Lilly took a good look around her, when she stepped out of the cave. It didn't look much different from the Smallville she knew but then Smallville was a small town of slow growth that just happened to have weird occurrences. According to her parents, she and Jason had just been to this Smallville about 6 months ago but she didn't remember it. They had been too young. It was a serious mission but she couldn't help think how fun it would be to see what her parents were like at her age. She was 19. Jor-El had explained that Zod had taken over a body that no one would suspect but her mystic grandfather hadn't said who's. 2007 wasn't ready for a Zod that had time traveled from the future using some sort of technology. She and her dad had stopped him from taking over the world multiple times. The last couple of times she wasn't so sure her dad could have done it alone. Apparently, Zod had thought the same thing. He had come to a very critical point in her parents' relationship. They were on the verge of making it more than friendship but still at the point where it could fall apart. Particularly, where her mom was concerned. If he was able to stop them from getting together, she and her brother and sister would stop existing. Everyone had wanted to come but she had been chosen by family vote, as the best possible candidate. Too many people could be overwhelming and disastrous. Jor-El had sent her back.

She super sped to her grandmother's farm. Nobody was home and she didn't have a clue where they could be. She had to be careful and not give anything away but going to her mom was her only option right now. She was sure to know where her dad was.

---

Lois was downstairs at the Talon, eating supper and going over a dry tax reform plan. She saw a shadow pass over the paper. A girl about her age was standing there. She had dark, shoulder-length hair and green eyes. She looked familiar but Lois couldn't place her.

"I'm looking for Clark Kent."

She smirked. "I bet you are."

Lilly's got bigger and she said, "Gross!", when she realized what her mom meant by that. "Clark is a relative of mine and so is Martha Kent. I wanted to surprise them with a visit but they're not home."

"Yeah, Mrs. Kent had a senator function in Washington and Clark went along. They'll be back some time tomorrow. You should find a hotel to stay at until then." Lois went back to looking at the paper but looked up again, when the girl didn't move. "Is there a problem?"

"Where at in Washington?"

"You need a place to stay, don't you? I understand money problems." Lois rolled her eyes and picked up her coffee and papers. "My apartment is up those stairs. Follow me."

Lilly looked around the apartment with great interest. "I've never seen that before," she said, pointing to a red vase with a black dragon.

"That's perfectly natural, since you've never been in here before. I got it from an antique shop in China. I'm an army brat, so I've got a lot of stuff from around the world. I'm going to call Clark and Mrs. Kent at their hotel and tell them you're here."

As Lois turned around, she knocked the vase off and it shattered. That explained why Lilly had never seen it before.

"You go ahead and call them, M-Lois. I'll clean it up for you."

Lois used the phone in the other room. Lilly picked up the shards with her bare hands and threw them in the trash. Lilly saw a photo sitting on the table. It was a picture of her mom and Oliver looking romantic. She couldn't believe they had ever gone out.

"What'd you say your name was?" Lois shouted from the other room.

She had to tell the truth or they wouldn't know who she was. "Lilly Kent!" Surely her mom wouldn't jump to the conclusion that she was the same Lilly Kent.

Lois came back out. "They were definitely surprised. Clark said he would come back tonight but I told him by the time he found an available flight and got here, he might as well wait until the morning. It's not like you're an axe murderer. You're not, are you?"

"What?"

"An axe murderer."

"No, she said, grinning. "And if I was, it wouldn't make much sense for me to kill you, not this early anyway."

"Lilly's a popular name in the Kent family, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was a little girl named Lilly Kent a few months back."

"I know who you're talking about. What did you think of her?"

"A little on the hyperactive side but sweet. Why are you holding my picture?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm kind of nosy. Are you still dating him?"

"No, we broke up. Oliver didn't want to stay in Metropolis and I didn't want to leave."

"Wow, the Green Arrow could've been my dad," Lilly mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"I thought you said something about the Green Arrow."

"Nope."

"I used to think Oliver was the Green Arrow."

"What changed your mind?"

"The Green Arrow is a much better kisser."

"That's more information than I wanted to know." She remembered her parents telling her about their first kiss. Her mom didn't know at the time that it was her dad. She found it funny but disgusting to think about.

"So," Lois asked. "are you in college?"

"Yeah, I commute to Metropolis University. Last semester was my first semester."

"That's impossible. It was closed."

"What I meant was that I did until Black Tuesday."

"You mean Dark Thursday."

"Right. History was never my best subject."

"So what are you studying?"

"Art."

"Oh," Lois said, as if to say that explained her weirdness.

"There you go again."

"What'd I do?"

"You think I'm an airhead because I chose art. Where would Picasso be, if he'd listen to his parents? It's not like I'm going to be a starving artist, anyway. I'm studying to be an art teacher."

Lois threw her hands in the air. "I'm not your mother. Whatever floats your boat."

"If only my mother really would say that. She approves of my brother's choice of journalism, not that it's surprising. Carol hasn't chosen a profession. Dad is a little more open to it but he doesn't think teaching has a very flexible arrangement for my extracurricular activity but I'll have the whole summer off."

"I would love to continue this conversation but I have an early day tomorrow. You'll have to sleep on the couch. See you in the morning."

TBC