thexsuperxboy

“Yes, good answer Conner Kent,” Stephanie said with a grin and a pat on his chest. “Men have all the good pockets. We can barely fit our phones in our pockets. Guys have like, Mary Poppins Pockets. Beyond the pockets what do you think? I’m trying not to embarrass The Family.”

Conner sighed standing up and taking Stephanie’s hands. “Tim loves you, you know that right? You’ve got to stop thinking you’re not good enough for him. You are the most stable bat right now. Dick’s MIA. Tim is, well we both know what Tim’s going through. Barbara is floating with out a purpose. And Jason is gone. You are keeping this family together and you have to start giving yourself some credit for it. There’s no way you could embarrass them.”

“What? Wait, Conner. Please stay,” Clark pleaded. “Jon and Jordan sleep through more noise than you can imagine, including Lois trying to get something off the top shelf and consequently shattering a few dishes. It’s happened more than a few times. Trust me, they’ll sleep through some light conversation.”

Konner stood staring at the twins. Had he ever been that small? He wished he had knew more about his own growth and development. “I-I don’t want to hurt them. They’re so small,” he said quietly. He was terrified of the twins in a way he had never been around Lux. They were his brothers? half-brothers? Can clones have siblings he pondered to himself. 

The familiar sound of Conner’s solid gait soaked Tim’s bones with a much needed comfort; it embraced him like a blanket. His hand dropped out along the edge of the bed and motioned the super boy closer. He allowed his dangling leg to drop to cross over the other to provide him space on the bed. 

“She left because it was the best thing to do for Lux.” He countered softly. “Please don’t be angry at her. She did what I asked her to do and that’s to protect our daughter. Just like you promised her that you’d keep an eye on me. You’re not very light on those twinkle toes, Conner.” 

Conner grinned at his best friend and his slipped on the bed talking softly not to wake Steph. She had looked so tired and haggard when he had seen her earlier. 

Conner studied Tim’s face and then Steph’s, “You look better. You both do. You need each other. I’m not sure if you would have survived much longer with out her and Lux, Tim. It worries me how dependent you are on her.”

Stephanie held tight to Conner. Conner was Tim’s brother. Lux’s uncle and Stephanie could see the pain he was in. He needed to know that she was on his side no matter what, even when she disagreed with his choices. With each story, she saw a weight lift from him. She hadn’t realized how tightly wound Conner had been. How could she have missed it?

She took a shaky breath; Conner was playing with Kryptonite. He could have killed himself. But more than that, he had revealed himself to someone. What if Alicia had hurt him, had sold him out? She knew Conner cared for the woman, but every red flag had gone up anytime someone mentioned Alicia’s name. “Conner, in the future, please don’t hide this from us. There are so many Kryptonites out there, and they could hurt you or worse. “

Conner felt the world lifting from his shoulders as he told Stephanie about the Alicia he knew. It was like revealing a piece of his soul and letting Stephanie heal it piece with each story.

He sighed, he knew that they wouldn’t like the idea of him messing with Kryptonite, but he could also admit that he had been in the wrong to keep it secret. His closeness to Steph and Tim was no secret. He could easily expose them and all their secrets if given the wrong Kryptonite. 

“Sometimes, but naivety is not a bad thing, Conner. It gives you hope. It’s something I hope you never lose. And yeah, you could call me jaded. This whole thing has been worse than any nightmare I could dream up.”

Dawn chuckled, “I wish. That would make things easier. Time loops can be broken by the person trapped. But this isn’t that. My Earth runs ahead of yours in time. Here, you have all of your Bats, but Bruce Wayne is a villain on my Earth. And the only Bats left are Barbara and her birds. I lost Jason right before I came here. “

“You can tell me if you want. Stephanie says I’m a good listener,” Conner offered. “Maybe talking about it will help the hurt?”

Red eyes, that was something that he just saw on Kriptonians before, “Hey, calm down,” he would end up hurting someone if he let his anger take over, “Remember all the people you saved, remember why we do this, so others don’t feel what you’re feeling right now. Because we have empathy, because your friends wouldn’t want you to give up, they would want you to keep going.”

“It’s not fair,” Conner cried out picking up a rock and throwing it at a building where it lodged itself several inches in the the brick. Conner stood there panting staring at the brick and what he had done. He took a deep breath and turned back to the stranger. “She was my friend. It’s not fair that she’ll never get to live her life.”

Stephanie put aside the cooking and moved across the apartment to sit on Conner’s coffee table in front of him and took his hand letting him talk about his friend. Maybe she would’ve liked Alicia if she had, had the time. She could see how Conner had started falling for the woman. She smiled as he talked about what how he felt belittled and mistreated. It didn’t matter that they had done it from a place of love. It hurt him, that hurt Stephanie. “I’m sorry. Tim and I are overprotective of you. We don’t mean to make you feel like a child. I’ll talk to Tim and we’ll make a better effort of making sure we include you in discussion and not just tell you decisions. She was the one that made you sick, you were messing with Kryptonite weren’t you and she was helping you?”

Conner smiled squeezing Stephanie’s hand as he talked about his friend. The girl he knew, not the mask everyone else saw. When Stephanie admitted that she and Tim did treat him like a kid, but promised to do better, he was grateful. They loved him. He didn’t doubt that for a moment. But he needed to learn and to make mistakes. He didn’t want to be a burden to them, and he would only become his own person if she and Tim let up on babying him. 

“It means we apricate your innocence. It’s hard to keep in this line of work. A lot of us are jaded. Some more then others,” Dawn said shrugging. 

“Lived a version before. In my world Jason Todd was my other half. Hank and I never worked out. Dick was, well Dick always in love with a certain redhead. The one that could’ve been the love of my life I let fly away in space. And the one that made me feel again sacrificed himself for the greater good.” 

“Is that the same as naïve,” Conner asked, “Are you jaded?”

“You’re cute. Let me guess not from around here,” Dawn asked. This kid was sweet. He was scared and innocent. Screw the capes that got him involved in all of this. 

“Cassandra was the Trojan Princess that Apollo gave the power of foresight to, but when she spurned his advances, he cursed her where no one would believe her visons. So she saw the collapse of Troy coming and no one would listen when she would warn people of the coming threat. I can relate.”

“Every says that. I don’t think it’ meant as a compliment any more.”

Stephanie busied herself in the kitchen letting Conner answer in his own time. It’s what family did. They let each other talk when they were ready. When he finally admitted that Alica had been important to him. She sighed the not knowing what could have been is what was going to drive Conner to madness. The if’s, should’s, could’ve beens. She was all too aware of those feelings. “Tell me about her,” Stephanie asked. She wouldn’t demand. She’d make him clam up if she did; but letting Conner talk about his friend in his own time, letting him know she’d listen, that was the best thing she could do for him. 

“There’s no way to be sure that you would be able to stop it if you were there,” he knew it was hard to understand when you’re consumed by guilt, but like he said, many things were meant to be, and you can’t stop it.

“Then what’s the point,” Conner demanded frustration filling his words. “What’s the point of being different if I can’t protect the people I love,” Conner yelled his eyes turning a bright red. He was losing control of his powers in his emotional state.

“We’re having breakfast for dinner,” Stephanie informed the alien, “It’s the best thing when things are going bad. Why do you think I perfected it?” She busied herself in the kitchen, pulling out all the supplies. She knew they would be there. She was too often a visitor for them not to be.

She smiled as she watched the stress drain from Conner’s body. He had been wound so tightly over the last few days. Stephanie knew she couldn’t stay away from him any longer. He needed her. Conner needed Lux. He needed to know they were both alive and safe. “She was really important to you, Alica Baker, I mean,” Stephanie said, pausing to watch Conner’s reaction.

Conner sat rocking Lux in his arms watching as Stephanie fussed around his kitchen. He was glad to see her, but he could see the stress around her eyes and her shoulder that were tight and ready for a fight. Steph was in flight or fight mode and he wondered exactly how long she had been in this mode. Had she had an rest since Tim’s arrest?