When Clark and Emmeline walked into the Isis Foundation, they found boxes strewn all over the empty office and Chloe clacking away at the computers.

"What's with all these boxes?" Clark asked.

"Now that I'm house-sitting Isis, Oliver thought it would make a perfect bunker to store all of his troops' equipment," Chloe answered. "You know, having a gang of superheroes is great in theory, but no one ever considers the shipping costs."

Emmeline smiled to herself, wondering how much it cost Oliver to constantly fly her back and forth for their training sessions. Among all the things he was worried about when meeting with her though, the monetary side of it was really the last thing on his mind.

With Lana out of commission, her practicum hours were going to have to take a backseat until she was up on her feet and running things again.

"Were you able to get the Veritas keys away from Lex?"

Clark looked away from her with a slightly guilty look. "I spent all night with Lana."

"Clark, I know you want to be with her, but whatever Lex opens with those keys will give him the power to control you."

"The only thing important right now is Lana."

Emmeline knew Clark was grieving, but that was a seriously overreaching statement. As horrifying and painful as what Brainiac had done to her was, there was so much going on in all of their lives that was bigger than what has happening to Lana.

Chloe agreed on some level because she told him firmly, "Right, but if Lex knows that you're the Traveler, game over. There's no saving Lana. There's no saving the day. Hello, apocalypse."

"I don't care about Lex!"

"Clark, Lana's still alive. We're not giving up on her."

Clark's face fell. "Then why haven't we found Brainiac?"

"If you think that breaking national security laws is my idea of a good time…"

"…I'm sorry, Chloe. I know you care about Lana just as much as I do."

Chloe sighed. "We're just running out of ground to cover."

"Maybe we need to look to the sky. What about a satellite? Like, NASA caliber. Kara and Brainiac…when they left the Daily Planet, there might be a satellite that picked up their trail."

"It is possible that the velocity of their flight created some sort of ionic displacement in the outer atmosphere. But…hacking into government satellites is light-years out of my league."

"You can do it."

"Maybe it's time for me to step up to the majors."

"Thanks, Chloe. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't our last hope."

"Okay, while I'm trying to access outer space with an Intel processor, I think maybe you could contend with the cosmos using the old-fashioned ways. Dr. Swann intercepted all of Jor-El's transmissions from Krypton. Now, it's possible he sent something about Brainiac. I think it's time to sweep the dust off of Dr. Swann's journal."

It had been weeks since they'd heard from Kara, and Emmeline was really worried about her. What could Brainiac possibly want with her for this long? What if he'd already killed her? Would he ever reappear and release Lana from the terrible hold he had on her?

And what would happen to Chloe if she got caught hacking the government?

Chloe and Emmeline quickly walked into Chloe's apartment. "Hey. We came as soon as we got your message. What's going on?"

Clark handed Dr. Swann's journal to the both of them. "You need to read this."

Chloe glanced down at the strange symbols. "Clark, you know we can't read Kryptonian. What are we looking at?"

"That page wasn't there before."

Chloe looked at the date of the entry and it was in the year 1989. "Okay, this entry didn't just magically Rita Skeeter itself into Swann's journal."

"I know it sounds crazy, but these are the only transmissions Jor-El sent to Earth before I got here. There's no way I missed a single page. Trust me, it wasn't there till now."

Chloe smiled when she saw Clark's pleading face. "You do realize that your greatest superpower is your ability to win me over with just one look, no matter how ridiculous you sound, right? Can you translate it?"

"No, even Swann said these transmissions were distorted and incomplete." He examined the journal and his brow creased in concern.

"Uh, okay, Clark. Now, that look kills me."

"This transmission says 'Save Lana at Fortress'."

"Lana? As in Lang? That's impossible. I mean, that passage was written in 1989. Lana would have been barely…three. Why would Jor-El send an SOS out for her?"

"I think it's time I ask him myself."

"Wait a minute, Clark. This could be a trick. Your birth father tried to turn you into a popsicle so you would outlive everyone here on Earth. He's not exactly your best ally right now."

"Well, he also gave Kara back her memories when we asked for his help," Emmeline put in. "In his own twisted way, I think Jor-El wants to protect you."

Clark sighed. "The next time I hold Lana's hand, I want to tell her I did everything I could to save her. If that means going up against Jor-El, then so be it."

"You're more focused than usual lately," Oliver commented as he watched Emmeline hit six bulls-eyes in a row.

"I didn't realize I hadn't been," Emmeline said.

"You've always worked hard, which I commend, but I've been able to tell you've been having to force yourself to keep your mind here instead of the things going on in your personal life. I take it the extra focus today means things are better?"

"They're still chaotic as ever, just not completely on my end."

"Something tells me you still haven't told anyone the reason we went to Belize."

Emmeline's face fell. "Not exactly. But my mom is the one who told me so she's been helping me work through everything. I haven't been dealing with it all on my own."

"That's good."

"It's been so great getting to know her better over the last few months. I don't think we'd be where we are if you hadn't pushed me to call her last year."

"I shouldn't have had to push you."

Emmeline winced. "Yeah. You're right. We didn't part on the best of terms back when I was in high school. But now I've been able to hear her side of what happened and I feel terrible for how things turned out. I wish I hadn't taken so long to reach out again. I had no idea how much she had been hurting all those years. I feel like such a hypocrite. Here I am trying to be a psychologist and I can barely keep my own life together."

"You're still studying. It's all a learning process. Don't beat yourself up too much."

"Yeah."

"How do you feel about bringing in other members of my team for these sessions?"

"Like who?"

"Dinah might be able to give you some pretty good insight since you're both women, and I bet she'd love the chance to teach a protégé. She'll probably be even harder on you than I am though."

"Do you really think I'm at a point where we can consider that?"

"It may not be for a while considering how busy we are, but I'd like for us to at least begin thinking about it."

Emmeline really preferred these private moments training with just Oliver, but she also knew that to become a better fighter, she would need to learn from other people too, particularly other women who could teach her things a man simply would never be able to. "All right, let's do it. By the way, how is your newest teammate doing?"

"She's definitely a welcome addition. Bart gave her a hard time upon first meeting her because he didn't think she was all that skilled, but she shut him up about doubting or teasing her pretty quickly."

"I wish I'd been able to see that."

Emmeline looked up when the door to the clinic opened. She was surprised to see none other than Jimmy.

Chloe had finally broken down several weeks ago and told Emmeline about the kiss in the elevator along with how she'd told Jimmy that night about her healing ability. They'd still remained broken up for a while thanks to Jimmy's interest in Kara, but after Kara's memory loss, he'd realized that they hadn't really had much of a spark, at least not compared to him and Chloe. So since then, they'd been working really hard to stay in a healthy and committed relationship.

"Um, hey, Emmeline," Jimmy said nervously.

Emmeline came around the desk and ushered him towards the front corner. "You only ever come talk to me when something's wrong, so…what's up?"

"You…you trust Chloe, don't you?"

"Of course. With my life."

"And you never…got the feeling that…she was hiding something from you?"

"Why?"

"I love Chloe. More than anything in the world. I just…don't know if she feels the same way about me. If she did, wouldn't she let me in?"

Emmeline smiled, her heart warming at Jimmy's confession of affection for her best friend, especially after all they'd been through this year. "There was a time when we were in high school that I knew she was keeping something from me. But I decided to trust her. I knew that if she wasn't telling me something, she had to have a good reason and she would tell me everything when the time was right."

"Did she?"

"I ended up finding out on my own, so it didn't matter in the end."

"But do you think…she would've told you…if you hadn't found out?"

"Our situation was kind of complicated."

"So I'm guessing that's a no."

"Jimmy—"

"It doesn't make sense. I mean, why would you lie to the person you care about?"

Emmeline sighed. She felt like she had heard that question so many times over the last few years and ever since she'd found out about her father, the question had become so much more personal and complicated. "Because you're scared," she told him. "Of how the person will react. That saying things out loud will make it real. That your relationship with the people closest to you will completely change."

"But if we love each other, shouldn't that be enough?"

"Yes. But what you know in your head doesn't always fit with how you feel."

"I'm seeing why you decided to work here."

Emmeline laughed lightly. "Look. If I know anything about Chloe, it's that she is absolutely crazy about you. So just trust that she'll come to you when the time is right."

"I hope you're right. I'm not letting her go again without a fight."

"That's what every best friend wants to hear."

Emmeline stepped inside Hannah's new apartment in town just a couple blocks away from the Talon. "This is nice."

"Thanks," Hannah smiled. "All those years working and saving up in New York have really paid off because it is way cheaper to rent a place here. I'm still in the process of unpacking and getting some of my stuff shipped here."

"Do you need any help?"

"I wouldn't say no to it. Here, we can start with this box. It's just all of my books that need to find a place on the bookshelf."

"Any particular order?"

"No, just shove them up there."

"All right." As Emmeline began to unpack the box of books, she said quietly, "I'd love to hear more about Eldon. After he told you everything about himself, what happened?"

"Things were pretty tense for a while. You've been around all kinds of weird things, so you had time to get used to it by the time Clark told you his secret. But Eldon was my first experience with anything supernatural, and I didn't know what to say or do or think. He was kind enough to give me space, but he was also impatient and I could tell. He had never been great at hiding his emotions."

"How long was it before you guys actually got together?"

"Probably not for another several months. We were still attracted to each other, and there was definitely still a strong spark, but finding out that the guy I had a crush on was actually from another planet was a lot for me to take in, and I wasn't sure if I should pursue him anymore."

"But you did."

"Yeah. I just couldn't stay away."

"Why?"

"When Kryptonians love, it is more…devoted and passionate than almost anything you will find here on Earth."

"Okay, that's…a little more information than I needed to know."

Hannah laughed. "I didn't mean it…entirely like that."

"Gross."

"I meant it more in terms of the way he acted towards me and…the way he looked at me. Like I was the most important thing to him and that nothing would ever be able to change the way he felt about me. He made me feel like every risk and every heartbreak and every chance would be worth it."

Emmeline wondered if that was why Clark kept pursuing Lana after all these years even though it seemed like their relationship imploded every time they got together. "And was it?"

"…Yes. It's a big part of the reason I've never really dated anyone since then. I know no one will ever look at me that way again. He looked at you the same way. I wish you could've seen it. I've never seen something so beautiful."

Emmeline smiled.

But Hannah had to quickly turn away to hide her watering eyes. While that moment had been wonderful, it had also been one of the most painful days of her life.

Hannah fell back against the hospital bed panting and dripping with sweat.

The sound of beautiful cries filled the room and she knew that all of the pain had brought her beautiful baby girl into the world.

She had dreaded this day for months.

Eldon gently wiped the sweat away from her face. "You did a great job."

The maternity nurse cleaned off her newborn baby and wrapped her up in a blanket. Every one of the staff members in the room knew that Hannah was giving up her baby for adoption, but they had fortunately not allowed their personal feelings about her choice to keep them from providing her with medicine and comfort throughout her delivery.

"Would you like to hold her?" the nurse asked.

"Yes," Hannah said softly.

Eldon put his hands on hers. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

Hannah looked up at him pleadingly. "If I don't, I know I will always regret it. Eldon, please…let me have this."

Eldon sighed and then nodded.

Hannah held her hands out and the nurse gently placed her baby in her arms. Her eyes filled with tears as she held her newborn close to her.

"She's so beautiful," Eldon whispered.

When Hannah looked up at him, she saw that his eyes were teary as well. She would never forget the look on his face when he stared down at his newborn daughter for the rest of her life. "She is."

Eldon looked up at the nurse. "Can you just give us a few minutes, please?"

"Of course," the nurse said kindly. She left the room and shut the door behind her.

Eldon put his hand on Hannah's arm. "Can I see her?"

Hannah carefully transferred their newborn to her father's arms.

He pulled out a small device with strange markings on it that she recognized as the language from his planet and slowly waved it over their daughter. It glowed brightly but not bright enough to upset her.

"What was that?" Hannah asked.

"It will hide her Kryptonian cells. She's essentially human."

"So she won't have your abilities?"

"She shouldn't, no."

"We need to name her. She should have at least one thing from us."

"What are you thinking?"

"My mother's name is Emily. We could name her after her grandmother. At least she'll have a connection with her family, even if she doesn't know it."

"I like that, but it should also be her own. How about Emmeline? It's similar but different."

"It's perfect."

Eldon rubbed their daughter's little head tenderly. "Our perfect little Emmeline."

He handed the baby back to her mother. Hannah rocked the baby in her arms. For nine months, she had carried this beautiful girl inside of her where she was safe and her mother could protect her. Now she was out in the world and none of them had any idea what her life was going to look like.

The new mother shook her head as tears rolled freely down her cheeks. "I can't do it, Eldon. I can't give her up. She's my baby. She needs her mother."

Eldon gently stroked her hair. "Sweetheart, we talked about this. It's the only way she'll be safe."

"You can't know that."

"I'm so sorry, Hannah. I never meant to put you in this position."

"Please, Eldon, you have to think of something else. I need to be with her as much as she needs to be with me."

"Hannah, it's too dangerous. I…I can't lose both of you."

The nurse came back into the room. "I'll need to take her to the Nursery now."

Hannah's hold on her baby tightened. She knew that once the nurse took her daughter from her, she would probably never see her again. "No," she cried. "Please don't take her from me."

"Hannah, it's okay," Eldon said softly. "She needs to go."

"No, no, she's my baby."

"I'm so sorry."

"Please, don't."

Eldon carefully took the baby from Hannah's arms and handed her to the nurse.

"No, no, no!" Hannah sobbed. "Don't take her! Don't take my baby! No!"

Eldon sat on the bed next to her and held her tightly. "It's okay," he whispered as he pressed kisses to her forehead and made no effort to hide his own tears from her. "It's okay. She'll be okay."

Hannah's sobs echoed throughout the room as she clutched onto Eldon and mourned for the daughter she would never know.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Emmeline asked as she saw the bruise on Chloe's forehead.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Chloe told her.

"Which probably means it's exactly something I need to worry about."

"Em, I promise, I'm fine."

"Chloe, come on. You can't tell me that if I showed up with a massive bruise or cut on my face, you wouldn't be concerned."

"I…sort of got caught hacking into the government satellites. And the woman who caught me wasn't exactly polite about it. I'm pretty sure she was accusing me of being a terrorist, but it wasn't like I could tell them what I was really looking for."

"You're saying a government woman did this to you?"

"It's fine, though, Jimmy came to my rescue and we got them off my back and off my trail."

"And you're sure you're not about to go to prison or anything for all this?"

"No. Everything's okay."

"Did you at least find something? Was it all worth it?"

"Yes. Come on, let me show you guys."

The two of them went up to Clark's loft to find the young man pacing worriedly.

"Clark, what's wrong?" Chloe asked.

"I went to the Fortress."

"Okay, and…?"

"I didn't hear anything from Jor-El, but…I did hear Kara. Her voice was faraway and a little disjointed, but she told me that she needed my help, and that she had sent the message to Dr. Swann's journal…from Krypton."

"So, Kara's trying to contact you via the Fortress from Krypton?" Chloe asked in disbelief.

"I know," Clark said.

"Wait, Krypton is the planet that exploded, right?"

"It sounds crazy. Jor-El must have done something to her."

"But Kara left with Brainiac. What does Jor-El have to do with any of this?"

"I don't know. But how else could her message come through the Fortress?"

Chloe looked down at the satellite image she'd managed to swipe right under the government's nose. "Clark, have you considered the possibility that Kara really is on Krypton, and it's just a different time zone? Like…the past."

"You mean like time travel."

She stood up from the couch to show him the images. "Check this out. I followed the trajectory of two blurs that started from the Daily Planet roof. Now it has to be Kara and Brainiac. What if the vortex that they're flying through is some kind of intergalactic time portal? I mean, look at this."

Clark looked at where she was pointing on the image. "Looks like a red star."

"Right, and next to it is a dot, which could be a planet, Krypton." She showed him a second image. "Now, this picture was taken seconds later. The vortex is closed, and the red star is gone."

"It's impossible. You're saying Kara's actually on Krypton?"

"Well, Krypton 1989. Give or take a few light-years."

"That explains how her message mysteriously appeared in Swann's journal. She sent it to him, hoping that I'd read it."

"It sounds more like a Hail Mary pass. Clark, if she sent those messages to Swann and the Fortress, that means Kara's desperate to get your attention."

"When I was in the Fortress, Kara warned me that Brainiac was trying to kill me. She must have meant the version of me on Krypton 20 years ago."

"When you were a baby. Clark, if you really are in trouble on Krypton, you better find a way to get there soon or—"

"I'll have never existed."

"Looks like it's finally time for Kal-El to go home."

Emmeline's stomach flipped. What none of them knew was that Kal-El's home was also her father's home.