The school day could not go by fast enough, and Kara felt like she was flying to the circus grounds, but found a small crowd of girls already congregated on the other side of the fence, watching the Flying Graysons practice their routine.
"Kara, look." Theresa grabbed Kara by the hand and pulled her to the front of the little cluster, ignoring the injured and insulted howls of the other girls. "There HE is…"
Dick Grayson, clad in sweatpants and a fitted T, scrambled to the top of the scaffolding and caught the trapeze, pretending not to see Kara at the fence. The girl seemed to give off her own light, and Dick was more than just a little distracted by her. Turning away, he pushed off from the platform, swinging easily on the trapeze, until he built up momentum, and then let go, flipping effortlessly three times and landing easily in the net below.
"You were off." Tina whispered, eyeing her brother. "If Dad were up there, he'd have missed you…"
"I was fine." Dick replied wiping his hands. "You pay attention to your part."
Tina sniffed haughtily and climbed the ladder, her black ponytail swinging. "I'm not the one with a fan club."
"Because you're a pain." Dick muttered, seeing Kara as she waved at him. It was a small, shy wave, and Dick melted at the sight of it. For such a pretty girl, Kara was very shy, not at all like the others he'd met. And for as long as he'd been in the circus, old enough to walk in the center ring with his parents, he'd gotten quite a bit of fawning attention. Kara was different, and Dick welcomed the difference.
"Richard, today." Tony Grayson called. "I mean, unless we're adding you standing in the net to the routine."
"Sorry, Dad." Dick climbed out of the net and went to stand beside his father.
"Which one is she?" Tony asked, pretending not to notice he barely had to bend to talk to Dick anymore. "This Kara we heard nothing about?"
Dick turned away from the girls. "The tall blonde wearing the blue shirt."
Tony, no stranger to female attention himself, nodded in approval. "Well, let your mother meet her if you're going to be spending all your free time with her. You know how Mom is."
"What?" Isabelle asked, coming up behind her husband. "What is Mom?" Her accent, softened by years of American life, still held traces of her native Italy.
"Wonderful." Tony said to his wife, who frowned skeptically. "Mia bella."
"Hmm, you cannot fool with me." Isabella folded her arms, her dark eyes laughing. "Are we talking about Kara?"
"How did you know?" Dick asked, surprised, but the three Graysons on the ground were startled out of their conversation by a sharp scream.
"Look! She's going to fall!" Dick looked up, and Tina had already fallen, holding on to the tight rope with one hand.
"Get the hook." Tony called, but Tina shook her head, her mouth set in a grim line of determination.
"It's okay, Dad, I'm okay." She called, reaching up and closing her other hand around the tightrope and the little cluster of schoolgirls cheered as Tina made her way, hand over hand to the platform. Tina swung up, and landed on her feet, and turned to the crowd again, bowing. The girls cheered louder, and Dick felt himself smiling in spite of himself. He looked over at Kara. She stared in horror at the tightrope, and then looked back at Dick, shaking her head. Tina scrambled down and walked to her family, casting one quick look at the tightrope.
"It was the weirdest thing, Dad." Tina said when she approached after being embraced by her mother and father. "That rope was fine yesterday. It looked frayed in two places while I was up there now though. And then there was a slippery spot, that's where I fell." She looked up at her father. "But I'm okay."
"Anthony, you see?" Isabelle began, grabbing her daughter close. "Vi ho detto che venire al paese non cambiasse niente..." I told you that coming to the country would change nothing...Dick had no idea what his mother was talking about, but his father immediately appeared stricken.
"Bella.." Tony sighed, as his wife walked away, arm around Tina.
"Niente! Niente! Non desidero sentirlo! Non si arresteranno... fino a che non siamo guasti." Nothing! Nothing! I don't want to hear it! They will not stop...until we are dead. Isabelle turned, her voice low enough for Tony to hear, but was missed by the crowd of girls, except Kara. She dropped her books, and clutched the fence, tense. Why would anyone want the Graysons dead, she asked herself, as the girls around her began to move off, practice obviously over.
""Comunicherò con lui, Bella, non mi preoccupo. Sono sicuro che non era loro... " I'll talk to him, Bella, don't worry. I'm sure it wasn't them… Tony replied confidently and his wife, not comforted at all, shook her head, taking Tina away to make sure she was okay.
"Dad?" Dick looked at his father, who was looking up at the tightrope. "What's going on?"
"Oh, you know your Mom, son. Everything is a plot." Tony smiled, but Dick saw that the smile did not reach his father's quick blue eyes at all. "I'm going up to take that rope down, and then I'm going to the big tent and checking that one out. You go see your friend and don't you worry either." Tony ruffled his son's already out of place hair. "Okay?"
"Okay." Dick nodded, watching as his father climbed the ladder to the tightrope to untie it. He turned, and saw Kara alone at the fence. He smiled and ran over to her.
"Hi." He said, his hands touching hers through the fence. "Did you see that?"
"I did. Is your sister okay?" Kara asked, butterflies dancing in her stomach at his touch. "I was scared for her."
"She's fine, a trooper, even." Dick grinned. "Want to wait while I get cleaned up? We can get pizza, and then you can help me with a composition I have to write."
"Okay." Kara smiled broadly and she reluctantly took her hand from the fence to pick up her books and walk to the gate. "My aunt told me your father was an Olympic gymnast."
"Yeah." Dick answered, looking at his father as he took down the rope. "Gold medal."
"I've never seen the Olympics." Kara began, taking Dicks offered hand. 'I didn't watch much television when I was little." She also looked up at Mr. Grayson. "Does he really think someone did that on purpose?"
"The rope?" Dick asked, looking at Kara. "I don't know. It's not the first time something weird has happened like that, but it is the first time Tina or I were in any danger." He grinned, changing the subject. "Didn't watch much television when you were little? I didn't watch any. Mom said it was no good. Now, I'm addicted. Come on, come meet Dad."
They walked across the crunching grass, and Kara found herself examining the rope as she got closer and wished Clark were there. It had been cut in three places, and Mr. Grayson stood on the ground, holding section that was darker than the rest, shaking his head.
"Dad?" Dick asked, dropping Kara's hand. "What is it?"
"Oil." Tony Grayson replied dully, coiling the tightrope up quickly to hide any other damage from his son. "I don't know how, but it's been oiled." Tony dropped the coil on the ground and wiped his hands on his pants. "You must be Kara. My goodness, I don't think I've seen an ugly girl since I've come to Smallville. Is it the water?"
Kara smiled. "I don't know, but thank you." She looked down at the rope and then back at Mr. Grayson. "How dangerous your job is."
Tony laughed. "Well, the world of competitive sports is worse." He took Kara's hand. "Were you scared?"
"Oh yes." Kara didn't tell him that she had been ready to spring, and that Tina would have never hit the ground while she was there, but didn't. Clark didn't have to tell Kara how their powers made them unique more than once. "Is your daughter okay?"
"I'm sure she's fine, but I'm going to go check on her. Dick, stay off this rig until I can go over all of it again. After this.." Tony kicked the rope. "I don't want you killing yourself because you want to show off."
"Dad…" Dick rolled his eyes. "I'm not five."
"I know. That's what worries me." Tony laughed, picking up the rope. "Nice to meet you, Kara. Call your family and stay for dinner."
Clark hung up the phone, thinking over what Kara had relayed to him about the Graysons. He thought about calling Chloe to start digging, but reconsidered, and instead, dialed Bruce. If anyone could find anything suspicious, Bruce could.
"What's wrong?" Bruce answered his cell phone abruptly, and Clark rolled his eyes. "Kara's okay?"
"She's fine. Listen, what do you know about Tony and Isabelle Grayson?" Clark asked his friend, and Bruce frowned, waving away his secretary.
"Nothing much, same as everyone else. Olympic gold medalist, Italian circus royalty. I heard something about his gold medal being auctioned off because of money trouble. Why?" Bruce asked, as he began to run a search on the Graysons.
"Kara is kind of seeing their son, Dick. They met yesterday, and it's puppy love, but" Clark scratched his head. "She said that today Dick's sister Tina almost took a nasty spill off the tight rope while practicing. Kara also said the rope had been tampered with."
"If he's got gambling debts, it could be a warning." Bruce replied. "I'll look into it tonight. Tell Kara to keep her eyes open just the same. If there is a problem. I'm glad she's there."
Clark shook his head. "She could get hurt."
"Yeah right." Bruce laughed. "You act like she's a normal 14 year old girl. Unless they come at her with Kryptonite, Kara will be able to handle herself. Look, Clark, I'll see what we can come up with. That circus won't be coming to Gotham for a couple of months. Looks like their tour is mostly little towns…" Bruce sat forward. "It's ALL little towns, except for Metropolis next week and then Gotham. Very interesting. I'm on it, Clark, just keep your eyes open there too. Anything weird, let me know."
"Thanks, Bruce." Clark said, hanging up the phone. Bruce was right, if any ordinary thug came at Kara, they'd find themselves in for a fairly large shock. It was puzzling, because she was already just about as strong as Clark himself was, and coming into her powers faster and more easily than he had, including flight, which was something he himself had only recently learned, but she flew like she was born to it. And then, there was the whole glowing thing. Clark was reasonably certain that he'd never glowed in his life, and if it was dim enough, Kara sometimes seemed to be DRAWING light to her. Making up his mind, Clark rose, and as an afterthought, he scooped up Krypto, who was happily sleeping on the floor beside Shelby. Maybe the archive had a tip or two for training Kryptonian dogs, too.