Epilogue

Clark walked through the front door. "Tess, I'm home."

His wife of 9 years ran up to him and threw her arms around him. "Hi."

He chuckled, tracing circles on her back. "What was that for?"

She looked up at him, green eyes glimmering mischievously. "Just because." She kissed him passionately. "That," She smiled guiltily, "Is because Jonathan crashed the tractor."

Clark stared at her. "Crashed the tractor? How?"

Tess sheepishly buried her head into his shoulder. "He got the keys off me when I was busy with Jamie and Lizzie. And then he drove into the barn."

Clark's eyes widened. "He's twelve; how the hell did he learnt to drive it?"

"Essa keeps telling me I've got a steep learning curve." Jonathan bounded down the stairs. The gangly twelve year old stopped before he reached the last step. "Are you too going to start making out cos that's disgusting."

Tess turned in Clark's arms so he was hugging her from behind. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Better?"

"Not much." Jonathan went into the kitchen. "Is dinner ready yet?"

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Clark asked, not moving from the spot. It was too comfortable. "Anything at all."

"I was bored." Jonathan walked back in, munching on an apple. "And the acceleration was stronger than I expected." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I told Mom I was sorry."

"You need to be more careful Jonathan. What if you're brother and sister were in there? Or you mother?" Clark watched his son's face flush with guilt. "They could have been hurt."

"I know. Essa's already guilt tripped me once today. You don't have to do it again." Jonathan sighed, looking at the ground. He knew he was wrong but it had been fun while it lasted.

"No, you're right. I don't." Clark nodded, his chin brushing Tess' red hair. Jonathan looked up, surprised. His father was normally stricter than that. "You'll be doing it yourself while you help me rebuild the barn this weekend."

Jonathan's face fell. "I was supposed to go Conner's this weekend. Uncle Ollie's bought a new video game."

"Well that's why this is called punishment, Jonathan." Clark told him evenly.

"You're not supposed to like it baby." Tess added, a little more gently. She'd already chewed him out for it earlier. He'd given her a heart attack with the stunt.

"Well it sucks." Jonathan pouted at Tess. She always gave into the pout and puppy dog eyes.

Clark laughed at the blatant attempt to get out of trouble. "Son, your mother taught you those eyes. Better luck next time. Go up and get your brother for dinner."

"Fine." Jonathan stomped upstairs. "Harry!" he yelled. "Dinner!"

Tess rolled her eyes. "I could have done that."

A small blonde 5 year old bounded down the stairs with jumps high enough to enter him in the Olympics. "Daddy!" Harry Kent yelled excitedly. "Guess what I did today."

Clark let of Tess to pick up their son. "I don't know. What did you do today, champ?"

"I wrote a letter to Grandma!" He grinned broadly at his achievement. "And Miss Hallows said it was spelled right and everything. And Mama let me posted it to Grandma."

Clark smiled proudly. His youngest son was growing up so fast. "Well that's good. As a reward, you can ice cream after dinner."

"Do I get ice-cream?" Jonathan asked hopefully.

"Depends," Tess told him. "If you set the table or not."

"Sure." Jonathan zoomed into the kitchen to get the plates and cutlery and was a blur as he set the table. "All done."

"And now you and Harry can wake your sister up from her nap." Tess smiled at her sons.

"But she hit me last time!" Harry pouted at her, waving his arms wildly as if to demonstrate his sister's irritability.

"Well be more gentle this time."

"You're evil." Jonathan grumbled as he went to what he was told. Ice cream was his favourite after all.

Clark wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and dropped a kiss on her head. "You're not evil honey."

She arched her back, leaning her head backwards and kissed him. "Aren't I?" Her eyes danced with mirth.

He kissed her back, turning her in his arms so her body was flush with his. "Maybe I need a demonstration."

"I'd be happy to oblige." She smiled then pulled away with a huff as two screams emitted from the lounge room.

"Mom! She hit me." Jonathan complained. "And it hurts."

"Really? I didn't notice," Tess drawled dryly. Clark smiled at the sarcasm; his wife was a tough cookie. He still had to force her to tell him when she was hurt. She walked into the room to find the 3 year old Lizzie screaming at her brother and Jonathan holding his arm. Harry stood to the side, keeping out of the barrage of incoherent screams being issued. Of all of the children, he was most like Clark. "Ok, what happened?"

"She hit me!" Jonathan pointed at his sister.

"Natha hit me!" Lizzie pointed at her brother, green eyes identical to Tess' staring daggers at Jonathan. "Mama!" She wailed and Tess picked her up, shushing her gently.

"Right, look after the baby." Jonathan rolled his eyes. "What about me?"

Clark ambled over and x-rayed his arm. "Nothing's broken." He said. "But it will probably bruise."

"Great."

"Just think, you'll look like the other boys now." Clark told him. His son was so like him it was uncanny. He just wanted to be like the other boys too. "Tell them you were playing football against your old man and you won."

Jonathan's eyes lit up. Everyone in town worshiped his father for winning the football championship. His friends would be jealous. "Ok."

"We all set now?" Tess asked, still patting Lizzie on the back. The boys all nodded and filed into the kitchen. Clark caught Tess' eye and rolled his own. Just another day at the Kents.