Rouge-angel: Yeah, well, I try…
Caprice Ann, DuMont and pzqr6: ask and you shall receive…
Theory: Kara/Lex? There's got to be like 10-years between them…
Crash Slayer: give the guy a chance to get over the shock before he starts freaking out…

Alone no more
Chapter 2: More questions than answers

Clark woke next mourning when he felt the sun on his face. He opened his tired eyes, forgetting for a moment where he was and what had happened. He remembered after stretching his arms, and looked at the sofa.

It was empty.

He looked around the room; worried that something had happened to his cousin.

"In here Clark." Zor-El called from the kitchen.

Clark leaped to his feet and hurried through the doorway, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Kara: she was huddled under the table, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, shaking.

"Is she ok?" Clark asked the holographic Kryptonian.

"She's just woken up in a strange house, full of strange people, on a strange world, and everyone he's ever known is dead." Zor-El raised an eyebrow, "I'd say she's taking things surprisingly well."

"Ok, I get your point." Clark nodded, "Can she understand us?"

"Yes and no: several Earth languages were downloaded into he mind while she was in suspended animation. I didn't know where she was going to end up, so I covered all the bases. The only problem is it's going to take her a few days to work it all out in her head."

"What languages?"

"English, French, German, Japans, Arabic, Cantonese and Italian."

"Seven languages? That's a lot to take in…"

"She'll get use to it."

"What do you think: Cantonese or Japans?" Jonathan Kent asked as he listened to Kara yelling her head off in some unknown language.

"Arabic." His wife shook her head, "I recognise it from the Discovery channel."

"I think we should be doing more to help…"

"Anytime anyone other than Zor-El goes near her she hides under the table: I think it's best we leave them too it."

"She's stopped swearing." Zor-El smiled, "That's a start."

"Yeah, big change…" Clark rolled his eyes before sitting down on the floor, "Kara, I know you must be feeling a little scared right now, but no one is going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" The frightened young woman asked, her first coherent sentence in English all day.

"My names Clark, Clark Kent."

"Strange name."

"I was born Kal-El, son of Jor-El. You may no of him."

"He was my fathers brother…"

"I know: he…" Clark stopped, "His hologram explained. Can you please come out from under there?"

"Ok…" Kara slowly pulled herself out from under the table, still hugging the woollen blanket around her shoulders, "Where am I?"

"My home: the farm where I grew up with my adoptive parents."

"What do you call this place?"

"The nearest town is Smallville. The state is called Kansas, the country we live in is…"

"The United States of America: a republic consisting of 50-states in the northern hemisphere of the planet Earth..." Kara blinked, "How did I know that?"

"You have the equivalent education as to this planet and its past as a native of your age." Zor-El explained, pretending to lean against the refrigerator, "And a few other useful bits of information..."

"You stay a away from me!" Kara yelled at the hologram, "I never asked for this!"

"There's no point being angry at me: I'm not the one who sent you here." Zor-El looked sad, "Your farther truly thought he was doing the best by sending you away: he saved what he could, what he held most precious…"

"I know no-one here!" Kara screamed, "He took away my family, my friends, my life!"

"Please, calm down." Clark rested a hand on her shoulder, and was taken aback when she collapsed into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably, "Look, everything's going to be all right: we're going to take care of you."

"She's sleeping, finally." Clark walked down the stairs from the guest room, "I think she needed to get it all out of her system."

"It's going to taker her a while to adjust." Martha looked concerned, "I'd sagest taking her to a therapist, but we could never trust them…"

"It'll be hard, but we'll help her through it." Jonathan nodded, "You all set for tonight, Clark?"

"Yeah: Zor-El's prepaired the false papers to put in the county and state files. Medical records, school records, next of kin notifications." Clark nodded, lifting a thick wedge of paper, "We decided to go with the Switzerland option: say her parents lived over there and lost contact with my birth parents so they couldn't be contacted when I went up for adoption. He's done some creative programming on the computerised records to make it look like she was able to find me through my adoption records after her parents where killed."

"That won't fool everyone." It was Jonathan's turn to look concerned, "Lionel Luther for one…"

"And Chloe." Clark nodded guiltily, "I had her look into my adoption a while ago: she knows it was bogus."

"Do you think you can trust her?" Martha asked.

"I don't think we have much choice." Clark shrugged, "I may have to tell her the truth, even if it dose cost me her friendship."

"Let's not do anything hasty, son." Jonathan shook his head, "Let's just get tonight over with…"

"Good morning: did you sleep well?" Martha asked the young woman as she made her way downstairs.

"It feels a little strange." Kara stood at the bottom of the stairs, unsure what to do next, "I have all this knowledge in my head, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use it."

"Well, you can sit and have breakfast with me first: Clark and Jonathan aren't back from Metropolis yet."

"Why did they have to go there?"

"Very few people know the truth about Clark, so we need to plant a few false records to explain who you are without raising too many questions."

"Why don't people know about Clark?"

"Because there are some people who'd take advantage of him, or try and find out how he works. We don't want anything to happen to him, so we kept quiet about where he's from."

"Will I have to lie?"

"I'm afraid so: we don't want anyone to hurt you?"

"Ok." Kara sniffed at a glass of orange juice before sipping it, "Where's the hologram?"

"He went down to the caves to talk to Jor-El: I think there are a few things the two of them need to work out..."

"Kal-El has a destiny!" Jor-El bellowed, making the cave shake, "I will not let you take that from him!"

"You sound just like father." Zor-El shook his head, unparsed by the outburst, "Full of grand plans and ideas, but no idea how people feel."

"I know how people feel, but sometimes feelings have to be put aside…"

"Like father did when mother died?"

"How DARE you talk about him like that!"

"Oh get over yourself! You've put him on such a pedestal that nothing can change your view of him. But remember this: I was there when you return home from your visit here. I saw the look on your face when father told you the plans he had for this world and its people."

"Tor-El was a grate man!"

"He was a bad farther!"

"Even as a recording, that man infuriates me!" Zor-El walked through the back door to the Kent's home, fuming, "So full of his own self importance…"

"We've noticed." Martha sighed, "Can you keep it down a little? Jonathan and Clark only just got back and have gone straight to bed, and I have to phone the school and tell them Clark won't be in today."

"And Kara?"

"She's upstairs, trying on a few of my old cloths: we want to make sure the paperwork's been accepted before we go shopping for anything new."

"A good idea: I'll have some money transferred to your bank account to cover it…"

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Maybe, but not immoral: I was going to siphon it away from a secret government account used to pay for illegal operations around the world."

"I may agree with the morality, but not the act: we can afford to by Kara anything she needs without resorting to fraud."

"As you wish: I only offered."

To Be Continued…