John gently came to a stop behind the Kent house and lowered Samantha. "You okay?"

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, that was really fun!"

John laughed.

"Seriously, we should do that again some time."

"Yeah, but right now we need to get back upstairs." John pointed to the corner window. "That's the room I'm staying in." He pointed to the next window. "That's your room. Can you float us up?"

"Sure." Samantha reached for John's hands. "Not hot anymore."

John shook his head and looked down at their hands. "No."

They moved up to the second floor. Samantha held up one hand, palm out, near the window.

"Oh," John said. "I unlocked it before we left."

"Ah, you took time planning this."

John grinned. "Of course." He pushed the window up and when Samantha moved them a little higher, he slid back into the room. He turned around to face Samantha. "I'll go help you into your room."

The light clicked on and Samantha looked into the room.

"Or you'll stay here and tell me about what happened."

John turned around to face his father. "Heh," he said nervously. "Hi, Dad."

"Hi, John," Clark said seriously. He leaned forward slightly to see Samantha outside. "Samantha, come in please."

John held Samantha's hand as she stepped in through the window. She glanced once at Clark but then down to the floor. He was more intimidating when he was in the suit.

"So, kids…" Clark looked at both of them. "John, I always admire your creativity," Clark said tiredly and leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. The top of the S peeked out from below his arms. "What's your excuse for where you two were?"

John furrowed his eyebrows. "Uh, walked out to the barn?"

"Hmm," Clark shook his head, "not your best effort. Samantha?"

Sam sighed. "We were at Smallville Savings and Loan—"

"Sam!" John turned to her.

Clark kept his gaze on Samantha and held up his hand to quiet John.

"We stopped a bank robbery there," Samantha finished.

Clark raised his eyebrows. "Well." After a moment he said, "You two, meet me downstairs in the kitchen. We don't need to wake everyone else up with this." John nodded and began to walk out of the room. Samantha followed, and Clark walked back to his bedroom.

Samantha and John sat at the kitchen table next to each other. A moment later, Clark walked down the steps in his pajamas. He walked over to the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of milk. He leaned on the counter and faced them, watching them for a minute before he said anything. He took a sip of milk. Then, "You two stopped a robbery at Smallville Savings and Loan."

John nodded.

Clark scratched his head with his free hand. "How'd you find out about it? I heard the alarm, but you were obviously there ahead of time."

Samantha sighed. "When we went into town earlier, John and I walked past the bank. I picked up on two guys' thoughts and found out they were going to break into the bank at midnight."

Clark raised his eyebrows as he took another sip of milk. "Wow. So you decided you could go and handle it yourselves."

Samantha looked sideways at John. John kept his gaze on the table but said, "Actually, Sam wanted to tell you so you could go stop it. I told her not to say anything."

Clark nodded. "And you know you're not supposed to do anything like this. You're not supposed to use your abilities in public. You're definitely not supposed to go out and stop robberies."

"Yeah..."

Samantha pursed her lips. "Except that we saw this as our chance to finally do something. We wanted to use our abilities to help."

Clark was surprised, not by her remark but by the fact that she voiced it. Samantha tended to be very quiet and respectful around him. Her tone was not argumentative, but she had voiced a disagreement, her disobedience. Clark walked over to the table and sat across from them. "So tell me what you did, what happened."

John described how he and Samantha traveled into town and waited for the thieves to break into the bank. Samantha explained how she was able to see what John saw in X-ray vision and what she did with her telekinesis.

"And then something weird happened," John said.

Clark leaned forward in his chair. "What do you mean 'weird'?"

John looked to Samantha to continue. She nodded. "I don't know why, but my hands got really warm. The only difference, though, was that my hands looked a little red. I turned my hands, palms up, to look at them better, and then……"

Clark nodded. "Then?"

"I don't know, two beams of light shot out." Samantha placed her hand on the table. She pointed to the center of her hand. "Just right out and straight into the sky. And then the heat was gone." She shrugged and looked at Clark.

Clark leaned back. "I think I saw it. They were red?"

"Yeah."

Clark nodded. "But you don't know why it happened."

Samantha shook her head. "No. It's never happened before."

Clark traced the lines on the wooden table with his finger. "Well, you've inherited your abilities from your mother, but this heat beam…"

Samantha took in a breath. "My dad."

Clark raised his eyes to meet hers. "Exactly. Were the beams similar to what he can do, except with his eyes?"

Samantha swallowed. "Yeah. And my uncle, he can shoot beams from his hands."

"So your ability developed like his," John continued.

Samantha placed her elbows on the table and leaned her cheek against her other hand. "Wow."

Clark leaned forward across the table. He gently held Samantha's hand on the table and turned it. "Did it hurt?"

Samantha bit her lip and shook her head. "No, not at all. I said John and I were holding hands. He noticed my hand was getting warmer, but I didn't feel anything."

Clark opened Samantha's hand and pushed gently into her palm. He sat forward so he could see it better. He squinted his eyes and Samantha knew he had switched into X-ray mode. She kept a small smile to herself as she noticed that John and his father moved their eyes exactly the same way. Clark blinked and said, "Your hands look normal to me."

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, like it never happened."

He sat back in his chair and sighed. "This hasn't happened before?"

"No," Samantha shook her head. "Tonight was the first time."

"Well, it's good that it didn't get out of control." Clark looked at John and tilted his head. "You guys got back here pretty fast."

John grinned. "Yeah, I ran."

Clark nodded. "And Samantha?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

Samantha let out a giggle. "John carried me."

Clark smiled a little, amused. "Oh yeah?"

"I had to. It was the fastest thing to do." John blushed.

"I'm sure." Clark took his glass to the sink and rinsed it, grinning while his back was to the teens. He turned back towards the table and leaned on the counter again. "Well, I don't want to encourage the two of you, but you did a good job tonight."

Samantha and John glanced at each other and smiled.

Clark continued, "You stayed out of sight and you stopped the robbery. But…" He walked back towards the table. "You still broke the rules. When we get back to Metropolis, I'll talk to your parents, Samantha, about what happened. We'll decide the punishment for the both of you."

John sighed.

Clark glanced up the steps. "In the meantime, don't mention anything about it." He looked back at Samantha and John. "If you don't want to see me angry, you definitely don't want to see my dad." Clark took a step towards the table. "Samantha, you can go upstairs to bed. We'll finish this tomorrow."

Samantha nodded and stood up. John pushed his chair away from the table.

"No," Clark held out his hand. "John, you stay. I need to talk to you for a minute."

Samantha raised her eyebrows at John, but he only shrugged. Clark saw the exchange but didn't comment on it. He watched Samantha as she walked up the stairs and then sat down at the table again across from John.

"John," Clark started, "why did you and Samantha go to stop the robbery tonight?"

John narrowed his eyes. "Dad, we wanted to help."

Clark shook his head and looked at the table. "No, I don't mean that." He made eye contact with his son. "I mean why did you go, why did you think it was okay to go? Someone could have gotten hurt."

John scoffed. "Dad, come on—"

"Seriously. I saw the guns on the bank floor, which means those two guys were armed. If one of you…."

"But Dad, I'm—"

Clark kept his voice even. "John, we don't know for sure if you're bulletproof, and I don't want to find out, okay? Yeah, I know you're practically invincible, but we've never had a reason to test it out. We shouldn't have to. And Samantha—"

"She can handle herself."

Clark lifted his eyes. "Oh yeah? Last time I checked, she could get hurt."

"Yeah, but she can put a force field around herself and nothing gets through."

"And that's really impressive, but there's no guarantee that she could do it fast enough. If something happened….I don't know. I should be able to look after two teenagers for a weekend. You left without me knowing."

John sighed. "I'm sorry that we took off like that, and I know we broke the rules. But I can handle myself and so can Sam. Even without her abilities, she can defend herself. Did you know she has her black belt test coming up next month?"

Clark shrugged. "No, I didn't know that, but I knew she took karate."

"Yeah." John smiled. "She's been training since she could walk."

Clark leaned his arm on the table. "Good, but that's still no excuse for what you two did."

John looked down at the table. "Dad, we had too," he said quietly.

Now Clark was confused. "What do you mean, 'had to'?"

John took a deep breath as he propped his elbow on the table and held his head in his hand. "Dad, why are you Superman?"

Clark sat back in his chair. "So I can help people."

John narrowed his eyes. "Is that all? You don't have another reason?"

Clark frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "I have these special gifts, and I use them to help people. What more do you want?"

John looked past Clark, his eyes unfocused as if he were seeing something else in his mind. "I think it goes beyond just helping people."

Clark leaned on his arms. "Then tell me what you think."

"You have to help people," John said, looking directly into his father's eyes.

Clark smirked when he saw John's blue eyes flicker, but he didn't fully understand what John said.

John continued, "You have to help people because you're not happy doing anything else. Yeah, you're one of the best journalists out there, you have a good family, but if you couldn't go out and help people, you wouldn't be happy."

Clark tilted his head. "Where are you getting this from?"

"Sam and I feel that way. I think your feeling is a lot deeper than ours, though. A lot stronger."

Clark sighed.

John kept talking, but he had that unfocused expression again. "For the past few years, ever since my powers have been getting stronger and I can use them a lot better, I've been thinking about how I could help people. I mean, I imagine myself doing things, stopping bad guys, and I wish I had the chance to actually do it."

"Well," Clark sat up, "you're right that helping people makes me really happy, feel really good, like I belong. It's not just because I can, but I didn't know you felt that way too."

John smiled, but he still didn't look at his dad. "Maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but Sam and I do do little things in school, things no one would notice."

Clark raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Like what?"

John shrugged. "Little stuff. Sometimes when someone drops something and I'm nearby, I catch it as it's falling. They say good reflexes, but I use a little of my speed."

Clark narrowed his eyes.

"Hey," John waved his hand in protest, "just a little. And not often. Only when I can do it without other people thinking something's up."

Clark nodded. "Okay, and what about Samantha?"

"Oh, she can get away with a little more." John smiled. "The other day, some big guys were picking on a little kid in the hall between classes. Freshman. Sam and I walked by and saw the fight start. The big guy took the kid by the collar and slammed him against the locker. Sam closed her eyes and I held her hand so we could continue walking. I looked back towards the kid, and he looked a little confused." John giggled, seeing the scene again in his head. "Sam held the kid a little with telekinesis so he wouldn't go into the lockers too much. Kind of pillowed the wall."

Clark nodded with a small smile.

"But there were a hundred kids that walked by that fight, and no one knew anything weird happened except the kid who got beat up."

Clark moved his gaze to the side. "You should always be careful of how you use your powers, even if you think you're being safe."

John nodded. "I know, Dad. It's just that...well, we want to help people, but we don't really get to. I mean, I know you were going out in high school and stopping bad guys and stuff."

Clark laughed and breathed out through his nose. "Yeah, because people were affected by the Kryptonite in Smallville and they were hurting others."

John continued, "Still. And I know Sam's parents didn't go out on their own, but they were at the school. They used their powers there and they had to go out to help sometimes. Sam and I can't do that."

Clark nodded, propped his arms on the table, and leaned against his crossed fingers. He sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, John. You know how Mom and I feel about you using your abilities in public. You know that Sam's parents feel the same way about her. We can't just say, 'Okay, go patrol the streets of Metropolis.' Yeah, tonight things went well. You stopped the robbery and you did a good job. But that won't happen every time. It won't be so smooth every time, and if something happens..."

"But, Dad, we don't even have a chance to have something go wrong. I don't want something bad to happen either, but still..." John paused for a moment and then said, "What would you have done if Grandpa told you not to go help people when you were in high school?"

Clark tilted his head. "I probably would have gone out anyway." He smirked. "Actually, a couple times he did tell me not to go, and I did."

John sat back in his chair. "Yeah. I don't know, maybe that's part of the reason why I wanted to go tonight. Even though I know the rules, I really wanted to stop those guys. And it's not because I don't want to listen to you or anything—"

"You just want to help people," Clark finished the sentence.

"Exactly," John sighed. He shook his head. "I'm sorry Sam and I went out tonight. We really should have told you about it instead. We just wanted the chance to help."

Clark nodded as he stood up. He motioned for John to stand, too. "Understandable enough, but you know there are still consequences."

John nodded. "I know, Dad. Grounded?"

Clark nodded his head. "We'll work out the details with Sam's parents tomorrow when we get back to Metropolis. Let's get some sleep for now."

John nodded as he started up the steps first. "I always wondered about that, Dad."

"What?" Clark said as he followed his son.

"You know we don't need as much sleep as everyone else, and you need less than I do. So why do you always sleep, like, normal hours?"

Clark laughed quietly. "You're right, and I don't sleep the entire night. But, I don't know—"

"Makes you feel human?"

Clark patted John's shoulder as they reached the top of the stairs. "Yeah, I guess. Everyone needs some down time. Good night, son."

"'Night, Dad."

When John walked into his bedroom, Samantha stood at the window, looking out into Smallville's sky. She heard his footsteps and turned around. "Hey," Samantha whispered.

"Hey," John tilted his head, wondering what she was doing there.

"What did your dad want to talk to you about?"

John quietly closed the door behind him. "Just some more about the robbery." He walked to Samantha and leaned down to look out the window.

"Oh."

"You weren't listening in?"

Samantha narrowed her eyes. "No, of course not." She playfully hit his arm.

John giggled. "Okay, okay."

"So…"

"So he didn't seem too mad, but we're grounded."

Samantha nodded. "Fair enough." She walked to the bedroom door and slowly opened it. She peeked out into the hallway and then turned back to John. "Good night, John."

"Good night."

Samantha smiled and stepped out into the hallway. John listened as she walked into her bedroom and then crawled into bed and pulled the sheets around himself.

On Sunday morning, everyone met in the Kent kitchen for an early breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Clark helped Jonathan with the farm chores until noon. After lunch, Clark, Lois, John, and Sam packed their things back into the car. They said goodbye to Jonathan and Martha and thanked them. Clark waved to his parents as he pulled out of the driveway.

Outside of the Summers' apartment, Clark helped Samantha take her things upstairs. Jean opened the door and smiled. "Oh, hi. How was your weekend?"

"Great," Samantha said with a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Kent," she said after Clark put her bag down inside.

Clark nodded. "Yeah, the kids had fun." He shot a glance at Samantha, and she looked down at the floor with a smirk.

"That's good to hear," Jean said.

"Yeah." Clark looked past Jean into the apartment. "Is Scott home yet?"

Jean shook her head. "No, he should be back in two hours."

Clark nodded. "Okay. Well, Lois and I need to talk to you two about something."

Jean squinted her eyes.

"Nothing urgent." Clark shook his head. "Just something we need to talk about. So, if you could come over to our place for dinner tonight, we can talk afterwards. Samantha can come too."

"Okay…" Jean nodded slowly. "Thanks for the invitation. We'll be there."

Clark smiled. "Great. See you later then." He turned to walk out the door.

Jean walked after him. "Yeah, later." She waved at Lois and John in the car and then closed the door once Clark drove away. Jean turned around to face Samantha. "What was that about?"

"Um...it might be better if we waited until later at the Kents'."

Jean narrowed her eyes. "So you know?"

Samantha nodded. She looked at the floor to avoid her mother's glare. "On Saturday night, John and I…."

Jean took a step closer. "What?"

"We stopped a robbery in Smallville." Samantha lowered her head a little more.

"What?!?"

"It worked out well, really." Samantha finally looked at her mother and slid her foot across the carpet. "We stayed out of sight, and we stopped the bad guys. No one saw us."

Jean looked up at the ceiling in disbelief. "You and John went out on your own?"

"Yeah…"

"Because?"

"We wanted to help."

Jean crossed her arms over her chest. "That's just great. What else?"

"That's it for that part…but I found out something else I can do."

"What?" Jean leaned forward now, a glimmer of concern in her eyes.

Samantha wiggled her eyebrows. "Heat beams."

Jean shook her head. "What do you mean, like Scott?"

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, like Dad, except from my hands." She walked over to the desk and ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook. She crumpled it up and held it in front of her with one hand. Samantha raised her hand to her eye level and squinted in concentration. Jean watched from across the room. After a minute, Samantha sighed. "I can't do it now. I was really worked up before, I guess."

Jean nodded and walked over to her daughter. She leaned down and picked up the ball of paper. "You'll get it eventually. I'm sure Dad can help you control it." Jean tossed the ball up and down absentmindedly. "No one got hurt, did they?"

"No," Samantha shook her head. "The beams went straight into the air."

"Okay, good." Jean moved a piece of hair out of her face. "Well, this is a lot to take in at once. We'll talk about it later when Dad gets home and then over at the Kents', I guess. But you're okay, honey?"

Samantha smiled. "Yeah, fine."

Over dinner at the Kents' house, Clark explained what happened over the weekend. Jean and Scott both kept their eyes on him as Clark talked about the bank robbery, and Samantha and John kept their eyes on their plates, not wanting to risk any dark looks from the parents. The finished eating and Clark looked around the table at everyone. His eyes rested on John and Samantha. "Well, how about you two go upstairs and we'll discuss what we're going to do." After a moment, Clark added, "As far as punishment." John nodded and stood up, followed by Samantha. As they walked up the stairs, Clark called after them, "And no listening in."

"That goes for you too, Sam," Jean added.

John sighed when he and Samantha reached the top of the stairs. "We can wait in my room." He led Samantha down the hall and then plopped on his bed. Samantha moved a beanbag chair out of the corner and sat facing John.

"So how bad do you think it's going to be?" She asked and grimaced, looking out of the bedroom door.

John moved his position so he was lying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows. "Well, grounded for sure."

Samantha nodded, "Yeah."

"But besides that, I don't know. I mean, what else could they do to us?"

Samantha shrugged her shoulders, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Samantha leaned her head toward John. "Hey, don't."

John was focusing hard on something but Samantha's words broke his concentration. "Ah, come on," John protested. "How would they know if I was listening?"

Samantha grinned. "You heard them. No super hearing for you and no mind reading for me. They'd know if we tried, so we should just wait."

"Fine, you win." John sighed. "Always following the rules."

Samantha frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Hey, I don't always."

John grinned. "More than I do, anyway."

"I—" Samantha stopped herself. She couldn't argue when John was right.

A few more minutes passed and then Lois called up, "Samantha, John, you can come back down."

John sat up and sighed. "Here we go."

They reached the bottom of the stairs together and their parents were standing around the dining room.

Clark shifted his weight forward and back on his feet and then spoke, "Okay, this is what we decided." He moved his eyes from Samantha to John. "You will both be grounded for two weeks, starting tomorrow. To school and back home. No movie theater, no mall, no hanging out with friends…" Clark paused and then said, "Even with each other." Samantha and John turned to each other, amazed that their parents would actually separate them. Clark glanced at his wife and at Jean and Scott. "We decided the time you spend together should be limited for a little while."

John narrowed his eyebrows. "But, Dad…"

Clark shook his head. "No, listen. When we go over to each other's houses, you'll be able to spend time together, and you'll still see each other in school. But outside of that for two weeks, no." Clark turned back to Jean.

"After that," Jean said, "we're going to try something out. We all agree that you need an outlet."

Clark nodded. "We'll just have to see how it goes."

Three Weeks Later

Samantha sat in the living room with her trigonometry notes and worked on problems out of the textbook.

"Hey, anybody listening? First Bank of Metropolis. Two guys are trying to break in." Clark's voice came over the radio. Jean and Scott had modified the unit in the past week so Clark could radio them when he was out flying. Now he could send more than just his position. Samantha rushed over to the receiver. There was a knock on the door and she knew it was John. "Copy that," Samantha said into the radio. "We're on it."

She opened the door for John and then picked up her sweatshirt that matched his. Clark hadn't allowed them to choose any type of logo or insignia, since they technically weren't allowed to do superhero work on their own. Instead, Lois suggested matching black sweatshirts; nothing unique that anyone could identify. Jean and Scott suggested only night outings for now. Less light, more cover. So here they were, going out to do what they were grounded for before. But now they had permission. And adult supervision. Literally.

Samantha pulled on her sweatshirt as she and John walked out of the apartment. "Mom, we're going," Samantha called as she closed the door.

Samantha and John jogged down the block and into an alley. He turned and held his arms open. Samantha sighed as John lifted her up. "Think this part will get any less awkward?"

John smiled. "Maybe not. Ready?"

"Yeah."

John took off at super speed and didn't stop until they were in an alley behind the First Bank of Metropolis. Samantha stepped down, held John's hands, and levitated to the roof.

John laughed as he X-rayed the bank. "We live in a comic book." He smiled and held Samantha's hand. "Whenever you're ready. Just like last time."

Samantha squeezed his hand affectionately. "Okay, all set. Hmm, the Adventures of…we never came up with names."

John walked with her across the roof. "Just Sam and John for now. I don't think we're ready to go full-time with names yet."

The End