"It's not possible," Clark told Chloe as he paced around her desk. "She can't be remembering that. It didn't happen. That timeline doesn't even exist anymore."
"Look, Clark, I don't understand it either, but the way she described her dream, it was exactly what you told me happened that night when you lived through it the first time. And every night, she said she's remembering more and more."
"So that's why she's looked so exhausted lately. She said it was all of her schoolwork. I know she's been trying to finish her degree this year, so I didn't even think it could be something else. Why didn't she tell me?"
"We all keep secrets for our own reasons. I don't have to tell you that. Just…you should start thinking about what you'll say to her if and when she remembers everything. Recalling something like that would be a lot for anyone. Maybe…you should consider telling her everything before that happens. It might soften the blow a little."
"How do you tell someone that they died in a violent car crash and I brought them back at the cost of another life?"
"You had no way of knowing that was going to happen."
"No. I did."
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember that time last year when I lost my powers and then I got shot?"
"Yeah, how can I forget?"
"Jor-El brought me back to life, but he told me that someone I loved would have to die. A sort of…horrible exchange."
"And Em was that person."
"Even though that timeline doesn't exist anymore, I can still remember…holding her in the Fortress. She was…covered in blood and she was so…still. I couldn't think straight. I just knew that I couldn't let her life end like that."
"Do you honestly think that if you had known, you could've made a choice?"
Clark remained silent. How could he possibly have chosen between his own father and Emmeline?
"Look…if I was in your shoes, I would've done the exact same thing, okay? But it's going to be tough for her once she recalls that night. It might even be tougher for you. Just…make sure you really consider all your options here."
Emmeline headed towards her car that night after her shift was over at the clinic.
However, her night quickly took a sore dive when she heard a loud gunshot pierce what had once been a peaceful quiet.
Despite the fact that her heart hammered in her chest and her common sense told her she should probably just make a phone call and call it a day, she couldn't just leave when someone might be seriously hurt.
She slowly made her way in the direction the shot had come from, looking around to make sure that the shooter wasn't hiding out somewhere.
Finally, she came upon the scene.
"Oh, man…"
Someone was on the ground with blood pooling around him. She quickly scanned the area but found no evidence of the shooter anywhere. Determining it to be safe, she rushed over to the person.
"Oh, crap…"
It was the Green Arrow.
Emmeline hesitated for barely a second before she quickly knelt down next to his side. She may not care for the guy, but that didn't mean she wanted him to die.
"All right, hang on," she said quickly. "Stay with me."
She had been taking some emergency first-aid classes as a requirement for her internship, so she hoped that would be enough until he could get some actual help.
Using her key, she quickly tore a hole in the bottom of her shirt and ripped off a large strip of it. Then she quickly pressed the piece of fabric to the wound to try to stop the flow of blood. The problem was that the bullet had exited his back and she didn't know what to do about that part.
"Come on, stay with me."
For a brief moment, she looked at the man's face and realized how easy it would be to remove his hood and glasses and find out his identity. Her hand slowly moved towards his face…but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He kept his identity a secret for a reason, and she had no right to force him to reveal it to her especially when he was completely defenseless.
"Geez, there's so much blood," she said quietly.
She quickly took out her cell phone and dialed 911.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"I'm on the parking deck at 5th and Ross on the street level. I've got the Green Arrow here, and he's been shot. The bullet went clean through. I've tried to stop the bleeding, but he's losing so much and I don't know what else to do!"
"Okay, ma'am—"
Emmeline missed all of the following instructions when a hand snatched the phone out of her grasp and roughly pushed her away. She gasped as the Green Arrow quickly stood up and looked down at her. He easily crushed the phone in his hand and tossed it back to her.
Then he shot an arrow into the air and zipped away, blood still dripping down to the pavement.
Some thanks for trying to save the guy's life.
Clark handed Chloe a syringe in a plastic bag.
"I take it this wasn't a party favor," Chloe remarked.
"I broke into his apartment," Clark told her.
"You broke into Oliver Queen's apartment?" Emmeline asked in disbelief. "That's a bit much, don't you think?"
"Not if he's in trouble. There might be some residue still left on it."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'd call Oliver Queen a lot of things, but I never thought I'd call him a junkie."
"Chloe, I don't think he's getting high."
"Come on, Clark. I told you the other day that you of all people should know that everyone has their secrets. Besides, it's not that much of a stretch to think that a jet-setting billionaire might have a little habit to hide."
"Can you just get it checked out? We'll know for sure."
"I'll text my bio-chem buddy at Met U. Hopefully he hasn't left for Thanksgiving already."
"Hey, that Green Arrow story. That victim actually see him get shot?"
"Why don't you ask one of the witnesses?"
Clark looked at her blankly and then looked over at Emmeline. "Wait, you were a witness?"
Emmeline awkwardly fiddled with the end of her hair. "If you could call it that. I kind of freaked out when I was put on the spot by all the reporters so I didn't say much and I refused to say my name so I could remain anonymous."
"Well, uh, what happened?"
"I didn't see him get shot but I heard it. It went clean through him and there was a ton of blood. I mean, he shouldn't have even been able to walk much less zip away like he did. And he had the decency to break my phone before he left to keep me from talking to the 911 dispatcher."
"The people that own the car did come forward and say that he saved them from a carjacking that night," Chloe put in. "He hasn't been spotted since." She looked towards the stairs and noticed Lana walking down them, so she quickly began to usher Clark towards the elevator. "Um, so I'm just gonna get this syringe to my chemist."
"Great."
"Why don't you head out, and I will get ahold of you as soon as I find anything?"
"Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"No! Why would I want to do that?"
Lana finally came down the steps into their view.
Clark realized why Chloe was being so pushy. "Lana," he said awkwardly.
"Hi," she replied.
Chloe looked at him and said softly, "Us girls were just gonna get some lunch."
Clark nodded. "That's great. Uh, have a good time."
He quickly got inside the elevator and left the building.
Chloe sighed as she went over to Lana. "Well, that wasn't awkward at all. I try to keep the heavenly bodies from colliding, but there's only so much I can do."
Lana began ushering the two girls back to Chloe's desk. "I want you to check something out for me before we go."
"Yeah, okay. My Google is your Google. What do you need?"
"I'm curious about this halfway house that LuthorCorp Foundation supports. I offered to get involved, but Lex won't let me anywhere near it. He says it isn't safe."
Chloe took a seat at her computer. "Well, most halfway houses aren't exactly amusement parks, Lana."
"I don't think that's it. Lex swears that he's honest with me, but lately he's-he's been a little secretive. I don't know, maybe I'm reading into it."
"No, I think you're just being cautious, which is smart. Don't worry, we'll figure things out." Chloe looked up at her and noticed her eyes drooping closed. "Are you all right?"
Lana's legs gave out and she started falling to the floor. Emmeline quickly managed to catch her before she hit the ground and sank down with her.
"Lana!" Chloe exclaimed, bolting out of her seat. "Lana?"
Lana's eyes fluttered open as she lay propped up in Emmeline's arms.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?" Lana asked softly.
"Well, from where I was sitting, it looked like you fainted." She and Emmeline gently helped her up off the floor. "Let's get you to a doctor."
"No. It's okay. Can we keep my little siesta between us? I really wouldn't want anyone to worry."
"Well, it's a little late for that, but yeah. Okay."
Emmeline and Chloe shared a concerned glance. It was rare for someone to faint for no reason and the fact that Lana wanted to keep it a secret probably meant there was something she wasn't telling them.
When Lois went to see Oliver after she'd found out about his supposed drug habit and wanted to be there for him, she had an unfortunate run-in with the Green Arrow instead. She had tried to confront him, but he had thrown her into a glass table which shattered beneath her and embedded shards of glass into her backside. She was currently resting up at Smallville Medical Center.
"Hey, how's Lois?" Chloe asked Clark as he came to her desk.
"Physically, she's fine, but she's looking for Oliver. I can't find him anywhere."
"Maybe this will help. My science geek analyzed the liquid in that syringe, and you're right. No one's gonna take it and go to a rave. It's a cutting-edge molecular modifier that has something to do with tissue regeneration?"
"So it has some sort of healing power."
"Conceivably. But according to my Einstein, it also packs a mean punch to a part of your brain called the amygdala, which triggers violent and aggressive behavior. Now, why in the world would Oliver be injecting something like that?"
Emmeline pursed her lips.
…There was no way. It couldn't be.
It made sense, but at the same time, it just…didn't.
"I don't know. But we better find him before he does something he regrets. Who created the drug?"
Chloe typed some keys on the keyboard. "A woman named Pamela Black is the only one doing that level of research. She's a professor at Princeton and has been taking a recent sabbatical to work with Queen Industries."
"If she's supplying the drugs, then most likely Oliver's gonna show up for more."
The three of them headed to Pamela Black's facility to see if they could track down Oliver somehow. However, when they arrived, the entire lab had been completely trashed and any traces of the drugs were long gone.
Clark quickly ran over to a woman lying on the floor and put his fingers to her neck. "She's dead," he stated solemnly.
"And her place has been completely pillaged," Chloe remarked.
"Look, drugs or no drugs, I can't believe Oliver would kill someone."
Chloe looked up and saw a green arrow embedded in the wall. "I don't think it was Oliver, Clark. It was the Green Arrow. Looks like our green hero has made the leap from Robin Hood to cold-blooded killer. I just don't understand why a scientist was his target."
"Chloe." Clark ripped off the door to a safe under the arrow. He then pulled out several folders and quickly skimmed its contents. "These folders are from a halfway house in Metropolis called Second Chance. This doctor, she was giving the kids there the same drugs Oliver was taking."
Chloe and Emmeline looked at each other when they heard the familiar name.
"Lex's foundation funds this halfway house," Chloe told him.
"Lex co-opted Oliver's scientist. Those two have been at each other since high school."
"And the Green Arrow got in the way. Ever the crusader for the underprivileged, he must have gotten wind of Dr. Black's secret experiments and taken care of her his own way."
"If the Green Arrow found out that LuthorCorp was behind this, Lex could be the next target."
Clark went to find Lex, but the Green Arrow found him first and nearly killed him when he put an arrow in him. Fortunately, Clark was able to use some of the last remnants of the miracle drug to revive him and disappear before he saw him.
With it now being Thanksgiving, Chloe and Emmeline prepared to meet up with Emmeline's dad and head over to Clark's for dinner.
Chloe was just finishing up the centerpiece she planned to bring when there was a knock on the apartment door. She quickly went to answer it to see Lana on the other side. "Hey! Are you feeling any better?"
"Hanging in there," Lana said softly as she stepped inside.
"Make yourself comfortable. I did my due diligence on the Second Chance Halfway House, and I found—"
"Chloe, um…I'm not here to talk about the halfway house."
"Okay. But there's some stuff I think you should know about, Lana. About Lex."
"I, uh, don't want to hear anything more about Lex. I can't."
Chloe looked at her concerned when she heard the tremor in her voice. "What's going on? Lana, what happened? Hey, you know you can tell us anything."
"Chloe…I'm pregnant."
Chloe gently wrapped her arms around her while Emmeline rubbed comforting circles on her back. The two girls shared another worried look.
This explained the fainting spell…and it certainly complicated things.
Emmeline and her father stepped inside the Kent home.
"Hi, you two!" Martha greeted with a bright smile.
"Thanks for having us!" Emmeline's father greeted. "We brought some cranberry sauce. I wish I could say I made it, but Emmeline did all the work. I just carried it."
"Oh, thank you!"
Emmeline went over to Clark and said gently, "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"…This holiday was pretty difficult for me last year."
Clark sighed. "It hasn't been easy. But this is a time to remember all the things I still have, right? And think back on all of the good memories."
Emmeline smiled. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
The two of them walked over to the dining room to join the other people who were attending Thanksgiving dinner: Martha, Lionel, Emmeline's father, Chloe, Lois, and Oliver.
Clark carefully set the large turkey onto the table and stood at the head of it. "If I could have everyone's attention, please, um, I'd like to make a little announcement. Um…our family has a tradition that goes back way before I was even born. Where everyone takes a moment to say what they're most thankful for in their lives. I would just like to say that I'm most thankful for my mom and dad…whose faith in me taught me to have faith in myself. Thank you."
Clark smiled as he carved the turkey and began to hand out thick slices to all of the guests while everyone else eagerly passed around the various dishes that had been set out.
Emmeline couldn't make eye contact with Oliver for the entirety of the evening.
She knew it was probably a wild leap, but she couldn't help wondering if it was truly possible that Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow. They knew that Oliver had been taking a healing drug and that would explain how the Green Arrow had managed to fly away after Emmeline had seen him get shot. And it would explain all the times Lois had said he'd disappeared on her without warning and for no reason.
But how could a billionaire who was constantly in the spotlight possibly live such a dramatic double life?
She would just keep her suspicions to herself for now. Saying that Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow was a pretty big accusation.
It was probably a ridiculous claim anyway.