The Memoirs

It was early.

Very... very early.

Not that Dominic knew, or understood that phrase, because in all honesty, he was still half asleep. He was slumped in Lex's office with his husband, who for once was just as barely awake as Dominic himself, watching Lion King. or rather darling Eleanor, in her little mermaid pajama's, had put it on on the big screen and she was dancing in front of the screen while the two of them drank coffee, GOBS of it, and attempted to become conscious. "Uhhn."

Lionel was barely conscious as he watched the talking animals on the screen. It was a testament to his exhaustion that he was actually watching this, much less commenting on it.

"Scar is actually quite a smart lion, and would have succeeded in the end had he relied only on himself and not on others."

"Uuhn." Dominic muttered.

Ellie was dancing away. Yep! It was too early for cartoons, so yay Lion King!!! She squealed as the song ended, then leapt as the big daddy lion roared and ran in, and she squealed, running and jumping into her Unca Weirdy Pants lap. "That is Unca!!!!" She squealed, plopping down on the floor again, running to the TV and pointing, with a gasp, as the daddy Lion saved Simba. "See??!?! Its Unca Weirdy Pants!!!!!"

She frowned as her Unca Ommie started laughing, and gave him a glare as she pointed again. "Unca Weirdy Pants! SEEE??? Look! His hairm, and his" She lowered her voice deeply. "Sppoookee."

Lionel blinked. Looked from Ellie's pointing finger to the TV to back again.

"I'm the Lion King. Grand." He picked Ellie up and put her in his lap. "Darling little Eleanor... if you call me Weirdy Pants one more time, I'll have to tickle you until your hair falls out."

"Heeee!!!!" She squealed, giggled, and wrapped her arms around his neck, turning to watch the TV some more and gasp. "See? Him save Simba from the bad rats." She pointed at the laughing rat things and nodded.

Dominic was still chuckling, rolling his eyes as he drank another sip of his coffee. Lex's table was just so comfortable right now, and he propped his leg on the chair opposite him as he yawned, deeply.

"Those are called hyenas, darling." Lionel gave her a coffee-flavored kiss on the cheek, and rested his chin on top of her head as he took another drink of coffee.

And nearly spilled the scalding hot liquid all over his lap and the little girl in it when the front door was slammed open and bellowing echoed down the hallways.

"MORGAN DOMINIC SENATORI, I'M GONNA KICK YOUR BLEEDIN' ARSE AS SOON AS I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!"

Dominic looked up for a half a moment, stared at the scream... heard the pounding feet, and he very carefully set his coffee down on the table, making sure it wouldn't spill, and leapt from his chair. It fell backwards with a clang and he ran, as fast and hard as he could, across the room. He'd known it was coming… he'd commented just that morning in his online journal that he was toast.

He was so toast it wasn't even funny.

He leapt like an Olympic pole vaulter over the leather couch and slammed through the side door of the office, tearing through the library as fast as he could.

Graham burst through the doors a second later, just in time to see the side door slamming shut, and followed, pounding footsteps making the office shake. "MORGAN!!! I'M GONNA RIP YER BLOODY HEAD OFF AND SHITE DOWN YOUR NECK!" He was angry, infuriated, and not even the overturned chair in his path could slow him down.

Lionel leapt to his feet, picking up Ellie and swinging her out of the way as Graham blasted through like a crazed bull elephant. "Jesus Christ, man, what is your problem?"

Graham was gone before the question even got completed.

Oh, fucking Christ. Dominic raced out of the side door, half slipped on the runner in the hall and raced past Shayla standing at the foot of the stairs. Right on down the hall towards the kitchen, past it, Lex's lab, and finally, the garage. He dashed in, slamming the door behind him, and wove around the cars looking for a hiding place.

He? Was f'in toast.

"Uht oohhh." Ellie gasped, and looked up at her Unca. "He mad."

Shayla screamed as Dominic barreled past her, and then jumped on her brother's back as Graham bulled his way through. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MORGAN!" she shrieked, arms around his neck and legs hugging his waist.

"BECAUSE HE'S A BLOODY BASTARD!" Graham roared.

"Yes, yes, he is. The question now becomes, what is he mad about, and are there any tranquilizers in the house."

Ellie stared at her uncle for a minute, and blinked. "Unca Grammy always mad. He gets pissy." She said, imitating her mama to perfection as she nodded sadly.

Dominic was getting ready to dive under his Porsche when the door to the garage flew open and Graham, and his sister though Dominic didn't take the time to wonder why she was riding her brother like a burr. A moment... two... three. Pure silence. And he whimpered. "I can explain."

Lionel just nodded. "Yes, he does. I can see that." He stood up for a minute. "Do you think we should perhaps call your aunt Toni?"

"NO YE CANNA EXPLAIN!!" Graham started stalking through the garage, weaving through the cars and following the sound of his brother's voice. "YE CANNA EXPLAIN A SODDIN' THING!"

"Yes I can!" Dominic cried, and came out of hiding to run past his Porsche and out the side door of the garage. It gave way when he slammed on it the third time, lock hanging off the hinge as he raced outside. He had to come around the house and run back in… upstairs, he'd find a hiding place upstairs because if he didn't, his brother was going to break some limbs. He knew it, he'd been under those fists before. He bellowed back and hopped over the rose bushes trying to come to life in the spring weather, and ran, barefoot, wearing nothing but his long pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"I phink we gotta call Annie Toneeeey." Eleanor sighed, deeply, and looked up at her uncle where she was snuggled in his arms, sighing again like an old lady and tisking.

Shayla's fists were beating against her brother's brick-wall type shoulders as she shrieked in his ear. "You leave my big brother alone, you fucking lumberjack asshole!!"

"AYE, YE BETTER RUN!!! IF I GET M'HANDS ON YOU, MORGAN, I'M BREAKIN' YER HEAD IN!" Graham was tossing his head, trying to get his sister off his back as he bulled his way through the garage, and across the front lawn.

Lionel looked down at Ellie and sighed. "Well, let's go make the call then, before your uncle kills my husband."

Dominic gave a sharp cry when he realized his brother had taken a detour and sped up his running, leaping up the steps and through the front door a blinking Enrique held open, passing his lover without another look as be pounded up the stairs. He was dead. Dead meat. He was so dead it wasn't even funny.

Pete just... he just blinked, rubbing his head a little as he watched Dominic Senatori run past him... then looked down and saw where the screams of his girlfriend were coming from. Ohholycrap. He took a step back, flattening himself against the wall before he got trampled.

Ellie blinked up at him as her unca's went running by, and nodnodnodded. "Uh huh. Is Unca Ommie gonna get eated?"

"PETE! WATCH OUT FOR MY BOYFRIEND YOU MOUNTAIN MAN SON OF A BITCH!" Shayla shrieked again, moving her fists to box her biggest brother's ears.

"THEN TELL 'IM TO GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!!!" No doubt who had the lungs in the family, and Graham wasn't even close to winded as he started up the stairs, shrieking little sister in tow.

Lionel jumped as Dominic pounded up past him again, and then looked down at the little girl in his arms. "Yes, I'm afraid he is."

Dominic dashed as fast as his Irish legs could carry him through the hallway, and passed through one of the rooms that connected to another hallway. He ran through it, hard as he could, scraped himself along one edge of the door and yelped as he passed through it, tearing down the hall again. Shayla's door stood wide open and he nearly banged into it, sliding free at the last moment and kept right on going.

"Holy mother of God, what was that?" Pete's mouth was nearly hanging open as he stared.

Graham's legs kept pumping as he flew down the hallway, ignoring the banshee screaming in his ear, and the little fists bouncing on his shoulder. "THERE'S NOWHERE ELSE FOR YE T'GO, LITTLE BROTHER!" Graham bellowed, seeing the dead end around the corner.

Lionel blinked calmly as he held Ellie up against his shoulder. "That was Graham, attempting to murder my husband. I'm about to call Dr. Braxton now."

Oh shit. Oh, shit. Dominic slammed back first against the dead end, staring at his big brother as he came hurtling towards him, and put his shackles up, ready to fight back. Oh he was going to get his ass kicked. "You big bully, you bastard of a man, leave me be! I've not done anything for you to be punchin' me for!"

- = - = -

She was luxuriating. Bed never felt so good when a big mountain man was--....

The phone rang.

Toni lifted it on the third ring, and muttered, muggily into it, "Mmmlo?"

"Toni, good morning. I'm sorry to wake you, but do you think you might be able to hurry over here, and keep Graham from killing my husband?" Lionel asked calmly.

What? "Sugar, Graham's--" Not in bed beside me.

She turned, rolled over onto her back, and blinked at the empty bed. Oh. God. "Shit. Be there in two shakes sugar bear." Didn't have to ask why Graham was attempting homicide, didn't have to wonder, she just knew.

"Thank you kindly, Doctor. The door will be open and ready for you." Lionel hung up and shifted Ellie in his arms. "Come on, Eleanor, let's go see if we can save your uncle."

- = - = -

Graham was advancing on Dominic, and finally, he just reached around, plucked Shayla off his shoulders, dropped her on the floor, and reached his brother. Hands fastened on Dominic's shirt collar and heaved him up into the air and slammed his back into the wall. "YOU BLOODY ARSE'OLE, YE GOT M'GIRLFRIEND PREGNANT!!"

Dominic began to count his prayers one by one as he was lifted three feet off the floor and slammed into the wall and oh fuck. He squirmed, trying like hell to get down, but his brother was like hard steel and he yelped as he wriggled. "let me go, you bastard of a man! She volunteered for us, our first one ran off to Canada, LET GO!"

Ellie was staring at the stairs, were there was loooots of sound coming. "I phink Unca Grammy ated him already, Unca Mufasa." Ellie whispered, holding onto him tight as they walked.

"I DUNNA CARE!!" he bellowed. "Ye KNOW she canna ha'e chil'ren, an' ye've gun an' got 'er PREGNANT, ye bloody selfish barstid!!!!!!" He thumped Dominic up against the wall again. "If ye kill her, brother, yer answerin' t'me fer it!"

Lionel winced. "I think you're quite right, Eleanor."

"She can have--" Thud, and he saw stars for a moment before he spoke again, wriggling harder and trying to shove off his brother. "She can have babies, you dumb man! She was havin' them in her tubes, but she can be havin' babies if they're implanted! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"

Shayla tackled her brother around the knees, and got kicked off for her trouble. "GRAHAM!!! YOU FUCKING BLOCKHEAD, LET M'BROTHER GO!"

"SHE CANNA!!! SHE TOL' ME HERSE'F, YE SODDIN' ID'IT!!!!!!!" He shook Dominic again. "YE DINNA HAE T'PUT HER IN DANGER!"

Another thump, more stars, and he grasped Graham's beefy oak tree arms, wriggling harder against him and trying to kick him off. "She put herself in danger, SHE VOLUNTEERED AND YOU DUNNA OWN HER LIFE YOU FUCKIN' MORON OF A MAN! SHE volunteered, IT IS HER BODY, and she GAVE US A GIFT! SO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME GO!"

Graham just hoisted Dominic up further, then dropped him into the corner and swung, clipping his little brother in the jaw.

"STOP BEATING UP ON MORGAN!!!" Shayla jumped on his back again, and started pelting his head with her fists. "HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRAHAM IS TRYING TO KILL MORGAN UP HERE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Oh. Crap. Blood filled his mouth as his brother punched him, and he used the moment of distraction Shay used to kick off from the wall and roll between Graham's legs, squirming out, climbing back to his feet behind him, and took off again. He ran as fast and hard as he could, passing his lover and his niece in the hall, and took off down the second hall without stopping for a breath. "Fucking sociopathic IDIOT OF A MAN!" He bellowed back.

Graham bellowed, rearing up and dislodging Shayla from his back, and she fell with a thud onto her ass on the stone floor. She yelped loudly as she landed, and her hand rubbed her ass as she pulled herself to her feet and pelted by Lionel.

"Call Toni!" she belted out.

"She's on the way!" Lionel bellowed to her departing back. Then he looked down at Ellie. "You didn't inherit this stupidity gene, did you, Ellie?"

Pete was still pressed against the wall, staring, and he blinked at Mr. Luthor for a half a moment. "This is a new development."

Dominic raced down, down as fast as he could, and realized he was running down the back steps into the kitchen.

Ms. Bird was going to kill him.

He exploded in nonetheless, heart pounding a mile a minute and he blinked once at his surroundings. Ms. Bird, making breakfast, and he yelped at her as he heard his brother explode into the kitchen after him. "Shite!" He took off again, around the kitchen island.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Ms. Bird bellowed, in English far better than she'd ever let on that she knew. "Vhat in de name of Gott do ye think yer doin'!!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" But Dominic froze because he knew better, and winced as his brother crashed into the kitchen behind him. He knew he looked worse for wear. His lip was bleeding, the left side of his jaw was bruising into quite a doozy, and he was positive he had a loose tooth or two as he winced and stayed still.

Ms. Bird picked up the closest frying pan, which happened to be a glossy black cast-iron pan that she'd been using for the last fifty years of her life. "An what d'ye think yer doin', ye great brute of a man!" She waved it at Graham menacingly. "An shut up, little girl, before ye bust alla our eardrums!"

Shayla obediently shut her mouth, but kept her death grip on Graham.

Dominic gave a sharp whimper and once he'd realized she wasn't going to conk him, he hid behind her like the proper gentlemen. "Cosh him about the brains, Ms. Bird! Box his ears in, the brute of a man, the asshole, the terminally retarded! Kick him good, the jackass! Chasing me about the house like I've got a target on me arse!"

"HE GOT MY GIRLFRIEND PREGNANT!" He roared in response.

"Because she WANTED to be! She's our surrogate mother as much as you hate it you great idiot!" Dominic cried over Ms Birds shoulder, and once he saw his entrance, took off. He slammed out the swinging kitchen doors and took of down the main foyer... stopping a moment, staring at his lover and his niece, before zooming into the parlor, skidding on the polished floors with his socks.

Ms. Bird blocked that door with her not-inconsiderable little body, and swung her pan menacingly. "Ja, und I vish chu vould try dat vith me, boy," she said, glaring at him. "Chu are not going to hurt Herr Dominic!"

"RUN, MORGAN, RUN!!!! MS. BIRD'S GOT HIM TRAPPED!!! KEEP RUNNIN'!!"

Graham snarled at Ms. Bird before backtracking out of the kitchen and heading straight for the office.

Dominic swung around the parlor... realized he wasn't being followed, and panted for breath, chest heaving as he swallowed breaths, running his fingers through his hair as he attempted to get some air into his starved lungs. Holy shit. Safe. For now.

Graham lunged through the office, and snarled at Lionel. "WHERE DID HE GO?"

Lionel shrugged, Ellie still in his arms. "Dear boy, I have no idea, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT TOO, LUTHOR!" he bellowed, and then started off down the hallway again, Shayla still in tow.

Ellie blinked. Twice. "Unca Mufasa? I sawed his wriggly jiggly thingy on his throat."

Oh crap. Dominic stared at the door for a moment, hearing his brother pounding towards him... and realized something too late.

He was trapped.

The room had no door our but the one you entered.

Ohfuckme.

"AHA!!! I GOT YE NOW, JACKARSE!!" Graham threw the parlor door open, shoved his little sister out of it, and locked it behind him. "Now, little brother, you and me are gonna have us a bit of a talk."

Dominic shrank back against the wall, throat bobbing as he darted and quickly put the couch between them. "Calm the fuck down, you emotionally constipated idiot. Calm down and talk to me like a human being, not the jungle cat you seem yourself to be!"

Graham stayed in front of the door. He wasn't a stupid lout. "Yer tellin' me tae calm doon? Yer tellin' me that I shouldna be worried aboot yer dumb arse getting me girlfriend pregnant when ye knw she canna have babies? Yer tellin' me I shoulda worry that ye put her in th'same position my Missy was in? Dinna tell me to calm down, Morgan Senatori, dinna ye dare."

His throat bobbed, tightly. "Its not like that. The reason she had the miscarriages was because she kept having the babies in the falo... f... whatever tubes. But now that its implanted, it caught and its fine. Lex made sure of it." He was a dead man walking, and his throat tightened as he straightened, and tried to act.. .you know, not like the scared kid he was. "It was her choice, Graham, she wanted it. I didn't want her to, but she did."

"Aye, and I'm sure that ye didna have nothin' to do with the talkin' her inta it. I'm sure that ye didna hae nothin' to do with tellin' her it's all in her bloody head that she can't have a baby!!"

"No, I fucking didn't, you arshole!" He yelled it, as loud as he could, and if he'd been close enough he would have punched his lights out. "You mother fucking arsehole like I've never seen! Bastard! I wouldn't talk anyone into having MY CHILD! If you think so little of me...GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Ellie gasped from the hall, where she was still in her Unca's arms, and stared at the closed doors. "Potty mouf."

Lionel heartily agreed with Dominic, but he didn't say so as he looked down at Ellie. "Potty mouth indeed, young lady, and I don't want you to ever talk like that. Proper ladies don't have a potty mouth."

"Ye daft buggering idiot!!!" Graham advanced towards his little brother, hands itching to wrap around his throat. "Ye didna hae t'talk her inta anythin'!!! She felt sorry for yer arse!!!"

"Yes she DID! She felt sorry for us, and she gave us a gift, she gave us the CHANCE to have our child! You arsehole, you bloody idiot, how dare you!" He was pissed but he wasn't stupid, and he circled the couch as Graham started coming towards him. "Damn you all to hell! Its business between her and ourselves and NONE OF YOURS! You lost your buggering chance, you great oaf! You had her and you let her slip through your fingers! She's GOING to have this baby for us BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO. Did you think to even ask her before you came running to kill me?!"

"SHE TOL' ME LAST NIGHT! HOW ELSE D'YE THINK I FOUND OUT ABOUT IT?" Graham bellowed. "WHEN SHE WAS LAYIN' IN TH'BED BESIDE'A ME!!!"

Dominic said his prayers and took off. Didn't have a chance of making it to the doors, but he had to try, anyway.

Graham tackled him before he was halfway to the door, flat down on his back and sitting on his chest.

Dominic went rolling as soon as he was tackled and he was wound around and the GREAT FUCKING OAF OF A MAN SAT ON HIM. Graham had to weigh three hundred pounds, easy, and Dominic barely clocked in at 140.

Fuck.

"Get... off... ME!" He yelled as much as he could, kicking his legs up to try and knock the asshole off of him.

"I'm no' moving."

"YOU BASTARD!" He had his hands free at least, and he pounded his fists on Graham's side, which was like beating into solid stone. "GET OFF ME!"

Graham ignored the fists hitting his sides, and pushed up his sleeves. "This isna gonna hurt ye, laddie. No fer long, anyway... ye'll no be feelin' it after while."

"GET OFF ME!" Dominic cried it, loudly, kicking his legs up and squirming. "I didn't do it, SHE gave us this, DON'T DO THIS YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Shayla was beating on the locked door, and screaming in at her big brother. "DON'T YOU LAY A HAND ON HIM, YOU BIG IDIOT ASS!!!!!"

"Shut up, little sister! Ye dunna ken what yer gettin' inta!" He punched Dominic in the face again, then again, before kicking his brother's ribs with his knee and pressing down hard, choking him before slamming his head against the floor.

Clark… just blinked.

And blinked again.

He looked back towards the open front door...blinked. Looked at the hall. The screaming. Looked at Lex. Blink. "We're gone for one night. One night. And hell breaks lose. How is it that this keeps happening to us?"

Dominic was fighting it all. The. Way. He was getting his ass thoroughly kicked, and it hurt like a bitch, but he was not going easy. He was yelling and fighting it all the way, kicking him whenever he could and getting his licks in. Got his brother in the jaw, the eye, the cheekbone, yanking at his ears to get HIM OFF.

Except for the whole pain thing.

Lex didn't move from his comfortable cuddle in Clark's arms, head resting on his shoulder. "You know, we could go back. I'm sure Bruce hasn't even noticed we're gone yet. We could just walk right back out the door, and let it go, pretend we didn't see it, and come back when the hell has all broken loose. It's called strategic withdrawal, and it's a perfectly sane option."

Shayla was going off against the door like a tornado, and when she heard Clark's voice, the decibel level went up about five notches. "CLARK!!! Get your ass over here right now!!! Graham's trying to kill Morgan cause he got Toni pregnant!!!"

Graham was wincing as his ears and beard were jerked, and his head snapped back when he was clipped in the jaw, and he spit out blood onto the floor where he bit through his tongue.

"Considering... no. Because if we do do that, than who's going to clean the blood off the walls and scrub the carpets clean? I mean, really. " Physical wince as Shayla screamed and Clark set Lex's duffle bag down, stepping towards Lionel and Shayla. "What, pray tell, is going on?"

"BAZDARD!" Dominic yelled through his bloody nose, kicking at him and pushing at him until he rolled, just like when he did it to Lionel. He got them to roll over and Dominic got up on his knees, letting his fist fly down at him as something crashed behind them. Crap, he was going to get killed for it but he didn't care.

"Well... the screaming indicates that Graham found out about the fact that Toni is our surrogate mother, and is none too happy about it," Lionel said, hugging Ellie and switching her to his other shoulder. "Shayla here has tried to interceded, and yet, with no success. They're currently, if I have my guess, beating the hell out of each other in there."

"Neat. I--"

"--m gonna kill that asshole."

Snarled from the front door with the lines that none of the men had ever seen in her, she was sure. She glared at them, deeply, than looked at the closed door where crashes, curses, and the steady sound of beating flesh was echoing out of the room. She stormed through the front door, snarling Enrique into submission, and smacked her Goofy cane smartly against the door. "GRAHAM FUCKING SENATORI!"

Ellie gasped again. "More potty mouf. Mama always say never say dose."

"Your mother is quite right, young lady. You should never say those kinds of words." Lionel patted her back gently. "Why don't you follow Enrique back downstairs, and you can finish your Lion movie, all right?" He definitely didn't want her to see the carnage her uncles were inflicting on each other.

Graham was on his knees in front of Dominic, having pulled himself up, and he was cradling his side from where a lucky punch had snagged his kidney. He froze, when he heard Toni's voice. "Bloody hell woman, what are ye doin' here!"

"Okay!" She hopped down, staring at the angry people once more, than snagged Enmiqueees hand and dragged him with her. "Lion Kin!"

Dominic lay sprawled beneath him, half conscious. His ears had been boxed plenty hard, one eye was beginning to swell, their clothes were covered in blood, and he blinked up at the door as the rap-rap-rap sounded right by his head.

Her voice was very, very, very calm. "Open the door." Pause. "NOW."

"Soddin'--all right! Buggering daft people! Canna kick m'own brother's arse for anythin'!!" He dragged himself up to his feet, limping and still favoring his side, and turned the lock on the door.

"GRAAAHHH!!!" Dominic bellowed, having climbed to his knees... then to his feet, and before he could stop himself, he was hanging off his brothers back, slamming through the doors Graham had just opened. He swung on his brothers shoulders a moment as they crashed through and dropped down, giving the backs of his knees a swift kick to get him down, and tackled him all over again.

"Well, alright." Clark blinked twice as the bloody men went tumbling down to the floor, and he blinked at his lover once before he reached forward and plucked Dominic from Graham's back easily. He put his arms around Dominic's flailing arms, pinning him even as his legs kicked out to catch Graham again.

Graham went down like a log when Dominic's kick hit his knees, and he toppled. There was a snap when both their weights hit down on the arm he was cushioning himself with, and he snarled in pain, getting ready to roll back over and crush the little piss-ant on his back even as he felt someone lifting him away. "If I get back to my feet, Morgan Senatori, I'm gonna finish kickin' your arse!"

"TRY AND I'LL KICK YOURS RIGHT BACK!" Dominic bellowed, still kicking out at him as someone dragged him away, and he snarled at his brother as he fought for his feet. Clark, Clark had him, and he calmed down so he wouldn't hurt him, though he was so mad he couldn't see straight. "ASSHOLE!"

"You alright, sugar?" Toni asked, calmly, as she finally took a step towards Dominic and peered at him and tsked, as if she wasn't seeing the large lunk of man sprawled on the floor. "Don't think you're gonna need stitches, sweetie, even if everyone's gonna think Lionel took a bat to you. You can let him go, Clark."

Clark did so, eyebrows raised, and took a step back.

Lex moved forward a couple of steps. "Dominic! You're not going to get any more blood on my carpet, do you hear me? Upstairs. Now."

Lionel took a step forward the same time his son did. "That's an excellent idea, Dominic. We can get you cleaned up and taken care of, and you can come back for round two in a bit."

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Dominic yelled, but when Lex took his arm he turned, snarled at him, snarled at his lover, and with his temper still boiling, stomped up the stairs.

Toni turned and glared, darkly, not even... saying a word as she set a hand on her hip, the other leaning her weight on her cane, and waited for an explanation.

Graham looked up at his girlfriend. "Darlin', what are ye doin' here?"

She was going to kill him. "I got a call from your brother in law, telling me that you were getting ready to kill his husband. Now, I know you're a civilized man, and you weren't coming here to claim your woman or anything, were you?"

He would have looked sheepish, if he wasn't too busy trying to pull himself to his feet. "Of course not," he lied, wincing the entire time.

"Bull. Shit. You just beat your little brother, eight years and two hundred pounds your junior, into a pulp. Would you like to try again? Because I'm sure you've got another one right up your sleeve." She crossed her arms.

"Well. I'm not getting in this." Clark took Lex's hand and tugged him towards the stairs.

"Yeah, I think that's the smart thing." Lex picked up his duffel bag and shouldered it, then followed Clark up the stairs. "Toni, if you need anything, body hiding, whatever, give us a call."

"Will do." She answered, without taking her gaze from Graham's face.

Graham finally got to his feet during the temporary respite, and he went to sit on the couch in the parlor, cradling one arm against him. "Isna what ye think."

"HOW is it not?!" But her eyes took in the blood smeared on the carpets, his face and his arm, and god dammit, her doctors intuition had her sitting down on the coffee table and waiting for him to hold out his hand. "You promised me last night you weren't jealous, and that this was a good idea."

"An ye really think I'd be stupid enow t'tell ye somethin' that'd make ye worry all th'more 'bout it?" He groused it, but he held his arm out as she waited for it.

She didn't have to poke much to know it was broken. She just snarled at him and set it on her lap, investigating it to make sure their was no protruding bone. "You know what I think? I think you're an idiot, and I think you and your brother don't have a brain cell between you. What, this is a protect the little lady contest? Have you SEEN the little lady? I could kick your fucking ass so hard you'd never know what happened to you. I am my own woman, and what I do with my body is my own business. No one has taken an interest in it, and it can give Dominic and Lionel one of the best things a human being can have, so FUCK you, Graham, fuck you."

Graham jerked his arm out of her lap at that, then wished he hadn't as pain screamed up his arm. Opened up his mouth to yell at her. Decided it wasn't worth it, snapped it shut again, and got up. He made it to the door before he had to turn around and say something. "Ye wanna know the truth, darlin'? I bloody hate it. I hate it more than I can tell ye. Already los' one woman I loved t'havin' one of the best things a human bein' can have. Be damned if I lose another."

"That's just it. I'm NOT your woman! Graham, god, dammit, you haven't treated me like a woman in the four fucking months we've been together!" She was NOT letting him get away this easily, and when she reached him, she slapped him, right across the cheek. "I don't care if you hate it or not, I'm not her, she's not me. You can't LIVE in fear, because its taking your life away from you! You can't live with her shadow hanging over you because its KILLING you! Its taking you away from everything, even your son. So don't give me your sanctimonious BULLSHIT Graham, don't give me your martyr's bullshit."

Graham's eyes flared as she slapped him, and he didn't say a word as he walked out of the door.

"Get BACK here! I'm not done TALKING TO YOU!" She yelled across the foyer, snagging his arm once she got to him and yanking him around. "You are running away from yourself, from your family, from me. I love you, God help it, I love you, but you can't… love me back until you stop!"

Graham used his good arm to brace himself as she pulled him around, balance slightly thrown as he pivoted to look down at her. And then he shook his head. "You dinna get it, Toni darlin'. I do love ye. I love more'n the world has words t'say it. But I canna love ye, and then lose ye."

That pissed her off so bad she saw lights. She did. And she inhaled, through a taut chest, as she fought to speak. "You think you're the only one who's known loss? Huh? You think you're the only one who's had pain? Let me tell you something, Graham, I know pain. I know pain about children, about spouses and lovers, and I know pain of being someone to lose something they love. I've lost three babies in my adult life, Graham, three. Do you really think I would have done this, done this for Lionel and Dominic, if I wasn't sure it would work, if I wasn't completely certain everything would go fine? Don't treat me like some dim witted woman who made a booboo!"

"M'wife was sure everythin' was going to fine too," Graham pointed out softly. "Dinna know if anyone e'er told you, but she was determined to have th'baby. Wasna until the eight or nine month time that they foun' out that somethin' was wrong. By th'time the baby come... was too late t'do anythin' real f'r her."

Christ. In those soft spoken words, the anger blew out of her like the wind, and she just shook her head softly at him. "It won't be like that for me. I won't let anything happen... Lionel and Dominic won't let anything happen. Why, why didn't you just tell me you were scared, instead of coming in here and breaking your damn arm?"

"B'cause Morgan shoulda bloody well known better than t'do somethin' like this. Knowin'... what all he knows. Shoulda bloody well told you no, knowin' you couldna hae chil'ren."

"He told me no. Over, and over, and over. He and Lionel told me no at least fifteen times. But I wouldn't let them dissuade me. Graham, this is the one good thing I can do for someone, the one good thing that I know they'll never forget me for, and I want that. I want them to be happy. Don't you just want to be happy, Graham? If you knew someone could do that for you, wouldn't you want it as bad, too? I'm going to give them a child, Graham, a little girl they're going to raise and love for the rest of their lives, a girl who will grow into a woman, a human being. I want this for them, sugar. I want them to have this, after all the bad, bad shit they've been through."

"Aye, darlin'. I wan' t'be happy. I do. But I dinna think I'd be selfish enow t'take it at th'cost o'another man's feelin's. Or mebbe I would be and I dinna admit it to m'self. Dunna know. All that I do know is, I dunna like it."

Toni shook her head at him. "You don't have to like it. Its my body, its my soul. theirs a little person growing inside me right now, Graham, a little person I know I ain't going to have die on me two months down the road. That feels good to me. You understand? It tells me I can have more babies later in my life if I want, too." She wouldn't mention Dominic's quiet comment yesterday about how she was slipping through Graham's fingers, and just shook her head, softly. "Let me go on upstairs and see how Dominic is, than I'll take you to the ER, sugar."

"Ye dunna have t'bother. I c'n take m'self." Graham straightened up a little at that.

"Your arms busted, and we got talking to do. Don't be a jackass." She muttered it at him. "One second. You leave and I won't speak to you anymore, Graham." She said it on a glare, and turned, hobbling across the foyer and up the steps to where the hub ub was still going on.

He almost took the risk, almost, but instead, he sighed, and sat back down on the couch, arm crossed and waiting.

- = - = -

"Aht. Ahhh... shit." A low hiss.

Dominic was just busted up. His face was swelling and black and blue, his body covered in the same dark bruises, blood still leaking out of his nose, from his cut lip, and across his eye. He had an egg on the back of his head that ached, possible broken ribs, and he was pissed as hell. He was snarling, snapping every time his lover touched something that hurt, which was everything, and glared Clark into submission before kicking him and Lex out of the bedroom.

"Dominic, if you snap at me one more time, it's quite possible I'm going to let Graham finish the job of pummeling you unconscious before I attempt to clean your wounds, do you hear me?"

"Kiss my ass. It hur--don't TOUCH that!--rts and I'm not going to have you pressing on things for your own sordid means!"

Lionel closed his eyes and counted to ten. "I am not touching you for my own means, you stubborn Irish ass."

"Fuck you! You're pressing on my busted cheek bone, so LEAVE IT ALONE!"

"The ring of the Luthors. How could I forget it." Toni muttered it aloud as she hobbled across the bedroom and into the bathroom, eyebrow up high.

"Since you won't let--" Lionel cut himself off quickly. "--me take you to the hospital for X-Rays, I'm going to have to look at you myself, and if you'd shut up and leave me the bloody hell alone about it, we could get this done so much faster!"

She sighed. "Boys? Mind if I come in? Bein' a doctor, and all."

Dominic just growled like an agitated baboon and slumped on the stool, sulking and glaring at Toni as she stood in the bathroom doorway. "Please. If he pushes against me ribs one more time I'm going to rip his spleen out. Bastard. Don't you see I'm in pain here, eh?"

"Well, I'm gonna be the one pushin' against your ribs, so you better not take that tone with me, Dominic Senatori! I put your butt back together once, I can take it apart!" She wagged her finger at him.

He glared at her once and looked back into his lap for the wad of tissues, and pressed one against his nose, which was still leaking blood. "Fucking bastard of a man, chasing me about the house at seven in the damn morning."

"Now that's your brother, Dominic, and you shouldn't talk that way. You should be glad to have a family like that, even if they do wanna kill you from time to time!" She pulled out her little penlight. "Okay, baby, tilt your head back for me."

He glared at her but did as he was told, holding her cane for her as she shone the light in his face. "This is nothing. When I was sixteen he snagged me and beat me to near a bloody pulp. Found out about Antony. He was... displeased, you could say."

Toni checked to make sure nothing was broken in his nose, and then sighed. "Okay, you're good. Your nose isn't broken, though you probably already knew that... doubt your face is, either, but you'll be bruised a few days. Let me have a look see, and don't you even think about kickin' me, cause I'll kick back." She moved closer, and started prodding at his cheekbone.

"Ow!" He cried it, but he looked pitifully at her, then at his lover, then at her again. "I cannot say enough how happy I am this didn't happen on the day of the Diane Sawyer interview."

"God, what a ghastly thought," Lionel said, from where he was leaning against the bathroom wall. "She'd think I'd beaten you into submission."

Toni glared. "Don't need to hear that, Lionel Luthor. Don't want to hear that!"

"When you do it doesn't hurt like this." Dominic whimpered, as Toni kept poking and prodding his face like he was a fucking prized horse, until he had to bat her hands away from his throbbing cheeks. "Yes, thank you, they aren't broken. Now leave me bloody well be."

"Jesus Christ, you're worse than your damnable brother!" She slapped his hands down and went back to her examination. "You're gonna wanna watch this swelling here; if it doesn't go down in a couple of days, I'm gonna want one of our orthos to take a look at it and see if it's pressin' against the eye socket too bad."

Dominic smacked her hands away again, and glared. "I've had enough beatings in me life to know what swelling and not swelling looks like. I got my arse kicked, and that be all, so leave me the bloody hell alone!"

"Fine!" she exploded, and threw down her rubber gloves. "You both can bloody well rot!"

Dominic stared at her. "I'm not rotting. I'm beaten. You're PUSHING ON MY EYEBALL." But he tipped his head, distracted for the moment. "Was he a sodding bastard? I'll go beat his other eye in, the fucking ponce."

"Christ, I'm even starting to sound like you guys! Shoot me, please!" She flung her bag down in a huff, and dropped to sit on the closed toilet seat. "Don't you lay another hand on him, Dominic Senatori, or I'll sew your fingers together."

Glare, but he took it in stride. "He did say something. What did he say? Come on, tell while I wash my poor face." He climbed up to his feet....groaned, straightened, and snagged the towel off the rack behind him, as he ran the warm water in the sink and waited for it to get warm.

"Nothin' that didn't make me want to bash his head in with Goofy here," she said. "Can see why you wanna beat him up on a regular basis."

"Its more n' that. I'm a stupid man, but I'm not an idiot. So talk. Lionel's the most level headed of all, he'll tell you what's good and what's not." He dropped his head and pat water over his stinging face, hissed, snarled, swore in more than one language and lathered the bar of soap, carefully soaping his face up.

"Just the same old thing. Not happy about be havin' a baby, worryin' that I'm gonna up and die on him, gettin' all possessive when he ain't barely give me a glance and a half since we been together."

"Man's a good for nothing--fuck!--idiot at times, Toni." Dominic muttered from his water and bubbles. "He's a good guy, just confused as all hell and a bloomin' arse at times. He's scared cause Missy died this way, as well. I dunna blame him for kicking my little arse about the house either--had it been I with my intended-lover-though-I-can't-get-near-the-likes-of-her-because-of-my-own-issues, I'd have done the same."

"I blame him! The man's not got a civilized bone in that brick wall of a body!" she yelled.

Wicked snort, followed by a mewl of pain. "Aye, but I had it comin' to me anyhow. I asked from you, and you're not mine… though I don't suppose you're Graham's either. I keep telling that bloke, he's going to lose you, he's going to lose you, but what do I know of love anyhow? Lionel's a lucky fluke of luck, as it were."

A foot clad in an expensive Italian loafer connected with the back of Dominic's shin for that comment.

"OW!! Will everyone STOP HITTING ME?!" Dominic bellowed over his shoulder, and kicked his foot out to whack Lionel's as it was pulling back.

"Then stop talking about yourself as though you're not worth it, because you are." Lionel kicked back again, and then went back to his silent brood against the bathroom wall. "I'm with the good doctor on the side of, Graham should have known better than to lay a hand on you."

"Aye, but he's my brother now, isn't he? He takes his women-folk seriously, and he wasn't in the wrong, though neither was I. We just butt heads and worked it out the Senatori way."

"Which means I have to pay for special carpet cleaning to come in and clean up the blood."

"Of course. I tried to take it onto the lawn but I didn't want any reporters finding out what all we were doing."

Toni snorted from her seat on the commode. "As fascinating as this all is... I'm going go and try to drag that asshat brother of yours to the hospital with me to get him taken care of."

"Aye, I thought I heard something crunch." Which was said with a slew of gleeful snickers that made him wince at the same time, as he splashed the warm water to get the soap off.

"Uncivilized barbarians. The both of you. Lionel, how do you put up with it?"

"Perseverance, my dear doctor. Perseverance, and faith in the knowledge that I shall endure and overcome the ill-breeding to find my diamond in the... very, very rough."

Dominic cracked up at that, coupled with pained moans, and he just snickered as he straightened and pat his face dry. "I might be accompanying you, darling Toni. Theirs something not right about my chest, and its causing a bit of pain."

"AHA!" She said, pointing. "I knew it! Probably cracked a few ribs when Graham was sitting on you." She scuffed the toe of her shoe on the floor a minute. "I'm going to have to kill him, you know. I just thought I'd inform you, seein' as how you're family, and all."

"The man weighs at least 300 pounds. I? Barely make 140. Is it any wonder if he smushed me?" Dominic muttered it as he pat his face carefully, wincing at his bruising eye which was swelling beautifully, jaw the same, lip the same, and his voice was slightly distorted when he spoke with it. "Why are you going to kill him, love?"

She shrugged. "Because it seems like the best thing to do with him, at the moment."

"Because he won't be intimate with you, treats you like a friend, can barely look at you?" Dominic waved a hand. "Welcome to the world of Graham. Missy used to complain to us about it, before they began to date. He's been like that forever darling, only now its worse, because of Missy."

"Well, darlin'... it's gettin' old. Way too old. He tells me he wants me, but can't even look at me. Tells me he loves me and can't touch me. I love him, Dominic, I love him so much I could kill him, and it doesn't seem to matter at all."

"I know." But he looked up now, in pained silence, at his own lover for a second, before back to her. "I know. And I know you've told him, and I know he won't stop. Give him another chance, darling, just one more. Let him work over the hump."

Lionel understood all too well, the comparison of a lost spouse to a current love. Knew it painfully deep. "Dr. Braxton--Toni--if I might offer some advice? Don't give him another chance. Don't tell him about the effects of it. Sit him down, and tell him, in the simplest language possible, that he is hurting you by comparing you to... Missy? is it?. Because if he is anything like me? He may not realize he is doing it, or even if he does, he may not realize how painful it is to you."

Huh. Dominic's eyes widened and turned back to his lover, and he watched him for a moment… a long moment, before setting the towel on the countertop, crossing the space that divided them, and wrapped his arms around his lovers neck, hugging him as tightly as his bruised body would allow.

Lionel didn't turn down the hug; instead, he wrapped his arms gingerly around his lover, holding him close, and rubbing his cheek against Dominic's.

Toni watched silently. "Take it you guys had problems in that department too?"

"Yup." muttered from his lovers neck as he hugged him close to his body, fingers running up through his hair for a long moment before he let go. "Yup."

Lionel only let go when his lover did. "But we got through it--only because Dominic told me how much it was hurting him." Soft touch to a bruised cheek, and he was angry at Graham.

"Yup." he nodded again, at Toni, his fingers stroking over his lovers hand on his face before he plunked back on the stool and slid the antibiotic cream into Lionel's hand, bending down himself to get the bandages and the cotton balls. "He didn't have any idea, so I... told him. Rather, I told him when our therapist said I should have, and it was the best decision ever."

And the thought of the two of them in therapy together just made her go all gooey. "Awww, you guys. Nobody else I know of would bother going to therapy to get their shit together like you two have."

He grinned, only it hurt, so it was lopsided. "Well duh. We have an appointment tonight actually." Wicked chuckles. "Elaine is going to just love hearing about this."

Lionel chuckled. "At least she will believe me when I say that I haven't struck you."

Another slew of wicked giggles as he rose a brow at Toni. "Take his advice. He's smarter."

A heavy, put-upon sigh. "I guess this means I can't kill him, huh?"

"No, but you know, he's a resourceful person. He could life with three limbs."

Toni laughed as she levered herself up from the toilet, balancing with her cane. "Come on, you. If I put you two in the same car, you're not gonna fight again, right?"

"As long as he sits on the other end. And Lionel between us."

Another put-upon sigh. "Ho-kay. I can do that. Lionel, you're the buffer zone... don't you just feel special?"

"Words can't express," he answered dryly.

Dominic sighed, then. "Does that mean the doctors are going to poke at me?" He rose to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair, as they cut into the bedroom. "Let me put some clothes on."

"Yes, they are. They're going to poke you, prod you, X-ray you, fix you up, medicate you, and then send you back home in Lionel's tender care."

"Tender my ass. Quite literally." A small wriggle. He wasn't totally healed after last night, when, half past one, Lionel had decided to wake him up from a dead sleep for some frisky sex. Not to say he wasn't pleased, but his ass? it was sore today. Very.... nicely sore, but despite it, he groaned. "X-Rays? And... medications?! IT WASNT MY FAULT!"

"I don't give a good rat's ass who's fault it was," Toni said, doctor glare firmly in place. "You're going, and that's the final word."

He whined. He couldn't help it. "Please?"

"If you don't go now, I'm gonna have that husband of yours haul you outta here over his shoulder."

Another long, pitiful whine out of the one eye that wasn't swelling shut, and he glared a them before stomping into the closet.

She sighed. "You bring him down when he's ready? I'm gonna go check on the other one."

Lionel nodded. "You can count on it, Doctor. We'll be down as soon as Dominic is dressed."

- = - = -

Graham had been stewing on the couch ever since Toni had gone upstairs. He was... not at all a happy Senatori man. He was all but growling now, and his arm hurt like a motherfucker on top of it.

Toni's eyebrow came up as she plunked down the steps. From her vantage point she could see her...whatever he was sitting on the couch grumbling, and she clumped and clamped down the steps in her uneven gait. Truth be told, the cheerful cane was a lifesaver, and she used it to plunk around fairly quickly. And that's pretty much how she was able to get Graham a bag of ice from a muttering Ms. Bird and limp back into the parlor. "Here. Put it on your arm. Lets go."

"I'm no' goin'."

"Yes, you are. Your wrist is broken in two places and look," She motioned, "Your fingers are going purple. Just get in the damn car, Graham, for once, and listen to me."

"Then I'll be drivin' m'self. Drove one-handed b'fore, and I'm no gonna sit in th'car an'listen to you tell me I got no say in what happens to ye and what choices ye make wi'yer life."

"Graham, God, dammit." She was frustrated, angry, hurt, sad, all at once. "Just please let me take you to the hospital. We need to talk anyway. Just… come on. Alright? Come on, sugar."

He sighed. "Fine, but I'm no' tae thrilled."

Lionel came down the stairs. "Dominic's a few steps behind me, Doctor. Are you ready to go?"

"I WILLNAE RIDE WITH THAT SON OF A BEECH!!!"

"You'll ride with whoever you're told to ride with you piece of ass monster bastard!" Dominic snarled back, though it hurt to snarl, and his eye had already swollen shut so he was glaring out of his good one, and he flicked his brother off and growled like an animal at him.

Her mouth dropped, for a moment, before she shut it with a click. "You both are like bitching old women."

"SHUT THE FARRAGIN' HELL UP, YOU SODDIN' BASTARD!!" Graham lunged forward to reach his brother's flipped-up finger.

And Toni stepped right in the middle, eyebrow raised before Graham could snag him. She looked up at him, DARING him to mow over a crippled pregnant woman, and glared. Deeply.

"Geh' outta m'way, darlin'. I have a head to bash in."

"You bash his in I guess you're going to have to bash mine in too, because I'm not movin', sugar." Toni raised a brow expectantly.

Dominic snickered and stuck his tongue out at his brother. "Arsehole, I'll be shuttin' up whenever I so please. You big bully of a man, you right arse."

Graham reached out and jerked Toni's cane out of her hand, and cracked it up against his brother's head. Then he shoved it back into her hand. "C'mon an' fight me, little brother. I c'n still whip yer arse."

"OW! You hit my BUMP!" Dominic bellowed on top of his lungs, and pressed a hand over his throbbing head. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU! Christ! You baboons! JEEZ!" Toni turned and thunked her cane on Graham's head, then turned and shoved Dominic in the mid-section with it towards his husband. "Lionel, get another car." back to Graham, to snarl, "You, come with me."

"Right away." Lionel gripped his husband's elbow tightly and started steering him towards the garage. "Stop complaining; you're lucky Toni didn't kick your ass herself for taunting your brother."

Graham winced as the cane descended on his head but he didn't say a word, just mutely following Toni and simmering.

Toni stomped and hobbled down the front stoop stairs towards her little Honda. Busted up, dented on one fender but it was her baby, and she loved it. her neon tennis shoe flashed on the white tile of the stairs and she rooted in her jeans pocket for her keys before hobbling to the drivers seat. "Get in."

"Ye canna expect me t'fit in that little bitty thing."

"You did before, get in." She slumped into the front seat and tucked her cast in, thanking god once more it was her left leg as she cranked the car up.

Graham sighed and torqued his hulking frame into the little car, and held his injured arm protectively against his chest.

Toni watched as he climbed in, peering at him as Lionel in a sexy car she didn't know he owned drove past them, and she raised a hand waving before turning once more to Graham. "I'm glad you decided to let me take you."

"Wasna much I could say aboot it. Ye said to do it and it's done."

"I wanted to explain to you why I'm upset, sugar, and if you hadn't come in I wouldn't have been able to, now would I?" She cranked the engine again, let the gas go through, and pulled the car out of drive as she began around the driving circle.

"Aye, I know why yer upset. Yer upset b'cause I dared to have a problem wi'yer decision."

"That. But I use anger as a defense mechanism, sugar." She pulled to a stop behind Lionel's car at the stop sign and waited for him to go, checking her seatbelt to make sure the damn thing had caught and held. Broken POS. "I'm also scared, Graham, plenty worried, and upset."

Graham crossed his arms over his chest, cradling his injury. "Aye, and here ye tol' me there wasna a thing to worry about." Yeah, he was pissy.

"You wanna know why I'm upset, Graham? I did it, because I knew if I told you, you'd compare me to your dead wife again, and that hurts me like you don't even know."

"I... dunna know what ye mean."

"Think hard, Graham." Her eyes flashed at him as Lionel pulled out from the stop sign, and she drove up, waiting for a few cars to pass as she spoke to him. "Don't tell me you don't compare me to her, sugar. You do it all the time. You do it... all the time."

"I do not!" he flared. "I'd never compare ye to her!! Yer diff'rent people, only ye've got th'same problem."

"You do, sugar bear." Toni said it, quietly, as she finally pulled out into traffic. "You do indeed. You've been comparin' me to her for two days. And I understand, I do... but at the same time, I want you to see me as my own woman. I'm not her, Graham. I'm just Toni, who's got a big mouth and a bigger attitude and don't know squat about men and who's got self esteem issues. I'm just Toni, sugar. Let the past go and look at me for being my own woman."

He sighed at that. "I didna know I was doin' it, but darlin'... I canna help it. Y'mean s'much t'me, an' I canna think what I'd do wi'm'self if somethin' happened to ye. At least with Missy, I had our boy. Wi'ye... I wouldna even ha'e that."

"Tell me, sugar bear." Toni answered, smoothly, as she drove like a mad woman as usual, though her attention was on him and not on driving. "You believe in fate? God, Christ, Mary, whole nine yards?"

"Was raised tae, aye. Havena thought much aboot it of late." He settled back into the chair, big legs bracing his body in the car so when they plummeted off the road to their deaths, at least he wouldn't fly out of the seat.

"Then have yourself a spoon full of faith. Cause nothing is gonna happen to me, nothing is gonna happen to this baby. I'm gonna be safe as apple pie, sugar bear. Are you angry, because its Lionel and Dominic's?"

He scoffed at that. "Wouldna b'grudge them their baby, darlin'. I'm bloody well angry that they didn't flat-out refuse t'put yer life in danger. Cause that's what they did, n'matter what they say or think of it."

"Oh please. They argued with me every step of the way. Lionel nearly had a panic attack when I stripped down to start the procedure. Neither of them wanted me to do it, but I wanted to do it. I told you why already." She cut a sharp left behind Lionel, and smiled fondly at his reckless driving. Her soulmate. "And if they let me do it? Had I been in their position, woulda done the same thing."

He just growled at that, puffing out his shoulders and hunkering down in the seat.

Her grin twitched her lips, as she glanced at him. "I love you, sugar bear, more'n everything in the world. But you and I are on the up and down...you know it like I do. We're not intimate like we should be, though I'm holding out hope. I did this without telling you because it was a once in a lifetime thing, and it brings me unspeakable happiness to know that I'm going to give them a gift they'll cherish for the rest of their lives. You don't understand it, 'cause you're a man, but I do."

"An' because you knew I'd ha'e thrown a bloody fit bigger'n this side o'Dublin."

"Of course." But she sobered, greatly, when she glanced at him. "You wouldn't have recognized them. Lex's doctor friend had to come pump Lionel out... tried to commit suicide, sugar. Though I dunno if it was suicide or stupidity or sadness or all three. Took some valium and whiskey, and Dominic found 'im, from what he told me, seizing in their room. Had a plenty hard night over this little girl."

"Aye, I was there. Heard th'commotion, didna get in th'way." Graham half turned in the seat. "Li'nel never shoulda gotten m'brother's hopes up aboot havin' a baby i'th'first place. Dunna know how long, but long as I can r'member, Morgan's loved chil'ren. Shouldna promised it to him."

"He promised him cause everything was set up. Months, sugar bear." She stopped at a red light as Lionel skipped through the yellow. "Everything was set up, nothing could go wrong. 'Cept for that bitch Diane Sawyer scaring off their first surrogate mother, Graham." A gentle shake of her head as she tapped the steering wheel and waited, glancing at him. "Its really sweet that he loves kids. Christ, if only he'd been straight."

But there was an amusing twinkle in her eye and a smirk on her lips, eyebrow raised.

Graham snorted. "Ye'd ha'e had 'im in pieces by now, m'darlin. He wouldna been able to handle ye."

A snort. "Like you're doing a better job." But it was coupled with a smile as she gunned the gas and got the little Honda moving again.

He just growled again, snuggling back into the seat.

"I can't say its all your fault, hun. I'm a handful, and I've got a lot of problems, ain't no mistake." Toni soothed it, without realizing she was doing so, then could have kicked herself in the ass for it. "I'm waitin' for you, you know. Just got to get your head outta your ass and come and get me. Cause what you've seen? This aint nothin', sugar bear."

"I dunna have m'head up m'arse aboot anything," he growled. So he was being a little testy. He was entitled.

"Don't you?" She asked, softly, as she pulled into her parking place, noting that Lionel had taken one in the aisle behind her and pulled the key from the ignition, sitting back. "If you don't have your issues, what in the world are you waiting for?" And it was with that that she got her leg out of the car, climbing to her feet and waving at Lionel, lips twitching. "Run away with me to Indianapolis, Speed Racer."

Graham didn't quite know the answer to that. What was he waiting for? He slowly pulled himself out of the car, wincing as his arm banged into the door, and bared his teeth at his little brother.

"As enchanting as that sounds, Doctor? I'm already spoken for." Lionel's arm was around his husband's waist, guiding him gently forward.

Dominic... yeah. The pain was radiating out of the left side of his chest with every breath, but it didn't stop him from snarling at his brother right back and trying to tug away from his husband to get another punch in. "Mother fucker!"

"Watch your DAMN mouth!" Toni bellowed as she banged in through the swinging ER doors and glared at Estelle as she dragged her big mountain man in. "Got me two patients here, Estelle, I'll see 'um in back."

"And isn't it just like you? Don't start work for another fifteen minutes baby girl." Estelle waved them back, and started looking up the files for the Senatori's. They tended to keep them handy.

"Cocksukin' bastard!" Graham lunged, but Toni was pulling on his arm and dragging him into the ER. "Wait'll I get m'hands on you!!!"

"Doctor, perhaps separate cubicles would be in order?" Lionel was throwing his weight against Dominic to keep him from bolting off towards Graham. "And quickly?"

Estelle just gave them both a withering, withering glare, giving the file finding task to one of the other nurses as she glared them both into submission. When she was comfortable with their red faces and their heads down, she led the older brother to Exam 4, and little Dominic to exam 6.

"Thank you, Estelle." Toni called, smiling as she shoved Graham into the room and closed the glass door behind her. "Sit."

Graham sat down sullenly on the examination table, glaring petulantly at his brother through the glass door. "Bloody buggerin' bastard."

"Shut your mouth and be good for once. Christ." She turned to the small nurse beside her and quickly explained the situation, asking for sutures, an X-Ray set and an IV started as she herself accepted her white coat and stethoscope from the nurse. She snapped her gloves on and limped over to the table, leaving her cane by the door as she sat on the tall stool beside him, and pulled over the long metal table. "Here. Lay your hand right here, lemme have a look see."

Graham snarled, but he obediently put his arm out on the table, after flipping his brother off with his good hand. "I am bein' good, doc."

"Bullshit." She moved the ice bag away and peered at the purpled swelling, fingers gently probing it as she searched for the bones. She'd repaired over three hundred wrist breaks just like this during her long tenure as Doctor Braxton, and her fingers felt the break immediately. "Hmm."

"Aye!! Christ, woman, gentle touch, would ye!!!" he bellowed, almost rising completely up off the table."

"My touch, sugar bear, is somethin' you've yet to experience first hand. So who knows? My touch might be fast, hard... rough, with my nails scraping down places they shouldn't be. Or it could be gentle, inexperienced, shy. Maybe its frisky, wild...maybe its laughin'. But you don't know, now do you?" Raised brow.

Graham raised his eyebrow at that. "I'm willin' to find out, darlin'. But at the moment? I'm hopin' for the gentle touch, because if ye touch me like that again, broken arm or no, I'll have to hurt ye."

=-=-=

Whitney woke up the same time he always did. Quarter of seven.

And he didn't move a muscle. Didn't get up to do the push-ups and sit-ups that had become part of his daily routine. Just... stared.

At a ceiling that he knew wasn't his. There was no Michelle Pfeiffer leering down at him in patent leather and a whip. The patterns in the spackle were completely different; instead of the familiar faces and the little grins that he normally saw, all he could pick out now were great, huge birds, all of which seemed ready to swoop down and pluck out his eyeballs and entrails.

Didn't even blink. Just stared the creatures on the plaster in their creepy eyes.

A shift beside him and Chloe murmured quietly. The single bed was pushed against the wall, thank God, and she was snuggled into a pillow and into the wall, which had warmed against her skin as she'd lay against it. She was still wearing her jeans, though she'd unzipped them some time during the night, t-shirt snuggling against her.

Her bra had been tossed onto the carpet before she'd crawled into bed beside her lover, and that's how she slept, cuddled into one of the pillows, fingers lying touching his side and soft snores escaping her.

He didn't say anything. Barely moved, didn't want to wake her up when she was sleeping so peacefully. Just hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling, trying so hard not to think, and in the process, that was all he was doing.

His mother was dead.

He was alone.

She turned, rolling over onto her back and let out a deep, shaky sigh, arm laying above her on the mattress. Her hair was mussed, her face was pale in the beckoning suns light, and she was so tired. She yawned, quietly, awoken by the need for a drink of water, and she grunted as she sat up on one elbow and leaned over to get the glass sitting on the bedside table...

Stopping, mid reach, opening gummy eyes, and saw big blue ones watching her.

"Mrumph." She muttered, laying her head on his chest for a moment as she yawned, deeply.

"Hey." Softly spoken whisper, barely audible. Still quiet, still unmoving.

She felt it, as she began to come to her senses. He wasn't moving, barely speaking, and she got up on her elbow again, to look down at him. Her fingers stroked through his soft blond tresses as the day before came rushing back, and she ever so gently pressed her lips to his chest. "How are you feeling?"

"Trying not to," was the quiet answer. He wasn't sure he wanted the physical contact, but he didn't push her off either, just lying there as he had been for the last fifteen minutes.

Yeah. Chloe wasn't dumb, and she got up off of him, to sit up in bed beside him. She was tired, desperately so, but it didn't matter. Nothing really mattered right now, but Whitney. "Do... do you want me to make you some breakfast?"

"Not hungry, thanks." Still staring up at the plaster spackle on the ceiling.

"Okay." He hadn't eaten since the day before yesterday. "Want me to get you some coffee, or something? Some juice?"

"No. I'm fine. Thanks."

"Okay. Well... okay." She swallowed and carefully climbed over him, thumping onto the floor and walking across the small hall to her open bedroom. She retrieved a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, toothbrush and toothpaste, and swallowed a little as she shifted. "You can use my bathroom, if you need to. I'll use the... the one down the hall."

"Go ahead; I don't need it right now." He blinked, just enough to make his eyes stop burning, and then went back to staring.

"Is... there anything? You need, or that I can… can do?" She shifted her weight, throat bobbing as she swallowed around it.

Gentle shake of his head, the first movement of the day. "No."

Chloe bit her lip, tightly, and nodded a few times before escaping into the bathroom.

He listened for the sound of water rushing through the pipes, but even that was in a different place. The sound of the sink running was closer to him than it'd been at him, the pipes were in a different place, there was no leak in the basement that he could hear plinking on the cement when he was quiet.

Turned his head to look out the window, but unable to bear the cheerful brightness of the world, he turned it back to the ceiling.

And tried to imagine the outline of Michelle Pfeiffer up there, and just couldn't.

He looked again, and all he could see were flames, a mangled metal chassis, and a column of oily smoke.

Chloe scrubbed her face clean in the sink, patting it dry. Teeth brushed, cleaned up as much as she could without taking a shower, because she didn't want to leave Whitney alone right now, not when it was needless. She tugged her hair up into clips and smoothed her clean shirt, making sure the lose jeans were buttoned and zipped before she slipped out of the bathroom again. "Whitney?" She asked quietly into the room, spotting him right where he'd been. "Hey, baby."

"Hey." Barely turned his head to look at her.

"Why don't you come down with me? This old room isn't really comfortable. We can get a drink, talk to dad."

"It's a great room." His words implied a shrug, but his body didn't carry through on it.

"Whitney." She stepped in, then. "You cant stay in here all day. Come with me… please. Change your shirt, talk to dad. We can go out and get some fresh air, go see Clark."

He looked down at himself. "My shirt is fine." He sighed. "I don't want to go outside."

She sighed, then, quietly. "Alright. We'll be downstairs, if you want to come talk."

"Okay." He turned his eyes back towards the ceiling.

"Is there anything you need?" Yeah, Chloe knew she was being a pest, but she couldn't help it, as she stepped forward and carefully sat down on the side of the bed. Today, this morning, their connection seemed to be deeper, stronger, in their hearts. She could almost physically touch his pain, and instead gently touched his face.

Just to be left alone, danced on the tip of his tongue but he didn't say anything as he turned his eyes towards his girlfriend. "No. What I need I can't have."

Her chin trembled before she could stop it, in her empathy and pain for him. "I'll leave you be. If you need me, come find me."

"Okay."

Chloe climbed to her feet, her laundry in hand, and walked out of the room, carefully closing it behind her. She wanted to cry and scream but just quietly climbed down the steps in bare feet. She didn't expect to see Jonathan Kent sitting in the kitchen with her dad but somehow he looked like he belonged there, after all the times he'd come over, and she dumped her things in the laundry room before padding quietly into the kitchen. "Hi, Mr. Kent."

"Hey, Chloe. How you doing?" He got up from the kitchen table to give her a hug, and put his chin on top of her head. "Looks like you've had a rough night."

"It was really crappy." She answered from the muffle of his jacket, and hugged him tightly back. Their was something about Clarks dad that was so... dad-ish, almost more than her own. He always smelled like old spice and animals and hay and earth, and there was a comfort in that that she didn't find in anyone else except her own father.

Gabe had a pot of coffee sitting on the counter already, and he held the pot out to his daughter. "Chloe, you want some coffee this morning? Breakfast?" He was buttering toast as he offered.

Jonathan hugged again, and then pushed her down to sit at the table. "Here. Drink." He sat his own cup of coffee in front of her, and took two of the pieces of toast and set them down in front of her too. "If you want to help Whitney, then the first thing you gotta do is take care of yourself, so you don't get in the same shape he is. Okay?"

"Okay." She answered without arguing, for the first time in a long time, and rubbed her nose as she grasped her fathers hand tightly and linked the fingers for a squeeze. "This sucks so much, you guys. You just don't even know. He wont get out of bed...I tried, but he wont even talk to me, or let me touch him or anything." A beat. "Touch his hand, his face, before you get the wrong idea, dad."

"I didn't say a word, Chloe." Gabe glared at his daughter before turning back to the French toast batter.

Jonathan cleared his throat sharply. "Well, that's why I'm here. Me and your dad are going to try and talk to him in a little bit, but not until you've had your breakfast and get you off to the grocery store for us."

"Great. I'm the workhouse now. Fabulous." But she wasn't angry as she pushed the toast aside and drank some of the coffee, tugging a leg up under her as she did it. "What are you going to say to him? There's nothing really... he won't listen to you, I don't think."

Jonathan reached over and pushed the toast back. "You don't have to go to the store, Chloe. Your dad and I just thought you might want to get out of the house for a bit, take a breather. That's all. I'll go for you guys later, if you don't want to."

A swallow. "Yes. I need to go see Clark." She looked up, then, imploringly, to see if Clark's dad knew about the sha'nauch. "He and Lex have been really worried... really upset."

"I just bet they have; Clark's the type to get all worked up when a friend's in trouble. That's how he got hooked up with Lex in the first place, but it's all worked out."

He didn't.

Thank God.

"He was really upset yesterday over it. Lex has been dealing with a lot, and he wasn't able to help him. Which just... it sucked, all around. Yesterday it sucked to live in Smallville."

Gabe dropped the first two pieces of batter-covered toast into the frying pan, and started frying. "Chloe, do you want eggs for breakfast too?" He turned around to give her a small smile. "I'll make them any way you like."

Jonathan nodded. "Yeah, I can just 'bout imagine that it did." He squeezed her hand gently. "Come on, now. Eat up."

"Okay." She turned a smile at her dad, just a little one, before turning back. "Why are you guys being so nice to me?"

"Because we know this isn't easy on you, sweetie." Gabe tried another little smile. "And we want to help." Gabe flicked a look to Jonathan.

Jonathan gave a little flicker of a nod. "That's right, and if you get yourself on edge, then you can't help Whitney."

"That's the biggest load of crock I've ever heard." She glared. "Why are you being nice to me? Shoveling food at me, making sure--" She stopped, and turned to look at her dad, then at Jonathan. "You know."

"Yeah, he told me," Jonathan said softly. "He's worried about you, Chloe, and I know the two of you ain't been gettin' on like you should. So, if I'm here to help Whitney, then there's no reason I can't help you too. Don't worry; I ain't gonna tell nobody."

Her forehead clunked against the wood of the table, arms askew on it as well, and groaned.

Gabe looked at his daughter's head. "Chloe... honey, I was worried. Usually I'd tell Lorry, but... I couldn't. So I told Jonathan. Hoping he'd know what to do."

She couldn't be angry. He was grieving too. Crap. Chloe raised her head again and sighed, deeply, at Jonathan, head in her hand. "Yeah. Call me what you need to call me now. What, town slut? Teenaged mistake?"

Jonathan blinked. Several times. "You... you feelin' all right, darlin?"

"I'm feeling fine. Now, come on. Im waiting for it. I promise, I wont cry."

Jonathan didn't answer, just put the back of his hand against her cheek, and then her forehead.

"No, seriously. Come on. I know everyone's going to call me that, so I'm just waiting." She ducked out from his hand, and waited.

"No--nobody's gonna call you anything, and I still don't get why you think I would?"

Chloe's mouth trembled open, after a moment. "Its suddenly occurred to me you don't know I'm pregnant."

Jonathan blinked. And then blinked again. Looked from Chloe to Gabe, and back again. "Well... that sort of explains things. But no, I'm not gonna call you any names or whatever, just hopin' you invite my wife to your shower."

She winced, deeply, and let her head plunk the wooden table again as she fought to extract one pretty toed foot from her mouth. "Don't tell Whitney. He cant deal right now." But after a moment, she looked up, the flush of embarrassment and shame still on her cheeks. "You don't think I'm a hussy or anything?"

"Not gonna tell Whitney. Not even gonna tell Martha yet, until you tell me it's okay." He chuckled softly. "No, sweetie, I don't think you're a hussy at all. I know you too well for that." He kissed her on the forehead. "Breakfast."

Taking it totally in stride. Chloe stared at him as she took a bite of toast, and blinked, twice. "You mean to tell me... nothing at all? Even though I'm seventeen?"

Jonathan choked softly on his coffee. "Honey... I ain't nobody to throw stones for gettin' involved with somebody at a young age."

"Really?" She was totally, completely intrigued, reporters sense buzzing as she snuggled in with her own coffee. "With who, if you don't mind me asking?"

Gabe refilled both coffee cups, filled one up for himself, and then put the plate of freshly fried French toast on the table. "I'll make some more fresh to take up to Whitney," Gabe said softly. "We'll get him to eat, honey. Don't worry."

Jonathan nodded his thanks for the refill, and briefly missed his own cup with the cows on it. "It's ancient history, Chloe. I'll tell you another time, when circumstances are less... grim." He leaned his chair back against the wall, and hooked his foot under one of the legs.

"They can't get any more grim than they are right now, either." She turned her gaze to her father. "He won't move. He didn't want me near him, I could tell. He hasn't eaten since the day before yesterday, dad."

"We'll take care of that. What we need you to do is go to the store, and buy all of the stuff you know he likes to eat. Junk food, whatever. Doesn't matter. You know him best, so that's why we're asking you to go, all right? Maybe if we have what he likes, he'll be more willing to eat."

"Okay." A quiet voice. "I know what he likes, we eat all the time. I mean… all the time. He eats like a truck driver and never gains anything." Her throat bobbed. She knew it was impolite to be saying these sorts of things in front of company, even if it was Jonathan Kent, but oh well. "You don't mind, that he stays here?"

"I don't mind at all, sweetie." Gabe took a couple of pieces of French toast and put it on his plate, drenching it in syrup before pushing it around on his plate. "I'd rather he be here than alone in that house."

"Did...Whitney said yesterday that they'd call, when we could go get... get her. Did they call?" Chloe asked quietly, and this time a gulp of tears slid up in her throat. "She was so nice. She loved Whitney so much, you could tell. Even when she was mad she really wasn't mad. She was always at all his football games, right on the first bench, with her sign and her blow up finger." A laugh, amongst the tears that had brimmed and slid over the lids to trail her face. "She was so tiny, but she'd be right there, yelling and screaming and cheering. I did a story on her once, on being the best football mom there was."

"No, honey, they haven't called yet." Gabe slid his chair around the table to sit beside his daughter, and hugged her tightly to his shoulder. "They won't call until later today; a couple of hours at least."

She wrapped her arm around her dads waist, sniffling softly as she lay her head on his. "This sucks ass."

"Yeah, baby, it does." He didn't even bother to reprimand her for the language. "It really, really does."

go on to the next part