- nnn. He tries to pull away- but also he hasn't been properly touched in years and she's soft- helped Clari- he pulls her closer and buries his fingers in her hair. Deepens the kiss.

Natalia deepens the kiss, threads her hands through his hair. It was enough to fill her for days. She focuses the small part of her not distracted by his lips, to give him a message.

I will protect your child. I can feel how much you love them. 

He believes it. Feels the truth in it. He can't keep running, not with Clari. Can't keep her in stasis any longer, nevermind the fact that this ship and the pod are ruined, any further time in the pod will stunt her development.

Every part of him wants to leave. And every part of him wants his child. But. Not like this.

After a moment, he pulls back. "Her name is Clari-El. I am Jor-El. We are from the planet Kypton. We escaped, escaped it's destruction," escaped her mother. "We are the last of our kind. Protect her. Keep her secret."

Natalia pulls the child to her, and marvels at her. Small, bright eyed, and that blonde hair- 

"Eloise. Sunshine," she murmurs. 

"I can keep you safe too," she says, pulling the man close, and kissing him. "I can keep you both safe."

Finally he steps back from her, from them both.

"Powerful as you are, this is beyond you."

Can't stay here and have his enemies fellow him. Can't stay here and- play house. Even if Kypton is destroyed, he has no doubt his wife will have survived and be looking for them. They were safe from her in the Phantom Zone, but now they're back in the prime dimension...

"I'm leaving. Now. Take the craft and bury it deep underground so nobody can detect it."

Natalia very carefully puts the child down, makes sure they are cocooned safely, and kisses the strange man. 

She threads her fingers into his hair, pulls him close, lets him feel her power. 

Melts against her and her power, warm, tempting, safe- again he pulls away, abruptly and panic rising.

"No. I don't- use that power and project her, you can't make me- I'm not staying here."

Natalia flings herself back, as far from the man as she can manage, without risking the child. 

"I didn't mean- I'm sorry. I only meant to taste you. The love you feel for your child, it's- intoxicating-"

She looks at the small thing, at Eloise, her sunshine, and then at the man. 

"I will defend the child till I die. I will hide them, keep them safe. And I don't need you to make me keep that promise."

She won't admit she's already planning how to hide the strange craft.

"Good. Good. I can't-" he stares down at Clari and can't look away. He's spent years- decades- scheming and running and fighting. Protecting her while she slept. Every waking moment thinking of her safety. "I won't return."

"Then I will tell them not to wait for you."

... yeah.

Wants to tell her how much he loves her. But she won't remember it. It's irrelevant now.

He looks to the sky and watches it burst open with red energy. They'll be coming soon.

"Hide. Now. I'll lead them away and off planet."

Natalia gathers the small being to her. "Hi, Eloise. Come stay close to me." She kisses the child's forehead, and then-

-she runs. Away from the man and his strange technology, away from her curiousity and attraction. 

She runs to her step-parents house, to keep her small, bright child safe.

The sound of explosions follows her and the sky lights up in red energy. Lighting and thunder and the clouds part and the skies rip open. Three ships burst out and land nearby Jor-El's crashed ship.

Soft, scared noises, and her eyes open and look up at Natalia.

"Hello, my sunflower." Natalia presses a kiss to the child's head, and starts to walk back to her bike. "Do you know what a sunflower is? It's a flower that leans to the sun."

"Mmmm," she shakes her head, not quite understanding her, and tries to sit up and look around. "Rao?"

She knows 'sun'. Memories of a tall, soft, love, family. Little sun. Rao.

Natalia cuddles the little being close, as she walks back to her bike. "Yes, Rao! Means 'sun'. That's what you are to me, the sun. 'Eloise' means sunshine!'"

She blows a raspberry under the child's ear.

Giggles!! And wiggling in her arms.

"Ukr?" She cranes her neck again and looks around for her papa.

Natalia tucks her head next to the child's neck. "One day they will come back, my darling."

"But for now-" Natalia props the strange child on her hip.

"For now, we be strong, and ward anyone that would harm us."

"After all," Natalia says, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head. "-we have to tempt out the sunshine, yes?"

"Rao," she nods again and nuzzles closer to the soft red woman. Sleepy but excited because new. Wanna explore. Wiggles?