InsaneJournal

WHO: Clark & Darcy
WHAT: The new mommy is free of hospital shaped places and Clark is twitchy about potentially accidentally hurting the new kiddies.
WHEN: Early evening (slightly backdated to yesterday).
WHERE: The apartment complex.
RATING: PG.



Even though Clark had left all the windows in Darcy's apartment open, the place hadn't quite aired out yet. He didn't know if it was because the paint he'd rolled across the nursery walls had been too thick or if it was because of some sort of special chemical that was used in that brand of paint in particular, but it had taken a little longer than expected for the room to be safe for infants to stay within, let alone the whole apartment. Because of that, Clark had promised Darcy that she and her newborns could crash at his own place in the complex, which was far less filled with dizzying paint fumes and, as a result, much safer for the Rhone family.

Clark had to admit, he wasn't really all that used to being around babies. Yes, there were plenty of neighboring farmers from Smallville who had children of their own that Clark had occasionally met in passing, but that wasn't the same as living among them, in which he was partially responsible for making sure that they were well taken care of. Not to mention, Darcy's own children were younger than any that he had ever really encountered before. Clark was admittedly terrified of making too much physical contact with any of them ; he had to tone down his strength for human interaction enough as it was. The mere thought of how easy it would have been on his part to break a child terrified him enough to keep him at a very careful distance from any opportunity that required him to pick up either of Darcy's children. That didn't mean that he didn't help her when she needed it, nor would he avoid doing so in the future, but right now, Clark really didn't want to take any chances. He worked without touching them too much, all the while ensuring that he was especially careful not to mention his fears to Darcy, who Clark feared would shy away from him upon discovering what was really going on inside his head. Clark worried that she would either realize that he was right – that he was dangerous company for her to be having around her new babies – or she would find his worries ridiculous and would instead decide that he didn't want anything to do with her children at all and happened to be making up some kind of lame excuse to hide that fact. Both of the images that Clark had concocted in his anxiety didn't end well on his part, so he selfishly decided to keep his concerns to himself in hopes of avoiding potentially losing Darcy before they had even really begun. He wanted to help and he wanted to be there for Darcy and the kids ; it was just that tiny detail, along with the notion that he had no idea what he was doing, that made Clark wary.

That wariness, of course, didn't keep Clark from allowing the Rhone family to stay at his apartment. He had cleared out some extra space in his bedroom so that the crib that he had built for the twins was close by, since he knew that Darcy would want to keep a close eye on them during their first night out of the hospital. The bedroom in itself had been cleaned to perfection (in Clark's nervousness, he had decided that a room anything less than sparkling would be unacceptable to his new guests [who probably wouldn't much remember anything that they saw in Clark's apartment, as they were too tiny, but still], so he'd gone through a cleaning rampage prior to picking them up) and the apartment that followed wasn't looking too shabby either.

It was in that not-too shabby apartment that Clark currently resided. After bringing the group back to the complex, Clark had helped Darcy bring in whatever she needed to get by for the night prior to slipping off to the kitchen, where he planned on getting dinner together for Darcy and himself as she worked at settling in with the babies. In all honesty, Clark had been in a little rush to start in on dinner, as it gave him a few more minutes to prepare himself for whatever awaited him on the baby front.

So, while Darcy tended to her children in the next room over, Clark nervously fiddled with the meat and noodles he'd been cooking for their spaghetti dinner. Clark slid the cooked hamburger meat back to cool, but in all his distraction he had forgotten to turn the side of the burner that he had been using to cook the meat on off. It was in that same chain of distraction that Clark thoughtlessly and unknowingly placed his palm over the burner, the blazing heat - which would have burnt the flesh off of any other creature, easily - not bothering him in the slightest as he continued to quietly stir at the noodles.