Act XIV: Time Flies

~ One Year Later~

"What did I tell you?" Whitney yelled to the body lying on the floor of the house he was in. The body only whimpered in response, they knew better than to try and answer.

"Answer me!" Whitney yelled again before kicking the body on the floor.

"That I wasn't allowed to go out in a t-shirt" the body said shaking for fear of what was to come next.

"That's right, and what do I find you in when I arrive?" Whitney asked tapping his foot to the floor, and the body on the floor knew it would not be a good day.

"In a t-shirt"

"That's right, Clark you are mine and you will do as I say. Is that understood?" Whitney asked Clark who was lying bloodied on the floor.

"Yes, sir" Clark said bowing his head in submission hoping that he would get out of this with not too bad of a beating.

"Good, now for your punishment" Whitney said tapping his chin with a finger and making Clark fear for his life. It was fifteen minutes later that a semi-bloodied Whitney left the house to go to "hang with the boys". Clark made sure that Whitney left before he started to clean up the mess that he had made while getting beat. It was while in the middle of this process that a call came from the front door.

"Dada, dada" Clark smiled that the sound of his daughter calling his name. She had just started speaking more than a few days ago and he still couldn't help that his children where growing up so fast. Zaiden seemed to check the world out before pointing to something and gurgling, he just couldn't wait to hear Zaiden make more sense than he did currently. Clark smiled sadly at his mother, due to her gasp of horror at the state that Clark was in.

"Clark Jerome Kent" Martha said making her way over with the twins totting slowly behind her.

"I know mom" Clark said sad at the idea of either his parents or his children seeing him this way.

"Dada, Dada" Arianna said followed by Zaiden. Clark smiled again.

"Clark you have to leave"

"And go where mom? He knows where I am and he sure as heck won't give me up now. He needs to leave, but to do that he has to go away for college and that won't happen until the end of the summer" Clark said sitting down and pulling his children to him. Arianna from the beginning had not liked Whitney and he had wondered why, now he knew. He would never get over the first time that Whitney had beaten him, he had done it for no real reason and apologized as soon as he saw what he did, but now Clark wished that he had walked away that day.

"Clark" Martha said trying to comfort her baby boy, but she knew that the words he spoke were correct. Clark only had a few weeks before Whitney would go off to college and hopefully find someone else. She hated to think that, but her baby was hurting and she was not above having someone else take his pain now.

"Fine then we wait, but I swear if he does anything to those babies. I am going to kill him, no one touches those babies like that" Martha said with steel in her tone, Clark couldn't agree more.

"We wait then" Clark said looking at the twins with love in his eyes.

"Dada, dada….lowve you" Arianna said before Zaiden patted at Clark. It made Clark smile, and hope that he would get through just a few more weeks of torture.

~One Year Later~

"I'm baaaaaaaack" was called into the front door of Clark's house. When there was no response the voice let themselves in and looked around.

"Disgusting" Whitney said wrinkling his nose at the stuff laying about the house. It was at this time that he heard a nose coming from the back of the house. Whitney made his way to the back of the house, and saw the twins playing with a ball while squealing with glee.

"He must not be far from those brats" Whitney said scanning the area for Clark. When he didn't find Clark right away he made his way over to the twins.

"Hello" Whitney said with a sneer on his face, he had hated these kids from the moment he met them. They took up all of Clark's time and Clark still would not say how he came to have the brats, he wouldn't put it past the whore that he fucked a friend and that they got pregnant and thought he would do the right thing by taking the kids. Arianna looked up to Whitney and her eyes took on a decidedly Lex-ian color steel-blue.

"Hi" Arianna said while Zaiden hid behind her, he never liked the man either but he knew Arianna was better equipped for the task.

"Where is your father?" Whitney said still sneering at the two. Arianna didn't say anything for a long moment, before Whitney grabbed her and began to shake her.

"Where is your father?" Whitney asked shaking Arianna's small frame. Arianna did not speak but she saw her brother run to get their daddy. Whitney was just about to hit her with a voice spoke.

"If that lands I will kill you"

"Clark" Whitney said standing up while releasing Arianna from his grasp. The look on Clark's face said that there would be no coming back for what he had done.

"It isn't what it seems"

"And what was that? That you were going to give her a pat on the back? Do I look stupid?" Clark said going to his daughter and picking her up, she had tears in her eyes and bruises already starting to form. This was the last straw, love or no; no one touched his children that way.

"Get out" Clark whispered while rocking his daughter in his arms.

"What?" Whitney asked shocked that Clark had spoken back.

"You heard me loud and clear. Get. Out. And don't you ever come back here again. We are through; no one touches my children that way, so get out." Clark said in a deadly whisper while rubbing Arianna's back, trying to calm her.

"Clark" Whitney said getting angry at the idea of Clark being independent. This was why he had tried to talk his parents in him staying close to Smallville, it seemed that in his time away that Clark had grown a backbone.

"No listen to me, because I only plan to say this once. Get. Out. I don't want you here and if you ever touch either one of my children at all I will hunt you down like the animal you are and kill you." Clark said holding Arianna tightly to his chest. Whitney just looked on in shock that Clark had spoken to him like that.

"Do you understand?" Clark asked.

"Cla…."

"I asked you do you understand. It is a yes/no answer."

"Yes" Whitney grounded out, he was furious for the way that Clark was acting.

"Good, now leave" Clark said waiting for Whitney to leave. Whitney spun on his heels and stomped off to his sports car and sped out of the drive. After Clark knew he was gone, he placed Arianna on the ground next to Zaiden and hugged the stuffing out of them.

"Daddy hurt" Zaiden said due to Clark holding on too tight.

"Sorry, sorry" Clark said patting at his two children to make sure that they were both fine. A few minutes later Martha came over and noticed that Clark, Arianna and Zaiden were playing with the hose that had a flower head on it dancing merrily are it sprayed water out and onto the three. Martha just smiled at the happy scene and couldn't resist taking pictures with the camera she carried around all the time.

"Clark" Martha called after she had taken the pictures.

"Gram, Gram" both Arianna and Zaiden said running over to Martha soaking wet. Clark looked over to his mother with a huge smile on his face, which she hadn't seen since he had first started dating Whitney.

"Why the smile?" Martha asked as Clark made his way over to where his mother and children were.

"I broke up with Whitney" Clark said happy and sad, due to the situation.

"How?" Martha asked shocked that Clark had finally stood up to Whitney.

"He was going to hit Arianna because she wouldn't answer him. I got there just in time." Clark said darkly at the idea of Whitney hurting his children.

"What?" Martha yelled making both Zaiden and Arianna scared.

"Yeah" Clark said cuddling his children.

"You think this is the end?"

"No, but I am not going back to that. I refuse to be beat because of "he loves me and it is in my best interest" that is bull and we both know it."

~ Three Months Later~

"Dada, dada" Zaiden said pulling Clark along the Smallville downtown streets.

"Dis one" Arianna and Zaiden said pointing to a small stuffed animal in the window. Clark nodded his head and opened the door, as he was about to close it though he heard a screech of tires and then a loud noise that sounded as if something made contact with something. Looking around Clark noticed that people were close to where the local fire hydrant was and pointing at the car that seemed to have made contact. Just as Clark was about to make his way back into the store he noticed a bald head getting out of the car.

"Lex" Clark whispered to him self before making his way over to his squealing children, that were now in the shop and pulling at the stuffed animal they had seen in the window.