Chapter One:
A/N: This takes place right after Clark left for a business trip. You must read Bye-Bye first. This will be four chapters long with one chapter each day. Enjoy!
Ko's age: 1 year
Ten minutes after Clark has left for work, Bruce carries Ko into his office to allow him to play while he gets some work done. He sets the baby down amongst his toys and then heads to his desk, grabbing the files he needs to look over. He does this for about an hour without any trouble until Ko begins to make a small sobbing noise. Bruce looks up and sees Ko sitting there with some blocks stacked and tears dripping down his face. Bruce gets up immediately and goes to him, picking him up and cradling him to his chest.
"Hey, what's wrong Ko?" Bruce asks, kissing the top of his baby's head.
"Bye-bye," Ko says in answer.
Bruce frowns. If only Ko knew more words than that. "Don't worry, Ko, Papa will be home soon, okay?"
"Bye-bye." Bruce sighs and holds the crying baby close. Clark has never been gone for days on end and so Ko doesn't know how to cope. Though, if Bruce thinks about it, Ko shouldn't even know Clark is going to be gone that long yet. But Ko has always been a smart baby, smarter than most at least.
Bruce sits down on the floor, setting Ko down as well. The baby sniffles, tears still rolling down his red, puffy cheeks. "Do you want Sophie the Giraffe?" Bruce reaches over and picks up the rubber giraffe, handing it to Ko. Ko takes it and begins gnawing on the leg immediately while simultaneously making small whimpering sounds. "Do you want to play with the farm animals? Daddy could use a break from work." He grabs the farm set (something Clark said Ko had to have since Clark himself grew up on a farm) and opens the toy barn to reveal all the farm animals. He takes the cow and hands it to Ko who grabs it. He then takes the sheep for himself. "Do you know what sounds sheep make?" He waits for a few seconds, knowing Ko won't answer. "Bah bah, goes the sheep." Bruce walks the sheep over to the cow. "Well hello, Mister Cow, how are you today?" Ko swings the cow up and down, still making small noises with a giraffe hoof in his mouth. "And the cow goes, moo. It sure looks like Mister Cow is having a bad day today." Bruce reaches up and wipes some of the tears away on Ko's cheeks. "What's wrong Mister Cow?"
Suddenly, Ko throws the Cow at the barn, knocking the thing over and causing the other animals to spill out. "Mye-mye," Ko says around the toy in his mouth. "Mye-mye." The crying coming from him intensifies until Ko drops the toy and wails.
Eyes wide, Bruce stands up and picks Ko up. "Okay, I think someone might need a nap." He looks at the time. It's still two hours before Ko's usual nap time but maybe he didn't get that much sleep last night. He begins carrying Ko to the nursery. "Are you tired?" he asks Ko, who has added squirming to his crying. When Bruce enters the nursery, and is just about to place him in the crib, Ko's hand comes at his face angrily and smacks him in the nose. Bruce drops the baby out of shock and backs up a few paces, hands flying to his nose. Searing pain shoots through his face and his hands touch a wetness there. When he looks at them, they are red with blood.
His eyes snap to Ko who is floating in the air, crying his little heart out. Bruce watches the baby, face completely red and puffy cheeks soaking wet with tears. "Ko?" Bruce brings his hand up to his nose again, the pain throbbing. Ko pays him no attention. "Ko, get in your crib." Still the baby ignores him. "Ko, it's time for a nap." He takes a step towards the baby hesitantly. "Sleepy time." He reaches for Ko who then goes to slap him again, not wanting to be picked up. Bruce backs up once more hastily. "Ko, it's not okay to hit," Bruce says firmly. "Hitting hurts." By now Bruce's hand is soaked with blood and there's some drops that have fallen to the floor. The carpet will be stained now but Bruce doesn't want to leave Ko alone to take care of it. He's been hit in the face and given a bloody nose plenty of times in his life and so he is perfectly capable of dealing with Ko first.
Ko finally looks at him and Bruce's scolding. He gently lowers himself into the crib, lying down yet still crying. "Bye-bye," Ko cries, sticking a hand in his mouth.
Bruce approaches the crib apprehensively. "Papa will be home in a few days, Ko, I promise. I know you miss him but you don't hit. Hitting is bad and hurts."
Ko sucks on his hand as his crying finally slows, hiccups coming out every few seconds. He reaches up to Bruce, most likely wanting to hug him, but all Bruce can do is reach down with the hand not pressed to his nose and rub some of the tears away on Ko's cheeks. "Nappy time." Ko blinks at him a few times before his eyes slowly close. Bruce stays there until Ko falls asleep.
He immediately goes to his room and to his bathroom, taking a wad of tissues with him. Bruce presses the tissues to his nose and pulls out his cellphone. It rings three times before the call is answered. "Bruce? Is everything okay?"
"Ko hit me."
"Again? Isn't this the third time in two months?" Clark pauses. "Why do you sound so weird?"
"Because Clark, this time he decided to hit me with super strength. I'm pretty sure he broke my fucking nose."
Bruce hears some shuffling and Clark telling Lois that he'll be right back. "Where is he now?"
"Fuck, hang on. I'm bleeding all over the damn place." Bruce sets his cellphone down and gets some more tissues, flushing the soiled ones down the toilet. He picks the cellphone up again. "He's in his crib. I put him down for a nap."
"Okay, I'm going to come home."
"How? You going tell Lois that you need to go home because your baby just broke Daddy's nose?" He sighs. "Look, Clark it's fine. You just stay there. I can handle it here but I just wanted you to know what happened so when you come home and I'm sporting a black and blue, you aren't concerned."
"Not concerned? Bruce, our son just broke your nose."
"Jason's done that too."
"It's not the same and you know it. Bruce, this is really concerning."
Bruce sighs again, taking the tissue away from his nose to inspect it. The bleeding has finally slowed down but his nose is swollen to three times its regular size and is already starting to turn purple. "I know, trust me, I know. I suppose I should count myself lucky that I've had my nose broken many times before though. I'm used to how much it hurts and what to do about it. I still need to get Alfred to set it."
"You should probably do that soon and put some ice on it."
"I will. Clark, I'm being serious about you not coming home." He hears Clark sigh in annoyance. "You said it yourself, Perry wouldn't let you off of this article. It must be important then."
"But Lois can handle it herself," Clark says.
"I know but it's your job too and you love your job. We'll deal with this when you get home in three days. Look, if anything else happens, I'll call you. Promise."
Clark hesitates before saying, "Okay."
"One good thing did come out of this though."
"Which is?"
Bruce smiles. "We now know Ko misses you."
"Why do you say that?" Clark questions.
"Because he was saying bye-bye the whole time. He must have associated that with you and that was his way of telling me."
"Okay but I haven't even been gone long. He shouldn't even know that I'm going to be gone for four days," Clark says.
Bruce touches his nose and winces. "He's a smart baby, Clark. He does have mine and your intelligence in him. That is if our doppelgangers were as smart as we are."
"My doppelganger was an abusive jerk. I doubt he was very smart."
Bruce chuckles then pauses. He says, "I miss you too."
He hears Clark huff a small laugh. "I miss you as well. I'll still call to say goodnight too."
"Okay." Bruce looks at his watch. "I'll let you know if anything happens between now and then."
"If something else happens, I'm coming straight home, you understand?"
"Got it. I'll talk to you later Clark."
"Talk to you later. I love you."
Bruce smiles fondly at his husband telling him that he loves him. "I love you too. Bye."
"Bye."
A/N: Thanks for reading!