"Okay, I'm all ears, Chloe." Clark said, after they had been driving in silence a little while. He looked over at Chloe, who was skimming through the file on her lap, using a small flashlight to keep the growing twilight from hiding what she wanted to know. "Chloe?"

"Yeah, Clark?" She looked over at him, and smiled. "The nurse gave me this…copy of my mother's medical records." His look of disapproval made Chloe laugh. "Oh, calm down Clark. She's going to talk to my Dad and Uncle Sam. I just got a head start."

"Chloe." Clark began, looking back at the road, feeling his hands clench around the steering wheel almost too tightly. The urge to protect her was so strong, and Clark wished that they were in a physically dangerous situation so he could save her. Protecting someone from hurting emotionally was much, much harder, Clark thought, praying Chloe would close the file on her own. "Those are your mother's confidential medical files. There may be things in there that you shouldn't know about…" He felt Chloe's eyes on him, questioning. "Things you should hear from doctors."

"I am going to hear them from doctors, Clark. Their notes." Sighing, Chloe closed the folder, snapping off the flashlight. She sat quietly in the growing darkness, and then she spoke. "I've been seeing visions of that shaman again. He keeps talking to me, and I can't understand him. I have an appointment with Dr. Willowbrook and shaman, Miriam tomorrow." Her voice was soft, sad, breaking Clark's heart to hear it. In the same voice, Chloe went on to tell Clark all that went on during her visit with her mother, Sarah's inexplicable speech, the involvement of the Kryptonian crystal, the journals. "I don't know what role my mother has to play in any of this, Clark, but between Krypton, The Kiwatchee tribe, and now this, well, my good old weird-o-meter is just humming off the grid. I want to go through these records, and those journals. Maybe, if I can figure it all out, I can help Mom, somehow."

Sounds like a plan to me. I'm with you all the way." Clark replied, thinking about what Chloe had just told him. "Who is this "fledgling", though?"

Chloe looked up at him, concern washing over her face. "I don't know about you, Clark, but there is a just on the edge of womanhood Kryptonian girl in your house right now. Fledglings are baby birds, and I can't imagine anyone more like a baby bird right now than Kara."

"You think Kara is this fledgling?" Clark asked doubtfully. "I don't remember hearing anything about this before."

"Maybe Kara being here has tripped some kind of wire in the space time continuum

or something. She didn't get her by Greyhound Bus, Clark. We have no idea what effect your uncle's time machine may have had on our timeline." Chloe told him, sliding her mother's file back into her big purse. "Anyway, prophecies are like that. Some part of it is extremely cryptic until something comes along to clear it up. "

"Chloe, I don't recall ever hearing anything about another Kryptonian in any of the Kiwatchee legends, other than the original Naman. Well, we'll go see Dr. Willowbrook tomorrow, and we'll take Kara with us." Clark took Chloe's hand in his, giving it a brief squeeze.

Kara was setting the table, trying to remember which side of the plate the knife went on. She had been learning everything she could about life on Earth, but some things just continued to elude her. Clark had told her about the things that happen to Kryptonians when they live on Earth, and aside from being very fast, Kara hadn't felt much different. Setting the knife down on the right side of the plate, she turned to talk to 'Aunt' Martha and a vicious pain tore through her head.

"Aaagh!" She exclaimed, dropping the rest of the silverware to the floor. "Rao help me!"

Martha dropped the tongs she was using to turn the chicken and ran to Kara, who had fallen to her knees in pain. The girl had her hands over her ears, shaking her head.

"Kara, honey!" Martha dropped beside the girl, and gathered her close. "What's wrong?"

"My head! Oh, and all the noise!" Kara sobbed, falling against Martha heavily. "I can hear everything…"Deep sobs broke loose from inside Kara. "Make it stop, please, Aunt Martha…."

"It's okay, honey." Martha said, smiling into Kara's hair. "It's going to pass in a few minutes. I think your abilities are starting to come through." Clark, hurry home, Martha thought, as she felt Kara's hot tears soak through her shirt.

Kara spoke, the words unfamilar to Martha, who realized that the girl was using her native language. The speech was fast, lyrical, the vowels notes over the rhythmic consonants. Slowly, Kara removed her hands from her ears and looked up at Martha, the tear stains shining streaks against her flushed face.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Kara said, amazed. "But I can hear Mr. and Mrs. Johnson down the road. What's "Club Med"?"

Martha smiled, wiping Kara's tears away. "It's a place people go on vacation. But now that you can hear people and things from far away, that doesn't mean you should eavesdrop. I know you can't help it now, but we'll help you learn to control it."

Kara nodded. "Can Clark do this?"

"Yes, he can. His ability to do this didn't appear until after an accident he had hurt his eyes." Martha said gently as she smoothed Kara's hair away from her face. "You feeling better really?"

"I am." Kara nodded, and they both stood, picking up the dropped forks and knives. "Aunt Martha?"

"Yes, baby." Martha set the handful of silverware on the table, and turned back to Kara.

"I saw something when my ears hurt. I saw a man, a very old man. He was standing over there, by the fireplace." Kara looked into the living room. "He talked to me, but I could barely hear him and then he nodded at me. When he was gone, my ears didn't hurt anymore." The girl shivered, although like Clark, she was never sensitive to temperature change.

Clark, come home NOW, Martha thought, looking over near the fireplace and seeing nothing at all. Gathering Kara to her again, Martha felt the familiar panic she had known when Clark was young. "It's going to be okay, Kara. We'll figure it all out, okay?"

"Okay." Kara wrapped her arms around Martha again. "I'm glad you're here, Aunt Martha."

"Me too, baby, me too." Martha hugged Kara tighter.