☆ CREPUSCULAR ☆ |SUPERMAN & LOIS|

[30] ● The Ghost Of Present Gone By ●

~~~

THE

KENTS

~~~

The name 'Bright News' ran across the television screen.

"Hundred of thousands of people who had been taken by Morgan Edge have been transported back to their homes and all the people who went missing due to him in the last fifteen years families now have closure they have so desperately waited on ... Only time will tell how Morgan Edge has impacted the world."

Lois turned off the news, as she whipped up some breakfast for her boys.

Clark was in need, wife ordered bed rest and the twins hadn't woken up for school yet.

She was home now, finally.

After spending so much time away from home with her boys, her husband she was finally back.

It had been some time since Morgan had been detained and most of SmallVille had gone back to living in peace.

It was quite now more so than ever you could wake up to just the sound of the rush from a neighbouring farm instead of the hustle and bustle of the city.

Lois thought that was due to the fact that many people had to move away from the small town. Morgan wasn't employing people anymore so most of the workers who moved out to SmallVille because of their jobs had to leave and many of the long term residents were grateful to return back to the slow way of life.

Without looking down at herself Lois could tell that the marks she had sustained from her attack would scare but she didn't worry too much about that if anything she thought they made her look hardened or 'badass' as Jordan described them.

She let the swearing go that once.

A loud shuffling came from upstairs Lois plated up some of the breakfast she had made.

It was Clark who came down first dressed casually in a robe as he told Lois good morning as they sat together and ate drinking a cup of coffee between them.

He looked far too much his age, lips flexing under Lois' mouth as she gave him a peck.

They sat in silence not saying anything to one another as they looked up towards the ceiling, noise.

The twins were awake.

Lois looked at the counter where Jonathan had placed his prescription bottle the other day, she noted it wasn't as full as it should have been but brushed it off, the attack had left her vision worse for wear and blamed it on that.

Jordan came down second in a rush claiming he was late, he wasn't, eating like his life depended on it yelling a quick thank you to his mom before scurrying off to the car.

Then Jonathan came down quieter than his brother, taking his plate to go, shoving it into a container, before walking out behind his brother.

That was odd.

The pair left in the kitchen all alone were perplexed. It wasn't like Jordan to clam up like that unless there was a problem and there wasn't one.

At least to them.

Jonathan however had been acting quite differently since they moved to SmallVille, Lois thought it could have been his boyfriend or something teenager related, something Superman couldn't solve.

Clark always looked towards Lois who pushed him forwards before they both left the house.

They knew they could have given up driving the kids to school when Morgan was captured but it had become a part of her routine plus if they didn't do it then who would Jonathan, that was an accident waiting to happen and being Superman didn't pay for insurance or any bills for that matter.

~~~

It had been like this for a while: a silent tension between Jonathan and Jordan, this secret that they had opted to keep without asking one another.

The air was thick even before they woke up to an unsettling heavy weight on the back of their chests that followed them as they walked past each other to get to the bathroom.

It was seven in the morning and even after a full night of rest Jonathan still felt tired.

Jordan could see the look of restlessness on his brother's face, he thought it might have gotten better over time but it had been so long now he was starting to think that that look would never leave his face.

Jordan could feel Jonathan's eyes on the back of his head, not intimidating or fearful, just quietly watching to see what Jordans next move would be.

The look got worse the more time Jordan would spend around their parents.

It was like he was trusted by Jonathan to not say anything but Jonathan didn't trust Jordan to let on that something was wrong even unintentionally.

So Jordan settled for avoiding his parents as much as possible because he didn't trust himself that much either, at least not with something this important.

Plus it made it easier for their parents not to notice the fact that Jordan avoided talking about his time with Morgan if he wasn't around them long enough for them to ask about him.

~~~

Jonathan didn't want to feel much of anything anymore even the more positive feelings that he would usually welcome with open arms he shunned snatching his pills off the kitchen counter with more force than necessary these would be his last until he got his cast off.

He could feel the look of his mom was sending him but he brushed off the unanswered question like it meant nothing to him.

It meant everything.

Getting in the car he and Jordan exchanged glances.

Jordan knew he wasn't late, Jonathan knew it too and so did their parents but none mentioned it as they rode silently to school only exchanging 'love you's' and 'goodbyes' at the school's front gates.

Jordan is slightly detached from Jonathan in order to go find Sarah.

Jonathan didn't stop him even though he and Sarah had the same classes.

They were in Mrs Tolsburry's English class, another test, Jonathan found himself knowing all the answers imagining Finley was beside him again whispering the correct answers in his ear every so often, when his pen would hover unsure as to what the answer was.

'Finley'

'Finley'

'Finley'

Jonathan found himself writing at one point on a dotted answer space on his sheet then scrubbing it out with his pen leaving a giant splosh of blue marker in between his sentences.

Mrs Tolsburry tutted at him as she walked down the aisle separating students acting as though anyone cared enough to cheat on a test with just ten questions.

Much like before when Finley was just a stranger to him being without him just made Jonathan want to physically have him near even if it was just word on a paper it made Finley really tangible like he wasn't just some made up imaginary friend.

Boyfriend.

Finley would probably say it was childish, the sentiment that the term boyfriend held and call them partners instead while they played house in his apartment pretending they were more grown up then they were like Jonathan didn't have a home to go back to at the end of the day and Finley didn't have Morgan was to hide from.

His pupils blown wide, Jonathan didn't have any pills left by the end of the school day.

~~~

SARAH 

CUSHING

~~~

The Kent's were never a silent family; there was always something going on, someone yelling, shouting at one another but never out of delegating or distrust; it was their language a way of conveying information of not only fact and opinion but also emotion.

So to see the twins silent was unnerving to Sarah.

She couldn't tell if something was wrong or right.

She hated it because it reminded her too much of her own family.

So that made her believe something was wrong but it was hard to help when your boyfriend insists everything is fine and your best friend doesn't want to talk about it.

At least her silence was from her Dad's dispatcher from their home but it wasn't like she couldn't always call her Dad if she wanted to fill the more silent moments between her and her mom.

She couldn't say the same for Jordan and Jonathan though.

~~~

THE 

PRESENT

~~~

It was the weekend when everything went to shit.

After avoiding his house for as long as he could without drawing the attention of his parents, Jonathan came home.

His arm had started to act up again around the fourth period making him snippy with everyone around him.

Causing him to be willing confined to his room slamming the door rather harshly as he entered the house, late.

Of course Clark and Lois noticed but Jordan had covered for Jonathan with extracurricular club excuses of course that only mildly fooled his parents who were hoping that a club might make Jonathan more open with them, but mostly they were happy to notice Jordan wasn't avoiding them like the plague anymore.

Wanting to keep their son's attention they kept him downstairs.

"I got my enhanced Strength before all the other flashy stuff" Clark told his son with a jab to the side.

Jordan didn't bother telling his Dad that he could fly, what uses would it do?

It wasn't like he was considering becoming the world's next Superman.

'Super boy' Jordan shook his head.

"That's unfair for you to bet, you already know what's going to happen" he opted as his answer instead

An unfortunate damper in their parade however was Jonathan's emo faze that seemed to make everyone deflate whenever he was in the same vicinity as them, putting a stop to their antics quickly at the sound of the front door slamming.

~~~

Jonathan felt a bitter taste grow at the back of his throat, swallowing.

As he recognised that he was the reason as to why his family was so silent even from the confines of his bedroom he could feel that everyone in the house was still creeping around on their tiptoes almost like if they were any louder than a couple of decibels they would wake a sleeping monster.

That monster being him, he wasn't the boogie man or Dracula he was their son, Jordan's brother.

Jonathan knew they shouldn't have to live like this but he also knew that he shouldn't have to either the running thought of what was missing in his life right now flashed through his eyes as he pulled up his phone holding his thumb over the delete button on a couple of pictures.

He couldn't stand the thought of him, even the whisperings of his name.

Jonathan turned off his phone and pushed his head to the side as much as he wanted to delete his own memories. He knew it would take more than just scrubbing that boy's image from his phone to do away with everything he felt towards him.

~~~

Clark turned to his wife, Lois, confusion written on his face.

"What happened?"

Clark didn't have many insecurities when it came to his life but the one he did have was the fact that he didn't feel like he knew his kids enough.

Sure he knew their favourite colours, numbers, meals and what not.

What he didn't know was the more intricate things like what Jonathan just meant by what he did, was it a cry for help or just confirming to everyone in the house that he wanted to be alone. Usually he would turn to Lois for this but even she didn't seem to know.

Jordan however looked like he knew the answer but looked towards his mom to almost like he didn't know who to act

"I don't know, talk to him" Sightly pushing Clark off the kitchen counter, walking himself out of the room Clark took one last look at his love and jogged upstairs.

The last thing he heard in the kitchen as he focused on Jonathan, knocking on his door was-

"What happened?" In a feminine voice, almost demanding.

"Its Finley" in Jordans.

Clark didn't know what that meant, it seemed he didn't know much these days, but he knew it couldn't be good but that didn't mean it had to be all bad either.

~~~

Jonathan heard steps coming from outside his door; they were heavy so he assumed they were Dad's.

He was correct.

Jonathan didn't sit or get up to answer the door just left his Father to open the door.

Holding the side panelling of the door awkwardly as he peeked inside his son's room.

It was dark, the curtains drawn back with Jonathan curled at the far end of his bed.

His room was in better wear then what Clark would have expected like Jonathan was waiting for an unexpected visitor to stop by at any moment.

His school books were put away neatly like they hadn't been opened, his shoes were stacked in an orderly fashion, even his rug was flat and pinned to the floor.

"Jonathan..." Clark paused not knowing where to start.

"Dad just stop I know you there for me, you always are"

A pause.

"I can't be if you don't tell me what's going on"

Jonathan knew he couldn't just say it was nothing because he'd be lying without purpose. Everyone already knew something was up so it would be pointless.

So he got up and left walking past his Dad and out of the house again no matter how much he wanted to curl up in bed and forget about the boy that introduced him to what freedom felt like in captivity.

Clark looked after his son making his way to follow him but stopped as Jordan ran past him.

~~~

At the sound of the front door slamming again, Jordan turned back to his Mother, he didn't have time to explain how Finley being alive and Morgan Edge not knowing about related back to Jonathan he had already broken one promise already buy telling his mom he didn't want to break anymore that's for Jonathan to do, yes to do, it wasn't a choice anymore.

He didn't just say this for himself, Jordan knew none of them could go on like this.

"I'll go get him" Jordan said this as he made his way down the hallway Lois behind him.

"No ... you stay here and tell your Dad the truth, I'll go talk to Jonathan" Clark put his hands up in defence when Jordan looked at him.

They needed to know.

A truth that Jordan couldn't give and Jonathan was unwilling to.

"Mom" Jordan said not stopping even as Lois called out to him.

"I can't believe you guys got yourself into this mess"

Jordan was already at the front door, grabbing his brother's coat from its rack.

Lois and Clark started after their sons, one in their sights, the other far away from them, distant.

"We're already in this. Since Edge sent those people to our house to kill us because you couldn't just leave the headline alone and you couldn't quit saving people"

Lois, taken aback by Jordan's unusually harsh words, didn't say anything more, the pink and yellow hues of what was left of the sunlight for the day peeking through the front door as it was shut behind her son.

Another slamming sound echoed through the house.

Lois turned back to her husband.

"So Finley" Clark said gripping onto the banister that divided him and Lois.

"Still alive" Lois confirmed Jordan had told her before his outburst.

"Still missing" Clark said his face hung in shame he had looked for Finley as though he were his own but came up with nothing.

What had he missed?

"Then why didn't I find him?"

"Same reason why Morgan thinks he's dead"

It wasn't a failing on Clarks part or even Superman's, it was on the count of Morgan's ability to create fear that struck the hearts out of men and with that there hope of salvation of a day in the light.

"..." Lois opened her mouth to inquire as to what Finley Edge had to do with her children then closed it firmly again thinking back on the conversations she and Jonathan have had.

'A special someone.'

'A special boy.'

Who she couldn't invite round for dinner.

It was Finley Edge, her son's boyfriend of course, the secrecy, the late nights it's all adding up.

'Then why did he leave?' As far as Lois was aware there was nothing wrong the last time they spoke.

Clark looked at her with a tilted head, Lois in response didn't say anything leading them both back into the kitchen to wait there children out.

Clark was tempted like always to listen in with a good ear on his children.

He restrained himself by focusing on his wife's heartbeat instead of pattering and thumbing with worry doing little to calm him.

As they waited.

~~~

Jordan made sure he was outside making good use of his hearing in order to scout out Jonathan.

He had found him in the barn curled up next to a barrel of hay.

It looked like he didn't want to speak, not peeking up from knees even when Jordan took a seat right next to him.

So Jordan settled for talking to Jonathan rather than to him for a while.

Draping Jonathan's jacket across their laps to keep the cold away.

Telling Jonathan that he had told mom about how Finley wasn't dead and gone just missing.

That telling mom and Dad was the only option, the only way to find out what had happened to Finley for definite.

That they could know where he was even if God forbid he choose not to come back to SmallVille.

At least Jonathan would have been closer.

To say Jordan was being pushy would have put it right but Jonathan needed to make a decision right now and Jonathan did his first words to Jordan since his sat down being.

"Jordan I'll tell them everything, all of it, about Edge, about Finley, I will" Jonathan looked to Jordan for slight approval.

Jordan didn't discourage him.

"I thought you'd be more against it" Jordan said, tucking a stray pick of hair behind his ear.

Jonathan had after all been very adamant on this all stay under wraps.

"Well I don't need to. Edge is gone and it's like all of SmallVille's losing hope that Finley's coming back"

Jordan left it unsaid that SmallVille had already moved on to the next piece of gossip by the time the first month of Finley's disappearance rolled around but he knew Jonathan was speaking more for himself then for others with his words.

So Jordan settled for saying, he seemed to do that a lot recently settle-

"People don't know his still around"

"Ya but its doesn't help me when I look around a see people blatantly disregard his missing posters like there not there, like he's not here"

Jordan knew Jonathan was talking about more than what others thought on the matter but didn't expect Jonathan just to come out with the truth then and there.

"I make me feel as though they have accepted his absence, him not coming back, before I even had a chance to fix things' ' Jonathan blinked the liquid emotion away from his eyes, sitting up.

'To fix what?'

Jordan didn't know, then again neither did Jonathan. Maybe he was talking about how he wanted things to be the same as him and Finley remaining the little secret there were.

Something only he had.

To fix whatever made Finley leave him, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

Jonathan hated the thought of him not coming back, just leaving like the fog he so often found himself being, just temporary, always fading away without notice until it's gone.

~~~

Jordan and Jonathan both took their own respective time making their way back to the house.

With Jordan in the lead walking in a concentrated manner with Jonathan trailing behind him wiping his eyes with his hoodie sleeves.

Jordan was greatly concerned, Jonathan had always been very conservative with his emotions keeping them to himself unless pushed, then lashing out, verbally only of course.

Jonathan always was one to show restraint.

Jordan took hold of their front door, pushing it open leaving Jonathan no time to back out of his promise as he was confronted by the stares of their parents.

It was silent for a moment, both parties not willing to speak first in case of interrupting one another.

Jordan held an apologetic look towards his Mother who nodded in understanding, Jordan was never one to to speak up unless it was for others so about his defiant behaviour Lois accepted it.

Jonathan, now dry eyed, didn't look at his parents.

"Mom, Dad I'm sorry I didn't want to keep this, him, from you it's just you don't know what Edge did to him ... I didn't know what was happening to anyone else, let alone you".

Lois looked towards her son's and the way there was slightly huddled together, her mouth forming a little spiteful.

"But you told Jordan" Lois never was able to have the same type of bond that Jordan and Jonathan shared.

She wondered if this was what Clark felt when he always looked to her for assistance.

Though she just thought it was because she was their Mother therefore somethings would have to remain a mystery to her.

"And I don't know why I did that, it just sort of happened," Jonathan replied.

"Go ahead" Clark spoke, taking off his glasses and putting them to the side, staring at Jonathan expectantly with a neutral look on his face not showing any ounce of discouragement.

And Jonathan believed him.

~~~

So Jonathan told his parents about it all, barring some unnecessary details every now and then his parents would look towards Jordan to make sure Jonathan wasn't leaving anything out, but for the most part they sat there and listened.

Sure they have questions that they would get answers to and Jonathan was grounded for near enough eternity after all of this but the house wasn't quite after that.

Jonathan caught the Mothers eyes from across the room she sent him a look that let on that she knew there was more that Jonathan wasn't telling her and sure he had left out the part about their relationship that didn't seem to go over his Mother's head.

Jonathan didn't mind that.

~~~

They sat down at the dinner table that night with some 'ready made' food, nothing fancy or special talking with one another, quite a wash of tension drifted away Lois asking about Finley and Jonathan answered.

Clark even dared to breach against the topic of Morgan before Jordan shot him down claiming that he was fine, everyone could tell otherwise.

Things seemed to be going well for the Kents until there was a knock at the door, it was Sam.

Looking agitated and lost as though he wanted to start pointing fingers at everyone in the room but held himself back for whatever reason that no one could truly pinpoint.

Sam was tired, fed up walking into the Kents home with heavy footsteps and he wanted to demand answers from his grandson.

'Why dose he know Finley?'

'Why not report him?'

'Why had Jonathan only hinted at Finley with cryptic notes?'

'How was that supposed to help?'

If Jonathan had taken initiative earlier Sam could have prevented the deaths of many.

Sam thought back to last night when he went to check in on Finley once again, he and John had been working together to find something that could help.

A cure of some kind.

So far they have come up with nothing.

With Finley growing weaker and hungrier by the day.

Sam wanted to demand answers but knew he couldn't.

So he didn't say anything of the sort knowing that he was tethering a fine line in regards to his relationship with his family so he said a 'hello' and sat down at the other end on the table opposite his daughter.

The room shifted the family exchanging glances between one another as if to have a silent convocation behind Sam's back.

He caught on quickly though shuffling in his seat.

Lois and Jonathan stared at each other for a while before Jonathan nodded a little, not enough to be seen by the human eyes but just enough so that Lois could pick up on the approval her son was sending her.

"Dad, ... that missing person's case, what do you have on it?" Lois spiked her force resting in her hand scraping in the side of her plate.

"You know I can't tell you anything"

Sam could have, he had broken every protocol out of the handbook by now there wasn't any point to saying he couldn't, but Lois was still his child who he hadn't done enough to protect.

Finley reminded him of that day in and out what failing could do to a child.

Sam didn't Want that for his family.

"Then me, what do you have on Edge?" it was another voice more stern, Clark spoke this time.

"He's already in custody. What more could you want?" Sam answered looking at Clark in the eyes, definitely it would have scared others who knew of Clark's powers but Sam knew what they didn't that Clark for as powerful as he was, was a good man one who could be defied.

"His son still hadn't been found"

Sam claimed he had planned prior to this to shake information out of Jonathan like he was a rattled instrument.

He didn't know Clark would have brought it up now, from the looks the twins were sending him, he could tell they caught on to his apprehensiveness.

"Boys go upstairs," Lois said.

Jonathan and Jordan didn't retaliate negatively they just up and went to leave the room taking their food in hand.

If only Sam could leave it alone but like always he couldn't, it was like something was pushing him to give more then he knew he should have.

"I don't know why your asking me about that, Finley Edge probably doesn't want to be found anyway if he did he would have come out of hiding by now"

Jonathan passed Sam on his way out, his hand dipping just below the table for a moment out of sight, pausing as he was about to leave the room. Jordan had to push him slightly as he left the room behind him in order to get him to follow.

Sam however didn't notice this as it was happening behind his back so he continued on even throughout Clark and Lois' prodding for information acting like he had no clue where Finley was.

It wasn't like the pair left in the room knowing his whereabouts would change anything anyways.

Finley was still a subject to murder if he wanted to live.

~~~

The words 'out of hiding' rattled through Jonathan's mind as he followed Jordan into his room.

Making himself comfortable on his brother's bed as though it were his own.

"What was that?" Jordan said, referring to Jonathan's stunted look, his eyes searching.

Jonathan didn't reply for a moment, consolidating his thoughts.

"He said the same thing I did when he first came round with the missing case files"

"He knows what's going on"

Jordan looked at his brother as though he were being a hypochondriac before saying.

"You sure?"

Jordan asked to get it right, Jonathan had gone so long without mentioning Finley all for him to suddenly go all investigator gadget.

"I am, he wouldn't have shot mom and Dad down like that if he didn't"

Jonathan looked at Jordan who stared back at him.

Clearly their grandfather wasn't going to give them answers so they would just have to get them themselves.

Jonathan held up his good hand a key card with Sam Lane's name and registration number in bold.

Jordan knew his brother was already planning on going with or without him and he sure as hell wasn't going to let him go alone.

~~~

SAM LANE, 

CLARK KENT & 

LOIS LANE

~~~

Clark was reserved in comparison to Lois regarding his Father in law with refined respect that made Sam still feel as though he was being disrespected but had no basis in order to accuse Clark of doing such.

However his daughter would forever be there to humble him, spouting words of doubt believing him to know where Finley was, now sure he did know but it hurt to have found out that even after denying it multiple times his own child still did not believe him.

Choosing the side of who? Sam did not know because a few weeks ago it seemed like his daughter was firmly disinterested in Morgan Edge's child case.

Sam wanted to know why all of a sudden they had all taken an interest.

Yes 'all' in reference to the entire household because it seemed like even Jordan was the most removed from caring is next in line for the throne.

There was a noise coming from upstairs quickly quieting down when Sam began to speak.

"I don't have the luxury of being seen as separate from my actions" Sam said, staring plainly at Clark from across the table.

While Clark could take off his suit and be, well Clark.

Sam never had that always being looked to due to the consequences of his actions and not the reasons as to why he made them in the first place.

No one was in the same position as him, had to make the same calls as him but they all judged.

So imprisoning Finley wasn't the best or most moral thing to do but he had killed people for whatever reason and expressed wanting to change but physically could not do what Sam was supposed to do.

When Clark asked him over Lois' ranting, if he knew anything about Finley's disappearance.

Sam flinched and answered no.

Clark did not respond, just looked at Sam with more intent than ever before.

Lois stopped speaking, noticing the silence that had sprung between her husband and Father.

That was his mistake thinking that Clarks superpowers were only limited to his suit; it was easy for the average person to forget that even without the red and blue Clark was still an alien.

Sam's heartbeat in his chest wilder than before.

Clark didn't want to believe it, when he listened to Sam's heart rate, his eyes squinting in X-ray vision just to double check what he had been hearing, willing to doubt himself if it meant that he was wrong.

Lois didn't need to be told in order to read the look on Clark's face.

Her eyes turned dark and her hair framing her face as she looked at her Father.

Finley was the same age as her boys, so why wasn't he home with someone who cared the same way she and Clark did about their children.

"Where is he?" Lois said her voice displaying that her Father was on his last warning before she stormed the D.O.D. herself, Sam couldn't help but upright himself in his chair feeling like he was on of his grandkids being scolded by Lois even though he was both the other adults senior because unlike Clark, Lois would tear him knew one.

Shuffling his hands through his pockets Sam's hands went over the outer lining of his trousers again, coming up empty.

Lois knew where her Dad kept his key card in his pocket, the left one to be specific.

It had always been in the same place since she was a child no matter where they moved to, what house they were in, no matter what changed in her life growing up Sam kept his key card in his left pocket to see him fumbling around trying to find it was concerning to say the least.

"The D.O.D. really? That's no palace for a child, Dad" it was no place for her as a child.

Sam acted as though he didn't hear her, standing up going through his coat pockets this time coming up empty again.

Lois knew it wouldn't be in there, looking up at the ceiling, the house had gone quite a while ago she assumed the boys were listening in.

She nudged Clark who glanced to where she was looking and shook his head.

Sam stared at them, giving up on his search.

"You want them to find Finley before we do?" Clark said, leaning his elbows onto the table.

Sam stared back with tight lips, who taught the twins to pickpocket, he couldn't believe he got stiffed by his own grandchildren.

~~~

JOHN HENRY 

& 

FINLEY

~~~

"Can you just give up?" Finley spoke with his head in a bucket spitting up raw meat, it was a cow from what he could remember regular food tasted like.

He had been here for weeks now and Sam wasn't kidding. Mark Johnson was his last meal he had and he had gotten through all of it in less than a day.

"No try it again" John Henry gestured with his clipboard and a pen in his hand for Finley to try again.

Finley looked annoyed and threw some meat in the bucket again whipping his hands on his bloody shirt.

John thought that maybe replicating the texture of Finley's food would trick his brain into eating it even if Finley couldn't use it to sustain himself at least he wouldn't be starving anymore.

It was the same theory with a new-born.

If they couldn't have milk for whatever reason and feed them water, they wouldn't be able to gain any nutrients from it but at least their stomach would be full.

Finley scoffed remembering when John told him that a week ago he wasn't a baby nor did raw meat do anything but leave him mouth feeling sticky and gross but he commended John for the thought.

"We've been at it for hours," he complained.

John had lost his fear when he came to Finley because the teen although being what John would describe as an abomination to nature's natural law, things live and they die they don't come back even superheroes, Finley still acted like a fifteen year old complaining, whining wanting all sorts of things to entertain himself.

At first he asked for a book, then another.

All easy things to get then his requests widened to a ball and then insisted on keeping all the things that John would feed though his meal slot.

A stethoscope which was useless because Finley forgot to mention his heart didn't beat anymore.

The buckets of meat that Finley would make sure to throw the context back out heavily inconveniencing Sam when he came round to clean up, keeping them stacked up in the corner of his room like little decorative pieces.

"If it leads to a break though we have to continue, '' John said, feeding through another piece of meat, this time dusted with X-K, like he was a zookeeper feeding a lion.

"But what happens if I'm stuck like this?"

'What happens if I can't see Jonathan again.'

For a very long time Finley didn't know what it was like to form attachments just drifting from place to place without ever really knowing anyone.

First with his parents never really knowing them by anything other than words on a death certificate he had only seen once too young to remember.

Then the home for troubled teens where connections were more less important than any found family one might expect to come from pitting children against each other.

Then a Metropolis orphanage there his knowledge was celebrated for his young age but even then Finley was pretty sure that the reason why Morgan had picked him up and out of the bunch but long after that he had met Jonathan.

It was a connection that wasn't born of blood, necessity or even pure coincidence.

It simply just was, if that made any sense Finley thought back on the night he had first encountered Jonathan the heavy sweat of teenagers cramped together like tin sardines covering the air.

How he thought just for a moment that it was just him who noticed Jonathan first and not the other way around, how he thought walking away into the mist of bodies that Jonathan wouldn't approach him.

'Was it selfish that he was thankful that I dragged Jonathan into all this mess?'

"I'm helping you" John insisted his eyebrow half quirked up like he was beginning to become frustrated.

Finley always managed to have that effect, Sam and John something about them having no one to tattle tale on him made seeing their combined frustration so satisfying to Finley that it almost reminded him of being full.

"Helping doesn't mean there's an answer or a cure," Finley said, taking the meat John had slipped him.

Taking the unappealing meat in his hand sniffing it, okay it smells much more appetising then the last samples that John had him try.

Licking it Finley savoured the taste of it on his tongue looking at John's face before taking a large bite more confident than before.

Then spat it out once his teeth wore through the meat.

John notes down the failure of combinations on his clipboard talking note that Finley handed, thrown, the rest of the meat in the bucket instead keeping it in his hands licking the X-K from its surface.

"How can you live with yourself?" John uttered out almost unknowing to himself.

Finley stopped licking, wondering why he felt the need to keep the meat by his side for once before placing the bucket on his lap as he sat on his hospital bed.

For a moment John had thought that Finley hadn't heard him as he didn't get a response for several moments.

"I don't," he said, sighing, sloshing the bucket's contents around on his thighs, bouncing from one foot to the other.

"Finley" John spoke out apologetically.

"I just exist"

He threw the meat half licked into his spit bucket looking up at John noticing the consumed look the doctor was throwing at him..

Finley rolled him eyes, as if he was going to commit suicide.

He would have done it already. Why put up with all this shit if he was just going to end it all, he would have done it before he had even met Morgan.

But no Finley decided that suffering was the option he wanted to stick with in life.

"If death was an option for me I would have taken it but I didn't so no need to put me on watch ... Calm down"

John looked down at his clipboard and didn't say anything for a moment letting Finley's words settle over him.

"Try it again" he said into the silence before Finley this time without complaint picked up the meat from his spit bucket trying it again.

Retching sounds were all that John could hear from behind his clip, bored so he wrote without having to look up.

'No progress'

Finley just hoped that whatever John was forcing him to try would work one of these days sooner rather than later as the mechanical process of eating, vomiting and doing it all over again was starting to do more than just make him lash out every once and a while.

John was prepared to call it quits by the time Finley couldn't even look at the different assortments of meat that he gave him.

His face turning a darker shade of green than the Kryptonite light around him could omit.

~~~

THE KENT HOUSEHOLD

~~~

So there they were with Sam running out of the house Lois following sharply behind him Clark not bothering to follow flying into the air.

Sam followed Clarks trail of clouds in the sky as he took flight allowing for just enough time for Lois to jump in the passenger side seat of his car slamming the door behind her waking her Father in his daze.

"Dad I can't believe you," Lois said, fiddling with her seat belt.

Sam focused on the road rather than his daughter watching as the tension on her face rose to red.

"You don't have the full story" he reluctantly spoke, jerking the car forwards with a harsh stop that he made.

"Then tell me, ' Lois said, fussing with her seat belt.

"It always that I don't have enough information, why can't you just tell me these things I'm not a little kid anymore I could have, we could have helped you, saved Finley"

Sam looked at Lois as if she had suggested blasphemy instead of salvation.

"There is no saving that boy"

He said, shaking his head, taking his eyes off of her to stare at the road in front of him.

"So you went out if your way to prove Jonathan's innocence time and time again but it different why it come to someone else's son"

Lois knew why there was a difference; she understood the lengths one would go to for their own children even if that meant being in the wrong. The reason why Sam had stuck his neck out for Jonathan was because he was his grandchild.

Finley, well he wasn't anything to him.

Finley wasn't anything to anyone.

Baring Jonathan of course.

What Lois didn't know however was the reason why Sam was fighting so hard for Finley in the first place.

Locking him away from society wasn't just a precaution to protect others but for Finley's betterment as well.

After all, John needed Finley in one place in order to help him.

"I'm sure there are things he's had to do to survive but you can't hold that against him"

"Murder is what I hold against that child Lois it's not just some petty theft and breaking and entering"

"What?" Lois said the look in her eyes displaying nothing but confusion as she sat back in her seat, her injuries tense and stretched, not understanding.

Sam was right.

"Jonathan didn't tell you the full story. Did he?"

Sam couldn't blame Jonathan with his Father's set of almost unwavering morals and his Mothers keen eye for justice there was a good reason to keep them in the dark about Finley's troubled eating patterns.

Lois was silent for the rest of the ride.

They had asked Jonathan to tell them everything she had thought that he had.

~~~

CLARK 

KENT

~~~

Clark hadn't been in the air since Edge decided to involve the world in his escapades.

Losing control of his body and almost his mind he knew that there was something his boys were holding back from him.

That Jordan was holding back, he had noticed his reluctance to water recently choosing orange and apple juice over it at dinner, waking early to take long in the shower not teenaged boy long- just long.

The way he would shake off questions at first Clark thought this was because of Jonathan's secret keeping, that was never a Kent thing to do but apparently it was.

But when Jordan tight lips didn't part his muffling of his own truths only became more apparent now that he was supposed to be liberated from his worries.

Clark knew it was because of Morgan.

He just didn't know how to say it, put it into words what had happened to his son and him.

His cape is large and easy to grab a hold of.

Maybe he should get rid of it, Morgan had used it against him after all it was impractical no matter how much Clark liked it.

No he thought shaking his head his cape wasn't for him and his battles.

It was for the people, shock blankets were hard to come by on short notice.

Plus it made him easier to spot in the sky.

He wanted for people to know that there was help on the way, that he was there for them.

If only Finley had been able to see the same.

Clark knew that the boys would be at the D.O.D. scouting out for information and knew that he should have gone straight there; it wouldn't have taken him any time as if he really wanted to.

But there was something that held him back, made him slow in the air just for a few moments looking down at the scenery.

Looking down at everyone's lives how they went about their day below him.

Wondering if Finley had done the same hiding from Morgan Edge all this time just below his gaze.

It was the weekend so there were many homes with children in their backyards running in and out of their houses. Clark remembered a time where that would have been Jordan and Jonathan having to reprimand them for spreading mud throughout the house.

Passing through Clark saw nothing particularly unusual, just many cars and bikes stacked up on the road.

He didn't know why he looked in more detail or even stopped hovering in the air at all.

It was only a blue truck parked between two industrial buildings; it didn't look like there was any space to get out, the truck's doors only having an inch to open on either side.

It was abandoned from the looks of it.

Clark was tempted to leave, his sons needed him and missing a child was on the line but there was something calling him from the sky.

Something that made the skin on his bones plie up a little with understanding even if that understanding was lost to him yet.

So Clark figured that Lois would have it covered even if that was just for the second it took him to figure this out.

Stepping onto the ground Clark could see the truck it was parked almost perfectly segueing to the left a little by its wheels.

There were scratches along the side of its door and the smell of musty metal in the air.

Blood.

Sam's voice rattled out in his head from afar the sounds of wheels on concrete echoing Sam's voice making it sound distorted and crushed.

One word made itself apparent to Clark at that time.

"Murder"

He didn't know how he had heard it, he never consciously listened to Lois but there was something about the truck that made all of Clarks scenes go haywire and stand on edge.

Clark figured he'd bring it to the others attention later flying back up into the sky Clark made his way to he D.O.D. with no diversions along the way.

~~~

JORDAN & JONATHAN KENT

~~~

The twins had gotten out of the house without much fanfare, Jonathan reluctantly admitting to Jordan that he could in his words 'kind of fly like a chicken' so that Jordan would agree to let him 'fly' a ride out of the second storey window.

The D.O.D. like usual was a dingy looking tarp lined building that seemed after all this time natural to see in the main square of SmallVille most people had created man made footpaths around it giving a large girth for all the armed men that stormed around it.

Unlike most times though the activity outside of the large tent was dimmed to a stop with the departure of most of the innocently captured freed.

It made most people's government jobs a whole lot easier due to the lack of prisoners around anymore.

It made most of SmallVille's residents feel more able to walk around during normal daylight hours again.

It didn't make Jordan and Jonathan seem all that out of place, in fact they could spot many of their classmates out on the streets despite the hours turning late.

Jonathan let Jordan take the lead much like last time allowing Jordan to stand in front of him leading them through the maze that was the D.O.D. not needing a word to facilitate their movements.

Some would call this twin telepathy Jonathan would just call it out for what it was common sense.

Learning from last time Jonathan kept close to Jordan.

Jordan went at a slower pace than last time, double checking hallways before walking down them.

Even if they knew that there grandfather wasn't around that didn't mean that they would be welcomed with open arms if they were caught, in fact they'd most likely be charged with something or other that would bar them from collage stealing and impersonating a member of government seemed like some off shot of domestic terrorism.

God they were going to be in so much trouble when, not if there parents found out Jordan could hear it now his mom's voice nagging at them and they wouldn't give any talk back because they were just happy that she was still able to shout at them given the scare she gave them all in the hospital.

Oh and Dad don't forget Dad they had made peace by saying bye to privacy till they were really old, like thirty.

Unlike Jordan, Jonathan didn't think about that at all getting to Finley was all he thought about after all this time he had thought Finley had decided to go leave him without a word of goodbye but to know that he could be here so close.

Jonathan needed to get him back.

~~~

Morgan sat in his cell with a book for company in his hands the security around him hadn't let up even with the green that caused his shadow they still perceived him as a threat.

Good.

Morgan had been underestimated before, it was good they learn before they can be taught that someone is better then them.

It was sure to save them the embarrassment later of having to rely on his brother.

Morgan perked up from his seat looking at the door, the one after his cell, the one that led to his freedom and not just his imprisonment.

There was something no one out there.

It wasn't something that Morgan heard or saw, it was just the feeling of familiarity.

The men and women guarding him straightening their backs and unholstering their guns at his sudden movement.

Morgan huffed, they were all so stuck up.

Shuffling back down in his bed maybe he would ask for some green sheets as well just to go with the whole décor of the room, white really washed him out.

~~~

Jordan was alone in a room glistening with green the devil in front of him.

Jordan wanted to run to hide to call out for his Father but he knew what was out there, the men with big guns could take down his Father. What could they do to him? So Jordan kept his mouth shut as his top lip trembled.

Jordan went to brush his eyebrow of sweat but caught himself remembering that he couldn't without it smearing it all over his face.

The devil at his throw was only separated from him by glass that Jordan knew he couldn't get through but still exposed to his fears it still made him feel as though the glass was non-existent and that monster would walk right through it as if it were air and come at his throat again.

"Hello nephew I didn't know they were permitting visitors so soon"

Jordan knew how it had happened but he could comprehend it.

Being alone.

Jonathan's blood dripped down his hands.

~~~

Jonathan could remember it all,

The sound of sirens blaring from above his head guards storming every corridor and hallway that Jordan could hear for what seemed like miles, there had been no way out.

That had led to him and Jordan running into an office that looked like a science classroom, chairs without backs and Bunsen Burners hot.

With a leather swivel chair at a desk in the middle and the name John Henry engraved on a placard on it.

Jonathan wondered why Sam's key card had worked on the first door that they had tried in their rush.

Looking at the test tubes around them, there was no wonder now.

The twins still hadn't spoken to each other.

Okay maybe it was telepathy.

Jonathan could tell that the sounds were irritating Jordan he was pacing the room wanting out but knowing there was no way to go.

It was like the sound was getting louder and louder even to Jonathan every second seemed to pass within a vacuum as the urgency in the building grew and grew.

It was like the combined sounds of heavy footsteps would announce their heartbeats and the collective adrenaline coming from their movements made Jordans skin scream.

Jordan turned suddenly in the small room making Jonathan take a step back to avoid him pushing over a rack of test tubes filled with different things some looking more filled then others yellow and red Jordan could swear he even saw green.

"Jordan '' Jonathan was on the floor having been pushed back further than Jordan meant falling on his ass.

Jordan joined him on the floor, red pooling at his back.

Jordan hoped there wasn't anything lethal in those test tubes but considering they were left out like how they were and not in the containment lab Jordan was pretty sure Jonathan would live.

Pushing his hands against Jonathan's back in an attempt to stop the bleeding wiping at Jonathan's torn clothes he could see drips of yellow on Jonathan's skin.

It almost looked like jaundice.

Jordan growled, the sirens were getting louder.

Almost breaking on the walls around them.

There, getting closer, they needed to find Finley.

Jordan hauled Jonathan up by his good arm taking on most of his weight as his own rushed down an open hallway.

Down the opposite end was a wall of guards from seemingly many posts.

Jordan could gear that was the reason the rest of the D.O.D. was quiet.

Their parents were looking for them.

They couldn't get caught yet.

Taking Jonathan, Jordan situated them on both on the corners of an entrance way of the hallway, it was a maze meaning itself was a gateway to many others like it.

Looming over to Jonathan with his back against a wall Jordan gestured to the stolen security badge in Jonathan's hands wanting for him to go on without him.

Jonathan looked at Jordan in understanding, Jordan wanted to be a distraction shaking his head.

He had only gotten this far with Jordan's help.

Jordan however didn't hear his warnings peeking over the corner and yelling something unintelligible to Jonathan.

Jonathan looked to Jordan in a panic as guards stormed down the hallway effectively cutting him off from Jordan as he had to dive into the room behind him to avoid them.

Leaving Jordan to run using his superpowers to avoid capture.

Busting open into an all too familiar room, the door coming off of its hinges from where it was only half repaired the last time, blood dripping behind him.

~~~

When Sam and Lois got the D.O.D. Sam barely parked his car before hoping out.

Sam even without his name badge getting full access as his face was known before his name Lois however was tugged along behind Sam without a word.

She was still stunned.

That was a lie Lois knew that her Father warned her of what Jonathan could have been mixed up with he had told her and Clark multiple times and of those times both she and her husband batted him away.

Taking Jonathan's word that Sam's suspicions were just a product of his own protectiveness.

But now she didn't know what to think It was like everything that she had ever heard from Jonathan had been a lie or at least only a partial truth.

Was her Dad now right in keeping Finley away, locking him up?

Lois still felt even with the knowledge of all of Finley's crimes that her Dad still held the key to vital information that he was holding back from her.

There was a siren now Sam had ordered an evacuation to all nonessential staff.

Leaving only prisoners and the twins in the building.

Lois turned at the feeling of wind in her hair.

It was Clark, looking like he didn't need to be told what had transpired between her and Sam.

The sounds didn't stop as they ran Clark ahead of the Lanes striding down hallways trying to catch up with their children.

They hurt her ears and made her eyes feel like they were popping. Lois wondered how Jordan was coping.

~~~

Jordan wanted to turn back but he could hear that the hallway wasn't quiet if it wasn't his parents out there it was probably a guard so he remained still even as Morgan greeted him facing Morgan fully even as his shoulders sagged under him.

It was easier to not fight against the feeling of Kryptonite in the room than to step closer to Morgan's cages allowing the green light to shine upon him as well.

Dampening his powers making the sirens around him sound somewhat ignorable.

"Why?" Was the only word he could get out, it was scratchy.

Jordan had thought about Morgan a lot since his imprisonment every time Jordan had to do something or other to avoid thinking about the person that was once in his mind he would think about Morgan.

Wake up in sweats, panting thinking that Morgan would reach out of the darkness of his room and grab him once again.

On those nights when the house was still dark his Dad would stand just outside of his door like he was thinking of coming inside and comforting him.

But Jordan would even breathe out again before he would get a chance to turn the doorknob.

Morgan looked almost regretfully staring at Jordan and the way his hair shaded his face from view.

He didn't dignify Jordan with an answer.

Jordan didn't push it.

Wasn't like closure was going to help him much anyway.

He was already traumatised.

Maybe that's why he was running and hiding from most of his family at the moment not just because of Jonathan and Finley but because he knew how much it hurts to deal with this alone.

With everyone around you knowing that there's a problem but doing nothing to solve it.

Jordan thought that maybe if Finley was around it would help in a way having something else to focus on.

Jordan was always good at being there for others rather than himself.

It was because he tried infinitely harder.

As they say the only way to make it through hell was walk and that is what Jordan would do.

He wondered if Finley had done the same.

Morgan seemed disgruntled at the lack of a reaction from his nephew but the apple didn't fall too far from the tree as he was just as disappointed at Clarks reaction as well.

Jordan jumped at a sudden sound beside him.

It was his Dad who was shortly followed by the rest of his family.

Morgan looked at them all the family he once could have been a part of and turned back to his book.

Morgan didn't hate himself for his actions. Would he do the same if given the chance again though?

No.

No he wouldn't.

~~~

Jordan calmed quickly at the sights of his Father behind him.

"Did you know?" Was the first thing that Jordan had been asked as Clark placed himself between Jordan and Morgan as if he wasn't in a cage.

Lois looked at her son expectantly there was no time for scolding.

She had expected to see Jonathan not far behind Jordan but it was clear from the way Jordan kept his eyes trailed on the door that Jonathan wasn't to be found in sight.

Sam stalked up to his grandchild.

"About what?" Jordan asked back in honest confusion.

The other three didn't bother replying.

It was hard to pinpoint anyone in the building, the sirens making it hard to make out from down and the Kryptonite in the room made Clarks vision hazy.

"Jonathan's gone to find Finley, we can just go to his cell wait him out"

Sam shook his head knowing that Clarks suggestion was the only reasonable option they had but still not wanting to have to explain to his family to state that Finley was in.

It was one thing to call a kid a murder but another to watch them starve, to do nothing.

The kid was a little shit, there was no denying that but Sam had felt his stone gut grow soften at Finley constant need to make a mess of his cell almost like he was forcing Sam to spend time with him.

It was either him or John.

John came with tests so it wasn't like Finley had many options.

Clark noticed Sam's reluctant pausing and hovered over to him, taking a corner of the room to themselves.

Murmurs could be made out across the room that Lois didn't focus on as she took Jordan's face in her hands.

"About Finley"

Jordan thought that Jonathan had told him everything, he had not.

Morgan looked up from his book at the mention of his charge.

'What did he have to do when he's dead?'

Thought Morgan leaning in more going unnoticed by Lois and Jordan.

"You wouldn't have kept it from us would you?"

"Jonathan told me he went into hiding, that it"

At the whisperings that went on between Mother and son, Sam's head tilted facing away from Clark.

Looking towards Morgan's cages noticing the attention that Morgan was paying to his grandson.

Sam knew the reasons as to why Finley didn't, no couldn't have Morgan knowing about his continued existence and he had no plans on ever telling Morgan even as he threatened to do so.

But looking at the light that filled Morgan's eyes as he came to terms with what he had done.

Jordan seemed to realise the mistake that he had made, feeling everyone's eyes on him he didn't dare look at Morgan a second time.

Who looked confused replaying the last moment that he had with Finley, him walking away from his grave sight that abandoned motel, how he hadn't heard even a whisper of a heart beat from the boy as he left, not even halfway across the world.

He was so sure that Finley had only been a partial success.

That he had died that day.

~~~

JOHN HENRY 

& FINLEY

~~~

Finley was still half heartedly eating various cuts of meat that looked like they came from the floor of a butchers shop for half price when the alarms started.

Finley was lucky that the glass cage around him blocked out most of the sound.

Making everything sound muffled as John walked out of the room muttering to himself about his position in government.

"Not an essential worker my ass, your lucky I don't get paid enough to care"

It would have alarmed Finley to see John leave him so quickly but by the man's unruffled demeanour Finley settled down on his bed.

Spitting up the rest of the food into his bucket, tossing it to the side as he did.

Finley had felt this feeling before the hunger but he knew why he wasn't claiming the walls.

Most times he would become twitchy and irritable pouncing without a second's notice on whoever happened to be around then he'd grow extremely tired and would lumber around confined to his apartment he hadn't ever gone past that stage before always having a bite or Jonathan nearby to curb whatever would happen next.

Not this time though he had grown restless and tired and now he was just wired up.

Unable to sleep, not due to the sound but the pain being thrown at him.

It was like the only thing on his mind was food replaying memories of when he would only eat his preferred cutting of humans, the lungs

His favourite, he didn't know why there was just something about it that was sweet and easy.

Anything around a bone was tuff and hard on his teeth if he had the time he could learn to enjoy but most often then not he didn't, maybe he would like bone marrow he had never tried before to wrap up in the now to prepare for the later.

He was regretting not eating his fillings now.

His head turning as a light click was heard from across the room.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose Finley could tell that it wasn't John or Sam but the scent of another.

One he hadn't counted on seeing again.

Like the pollan that was dropped by trees in the spring.

Sunshine.

A positive beep nose and then opening of the door had Finley's full attention.

~~~

JONATHAN 

KENT

~~~

Jordan's figure was hidden by guards running past Jonathan while he remained unnoticed by Jordans loud distraction.

Pushing himself off of the wall Jonathan left drag marks from where his bloodied back had imprinted itself on the wall.

Stumbling through the hallways alone this time Jonathan uses his grandfather key card to access doors that would otherwise be barred to him.

Not knowing where he was going or how much time Jordan distraction was going to afford him.

The sirens make his back pulsate and leave a trail of blood behind him like bread crumbs of the steps that he had taken.

Opening another random door Jonathan shut it behind him.

~~~

"Jonathan"

Opening his eyes wild like he looked toward the voice prepared for the worst.

'Finley.'

He had not recognised his voice, the glass between them distorting his voice making it appear more deeper than it originally was.

Running up to the glass the pair were only being kept separate by the cage that imprisoned Finley while excluding Jonathan.

Their hands pressed against one another's thumbing the glass.

"Let's get you out of here" Jonathan said, the relief of seeing Finley for the first time in weeks cost him his voice.

Finley took a moment staring at Jonathan, the sight of a manic look in his eyes making his usual scowl on his face soften even the chaoticness of the sirens blaring around them seemed to be insignificant in Jonathan's presents.

"How did you?-"

"That doesn't matter," Jonathan dismissed.

Finley however thought differently, sure it was great to be saved as though Jonathan was his Knight in shining armour but it left him wondering how he broke into a government facility in the first place.

Jonathan seemed to gather that saying a-

"Love you" nonchalantly before going to fiddle with the lock mechanism that kept them apart.

Finley thought it sounded bigger, Jonathan gave a confession like it was written by Shakespeare and made to be sung in the sky but it wasn't anything that the others didn't already know.

Finley figured that was why as if it was almost out of his own control that the very same sentiment was pulled from him too not a second later.

"Love you"

Staring down at where Jonathan was crouched next to the door Finley saw two things beneath the flicking lights.

One if though being the face of a very serious looking Sam Lane, he must have pulled too many faces to the wind as a child and the other the rapidly spreading liquid that fell from Jonathan's back that he attempted to conceal rubbing at it every once and a while.

Finley didn't let it go unnoticed; the blood that coated his back begged him to call out so that he had to notice it.

This was the final stage of hunger, wanting.

It was strong like a sailor being called out to sea by sirens falling into their drowning coffins.

Except Finley was fairly into blood and it wouldn't kill him but fulfil him but only at Jonathan's expense.

"Jonathan don't open-"

~~~

THE KENTS, LANES & MORGAN EDGE & JOHN HENRY

~~~

Jordan who up until this point had had his hands behind his back stood in the light of Kryptonite so his Father was unaware of his current state.

Almost stepped out of his safety net and into the arms of his Father at the look that Morgan had thrown at him, it was startling and rattled him to his core.

Jordan knew that what he said could not have been taken back but he so desperately wanted for it to be but Morgan had heard and that could not be undone.

A figure quickly passed the door cutting through the silence everyone stilled as the figure stopped and turned around placing their bald head around the door.

"I guess this is not the type of emergency where I get to leave. Is it?"

John Henry said, stepping through the broken door.

John, who had come to expect questions rather than greetings at this point, didn't look offered at Clarks immediate question.

"Have you seen Jonathan?" John shook his hand avoiding looking at Morgan as he turned to Sam.

"He's looking for Finley, to let him out"

"Why?" John was about to ask about Finley's personal connections to the Kents.

But rested his questioning when his answers went unnoticed.

"But he hasn't eaten-" John knew that Finley wasn't an animal he knew that most people no longer could provide for his needs so he knew he wouldn't kill on sight he'd be more irrational in his behaviour if that was true.

"What do you mean" Lois spoke up, most of the room even if they knew of Finley's crimes they did not know his motive.

John looked at Clark who nodded at him to answer his wife, squaring off his shoulders even if he didn't have to to be intimidating.

Sam looked like he wanted to tell John to 'shut up' but he knew that wouldn't fly now.

Not with his family's look of determination.

"Finley eats people"

Clark looked fearfully wondering why he had never heard Finley's crimes before he had heard actions of hurt and anger happening all the time around the world he could even feel it rolling off his brother in waves.

"-only certain people with X-Kryptonite in there system, he can't eat any another and substitutes aren't an option"

Lois went to speak only to find the feelings that she had wanted to express caught in her throat, Morgan looked to her rapidly shaking head as his own eyes filled with curiosity.

"But Jonathan' ' Sam said, forcing the conversation back where it needed to be.

"Fine, Finley has self control" John said like he was trying to convince himself more than anything.

"he won't jump around eating just anyone now that he knows this"

Sam didn't want to change it.

"Killing anyone" Clark uttered, eyes searching, head tilted ears to the sky.

"X-Kryptonite?" Jordan mumbled.

Remembering Jonathan's scratched up back, at the time it hadn't seemed like anything but an inconvenience.

Now it was something more, something deadly Jordan didn't even have to to question why Jonathan would keep this from him.

This was something that not even Finley's self control could keep him from.

Morgan, who was still being ignored, was the only one to notice Jordans words peeking at him where Jordan hands were facing behind his back toward the cage.

Morgan saw little twinkles that sparkled yellow on Jordans drying hands.

A scream so daunting that it rattled the flooring underneath them tore out.

A panicked look washed over Morgan's face as it did Jordan.

Unlike the boy though who up and ran out of the room desperately searching for his Father dashing out after him.

He laughed deep and harshly in the faces of Sam, John and Lois demanded an answer from him.

It was Jonathan.

Jordan unknowingly had left a smearing of blood on the door frame when he used it as leverage pulling him to one side of the hallway.

~~~

The rest left in the room had gathered very quickly without needing to be informed that Jordan had been hiding something.

The feeling of being utterly useless rattled through them. John knew that Finley wasn't particularly keen on holding off when he got the chance remembering how he devoured what was left of Mark Johnson's decaying corpse.

Sam hoped that Jonathan's seemingly close ration to Finley would be enough to hold him back until Clark could intervene, being fully aware of Finley's strength noting how it took little to no effort for him to rip Mark Johnson and other victims apart with his bare hands.

Lois who was turned to Morgan only managed to gain an amused look out of him at her rapid fire questions.

Sam and John huddled together.

"How come you don't look as mad as you should right now" Sam cool demeanour was unflattering for the situation John thought that he was showing less distress then he ought to.

John thought back to the amount of pain that Sam had expressed, although silently, causing rooms to fall silent around him when Jordan had disappeared.

"He's going to eat your grandson"

Sams look of defence made John think, unlike Lois whose voice was controlled but held an immeasurable amount of anger and pain as she spoke more at Morgan then to him.

"You don't believe he's going to, do you?"

Sam looked away confirming John's words.

"Well it's happening, those screams are Jonathan's"

They both knew the damaged Finley could inflict and Sam wasn't sure why he put an inkling of trust in Finley maybe it was because of the fact that time and time again no matter who or what shut Jonathan down he was going to find Finley, defend Finley, lie for him and put himself in a world of danger of Finley.

"I haven't been entirely truthful with you"

John and a hunch that Clark being superman, and needing to hide Finley from the government wasn't the only secret that Sam had kept from him.

John had just hoped that it was something minor like being obsessively into country music or really liking to tap dance on his days off.

"What, who else has superpowers this time Sam?-"

"Finley knows Jonathan"

"I think that's been made apparent one just doesn't commit acts that could be proved to be minor acts of terrorism towards the American government without knowing someone more than a little."

"And I know that, prior to bringing him in" John looked at Sam like he might have well have said his real name was Sam Lane.

"I'm not an idiot Sam, I know that already, someone even as good at your job as you are doesn't just suddenly know things and gets leads hanging out of there ass from nothing"

Contrary to popular belief John was more than just an academic man he had street smarts to if street smarts counted as noting that there was something very off about the Kents and Sam's overzealousness in this case.

How he ran with no logical thinking into a motel that had Martha and Bill Stewards bodies there was something frantic behind Sam's behaviour that rarely ever posed through his work that left John feeling as though there were gaps in the puzzle that had yet to be filled in.

Now they have.

~~~

JONATHAN & FINLEY

~~~

Everything was a blur from the moment Jonathan opened Finley's cell and the rushing of rotting meat that seemed not to bother Finley rattled in his nose to his burning back from where he had been pushed on his backside on the floor.

Finley on top of him.

Jonathan never imagined himself having to defend himself against Finley; he had seen his acts of grandeur and grace and never imagined himself facing the brunt force of it all.

Jonathan had allowed football to give him a false sense of security making him believe that even though logically he'd never be able to hold a candle to his peers' strength, that he could.

Struggling against Finley was something alien, innately wrong that it made Jonathan even even as he screamed think about more than his own safety.

At that moment it was just him and Finley.

Together again.

~~~

Finley had never wished so hard that he could never see Jonathan again then in that moment, looking down at him fighting with his own limbs he had never felt so out of control.

At first he thought he would calm down. Maybe it was just hunger induced hallucinations that made him believe that Jonathan was there, that he was his next meal.

Unfortunately he was dead wrong.

Clawing at the ground besides Jonathan's head in order to stop himself from digging into flesh satisfying his urges.

Finley yelled out something indistinguishable, something animal.

His jaw snapping at his head trembling allowing Jonathan to hold him back.

He was so hungry he was insatiable.

He begged for that feeling of tiredness now, the feeling of fatigue that he usually had.

He was denied that safety net and instead given strength, a kind of power that he wanted to reject on the sheer principle that it would hurt his love.

~~~

CLARK &

 JORDAN KENT

~~~

There weren't many things Clark knew how to do as a parent always falling into the pitfalls of being way too in over his own head for his own comfort but there one thing he did know and that was heroism it was his comfort, his rock when in doubt someone would always need saving.

The speed at which he followed his son at was unmeasurable, seeing nothing but the look of pure determination and horror that crossed Jordan's face before he busted out of the room, it was only there for a moment so quickly leaving his face that Clark was thankful that he had choose n to pay attention in that moment because without his advanced cognitive reasoning he would have missed it.

He hated it, the sound that Jordan was waiting for as he ran out of the containment facility.

A scream.

A yell that Clark had heard before.

Jonathan.

If there was one thing Clark knew how to do, was save and so he did leaping past his son ripping off Finley from his place holding him securely up against one of the cells glass walls.

It's reflective Kryptonite allowing for Clark to have to put in more effort then he would have liked glancing from Finley's face he imagined him looking more tattered then he did.

The young boy's hair was greasy and was fingered combed back and falling in his face as he mostly ignored Clark baring his teeth at Jonathan.

His body all the wire thin under Clarks hands which wrapped all too easily around the boy's wrists.

He had imagined finding Finley much like all the other children he had returned back to their parents scared, talking through a bubble of snot and tears about their mommy's and Daddy's even the older ones and thankful to be reunited with them again.

But not the boy he looked at in anticipation waiting for him to turn against him.

He was feral in physicality but frail in mind while reaching out for his son clinging onto Clark suit like a lifeline.

Like he didn't want to let go.

He was Clark's brother's creation.

A mistake.

A twist of nature.

It was like looking at a dog cry unnatural and unauthentic unlike a whimper of a puppy.

He was scared.

Jonathan was curled up with his brother profusely denying that there was anything wrong with him.

Jordan didn't believe him, not with the blood that seeped out of his shirt and fell onto the floor around them.

Yellow speckles screaming out reminding Jordan of the boyfriend he would assume that he would meet under less tense circumstances.

Maybe over dinner or an awkward before date encounter where Dad would give him the shovel talk but not with most things to do with their family, even the simple supposed to be normal things in life were obscured by their family's ability to magnet trouble.

Looking back at his children, Clark remembered the sleepless nights he spent searching for Finley, imagining his boys missing, wondering if Morgan held the same feelings as him.

The thought came up in his mind again when Morgan announced their familial ties.

Looking at the way Jonathan even in his pain begged silently for him to let Finley go.

To allow him his kill?

His meal?

Clark knew Morgan spent no time mourning for Finley.

~~~

Lois wanted to run after her husband and son but knowing that there wasn't anything she could do she stayed behind running up to Morgan's cage, anger and confusion clear on her face.

Sure now the noise of her children's pain had dwindled to nothing Lois' anger still simmered on.

How could they have missed all the signs her Father had pointed out?

How could they have carelessly dismissed them?

Jonathan wasn't a liar, had never been, but he never did tell her a lie, just never the true story.

Always letting them make up their own mind on where he was, why he was so stubbornly silent.

"Morgan-"

Lois says only partially unaware of the conversation happening behind her.

Morgan kept his gaze behind her looking to John and Sam wishing the green crippling lights around him away.

"I didn't-" he said passively, allowing himself to be interrupted.

"What intend for any of this to happen? You had no idea what you were doing did you?"

Morgan's had an inability to answer, his mouth tripping over his unspoken words giving Lois all the answers she needed Morgan had tried to silence her once he wouldn't be able to do so again.

"shooting into the dark hoping it would work, to what? Kill one of my sons"

Morgan's face was passive smoking up all of Lois words internalising it all.

"Because of jealousy. Well no one asked for you to be alone Morgan. Clark never would have wanted that no forced you to do any of this"

Lois believed every word she said Morgan could have been one of them could have been standing on the opposite side of his cage right now if only he had chosen the right path.

Clark could have had one of his own, a link to his home plant all he could ever wish for, knowledge of traditions lost to his fortress.

She knew Clark would never tell her this plainly but she knew it hurt him.

"Tell me how we fix this"

At this point Morgan had finally found his balls.

"Clark is already there. What more could you want? Jonathan will be safe"

And the same could be said in the past for Jonathan's safety but Lois didn't just want that.

Safety didn't mean that they no longer kept secrets from one another.

The secrets Jonathan hadn't been hiding but more or less scooting around playing a game of hopscotch in order not to walk too heavy on.

"You don't know. Do you?"

"You don't have the slightest idea"

"I-"

"You never planned for any of this"

Lois was stating a fact not a question as she turned towards John behind her.

"Are you sure you can't fix Finley?"

John looked stunned.

"Stop him from killing people" Morgan supplied, not quite understanding where Lois was coming from.

She was the perfect counterpart to Clark's Superman a do gooder, a moral compass that reached for North.

Why now was South calling her?

"Name it what do you want"

"Lois" Sam said behind her brushing along her arm attempting to pull her back Lois didn't allow it.

Looking into Lois eyes Morgan knew he could have asked for anything.

There was a beat, he scoffed.

"Come on your willing to do all this for a murder who's trying to-"

Lois shook Morgan's word off, almost turning away from him.

"Kill- "

Flashes of Finley's victims known and not came to every occupant in the rooms mind.

"your- "

Placing Jonathan at the top of there victims list.

"-son."

"For the boy you should have looked after"

For Finley.

Lois replied.

"For the boy my son-" Lois cut off he'd own word quietly like she had almost said to much.

Pausing she went on to say.

"-you will fix this" her tone firm

Morgan muttered out his terms that Sam didn't protest to heavily against.

John took this as his cue and ran to his briefing case throwing out it contents.

Morgan blinked sitting back in his chair a resigned look on his face not turning away when John came forwards settling into the green light as he pushed his notebook up against the glass.

Diagrams, squiggles of half empty pens litter the page.

Coming into focus as Morgan leaned in, John every now and again rolling his eyes as Morgan asked him a question that was so oblivious to a scientist it was almost insulting.

~~~

Jordan was staring at Finley shaking form from across the room, Jonathan next to him.

Jordan never thought this would be how he would meet his brothers boyfriend, he knew he should probably feel angered or scared but looking at Finley and his body dwarfed in size in comparison to his Father's the thoughts that had been building up in his had of a murder, a bad guy some sort of delinquent lingering on the back roads as he placed himself in the space in-between Jonathan and and his Father providing an extra layer of protection.

"He doesn't mean it"

Jonathan was stuttering out some word or another that Jordan couldn't cling on to for the life of him sitting up alleviating the pressure from his bloody back and aching arm.

"I opened the door he told me not to ..."

There was a pause, a deep one that wasn't unsettled by anyone in the room even Finley's snarls and cries against the glass did nothing to disrupt it.

Jonathan had known and Finley had cared enough to ask him to stop.

The tension was broken by John Henry running past Jordan tossing Jonathan a look over his shoulder.

With a vial of something yellow, glassy and red, X-Kryptonite.

John hovered it over into Finley's line of vision causing him to focuses on it, drawing his attention away from Jonathan.

Following the vial with his eyes his mouth open drool dropping past his lips onto Clarks arms.

Gross.

John held it far away from Finley so far that he couldn't bit him but close enough so that most of the contents of the vile got into his mouth.

The beast that was his hunger settled only petting at his stomach rather then scratching, wanting out.

He slumped into Clark arms his head lolling back against the glass with a large smack.

As Clark carried Finley back into his cage.

"What was that?" Jonathan asked concerned.

"Special supplant ..." it seemed like John had a lot more to say about what was in the mixture but reframed from doing so.

Locking the cage behind Finley, Clark took Sam identification card that was splattered with dry blood and picked up Jonathan bridal style.

"Dad I-"

"Shh your okay, your going to be fine"

"But what about-" Jonathan spoke he voice becomes softer and softer as his Eyes gave up there fight against the pain.

Glancing over his Dad's shoulder getting a slither of the image that was Finley hurriedly gulping down more and more of the substance John had brought into the room.

Him and Finley locked eyes an apology from both spoken without any words.

'I'm sorry' from Finley even though Jonathan was the one who hadn't listened to him.

"Later" Clark whispered back only leaving the room when he could see Jordan following in front of him.

His boys wouldn't be leaving his side ever again.

Clark didn't think that he would be able to physically allow anything to happen to his family ever again.

Watching as Lois ran down the hallway towards them looking at Clark as she saw Jonathan slumped bloody form, pulling Jordan to her chest.

Clark didn't have to walk far to see Sam behind her them both exchanging a look of respect between each other.

Clark didn't know how Finley fit into his sons life how he would fit into their life now post Morgan but he knew he wouldn't allow for him to fester into what Morgan became.

The killing?

Wasn't acceptable. 

There wasn't a question about that but Clark knew there were blurred lines between black and white that formed a mercy grey that held no saint and dyed its sins in red.

Plus one does not place blame on a lion for eating a gazelle but now Finley has the choice now according to John to neither choose prey or predator, to simply live.

Clark will watch out for him, waiting to prevent the day that Finley may waver.

For now he had the chance to change not to be better but to choose to live in and amongst society again.

Clark would allow him that.

~~~

A MONTH LATER

~~~

'It's was remarkable' thought John as he looked at Finley eating a giant bucket of people's meat, O negative blood with X-Kryptonite as seasoning in his cell.

Sure the fresh human stuff was better but a substitute would have to be used until John got the sign off to grade the local hospital's blood drive.

Morgan had relayed to him why he thought Finley had been dead all this time.

It was because he had killed Finley.

Truly the Finley that stood in front of John, blood on his face, cell phone in hand texting away, was dead.

Probably to Jonathan they tended to text instead of call being on twenty-four-seven watch was a good reason for someone to be paranoid.

What the two could be talking about is that John could have a problem he didn't want to find out.

Finley was dead, heart beat gone slow to a stop any months ago nearly a year now since he had been reported missing.

It made sense in retrospect to John now he had been somewhat enlightened.

He had survived to be what he was today because he was something more than human now, some form of hybrid, not a mix that would be more accurate, he was a Chimera.

A dead human and a dormant Kryptonian that hadn't quite managed to take over Finley's conscience due to Morgan's experimentation because Finley had died leaving nothing for the unknown Kryptonian inside of him to grasp onto.

Whoever that was inside of him keeping him alive, keeping him running, could only be sustained by consuming human blood or flesh and X-K Finley's ability to keep the Kryptonian dormant was what was keeping him alive.

That is why, as Finley described it, the sun 'hurt like a bitch in heat' , his Kryptonian dormant side liked it a bit too much.

Finley didn't know how he felt to have someone inside him who he would never know.

He kind of compared it to a pregnancy in a way knowing there's someone there nurturing inside of you but truly knowing what they would be like.

It was what allowed him to disappear into smoke like a magicians bunny, one of the few things Finley was thankful for.

John hadn't been able to see it just yet and Sam had been unhelpful with explaining it due to Finley being behind bars but the teenager had promised to show him once he had gotten out on probation.

Unable to describe it as anything else but feeling like you're being pulled everywhere all at once.

John honesty felt it would be exhausting but each to their own.

Apparently the US government had taken to favouring Finley when Superman had shown up to his trial and had made it public.

It went even better for Finley when they all including Morgan had fabricated his whereabouts from the time he was missing to being found to exclude most of his crimes.

The things John did for Sam Lane.

Saying that Finley's powers were down played from what they actually were and that he had just started to need to eat people.

Nothing for the government to weaponize.

Meaning that Finley would be a free agent once he could prove he wasn't a danger to society.

"How do I look?"

Finley spoke up, breaking the calm vibe that had been conceived in the room, wiping blood off his lips and licking his fingers.

John looked at him closely, noticing how he shifted from foot to foot and rang his hand through his hair.

Unsanitary.

Finley was nervous.

Sucking his lips on his teeth that were smeared with blood.

"Like a vampire," John replied after a moment.

"I'll brush my teeth"

John squinted his eyes, Finley didn't bother to clean up for him or Sam, his only visitors so far.

There he heard a beep of the door being unlocked behind him.

Before Sam could enter the room Jonathan walked through the door.

Or right that's why.

~~~

Jonathan was hurting, not as badly as he had before but there was still an ache in his back and down his arm that he couldn't shake that only seemed to grow as he and Jordan, led by their grandfather, were given permission to see Finley.

He would have told his parents of his pains but that would mean having to admit that he had finished his pills weeks early and that wasn't something Jonathan was going to do anytime.

So he allowed Jordan to hover by him opening doors and such to ease his pain.

Jordan knowing he hadn't heard a bottle cap opening around the house and while knowing that Jonathan was finished with them thinking he was playing up his injuries for sympathy in order to make sure their parents would allow him to see Finley.

Claiming to mom that the pain he felt wasn't physical, Lois knew she was being played a little but she was a romantic and had first hand knowledge of what it was like to be apart from Clark so allowed it, under supervision of course.

Granted that John Henry signed off on there being no more X-Kryptonite in Jonathan's system and to be sure that Finley had been adapting to his new meal plan well enough.

Sam looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but with his grandsons at that moment watching as they speed walked down hallways as his subordinates looked at him as though he had lost his head.

They were trying their hardest to stay close to him but so desperately wanting to be set free like children across the street from a park.

Sam was ignored as soon as he granted them access to Finley's cell block.

Motioning for John with his head to join him outside to give his boys some privacy.

As much as Sam pretended he didn't want to, there was no use trying to hover too much otherwise they'd have another 'steal a key card fiasco' on their hands.

Jonathan looked amused as he and Jordan were ignored by Finley who was brushing his teeth with vigour checking each of his sharp canines in the mirror above his sink.

Jonathan cleared his throat causing Finley to jump start in his place looking at Jonathan in the mirror before quickly spitting up a swirl of red, yellow and blue.

Turning round and flattening out his orange jumpsuit, Sam had gotten him out of his hospital scrubs when he had gotten Jonathan's blood on them.

Jonathan gestured to Finley's face in which he wiped hurriedly over he mouth smearing toothpaste over his check.

Jonathan didn't bother to correct him further.

Jordan felt like he wasn't just the room merely watching the interaction on some screen being largely ignored by the couple as they acquainted themselves with one another.

Though he couldn't help but notice that Finley would glance at him from the corner of his eye like he was medusa and would turn him to stone for looking too long.

The looks didn't escape Jonathan either.

"My brother, Jordan"

Jordan didn't bother introducing himself as Jonathan had already done that for him just waving a little.

There was an awkward pause, as to be expected Finley hadn't been around anyone really for a long time.

He wasn't used to having to carry a conversation with Jonathan; he always just let him speak, filling a room with silence up enough for the both of them.

With Sam and John all he had to do was answer questions and do testing. There wasn't much time to speak about anything that was deemed unimportant, at trial all he had to do was relive trauma and shed a few tears for sympathy points.

But speaking unprompted when he was already so sure that he had screwed up big time ending any good chances he could have had with Jordan remembering Jordan's face as he drank up whatever miracle blend John had given him.

At the time he wasn't thinking about that, just wanting to settle his outburst down to a manageable amount.

But after Finley came to realise how normalised his eating habits were to him, Jonathan hadn't made him feel abnormal about it in forever.

How Jonathan had tread upon his "carnivores cannibalism" as John put it like taking sugar with medicine but that is not what it was far from it.

And the last month on the stand of courts had shown him that again as pictures and video footage of his actions from an outsider's perspective showed him to be worth twenty-five to life.

Finley knew how lucky he was to have Superman take pity on him.

He hardly had the courage to ask why.

Finley didn't have to sever out much of his sentence in the end, Superman just knew what to say.

'Someone saw you had a good heart, good intentions and Morgan just twisted that' - Jonathan, Clark didn't say.

Those words stuck with Finley like crazy glue, like the words were something he wanted to peel off, claims were untrue.

Morgan had no hold on him, not anymore at least though so he let it sink in and let it stay trapped under his skin.

So Finley just went with it.

"I would say it's nice to meet you but considering ..." vaguely gesturing to his own circumstances.

"I don't hate you if that's what you're asking even if you tried to eat my brother"

"Jordan" Jonathan whispered he had thought that they would have strayed away from that as the focal point of their conversation.

Jordan just pushed Jonathan off and leaned forwards.

"Just wait until you meet my folks"

Finley gained this look of cartoonist horror on his face that made Jordan snigger into his hoodie.

Finley unknowing had already been introduced to the twins Dad, Clark, as Superman before his trial but he didn't know that.

Despite Finley's 'powers' if that is what we're going to call them, the Kents had decided unanimously to avoid telling Finley about their family secret.

More than enough people in the past year had found out, too many for Clark to feel all that comfortable with so they kept the few that knew to a minimum.

"What does it taste like?"

Jordan said, giving Jonathan a 'what the hell?' look that he earned a whack to the back of the head for.

"Really good" Finley said almost too quickly, happy to actually not have to think about what to say.

Then deflated when Jordan gave him a disappointed look.

"Like copper with grit in it" it didn't sound so appetising when Finley said it was allowed but it was good, he promised.

"Oh thought you say like candy" Jordan supplied when Finley held a more nervous look to himself rubbing across his cheek again taking off the last bit of toothpaste stuck there.

"For every meal I'm not a vampire, though some taste better than others' ' winking at his partner, Jordan let his eyes widen at that.

Jonathan allowed them to get situated, leaving the room to find in the conference hallway with his grandfather.

They were alone, John having gone off again to get Finley his next meal.

"You could have told me" Sam said, nudging Jonathan with his arm, the aged wrinkles on his face flattening for what seemed to be the first time in years.

"Would you have helped him?"

Jonathan asked back in a non accusatory tone as he knew his grandfather, how he wouldn't have been at all forgiving of Finley if Jonathan had told him outright back then.

Sam didn't respond to him but Jonathan didn't need to have anything said to get the message.

He did the right thing.

~~~

"You telling me that wasn't the first time Jonathan let you eat him, what an idiot?" Jordan said, almost astonished but not surprised.

Jonathan heard the tail end of Finley's and Jordan's conversation as he walked back into Finley's jail? cell room? He didn't know What to call it.

"He never listens to reason," Finley said back, fully aware Jonathan was in the room.

"Oh I never listen, do I?" Finley nodded, Jordan took this as a cue to leave the room patting Jonathan on the back as he went.

The metallic smell that was in the room as Jordan left the room Finley didn't really know why the scent above the crisp sunlight of Jonathan stayed with him but it was something to mention.

"Guess I don't know what any of this is," Jonathan said, holding up a blue cooler.

He had gotten it off of John before he came in the room not wanting to have his first uninterrupted private moment with Finley go unmarked.

But Jonathan also knew that Finley didn't do flowers, at least not the roses kind, so he settled for something Finley always seemed to want.

Food.

"No you listen, your just a moron"

Finley said hurriedly as he took the blue cooler from the slot in his room.

His room.

He never really knew when he started to call it that.

His fingers brushing over Jonathan's as he did holding them for a moment before letting go.

"John mentioned you'd be able to get out of here in a while" Jonathan said as Finley placed the box in his bed.

"Ya" escaped his mouth as he turned around.

Finley didn't know quite why he was so antagonistic to the thought of true freedom.

Things had gone alright for him this far even his talk with Jordan had shown promise making him believe that his ability to socialise hadn't been as dampened as he once thought.

Apparently Jonathan hadn't missed his tone.

Sitting down ignoring the yells of protest his back gave him as he did, his shoulder to the glass so that he would have to peer up at Finley to get a good look at him.

Which he did.

"You're going to be okay. You know that right?" When it took Finley all too long to respond Jonathan continued on.

"What did I promise?"

"That you'd find a way to fix this" Finley sat joining Jonathan on the floor of his own cell.

Remembering Jonathan promise from the first time in a long while, how he found him in his most vulnerable state just after feeding the guilt that no longer took hold of his soul, how Jonathan pulled him close, so close in the back of that blue truck and made him a promise that Finley at the time had thought impossible.

"And I did," Jonathan said smugly, making Finley flush as he looked around the room that seemed a lot less sterile than it had before.

More homely even.

Sure, the solution wasn't that the pair had thought it would have been, Jonathan had imagined it at the time like a vaccine shot one and done and Finley would be back to his default human settings but no the answer lies within a blue cooler with human blood and X-Kryptonite floating around in it.

"There's no fixing me"

Finley didn't really like to think on that for too long, knowing that to restore the balance of nature would mean for his death or undead-death and he only let his thoughts rest upon it long enough in order to name it properly.

John had referred to it as purgatory a couple of times though.

Finley didn't much like the thought of someone like Jonathan, a person who would surely only belong to heaven close to purgatory, a place popularly visioned as bleak and cold so he refused to see it as that.

Jonathan being ever the optimist chimed in before Finley's thoughts wandered off to far.

"You here, alive with me free, Morgan's locked up ... you always wanted this"

Finley had always felt free with Jonathan, his spontaneous nature leaving Finley never knowing when he'd pop in next but now he could be free with himself.

He wasn't sure he knew how, at least anymore.

There was a time not too long before Edge had come into his life where all he had was himself a lone childhood but it made for a resilient one.

"I do, I just never planned further then that I just assumed once I got here that I wouldn't have to think"

Finley knew he was foolish to have believed that.

Jonathan however thought otherwise before he lost football he assumed he'd get a scholarship, go to college, turn his head from SmallVille and never look back.

Without that however he had to think about his future in a way he never had to before but even so he asked.

"About what?"

"everything"

'How to talk?'

'How to be around people?'

'How to learn that being looked at isn't a sign to start running?'

Finley's one word seemed to be enough for Jonathan to get it.

"Your not doing it alone"

"I know" Finley knew that he'd never be alone again and he didn't know whether to find comfort in that fact or to reject it.

He had a person in him, they didn't have a name he could even acknowledge them by or even a face to hold a candle to all that they have given him but he knew that he was never alone, not even when he thought he had no one.

"I mean ..." Jonathan said, placing his hand to the glass.

Staying unbothered by the tone Finley took with him knowing how unsettled it made Finley to know he had an unwitting passenger within him.

"-you got me"

Finley's face perked up at the strange reminder his,

His blank face curling up towards what Jonathan would say was an uncertain smile as he placed his fingers where Jonathan's uninjured hand was.

He is quieter in comparison to Jonathan's boldly placed flat palm.

They stayed like that for a long time.

In that silence the feelings that Leans heavily on each of their chests from there absence from one another grew thick and plastic stretching and shaping itself into quickened heartbeats,

That couldn't be swallowed by fleeting touches that passion burned bright even as Jonathan's ass grew numb and tickly and Finley had to go eat again, Jonathan wondered how he ever survived going so long before meals before.

Finley gave Jonathan a bloody smile as he left the room.

~~~

Sam had granted both the twins permission to walk home after he escorted them though the D.O.D. like a dog herding sheep telling them with a sharp but fond look that he already told Clark to expect them home.

Jordan could feel Jonathan's eyes at the side of his head as they walked home darting away every once and a while when Jordan would take a glance at him.

"That's your man, huh?" Jordan said, nudging Jonathan to the side when he leaned in to hear him better.

Causing Jonathan's cheeks to flush with a pale red then more so at Jordans next word.

"He way cooler than you, by the way"

'Cool' was the only way Jordan thought he could describe Finley because the other words of unenthusiastic would make it seem as though he actively disliked Finley but he couldn't; he could just tell that he wasn't prepared to meet him.

"What, how?"

Jonathan kicked up rocks as they made their way up the driveway of their houses wondering if it was just like how he saw Sarah.

"He gets Morgan, in a way I don't think Dad can"

They hadn't talked about Morgan much, just a passing mention of him and a shared look between them was enough to highlight their similar experiences.

Though he recovered, Finley had suffered the consequences.

"Cause-" Dad couldn't Superman you better.

Jonathan didn't have to say anything more before he was interrupted knowing first hand what it was like to want your Dad to just be your Dad and not someone else for once.

It wasn't like Clark had directly went to Jordan about what had transpired but Jordan could tell sometimes from the way his Father would look at him, as they did dishes together after dinner, with Clark washing and Jordan drying, how he wanted to say something but didn't and quite frankly Jordan thought that was worse because apart of himself wanted his Dad to ask, to comfort in ways no one else could..

"Ya that and he never asked for me to explain"

"He never does" but despite the words coming across as a gripe they were said fondly.

~~~

The boys had been home for a while now each separating off into their own sections of the house with Jordan upstairs and Jonathan down.

Lois was alerted to the sound of the twins coming home and with Jordans heavy footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

Catching Jordan's eyes as he almost walked past her room.

"Well how was it?" Lois asked if a double meaning could be drawn from her word.

'Did everything go okay?'

'How was Jonathan?'

'Finley?'

'Yourself?'

'Does he seem like a murder?'

Jordan didn't want to cut the bullshit with a knife so he answered outright.

"You mean Finley" as he leaned against the side of her doorway not in or out of the room.

Jordan looked relaxed for the first time, like there was a weight lifted off of his shoulders like he wasn't keeping anything in anymore but still Lois could tell there was something off building in his eyes.

She refrained from asking though she had tried with Clark asking about why it was like to be under Morgan's influence and it wasn't something he could put into words so she left it alone hoping that was the right choice.

It was weird to see how tall he'd grown if Lois were to stand. Jordan's height would pass her head slightly but his hunched shoulder made him seem small.

"He's good, you'd like him" Jordan reassured Lois leaving her to stare at his retreating figure as his own room door closed shut the sounds of a phone being dialled and Sarah's perky voices coming from behind him.

'That's nice to hear'

Lois had spent the better half of the last month working everything through in her mind speaking to the press about Finley's case but she had never managed to meet him, the only account of the boy that she could trust coming from Clark who told her Finley was reserved yet thankful towards him.

Leaving him with no complaints and Jonathan of course but she figured he'd be biased singing his boyfriends praises.

Even if he never explicitly told her, Finley was his secret person.

So to have the 'okay' come from someone who to be the most impartial was a breath of relief.

So she conceded that what she had to give to Morgan was worth it.

~~~

Jonathan chose to stay downstairs when he got home his cheeks still flushed from where Jordan had poked fun of him during their outing.

Going into the kitchen and pulling up a glass of water by the sink drinking it almost in one go flipping through his phone with no direction or plan in mind.

It had been a good day only dampened by the subtle yet all present pain that sprung throughout his body to remind him that his struggle wasn't over yet.

There was the sound of the back door opening and Clark stumbled through the door in a way that made Jonathan think his Father truly forgot his true nature.

There were planks of wood in his hand from fixing up the barn, something he hadn't had a chance to do since, well everything happened.

"How was it?" Clark asked, placing the rotting and fragile pieces of wood on the floor sliding off his jacket and taking a swig from Jonathan's cup.

"Finley's good, I didn't know you testified at his trial" despite Finley and Jonathan talking everyday Finley had kept himself fairly quiet about his trial not revealing anything other than what he believed Jonathan could see as good news, Superman apparently wasn't a part of that.

Jonathan guessed it was because of the fact that he thought that Jonathan would have to have a limit to what he was willing to put up with.

Everyone did, didn't they?

"Superman did," Clark replied with a shrug.

Jonathan clearly had taken it more seriously then he thought.

"You're the same to me" knowing that at first when Father told him and Jordan of his secret identity he couldn't even imagine his Dad saving anyone but a cat from a tree.

He saw his Father differently now even with the clumsiness and the awkward glasses that he wore that now Jonathan thought about it, looked off and too big on his Dad's face and even the way he fawned over his mom like she was his sun to orbit around.

Which she was.

He was the same as ever just able now to show his love as he intended to express it over the years in more than just words but with gestures and toys, the spelling out 'I love you' in bold letters so that Jonathan could clearly see it.

In response Clark looked shocked allowing time for Jonathan to casually walk past him as if he hadn't said anything at all.

Opening up the fridge Clark looked like he was going to close it and open it again hoping that there was spontaneously going to be more options for him to eat when he came face to face with a head of broccoli and some butter.

Choosing to let the rare sincerity pass between him and his son go unmarked to be afraid to ruin the moment.

"What's his favourite type of-?" Clark let his words wander, he stared at the poor weeping head of fruit not knowing why he opened it really as Finley wouldn't have been able to eat anything inside anyway.

"Person" Jonathan supplied.

"He mentioned something about O+"

Clark looked disturbed at the thought, taking Jonathan seriously, taking note of it in his head before he could hear the starting of a laugh forming in Jonathan's throat.

~~~

ONE WEEK LATER

~~~

So it was Finley's first day out as a free boy.

It came on a nice warm dark day where the sun had set early.

Allowing Finley's open invitation to stop by for dinner at the Kents to become a reality.

Sure the weight of an ankle monitor settling on his right foot didn't fall to remind Finley that while yes he was free he was still restricted.

Confined to the Department Of Defence and a few select locations during very specific time frames.

Apparently school wasn't optional anymore but Finley didn't hate it as much as Jonathan did for him, he'd be starting summer school soon so he wouldn't have to repeat the year.

He'd gotten a text from Jonathan, it made him jump, he was still getting used to the buzzing sound in his pockets jolting him from his place the first time it happened in Sam's car on the way over he had almost caused a car crash.

Finley guessed it was to assure him that they were fine with our eating habits but he ate before coming just to be sure.

Having been dropped off by Sam Lane with strict order not to mess anything up.

Finley didn't blame Sam as he watched him knock on the Kents front door.

The government had given him probation and an ankle monitor for the foreseeable future so if he took one step out of line he probably wouldn't even be able to spell freedom again let alone have a taste of what it was like.

"Brought wine," Finley said, holding up a bottle of red wine in a plastic bag as the door was opened by Jonathan.

Finley was glad he wasn't so sure he would be able to greet anyone else in the house properly.

'Was there a proper way to do that?'

~~~

Finley had been in the Kents home before but never downstairs he had only seen them within Jonathan's room.

The rest of the house was different and less cluttered but it looked lived in and exactly what he expected of them when he had met Jordan.

The family was close that was clear and as Jonathan led him to the dining table.

It was busy with Jordan saying a quick-

"Hi" as he scuttered past them with a lasagne dish covered in crinkly tin foil.

"I could have come later if you wanted"

"Nah then you'd have my parents at the door" Finley silently thanked Jonathan wrapping his ankle around his.

The monitor scratched Jonathan's legs but he didn't mind pulling them closer, eyeing Finley from across the table with a smile playing on his lips knowing that would have been Finley's worst nightmare.

When did he get the privilege of caring how others thought of him?

He didn't know but he liked it.

Not long after they sat down Lois and Clark introduced themselves while passing salad around Finley smiled back down at his empty plate.

Residing himself to watching rather than participating in the actions of his peers that was before Jordan came scampering in the room and unseasonably dumped a cup full of blood in his bowl.

There was a pause that didn't come physically to the table as it was almost coordinated how both Lois and Clark kept on eating and Jordan tucked in to his meal the only one who felt organic in movement was Jonathan who didn't seem to notice everyone's else's quiet discomfort.

Finley did in that moment what he thought would be polite and took his spoon and ate.

He had never eaten with a spoon before, not people meat anyway, the way he usually ate was messy and primitive using more of his mouth them his hands most of the time not bothering to wash his hands or clean up much after himself, in fact the only time he could remember doing so was after his failed attempted to eat Jonathan.

It felt odd but good like it was something that could become normal.

Clark almost let out a sigh of relief before Lois could nudge him with her fork, he had been worried that even though John had delivered Finley's food himself with carefully laid out instructions that he still somehow got it wrong.

But he didn't, despite how weird it was to think of the fact that someone died and was on his dining room table, he had to go over that with bleach until the varnish peeled away later Clark was assured that it had been acquired sustainably and had made sure of that himself.

For instance the man that had died for Finley's supper had died from a heart attack and had donated his lungs to science, the science of what made Finley tick he didn't know but it was better than the boy going around eating people with little rhyme.

Jonathan had insisted there was a process and table of elimination or something but Clark rather not think about it.

Lois almost became stiff and lipped when she first saw Jordan re-enter the room with a cup of blood in his hands but when she saw Jonathan lacked reaction.

she realised fairly quickly that she hadn't batted an eye when Clark was a little light on his feet in the house to put something away when he thought no one was looking or when his eyes grew hot when he looked at her, yes she had twins but she still got it.

So to see the way Jonathan just looked over his fork with a reassuring nod acting like he'd seen the same thing a hundred times before while making small talk to distract Finley, had her drop it, her son had it bad and he knew how to show it.

She had fought for Finley for a reason and that reason was her son's happiness.

Jordan found it peculiar reaching into the fridge where Clark had sent it to dethaw a couple of hours earlier.

How the blood was like a soup with little chunks of meat, chicken broth, almost but giving in to temptation and giving it a sniff Jordan wondered how Finley could stomach it but he seemed just pleased with it as he ate it so Jordan assumed each was to their own.

There was a moment when the chatter lowered down and all that could be heard was the clattering of cutlery on ceramic.

"Mrs Lane - Kent '' Finley said, correcting himself at the last minute.

Lois smiled having put together that Finley was the one with Jonathan that night she was put in the hospital.

It didn't phase her being called Mrs Lane that's what she went by professionally.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do that but you did and I appreciate it" an article was what Finley was talking about and he wasn't wrong.

Not only was it used in his trial but it got revealed to the public and did a great job of humanising Finley to the jury.

"It's what I'd want someone to do it for my sons, if we weren't there to do it"

Finley started his bowl around it was empty he had eaten quickly noticing the looks they had tried to hide.

"This is great by the way sometimes I feel John just slaps it together to see whether I'll hate it"

'Experimenting' John would justify would only work if Finley wasn't aware something had changed, Finley just considered it karma.

"He doesn't do that" Jonathan said quickly, spitting over his drink before catching himself.

"Thank you " Clark said, scratching the back of his neck not really sure what to say in John's defence.

"Yes he does, I swear he hates me"

That caused Lois to chime in.

"I thought that too, I think that's just how he shows respect" Lois could recall the words John spit at her when they first met and how now she just gave as good as she got.

Jordan throughout all of this was quiet, focusing more on the food then conversation.

That was fine Finley would have been the same if not for Jonathan's insistence but he could tell by Jordan's passive grip on his clear glass of water that it wasn't just from anxiety.

Jordan never took a sip despite looking like he needed to coughing over food and wiping his mouth with tissue. Lois and Clark exchanged looks with one another while Jonathan looked as though he wanted to speak again but couldn't find anything of worth to say.

Finley, sitting opposite from Jonathan, might have well have been staring at a mirror he knew this the avoidance like the back of his hand and he knew the only solution was submergence.

That was if Jordan was willing to take the first step, Finley hadn't been at first but it was clear to him when hiding in plain sight it was better to look much like everyone around him to blend in so he couldn't go round looking homeless stinking of body odour unless he wanted to be noticed.

So while Finley didn't want to take the first step he did, it was a matter of survival.

Jordan would have chosen .

~~~

JOHN HENRY & SAM LANE

~~~

Sam walked through the D.O.D. with two cups of large coffee in his hands.

Black three sugars for himself with the other being foamy with something that he just ordered off the top of his head remembering John's affinity for the fancy things their job had to offer.

Walking into John's office, Sam had hoped to catch him before he started to pack away.

John was at his desk picking up papers and shredding them up by machine, pouring biohazards into yellow bins and generally doing a bit of spring cleaning, his briefcase open and shallow with its contents mostly being filed away for government uses now that his job was over.

Placing the hot cup into John's open palm he took a sip noting its desirability to him.

"What do you want?" his eyes pinned to whether or not he should toss last quarters crime budget in the trash or not.

Sam should have been offended but wasn't

"Can't a co-worker-?"

"Not with you spit it out" still not looking at Sam.

Who took the masses of things off of his hands placing them down again.

"It's not what I want ... it's what I can give you"

"That will ultimately benefit you-"

"A more permanent place here" Sam said interrupting John who looked to his office dramatically. It was a small room without the proper ventilation that he had been forced to work in for the time of his employment with the D.O.D. probably cultivating popcorn lung.

"Well not here you'll have your own office, no student to bug you about finals"

"I actually quite like education, teaching the younger generation" being a college lecturer was a carefree job despite the little pay.

With little to no stakes at all, no world to save.

Just talk for an hour, set some homework, get your underpaid teaching assistant to do most of your marking and deny most students extensions on homework assignments, really it brought him joy.

"You just like being treated with-" respect?

Resentment?

John truly didn't know where Sam was going with this.

Sam slapped the table with his hands, gaining John's attention for where he had lost it.

To John looking at some random chemical reaction stripping the varnish of the table, it was purple underneath and left the room smelling like alcohol, he should probably deal with that.

"Fine, 100k sign on bonus?" John looked at Sam incredulously at the bribe.

"Healthcare and your entire family moved out here for free"

Natalie would hate that too used to the hectic way of life living near a college campus provided them over the years but John did like the look of the suburbs.

"Why? May I ask" John said, agreeing to unclasping his briefcase.

"Your lucky my bosses think you're irreplaceable"

~~~

JONATHAN & FINLEY

~~~

As Jonathan walked Finley out of his house they settled out by the porch, Finley wasn't due to be picked up for a while now but conversation had died down and his parents had gone up to bed.

It was dark, them both being unable to see much past each other and the corn fields planted ready to be sprung in spring around them.

Everything was painted in a layer of black and blue so vivid yet unimportant to them both as they let silence lead them.

For Finley it reminded him of the darkness around him as he turned to mist, a blanket of security that the light no longer provided.

For Jonathan it reminded him of the light feeling in his stomach that only came out what Finley was around making him feel like he had pins and needles all over his heart that could only be softened by Finley's own touch he felt things so abrasively that it made it hard to think his brain replicating the sounds of the crickets around them.

"I'd say that went well huh?" Finley spoke up, cutting the silence in half.

One half for himself and the other for Jonathan.

"Ya they love you" Jonathan teased, jabbing Finley with his good hand.

Leaning on the rail that separated them from the corn fields Jonathan came up behind Finley so that they were chest to back taking on most of Finley's weight as he relaxed against him.

"They don't know me"

Finley wasn't wrong, they didn't know his not enough to forsake the strange abrasive posture they took with him that Jonathan didn't because he never knew fear with him.

"There really perspective, trust me"

"You know I do" Finley looked up to Jonathan kissing him on the cheek, quickly missing Jonathan's attempts to preserve their connection.

Jonathan knew that he should cherish these moments that once before he had taken for granted thinking that even though there was no expiration date on his relationship there was one on there alone time.

He could imagine in the future them being interrupted or their time cut short by homework and responsibilities out of their control.

"I guess, I'll miss having you all to myself" Jonathan said, the words having been pulled out of himself by the sombre look that made Finley question the thoughts running in his head.

"That's not changing," Finley replied adamantly.

"But-"

And it wouldn't make Finley make sure of it.

It wasn't like he had many others in his life to choose from.

'Wait did Jon mean?' Finley thought, staring at Jonathan for a moment, who had gone still behind him, his body tense and firm in all the wrong ways.

The casted hand wrapped around him was stilled in an unnatural way that almost shook.

Finley took Jonathan's hand and laced his fingers through Jonathan's feeling as the tense skin became malleable and soft under his touch.

"Jonathan I don't want anyone else, plus I highly doubt anyone going to want to get to know me"

Finley knew he should be saddened by this but he couldn't bring himself to care having worked himself up already enough before meeting Jonathan's parents and it all having gone well so could care less about anything else.

A win is a win.

Everyone else could wait.

"I do" Jonathan said leaning in past Finley's shoulder, his nose pushing on his breath being shared.

"Well you are abnormal" Finley spoke leaning forward.

The lingering taste of copper from Finley's tongue was greatly accepted by Jonathan whose jaw clenched at Finley teasing him as he pulled away just to pull his body firmly up onto him.

The grit of X-Kryptonite created a friction on their tongues that left a hot and sparking feeling like taking a piece of dry wood to a bonfire.

This was it.

This was freedom.

Jonathan let his good hand wonder as Finley turned round to face him, his neck no longer strained against his own stretching and pulling.

Jonathan tugged Finley in by the small of his back.

Having the teasing taste of Jonathan was all Finley had allowed himself knowing the dire consequences of crossing that line.

That fine line.

Jonathan however stepped across it.

Pulling his tongue back and biting on it with his molars quickly almost like a slight of hand magic trick the X-K they had shared not quite gone from Jonathan's mouth to cause Finley's eyes to open wide to meet Jonathan's as he pulled his in hands firm against his face.

"You love to test me"

Despite the artificial light that made their eyelids glow with expectation their chests didn't depart from one another.

The sound of a car horn startled Jonathan away from Finley as an unimpressed Sam waved at Finley to get in his car shaking his head like he was thinking-

'Kids these days'

Finley pulled Jonathan in for one last kiss gaining a bashful peck in return from Jonathan and another honk from Sam before disappearing and reappearing by Sam's passenger side in mere moments, Sam would never get used to that but Jonathan has and almost welcomes the way it made his eyes go fuzzy trying to comprehend what he just witnessed.

"Don't eat my grandson"

Finley hadn't been shocked when he found out Sam's connection with the Kents having recognised his surname matching Lois' on his name badge but it was unreal to think the guy who had been hunting him was just trying to look out for his family.

"Noted"

~~~

Today Jonathan was getting his cast off having already had his back mostly healed and left his now closed cuts to rub against his cotton shirt his arm would finally be free of its constraints.

Clark had decided to take him alone after school. There was a light mood in the car that was unfortunately overshadowed by the knowledge that each of them refused to acknowledge.

Jonathan wouldn't be playing football anymore.

It wasn't like he didn't know before, he did truly.

It was just harder to visualise when you have a cast physically stopping you from playing then not having anything at all and only the question of 'why can't you?' holding you back.

So Clark drove in relative silence the hum of a quiet radio being the only thing that filled the air.

Jonathan hadn't told Finley this would be the day he'd get his cast off. It was sunny and bright outside so Jonathan used that as his excuse as to why he hadn't told Finley knowing he wouldn't have been able to come anyway.

Jonathan found himself not resenting the sun in this instance as its rays warmed his face all but thanking it.

But unfortunately it didn't give him a reason to look away from the lawns crowing houses that were filled with cardboard boxes with different bits and bobs coming out of the top of them

It seemed like everyone who had a reason to was up and moving away.

Giving up on the small-town Jonathan could tell from the look on his Dad's face didn't like it the reason for there departure being that many had their entire lives wrapped up in Morgan's business whether that be by working in the mines or at his Company's office many just couldn't afford to stay any longer.

Jonathan had even noticed it at school the class sizes diminishing and hallways no longer crowded Laura Cushing had compared it to how their generation grew up when questioned about it.

Everything was less now, less people, less motivation. It was like SmallVille was stuck in place in limbo waiting for the other shoe to drop. That probably was because of the fact that the D.O.D. still housed Morgan at the epicentre of the town centre.

Meaning that people never gathered anymore, teens didn't sneak out, party and drink, not even Jonathan who could just go visit Finley now was added out just having to tell his parents where he would be instead of relying on Jordan to lie he wondered whenever he ever had to.

~~~

Getting his cast off was an unceremonious event that was only highlighted by the nurse taking his cast of almost cutting through the J+S heart on Jonathan's arm before he stopped them.

Stretching his arm it felt stiff and smelt kind of off but apart from that it was fine, even though he still lacked motion.

Only being able to slowly raise his shoulder whereas on his other side he could start doing jumping jacks if necessary.

Getting back in the car, Jonathan fiddled with his seat belt not used to the extra space that his cast had once taken up now being free.

Clark glanced at Jonathan's squirming figure as they pulled out of the hospital's parking lot.

"Are you going to tell him?" Clark said quietly not wanting to poke on an exposed nerve they had never really spoken about Jonathan and football since they got the news that he wouldn't be able to play.

It seemed to go into both their heads back pockets as they got turned up in the dangers of Morgan Edge and his utilitarianism.

"Have to now don't I?" Jonathan said softly not looking at his Dad rather staring out the window.

Jonathan had been keeping this from Jordan for a reason knowing what it would do to him.

The guilt that he would inevitably pile up on himself even if Jonathan had already accepted his body's new limitations.

"I could do it" Clark supplied he had thought about it for a while now that things had calmed down watching as Jonathan would smother any questions Jordan had about his cast.

"It's fine Dad" Jonathan knew that he had to do this at some point or another but he had found himself wishing that he had more time, even a day, to get used to it.

But unfortunately time had never been on his side and least of all when he asked for it to be.

Clark noting that Jonathan was done with the conversation prompted another not wanting to sit in silence again, nothing good ever came from that.

"Finley thinking of coming round again?" That seemed to do the trick as Jonathan almost immediately groaned.

"Dad"

"What? I need time to prepare" Clark said defensively and he was right he had to dethaw the freezer before stuffing Finley's food right at the back for it to remain edible.

"You really want him back?" Jonathan asked in a small voice.

'Do you like him?' Was left unsaid.

"He's a good kid" Clark pretended not to see the look that brightened in his son's eyes as he turned to focus more intently on the road in front of him.

Contrary to popular belief Clark wasn't as oblivious as he seemed, he could tell from Jonathan's bashful tone that there was something going on between him and Finley.

He just couldn't tell whether Jonathan had done anything about it yet.

Houses that once held occupancy were empty, lights that could be seen once dark, open windows shut.

Clark couldn't help but feel nostalgic SmallVille felt 'small' again but with that came the emptiness that was left behind.

Rubber balls forgotten on lawns, uncontested roads and places that once before in his childhood were so close together seemed to be pulled apart.

The boys would never be any different having only spent most of their childhood in urban areas where people would come into and out of town like it was going out of fashion.

A wind flew by the windshield. Both Kents, boy and man, were shielded and left undisturbed.

As a missing poster labelled 'FINLEY EDGE' became stuck to the window,

Clark kept driving using his other senses to be sure of his path.

This caused Jonathan to look up, noticing the shadows that were forming on his face.

It was folded and crumpled so that only the 'EDGE' part of Finley's name was covered.

~~~

Jonathan almost stopped himself from knocking on Jordan's room door.

Hovering his now healed hands over the door before knocking with an unnecessary amount of strength.

The door opened not long after like Jordan had already known Jonathan was waiting outside his door.

"Look what I saved" Jonathan said walking past Jordan while handing him the J+S part of his cast.

It was bent and misshapen and the pen had leaked onto the other side but Jordan held it with strength letting the jagged edges if he were human cut into his hands.

Looking at Jonathan, Jordan could see that his steps were lighter than before not having the weight of the cast to drag behind him.

Something still made his shoulders hand heavy as the sun pierced through his window, almost making Jonathan's back seem as though it was the only shadow in the room.

"Double trouble on the pitch once again" Jordan said as he came to stand by his brother basking in the sun in ways his twin could only ever hear about.

It was the only thing Jonathan was thankful for not having to experience being.

With loving Finley it meant spending an aberrant amount of time in darkness he would never be able to know how he would take it if his body was pulling him into the light.

Jonathan didn't reply letting the clock on the wall behind them fill the air, Jordan waited wondering if Jonathan was just glitching like some npc but no he was firm on his pressed lips.

Just taking a glance at Jordan eyes, holding his gaze for a moment before looking away.

"That's not happening. Is it?" Jordan stated slowly there was no room for argument as Jonathan didn't protest him like he wanted him to or laugh at him like it was all a joke.

Jordan would have accepted that.

Jordan caused this, he had diminished the one thing that had brought them together the reason why he even had thought to have picked up a football in the first place.

And it happened because of some stupid football team that didn't mean shit to either one of them now.

"You just have to make twice as many touchdowns now" it was bitter sweet like he could almost reach out and do it himself.

Now it made sense why Jonathan was so invested in his performance, living through Jordan what he could not experience for himself anymore.

Jordan wondered why he had never realised it before, it was painfully clear now as Jonathan tilted his head up at him.

"Jonathan I-" was an apology for his toughness? No.

As no words would ever be able to supplement taking Jonathan's arm away from him.

"Don't make me think more about it then I already have to" Jonathan interrupted his brother sounding more bitter than hurt but that was fine Jonathan was allowed to feel it as he deemed fit after keeping it locked away for so long.

The consequences of Jordans actions weighted upon him now like archers drawing their bows and plunging arrows into his body, every time he would step onto the pitch he would be reminded of his failure.

The fact that his righteousness to defend his brother wasn't enough to make him see clearly that he needed objectiveness.

He couldn't lose control again.

Looking toward his desk were chunks of chipped wood lay from his training sections with Dad.

Jordan could remember the crushing of Jonathan's bones under his hands feeling all to brittle in comparison to the now dry then wet wood.

Sensing Jordan's impending spiral Jonathan changed the subject pointing down at Jordan's hands.

"Sarah's gonna like that"

Twirling it round in his hands Jordan allowed his attention to be captured by Jonathan once again.

"Ya she isn't going to let me keep it"

Jordan knew exactly how Sarah would react when she saw Jonathan not out practising after school or during games she wouldn't question Jordan directory not with Jonathan in her sights.

She would ask him and then Jonathan would ask that Sarah not treat him harshly.

But Sarah, unlike everyone else in this house, knew that Jordan was a big boy and could handle a little more scolding.

Not argumentatively but stern no shit talk and Jordan would listen because she was the only one to actually hold him accountable and not treat him like he was breakable.

Jordan allowed Jonathan to leave with no other words.

As he fiddled with the bits of wood at his desk probing the torn part of Jonathan's cast up on a glass full of untouched water so that he could stare at it.

Prodding his fingers at the water's surface and touching it to his lips, his nails uncut scratching at his Chapped mouth that remain unparted.

That was as far as he could get and by now Jordan was sure the sun was the only thing keeping him going as dehydration cracked his insides.

~~~

"That sounded ruff" Jonathan jumped the unexpected sound of his Mother's voice steering him away from his room.

Lois was standing there hand picking at the stitches she should really leave alone on her arms.

She knew logically why Clark had withheld information from her, she was still recovering so she didn't hold it against him but still it would have been nice to hear it from her other half rather than behind a door like it was a taboo.

Lois had never wanted Jonathan in football In the first place to risk not enough reward as she always put it in her head but never said it out loud knowing how much it brought her sons and their Father together.

Jonathan didn't respond inside, just pulling Lois into a hug that despite the slight discomfort due to his clinginess Lois tightened her hold as well.

Jonathan could feel the palms of his Mothers hands trace the scars on his back, he could remember Dad staring at them when they were moving timber in the yard.

Jonathan had to reassure him it was normal that he wasn't going to turn into ribbons if Clark turned his back for a moment.

It used to scare Jonathan how fragile was in comparison to his Dad and Jordan but his Mom Was just a human as he appears to be on the outside and she survived, she lived so that made Jonathan believe that he also could.

"Love you" he murmured into Lois neck there wasn't anything much like the comfort of his Mother her stern unyielding present easing his mind if Lois couldn't change the outcome of his injuries she could surely ease the pain of loss.

"Love you too" Lois kissed the top of Jonathan's head.

Turning away from Jonathan to find Clark awkwardly standing on the landing of the stairs not wanting to interrupt.

Lois smiles softly and sends Jonathan to his room, Clark watches him go noticing how they both looked alike, more so with every passing day now that Jonathan was getting older most people told them that Jordan and Lois shared an uncanny resemblance sharing the same dark hair and bright eyes.

Clark cups his hands up to Lois' neck with firmness that cements them together Lois turns her hair to let it fall over her pink and knotted scars.

Clark just responded by feeling them, rubbing circles with his thumb.

He wished to know what it felt like, to relate but every pain he felt was brief and ran away within moments.

He had nothing to carry, nothing to prove his pain, no scars for all his falls.

Clark felt almost like his wife and his sons carried them for him Lois and Jonathan in the physical and Jordan the mental being more affected by Morgan hold of him then his Father.

Lois looked at Clark questioning their bodies pressed up against the landing.

"Just wondering how I got so lucky"

Lois looked like she melted falling into Clark being engrossed by his large forearms as they giggled like teenagers all the way to their bedroom.

~~~

On cloudy days It wasn't uncommon to spot Finley wandering about alone since the news hit, 'FINLEY EDGE FOUND', Lois just told him it was for notoriety sake, taking down missing posters where he could.

Ripping them from bulletin boards to be recycled, Jonathan had offered to come but this was something that Finley thought he should do alone.

It was another one of those days and Finley was in the town centre being avoided like the plague but watched like he was a circus attraction and as little eyes as there were left in SmallVille it seemed as though there were still enough to make the hypervigilant ends of Finley's hair stand on edge.

One of those eyes happened to belong to a brown eyed girl, Sarah, who ripped one of Finley's missing posters before he could get to it.

"You look different" Sarah whispered as though she were afraid to startle the missing boy and she was right the boy on the poster was fuller in the cheeks and looked innocent.

The picture was taken from a press conference that Morgan had made him attend at thirteen he was all knobbly knees and awkwardly placed teeth at that age.

It pissed him off, the picture they chose to print a thousand times.

If Finley was missing not of his own accord then he might have not returned out of sheer embarrassment.

"Grew up" Finley replied walking away not wanting to seem rude but also not wanting to cuck up anymore then he had already had by simply existing in a bundle of social inept mess.

Sarah thankfully didn't take it too harshly just following after him.

Looking at the green blinking of his ankle monitor that went off every now and then.

"That article ... I read it, Lois had a lot to say about you, you didn't deserve that"

Lois wrote of hardship and turmoil, of the tragic event of his life losing parents to Morgan's actions before he even knew the man's name, being handed over by the state for money and Morgan's image.

Lois spoke of harsh nights Finley spent in the cold, how the reminder of the dessert that Morgan had tortured him in made Finley fret at the mere sight of the sun.

A good cover story.

"I believe her"

It made Sarah re-evaluate what her idea of good weather was,

It was a slow and cold day.

A good day she thought in Finley's eyes.

Sarah forced herself to move at Finley's fast paced, one of her steps being two of his.

They were walking towards the D.O.D. facility in the heart of SmallVille,

He knew if he kept walking she wouldn't be able to follow him.

Her curiosity would be the death of her, Finley knew men who held the same level of cattiness about them as her and he had eaten them for breakfast.

Which he could do to her as well but he wouldn't, having no way of knowing for sure if she had X-K in her, plus there were way too many witnesses.

John had told him he needed to stop categorising people on how easy it would be to hide their body when he noticed Finley look him up and down then at a cabinet the other day.

Looking at Sarah's jugular almost automatically, Finley could see where he was coming from.

Would she still hold sympathy if she knew he had been killed? Finley didn't allow himself to think too much on that logic.

It was useless as she would never know or find out.

"You don't know me"

"But I know Jonathan, '' Sarah said, stopping in her tracks before the guards could tell her otherwise.

She saw the way Jonathan's face lights up when she mentioned the article the way he pressed on Finley's innocence.

How the tone in Jonathan's voice softened made Sarah wonder if that's how Jordan sounded talking about her, she sure hoped so.

The boy's face on the missing posters convinced her of that already but looking at the sharp boy in front of her who had paused at her mention of Jonathan's name made her even more cemented in the fact that both her Father and Finley were victims.

While Sarah was never formally told by Jonathan about Finley she could recognise the hoodie that Finley was wearing anywhere.

It's frayed edges with one arm bigger than the other, stretched thin over Jonathan's cast over so many months of wear.

Finley was Jonathan's boyfriend.

That was good enough for her even if he did give off a vibe that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge.

Like she ought to run.

"He's my best friend so you better be good to him" Sarah wished her Mother had someone like that in her life, when her Dad would stay out late and come home with another woman's perfume on his collar.

She loved her parents but how did they stay together so long? She would never know, it wasn't like they needed to be together to parent her.

Now she didn't need to wonder, with her Dad moving out - not away though just into an apartment after all SmallVille still needed firefighters.

Finley laughed, not turning round as he walked into the D.O.D.

Finley wouldn't officially meet Sarah until later referring to her only as the first person to give him a shovel talk to which Sarah was immediately identified and named by Jordan.

Apparently she and Jonathan had a fierce protectiveness over one another that Finley had only been given a glance into.

~~~

Finley was standing in a room devoid of green light and the sharp gaze of the sun.

John Henry stood behind a panel of computer sensors telling Finley for the tenth time that hour to disappear, it was becoming rather tedious.

"It extraordinary its like you completely disappear on any measurable scale"

John said, jumping as Finley appeared behind him noticing how the scanners beamed back to life after flatlining.

"It like you activate the space in-between your Kryptonian half and your humanity"

Finley didn't know what that meant but he did know he had a football game to not understand beginning soon.

So Finley disappeared for a final time leaving John alone in his laboratory to wonder why the absence of fog didn't lead to Finley's return.

After all Finley did promise to humour him.

~~~

A comforting fog rested upon the school field that was damp and a muddy mess from where spiked boots had licked up the earth.

Why was Jonathan in uniform?

That was a question that everyone was asking themselves, staring at Jonathan from where he was placed on the bleachers.

Jonathan would ask that question to himself as well if he had not already had an answer to that question.

The team had no alternates and couldn't play without someone on the bench.

Unfortunately Morgan's crimes had led to SmallVille high school having way too few students to host clubs anymore, the only reason why Jordan was able to play today was due to the fact that Coach had let the rest of the freshman on the pitch.

Coach was having a wonderful time yelling at all of them though, Clark looked like he wanted to step in but even he found himself knowing better.

It didn't go unnoticed even under Sarah's yelling of cheers from the crowd that Jonathan couldn't see past twenty yards through the thick fog, smiling Jonathan looked to the bleachers.

To find the fog quickly spreading just as fast as it came but not fast enough that it didn't interrupt the game a grunt could be heard along with a pile of sweaty teenage boys being pulled apart like a Jenga puzzle at the demand of their coaches.

Finley was standing in between Mom and grandfather unlike the other two however who were shouting much like Sarah for Jordan, Finley stared right back at Jonathan.

Mrs Tolsburry was there as well, having been somewhat forced to pull the little students they had left in class down onto the field for a moral boost it didn't work half of them looked like they were just glad to have gotten out of miss teachers rants for once and would rather watch teenagers hit each other then do maths with Mrs Winchester.

"Jonathan" a shout called out. It was the coach pulling Jonathan out of his seat and pushing him onto the field.

"Look he's just going to stand there" Coach told Clark at his protests.

"Then I'll do it" but by then the match had started up again Jonathan being lost to the sea of uniforms.

Clark looked on in concern and he was right to be, players from the other team had caught on fairly quickly that there was a reason why Jonathan wasn't supposed to be on the field and had quickly dispatched him.

Leading to there being a round of 'boos' from the crowd just before Jordan could go and help Jonathan up, he didn't seem worse for wear.

~~~

Finley ran over to Jonathan and dragged his arm from his waist, to his forearms before tugging at his hands outstretched pulling Jonathan along with him.

Walking off further down the field.

Away from the gathering crowds where they were mourning their loss.

"Are they?" Clark asked no one in particular as he wrapped his arms around Lois' shoulders in a much similar fashion to Finley without realising it.

Lois just smiled back at Clark not saying anything as Jordan and Sarah both laughed like it was all some big secret that Clark wasn't a part of.

So he just let himself be clueless.

~~~

"I'm fine," Jonathan said over Finley's concern, brushing off his hands that were fussing over his arm before pulling Finley back to him.

"Didn't know you'd come" it was a nice surprise even if he hadn't done anything, at least Jordan could provide a show.

"The weather allowed it" it was true Finley didn't want to say anything just in case the sun decided to be an ass and say hello.

Finley could feel the looks that he was being given, everywhere he went even now he could tell people's eyes lingered on his form.

They were different from Jonathan's they were curious, wondering if their eyes held too many questions.

It was odd being preserved.

They were the only ones left on the pitch walking slowly wondering about for some time.

Jonathan led them both to the locker room where they found themselves alone with only a few forgotten bits and bobs of kit left laying around.

Jonathan sat down on a bench that was wooden and chipped up when he scratched at it.

Picking up his water bottle and taking a gasping drink.

"Jon don't" Finley cringed as Jonathan spat back out the contents.

Red on his lips from where he hadn't managed to catch the bottle in time.

"John figured I'd be able to have more freedom if I eat in liquid form from now on" Finley said apologetically, an amused look in his eyes told Jonathan he wasn't really sorry.

So that was what was in the bottle, not that Jonathan needed the confirmation.

Picking up the right bottle this time making sure to note where he put it, not wanting to make the same mistake twice.

"Nasty" didn't taste the same as a little coppery blood, it was like a slug all thick and slimy.

Finley never looked like it tasted that bad in fact he liked it actively as much as one could, Jonathan passed that off as an acquired Palette and was glad Finley had the forethought to swig his mouth with something other than slug before he kissed him.

Finley stood above him, coaxing his arm out from his uniform letting Jonathan do little to nothing as he undressed him, rubbing circles into his shoulder.

"You're good to me" Jonathan says, his head leaning back to touch Finley's chest, the lack of rising and falling made Jonathan feel stable like nothing could topple him at that moment.

"Only because you allow me" Finley placed a chased kiss on Jonathan lips falling back allowing him to dress himself.

~~~

LOIS LANE

&

MORGAN EDGE

~~~

Lois had almost forgotten what a sterile environment the D.O.D. was spending most of her time in Finley's quarters that were filled with personal items.

The staring contest between them was broken however by whimpering that didn't fail to make Lois take a step back hating that she could see Morgan get off on her fear.

That was Morgan price.

Surprisingly it was man's best friend.

His dogs.

Much less intimidating than they once were, their fur combed through by X-K were reduced to puppy's once more.

If puppy's had teeth the size of your thumbs that is.

Clark found them begging for scraps; it had taken everything in them both not to keep them.

Lois didn't remember the attack that night, just flashes that would cross her mind every time she let her gaze wander to the dogs sitting on either side of Morgan's knees, their heads in his lap.

It was a startling sight to say the least it made Morgan look soft and almost as contained in his cage.

They had been talking for way too long Lois thought trading questions and insults for her article.

"I invented resurrection"

Sure technically that was right but it was-

"On accident" Lois firmly reminded him.

Morgan didn't have any clue what he had done when he left Finley dead, disowned at the bottom of a bathtub.

"So was penicillin but look at how many lives that were saved."

If it was anyone else Lois might have contemplated arguing the ethics of resurrection but not with Morgan and the tangent he was going on.

Being a god among men, in a more literal sense than before.

An interview was what Lois had wanted in return from Morgan along with Finley's freedom.

A dog for each.

Lois thought Morgan believed he was using Chrissy's publication as his memoir.

For proclaiming to not be human he sure acted like a deranged white man.

Lois walked away leaving Morgan alone in a pale green light as his dogs perched by his side like he still had all the power in the world.

Lois wondered if there was anything John Henry could do about that.

~~~

Clark had heard Jordan in the barn, normally he would just mind his business and let Jordan go about his merry way but when the hacking of wood didn't didn't grow tired or stop by the time he had finished doing the dishes Clark made his way down to the barn wiping his wet hands on his chest.

Jordan had been hacking away at wood for the past hour.

Clark didn't say anything to Jordan when he got there, just stood beside Jordan waiting for his turn.

As they took turns to chop wood with their bare hands, the tree stump they were using was worn in and fragile making it so that Jordan had to concentrate harder in order not to tear it into two solid halves.

He pulled away layer after layer until he could take away just a small chunk without compromising the rest of the tree's structure.

Then his pieces got smaller then that even, like sheets of paper when Clark would take his turn he would out do Jordan just to see how far he could go, how in check he could keep his powers.

Clark in actuality wasn't doing that Jordan just had internalised his need to prove his restraint so much that even the way that Clark wrote calculating bills, all light on the paper not pressing into the other side Jordan had taken too heart looking to his own school papers filled with wrinkles and textured to the touch.

Clark knew Jordan had restraint everyday was proof of that.

The fact that he hadn't put his own foot though the flooring of the house was enough at sixteen Clark had to learn to walk again, on his tip toes for months so that he didn't fall from the second floor to the first again, there was still a difference in the ceilings textured in the kitchen to this day.

"Your good, it wasn't your fault"

Jordan stopped at that hesitating before continuing on as if he never heard his Dad.

"You're in control, have been for a long time" Clark reiterated catching Jordan fists in his hands holding them still even when the smaller hands in his own still persisted in their shaking.

Jordan wished he could have believed that he truly did but every time he did anything he had to be careful to keep his hands soft, his steps light he felt like lead so extremely dense but so easy to break.

Jordan didn't move his hands away instead choosing to hold tightly on to his Dad letting some of his restraint go, Clark held back with the same level of harshness.

"I felt powerless like I wouldn't be able to save you guys" That's what it felt like for Clark to be under Morgan's influence to busy thinking of his family to succumb to the overwhelming feeling of his skin being peeling by a metal instrument so dull that the blade caught under his bones like Jordan had.

'Didn't he always have his powers?'

'How could Dad know what it was like?' To not have something he's never been without.'

Jordan was used to his dad never growing tired, always having the strength to put both him and Jonathan on his back even when they grew up and other dad's couldn't anymore.

"You did"

There was a beat like Clark didn't believe it, like he was still questioning his reality to this day.

As if Jordans sense of animosity was directed towards him.

"I hope so"

~~~

FINLEY & JONATHAN

~~~

The school year was out for Jonathan and Jordan.

Finley however was using little free time from summer school cooped up in Jonathan's room door cracked open at Lois's insistence.

His ankle monitor blinks green in the shadowed room, curtains drawn.

The room was less spacious then when he had last been in Jonathan's room then again he had been burnt to a crisp and more focused on Jonathan's body pressed up against his own to notice the Jonathan's decorating.

Now it was filled with books that strayed from academic in nature filling the room with bibliosmia, it wasn't suffocation but comforting.

Jonathan's returned play book put high on top of fantasy and romance.

Sat Jonathan on his bed scrolling on his phone Finley was reading out loud at his desk.

"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood ..." -1984 a good book was a bit dry in Jonathan's opinion and way too misogynistic it made Winston Smith, the main character, sound repressed but a classic nonetheless.

Finley's voice trails off towards the end earning a look of confusion from across the room.

"You can swim now right?"

Jonathan smiled in response, yes he could.

~~~

A pounding came from outside Jordan's room door. He knew it was Jonathan and didn't startle but that wasn't the same for Sarah.

Jonathan didn't say anything to gather their attention just letting them both hear the patterning of his footsteps walk down the stairs one more eager than the other being denoted by how one step was heavier than the other.

That must have been Finley then.

They were quick to follow behind Jonathan when asked where they were going Jonathan just replied.

"Double date"

Which gained a cheer from Sarah.

"I thought I'd have to beg"

When they got outside it was dark, the sun having set an hour ago they found Finley already in Clarks car they were home alone with Lois going off to Chrissy office to do some run-of-the-mill investigative work on the impact Morgan had on SmallVille's economy.

Boring things that Jordan was sure his economics teacher would bust a nut over.

Jonathan muttered under his breath where they were going knowing that his Father would be checking in on them every once and a while during his superheroing before he jumped in the passenger's side of the car.

~~~

It didn't take long for Clark to feel as though he was being ran up the walls, due to his sabbatical his powers returned to their playfully teenage state he found himself on many occasions being berated by Jordan for his seemingly innocuous lack of control floating on his toes, replying to Lois whispering to herself from the barn and toasting bread with his eyes rather than a toaster.

They were all glad that Morgan's attack hadn't meant any more time off for Clark.

~~~

So with Jordan and Sarah in the back seat they drove off into the early afternoon.

The drive was shortened significantly from when Finley and Jonathan had first made the trip as main roads were now an option.

The only disturbance being Sarah having to duck down at the sight of her Dads fire truck.

~~~

The woodland was much like the night that Sam Lane had followed Jonathan and Finley, only now the temperature was warmer and the bitterness of wind was no longer hatching at their skin.

Finley led the way, his arms interlocked with Jonathan's as he pulled them apart from the other pair allowing them to explore without interrupting his peace.

Sarah drummed her fingers along branches and blooming petals. The wood looked more existent then it had before brightened with the colour of an approaching summer.

Jordan frowned that it was lucky that Jonathan was off in the brightest months of the year, otherwise there would be no pulling him from his bed.

No doubt forcing himself awake at night to adventure under the vast opportunities being unconfined would give him.

Jordan did enjoy it, being out here letting his senses flow through him in a way back home he would have to suppress, the goosebumps on his arms standing to attention as mild winds rippled through him.

Jordan could hear everything. a squirrel in a tree that must have been a mile away from how faint it sounded without him concentrating.

Insects humming, making his sway Sarah into his arms to avoid trampling over their finely cultivated ecosystems.

A deep splash was heard coming from the lakeside. Jonathan had jumped into the water without a moment's hesitation, his red swim trunks bubbling with unbroken surface tension.

Sarah excused herself to change even if it was just to strip herself of her clothes to her underwear there was something very intimate about changing that none of them questioned.

Finley, who was too preoccupied watching Jonathan to strip, opted to do the same at Jordans arrival.

With their backs facing one another, Jordan made work on his shirt.

"I noticed how you hesitate," Finley whispered over his shoulder.

It wasn't necessary as Jonathan's splashing was enough to distort his voice but he still felt the need to allow for privacy anyway.

Jordan didn't bother with excuses.

Standing by Finley's side they watched Jonathan using wide arms swimming laps.

"I didn't have a choice in the first step I made, but you do"

Jordan sat by the water, his legs moist with damp from mud as he let his hand fall into the depths of water below him.

He could feel it again burning in his chest, he could taste the water that his tongue had been so deprived of.

"That feeling you must let it consume you wholly before you can claim it as your own"

Finley dropped backwards into the water.

A large splash again was heard as the water spilt wetted Jordans hair as he too followed.

Keeping his mouth shut before remembering Finley's words and letting the water consume him.

It felt like an age of struggle before Sarah dived in head first, her nose plugged by her hands forcing Jordan up and out of the water to chase her.

Breaking free of the water's tension, Jordan caught a look at Sarah's black and white bra that was miss matched with her pants.

He had chosen to make his first step.

~~~

Finley enjoyed the feeling of another presence looking in on his and Jonathan's private moments.

The fools that Sarah and Jordan were making of themselves being filed away as background noise

Only becoming noticeable when a splash rained down over him.

~~~

Jonathan didn't worry about Jordan as he spent more and more time under.

Jordans powers granted him immunity to such a quick death, though his heart did elevate when Sarah came running out of the wood, clothes in hand tossed to the side.

Finley put his hand on Jonathan's shoulder.

Jonathan's mouth stuttered thinking of telling Finley about his family.

Superman, after all Jonathan knew so much about Finley's secrets but looking at Sarah swimming carefree, Jordan spared him a glance and shook his head like he knew what he was thinking.

Jonathan decided that was not a burden that he wanted to put upon Finley, he had enough to deal with.

Finley came close intersecting their legs and kissed the doubt off of Jonathan's lips.

This was his beseech prophecy, his begged one.

His freedom.

His love.

Him resting easy, he had earned it.

It was his alone to own.

~~~

Just as they were about to depart, with only an hour left till Finley's ankle monitor would turn red.

Jonathan went to put back on his clothes, eyes glued to the blue surface ripping with disturbance.

Watching from behind his reflection shoulder as Finley's back muscles contorted as he reached for a shirt, uncaring to whether it was his or Jonathan's.

The water settled Jonathan glanced down at himself, his eyes dark and hollow.

His cheekbones sharp, cutting at himself bringing his hand up to his face, rubbing at his eyes.

His nails were black like he had pushed down at the nail and had caused them to die.

"Jon" Finley called out to him now dressed.

Jonathan looked back to the water and there he was again pale nails and soft features.

A murder of crows screams out from beyond the trees as they walk off into the dim crepuscular light.

~~~

... And that's all for now.

Thank you for giving this book the time of day.

Sorry for the late update :(

I just wanted to get this as good as it possibly could be.

Considering it's the end of this book and my first time starting and finishing a fanfic.

As you can tell I did leave room for a sequel at the end there, that should come out after the third season of Superman & Lois comes to an end, if I decided to make this into a series.

Consider following my account :) for more cool stuff.

In the meantime I got into watching the |THE WALKING DEAD| and figured I'd give fanfiction a go again-

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tangerine oranges |THE WALKING DEAD|

• CARL GRIMES X BLACK! OC •
Queerplationic relationship

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He didn't like the feeling that came over him when he saw the man stop his car and step out onto the dirt path.

It made him feel the same way that the dead did off eased and made his body ready to run, arms prickled with goosebumps.

That was offset by the man's open arms and the lack of a weapon in his hands or by the side, this allowed him to settle his shoulders.

They were alone.

"It looks like you need a ride"

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The story of a missing boy being found by a man.

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• Diversions to the original plots and characters •

© ~ @wannabefangirl98

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