And Maybe That's Alright

Decided

[TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of abuse.
I know I put all the triggers on the first page but better to be safe than sorry :) a brief summary of the important points without the triggering content will be in the end note if you wouldn't like to read it.]

"It's not going to work." He stated, finally having picked up after close to an hour of ignored video calls. "It's not going to work and you fucking know it."

"Maybe it will this time." He countered weakly, almost immediately regretting the words.

"After eleven fucking years, you think it'll work now? What, because we got a few big names on our side? Jethro, I had a fucking group of lawyers last time. He paid them off, got them fired a few months later for good measure and no one heard a word of it." Clark snapped, usual bubbly attitude no where to be seen. Jethro was no stranger to a serious Clark, however. A side affect of being best friends was knowing each and every one of the others' sides.

He circled the room in fast, caged strides, fists clenching and loosing repeatedly, before picking up the phone and speeding down the stairs to the fridge.

He grabbed the cherries, concerned by dwindling numbers, and nodded to the woman hunched at the dining room table as he passed. He received a halfhearted, two finger wave in return before he disappeared back to his room completely, setting Jethro down on the desk again.

Clark couldn't tell whether Jethro had been silent throughout the ordeal or whether he simply hadn't heard the other speak. He wouldn't be surprised either way.

"And if it does work, what happens to us? To Aurelia?" Maybe it was a dirty move, guilt tripping Jethro with the mention of Clark's little step sister - whom he knew Jethro adored - but Clark couldn't find it in his heart to care right now.

Each time he felt the lump tighten in his throat, Clark would pop a cherry on his tongue to will it away. "Jethro, if he goes down, he'll take anyone he possibly can with him. That means me, that means Selene and that means Aurelia."

"Mum would-" Jethro tried but Clark growled something animalistic.

"You and I both know damn well she's struggling enough with her own family, Jethro. She couldn't take us in too." Jethro felt something ugly flare in his chest.

"Her own family? Clark, you're part of our family whether you like it or not! You can't just push us away when it's convenient for you! Why are you making this so much harder than it has to be?" It wasn't often that Ro's voice was anything other than monotone. Now, though? Clark could hear the pain as clear as day.

"I'm not making this harder, I'm being logical! Damien is my fucking father, Jethro, you think I don't know what he's like? You think I haven't seen - haven't experienced - what he'll do to get what he wants?" He countered. Who was Jethro to say that Clark was overreacting? He didn't know a single moment of the pain Clark had been through at the hands of that man.

"Clark, this isn't you. You aren't like this." Clark laughed darkly but Jethro pushed on anyways.

"Where's my Clark? The one that always has a joke to break the tension? The one that's always smiling because 'you never know who might need it'? The one who's always there, even at the worst hours of the night, with the exact right words to lift you up? Where's the Clark that believes that God has a plan for each of us?" He bombarded and Clark screwed his eyes shut, registering distantly that he was out of cherries.