Author's note: Since I'll be using the basis of "The Flash" t.v. show in my show-with some modifications-the time of the particle accelerator explosion that took place in December, 2013, in the show's timeline, will have taken place in December, 2011, in my series' timeline and explain the modifications as needed.


The sun shone brightly Friday morning as Clark walked into his bedroom, straightening his tie; he stopped just inside the room, as a smile slowly spread on his face. Linda lay sprawled out, tangled in the bed sheets as she hugged a pillow close to her body; she snored slightly, her mouth opened. Clark leaned against the doorframe, watching her for a few moments, letting his thoughts drift back to the previous day.

The kitchen table looked as if it had been decorated for a magazine: a wooden box—filled with five thick and thin candles nestled in a cornucopia of pine cones, a variety of miniature squashes and pumpkins, and simple greenery—served as the centerpiece; it rested on a red table runner centered down the center. Each place setting—five in total—were each decorated with a red folded napkin resting on a fine china plate; each plate sat on top of square golden-orange woven placemat, with spoons, forks, and knives properly set around them.

The rest of the space on the table was dedicated to the variety of dishes: freshly cooked green beans seasoned with a hint of salt and pepper, a plate of bright yellow cobs of steamed corn, mashed potatoes loaded with butter, sweet potatoes caramelized with brown sugar, homemade yeast rolls, fresh cranberry sauce, and a large turkey, cooked to golden-brown perfection; a pumpkin and pecan pie sat on the cooling rack, fresh from the oven. Jonathan, Martha, Clark, Linda, and Jimmy—dressed in semi-formal attire—gathered around the table, and all but Jonathan sat down.

"Before we eat," Jonathan said to the others as he stood at the head of the table, "I think we should take this opportunity to inform Linda and Jimmy about the Kent Thanksgiving Day tradition."

"We're not going to have to stand up and recite the Mayflower Compact or something, right?" Linda asked warily.

Jonathan chuckled. "No, sweetie," he said. "We go around the table, and each person gets to say what they're most thankful for; it's a tradition your mother and I started on our first Thanksgiving after getting married." He looked down at his wife. "Martha?"

"Well, there's a lot to be thankful for," Martha admitted, "but the I'm thankful to be looking around this table and seeing the faces of the people I care about happy and healthy." She looked across the table at her son. "Clark?"

"Well, I don't think this is going to be a big shock," Clark said, "but I have to say I'm thankful for Linda." He looked over at his cousin, smiling. "I've lived all my life thinking I was the last survivor of Krypton, and then you arrived—and I can't say I've ever been happier to be proven wrong." Linda smiled back, her eyes bright.

"Linda?" Jonathan asked. "You want to go next?"

Linda nodded. "Well, there's so much to be grateful for," she said slowly, "but if I have to narrow it down to one thing," she pursed her lips, thinking for a moment, "I have to say I'm most thankful to have found people who actually love me." She turned to Jimmy. "Jimmy?"

Jimmy looked a little surprised. "Me?" he asked.

"Oh, course, Jimmy," Martha replied, smiling. "You're family."

Jimmy's eyes flickered briefly, and he cleared his throat as he took a sip from his glass, adverting his gaze. "Well, uh," he said slowly after putting his glass down, "I, uh, guess I'm most thankful for, uh," he made a gesture with his hand, "for…this." He cautiously glanced at Linda and saw her smiling at him; he slowly returned the smile.

"And what I'm most thankful for," Jonathan concluded, "is for the people I see sitting around this table. Any man would be blessed to be surrounded by a loving wife, a son and a daughter he can be proud of, and a young man who is as much a part of this family as everyone else here. And now," he reached for the carving knife and fork next to the turkey tray, "let's eat." He expertly began carving the turkey as the others passed around the rest of the food.

Clark smiled and took a deep breath as he slowly walked over to the bed. He carefully sat down, watching his cousin sleeping peacefully; he smoothed a strand of hair from her face, and Linda yawned before smacking her lips a few times.

"Linda?" Clark whispered softly as he put his hand on her arm and gently shook her.

"Mmmm," Linda said softly in her sleep.

"It's time to get up," Clark continued. Linda's smiled faded, and she whined a little as she turned around, burrowing under the pillow.

Clark chuckled softly. "Come on, Short Stack," he said, "we have a busy day—and I have to get to work."

"No," came the muffled reply.

"Fine," Clark said casually, "I'll be sure to tell Jimmy you snubbed him so you could sleep in."

Linda whined loudly and then sighed loudly before removing the pillow and sitting up; her hair was mussed up, and she looked annoyed. "You're evil, you know that."

Clark grinned before kissing her forehead. "As always," he replied. "You wanna get a shower before we leave? You've got five minutes."

"Fine," Linda said grumpily as she extracted herself from the covers and stood up; she stretched and yawned before superspeeding into the bathroom. Clark heard the water running for a few seconds before it stopped; Linda blurred back out, briefly grabbing her glasses from the nightstand before stopping near the bedroom door. She wore jeans, a long-sleeved purple turtleneck, and black flats; her freshly washed hair was pulled back into a loose braid.

"Let's go," Linda replied as she put her glasses on, looking visibly more alert and less grouchy.

Clark simply smiled as he got to his feet and walked over to his dresser, grabbing her winter parka and gloves, tossing them to her. "Don't forget these." Linda put them on as Clark retrieved his trench coat, and gloves, shrugging into them. "Ready?"

"Ready," Linda replied before she followed her cousin to the sliding balcony door. Clark opened it, and the two stepped onto the balcony; the reporter closed the door behind him before scooping Linda into his arms. In the blink of an eye, the two were airborne, heading high into the Metropolis sky.


"Well, look who finally decided to show up," Chloe smiled, walking over from the water cooler as Clark and Linda got off the elevator.

"Good morning, Chloe," Clark replied, smiling.

"Hey, Chloe," Linda added, trying not to look nervous as she waved briefly.

"Hey, kiddo," Chloe replied. "So, how was Thanksgiving this year at the Kent Farm?"

"Wonderful, as usual," Clark answered, "and for the first time in twenty years we had no leftovers to put up."

"Not my fault Mom makes good food," Linda replied, smiling as she folded her arms.

Clark shook his head, smiling. "So, how was your Thanksgiving, Chlo?"

"Well, considering the General had a last-minute meeting and unexpectedly dropped Lucy off without so much as a phone call," Chloe answered, "it was pretty tense."

"Oooh," Clark replied, wincing. "So, is she still in Smallville?"

"No, the General picked her up last night," Chloe said, "but it was definitely one of our more quieter meals." She noticed Linda shuffling slightly as she looked at her feet, but Clark seemed oblivious to his cousin's behavior. "Oh, before I forget, Perry said he wanted you in his office as soon as you arrived."

"What about Linda?" Clark asked, eyeing his baby cousin.

"I'll keep her out of trouble," Chloe replied smiling.

"Okay," Clark said before glancing down at Linda, smiling. "Behave." He headed toward Perry's office.

"Look, I'm really sorry about Lucy," Linda said to Chloe as they made their way through the bullpen.

"Trust me," Chloe replied, "you have nothing to apologize for—and just FYI, Lois knows, because it was one of the few times Lucy actually spoke to Lois, but I was able to convince Lois to keep the secret as well."

"Really?" Linda asked.

"Yep," Chloe answered as they reached Clark's desk. "So, here's Clark's desk." Linda sat in her cousin's chair, leaning back and rocking gently.

"Sullivan!"

Linda stopped rocking and glanced up at Chloe, who winced slightly. "Is that Mr. White?" she asked as she eyed the office.

"Yeah," Chloe replied, "I'll be right back." She hurried to the editor's office, leaving Linda alone; the teenager sighed and leaned back, rocking slowly as she closed her eyes.

"Hey, you."

Linda smiled as she opened her eyes and glanced up. Jimmy stood beside her, holding a small stack of photos in his hands. "Hey, yourself," she replied. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," Jimmy answered as he put the photos on Clark's desk and pulled up a nearby chair; he sat down beside her. "So, what do you think of the Planet?"

"Nice," Linda replied, glancing around at the people hurrying back and forth, "but it's very…busy. I don't understand how you can stay focused with all this stuff going on."

"I like it," Jimmy said, shrugging. "It's crazy sometimes, but that comes with the territory."

Linda shook her head. "Give me a quiet art studio any day," she replied, smiling as she sat up straighter. "So, when do you want to get started?"

"Well, last night I went over everything concerning Schott," Jimmy said, "old case files, photos, anything I could find."

"And?"

"At first, nothing," Jimmy answered, "but when I looked at the murders themselves, I noticed Lex was mentioned on one of the reports."

"Did Schott go after Lex again?" Linda asked.

"No, Inspector Henderson was asking him questions on whether Lex knew more about the murders than he let on," Jimmy answered.

"Okay, I'm confused," Linda said slowly. "If Schott is killing those people and tried to kill Lex last year, why would the police think Lex is involved?"

"Because Lex is keen on increasing his hold in Metropolis," Jimmy replied. "Wouldn't hurt to have as many politicians in his pockets as possible."

"Doesn't he already own a majority of Metropolis?" Linda asked.

"It's Lex," Jimmy replied, his voice laced with annoyance. "He won't be happy until he owns the world."

"Well, he has quite a few people standing in his way to keep that from happening," Linda said, smiling. "So, you think Lex might be connected to this?"

"Or maybe Schott is trying a different way to get his revenge on Lex," Jimmy replied. Linda raised an eyebrow, looking confused, and Jimmy had to hide a smile—she was really cute when confused. "Okay, think about this: Metropolis is made up of six boroughs, with New Troy being the largest. Now, while most of the boroughs are made of a couple districts, New Troy has four districts: Downtown, Midtown, Suicide Slums, and the Central Business district. The two politicians murdered were each representatives of two of the four districts—Downtown and Midtown—leaving only two districts up for grabs."

"I hope the other two are being cautious," Linda said, concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry, Metro PD's got them on twenty-four hour watch for the time being," Jimmy replied.

"But they ruled out Lex as a suspect?" Linda asked

"Yep," Jimmy answered.

"So, we're back to nothing," Linda said glumly.

"Not necessarily," Jimmy replied. "Lex reported a shipment of Grade 5 titanium alloy stolen from one of his factories about a week before the killings started; it made a brief blurb on the evening news and in the paper, but that's it."

"So?" Linda asked.

"The main component of Schott's toys was titanium alloy," Jimmy explained. "Lightweight, resilient to corrosion and high temperatures, and very durable—but not strong enough to keep Superman from pummeling them," he raised an eyebrow, amused, as he dropped his voice, "or maybe a certain other someone."

"You think Schott arranged to have it stolen to make more weapons," Linda said.

Jimmy nodded. "Now, police haven't been able to track it down, but I think I might have a way." Jimmy scooted up to Clark's desk and began typing on the keyboard.

"How?" Linda asked.

"S.T.A.R. Labs has a satellite in orbit that has multi-functioning capabilities," Jimmy said, keeping his eyes on the monitor as he continued typing. "Clark and Lois did a story on it a couple of years ago. If I can gain access to its system, I might be able to configure it to look for large concentrations of titanium."

"Something tells me this isn't exactly legal," Linda replied, "and when did you learn to do this?"

"It's not," Jimmy agreed, "and during my less-than-enjoyable early teens." He glanced over and saw Linda's skeptical expression; he smiled. "Look, I know what I'm doing: I'm rerouting the signal through different servers first before accessing the central branch system here in Metropolis; that should give me enough time to do what I need to do."

"You think you'll be able to do what you need to do before the signal gets traced back here?" Linda asked.

"Yep," Jimmy replied. "To be honest, I'd feel better hacking the Central City system instead—close by but more time to work—but it's been closed since its particle accelerator exploded a couple years ago; doubt the systems would be functioning at the level I need to access the satellite." A S.T.A.R. Labs logo appeared on the screen, with a whole bunch of file folders. "Okay, we got five minutes before they track the signal."

Linda watched, fascinated, as Jimmy's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing different commands. After a few minutes, a large map of downtown Metropolis appeared on the screen, with a large red dot flashing in the center; Jimmy grinned. "Bingo."

"Where is that?" Linda asked.

"Satellite picked up a higher-than-normal concentration of Grade 5 titanium alloy in Suicide Slums," Jimmy replied. "Two three seven Baker Street; that's an abandoned warehouse near my apartment." He glanced over and saw Clark, Chloe, and Perry exiting the editor's office and heading over; he quickly shut down the computer before they approached.

"What are you two up to?" Clark asked, slightly suspicious.

"Jimmy's just deciding which stores to include in my tour," Linda replied as the teenagers got to their feet.

"You sure you want to go around Metropolis during Black Friday?" Chloe asked. "Might be easier navigating a landmine field blindfolded."

"That's why I'm bringing Linda as my bodyguard," Jimmy joked as he grabbed Linda's hand. "We'll be back around lunch; promise." He pulled Linda away from the adults, leading her over to the elevators.

"So, are they dating or not?" Perry asked.

"It's…complicated," Clark answered.

"Mmm," Perry replied, then he glanced at his reporters, annoyed. "And why are two just standing around? I'm not paying you to be statues. Get to work." Clark and Chloe all but hurried away, leaving the editor smiling to himself as he headed back to his office.

(End of Chapter 13)