The Memoirs

Clark had put up with a lot of bashing in his young life. One wasn't a farm boy from a hick town called Smallville without having put up with your fair share of bastards, after all. But after four shops, where they were treated like racks of meat rather than customers who were ready to put down thousands of dollars for clothes, Clark gave up, and started calling the shots.

Which is how they ended up at one of the biggest Toys R Us stores in the nation, which had combined one branch of their Babies R Us and Kids R Us together into one multiplex of WOW. Even Clark was impressed. So after parking the car he and Lex had gone back for, he hiked Victoria up on his shoulders, smiled at her, and had led the way to the doors, ignoring Lex's indignant sounds of horror from behind him.

And singing along to the Pocahontas song Ms. Hardwick was singing.

"Coooloors ooff the wiiinnddddd."

Horrified. Indignant. Balking every step of the way. Unable to formulate words of protest.

Take your fucking pick.

Lex had braved this store only once before, when he had gone with Chloe and Shayla, on the weekend when he'd pulled a few strings and had the store emptied for a couple of hours because of a fire drill.

This? This, going in and stirring with the masses of humanity that filled the store to overwhelming proportions?

Absofuckinglutely NOT.

Yeah, well, Clark was ignoring every screaming thought, just smiling happily at the little girl on his back and walked in, nodding cheerfully to the woman behind the coupon counter, who's mouth had fallen open and snagged a cart to set Ms. Victoria in. "Would you like to take a ride, darling?"

"Course I would!" she said, beaming and climbing into the cart. "There's tons of people here!!"

Lex was just... there wasn't words for how he was feeling. "Clark... I'll wait out in the car. Better yet, I'll pull the fire alarm, and have the store emptied in a matter of minutes."

"You will do neither," Clark beamed, smiled at the still gaping coupon lady, and cheerfully ignoring everyone staring at them, walked into the store, pushing the cart with the little girl in it. "So, Madame Victoria, where to first?"

"Barbie shoes!" she crowed, swinging her feet in white socks and little black Mary Janes. "Den jeans like yours!!"

"But not exactly like mine, right? Maybe we should have some with flowers on it and Barbie, what do you think?" Clark asked, his lips twitching into a smile. "And maybe some pretty sweaters?"

"Akay!" she said cheerfully, swinging her feet in their little slots. "Wha's wrong wif Baldy?"

"Baldy doesn't mix well with the rest of humanity, kiddo."

Clark would have said something, if something sharp hadn't panged in his gut. He hunched over the bars for a moment with it, frowning tightly, then rubbed his midsection as soon as the strange cramp had passed. "Ow." His vision cleared though, when he looked up. "Humanity is for suckers, in his opinion. But, Victoria? There's the clothes. You tell me what you like, okay?"

Lex's head shot up at that, and he pushed his way up to stand beside Clark, hand on his lover's shoulder. "Clark?" he asked sharply.

Clark looked over, shaking his head when he felt Victoria's eyes on them. "It's nothing. Got a small cramp. It happened this morning, too… I think its all the worry."

Lex's fingers bit into Clark's shoulder hard as he pulled him back to look at him. "Clark... you'd tell me if something were wrong?" he asked earnestly.

Victoria was quiet, well aware that something was going on, and she just looked quietly from Clark to Baldy and back.

"Learned my lesson, Lex," Clark said back softly, and then gently touched his lover's hand. "I'm just.... hungry. Really hungry." What for? No idea. But now that he was thinking about it, he realized the hunger left him shivery all over. "I think it's a good idea if we get Vicky all she needs and head back to Smallville after we talk to the cops, what do you think?"

Lex nodded his agreement. "Agreed," he said, just as softly, and squeezed Clark's hand tightly. "I just can't help worrying about you." He ran the knuckles of his other hand gently over Clark's cheek. "I love you."

Victoria blinked. "ewww. no icky kissing!"

Clark looked from the seriousness of Lex's eyes to Victoria, and grinned. "No icky kissing. Well, after this." He brushed his lips across Lex's. "I love you. Come on, lets get this finished."

Victoria giggled and made little gagging and smacking noises as they kissed. "Let's go get clotheses!!"

"Or we could shoot ourselves in the head," Lex groused, leaving his hand resting on Clark's hip as they walked through oppressive mass of people milling through the store. "Or everyone else."

The warming hand on his hip, unconscious movement that it was, warmed Clark from the inside out, making him quietly sigh in possessed pleasure. He was Lex's, and everyone knew it, and soon he'd be marked in the scent of him and everyone would smell Lex on his skin, inside of his body, coming out of his every pore.

And no one would dare insult that link between them ever again.

It almost made him growl low in his throat, though he cleared it at the last moment and hid it with a small clearing of his throat, and walked along, smiling as Victoria pointed at things.

Lex's hand stroked warmly, possessively, over Clark's hip, keeping them pressed close without realizing what he was doing. He was, sad to say, thoroughly sick and tired of all the people he used to know assuming that he was the same Lex that he'd been two years ago.

Just because they hadn't changed was no reason for Lex to not change. It made him realize, as he walked with Clark and the little girl in the buggy, that maybe they hadn't been the friends he thought they had been--true enough at the time, but now, shallow and trivial.

He didn't like the thought that he had ever been that shallow and trivial, though he knew he had been, and he was filled with a brief flash of pity for his father for having to put up with his crap.

Victoria was in big blue heaven. She was squealing and pointing at something she wanted every five seconds, and she squealed even more as Baldy responded and picked things up, dropping them into the basket as she pointed. Man, he was a well-trained Baldy.

Clark lifted two sizes of tutu she wanted, then pink socks, then Barbie jeans, then four t-shirts with the Disney Princess group on them. They made their way around the store, and about midway through the clothes Clark realized the store had been totally emptied, and that three people were following them with carts. He turned, eyes wide, and rose a brow at them.

Lilly Ann Moreson had been working at Toys R Us for twelve years.

Never once had anything like this happened.

After four calls to her superiors, and another to the head office, they'd cleared the store and, all three of them terrified to speak, had followed the two men and the little girl none of them had ever seen on the news or anything, and she swallowed, hard as Kent turned to look at her. "Sorry. We're… we're hoping to make your experience with us as pleasurable as possible," she squeaked.

Lex hadn't even noticed. But he was definitely relieved. "Thank you, Miss. This makes it quite easier on us, and we appreciate your consideration." He gave a charming smile. "If there's anything we can do to repay this, don't hesitate to ask; Clark and I are always appreciative of accommodation." His voice grew a little darker, then. "But we're also very appreciative of our privacy. I've already had one problem with receipts and records from this store turning up in hands they shouldn't, and if it happens again, I will have this place permanently shut down, accommodation or not."

Lily Ann blanched. "I-I'm sorry sir," she squeaked, and immediately handed over the extra cart one of her employees was pushing. "here, please, feel free, we'll… be waiting for you whenever you're ready, and don't hesitate to use the in-store phone to call one of us if you need it."

"Thank you," he said calmly, taking Victoria out of the full cart and putting her gently into the empty one he'd just been given. "If you'll take this to the register and hold it for us, we'd be grateful." Charming smile with that.

Clark watched the skittish woman leave with the cart, and something in him, at seeing his lover's obvious strength and courage, made the lance of heat and pain in his belly vice again. Hunger. Such hunger. He hid it, not to scare Lex, and licked the corners of his lips as he looked across the clothes again and let Lex push for a while. "I think we've got enough clothes and shoes, what do you think?" A charming smile down at Victoria. "I got you some underclothes too, baby, that have the princesses on them too, kay? Socks, panties, and t-shirts. Now, lets get you some PJ's, a robe and some slippers, and then we'll look at the toys, what do you say?"

Victoria just looked up at Baldy. "I say youse scary when you're mean, Baldy. Don't you ever be scary to me, kay?"

Lex's hands tightened briefly on the handle of the cart. "I won't be. I promise." He kept pushing, slowly, so that Victoria could see and point at everything she wanted. "I think checking out the toys will be a good idea. Because I want to see if they've got a consumable packaging of the Devlin Porsche, because the one I've got now I've got at home in the Obsession Room, and it's got to stay in mint condition. But, if we can find one here, that means we can open it up and you can drive it around. Would you like that?"

"Whassa Porch?"

"Porsche," Lex said, correcting her pronunciation. "And it's just one of the most beautiful cars in existence today; when we get you back to Smallville, I'll take you for a ride in a real live Porsche... Clark, maybe we should look into a car seat?"

"Hmm?" He looked up, in distraction. "Yes. A booster seat," he answered, as he picked up a pair of PJ's, then another in a size smaller, then two robes like it, and slippers as well. "Whatever doesn't fit can be sent back, right?"

"Or donated to a children's shelter or charitable organization, something that needs donations of good quality clothes for children," Lex answered. "What doesn't fit I'll take to LuthorCorp, and they'll see it's sent to the proper organization."

"Cool," Clark answered, giving Victoria a thumbs up as they walked, and totally ignoring everything going on in the background about Porsches. He was starved, famished, and he didn't know why. It was a nagging thought in the back of his mind that was driving him to distraction, but he fought to stay on the task they'd given themselves. He put a light rain jacket in the cart, right on top of Victoria's head just to hear her squeal of indignation, before he nodded, firmly. They'd gotten to the cribs, booster seats, strollers. He led Lex over to the seats, looking at them a moment before... "That one. For older kids, that has a strap for the belt."

"Load it in," Lex nodded. "We want to keep this little girl safe." He picked the coat up off her head. "Okay under there, Vicky?"

"VICTORIA!" she pouted.

He dropped the coat back on her head. "She's okay."

Clark picked up one of the boxes and set it on the bottom rungs of the cart, making sure it was on firmly before dusting his hands off. "Alright, Ms. Vicky, what do you think about toys?"

Victoria shoved the coat off her head. "I think that I want some!" she said with a little nod. "And youse has to buy them for me!"

"Yes, we's do," Clark grinned down at her, broadly, and lifted her from the pile of clothes, and set her on the floor. "Lead the way, mademoiselle."

She shook her head and held her arms out.

"Nope." he shook his head back. "You show where we wanna go. I need to talk to Lex about grown up things, okay? Let's go look at the Barbies."

"Growed up stuff is boring!" Victoria stomped her foot. "Wanna ride!"

"Victoria," Clark said, in his most serious, most grown up voice. "Be a good girl."

At that, Lex leaned over. "It's genetic, Clark. She pitches a tantrum to get her way. Believe me. I know. The only way to get through it is to give in."

Lex, I don't think I'm safe right now, Clark whispered in his thoughts, because he was too afraid to say it out loud.

What's wrong? Lex looked around at one of the people trailing them. "Take her on to the toys; we'll catch up to you in just a minute." He crouched down. "Victoria? I want you to be nice to these people, because they're going to help you pick out toys. Anything you want, all right? Clark and I need to talk, and then, when we get over there, you can pick out something extra special if you've been a good girl."

She mulled it over. "What you going to give me for bein' good?"

Lex almost answered something sparkly because that's what he'd always gotten her adult version. "Well... how about that big bear in the window that you saw when we came in? If you've been a really good girl, we'll get you one of those."

"Okay!!!!" She jumped up and down, and then darted off to the toys while one of the employees followed her with the cart, racing after her and leaving them relatively alone.

"Clark?" he asked again, once they were alone.

"Something is wrong," Clark said, very quietly. "Everything feel's strange. Lex, I think I'm going into my molt," Clark said, very softly, his Adams apple bobbing tightly. "This is the time of year I go into it, remember? I think my dad said I'd have one more, Lex, and I feel like if I don't get a few gallons of orange juice"--starving, hungry, so hungry--"into me I'm going to do something drastic."

Lex nodded. "I'd almost forgotten it was your molting time." He frowned. "and with Victoria here, it couldn't be a worse time." He looked at her about ten aisles over, running up and down and chucking things into the basket, then pulled out his wallet. "Here," he said, counting out fifty dollars. "Run, and I do mean run, to the nearest store. Get as much juice as you need and we'll meet you in the parking lot out by the car, all right? I'll tell Victoria you went to the bathroom and are going to meet us outside."

His fingers were trembling, and a little clammy, when they touched Lex's. "Its a little early for it, a few weeks, but this is what it feels like. If this is a "lose it all in one whack" year, there may be a problem," Clark answered, throat bobbing tightly. "See you in a few minutes. I'll call your dad, alright?"

"I'll make sure that we're all safely out of the way once we get home, and we'll re-key the lab to handprint lock for you and me only." He squeezed Clark's fingers tightly. "We survived it last year, with a little bit of hair to show for it, we'll make it through this year."

At that, his teeth flashed and his dimples winked. "You were so cute with that beard." He kissed his lover on the cheek and turned, pulling out his cell and leaving the toy store, with the curious gazes of the other workers on his back. The parking lot was empty so it was a fairly easy thing to cross the street, as he dialed Lionel's cell.

Lionel was in the middle of reading. "... Hermione said, with a frown as she closed her book." He picked up the phone and turned the book down to save his place. "Luthor."

"Hi. Me, Lionel. Um… plans have changed."

Dominic lifted his head blearily as his lover spoke in the phone, but he was too tired and too drugged to care, as he rolled his head back to the left and fell back to sleep.

"Is everything all right, Clark? You sound a little upset." He leaned forward, suddenly alert.

"Oh, I'm pretty upset. Some...thing happened last year, that happens every year, that's happening again. To me. It just started while Lex and I were in the toy store with Victoria… I'm stopping to get some orange juice, and then we're headed for Smallville, all right?"

Lionel nodded. "Have there been any... incidents so far? And do you need me to return to Smallville? I can be there in a few hours, but I have to make arrangements for Dominic to be watched while I'm away," he said.

"No, it should be all right. I won't...you know, for a few days. Probably be miserable, but I'll be okay," Clark answered. "I might go ahead of Lex and Victoria...will you help Lex get the paperwork cleared for he and I to care for Victoria?"

Lionel nodded. "Consider it done, Clark, don't worry. You just worry about taking care of yourself, and the rest will fall into place. I'll have the papers drawn up by the staff tomorrow, and they'll be signed first thing Monday morning." He blinked. "This is Saturday, isn't it?"

"Saturday," Clark said, with a little smile. "I'm sorry to put you through more, Lionel, with all the worries you have going on, but I don't think any of you want to see my skin falling off in chunks."

"Don't be sorry, Clark. You're part of the family now, and the Luthors take care of their own. You're one of us. Everything will be taken care of," Lionel reassured.

"We'll see you soon, Lionel, thank you."

"You're welcome, Clark. Be careful, and take care. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything else." Lionel hung up after Clark did, and then started to call the LuthorCorp legal staff, rousting them out of their weekend stupors to file paperwork for first thing Monday morning.

And Clark? Clark did as he was told. He went to the nearest Albertson's and bought four gallons of juice with the spare change in his pocket--and a lint ball, but the cashier had been charmed rather then disgusted--and Clark stopped outside of the grocer, phone back to his ear and calling Lex.

The hunger in his belly was increasing. Badly. He needed to get home before anything else happened.

Lex had Victoria up in his arms, pulling down one of the biggest and most purple bears he'd ever seen in his life, and he wondered how it was going to be delivered, because it was likely bigger than the car's back seat. But, it wasn't his problem.

When the phone rang, he put her in the floor with the bear, and answered the phone. "Lex Luthor."

"It's me, babe. I bought the juice... I'm going to go straight home, all right? My dad's there, don't worry. Just come home."

"All right," Lex answered. "I'll have all the things choppered into Smallville; they'll probably get there at the same time we do, or a little after us, because we'll take the LuthorCorp chopper to Smallville and it can drop us off on the east lawn."

"Kay. I love you," Clark said softly, hung up, and with a swallow, shoved his phone in his back pocket. He picked up the gallons of frosty orange juice, and as soon as he was finally enough on the outskirts of the 'burbs surrounding Metropolis, took off running. His tennis shoes beat gravel and pavement so hard and fast he was almost sure they were smoking, as he skid through counties, leapt over lakes, and finally, after six minutes of flat out running, reached the mansion.

He opened the front door, panting, his belly vicing and twisting like he hadn't eaten in days and days and days, and he whimpered softly as he went up the steps with his juice and set them in the hall outside of his fathers room. "Father?"

Jor-El was sitting in the middle of the floor, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his crossed knees as he meditated. "Come in, Kal-El," he called out, keeping his eyes closed and his thoughts centered on the images of Krypton that he was calling forth in his mind, his focal point for his meditations of the day.

Clark opened the door with trembling fingers, heart still racing, and nearly bit into his lip. "I'm sorry to bother you, father. I just wanted to let you know I'm… I think I'm starting my molt, and I'm going to find something to eat--I'm starving. Will you keep me company?"

Jor-El's eyes opened at that, and he started laughing. "Molt?" is all that he could force out as he gestured for Clark to come inside and sit as he tried to tamp down the hysterics.

Clark watched his father burst into laughter, and in turn, he burst into tears. "I hate being an alien!" he wailed, even as he came forward as his father gestured for him to do, flumping on the ground and burying his face in his hands.

Jor-El reached out and brought his son into a hug, even as his chest still heaved with laughter, smiling widely into his hair as he rocked Kal-El in his arms.

Clark wrapped his arms tightly around his jurnai and sniffled into his shoulder, still crying a little but it tampered off until he was just sniffling, shuddering with little heaved sighs as his father held him in his arms. "I'm hungry," he said, miserably, against his fathers neck. "What's wrong with me?"

"If you're hungry, then eat," Jor-El said, still laughing softly. "You should not need my advice on this."

"But no matter what I eat I'm still hungry!" Clark wailed against his fathers shoulder. "I tried already! It's like my stomach's all knotty!"

Jor-El burst out into fresh peals of laughter, as he held his son tightly. "Kal-El, my son, you are still thinking like a human, though I don't fault you for it. Think like a Kryptonian; what have you had recently that has sated your hunger?" he asked, loading the question with much hidden meaning. "Most likely that you've asked your aushna' to provide you with again?" he continued, willing Clark to make the connection.

Clark wailed as his father cracked up, his chin trembling like mad even as he sniffled, hard, against his fathers shoulder. "Pie?"

"So that is what you are calling it now, pie." Jor-El hid gales of laughter in the beard that covered the lower half of his face. "That would explain quite a few references I've seen on television lately."

"Not even pecan pie will do it!" Clark sobbed, even as his father laughed, the whole thing going WHOOSH over his head. "Should I try lemon meringue??"

Jor-El could not speak for several moments as he was doubled over with hysterical laughter, deep baritone peals that rang out through the room.

Finally, when he could speak, he shook his head. "Kal-El. My son. When you said pie... you meant literally, the pastry crust filled with a fruit or sweet filling?"

Clark was just sobbing. "Of c-course I did! What are you talking about?? Will pie make it stop?? I'm so hungry!" he wailed even as his father laughed, and his chin was all trembly and his hair sticking up in five hundred directions.

"When you are older, Kal-El, and have children of your own, which will be soon, you will understand a parent's amusement at their child's inability to see what is right in front of their noses." He was still snickering heartily as he leaned over and whispered into Kal-El's ear exactly what would stop the hunger.

Clark leaned forward as his father came close and whispered in his ear and what--

"OH MY GOD!"

Jor-El had just gotten himself under control again, but his son's reaction set him off again, and he was laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath. He could not bear to look at the shocked expression on Kal-El's face, because every time he did it sent him further into hysterics.

"I can't do that!" Clark all but bellowed, a hot blush rising in his cheeks because just a few hours ago he'd begged his lover for it, *pleaded* him for it. "Are you joking?? Father! How long does he… and I.... how long??"

"It differs from mate to mate," Jor-El explained, eyes still sparkling with mirth. "It can be anywhere from hours to weeks."

"Weeks?!" Clark cried, horror stricken. "This hunger will continue like this if I don't... for weeks??" He almost sobbed. "Why, why now, why me?"

"Kal-El, as with every child, you do not listen to your father." He sighed. "Last year, when you came to me in the ship, I told you that you were in your last season, and you had shed your final skin. You have grown larger, into your adult proportions, in every way, including your private areas. You are an adult now, mature physically as well as emotionally, and you have found your bondmate. This is the final step of your maturation."

"To crave nothing and go insane with the need for his come for weeks on end?!" Clark cried, horrified. "I can't...WE can't! He has a job and I have school and this is driving me to distraction!"

"Then you must make time," Jor-El said.

He glared at his father for the no duh in that comment, but then bit his lip and thought for a moment. "Will… if… we... a lot in one sitting, will… will it stop the symptoms for a little while?"

"For a time, yes." Jor-El's fingers steepled together. "But not for very long. It's a compulsion you must fulfill, my son. Or it will drive you mad."

"I can't leave class mid way through the period and go home to...do terribly vulgar things to my lover," Clark said, a hot flush rising in his cheeks as he sniffled and sat his cheek on his fathers shoulder. "It sucks being me."

"Then you will wait until after your class is over and run to wherever your aushna' is," Jor-El said, with no small amount of amusement. "Your world seems to complicate things terribly. Were we on our world, there would be no need to worry about this; the couple would merely be secluded until the compulsion was filled."

Clark's lower lip trembled again, but he sniffled, and lifted his head. "After this is over, it'll be safe for babies?"

Jor-El nodded. "It will be safe for you to bear children, yes."

"Is there any other weird stuff coming that I need to know about?" Clark suddenly asked, lifting his head. "Though once you've lactated and produced goo in your butt there isn't much else to be had, but what else should I expect?"

"It would not be wise for Kenep to consume your fluids during this time," was Jor-El's only comment. "It could cause some... unexpected side effects."

His eyes widened. "Like?"

"It could affect his cellular structure in such a way that he could temporarily grow organs or such that he should not have, much as the hormone you secrete during your shedding would cause a rapid correction in human cellular imbalances."

"By body fluids, do you mean spit too?" Clark suddenly asked, looking up at his father.

"No. Only semen and urine--the extremely personal fluids." He held up his hands. "I neither know nor want to know your practices with your aushna'. I'm merely giving you all the information."

"I don't pee on him," Clark said, a stubborn edge to his jaw as he glared upward, but then lifted his head and sighed. "All right. So, kissing, in. His mouth on me, out. Check. Is having sex okay?"

"As long as protective barriers are used so that no fluids are exchanged, then yes, it is permissible, but I wouldn't recommend wasting it."

He nodded, sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "This sucks. I'm gonna… go drink some juice and wait for Lex, kay?"

Jor-El nodded. "It does do well to make sure your throat is well-supplied with soothing beverages and your jaw exercised," he offered helpfully before breaking down into helpless snickers again.

Clark glared vehemently at him and rose, as gracefully to his feet as he could, with the gnawing, raw hunger in his belly. "Oh, right, because of course you didn't go through this." A moment, and his eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. "Did you?"

"Yes, I did," Jor-El said. "And Lara was quite gracious, though quite sore, by the time it was done."

Clark's lips twitched, and he turned, opening the door. "See you in a while, father. If someone screams, don't come unless someone's dead."

Jor-El offered one last bit of advice. "You might occasionally want to change positions, so you and your aushna' don't get cramped from the same one for a long period of time, and don't forget that he can manually assist, if you get tired, as long as you are allowed to... ah... participate in the culmination."

Clark glared, furiously. "You're enjoying this, aren't you father?"

"Of course I am. And when it happens to your children, you will enjoy it too," he said between laughs.

Clark sniffled hoitily, tossed his head back, and regally left the room, closing it behind him.

Of course, about five seconds afterward he hunched over, grasping his tense stomach and whimpering as he hobbled to the bedroom and shut the door.

Jor-El followed to the bedroom and spoke through the door. "Heat will soothe the ache, Kal-El."

He whimpered from somewhere in the mess of blankets he'd fallen on, curled up in a ball. "I'm hungry," he cried, tears flushing through his eyes again. "And Lex won't be here for at least another hour."

Jor-El opened the door and stood in the doorway, sober, but eyes still twinkling. "Kal-El. Drink your orange juice, then warm a blanket and wrap it around you thusly," he said, demonstrating with one that had fallen to the floor. "It will help to soothe the ache until Kenep comes home, if not dull the hunger."

Clark sniffled, miserably, and lifted his head enough to pull one of the bottles toward him, breaking the lid from the plastic to open it, and upturned it, drinking several long, thick swallows before setting the bottle down on the bedside table. He lifted himself enough to wrap one of the extra blankets on their bed around his belly and hips, then tugged the blankets over him and sniffled quite piteously into his pillow.

Jor-El came into the room and settled onto the bed. He pulled Kal-El's head into his lap, and he started to sing. Soothingly and quietly, the Kryptonian words flowed out of him like a river in his deep voice.

Clark lifted his head when his father climbed onto the bed beside him, and let himself curl against his fathers legs as he was sung to like a child.

Well, goddammit, he deserved it.

He listened to the foreign language, the language he himself spoke but nothing like this, nothing so easily murmured, and he closed his eyes as he listened, sleep starting to tug him under as his belly cramped again, making him jerk and hiss before soothing out once more.

Jor-El never paused in his song as he murmured in his mind to his son. Use your abilities to warm to blankets around you; the cramps will ease if the muscles are relaxed, and only the hunger remains.

Oh.

Duh.

He opened his eyes, squinting so only a slit was open to let the heat from his eyes through, and after a few moments he felt the blankets warming toastily around his middle and chest, and his muscles all relaxed as one. Oh. Oh, that felt good. He closed his eyes again, the warming blanket of love and protection from his jurnai tugging him into his dreams.

Jor-El smiled, and his song switched to another as soon as the first was done, his arms tight around his son as he helped to ease him into sleep.

 

-fin-

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