Chloe sat at her computer fully engrossed in her work. She had finally given up pacing and decided the best way to keep herself from worrying was to dive back into her work. Besides, she thought, Clark was with Jimmy now so if Jimmy has gotten into some trouble Clark would be there to help.

"I need some water, an ice pack, and the biggest headache pill you've got." Chloe jumped in her chair letting out a small scream. Although, her mind had been fully occupied her body was on alert, just waiting for something to happen. "Jimmy! You startled me."

"Sorry," Jimmy tried to get a small smile out. "My phone got crushed, so I couldn't call and Clark didn't have his with him"

Chloe's attention shifted over to her long time friend. "Clark!"

Chloe gaped at the well-defined finger shaped bruises on Clark's neck. "Yeah, CK tried to help me out of a little bit of a sticky situation, which is why I really need something for my head."

Chloe's brain seemed to slow down a bit. "Okay. Jimmy why don't you just sit down here and I'll get you what you need. Clark, can you come and help me?"

Jimmy sat down obediently in Chloe's chair and looked back as his girlfriend grabbed Clark's arm and walked away with him. That was just a little strange. I know Chloe could get that stuff on her own, he thought. But, his head hurt too much to attempt too much thinking now and he let it go.

Chloe waited until they were alone in the Employee's break room. "What happened?"

Chloe took a closer inspection of Clark's neck. It definitely looked like it hurt, although the dark purple areas seemed to be fading somewhat now.

"When I got there, Jimmy was about to get beat up by this guy." Clark coughed slightly. "Chloe, I think I'm going to need a bottle of that water too."

"Okay." Chloe turned around and grabbed two bottles of water out of the office refrigerator and quickly handing one over to Clark.

Clark couldn't believe how soothing the cool water felt to him.

"Better?"

"Much. Thanks."

"Well, go on." As much as Chloe was worried about her friend's health her curiosity was beginning to get the best of her.

"I was going to go in there and just get the guy off Jimmy, no problem."

"But there was a problem, obviously."

"Yeah. The guy was kryptonite infected and as soon as I touched him I could feel it."

"So, what happened next? I'm glad you got away, but I don't think the guy you were up against was just going to walk away."

"No," Clark could tell his voice was getting stronger and his neck was beginning to be just a tingle. "But, that's where the story gets a little strange."

"How.. strange… Wall of Weird strange?"

"Possibly." Clark took another sip. "A guy came up and pried the other guy's arm off of me, and he didn't even seem like he was really trying. Plus the guy was about the size of Jimmy and the security guy was twice his size."

"So, you think your mysterious rescuer was another meteor freak?"

"No, I didn't feel anything from him."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know." Chloe saw the look in Clark's eyes and knew he wanted to go back and investigate more.

"No." Chloe pointed a stern finger at him.

"What?"

"You do not need to go back and try to find anything else out. Look what happened to you tonight."

"Hey!" Jimmy called out. "What's taking so long? Are we out of water?"

"Almost" Chloe called back. "Be there in a second. Had to open a new container." Chloe turned back to Clark. "You'd better go. Won't want Jimmy to see you suddenly healed."

"Yeah."

Meanwhile…..

(in DC)

Diane closed the door to her apartment bathroom. She slid slowly down the wooden frame until she was sitting on the cold tile floor. She took a deep breath as she leaned her head against the door. She just didn't know how long she could keep this up. After she had gotten back from Philadelphia she endured a long talk with Director Beckett.

She didn't know how, but she had remained steadfast that she had not encountered Jake; she just went to Philadelphia to try and locate him. She led them to believe her trip had been unsuccessful. That particular point was not a lie. Her intention hadn't been to just find him, but to bring him back unharmed to the NSA.

She did feel like she had failed. She felt like she had almost reached a point with him that he was no longer scared, but not quite to the point of knowing the truth. If she had just had a little more time then she would have told him, instead of him finding out only part of the story on his own and undoing all the work she had already done.

She pushed an errant curl out of her face as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out the vile that contained the serum that she thought would help Jake. It was completely theoretical and had no idea if it would actually work or not. But, she had to give it a shot. She could not live with herself if she didn't try everything she could and Jake was killed in an attempt to get him back.

She had worked very hard to get the serum out of the NSA. The surveillance on her had definitely been heightened after her trip to Philadelphia. She wasn't sure if they had done anything to her apartment or not, but she knew her bathroom was safe and that was why she sat there now.

Out of her other pocket she pulled the small device out that she used to track Jake. She had tracked him off and on the whole time he had been gone. She had watched him get further and further away from the NSA…. and from her. She would argue with herself that he wanted to leave and this was in a way a new start for him. But, she knew that wasn't true. He was scared and alone and just running… from everything.

She looked at the signal again. She was going to find him. This time she would make him listen to her. This time she would succeed. She pressed the button to begin the location process and got up off the floor, placing the vile back in her pocket, with a new sense of determination.