"You did what to Richard?"

"I did what I had to Clark. As a father, as a mentor, this was my last resort!"

"You could have at least talked to him. You could have told him what was going to happen."

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've tried. I've tried sending him to a different school. I've tried setting him up on dates with the girls at his school. I don't know what to do anymore."

Clark sighed. "Look, he's not a little boy anymore. You can't always protect him."

"This could destroy him! I'm trying to protect him Clark."

"By abuse?"

"By discipline!"

Dick listened from outside the door Bruce's stude. He could tell they were talking about him, but he didn't know why. Apparently someone was out to get him; someone that Superman himself couldn't defeat. Dick wanted to know why.

"And you call yourself his father," Clark snorted.

"You have no right to pull that card on me. When was the last time you even looked at Connor?"

"He's not my son!"

Dick's head hit the door a little too hard. Hard enough for Clark to hear anyway. He turned toward the door and could see the teenage with his ear pressed against it slightly.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked.

"It's Dick. He's outside."

Bruce nodded and cleared his throat.

"Richard," he called.

Dick's heart jumped. He'd forgotten about Clark X-ray vision. He'd also forgotten that a feather couldn't drop on the floor with out him hearing it.

Dick turned the handle slowly and walked inside.

"Yes, Bruce?"

Dick looked at the man's hands. Large and smooth. The hands that touched him.

"What are you doing out of bed."

He found himself looking into Bruce's eyes now. His chest gave a sharp jolt.

"Look at me"

"I...I'm sorry, I just..."

Clark watched as the young man stammered over his words. He was seriously afraid of Bruce now. He could see the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"I think I should go now," He announced standing up.

Clark leaned over to Bruce and whispered in his ear "You need to take care of this. Can't you see how bad you've seriously scarred him?"

With that, Clarrk was gone. Bruce stood up and walked over to Dick. The teen was shaking now.

This was the man who raped me, Dick thought. This man was supposed to be my father.

Bruce raised his hand to touch the teen's shoulder. Dick quickly flinched and cringed, sheilding his face.

"What I did was to protect you, Dick."

"Protect me from yourself," the teen said boldly.

Pissed, Bruce pushed him against the wall roughly. "Dick, I love you. You're my son and you know how much I care, but this boy-"

"He loves me Bruce. What do you have against him?"

Bruce released his grip on the teen and sighed. "He's going to use you. I've told you countless tmes as a child to stay away from him, but you never listened. His father might be tied to a group of slavers that turn children and women into sex slaves. Since I have no evidence and all I'm running on is suspicion and past cases, there's nothing I'll be able to do until tomarrow night, but..."

His voice trailed off. He couldn't tell Dick what was going to happen. He couldn't hurt his son any more than he already had. He tried to scare Dick away from Dylan, he really did. But now he couldn't protect him anymore. Dick would just have to face the pain himself. And this time, Bruce wouldn't be there to help.

"Get some sleep," Bruce said before leaving the teen in the study alone.