Even heroes have the right to bleed

One for each of us.

Happy Mother's Day.

Love Clark, Zoe and Baby

It's Daddy-Daughter Day. Not a holiday you'd find on any calendar, but Clark thinks it's a good enough name for a random Sunday. Eirene is out visiting her parents and having some well deserved time away from baby. She may not have wanted some, but Clark knew better; you can't spend every minute of every day cooped up in a house with an infant and not need a break now and then. Besides, with him working every day at the Planet and then trying to put the finishing touches on their own house in his time off, he feels like he hasn't been spending enough time with Zoe. Today was the perfect opportunity and he jumped on it.

Clark has quite possibly been in his glory all morning. It didn't matter that he got cereal splashed on his shirt, or that pulling diaper duty all by yourself really isn't all that much fun. Nothing could ruin his mood and being able to make his daughter laugh.

They spent their time wisely, reading books, playing with toys and Clark explaining every little thing Zoe dared point at and ask, “Da?” She now knew what sheep were and probably more about cows than anyone her age ever needed to know. But it'll be necessary later, he justified, so there's no harm in planting the knowledge in her now.

He arranged her blocks in colours for her, pointing out each shade, sang the alphabet song (the English one, anyway) a few dozen times and even managed to work in some constellations when they happened to walk by the chart he has hanging in the hallway. He kept that explanation pretty simplistic. She has plenty of time to learn about spacial components and light speed. ...well, at least a few years, he hopes.

But it wasn't all education. There was peek-a-boo to be played, silly stories acted out with her stuffed toys and quite a few rounds of airplane, complete with Daddy making engine noises. Before Clark knew it, it was time for lunch.

“Da?”

Clark peered over his daughter's fuzzy head to see a picture of Eirene being grabbed at. “That's Mommy. You're such a pretty girl because of her, you know that? Can you say 'mommy'? 'Mama'?”

Wide blue eyes just stared back at him and then Zoe giggled. He grinned back and carried her into the kitchen, getting her strapped into her seat. “You can do it. 'Mama'. She'll be so surprised when she comes home.”

“Maammmmma!”

“That's my girl!” He turned away for a second to grab her bottle. And when he turned back, Zoe was gone. She hadn't slipped out of the straps on her chair, she hadn't fallen. She was gone. Disappeared.

Vanished.

Clark could do nothing but stand there, dumbfounded, bottle in hand and wonder how, exactly, he was going to explain this to his wife.

There's an apartment in Granville. It's small and cozy. In the apartment there is a nursery, decorated in yellows and greens. It's overflowing with stuffed cows, elephants and rhinos. In the nursery, there is a baby, settled into a crib that was lovingly put together by her father.

Said father has barely left her side since they got home. This is so much better than being surrounded by lab technicians day in and day out.