"So it's not a work trip?" Lex asked.

"No," Martha said. "It's just for fun."

"Can we take Onyx?"

"She'll be happier here. You can give her extra attention when we get back."

Lex's dad took him on trips all the time. They were always about business. But the Kents were going camping. They had even hired some people to look after the farm while they were gone.

Lex sat at the kitchen table, watching Martha getting out the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. Clark had already gone to bed, but Martha said Lex could stay up two hours later, since he was older. Lex was thankful for that, since Clark's bedtime was 7:30.

"Are you going to come help me bake these?" Martha asked.

"I've never baked before," he said. So far, Martha had asked him to keep his room clean and his bed made, and to help around the house a little in addition to the farm chores, but she hadn't asked him to help with making food.

Her eyes looked sad. "You don't have to. But I think it's fun."

"I'll probably mess it up." The cook at his old house was always yelling at Lex for getting underfoot. Eventually he learned to stay out of the kitchen.

"I'll be right here to help you. But if we mess it up, we can make a second batch."

Lex shrugged and got up from the table. "What do I do?"

Martha taught him how to grease the cookie sheet, crack the eggs, measure the wet and dry ingredients separately, and mix them together. They rolled the dough into balls, and she put them in the oven.

While Martha took a break to check on Clark, Jonathan came into the kitchen, took two spoons out of the drawer, and scooped out some of the leftover raw dough onto each, handing one to Lex and holding his finger to his lips. Lex skeptically watched him eat the raw dough before trying it himself.

It was a new type of happiness. It was soft and sweet, he could taste the brown sugar, and it almost melted in his mouth. He didn't see the point in baking the dough.

Martha caught them when she came into the room, and she swatted at Jonathan with a dish towel for being a bad influence. Lex backed up when Martha first started yelling, but laughed as soon as he realized they were playing. He blushed when they kissed—he'd hadn't really seen his parents act that way, even before Julian—but took the opportunity to sneak a second spoonful of cookie dough.

The fully baked cookies were the best Lex had ever had in his life, even though Martha limited him to two. She said he could have three next time, if he didn't eat the dough. It didn't sound worth it to him.