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AN: This chapter ended up being fairly short, but considering the scale of what's coming up, I decided it was better to get to the main storyline than draw this chapter out when nothing particularly happened to Claire herself at this point in the show

The Not-So-Average Girl

"You're serious?" Kim looked uncertainly at Ron as they sat in the living area. "You think Rufus felt there was something off about Claire's biological parents?"

"Hey, you've never doubted Rufus's instincts now-"

"You've never actually told me something this… well, this big before," Kim countered. She appreciated that Ron hadn't had much time to talk with Claire after she'd returned Rufus to him during lunch, since Ron had a make-up test he had to study for that afternoon and Ron obviously couldn't have Rufus out in public for long, but even if Kim accepted Rufus's apparent intelligence this was still bigger than anything Ron had asked her to believe from him. "Look, I'm not saying that Rufus isn't… we both know he's not exactly a normal naked mole rat, but there's a difference between… I don't know, convincing me that he can talk-"

"I said that I got what he meant, KP, I've never said that I thought he could talk."

"OK, I'll go with that, but seriously… you're telling me he knows when people are lying?"

"It's not like that, KP," Ron shook his head as Rufus nodded urgently while pointing at Ron, as though the rat was trying to confirm that his owner was right. "He's not saying that they were lying to her, it's more that… well, you know animal senses, right?"

"That's more dogs than rats, isn't it?"

"Rufus is still pretty good with his nose, and he's sure that there's more to those guys than they were telling her," Ron said. "They just… he's sure they didn't smell like they could be Claire's parents."

"Yeah…" Kim looked tentatively between her friend and his pet for a few moments before settling her gaze on Ron. "It's not that I think you're lying, Ron, but this is… I mean, we can't just give Claire something like that to deal with when we don't even know it's true."

Rufus squeaked indignantly at Kim, who looked at him in a manner that somehow conveyed her own apology and her own uncertainty at this bizarre situation. "Rufus, it's not I doubt you, but you have to admit this isn't something we can just…"

She shook her head and looked over at Ron. "Look, it's Homecoming tomorrow, and we can't exactly do anything about this even if Rufus is right; do we really have to tell Claire that Rufus thinks those weren't actually her bio-parents? For all we know… I dunno, maybe her life-parents have just been through a lot since they gave her up and the stress means they smell off?"

"Point," Ron nodded at her as he looked apologetically at Rufus before turning back to Kim. "Yeah, you're probably right, KP; worst case scenario, maybe somebody just screwed up the paperwork and those people just thought they were Claire's parents…"

"That works," Kim nodded at Ron with a thoughtful smile. The two were prevented from making any further speculation when Kim's mother walked into the kitchen, already wearing a long coat with a grim expression on her face.

"Mom?" Kim looked at her mother anxiously. "Everything OK?"

"Just… got a call about a particular case they want another opinion on out in Midland," Anne said, looking awkwardly at her daughter, maternal instincts clearly warring with her old promise to be honest with her daughter. "A waitress at a diner out there… well, it's a brutal one."

"Oh," Kim looked sympathetically at her mother; considering some of the things her mother had seen in her line of work, for Anne Pierce to call something bad meant that it would have to be very bad. "I… I'm sorry."

"Thanks, Kimmie," Anne smiled back at her daughter before she glanced at her watch with a sigh. "Anyway, I'll be up there for a day or two to properly fill out all the paperwork, so I'm afraid I won't be here for the homecoming game."

"Don't worry about it," Kim smiled at her mother. "It's not going to be a big thing for me anyway; I don't even have a date right now…"

She fought down the initial disappointment she felt at that particular detail. She appreciated that she had been more occupied with Claire's problems rather than finding a date, and homecoming wasn't as big a deal as prom, but it was still sad to realise that she was going to miss out on that part of her high school experience.

Still, at least we'll have fun…

There were times when Anne disliked being so good at her job.

She appreciated that she had worked hard to earn a reputation in a challenging field, and she also recognised that she had chosen to live in a smaller town rather than a bigger city to give her children a chance at a simpler life, but she had to recognise the mixed benefits of that approach. Most of the time she only had a few simple cases to deal with, such as standard muggings gone wrong, but when anything really weird happened anywhere in the area, she was practically obligated to go out and investigate it herself rather than just trusting the local M.E. to do. It had been a while since there'd been such a case, but now that she was faced with the first major call-out she'd had in almost a year, she wished that she could have had a bit more time to watch Kim actually going to homecoming.

OK, I wouldn't have to do much, but it's the principle of the thing.

On top of her discomfort at having to leave her family on such short notice right now, with graduation getting ever closer, Anne had to confess to some concern about what Kim was going to do with her life when she left school in the next year. Her daughter was smart and skilled, but she sometimes worried about what Kim was actually going to choose when it came to college, since she hadn't actually shown specific interest in any one of her subjects over the others. Anne had faith that her daughter would do well in whatever she chose to do, but Kim's problem was working out what she actually wanted to do, rather than just enjoying her lessons for the sake of them.

Still, even if she was concerned about Kim's long-term prospects, Anne approved of how her daughter was coping socially. Kim had been in a range of social groups and been involved in a wide variety of school activities since she'd been old enough to take part in that kind of thing, but Anne had to admit that she approved of how Kim had held on to her friendship with Ron; the boy might have his share of personal quirks, but at least he was loyal to his friends and had a genuinely good heart.

Whatever Kim's going to do in the future, she's going to have a good friend in her life no matter what she does.

For the moment, her priority was to focus on the case she'd been called out about. From what she'd heard, the waitress had died in a horrifying manner, but she had to admit to some degree of academic curiosity; if the crime scene descriptions were accurate, how could someone have removed the top of the victim's head without causing any damage to the brain…?