I was pleased to realize that Zared must be the baby that was left on Clark and Lois's doorstep in "Family Hour". To me, the idea that Zara somehow got pregnant during Clark's time on Krypton (through no conscious co-operation from Clark, though) is a very good explanation of Zared's parentage. Of course there is more to say about that, but I'm afraid a Clark/Zara story isn't going to be high on my reading list....
(I hope you'll tell us that Zared's younger siblings really are the biological children of Clark
and Lois. After all, if Lois and Clark are so incompatible, because of his Kryptonian genes, it doesn't make much sense that Zared and Jenni should be so compatible that Jenni gets pregnant the very first time they are together.)
Anyway, I was quite moved by Jenni in this part. Poor girl. She's barely eighteen years old, three months' pregnant, motherless, scared of telling her father about her pregnancy, and she's so poor that she didn't feel able to buy more than a few scraps of maternity clothing. (Good thing Zared insisted she should buy a bit more, and good thing he insisted on paying.) It was sweet, too, that she wanted to look at baby things before she looked for clothes for herself.
Another interesting thing about Jenni is that she's uncertain about getting married. One reason is undoubtedly that her parents' bad marriage has scared her, which is reminiscent of Lois's reasons for being so suspicious of Clark. But Jenni really is so young, too. I don't blame her for thinking that it's too early to get married. However, her and Zared's baby is on its way, and in view of that, marriage to Zared is as good an option as any. I hope she'll come around, and I guess she will, too.
She's such a Superman fan, too. That's really sweet. This was really funny:
I need to tell you something. Something big. I should have already told you. You might be mad." Yeah, she is definitely going to be mad.
"You mean there is something major in your life you haven't told me about? Why, Zared," she grinned playfully, "I thought we knew everything about each other. Seriously, though, I'm sure we have a lot to learn about each other. But something major... What? You going to tell me your related to Superman or something?"
When Zared started telling Jenni, in a roundabout way, about being Superman's son, this was her reaction:
He didn't expect what she said next, but she was quite serious. She was in awe. "Superman has had sex?"
I really loved that! And what followed after that was every bit as endearing:
He just nodded, trying not to think about his dad having sex. Then he thought of that, oh, so intimate telepathic memory. He started to blush. He tapped lightly on his forehead. No no no no no no.... He couldn't think about that. He focused on Jenni.
Adorable! I wonder what telepathic memory that was. Well, I guess it had to be Zared involuntarily "listening in" on Lois and Clark, not Zared accidentally finding Clark is his head while himself was having sex with Jenni.
This piece of dialogue was just adorable, too, when Jenni is questioning whether Zared really is Superman's son:
"You're teasing me."
They were both sitting cross legged. He took her hands and they began to float. "No, Jenni. I'm not teasing you."
She looked down at the couch and then back at Zared. "So your mom and dad adopted you since it's not like Superman could raise a kid, right?"
Can you imagine how cool she is about Zared just floating her??? I mean, if it had been me.... But, okay, she *is* this huge Superman fan, and who knows what Superman fantasies she has allowed herself to indulge in. I'm not saying she should be mad, it's rather refreshing that she isn't, but maybe she should be a little more... I don't know, flabbergasted? Thrilled? Impressed, at the very least? Personally, I also think that she should be a little worried about what Zared's Kryptonian genes might mean for her own pregnancy, but at the same time, I can see that she might not worry about that at all. Many teenagers feel effectively immortal.
I was getting really angry at Zared for not telling Jenni that Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same, but of course, he was just teasing her. Typical teenager behaviour.
And then Zared takes a nap while Jenni starts making dinner. And a horrible would-be rapist and possibly killer, armed with a gun, is going to attack her. This horrible A-plot stuff is not something I like much at all, so I'll leave it to others to comment on it.
Personally, I'm just going to assume that Jenni is going to be all right (but perhaps that horrible man will kidnap her?). Anyway, what I'm really, really looking forward to is Jenni and Zared telling Jenni's dad about Jenni's pregnancy. Of course, if Zared saves Jenni's life, her father may be in a much more forgiving mood. Wonder if the fact that Zared was stopped for speeding, so that a policeman knows in what direction he and Jenni were going, is going to prove important?
Ann
