Here Is The News…

“Speculation about the return of Supergirl ended today, when the superhero appeared in New Zealand to rescue…”
“...definitely not a hoax…”
“...intercepted the aircraft over Beijing, and successfully brought it in to a safe landing…”
“…repaired the bridge before the arrival of the next train…”
“…flew eighteen burn victims to Walter Reed hospital…”
“…broke all records for searches on Google and YouTube…”
“…helped the whales to return to the sea…”
“…handed over the pirates to the Somali government…”
“…returned the satellite to a stable orbit…”
“…delivered vaccine to eighteen hospitals in the affected area…”
“…found time to rescue this kitten from a tree in Berlin…”

Flying ice-packed transplant organs from London to Montreal, Kara finally remembered to call Clark on the secure channel.

“Kara! We’ve been keeping an eye on the news. Well done with the landslide and the train crash!”

“I hope you don’t think I’ve been showing off.”

“It’s just been one of those weekends, I’ve been pretty busy too; I doubt I could have handled everything on my own. Well, I wouldn’t have finished Jason’s room if I had.”

“It’s been fun so far.”

“Watch your energy; if you feel tired get some sun. Anyone call for help just to get a chance to meet you?”

“A couple. Well, six or seven…”

“It happens… but don’t worry; sooner or later the novelty will start to wear off.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Lois, on another phone, “you’re a beautiful girl, the internet is going crazy. There are already four sites claiming to have nude photos of you. No, make that nine.”

“Really?”

“Don’t worry; none of them are really you.”

“Then why would anyone say that? Maybe I should have my own site so they can see the real thing.”

“That’s really not a good idea,” Clark said hastily. “I don’t know what they do in Argo City, but here on Earth…”

“I think the phrase is ‘just kidding,’” said Kara.

“Smallville takes these things too seriously,” said Lois. “You’re doing good work, honey. Be careful, and try to take a break, you’ve been on the move for nearly thirty hours.”

“I will”

“And if you can, find time drop round in the next few days. I know you can’t be Linda in public yet, but Jason is dying to meet you. You ought to meet Richard too; he’s a useful guy to have on your side in a crisis.”

“I can vouch for that,” said Clark. “Oops, there goes the getaway car… gotta go.”

“I’d better go too,” said Kara, spiralling down towards Montreal and trying to locate the hospital she was after, “talk to you both soon.”

The White House, Monday 12.55 PM

“I’d say she’s got off to a flying start,” said President Santos, walking towards the Press Room.

“You could say that,” said Josh Lyman, “but I think it might knock three points off your approval rating. It’s a cheap joke.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Annabeth Schott, the diminutive White House Press Secretary, scurrying to keep up, “it won’t work in your formal statement welcoming her to Earth and the USA, we already decided that, but if anyone asks something that calls for a personal opinion it might play reasonably well. But if you use that line, it needs to be followed by something with more substance.”

“What about the international repercussions?” asked Josh, “She seems to be spending more time overseas than Superman. What’s your response on that?”

“I’m assuming that as a newcomer to Earth she’s still settling in, taking time to see the sights and help out where she can.”

“Good response,” said Annabeth, “try to avoid any suggestion that we’re in any way critical of the international aspect of her activities, it plays well with conservatives in the US but foreign governments really won’t like it.”

“And stay clear of anything that suggests that she’s less of a patriot than Superman, or in that or any other way superior or inferior to him,” said Josh, “we really don’t want to upset either of them.”

“And don’t mention Zod first, but don’t be afraid to respond to any questions that mention him,” said Annabeth, “Zod and his supporters were criminals sent into exile long before the destruction of Krypton, there’s no comparison with a cousin of Superman who has evidently been brought up to respect life and fight for 'truth, justice and the American way.'”

“Forget the American Way part,” said Josh, wincing, “she hasn’t said it yet, and it didn’t play well with foreign governments when Superman allegedly said it his first day on Earth. I’m half-convinced the Daily Planet invented that line anyway; you’ll notice that they didn’t quote it when he came back last year.”

“Anything else?” asked the President.

“The Seahawk,” said Josh, “I know you’re going to mention it in the statement, but if there are any questions on that front you could mention that astronomers now suspect that the course of her capsule was deflected slightly by the gravity of New Krypton, Luthor’s artificial continent.”

“Any evidence for that apart from your over-vivid imagination?”

“There’s a NASA computer simulation, but they’re still working on eliminating sources of error.”

“Good enough. Annabeth, if you’d like to introduce me, I think it’s time to extend a warm welcome.”

NCIS Headquarters, Washington 2.40 PM

“It’s really sad,” said Abby; “I think Tony really likes Supergirl, and he’s going to have to go back to sea.”

“Looks like it,” said Gibbs.

“I think maybe she likes him too,” said Abby, “there was definitely a spark there.”

“It’s possible, but I hope you’re wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Think about it; what happens if DiNozzo does get into some sort of relationship with her?”

“Romance?”

“Maybe. What happens to his career?”

“With her powers she could give him all sorts of help.”

“I’m sure that would be very useful in whatever desk job they eventually gave him.”

“What?”

“He’s a Special Agent, Abby. Do you really think that would go well with being Mister Supergirl? He’d lose most of his usefulness to NCIS, the Director would probably end up putting him into the safest PR job he could find. There is no way on earth they’d let him go in harm’s way.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“The other thing you might want to remember is that she’s an alien. I know what the President said this afternoon, but she isn’t an American national; hell, she isn’t an Earth national, and the majority of Kryptonians to visit Earth so far have literally been enemy aliens. What would that do to Tony’s security clearance?”

“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t have invited her.”

“Invited her? To DiNozzo’s party?”

“Yes,” said Abby, in a very small voice.

“Well, you can’t uninvite her, that might end up being a diplomatic incident. Let’s hope that she doesn’t come, and if she does come let’s hope that you can curb your matchmaking instincts.”

Metropolis, 6.45 PM

“…and that’s why it has to stay our secret,” said Lois Lane.

“It won’t be very long,” said Kara, “I’ll be over for Christmas, after that you can tell your friends all about your cool cousin. Only you don’t mention the special things that I can do.”

“Like Daddy Clark?” asked Jason Kent.

“Just like Daddy Clark,” said Lois, “only prettier.” She smiled at Clark as he came back into the living room and added “Wouldn’t want you getting a swollen head.”

“She is prettier,” said Clark, “can’t argue with that.”

“Definitely,” said Richard White, following him into the living room. “The photos that are coming in don’t do you justice.”

“Daddy Richard!” shouted Jason, and ran over for a hug.

Kara stood, and said “it’s nice to meet you at last; Lois and Clark have told me a lot about you.”

“Daddy Richard can fly too!” said Jason, “and he can take passengers and land on water!”

“That’s good,” said Kara, shaking hands with Richard, “if I try to land on water I get all wet, and I have to dry my hair.”

“When are we going to get an interview for the Planet?” asked Richard.

“When we can arrange for a reporter who isn’t me or Clark to meet her,” said Lois. “Sooner or later people are going to meet Kara in her Linda identity, which links to us. We can pull it off if nobody associates either of us with Supergirl, but if we’re also the reporters who got the Supergirl story it gets a little too close to home.”

“How about Ron Troupe?” asked Richard. “I know that he and Lucy are married, but they’ve been separated for a few years now. It’s not such a close relationship.”

“I like Uncle Ron!” said Jason.

“Jason,” said Lois, “maybe you can go play with your Lego for a few minutes; we’ve got to talk about grown-up stuff, it’s going to be pretty boring.”

“Okay.” He went out towards his bedroom.

Clark watched him until he was sure the door was shut, then said “The trouble with that is that they’ll both be here at Christmas and meet Linda.”

“Why is that a problem?” asked Kara.

“Neither of them knows about Clark,” said Lois. “And if Ron recognizes you and tells Lucy they’ll figure out who he is.”

“Ron can be trusted,” said Richard.

“Ron could never keep secrets from Lucy, and she’s always been under Dad’s thumb. I’m not sure that she wouldn’t spill the beans to him. And he’s not a huge Superman fan; he thinks he should be under military control.”

Kara frowned. “This is getting complicated, maybe making Linda a relative of Clark is a bad idea.”

“You’re my cousin,” said Clark, “and I want you to be part of this family.” Lois nodded her agreement.

“How about Jimmy Olsen? I met him the first time I was on Earth, he seemed okay.”

“He’s… well, he’s drinking a lot these days,” said Clark, “and he’s primarily a photographer anyway.”

Lois clicked her fingers; “Cat Grant! She’ll spend half the interview trying to find out who you’re sleeping with, but once you get past that she’s a reasonably good journalist.”

“And she won’t try to seduce Supergirl,” said Clark, “unlike Superman.”

“You’re kidding,” said Richard.

“I wish,” said Clark. “She cornered Superman at the Mayor’s ball last year, it was like trying to dodge an octopus; I had to play the ‘bank robbery in Ecuador’ card to get away from her.”

“I’ll give her ten out of ten for chutzpah.”

“How do we set it up?”

“Simple,” said Lois, “next time you come by the Planet as Superman we’ll ask you to arrange it for us, then a day or two you give us a date and time that isn’t convenient for either of us, and Cat has to fill in for us.”

“That ought to work,” said Richard, “Cat will jump at it, she’s been pressuring Perry to give her more responsibility. If I suggest that a Supergirl interview needs a feminine touch and Lois isn’t available he ought to go for it.”

“Okay,” said Clark, “I think that’s the adult stuff out of the way, let’s get Jason back in here and decide what we want to eat.”

“You’ll have to guide me,” said Kara. “I’m still figuring out Earth food. One thing, I promised I’d drop by a party a little later, so I’d better not eat too much.”

“As Karen?”

“Actually no, as Kara Zor-El. I made friends with a girl called Abby who works with Agent DiNozzo, he’s going back to his ship so they’re giving him a farewell party; Abby invited me to drop by. I thought I’d try to get there about nine.”

“Wasn’t that the guy who tried to bug the Fortress?” asked Lois

“Everyone tries to bug the Fortress,” said Clark, “I wasn’t expecting anything else. The Jor-El AI took care of it. He seemed like a nice person apart from that.”

“I guess,” said Kara. “Anyway, it sounded like a good opportunity to meet people in an everyday setting, and she’s promised that there won’t be reporters there, so why not?”

“So long as they’re not expecting you to be the cabaret,” said Richard, “Performing feats of strength to entertain them.”

“I’m not even going in my Supergirl costume. They’ve seen me wearing ordinary clothes; I’ll do the same this time.”

“Isn’t that risky?” asked Clark.

“I gave her some tips,” said Lois. “As Kara she dresses young, a schoolgirl look, no obvious cosmetics and a hint of not understanding Earth fashions. Karen is more of a beach babe stroke rollerblading stroke jogger look. And Linda will be a very different mature student look.” She went to get Jason.

“I may also try traditional Kryptonian clothing when I’m being Kara, if I ever need to go to a formal event. The Fortress has designs, and they’re like nothing I’d ever wear as Karen or Linda.”

“I wish I’d thought of that,” said Clark, “you have no idea how silly I sometimes feel wearing the Superman costume when everyone else is in a dinner jacket.”

“So let Kara do that a couple of times, then follow her example.”

“I’ll give it a try.” As Lois came back with Jason, he added “Chinese food, Indian, or Thai?”