Things had been a whirlwind since Emmeline's biological mother had decided to reappear in the girl's life.

She introduced herself as Hannah and had a long conversation with Emmeline's adoptive parents. She insisted that she just wanted a chance to get to know her daughter, but that she wouldn't do anything to disrupt the life they currently led.

"What happened?" Emmeline asked Hannah when they were alone. "Why did you leave me?"

"I was only 16, Emmeline," Hannah told her. "Your father left after you were born. I just wasn't ready to take care of a baby. Look, a mother only wants what's best for her child. And what you have now is better than anything I ever could've given you."

"Why didn't you stay?"

"You'll never know how painful it is to have to give away your baby because you can't take care of it yourself. I was young, and I didn't know what else to do."

Emmeline shook her head. This was so much to take in all at once.

One by one, Emmeline introduced her biological mother to her friends and her boyfriend. Chloe was the one who was most impressed and was about ready to run a complete background check on the woman, but Emmeline stopped her. Background checks could wait. She was already overwhelmed enough as it was.

"Hey, Em, what's up?" Chloe asked Emmeline as they walked through the halls.

"Trying to forget about the craziness in my life right now."

"Well, you're out of luck there. Did you hear what's been happening with Clark?"

"What now?"

"He was asleep for 36 hours straight. And it just happens to coincide with the new girl who just moved in next door."

"You think she's a meteor freak?"

"It's possible."

The two girls arrived at Clark's locker where he looked like he was about to collapse at any second.

"Hey," Emmeline smiled. "Hope things are going better for you than they are for me."

"I can only imagine," Clark answered. "Something weird is going on."

"What else is new?"

"I had a dream about Sara Conroy. Before I even met her."

"Clark Kent dreaming of the girl next door," Chloe laughed. "Isn't it nice to know some things never change?"

"Right now, I'm just trying to stay awake."

"Yeah, even Red Bull has its limits. Trust me, I've tested them."

"I think Sara is reaching out to me for help."

"Entering your dreams to communicate?"

"How else would I know these details of her life, like the lilacs?"

"Well, there is a theory that telepathic receptivity is increased during R.E.M. sleep," Chloe explained as they all walked into the Torch office. "It has to do with frontal lobe activity."

"My frontal lobe is acting as a beacon."

"I've never seen a case this dramatic. But we all know that your brain is wired a little differently than the rest of ours. Add the fact that the river where she crashed is a known source for our favorite green stuff, and you have the perfect Smallville cocktail for weirdness."

"You think the meteor rocks gave her this ability?"

"Well once she's in, she can keep you asleep. It certainly explains the day and a half snore-a-thon."

"Yeah, I didn't wake up until the Traveler appeared."

"What's the Traveler?" Emmeline asked.

"It's this figure in a red cape with a hood. I can't see its face, but it has this really creepy voice, and it always snatches up Sara before I can help her. And I think it's her uncle."

"Or a manifestation of fear that she has for her uncle," Chloe put in. Clark's brow furrowed a little in thought. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get all Freudian on you."

"No. Her uncle is all powerful in her life. Why wouldn't he be in her dreams?"

"You're not buying the altruism angle?"

"My faith in human kindness is not what it used to be. You up for a trip to the courthouse to see what public records say about Uncle Nicholas?"

"I have a deadline for the Daily Planet, and shockingly, a Wall of Weird story doesn't take precedence in their mind."

"No time for childish pursuits anymore."

"Hey, now that's not fair. You know that if I had a choice, I would definitely be down there pulling dusty records with you."

"Relax, you guys," Emmeline laughed. "I'll go with you, Clark. Pete's busy anyway, so I need to find something to do to kill time. I'll make sure to bring lots and lots of coffee."


Emmeline and Clark were up in the loft looking at all of the public records they had checked out, but both of them were losing stamina.

"I'm seeing black dots," Emmeline groaned as she looked up from the thousandth sheet of paper she had examined. "I never realized how boring these things are."

"Not all of them," Clark said. "Take a look at this." He showed Emmeline one of the documents he was looking at.

"Sara's parents had a lot of money stored away."

"When they died, Sara inherited everything. One guess who's in control of the money."

"Her uncle," Emmeline put together.

"As long as she stays in a coma, he controls the wealth."

"Wait a minute, do you think he's keeping her asleep so he can have all her money?"

"It might explain why Sara's so scared of him."

Clark rubbed his eyes drowsily.

"Clark, you look exhausted," Emmeline said.

"I'm afraid to close my eyes."

"I'll go grab you some more coffee."

Emmeline went back inside the house and filled up a large mug with more coffee for Clark. However, when she returned, Clark had fallen asleep. Not knowing how long he would be out this time, she left the coffee on the table and drove home.


"Hey, Em," Clark said as he stood on Emmeline's front porch. "Wanna come with me to Sara's house? Maybe we can get some answers."

"Sure. I'm always up for solving a mystery."

Emmeline shut the door and got into the passenger seat of Clark's truck.

"Wouldn't it have just been easier for you to walk over to Sara's?"

"At least now, I have a witness in case something goes wrong."

"Well, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

Clark pulled up to the house, and they both got out of the truck as Clark pulled out some flowers from the back.

They went up to the porch and knocked on the door. A man opened the door with a smile. "Clark. This is a pleasant surprise. And who are you?"

"I'm Emmeline, a friend of Clark's. He told me about Sara. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you."

"We thought we would bring Sara some fresh flowers," Clark said as he held up the lilacs.

"Come in."

The two of them entered the house and were directed to Sara's room. Emmeline looked at the poor girl lying unconscious in bed. What kind of person would want to keep someone so innocent asleep forever?

"This is real nice of you, Clark," Sara's uncle said as he put the lilacs in a vase.

"Would you mind if we sat with her for a while?" Clark asked.

"Not at all. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Anything with caffeine."

"I think I might have some soda. Emmeline?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Emmeline said with a polite smile.

Her uncle left to go to the kitchen.

"Em, go get back in the truck," Clark said firmly.

"What, why?"

"Just do it."

Not daring to question him when he was using that kind of tone, Emmeline quickly left the room and went back outside to Clark's truck.

Seconds later, he came running out and quickly hopped into the driver's seat.

"Got it," he said as he held up a bottle with blue liquid. "He has been drugging her."

"Where did you find this?"

"Medicine cabinet."

"I didn't see anything."

"Well, I told you to get out pretty fast. You didn't really get a good chance to look around."

"You weren't in there much longer than I was."

Clark didn't answer her. Emmeline looked over to find his eyes closed.

"Clark?" she said urgently. "Clark?! Clark, wake up! CLARK!"

Before Emmeline could do anything, the truck ran off the road, rammed into some wooden posts, and went flying into the air. Emmeline screamed as the truck flipped over and landed upside down. The truck then flipped over again before resting upside down again on the ground.

Emmeline groaned as she moved various parts of her body to see if anything had broken. By some miraculous stroke of luck, she couldn't feel any broken bones. She was pretty sure that her wrist was sprained and she ached everywhere, but considering the impact of the crash, she was thankful that was all it was.

"Martha!" she heard Jonathon yell. "Come quick!" Jonathon knelt down next to Emmeline's window. "Emmeline, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she mustered out.

"Oh my goodness!" Martha cried. "Jonathon!"

"Martha, help me over here!" Jonathon ordered. "Emmeline, I'm going to undo the seatbelt, and Martha is going to hold you so that you don't fall, okay?"

Emmeline nodded. Jonathon squeezed in and undid Emmeline's seatbelt. Then he and Martha helped her down and pulled her out of the truck. As soon as she was out, Jonathon ran over to the other side and pulled Clark out.

"I'll call an ambulance," Lana said.

"No, Lana, it's okay," Emmeline said. "If you could just drive me to the hospital, I'll be all right."

"And Clark just hit his head, so he'll be fine," Jonathon put in.

"Well, where was he coming from?" Martha asked. "Lex's mansion is the other way."

"Oh, Clark, I told you not to go to the Conroy's," Jonathon groaned.

"He was worried about Sara," Lana said. "He kept seeing her in his dreams. This is my fault. I took him over there."

"Oh, sweetie, don't blame yourself," Martha told her. "Clark will be fine."

"What about Sara?"

"I'm worried about her too. Get Emmeline to Smallville Medical Center, and fast."

Lana helped Emmeline off the ground and got her to her car. Then she drove as fast as she could to the hospital.

The two girls got out of the car and rushed to the Emergency Room.

"I need help!" Lana called. One of the paramedics rushed over to them. "This is Emmeline. She got in a car accident."

"Okay, Emmeline, we're going to take you back for some x-rays, okay?" the paramedic said as he helped Emmeline onto a stretcher. "You're going to be fine."

"Lana," Emmeline called before she was wheeled away. Lana took her hand. "Her uncle. He's keeping her asleep."

Lana's eyes widened as Emmeline disappeared from view.

Emmeline spent the next couple of hours getting x-rayed and put into a hospital room since she was required to stay overnight for observation. Her sprained wrist was bandaged up and she got bandages over the cuts and some cream for the bruises.

"Emmeline?"

Emmeline looked up to find her parents running into the room.

"Baby, are you alright?" her mother asked frantically.

"I'm fine. The worst that happened is I sprained my wrist."

"What happened?"

"Clark and I were visiting his new neighbor, but he hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, and he fell asleep at the wheel. We crashed."

"Is he okay?" her father asked her.

"He's fine. He just hit his head."

"It's a miracle neither of you broke anything."


Her parents soon left, and Emmeline sat up as she attempted to rub cream on her bruises. She groaned in pain as her sore muscles forbid her from reaching where she needed.

"May I help?"

Emmeline smiled at the sound of Pete's voice. He came around and gently kissed her.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm sore, but I'll survive."

Pete took the cream and began to rub it on the bruises on her shoulders. She grimaced as he rubbed an especially tender spot.

"Sorry," Pete said quickly.

"It's okay. It's a good kind of pain."

Pete smiled as he continued to massage her shoulders.


Clark knocked on the hospital door. "Em?"

"Hey, Clark," Emmeline smiled.

"I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am."

"It's fine. I just sprained my wrist, and I'm a little sore, but nothing's broken."

"This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't asked you to come with me to Sara's."

Emmeline smiled a little. "You can't blame yourself for every bad thing that happens in Smallville. How is Sara, by the way?"

"She woke up. They brought her in a few hours ago. I just went to go visit her."

"That's great news."

"Emmeline?"

Emmeline looked to the door to find Hannah. "Hey."

"I'll leave you two alone," Clark said.

Hannah eyed him down as he left her room. She slowly walked towards the bed.

"I heard about what happened. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine. I promise."

"You could've been killed, Emmeline."

"But I wasn't. I didn't even break anything."

"I…I don't think you should hang out with Clark anymore."

"Excuse me?" Emmeline said in disbelief. "You don't get to show up in my life out of nowhere and tell me how to live it."

"I am your mother."

"No. I have a mother. And you're not her. You have been around for a couple of days. You have missed all of the times Clark has been there for me. He saved me from a bug freak who wanted to mate with me. He has been there for me when everyone else has let me down. I may have gotten into a car accident because of him, but I also started living because of him."

Hannah left Emmeline's room without another word.


Emmeline was getting into her car at school when Hannah came up to her.

"Hey," she said to her daughter. "You were right. I don't have the authority to tell you what to do or give you advice. Yet. But I want to. I want to get to know you. If you'll let me."

Emmeline looked at Hannah and then smiled. "Want to go to the Talon?"

"I'd love to."