They had been up against their deadlines more than usual the past few weeks. Between the Mannheim case and both Lois and Clark focused on Lois’s treatment, they had cut it closer and closer to the deadline.
Clark refocused on his computer and his fingers worked across his keyboard at an inhuman speed, with everyone at the paper in the know, he no longer needed to hide how quickly he could get his articles typed up, even so, he usually did not go that fast in the Gazette office.
“Done,” Clark announced just a few minutes later.
“Great,” Chrissy said and then looked down at her computer. “Can you proof Lois’s article on the city hall budget and the Sheriff’s traffic stop record?”
“Sure thing,” Clark said, turning his attention back to his computer as his fingers drummed across his desk rhythmically.
Lois looked across the room and watched as her husband pulled as his shirt collar and seemed unable to sit still. Usually, he was one of the most calm and collected people she knew. Something was going on with him and she was going to figure it out, but for now, they needed to focus on getting the paper to the publishers so that the issue could be delivered in the morning.
After another hour, just before the sun set, they made their deadline. “It’s off,” Chrissy announced.
“And we’re off,” Lois said nodding to Clark. “We told the boys and Candice we would be home for dinner.” Lois explained.
“Candice is still staying with you?” Chrissy asked, looking between the couple. She had heard about the diner incident and then spent plenty of time pestering both Lois and Clark for all the details, with the understanding that none of it went into the Gazette. It was already major town gossip and Lois and Clark did not really need to highlight that Clark Kent had been slightly too intimidating.
“We’re looking for family that might be able to take her in,” Lois explained as she packed up her computer.
“But we also want to make sure any family we send her to is safe,” Clark finished.
“And that’s working for you?” Chrissy asked, “Having Jon’s girlfriend stay with you?”
“We’re making it work,” Lois sighed, mostly it has been a long list of rules. Candice seemed happy enough to comply and Lois felt bad knowing that it was likely driven by the fear that she would have nowhere else to go otherwise. What Lois would never say, is that teen sex, while severely discouraged, was not going to earn anyone a night without a roof over their heads.
“Alright, you ready to go?” Clark asked, holding the door open for Lois, “I’ve got a new casserole recipe that everyone’s going to love.”
“What decade do you live in?” Chrissy called out as Lois and Clark made their way to Lois’s station wagon.
“The same one that our kitchen was built in,” Lois replied right as the door closed behind them.
***
The great thing about being a mother of teenage boys, is that Lois rarely had to track them down for dinner. They were perpetually hungry and seemed always ready to eat. That’s why, when neither seemed uninterested in dinner, it raised her suspicion immediately.
Lois took a bite of Clark’s new casserole and realized it seemed familiar, in a good way but familiar. “So, how is this different from hamburger casserole?” Lois asked.
“I used mashed potatoes instead of tatter totes and I added spinach and kale so that you get your leafy greens?” Clark smiled as he pushed his food around his plate with out actually taking a bite. “I also made a super food salad.”
“It’s a good improvement,” Lois joked, taking another bite.
“My dad usually just gets those frozen chicken pot pies from the grocery store,” Candice explained as she took a bite of the casserole, “This is maybe the best food I’ve eaten, ever.”
“See,” Clark said, looking over at the boys who were also stirring their casserole around their plates uneaten.
“Yeah,” Jordan said but did not bother to take an actual bite.
“It looks great,” Jonathan joined it, also without bothering to take a bite.
Lois looked at the undisturbed plates of her husband and sons suspiciously. Surely with everything going on they were not also going to have to deal with this as well.
“So, were you two at the diner this afternoon,” Lois asked, working though her own mini investigation without making it seem like there was something suspicious going on. Perhaps they had something there after school.
“Huh?” Jonathan asked as he played with the cloth napkin, turning it into knots.
“What did you do after school today?” Lois asked more directly.
“Natalie and I went on a run,” Jonathan explained. That was not uncommon these days, both Natalie and Jonathan shared a general athleticism and would often go on runs in the afternoon.
“Jordan?” Lois asked.
Jordan’s eyes flashed briefly towards Candice and he just shrugged, “Um stuff.”
Lois nodded, it was not a particularly descriptive answer, but it was enough to confirm that her son had been flying around and doing something that also involved burning plenty of calories.
“Candice?” Lois asked, to cover that she had been attempting to dig into what her boys has been doing.
“Just homework, I have a history essay due and between shifts at the diner, I was hoping to get it done early.” Candice said before scooping another bite of new and improved hamburger casserole into her mouth.
“Do you guys have a history essay?” Clark asked, looking at the boys.
“I did my outline this afternoon,” Jonathan explained.
“I have a draft done,” Jordan replied as he pulled his the collar of his hoodie and rubbed his back against his chair.
Clark nodded, “I was going to work on pulling out the milking stations tonight. I think I have a buyer from New Carthage, and I don’t think we’re ever going to have dairy cows here,” Clark changed topics.
“Tonight?” Lois asked, looking at Clark and the boys, “It’s getting late, and I was hoping we could review some of my notes from that case.” Lois kept it vague herself this time. She had wanted Clark to help with Mannheim but as much as Superman did Superman stuff after dinner, Clark was not typically one to take on farm chores after dark. Something was up.
“Yeah, I can help on the case, the boys and I can do the barn stuff this weekend,” Clark agreed and then took a sip from his water glass. There was a small pop and then Clark got up from the table and quietly put his glass in the sink.
The boys shared a look and then Lois smiled and Candice just let her eyes wonder around the table.
“There was a bug in my water glass,” Clark explained as he retook his seat at the table. “Just all part of living on a farm.” Clark gave a smile.
“Okay,” Candice nodded, “I can take care of the dishes tonight.” She offered, she offered every night and usually Lois and Clark turned her down.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lois said. “Actually, Clark and I need to talk to the boys about something tonight. I don’t mean to send you upstairs but…” Lois trailed off anxiously.
“Of course,” Candice said, gathering her plate and putting it in the sink. “I…good luck.” Candice disappeared up the stairs and they waited until the door to Jon’s room closed.
“Mom, is everything okay,” Jonathan asked, he looked between his parents. For weeks now, they had all been anxious for bad news about Lois’s cancer. That the chemo was not working or worse.
“I’m fine, but guys aren’t,” Lois said as she quickly tapped on her phone.
“What?” Jordan asked even as his feet tapped noisily under the table.
“Sun storm,” Clark realized before Lois could prove out that there had been an increase in solar flares.
“This can’t be happening,” Jonathan decided, “Candice is here, do you know what happened the last time I dealt with a sun storm?”
“You got powers, that you couldn’t control?” Jordan reminded him.
“Is that going to happen again?” Jonathan asked, panicked.
“We don’t know,” Clark answered.
“How about my powers?” Jordan asked, “Are they going to go crazy?”
“It’s never the same,” Lois reminded them, “When you two were three, you didn’t sleep for a week and the daycare was about to kick you out.”
“And when you were nine, you both barfed milkshakes all over Smallville.” Clark explained.
“I don’t know how you kept this from us,” Jonathan shook his head.
“You’re about to find out, we have to figure out a way to keep this from Candice,” Lois said as Clark started to collect the dishes from the table.
“Dad, what did you do during these things?” Jordan asked, attempting to figure out how to solve this problem.
“Mostly stayed up with you two,” Clark pointed at them with raised eyebrows.
“But how about your powers?” Jonathan asked, “Like you were still Superman, you kept it in control.”
“It was mostly fine…” Clark trailed off as Lois gave him a knowing look.
“What?” Jonathan asked with anticipation.
“You know what,” Clark turned the topic of conversation away from himself. “We should head to the fortress, see what my mom has to say about this.”
“I’ll cover with Candice,” Lois said as Clark ushered the boys out the front door and an audible woosh later, Lois was alone in the farmhouse with Candice.
The first thing Lois did was look at Clark’s glass in the sink. She was unsurprised to find a frozen chunk of ice instead of the water that should have been in the glass. The glass has cracked with the sudden change in temperature.
Lois took up the dishes where Clark left off. If Lois knew one thing about the sun storms, is that her husband’s and sons’ boundless energy was more likely to be funneled into creating chaos then keeping the house in order. Lois shook her head at the thought, it was usually Clark how kept the farmhouse tidy and Lois knew he would tackle the dishes when he got back but Lois also needed something to occupy her mind as well.
Lois has just finished the last of the dishes when she heard Candice come down the stairs.
“Hey Ms. Lane,” Candice said as she entered the kitchen, “I didn’t want to disturb the family thing but I needed a glass of water.” Candice paused and then looked at the empty kitchen. “Where did everyone go?”
“Clark and the boys went to the hardware store,” Lois replied without missing a beat.
Candice looked out at the dark Kanas sky from the kitchen window, “The hardware store is closed?”
“Mr. Teague called, he just got the part in that they had been waiting for,” Lois tried to cover again.
“And they all went?” Candice asked, again, looking around the empty kitchen as if Jon were going to appear any second.
“Yeah, Clark is really committed to taking them along on everything involving the farm.” Lois hoped this would be enough to get Candice to leave things alone.
“Well, they should be back soon, right?” Candice continued to ask, innocent and without any real suspicion.
“I’m not sure,” Lois responded, attempting to keep things vague, “I think they might work a little in the barn after, Mr. Teague thinks we might have a buyer for the milking stations, and it is a lot of work to get them disassembled.” Lois adlibbed, hoping Candice knew as little about the old milking stations in the barn as Lois did.
“Oh, okay,” Candice replied as she filed up her water bottle.
“I was going to put on a movie if you wanted to join me,” Lois offered.
Candice gave a half smile, “Actually, I’m going to try to get more work done on that history essay.” Candice gave a polite nod as scurried back up the stairs.
Lois scrubbed a hand through her hair and then took her laptop upstairs to get some work in before bed. She already had a good idea that the boys and Clark were unlikely to make it back anytime soon and she could feel her energy waning. As much as Lois loved Clark sleeping next to her, she knew that the sun storm would only mean a restless night of sleep for both of them if he actually attempted to sleep.
***
When Lois got up the next morning and headed down to the kitchen, she knew what was going on but could not figure out why. Clark was stationed at the stove making a massive farmhouse breakfast, more then their family consumed on normal mornings. Jordan was his accomplice, assembling a massive fruit salad that was the entirety of both fruit bowls and Jonathan was sitting in the table, rubbing his temples.
“Are you three going to eat any of that?” Lois asked, looked at the rashers of bacon Clark had laid on a platter.
“We got the idea this morning while we were working on pulling out the milking stations,” Clark said with a wide grin, completely ignoring Lois’s question.
“Why?” Lois pushed as Clark scrapped a the frying pan full of scrambled eggs into a bowl and Jordan started buttering toast.
“So you and Candice could have breakfast,” Jordan explained as the stack of toast grew higher and higher.
“Right,” Lois shook her head, “So this is the irrational sun storm?”
“I’m not irrational,” Jonathan mumbled, “That breakfast smells like ass.”
“No it doesn’t,” Jordan declared right as Candice came down the stairs.
“Is it a special occasion?” Candice asked, looking at the breakfast table, which was overflowing, more then 5 people could ever eat and certainly more than 1 Kryptonian and 2 half Kryptonians, all hyped up on sun energy, and a chemo patient could consume.
“No,” Lois replied dryly, unamused at the breakfast, “Clark just really likes to make breakfast.”
“Oh, um well,” Candice started but before she could finish, Jonathan ran into the small half bath right off the kitchen and Jordan ran out the back door.
“We should…” Lois said, looking at Clark, she nodded towards the bathroom and Clark headed out to follow Jordan.
A moment later, a series of retches came from the bathroom door and Lois gently knocked on the door. “Sweetie, are you okay?” Lois called out.
“I’m okay,” Jonathan said, pushing the door open, “The smell of eggs made me sick.” He explained.
“Eggs?” Candice asked from where she was standing behind Lois.
“and the bacon and the…” He trailed off, wide eyed, looking at his mom.
“Maybe you need some fresh air,” Lois decided.
Candice was already grabbing her jacket that was hanging in the mudroom to walk out with them.
“Candice, it’s fine,” Lois intercepted, “why don’t you eat some breakfast, Clark made more than enough, and I can take care of Jon.” Lois said, her hand firmly planted on Jonathan’s shoulder. Jonathan had closed his eyes and was slowly rubbing his temples.
“Oh,” Candice said, confused. “I was going to help Jon.”
“No need,” Lois replied as she pushed Jonathan out the door towards the front lawn.
“Mom,” Jonathan whispered once they were outside, away from Candice. “I can smell everything.” He said in horror.
Lois scrunched up her face, “I’m sorry sweetie, maybe your dad has some advice, now we just have to figure out where he got off to.” Lois tilted her head up towards the sky and yelled, “CLARK.
“Mhh,” Jonathan let out a paid sigh at her voice.
“Hearing too?” Lois whispered as she brought him in close and slowly rubbed his back.
“Hey, is everything okay?’ Clark asked, looking at Lois holding on to Jon.
“Hearing and apparently super smell,” Lois kept her voice slow and gentle as she rubbed circles across Jonathan’s back. “Where’s Jordan?”
“Fortress,” Clark explained, “He was having trouble with his heat vision and I figured it was safer there then here.”
But, a moment later, Jordan stumbled onto the front yard with an unsteady landing. “I think I have it under control.” He explained. “And we have school soon.”
“No one’s going to school,” Lois declared.
“Hey Candice,” Clark announced loudly before the back door even closed.
“What’s going on?” Candice asked as Jonathan pulled his head out of his mom’s arms. “Is everything okay?”
“Just fine,” Lois said, “Actually, I was going to give you a ride to school.”
“How about Jon and Jordan?” Candice asked, looking at the boys.
“Jon’s sick,” Lois covered quickly.
“And Jordan has a doctor’s appointment this morning,” Clark explained.
“Oh, you guys aren’t going to school?” Candice looked at the boys.
“Not today,” Lois explained. “Why don’t you get your stuff,” Lois nodded into the house, giving her another moment of privacy with the boys and Clark. Once Candice was safely out of ear shot, Lois lowered her voice. “I have to go to the Gazette and cover for Chrissy. Are you guys going to be okay today?”
“Babe, we’ve got this,” Clark said, clapping Jonathan on the shoulder and pulling him in close. “I’ll stick close to the boys today and we’ll work on controlling all of this.”
“And no Supermanning?” Lois nodded, hoping to get Clark to agree.
“I’m off the clock today.” Clark confirmed, putting is hands up in mock defeat.
“I’m holding you too it,” Lois reached up and gave him a quick peck on the lips right as Candice came back outside with her school bag.
“Is Jon, okay?” Candice asked as they were pulling out of the driveway.
“He’ll be fine, just a bug,” Lois gave a smile, with the hope that Candice will buy the excuse.
“Okay,” Candice agreed as Lois made her way to the high school.
Lois headed back into the Gazette, only to find plenty that needed to be done before the next issue. It was Chrissy’s day off and Clark was supposed to be helping her today, but she also needed Clark home, with the boys, managing whatever effects were going on with the sun storm. She also needed Clark to take care of himself as well. He was absolutely the worst at his own boundaries whenever the Sun storms happened. Lois had tried his phone a few times, but he was not answering, and no one was replying to the family group text. Mostly, Lois tried to put the whole thing out of her mind. She trusted Clark to take care of the boys through this.
Lois picked Candice up at school and then headed back to the farm. Lois had run plenty on scenarios in her mind on how this sun storm might be impacting her family but what she had not expected to find was every piece of farm equipment from the barn dragged out on the lawn and disassembled into parts all over the grass.
“What’s going on?” Candice asked, looking at the window of Lois’s station wagon to the lawn of the farm where both the boys were covered head to toe in grease, as they worked on the tractor. Clark was looking pensively at harvester parts.
“Looks like Clark and the boys are just doing farm maintenance,” Lois explained as if what was going on were totally normal.
“I thought Jon was sick and Jordan had a doctor’s appointment,” Candice reminded Lois.
“Jon must be feeling better, and it just didn’t make sense to bring Jordan to school after his appointment,” Lois covered as she got out of the car.
“Hey Babe,” Lois said cautiously, as Clark came bounding over with a look on his face that could only be described as Golden Retriever. “What are you doing?”
“Well,” Clark started, exaggerating in his statement. “I figured that I would get the boys to help with some stuff around the farm?” Clark explained.
Lois shut her eyes and sent up a silent prayer for patience. “And it required taking apart every piece of farm equipment we own?”
Clark scrunched up his face and then threw his head back. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“You guys did a lot of work today?” Candice noted as she walked around the equipment that had been laid out.
“And they have a lot more to get this put back together,” Lois gave Clark a warning look just has she caught Jordan in the corner of her eye. He had drifted up a few feet from where he was standing.
Lois risked a glance over to Candice who had turned her attention to Jonathan and then gave Jordan a pointed look. Jordan looked confused until he looked down at the ground to his feet which were not at all attached to the earth. Jordan quickly lowered back down.
“I was going to make dinner,” Clark announced.
“I was thinking we could have leftovers from breakfast this morning and dinner last night,” Lois replied, giving the subtle hint that neither Clark nor the boys had eaten at either meal. Lois did not need to ask to know that they had not eaten lunch either.
“Can I help with something?” Candice offered, “I could cook dinner or help with the farm stuff, I used to help my dad work on cars.”
Clark gave a smile, “The boys and I have this covered.”
“You know,” Lois started, turning her attention to Candice, “You still need a dress for the Valentines Day dance. Why don’t we do that this afternoon.”
“Oh,” Candice replied, “I was actually planning on just wearing something I borrowed from my friend Ashley.”
“What, no,” Lois replied, more sincerely than she expected. “We can head into town right now.” The prospect of taking Candice dress shopping was more appealing than she realized. Candice needed the opportunity to do something normal and so did Lois for that matter. Lois needed to feel useful with all the illness and Clark and the boys had hardly let her lift a finger ever since she had gotten her diagnosis.
“I really appreciate it, but I need to get this history essay done before I’m stuck at the diner all weekend.” Candice countered politely.
“It’s my treat,” Lois insisted, a little more forceful just as Jonathan clamped his eyes shut and a red glow was just visible if you knew what to look for. Luckily Candice was looking away from Jon.
“Okay,” Candice replied, and just before she turned back to Jonathan, Lois spoke up.
“We should go now, before it gets too late,” Lois said quickly, already opening the door to the station wagon. “Anyway, Clark and the boys need to finish up whatever they doing with all this equipment.”
“Thanks Ms. Lane,” Candice nodded as they made their way back into town.
Lois would have preferred to have stayed in and run through the Mannheim case. She was days out from her last chemo appointment but even so, her energy was not what it had been before she got sick. She would have preferred to be able to curl up in her office with her notes instead of heading to a loud and busy department store.
“So,” Candice asked, once they were on the road back to town, “Is everything okay with Mr. Kent and Jonathan and Jordan?”
“They’re fine,” Lois gave a forced smile. “They were just getting some farm chores done. Trust me, we’ve lived here two years and I still don’t totally understand everything that goes into running a farm.” It was not exactly a lie, Lois told herself. Clark and the boys were fine, they were just dealing with the totally normal and periodic effects of a sun storm. And, she really did not understand much about what went on with running the farm. That was strictly Clark’s domain.
“Sure,” Candice replied, but Lois could tell she was not totally convinced, and Lois was not exactly sure what the state of things would be when they got home.
Lois ended up dragging Candice around the only department store in town and then took her for dinner at Victoria Mays to celebrate finding a dress for the dance. Mostly, Lois needed Clark and the boys to finish putting back together the farm before she got home.
When Lois pulled back into the farmhouse driveway for a second time day, she was relieved to see that the farm had been put back together while they had been out. Both Clark and Jon’s trucks were in the driveway and the farmhouse lights were on. Lois let out a sigh of relief, perhaps the sun storm had concluded.
“Jon,” Candice called out as she walked up the stairs. “Jon,” Candice called again. Candice came back down the stairs. “No one’s here.” She explained.
Lois gave a smile and paused as she thought of yet another excuse. “They probably just went into town to get dinner or something.”
“Jon’s not answering my texts,” Candice replied.
“Oh, well, you know how Smallville cell service is,” Lois again covered.
“It’s not usually this bad,” Candice explained.
“I heard about how these weird solar storms can interfere with cell service, sometimes,” Lois replied casually, as if she had not just revealed a part of the truth.
“Weird,” Candice replied, looking around the house, again as if Jonathan was going to suddenly show up. “I guess I’ll get to work on that history essay while I wait.”
“I’m going to head down to my office,” Lois replied, “Just come fine me if you need anything, I’m sure Clark and the boys will be back soon.”
“Sure,” Candice replied. “Oh, and thanks for the dress, I really appreciate it.”
“You should have the opportunity to have a good time at the dance.” Lois nodded as she headed back down to her office.
For the second night in a row, Lois found herself going to bed alone and before Clark and the boys returned. She was never a big fan of going to bed before the boys were home, but she was tired after working all day and then taking Candice shopping after and she knew that Clark and the boys would probably not make it home anytime soon.
When Lois made her way downstairs the next morning, she could already hear activity coming from the kitchen. Clark was manning the stove and there was a large bowl of pancake batter. Lois peaked out the kitchen window to see the boys tossing a football back and forth.
“You’re making breakfast again?” Lois asked at the growing stack of pancakes. “Are you and the boys going to eat any of that?” Lois asked, glad that the boys were at least just throwing around a football versus doing anything destructive.
“Um…” Clark trailed off, as if just again realizing that neither him nor the boys were likely going to have an appetite.
Before Lois could respond, she looked at the window to find Jordan cash land into the driveway, creating a large dirt creator in his wake.
“So, no relief yet?” Lois confirmed. “Where’d you guys go last night?” Lois asked, taking the opportunity for a private moment to get a little more insight.
“The fortress,” Clark replied, “I figured it was safer for the boys run off their energy there instead of risking Candice seeing them do anything unusual.”
“How are they doing?” Lois looked at the window where Jonathan lobbed a pass that whooshed through air at an impossible speed.
Clark shrugged, “It’s easier then when they were toddlers, but it’s been two days without sleep and that’s a lot for anyone.”
“How are you?” Lois asked and she moved closer to Clark on placed a hand on his chest.
“Me, I’m totally fine,” Clark replied.
“Hmmmm,” Lois said as she leaned in close and she could practically feel Clark buzzing against her.
“Oh, umm,” Candice stumbled as she interrupted what was obviously a private moment.
“Morning Candice,” Clark smiled. “Do you want some pancakes?”
“I’m okay, is Jonathan here?” She asked, confused why it seemed her boyfriend had essentially disappeared from his own home.
“The boys are outside,” Lois replied as she nestled in closer to Clark, unwilling to break up their display of affection.
“Thanks,” Candice said, “I was hoping that Jonathan could give me a ride to school today.”
Lois looked up at Clark hoping he had an excuse at the ready. There was no way they could send the boys to school until the solar storm had passed and they were fully in control of their powers again.
“Jon’s still under the weather and I think Jordan caught the same bug,” Clark smiled, “They were up all night.”
“They’re playing football at 7am,” Candice pointed out. “They don’t seem unwell.”
“It helps the nausea,” Lois provided, “It’s something my dad used to do when I was growing up. A little physical activity is great for stomach things. Clark’s going to stay home with them again. I’ll give you a ride to school.”
“What?” Candice asked, totally confused by a lie that made absolutely no sense.
“Candice,” Jonathan came bounding through the back door of the farmhouse. “How are you?’ He asked, overzealous.
“I’m okay, but I heard you’re still sick,” Candice said with concern.
“Sick?” Jonathan asked and then Lois have him a pointed look, “Sick, yeah horrible headache, my dad thought that getting some fresh air would help.” Jonathan covered.
“A headache?” Candice asked as she moved close to Jonathan and placed a hand on his cheek.
“I’m…” Jonathan started and then clamped a hand over his mouth and ran back towards the bathroom. When Lois heard more retching she was more sure that Jonathan was still dealing with super smell versus working the cover story, but she was not entirely sure either way.
“I’ve got this, you should get Candice to school,” Clark said with a smile as he flipped off the stove.
“He’s really not feeling well,” Candice replied, if surprised, as if she were not fully sold on the original story that Lois and Clark had given her.
“It’s been a weird bug, but hopefully both the boys will be over it soon,” Lois said, giving a reassuring smile. “Let’s go.” Lois said, pulling Candice’s focus away from the spectacle the farmhouse had become.
Lois and Candice went outside to the front yard, only to find Jordan laying on the grass in the front yard, throwing the football up and down and looking into the sun. He was covered in dirt from whatever game he and Jon had been playing.
“You doing okay sweetie?” Lois asked, looking down at her son. “How’s your stomach.”
Jordan sat up and looked at his mom confused before realization set in, “It’s weird,” he replied, “I was really hoping I would be able to go to school today, but I’m just to…sick.” Jordan added a weird emphasis to the last word. He was just as bad a liar as his father.
“Well, feel better, and talk to your dad if things get… weirder,” Lois said as she ushered Candice back to the station wagon and away from her family that was only getting more confusing by the moment.
“Feel better,” Candice call out, as she walked off before giving the Jordan another confused look.
***
Lois had only planned to work a half day at the Gazette and with Candice at a shift at the diner that night after school, it meant that Lois finally had the opportunity to catch up with her family for real. She found that she felt disconnected from what they had been going through the last couple of days and she wanted to check in.
She pulled the station wagon back onto the drive and then headed into the barn where there was a notable clanking of metal.
She walked in to see both Clark and the boys levitating and reorganizing the pipes that almost crushed Jordan two years ago.
“How are you guys doing?” Lois called up from where she was standing on the barn floor.
Clark landed in front of Lois and she could see that he was starting to look visible tired. “Just a little bit more productivity left.” Clark explained.
“If that’s the case,” Lois smiled, “I was thinking about taking the afternoon off, I’m also pretty beat and I was thinking about watching some Seinfeld,” She offered. “You guys want to keep me company?”
“Are you trying to get us to rest?” Clark smiled.
“You’ve figured out my evil plan,” Lois said as she wrapped her fingers in Clark and gave him a kiss.
“How about you two?” Lois called up.
Jordan landed first and let out a long yawn, “I’ll rest with you, you know to keep you company.”
“Me too,” Jonathan replied as he tumbled down to the barn floor.
“We’ve got a ton of leftovers in the fridge,” Lois casually mentioned.
“I’m starving,” Jordan replied, as if only realizing this fact as well.
“Me too,” Jonathan agreed. “Do you think Candice suspected anything?”
“She probably thinks we’re kind of weird family,” Lois admitted honestly.
“That’s not exactly a lie,” Jordan agreed.
“But, there’s no way she’d actually guess the truth, right?” Jonathan asked.
“That you’re half Kryptonian and going through the effects of a sun storm?’ Lois asked with raised eyebrows, “Because it took me and your dad some time to figure out what a sun storm even is, so I think you’re safe.”
“Okay,” Jonathan nodded, “Yeah, we’re safe.” He replied, unsure if he should be disappointed or reassured.
“Come on,” Clark said as he dusted off his hands and made his way towards the farmhouse. “I think we’re already for some downtime.”
After two days of being unsettled, Lois finally felt the calm and ease come over her family as they made their way into the living room and finally relaxed, the sun storm easing and the anxiety with it melting away.