Wow it's been forever since I wrote for this! I'm back now, pecking away at the list of characters I feel should be included. Of course, Kal-El's parents definitely deserve a place. This is short and sweet, hopefully I can get back to doing this regularly since I do really enjoy it. :)

Thanks for reading!

Lara and Jor-El

"Lara?"

Jor-El's voice echoed through the entry of the Citadel. There was no reply. Jor-El looked around, noting the settling dust that still drifted through the air, lending a hazy quality to the interior of his home.

It wasn't the first time Krypton had experienced a quake, and Jor-El was reasonably sure it wouldn't be the last. They had become more and more common in the last year, and with the Council preparing to harvest the core of the planet Jor-El could only assume they would accelerate. No amount of Jor-El's attempts to prove Krypton was in danger had convinced them. It was as if they turned a blind eye to his research.

This one had struck as Jor-El was in transit between the city and his home. Riding H'Raka had given him a rare glimpse of what an earthquake looked like from above without the jarring sensation of being in it. Once he might have been fascinated from a scientific perspective watching the ground heave and buckle, but now he only worried how long they had left. He had pushed his war-kite to go faster, worried that some harm had come to Lara.

A soft whirring sound alerted him to the arrival of Kelor. The robot floated into the room, clearly in answer to his call.

"Kelor, where is Lara?"

"Lady Lara is upstairs, sir." Kelor shifted to one side to allow Jor-El to brush past.

Jor-El paused once he caught sight of his wife, standing in the archway that led to the terrace. Lara was framed in the light still given off by Rao as it began to set, one hand holding the arch and the other resting on her belly. The red sun burnished her hair and skin and reflected off her robes, giving her a quality Jor-El couldn't quite define. Her protruding belly would have made her unsightly in the eyes of most Kryptonians, something abhorred and shunned. But not to him. She looked soft, maternal and warm. He never would have guessed that his wife actually carrying his child in her body could make her more beautiful in his eyes, but that seemed to be exactly what was happening. The stress and worry about her condition, their plan, the future all weighed in his mind but it didn't stop him from taking a moment to appreciate how lucky he was.

Still, there was an urgent quality to her stature that told him she had been concerned about the magnitude of this quake. Even now she was scanning the ground below, looking for damage or signs of stress in the ground. Her hand rubbed over her belly, unconsciously seeking to protect the life inside.

Hearing his approach, she looked his way. It only took a moment for her to decipher the look on his face. "Did you feel that one?"

"Saw it, riding back." Jor-El moved quickly to join her and couldn't help wrapping his arms around her for a moment, he was so grateful to see her unharmed. Lara pressed against his chest, running her fingertips over the glyph there. "Was it bigger than usual?"

"Much bigger. The Rondors have scattered. Kelor estimated it to be twice the magnitude of last time."

Jor-El made a mental note to check his equipment to see if that was true, but the more pressing matter of his family kept him there. His hand joined Lara's on her belly. "Everything okay?"

Lara smiled softly. "We're fine. The quake seemed to excite him." Jor-El could feel the movement that corroborated her statement. Their child was very active at the moment. A particularly strong kick bumped his palm. Jor-El held in a chuckle.

"He's strong." His eyes met Lara's.

"Yes, he is." Lara looked down at their hands. "We haven't decided on a name yet."

Jor-El considered. According to Kelor, the child still had another 8 gestation cycles before he would be born. While the images of his growing body and organs provided by the faithful 'bot were reassuring, in some ways Jor-El felt it was still too soon to name their son, as if they were calling down the wrath of Rao upon themselves. Their course of action was unprecedented for thousands of years. Jor-El's tireless research on the topic had given him a basic understanding of what was to come and how to handle it, but he had found little to nothing on what to do if complications should arise. What if something went wrong?

"Jor?" His hesitation had caught Lara's attention. He opened his mouth to answer, but his worries about the future overtook his words and instead the reason he had been coming home in the first place tumbled out of his mouth.

"I think Zod is planning something."

There was a moment of surprised silence as she processed that statement. "What do you mean?"

Jor-El straightened up, removing his hand from Lara's belly. "I don't know when or how, but he seems to be very quiet lately, arguing with the Council less. And he's deep in conversation with his soldiers whenever I see him. That means he's working on something. He's as committed to saving Krypton as we are, but I'm sure it won't be in the same way. He's building up to something, maybe an uprising, I'm not sure."

Lara was quiet as she took that in. She had become a recluse in order to hide her childbearing state, avoiding social functions and discouraging callers. Not that there were many who remained on the surface anymore. That helped quite a bit. Purposely cut off from society except for Jor-El, she hadn't given Zod much thought recently. He was one of the few who believed Jor-El's predictions but hadn't been able to change the Council's mind either. Of course he wouldn't just give up.

The future seemed to lay out before them both, and they could see it was going to be a race to see who got their plan into action first. And of course, it was just a matter of time before anything either had planned wouldn't matter anymore.

Anything Lara would have said in reply was lost as the terrace suddenly heaved under their feet, lurching into motion once more. Birds took flight as the mountain Citadel shook under the onslaught of another quake.

Lara instinctively pressed her back against the archway, clinging to it for support. She bent her legs at the knees and went to a crouching position for extra stability. Jor-El covered her body with his own and fought to keep his footing, arms outstretched to ward off any falling debris.

As soon as it had started, it was over. Dust, disturbed anew now drifted on the air again, swirling in the red sunlight. Both Jor-El and Lara cautiously lifted their heads and then straightened into a standing position, glancing around them to make sure there was no damage to the terrace. Their eyes met and neither needed to say out loud what the other was thinking.

There had never been quakes so close together before, not in all their years on Krypton. Time was running out.

Kelex and Kelor both whirred into the room, attentive as ever.

"Is everyone unhurt, sir?" Kelex asked.

Jor-El glanced at Lara before he replied. She nodded.

"I think so. Kelor, please show us the child."

Without a word, Kelor scanned Lara's belly and reflected the three-dimensional image of their son curled up inside. His limbs were tucked in close to his body, but even right now he was flexing and pushing them out before they pulled back in, testing the limits of his boundaries. The couple drank in the sight of him.

"The child's vital signs are within normal limits, sir. No complications detected."

"Thank you. Kelex, please check on the construction of the starcraft. We'll be in shortly." Both 'bots left the room.

Lara's expression reflected her husband's as they both thought about the proximity of two quakes in one day and the half-constructed starcraft being secretly built while their son matured. They could feel the looming presence of what they knew would come, the pressure of outside forces and the sheer desperation of their plan. As a scientist, it was a last effort to preserve his race. As a father, it was terrible to consider. He could tell by Lara's face she felt the same.

He placed his hands upon Lara's abdomen again, feeling the bumps and kicks inside. His son…

"What shall we name our son, Lara?" It made no rational sense to delay, their son was already here.

Lara put her hands on top of his. "I wanted his name to reflect the history of Krypton, his heritage. But I want it to be a part of his future as well. His ability to choose."

Jor-El waited, sensing she already had something in mind. Lara was always learning, always the historian. But she cared about their future too. She never lost sight of that. It was one reason they had both been able commit to this plan together.

Lara drew a breath. "You know that in the ancient Krypton language, El meant child?"

"Yes," Jor-El replied. As a descendant of that line, he had learned that in his youth.

"Well Kal means star. That's what I want to name him. Kal-El." Lara looked up from their hands to his face.

"Kal-El. 'Star Child,'" Jor-El tested the name, ever aware of the starcraft in the next room being prepared to take his son into the stars, and the Kryptonian heritage he would always possess. He couldn't have found a better name that perfectly encapsulated his son's precarious position, the first natural birth in centuries, the first in just as long to leave Krypton.

If everything went according to plan.

"Kal-El. Our son," Jor-El smiled at Lara. "It's just right."

Lara nodded, and both felt the vigorous kick inside.

Rao was setting and the night sky was becoming visible, along with Rao's four moons. Jor-El wrapped his arms around his wife to ward off the sudden chill and found himself looking at the stars, away from the city in the distance and the deep ribbons carved into the ground that revealed the rest of Krypton society living under the crust. For just a moment they would deny their fate, pretend their future was still unknown.

They stood on the terrace together, watching the stars.

The ancient Kryptonian name of Kal-El meaning "star child" is correct and from the comics, I felt it was appropriate to include here.

I feel an itch to rewatch MoS again, maybe it will help push me into writing more, lol. Thanks for the comments and support, I appreciate it! :)