I don't own Charmed or Smallville!

"So, are we for tonight?" Melinda, Kat, and PJ all turned at the sound of the new voice. Shane McGovern was the best looking in the school, and the three girls had been known to to argue over which he liked best. With him was his best friend Michael Goodman, who they would gladly settle for him after Shane made his choice between the three of them.

The boys had approached them a week ago, asking for their help with something. Apparently the Shane's older brother owed someone a lot of money, and that person threatened to hurt Shane's family if they didn't get it.

While the girls didn't feel good about it, they offered to help the boys orb into a home where they could steal enough to pay the man back, but had only agreed once Shane pointed out that the person would have insurance to cover it.

Apparently the boys knew of someone who was rich and going to be out of town, and all the girls had to do was orb them in.

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"You sure you don't want us to stay with you?" Chris rolled his eyes as he gently rocked his little girl. The three month old had a low grade fever, which meant he would be missing out on whatever charity event Lex had planned on dragging him to that evening, that didn't get Clark out of it though. They had invited Tam to go with them that night as well, and Chris knew the young girl had been looking forward to being able to dress up, and wasn't going to be the reason she had to miss out.

"I will be just fine tonight." He was staying at the mansion since Jonathan and Martha were having people over, and he didn't want them to feel like they needed to cancel. He also wanted to make sure Charlie got as much sleep as possible so decided the mansion was best for that since the only people there would be the ones working security.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just heal her?" Lex fretted, gently resting his hand on the baby's forehead to check her temperature.

"I'm positive. She needs to build up immunities, but if it her fever get's any higher I will be here and can heal her." He'd already been on the phone with their doctor twice that day, and had taken Charlie into his office to have the pediatrician look her over in person just to be on the safe side...not that he'd tell Lex that, he didn't want to be seen as the parent that over reacted to everything.

"I know, I just hate the thought of not being here for her while she's sick." Clark perked up as he walked into the room in the tux Let had forced him to wear for the evening, and Chris knew the other boy hoped this was his way of getting out of having to go. He knew Clark was the one who felt the most out of place at these things, he really wasn't the type that enjoyed fancy, black tie events.

"I know you do, but LexCorp needs to be represented there tonight, especially since you're still trying to get it up off the ground. Besides, Tam has been really excited about this, and while I know she would understand, I'd hate to have to see her miss out on it." In the end the two were convinced to go, and Chloe was given his ticket for the evening, Lex somehow managing to find her a dress for the event, though Chris was afraid to ask him how.

So now Chris was alone for the evening, having just put Charlie down for the night. He made his way into the living room with his school bag so that he could get to work on his homework, making sure to keep the baby monitor right next to him so he would be able to hear if his daughter needed him.

He'd been working for maybe an hour when he heard a noise down the hall, and stood up, making his way toward the door, grabbing one of the fireplace pokers as he passed them. He glanced down the hallway first just to make sure it wasn't one of the members of Lex's security team, knowing they would come check on him and make sure he was ok if they were in this area of the house.

When he didn't see anyone he slowly crept down the hallway, trying his best not to make a sound. He could hear voices coming from Lex's office, as well as the sound of people throwing stuff around. "I thought you said you knew what you were looking for, and this would be a quick in and out." He heard a girl's voice say, it was easy to hear the fear in her voice.

"You seem to have no idea who much money the stuff in here is worth? It would all go a long way." He quietly made his way toward one of the silent alarms Lex installed though out the mansion. It would alert the sheriff, Lex, and whoever was working security tonight that there was a problem, and while he wanted to confront whoever was ransacking his boyfriend's office, the smarter part of him told him he needed to head up to his daughter's room and be ready to protect her should the need arise. It was an easy decision really, as he turned to head up to the nursery, knowing his security team was already on the way.

"Don't move!" Though apparently not fast enough. "Drop it, and put your hand's up slowly." He did as he was told, especially after feeling the gun barrel pressed into his back. "Good, now walk forward very slowly." He knew better than to disobey, as it was a toss up if he could orb out before he had a chance to be shot, but he wasn't about to take that chance. "Look who I found, he's dressed a little too comfortably to be staff." Chris glanced around the room surprised to find that they were all just a bunch of kids, two boys and a girl who looked like she was crying.

It was at that moment that he heard whimpering behind him, and slowly turned, finding two more girls, two very familiar looking girls. "You two ok?" He asked the two girls who were huddled together, crying in the corner. Brown eyes looked up, and found his, and with that he twitched his hand, sending the gun flying out of his attacker's hand. "How about you all just take a seat." Another wave of his hands, and the two boys were thrown to the ground.

"Mr. Bennett, is everything alright in here?" He turned to see Frank in the doorway, and that his gun was drawn.

"I'm getting to the bottom of it right now, would you mind calling Lex and Clark, and let them know things are ok here, maybe let the sheriff know as well." The man didn't look too sure of it, but did as asked. "Now is someone going to tell me what is going on here...and by the way, if you wake my baby you will wish you had never been born." As he said the second part he waved his hand and the baby monitor appeared on the corner of the desk in a flurry of orbs.

"Chris I can explain." Melinda said as she and Kat made their way to one of the couches.

"You better." He turned in shock at the sound of Jonathan's voice, and was even more surprised to see the man standing there with his shot gun in hand. "Clark called when Lex got the call about the alarm going off, he asked me to come check on the two of you."

"I'm sure he didn't ask you to bring the gun." He asked with a raised eyebrow as he gestured with his head to the shotgun.

"I read between the lines." Jonathan said with a slight grin.

"Now, how about that explanation." Chris asked as he crossed his arms, and leaned against the desk. He watched as the teens exchanged looks, each one waiting for the other to talk. He couldn't hide his laugh as he watched the kids all jump at the sound of the shotgun cocking, but he knew it was all just for show on Jonathan's part, as the man couldn't seem to keep the little grin off his face.

"My brother got into some trouble with a bookie, and he needed a lot of money really quick. He told me that a man who owned this mansion was going to be out of town tonight, but that we could find enough stuff to pawn here that he could get the bookie off his back." The words came spilling out of one of the boy's mouths.

"And you thought you could have Melinda orb you in and out before anyone was the wiser?" Chris finished the explanation for them, "What would you have done if I had been carrying a gun, or had been security? What were your plans if you 'd gotten caught. Lex isn't nice enough to let you live with him." He shot a grin of his own toward Jonathan.

"We didn't really think about that, no one was supposed to be home." Melinda said, but he could tell she was having a hard time keeping her tears at bay.

"He's my brother, do you know what that means?" The kid looked desperate, and Chris could understand and relate to that.

"I have a brother and sister myself, so I can understand the desire to want to protect family." He expected to see Melinda glare at him, but instead she just looked hopeful. "Did any of you think to go to an adult about your brother's problem?" He gave the three of them a stern look, and they all looked down at their feet. "Obviously you all go to Magic School together as you knew about Mel's powers, so you could have gone to her parents, or Kat's, or PJ's, you could have done something that didn't involve breaking laws."

"We...um...I guess we didn't think about that." Melinda said as she refused to meet his eyes.

"Wait, who the hell is this guy?" The boy who held the gun to his back spoke up, and it was clear to Chris that this kid was headed down a dangerous path, and didn't seem to care. In fact, he seemed like the type who enjoyed causing people pain. He wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the ones who'd bullied Mikey, the kid who'd used his powers to keep Chris's dad from being able to heal him. Once Leo had tracked the kid down he'd brought him to the Kent farm, and after explaining who Chris was, what he was like, and how similar the two were to eachother, he'd undone whatever it was he did to him, making it possible for his dad to heal him.

"I'm her older brother, and you could have gotten her and my cousins hurt by involving them in this." He glared at the two boys, but only one had the decency to look ashamed. "Now, I'm going to help your brother, but you five are going to have to earn it...think of this as a community service." He would wait till Lex and Clark were home to iron out a plan for the bookie, and exchanging a look with Jonathan, knew he was already coming up with chores for them to do around the farm.