Chapter 1 – A Falling Star

(June 18th, 1995 – Smallville, Kansas – 11:37)

"Well, that was possibly the worst movie I have ever seen." Martha shook her head as she looked out of the passenger-side window of the truck at the night sky and the endless fields of corn. "I mean, really, The Avenging Squad: Revenging? What was that for a title, and that actor looked nothing like Soldier Boy."

Martha directed her question at the man in the passenger seat driving the truck back to their farm. Jonathan Kent just let out a low chuckle as he shook his own head agreeing with his wife, the movie had been a massive bust and had basically ruined his plans for a nice night out. That thought caused him to wince. They needed a distraction, tonight especially, ever since they received the results from the hospital which had turned their whole world upside down.

"Hey, don't blame me. Ethan told me it was a great movie and better than the last Vought film the Talon showed." Jonathan defended himself giving a chuckle at the snort his wife gave at his defence.

"Sure, right, blame Ethan for YOUR bad taste in films." Martha snorted at her husband's feeble attempt to defend his terrible movie choices. "So was it Ethan that also suggested all those god-awful G-Men movies that you used to drag me to?"

"Hey!" Jonathan stated in mock indignation as he quickly glanced at his wife. "Those movies were goo-…. Well, some… I mean … the first one was good. Right?"

Martha was stone silent as she raised a single eyebrow at her husband before she could no longer hold back. She burst into hysterics keeling over forward as she started to laugh, Jonathan opened his mouth to try to defend himself, but he too suddenly started laughing. He actually had to grip the steering wheel tighter to prevent himself from causing the car to slip off the road and brought a hand up to his face to wipe away the tears.

"Oh god, they were pretty horrible right?" Jonathan asked his wife as he tried to subdue his laughter and wipe away the tears in his eyes.

"YES!" Martha exclaimed, having wiped away her own tears as she just looked at her husband with loving affection. "Why on earth did you take me to watch them if you knew they were awful?"

"Well, they were Vought films. You know, they were edgy, dramatic, everyone said they were cool, and they were all Rated-R," Jonathan started reminiscing about their high school days giving his wife a loving glance. "I wanted to impress you back then, appear kinda like a -"

"Rebel?" Martha finished her husband's statement, earning a chuckle from him and a nod of his head.

"Yeah, like a rebel. All cool and suave, a real bad boy." Jonathan replied, giving his wife a mischievous grin and glance that earned him a slap on the chest from her.

"Oh, stop it you old fool." Martha shook her head in disbelief as she let out a chuckle. "You know if you had wanted to seem like a rebel, you might have tried not dressing in your work clothes when you picked me up after begging your Pa for his truck?"

"Wait, you knew about that?" Jonathan asked in genuine shock, as he genuinely thought Martha had had no idea that he had begged, nearly on his hands and knees, to use the truck. He was now determined to figure out who had tattled on him. "Who told you?"

"Jonathan Hiram Kent, you live in a town called 'Smallville', EVERYONE knew that you begged your Pa for this old thing," Martha stated bluntly emphasising her point by hitting the roof with her knuckles a few times. "…..and for your information, it was Nell that told me."

"Nell told you?!" Jonathan exclaimed in mock disbelief feeling slightly betrayed that one of his oldest friends had sold him out in high school.

"Yeah, but she was jealous that you had asked me out. Nell had a huge crush on you all throughout high school" Martha had a triumphal smirk on her face at the recapping of her first dates with her husband. "She was trying to get me out of the way, not that it would ever have worked."

Martha then leaned over and planted a quick kiss on her husband's cheek causing him to feel instantly better about himself. However, once Martha was sat back down in her seat a mischievous grin appeared on his face and gave a quick sly glance at his wife.

"Sooo, Nell had a thing for me in High School?" Jonathan stated with mock enthusiasm as he raised his eyebrows at his wife with a grin on his face.

"Oh, you bastard!" Martha chuckled in her own mock rage as she started slapping her husband's arm in rage.

"OW, OW, OW Okay, okay I yield," Jonathan exclaimed as he tried to shimmy out of the way of his wife's attacks whilst also focused on keeping the truck on the road. "You know I only ever had eyes for you."

"Sweet talking will only get you so far," Martha stated as she ceased her attacks a grin settled on her face as she returned to looking out of the window at the endless fields.

The pair fell into a comfortable silence for a while, happy to just be content in each other's company as they returned home. However, after a few minutes, Jonathan heard a deep sigh escape from his wife's lips that she had evidently been trying to hide. As he looked over at her, despite being turned away from him he knew his wife had the same pensive sorrowful look on her face that she had had for the past several days.

'Ever since we had that dammed meeting.' The thought slipped into his mind causing him to grip the steering wheel tighter causing his knuckles to go white. He couldn't blame that look for appearing on her face, his wife had always been thoughtful and sensitive. It was why he loved her, so how else would her grief manifest but as quiet mournful thoughts in her head. They had cried initially when they learnt that neither of them could have children, but after that Martha had become withdrawn and he often caught her staring into space.

He on the other hand had reacted poorly, which is why he had wanted a nice quiet night out that the godawful Vought movie had ruined. Jonathan had cried and then thrown himself into his work like he always did when he got terrible news. He had barely stopped moving in over 3 days, refusing to go to bed until well past dark, eating cold meals Martha had left out, and rising long before she got up.

He had also all but trashed the baby room he and Martha had set up on the first night back from seeing the fertility clinic. Far from his proudest moment, he could still remember and would like to recall for the rest of his life the blank expression Martha had given him upon finding him a completely wrecked room. The only thing he hadn't broken was the crib, which was mostly because it was a family heirloom and carved from heavy oak, even Jonathan, a fully grown man, would have a hard time damaging it.

"It's going to get better." Jonathan let out a low sigh as he turned to look at his wife.

"The weather? Oh yes, we should be in for sun all next week," Martha responded, not really looking at her husband, her eyes still focused on the fields of corn outside.

"No that's not wh-" Jonathan let out a deep sigh as he stopped himself from talking trying to find the right words. "I know it's tough right now, but I also know it's going to get better."

"HOW Jonathan? How is it going to get better?" Martha was still turned away, but he could tell she was fighting back tears. "HOW DO YOU possibly know it's going to get better?!"

"Because I love you," Jonathan responded immediately, taking one hand off the steering wheel to place it on his wife's shoulder, but she recoiled slightly from his touch.

"How can you, when I'm the one causing all of this?" Martha's voice was barely above a whisper as she started sobbing but her husband still heard her.

"Dear god, Martha, you are not the one causing this." Jonathan's heart sank into his stomach as he felt tears of his own threaten to break free. "I love you, now and forever. Nothing, and I mean nothing is ever going to change that."

Martha didn't respond, she just continued looking at the window gazing at the meteor shower which had started to fill the sky as she fought back tears clearly not believing her husband. He had wanted kids since High School, and now he would never have them, all because of her. She felt so useless.

"Martha, please look at me," Jonathan stated softly. He squeezed her shoulder trying to comfort her when she merely squirmed, then he spoke again even softer.

"Please."

"Jonathan." Martha sighed despondently turning to face her husband again, her eyes leaving the streaking lights in the heavens as the meteor shower intensified. "Please just stop, I know you're angry with me, that you hate me because -"

"WHOA HEY, I don't hate you." Jonathan cut of his wife in shock, almost indignant that she could believe such a thing. "What on earth makes you think-… what have I EVER done that makes you think that I could ever hate you?!"

"Jonathan please." Martha closed her eyes as she let out a deep sigh, feeling the pain in her heart at having to drudge everything up again. "I saw what you did to the baby room and you've hardly spoken to me in 2 days. It's pretty clear that you hate me."

"Oh, horse shit!" Jonathan exclaimed in retort to his wife's declaration.

"Jonathan!" Martha exclaimed in shock, momentarily forgetting her grief. Her husband hardly ever cursed. She had known him since before high school, and she could count on both hands the number of times he had used foul language and still have fingers left.

"No, I'm serious. That's a load of horse puckey. I am not angry with you; I'm not upset either." Jonathan pressed on wanting to make sure his wife understood that he was serious. "I trashed the baby room because I was pissed at myself for failing you, and also for the same reason I haven't spoken to you for two days. Because I am an arrogant asshole and a damn fool. If anyone needs to ask for forgiveness it's me. Can you?"

"Oh Jonathan." Martha was genuinely touched at her husband's statement and then a little relieved that her fears of their marriage breaking down were unfounded. "Of course, I forgive you."

"Well, that's good. Otherwise, whatever kid we ended up with, was going to be a messed-up piece of work if we hated each other." Jonathan joked his voice bringing some levity back into the serious atmosphere that had engulfed the antique truck.

"But Jonathan, you know that I can't -" Martha stated her voice going low as she herself went slightly pale, worried that he had lost his mind.

"So Who cares! There are other ways of having a kid, like adoption. Your sister works for Vought International, they run all those children's hospitals and care centres, maybe she can help." Jonathan offered with an excited grin on his face as he tried to restore his wife's spirits.

"Jonathan." Martha laughed as she sighed, loving his attempts to make her feel better, but also, she knew she had to be the voice of reason to her husband's constant optimism. "Adoption is expensive and difficult. We spent so much at those clinics and the farm isn't doing so well."

"I know, but we can make it work." Jonathan stated planting a small his on his wife's forehead as he looked into eyes with adoration.

"And if we can't?" Martha asked worried about what would happen to them if adoption also proved a dead end.

"Wellllll," Jonathan stated in a very sarcastic and loud tone earning an eyeroll from his wife. "In that very unlikely case. I guess we will just have to be the cool childless Aunt and Uncle that spoil your sister's kids rotten whenever they come to visit it."

"Oh really?" Martha asked raising her eyebrows and releasing a chuckle at her husband's relentless positive attitude.

"Oh yes indeed. I'm thinking mountain bikes for the boys and maybe a pony for that girl of hers. I'll start driving a motorcycle and wearing a leather jacket. Just like Five-Oh, yessiree I am going to be one radical Uncle." Jonathan declared with a grin that earned him a guffaw and a slap from his wife as she shook her head at his silly antics.

"Oh what am I going to do with you – JONATHAN, LOOK OUT!" Martha's voice suddenly shrieked as the windshield became filled with a massive bright light.

Jonathan hit the brakes hard as he too saw the light and feared his lack of attention had caused him to drift into the other lane into oncoming traffic. He also swerved and felt the front of his truck scrape against something that was streaking in front of him. His efforts proved in vain as whatever was in front of him caused the front of the truck to jolt to the side which combined with his swerving resulted in him ending up in the ditch at the side of the road.

"Martha are you okay?" Jonathan immediately turned to face his wife his hands going to her checking her to make sure she was alright; he was beyond relieved when a groan escaped her lips.

"I'm okay." She said hesitantly lifting her head up feeling a small bruise present from where it had been hit. "What did we hit?"

Jonathan made a move to answer when he suddenly felt the whole truck jostle again and lurch to the side, as a bright light illuminated the truck from outside briefly. The light quickly disappeared and as he looked outside his window to see what was happening, he saw a streaking trail of scorched earth and burning corn heading into the fields. He also heard what sounded like a series of small explosions, that was followed by the ground shaking slightly causing his truck to jostle again.

"Jonathan, what's happening?" Martha's voice sounded out next to him, it was clear she was scared she tried to move closer to him. "Is it an earthquake?"

"I have no idea," Jonathan responded hesitantly as he looked outside and saw the sky was now truly streaking with meteors, he unclipped his seat belt and opened his door. "Stay here, I'm going to see what is happening."

"Jonathan please -" Martha reached out for her husband who turned and grabbed her hand to pat it reassuringly.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere but I need to check that the truck is okay" Jonathan reassured his wife before he moved outside to check the front axle.

He struggled to keep his balance as he felt the ground constantly shifting beneath his feet, as bright lights were bursting forth illuminating the horizon, followed by the sound of small explosions. Jonathan's question as to what was happening was quickly answered as he saw a small meteor streak overhead and crash in the field across the road. The meteor strike was accompanied by the ground shaking again and a Jonathan stumbling to his knees, his arms flailing out and catching the side of the truck.

"Jonathan?" Martha's voice cried out accompanied by the sound of the truck door opening and slamming shut. He quickly spotted her as she came around the other side of the truck worry on her face, which turned to panic as she saw him on the ground. "Oh my god, Jonathan are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jonathan stated a wince escaping from his lips as he stood up feeling sore from where he landed on the ground, as he stood up he reached out to hold his wife terrified she was outside. "Honey, you should wait in the truck."

"I'm not leaving you out here while the world looks to be endi-" Martha was cut off by the sound of another series of explosions in the distance and the ground quaking causing her to clutch her husband tight.

The two stayed where they were, secure in each other's arms as the world continued to shake around them. After what felt like an eternity for them both the rumbling and the bright bursting lights of the meteor strikes ceased. As Martha cautiously removed her head from her husband's shoulder, she cast a glance at the sky and saw that it was now clear. The stars were no longer falling and everything was quiet again.

She gave a sigh as she looked up at her husband's face. A smile of relief formed, and they took solace that the worst was all over. She moved to speak when suddenly a loud shrill sound rang out into the air that caused both of them to turn in its direction. The noise was unmistakably coming from the fiery trail of the large meteor that had streaked past them and created a path of desolation through the field nearby.

"Jonathan that's a -" Maratha stated her eyes wide as she heard the noise ring out again.

"A… baby?" Jonathan finished his wife's sentence his eyes to going wide, before his instincts kicked in and he started running towards the noise, quickly followed by his wife.

As he raced down the fiery scorched path that a meteor had created only to suddenly stop as he saw that it was no meteor. Standing or more accurately crashed before him was a slender silver metallic pod that was glowing red-hot! However, as he stood there the heat subsided and he heard a hissing noise before a hatch at the top of the pod opened up.

"Waah!" The shrill baby's cry sounded out clearer this time and before he could move, he felt Martha push past him and scramble over to the pod.

He stood there just staring at the pod as his wife carefully pulled something out of it, cradling it in her arms and gently swaying as she came back over to him. She was holding a red bundle of cloth that was squirming slightly but no longer making noise as Martha was gently speaking to it.

"It's alright, it's okay. Shhhh little one." She spoke with a gentle soothing tone, the bump on her forehead forgotten about as she swayed slightly.

Once she reached Jonathan she carefully turned her body and gently pulled back the bundle of cloth to reveal a small baby boy with a slight tuff of brown hair. Jonathan immediately moved closer although he had yet to speak as he was still clearly in shock. He looked at the little baby boy who at that moment opened his eyes and looked up at him with bright blue eyes and reached out a hand towards him.

Jonathan gave a little smile and reached out a finger for the small boy to take only to suddenly wince and cry out in pain. "Eeeyargh!"

The baby immediately let go and looked shocked, tears forming in his eyes, but didn't cry as Martha started to immediately bounce him trying to keep him calm.

"Jonathan, what is it?" She asked in alarm looking back from the baby to her husband.

"Ahh, hell." He said cradling his finger as he took several deep breaths before raising his hand back up and putting on a fake smile to calm his wife and the baby, speaking in a calm reassuring voice. "It's okay, It's okay. He's just got one hell of a grip, almost broke my, ow! Actually, no, he's definitely broken my finger."

Martha just stared at Jonathan wide-eyed and then looked at the boy in her arms with a hint of fear entering her mind. However, as soon as the boy turned and looked up at her the fear disappeared as her eyes met the baby's eyes. She instantly felt a connection as the baby boy with an almost complete understanding of what just happened, gently placed a hand on her cheek causing her to smile, which in turn caused him to giggle.

"Where in God's name did he come from?" Jonathan asked looking up into the sky in wonder and then back down at the craft laying half-buried in the earth.

"It doesn't matter, he's a miracle, our miracle" Martha stated softly as she brought up a hand to cup the baby's face.

"Martha, we can't keep him," Jonathan stated softly worrying that his wife was letting the trauma and excitement of recent events cloud her judgement. "I mean, what if someone comes looking for him?"

Martha just raised her eyebrows at her husband's statement as she looked at the metal pod laying on the earth next to them that causing her husband to give a look of defeat at that particular point.

"Okay, bad point, but Martha, babies just don't fall out of the sky!" Jonathan pointed out, gesturing upward to emphasise his point.

"Why not?" Martha commented back quickly looking at her husband with confusion. "We have superheroes in this country Jonathan, created by God, literally created by the Lord with divine powers."

Jonathan was quiet at his wife's point as he didn't have an argument for that, everything he knew about superpowered people was the same as his wife. Everyone knew that superpowers were a gift from the Almighty and that America was a blessed land, a land chosen to be the only one with superpowered people. So, his wife did have a point, in a world such as that a child falling from the sky shouldn't be too abnormal, it just seemed so…. Comic book.

"So, is that much of a stretch that God decided to send us this little miracle, right when we were talking about taking in a child?" Martha asked her husband who was just quietly looking at his wife having no answer to her question which let her press on. "And what are the odds that we would be here to find this, MIRACLE, here? Don't you see Jonathan, how we were meant to find him?"

Jonathan opened his mouth to respond he was a god-fearing man just like his wife and believed like everyone else that supes were gifts from God, but he just had a feeling this wasn't the case. He was about to try and argue but was cut off by the look in his wife's eyes and that of the small boy in her arms. The little boy in Martha's arms stretched out his tiny arm again reaching for him a look of wonder on his face, Jonathan again lifted up his hand and offered it to the boy who this time took hold of a single finger with surprising gentleness.

Any further argument Jonathan was about to make was defeated by the sound of the small boy giggling and looking at him as if he was the most important things in the world.

"Alright, okay." Jonathan sighed realising the debate was pointless and that he wasn't going to win. "We will take him home, BUT the moment someone comes looking for him we are going to have to give him up okay?"

Martha just broke out into a wide smile and started bouncing the baby in her arms up and down, causing the little boy to burst into a fit of giggles as she started speaking to him softly.

"Did you hear that? You're coming home with us, yes you are!" Martha spoke to the baby with loving admiration, as she tapped him on the nose causing him to giggle again. She then started to move back towards the truck ignoring her husband's thought that they were going to have to return him.

'What the hell did I just agree to?' Jonathan sighed as he then looked at the strange metal pod that was before him, a sigh escaping his lips. 'Well, can't leave this here, can I?'

He rolled up his sleeves and headed back to his truck hoping that he would have some rope or chain in the back to help him. Meanwhile, Martha was gently sliding into the passenger seat of the truck and was smiling down at the baby who had suddenly fallen asleep in her arms.

"I think I'll call you…Clark." Martha whispered with a smile on her face. "Yes, my little miracle. Clark Kent."