THANKS FOR THE 1.1K VOTES EVERYONE!!!!
"MOOOOOOMMYYYY!!! Wolf took my truck again!" Marie shouted, "AND HE HAS CLARKIE'S TEDDY TOO!"
"Connor, could you get that please?" Megan begged. Her wonderful husband bounded upstairs to deal with the mutated creature and his two oldest children, while M'gann chose to deal with the youngest.
Martin wailed without taking a breath, his green skin was splotched with pale white patches, and his body shifted painfully from one form to the next. It wasn't very consistent. First his head was human, then his leg looked like Wolf's, then he grew fins like Lagoon Boy, then Martian arms and legs, and all throughout that he was still crying as loud as Silver Banshee.
"Oh Martin, I wish you could just tell me what's going on!" M'gann thought, balancing him on her shoulder. She tried to push his mind in a calming direction, but he kept forcing her back out.
Martin was a very strange baby. He didn't respond to any noises, like Marie's squeals when she saw him in the Watchtower med wing for the first time, or Wolf's barks when someone rang the doorbell, but he blinked puzzledly when Connor kissed his forehead.
In her mind, M'gann gently hummed a Martian lullaby, and that started to calm him down.
"There you go," she thought with a smile. She shook his bottle, and cradled him in the crook of her arm, his wide, blue-brown eyes staring up at his mother.
"That's right, Martin, I'm your mother, and I love you." she smiled. She continued to hum the lullaby, rocking Martin back and forth gently as she fed him.
Just as his eyes shut, Marie squealed, and Wolf ran down the stairs with Clark and his sister riding on his back. Thank goodness Martin was a sound sleeper. He didn't even fuss.
Connor slowly and tiredly made his way down the stairs. It was his first year with a full time job as a reporter for the Daily Planet- thank you Clark- and a full-time responsibility as a father on top of taking on the role of Superman. Instead of dealing with the stress, M'gann had quit the League and decided to become a stay at home mom, and put her dreams of her own bakery on hold until her kids were grown up. Marie had Martian abilities, Clark had Kryptonian powers, and Martin could fly, change form, and punch a hole through the bedroom wall. And that was only so far.
"You okay?" M'gann asked, bouncing Martin up and down in her arms as she met Connor on the stairs.
"You know, I really thought Wolf had matured by the time we had Marie." Connor shook his head.
"Well, not everyone can grow sixteen years in four months like you did," M'gann teased, pushing the glasses farther up the bridge of her husband's nose. Connor kissed her on the lips, and Martin started to fuss again.
"What's up, big guy?" Connor reached out for Martin to grip his pointer finger, and the baby's hand turned into an octopus tentacle.
"Something's wrong. Marie had a handle on her powers after a few weeks, but it's been almost two months now. He responds to my telepathy, but he won't even flinch at Wolf's barks." M'gann said, trying not to sound distressed.
Connor gently massaged her knotted shoulders.
"Mister White wants me to have a report on Lena Luthor's new company policy by tomorrow, but while I'm doing my research I'll call Adam and see if he can help." He suggested.
"Thanks, Con," M'gann smiled.
"Together?" Connor whispered, kissing her forehead.
"Together," M'gann replied.
-------
"'Lana, 'Lana!" Marie and Clark squealed, running to the blue-skinned Rannian.
"Marie, Clark, it is good to see you," Allana Strange was an alien immigrant from the planet Rann. She had traveled to Earth to assist Doctor Adam Strange with his research involving instantaneous interplanetary transportation, and she had never left.
"Connor, M'gann, so good to see you!" Adam, Allana's husband and Chief scientist at STAR Labs, shook hands with M'gann and Connor.
"Good to see you too," Connor smiled, holding Martin wrapped in the soft blue blanket tightly knit by Ma Kent.
"Hey Martin, long time no see," the strange scientist joked. Martin just blinked boredly.
"Doctor Wilcox is waiting for you. If you want, Allana can take Marie and Clark while we sort this out."
"That would be great," M'gann sighed with relief. "It's hard to find someone willing to babysit Martian-Kryptonian hybrids, but they love Allana."
"She loves them too," Strange smiled as he watched Allana lead Marie and Clark to the STAR Labs play area, for kids who came to visit.
Adam led the couple and their son through a labyrinth of polished halls and white labcoats, only pausing to grab a few coffees from the cafe.
"Just in here," he led them into the meta-human lab, where they tested the abilities of the many super-powered individuals that had sparked ever since the Invasion.
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Kent! How are you?"
"Just fine, thanks." M'gann shook hands with the Doctor.
"Where are Marie and Clark?" Wilcox briefly glanced at the ground.
"They're playing with Allana, don't worry. And it's not them we're worried about. I think something's wrong with Martin. Call it motherly intuition, I don't know, but something's...off about him."
"What powers has he displayed so far?" Wilcox asked, holding out his arms and silently asking permission from Connor to take the baby, who didn't utter a peep.
"He floats, but only in his sleep. He has telepathic communication like his sister, and he has exhibited above-average strength for a child his age."Connor listed.
"He won't react to anything!" M'gann said in distress. Connor squeezed her hand.
"Well, Hardly anything. Wolf will bark in the middle of the night and he won't wake up, Marie will fall from her flight and cry but he just sits there, the tractor will be rumbling right outside but it doesn't seem to bother him. He'll just cry for no reason and I don't know what to do for him," M'gann's lower lip trembled and she crossed her right arm over her chest to hold her left arm. Connor supportively put his arm around her shoulders.
"We'll do what we can, I promise," Wilcox said.
Connor and M'gann were made to wait outside, but Adam assured them he'd stick with Martin until the end. They made a trip to the cafeteria and got some snacks for the kids, watched them play with Allana, and waited impatiently until Adam came back to get them.
"I have some bad news for you," Wilcox said, Handing Martin back to M'gann. He was starting to fuss again, and M'gann hushed him, but that only seemed to make him fuss more.
"What's the bad news?" Connor asked. His eyes flicked between his son and Doctor Wilcox.
Wilcox wrung his hands, prolonging the agony and putting the Kents on edge.
"Martin is deaf."
-------
"Deaf?"
"Yeah," Megan sighed, looking down at her baby boy. She'd hardly been able to put him down since they'd left STAR Labs two days ago. Artemis, Zatanna, Raquel, and Jade had come to visit for their weekly playdate.
Outside, they could hear Lian loudly instructing the other children on how to play Knights and Dragons, with Iris's loud support for her cousin. Someone shrieked at the top of their lungs, and all the mothers ran to the window.
"Marie! Change back right now!" Megan shouted, marching out the front door.
"But Mommy I wanna be a dragon!" Marie whined, shrinking down to a little kid again.
"No. Powers." Megan warned. Marie stepped back, looking hurt and betrayed, and Megan suddenly realized how angry she sounded. Clark was even hiding behind his big sister, and little Wendy's bottom lip was quivering.
"I...I'm sorry..." Megan whispered. Even Martin was starting to fuss again, and M'gann suddenly wanted to cry herself.
"Why don't you kids come inside, I made some snacks!" Zatanna called the kids. Hesitantly, the frightened children went inside, some giving M'gann a wider berth than others.
M'gann sunk down until she was sitting on the front porch steps. She felt a gentle hand on her back, and leaned her head on Artemis's shoulder.
"Oh, Arty, what am I going to do?" She sniffed.
"Hey, you don't have to do anything. You've been doing the best you can. All three of your kids have superpowers, and you just found out that one of them is disabled. You're allowed to feel lousy. Now come on," Artemis gently took Martin and bounced him in her arm, using the other one to pull Megan closer into a hug.
"Go ahead and cry," she encouraged, even as M'gann started to do so.
-------
Connor was in the barn across the field, working on one of many of the Kent tractors.
"You know it's not gonna work again, Daddy."
Connor sighed and dropped the tools in his hands. "And how do you know that, Ri?"
"Cuz grandpapa said so." Marie stood in the doorway of the barn, blue eyes trained on her father with wisdom beyond her years.
"Well..." Connor tried to come up with an excuse, "Granpa's not as optimistic as I am." Marie walked over to see what he was working on, pulling herself onto the driver's seat with all the strength she had in her skinny green arms, and Connor wondered why she didn't just fly.
"What's that mean?" Marie asked.
Connor chuckled, wiping the oil off his hands. "That's right, I forget you're only five."
Marie turned the wheel back and forth. "Why are you and Mommy so mad?"
"What?" Connor stared at his daughter, putting his flannel shirt back on, "we're not mad."
"Yeah-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah- ah! You got me!" Connor exclaimed dramatically. Marie giggled.
"What makes you think we're mad?" Connor prompted.
Marie shrugged. "You both been mad since we saw Adam and 'Lanna for Marty's doctor's a-point-met." She sounded out the long word carefully.
Connor didn't know how to tell his daughter that something was wrong with her little brother any more than he wanted to. Well, not wrong. Different, perhaps, but no more different than they all were, anyways.
"You know Marie, why don't you go play with your friends. They're still here, aren't they? That's why Auntie Artemis kicked me out of the house?"
"I don't wanna." Marie crossed her arms bitterly. "Mommy yelled at me."
Connor raised an eyebrow at Marie.
"Why'd she yell at you?"
Marie rested her chin on the rim of the steering wheel. "I wanted to be a dragon, so I used my powers."
"Marie, you know you can't use your powers outside the house."
"But Mommy yelled at me!" Marie said, clearly convinced which was the greater injustice. "Mommy yells and you don't talk and you're always out here and Clarkie's birthday is in two days and we haven't gotten him a present yet and you didn't take Wolf on a run and Uncle Kal called but you didn't want to talk to him and Mommy hasn't left the house in two days!"
Marie inhaled a deep breath and glared, puffing up her cheeks. Connor just stared at her.
"I...I'm sorry..." Connor whispered.
Marie looked away, not accepting apologies.
"Maire- Princess, come on." Connor set his tools down and picked her up.
"Come on, your mother needs me more than this old thing ever will."
-------
The others had left, but Artemis was still talking with Megan as she changed Wendy's diaper.
"You two need a day off." She observed. "Trust me, that's what Dinah told me when I got married. Just time to step back from your normal civilian and superhero lives and spoil yourselves."
Megan looked at Connor, who was now holding Martin. "Can we really do that?"
"Trust me, you need to. Heck, we all do. I haven't had a night out since Diana turned one. I can set it up with Rick and Kal. The six of us, just like old times." Artemis said.
"But-"
"No buts." Artemis insisted. "Cassie and Bart need money for college, and I'll bet Gar wants some cash whether or not he's going to college."
"He got accepted into an acting school," Megan mumbled.
"Good for him." Artemis said. "Diana! Iris! Time to go!"
There was a scramble of feet as the kids all hurried for a place to hide.
"I'll get them, Connor promised, handing Martin back to M'gann.
Artemis hugged her best friend. "I promise you, it's going to be okay." She said. "He's got telepathy, after all. Maybe it's not as bad as you think."
M'gann wiped a tear from her eye, and managed to smile. "Thank you."
-------
Connor's suit jacket was too small, so he just wore his red button-up. Instead of entrusting their kids to the teens, as they'd originally planned, Rick had volunteered the services of Alfred, Batman's butler. That made him feel immensely better. The British cliche would certainly be much better at remembering instructions than Cassie, Bart, or even Gar, he was sure of it. And if he managed to deal with all of Batman's problematic proteges, a baby speedster and three alien-hybrid kids would be a piece of cake for him.
Still, M'gann felt the need to repeat instructions multiple times, and Artemis and Wally's kids had their own routines to go over as well. Under all the pressure, Alfred hardly looked swayed.
"Okay, okay guys, Rick and Kal are waiting at the limo." Connor tucked M'gann's arm under his, and Wally started to drag Artemis to the door.
"-and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can you give Wendy sugar!" She barked at Alfred.
Connor snorted. And she said that they needed a break.
"Daddy!" Marie threw her arms around his legs, locking them together so that he nearly fell on top of her.
M'gann laughed breathlessly and bent down to kiss Marie's forehead. "You help Mister Alfred take care of your brothers, okay?"
"I will Mommy! Irey brought her Disney Princess makeup kit! We're gonna have so much fun!"
"Well, make sure Clark has something to do too." Connor reminded her.
"Don't worry Daddy, Clarkie wanted Irey to make him look like Snow White, so she's trying out the lipstick with him!"
Beaming like the sun, Marie skipped off to join her friends.
"They'll be just fine guys, now come on! Time is wasting and the night is not getting any younger."
"Neither are you, Baywatch," Artemis finally let him put on her coat and take her out to the limo.
"Finally! Thought you guys would never join us!" Rick held open the limo door for his friends. Kaldur was already inside.
"Where are we going?" Connor squeezed closer to Megan to Rick could have a place to sit.
"That is for me to know and for the stressed-out parents in the car to relax and not worry about."
"My friends, please. Tonight you are to enjoy yourselves," Kaldur said. The car pulled out of the manor's driveway, past the iron gates, and off towards the illuminated city of Gotham.
"Reservations have been confirmed, and don't worry about the costs because I'm paying for everything." Rick instructed.
"You mean Batman's paying," Wally said.
Rick shrugged. It wasn't untrue.
M'gann listened to her friends laugh and leaned her head on Connor's shoulder. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine that they were all seated in the cave, piled in front of the TV instead of inside a posh limo for a night on the town.
"Holy cow the roof opens!" Artemis exclaimed with the excitement of one of her daughters. She unbuckled, pulled back the sunroof and stuck her head out.
She tossed her head back and laughed, letting her hair flow in the Gotham wind.
"I've always wanted to do this! M'gann get up here this is amazing! You gotta try it"
"Don't get hit!"
"Or pulled out!" Their husbands warned. M'gann kicked off her shoes and stood in the middle of the car with Artemis just to spite Connor.
The two fully grown women squealed like a couple of teenagers, resting their arms on the roof of the limo as they drove through.
"It's so much brighter on this side of town than where I grew up," Artemis shook her head. "It's amazing how these two worlds collide."
"Just like my family," M'gann thought, though it was more like three worlds; Mars, Krypton, and Earth. By anyone else's standards, they were far from perfect, but Earth was their home. They'd made it work.
That phrase hit her like a truck.
They had made it work. Uncle J'onn had found her in his ship returning home from Mars, but instead of sending her back he made a place for her on Earth. In a strange way, it all worked out.
Connor was a crazy surprise to everyone, but when Superman rejected him they made him a home with the team at the cave. They made it work.
When secrets threatened to drive them apart, they worked through it. Together.
Aliens invading the Earth? They worked together to stop it.
Somehow, it was all going to be okay.
Sitting in the car below, Connor could sense all the things M'gann was thinking through their bond. Smiling, he realized she was right. Things did work out. Him and M'gann, the Team and the Leauge, who's to say a deaf boy was going to stop them?
Martin was just as powerful as his parents and siblings, if not more powerful, and Connor was going to make sure that his son was a hero, with or without his uniqueness.
Artemis ducked back into the limo to snuggle with Wally, but denied the idea that she was cold. Connor immediately took her spot next to M'gann, who was absolutely undeterred by the cold.
He pulled her close, tilting her chin up for their lips to meet.
"Together?" He asked.
M'gann wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Together."
Yes there is probably more Artemis&M'gann interaction than ConnorxM'gann interaction, but I friggin NEED their friendship in my life. women helping women is the best.