Kara Zor-El stood up to her full height, still atop the Eiffel Tower with Superman. "Wow, last time I saw you, you were just a baby," she recalled sadly, remembering her home planet.

"You knew me as a baby?" said Superman, stunned. "Are you from Krypton?"

"Yes, I am Kryptonian, like you. I'm your cousin, Kara Zor-El. My father and yours were brothers," Kara replied, slightly taken a back by his torrent of questions.

"I thought I was the last survivor. I thought I was alone." Superman looked at his newly found cousin, finally meeting someone just like himself.

"Not anymore, Kal. We are the only ones left," Kara finished, turning away from him and taking off into the sky. Superman sped after her and caught up with her on the edges of the atmosphere. "I've heard about what you have started here," Kara said, gazing out at the Earth expanding below her. "Your parents would have been proud."

"You knew my parents?"

"Yes. Your mother was more of a parent to me than my real mother was. I travelled to Earth with her when I was fifteen when your parents chose the Kents as your adoptive parents. I've always wanted to return since then and now I finally have."

"And you lived on Krypton before it was destroyed? How old are you?"

"Yes, I grew up there, in Argo city. I thought it was rude to ask a woman their age by Earth's conventions?" laughed Kara. Superman started to apologize but the blonde cut him off. "Technically I'm twenty-eight but when my ship crashed across the galaxy, it kept me in suspended animation for five years. I was finally found five years later when I was twenty-four but I still hadn't aged a day, still in a nineteen-year-old's body. I've spent the last four years trying to find out what happened to our home and locate any other survivors. I'm sorry that I left it so long but I couldn't stop searching until I was sure there was nothing left to find." Kara explained, casting a regretful look at her cousin.

"I don't care. I have a family now, a link to my past." Superman took her hand and made to leave. "I'll show you where I grew up, who is important in my life."

"I'd like that," said Kara. They flew around the globe, Superman leading the way, and landed outside the barn in Smallville. It was the early hours of the morning and the moon lit most of the farm. Kara turned around taking in her familiar surroundings, "Wow, it's barely changed since I was last here."

"This was the safest, happiest place of my life," Superman revealed, joining her in looking around at his childhood home.

"Your mother knew that the people who lived here would love you unconditionally. She saw how they interacted and instantly knew that they were the ones for you," Kara remembered. Superman stretched and yawned. Kara laughed at how obscure the sight of an exhausted superhero was. He looks so human.

"All tuckered out?" she smirked, feeling tired herself. It had been a busy day, what with the whole crashing spaceships and sightseeing thing going on.

"No, I just need some sleep before work tomorrow," he breathed, coming out of his yawn. He was impressed by her knowledge of the English language. "I'm gonna get some sleep at my apartment in Metropolis but I need to know you'll be safe."

"I know how to conceal my powers if that's what you mean. Kryptonians are wanted across the universe you know," she assured him.

"Please don't leave the farm until I come back. You still need to adapt to Earth life." Superman didn't give her time to argue as he took off into the night's sky. Kara watched him leave until he disappeared over the horizon before walking towards the farmhouse. There's no chance of that happening.

xxXxx

The morning broke into the sterile room and woke Lex Luthor. He had moved out of his old mansion in Smallville a long time ago, deciding that it contained too many memories- of both good and bad. Now he lived in the higher side of Metropolis with Lana in a penthouse apartment, a short drive from LexCorp Tower. The brunette lay next to him and he turned over to watch her sleep. She breathed gently, facing away from her multi billionaire boyfriend, her long brown hair spread over the pillow. She looks so peaceful.

After lingering a moment longer, Lex rose from his bed and got dressed. Lana slept on as he left their bedroom without looking back. Things had settled so much into routine with them that Lex knew it would be unnecessary for him to wake her, she would come through at her own time. Breakfast had already been prepared and the bald man sat over his English muffin reading a dossier on his campaign partner's speech. A noise from across the room alerts him and he looked up. Lana stood at the threshold of the room and entered. "Morning."

Lex rose to meet her kiss and asked how she was. "Good thanks. Are you ready for it all to begin?" She replied, taking a muffin for herself.

"I sent Flynn Matterson the plan for his speech last night. If my people have managed what they claim they have, I can't see it going wrong," Lex summarised, not looking up from document. "The only issue is I couldn't block The Daily Planet's monkey reporters from attending. Their new editor has been driving an anti-LexCorp line for months now, unlike the rest of the pocketed press."

"At least you know Lois Lane is unlikely to be there," Lana said, looking at her boyfriend as she held the latest issue of The Daily Planet out in front of her. Lex read it quickly and slammed his fist on the table, knocking over his plate and sending orange juice all over the surface. He snatched the paper from Lana's hand and stood in one fluid motion before storming toward the exit.

"I'll see you at the press conference. I have to deal with this," shouted Lex back to his partner, before climbing into the awaiting lift.

Lana sat back and sighed, weakly making an attempt to clean up after her boyfriend. I hate it when he's like this. I love him so much, but he needs to control the dark anger inside of him. Rising out of her seat to get changed out of her orange juice soaked clothes, the ex girl next door decided to try to change Lex; to make him her ideal man that she knew she could love.

xxXxx

While I Fooled Around and Fell in Love by Elvin Bishop blared out from his stereo, Clark was getting dressed into a dark blue almost black suit with simple, classic white shirt underneath, covering up his costume. He was in a fantastic mood, having had a great night's sleep after discovering the existence of his cousin Kara Zor-El and had just enjoyed the most refreshing shower. He was also about to start his first day at the Daily Planet, working alongside his best friend Chloe. Clark had been anxious about applying in the first place, having being forced to by the aforementioned blonde, but now he was more than ready to begin.

The job was perfect for him. It was had flexible hours and good benefits. The workload could be however much he chose, depending on how prominent he wanted his role to become. It was the best paper in the world and Clark was privileged to work there. It was even based in the centre of the city, becoming the hub of what was occurring right that instant in Metropolis. For a superhero, that was very useful; it provided enough people for him to blend into and gave him the heads up for when The Man of Steel was needed. The most important reason, however, was the success wasn't guaranteed. Unlike a career in sports or in science or many other jobs, Clark couldn't use his powers to write a hard-hitting story. This job makes me human.

A sharp buzzing sounded from the kitchen table-top as Clark's phone vibrated, interrupting the man while he was tying a Windsor knot on his plain red tie. He let both ends drop as he walked over and picked up the device. It was a text from Chloe saying that she was downstairs waiting for him and that he should get his super speed on.

Chloe immediately regretted her choice of words as Clark sped into the lobby, sending a rush of wind around the room. The blonde jumped a little in surprise and tried to fix her wind blown hair a little. "Clark! I'm never gonna get used to your sudden appearances," she huffed, annoyed more at herself for indirectly causing her hair issues.

"Sorry, I would have been down sooner, but I had to tie my tie," smirked Clark, now wearing polished shoes and holding a briefcase.

"Twenty-two years of age and you still can't do it properly," laughed Chloe, reaching up to pull the tie tighter to the collar and straightening it a little. "I know what you're thinking, don't you dare say it."

"I don't know what you mean Chloe," gasped Clark, feigning innocence as he opened the door of his building to let the blonde out. "I just thought you would have brought a step ladder by now," he grinned.

Chloe smacked him on the arm, "Shut up, not all of us are freakishly tall. If I were you, I wouldn't annoy me, because I've got a bone to pick with you," said Chloe, diving into her satchel and rummaged around inside of it.

"Actually Chloe, I have something I need to tell-"

The blonde interrupted him, returning a second later with a newspaper in her hand. She held it out to Clark for him too see, "Explain."

She had an issue of The Daily Planet in her hands and Clark dropped his mouth in shock went he read the headline.

"I spent the night with Superman." Clark snatched it from Chloe's hand and speed-read the article. "I can kind of explain that," he blushed, avoiding Chloe's eyes.

"You didn't! You actually kissed Lois Lane? My cousin, the woman who you said was bossy and mean and you couldn't stand?" Laughed Chloe.

"I was in high school then Chloe, you can hardly blame me," Clark defended himself.

"Sure, sure. It was all flirting in my book," the blonde smirked. The pair walked around the corner onto the block that contained the world's greatest newspaper. The streets bustled with people, ducking in and out of the road, cars bared their horns and noise filled the air. Clark looked up, taken up by the whole atmosphere, completely forgetting the witty remark he had thought of to counter his best friend.

"Wow," he breathed. His fascination was cut short however, by an old woman walking into him. Clark absorbed the contact and they both fell over. Chloe suppressed herself from laughing as Clark's briefcase fell open and about a million papers fell out of it. In the meantime, the woman's shopping bag also emptied itself onto the cold pavement.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, you idiot?" She cursed, picking herself up and trying to gather the oranges that were currently rolling toward the gutter.

"I am so sorry, ma'am, I wasn't looking where I was going," bumbled Clark, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Chloe had managed to stop laughing enough to start collecting his spilt documents from the sidewalk.

"You're not from here are you?" The old woman asked, having restored to her full height and clutching her brown bag between both arms.

"No he's not," Chloe intruded, saving Clark, who had just about gathered every loose item from his briefcase. "And he's just about to start his first day at the most read paper in the world, so he simply must get going," she grinned, imitating the old woman's accent a little.

"Good luck with that," she grumbled, tootling off.

"Thank you," replied Clark waving her off, pretending he was unaware of her sarcasm.

"Yeah you've got the whole dork thing down," teased Chloe, finally stepping in front of the famous building.

"Here we go," said Clark, taking in the gravity of the situation. He opened the door and let his best friend enter first.

"Morning Lou," Chloe greeted the receptionist standing behind a desk.

"Morning Chloe," he beamed. "Who's this you've dragged in kicking and screaming?" He joked, pointing at Clark.

"Clark Kent," Clark introduced himself, holding out his hand. In the process he knocked the plant pot off the countertop and flailed about in catching it. He saved it just before it smashed on the floor.

"He's a little clumsy, but more than competent," laughed Chloe, still getting over the new disguise. The two men shook hands in the meantime.

Suddenly Clark jumped as Lou produced a camera out of nowhere and took a photo. Downloading it into his computer and speedily printing out a Press Pass like a well-oiled machine, the receptionist handed it to Clark. "Thanks Lou."

"That'll get you in and out of the building as well as giving access to press only areas," informed Lou. "You should stop in with the editor before finding your place in the bullpen."

The pair made to leave before Lou called them back, "Chloe, you need to see Chief too."

"Thanks again Lou," she said. "Always a pleasure."

As they waited for the lift, Clark looked over his picture on the Press Pass and grimaced. They stepped inside the elevator once it had arrived and Chloe pressed the button for the top floor.

"Don't worry, mine's probably worse," she assured him. "Before you ask, no you don't get to see it."

"Shame," Clark grinned. "Any ideas why the big man wants to see you?"

"Nope, probably found something to moan about though," Chloe huffed. "Are you nervous to meet the boss?"

"Not really, I've met him before remember," Clark said, as the doors opened to reveal the top floor. They walked across the hall and stopped in front of the threshold of the office. "Here goes nothing," grinned Clark, knocking on Perry White's door.

xxXxx

Kara woke up naturally in a bedroom of the farmhouse, wrapped up in covers. She had managed to enter the building by finding the spare key located under the porch with her x-ray vision. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in Clark's old room, which was slightly emptier since he had moved to Metropolis. Smallville's team's colours of red and yellow hung about the room from her cousin's football days and an Elmer Fudd lamp sat in the corner. Kara walked over to his desk and looked at the three framed photos that sat on it. The first was one of him and his parents, Martha and Jonathan either side of him, crouching together in front of a tractor. He had a perfect loving family to mentor and care for him. The next was a shot of Clark at graduation, dressed in his gown, alongside a blonde girl and a boy with a shaved head. They were laughing at something together. He had friends to rely on, to trust. The last one was of Clark dressed in a suit and he was in some kind of embrace with a brunette girl in a dress. His hand was on her hip and her's on his shoulder and they were gazing into one another's eyes. Who is this? Were Clark and this woman partners?

Kara walked away from the desk and dressed herself back into her traditional Kryptonian clothes. She had realised that they didn't fit in at all with Earth's various fashions and if she was going to blend in she was going to have to find some new clothes. But she would worry about that later. For now the blonde walked downstairs, looking for something to eat. She was so tired the night before that she didn't bother to feed herself but now there was no way she could ignore the feeling in her gut. Where do humans keep food?

She wondered around the house looking for any sign of something to eat, yawning as she went. The Iron Maiden hadn't gotten much sleep despite her energy levels. She had rolled around in bed, tossing and turning, picturing one moment in her mind from the day before. It was the look of terror etched upon the young passenger in that car as the spacecraft plummeted towards him. She could remember his scream of terror and of pain after the accident. Even with the knowledge that Kal had rescued him, she had to know that he was safe and recovering.

"Yes!" Kara congratulated herself on finding a single dusty glass jar at the back of the highest cupboard in the kitchen. During her time on Mars she had heard many stories about how great their neighborly planet's cuisine was and Kara was more than ready to experience it herself. She easily undid the strange lid contraption and dipped her fingers into the liquid. The blonde plucked out a single green vegetable and held in between two fingers in front of her face, studying it intently. She opened her mouth and popped it in.

Kara bent over double, coughing hard and spitting the foul green thing out. By the holy Book of Rao, that's disgusting! Having finished spluttering all over the kitchen, Kara grabbed the jar and read the label: Pickled Gherkins. Well I'm never eating that again.

Leaving the unopened jar on the counter-top, The Iron Maiden strode out of the farmhouse, having made up her mind. I'm going to find out what happened to that man and hopefully find something to eat on the way.

xxXxx

Author's Note: Thanks for taking the time to read and for all the reviews. They really motivate me write so please keep sending them in with your thoughts (good or bad) and/or questions. I posted a longer chapter tonight because it's been roughly a month since I posted the first chapter. It's a mini anniversary for me. I've really enjoyed doing this for you guys and I never anticipated this kind of response to be honest. Here's to many more months! Cheers!