Warning: angst galore in this one. Something's up with Mon-El, and Sam takes a trip . . . a really long trip.

Enjoy part two!

***

"All right, Rubes," Sam wrote down on a notepad. "Mrs. Qualar is coming to stay."

"For how long?" Ruby frowned.

"I'm not sure yet, but I do know that you hate her cooking, so I'm leaving money for takeout." She tore the note off and set it down on the table with the money. "Right here."

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not exactly sure yet," Sam admitted, setting down the notepad, then looked at Ruby, who was biting her lip. "Hey, you don't have to worry, OK? Nothing is wrong." She took Ruby's hand and sat down on the couch. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier." Ruby smiled faintly, and Sam continued. "I found something out about myself, and it's a really good thing. It's gonna answer a lot of questions, but I gotta take this trip to get those questions answered."

"Can't I come with you?" Ruby asked. "I can come with you!"

"I know you want to, and I wish that you could, but I gotta do this on my own, OK?" Ruby looked down, looking sad, and Sam held up her hand. "Hold my hand." Ruby did, and Sam put her other hand on top. "You feel that?"

"Your pulse?" Ruby frowned.

"That's you," Sam nodded. "You are my heart. Are you gonna trust me?" Ruby nodded, and Sam smiled. "Something wonderful is happening."

"Just promise to tell me about it when you come back?" Ruby asked.

"I promise," Sam nodded, pulling her close, kissing the top of her head. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Ruby mumbled.

***

"Hey, so now that we know it's just friendly ol' Mon-El in the ship, maybe you could finally go have that outing with your dad," Winn told J'onn as they and Alex walked back to the main room.

"We have to learn more about the ship Mon-El was on," J'onn said. "There are five other passengers on board we know nothing about."

"They're literally asleep," Winn snorted.

"The ship is secure, OK?" Alex told J'onn. "We're running comms on it to find its origin, we're monitoring it in case anybody else wakes up. I will alert you if anything happens."

"Yes, leave us in charge," Winn nodded. When both Alex and J'onn looked at him incredulously, he hastened to say, "and by 'us,' I mean Alex, because I should not be in charge of anything."

"Just go be with your dad," Alex smiled at J'onn.

J'onn sighed, then nodded.

***

"This brown water is a popular beverage on Earth?" M'yrnn asked as they walked through the park later, considering the cup he held in his hand.

"In the mornings, mostly," J'onn nodded.

M'yrnn took a drink, then blinked. "Mmm!" he brightened. "Yes, I understand the appeal of c'of-fee!"

J'onn held back a smirk. "It's pronounced coffee. It's only a short walk from the D.E.O., you can come down here at any time."

He checked his phone, then heard his father ask, "What is that? A duel of intellect?"

"That is chess," J'onn identified the game two men were playing. "An ancient game of strategy with infinite outcomes."

"Ah!" M'yrnn nodded. "Much like o'kk rotokk." J'onn nodded in agreement. "We should play o'kk rotokk sometime."

"I don't really have a lot of time for games, but you should come down here, learn chess," J'onn told him.

M'yrnn saw J'onn check his watch, then frowned. "If you wish to return to the D.E.O., let us go."

"Oh, no, Father," J'onn immediately shook his head. "It's OK, it's OK. We can stay out. You've been a prisoner for three hundred years, you shouldn't feel like a prisoner here."

"I know I am not a prisoner of the D.E.O., my son," M'yrnn told him. "You are." J'onn blinked in confusion, and M'yrnn explained. "You have glanced at your smart devices forty-three times since we arrived. Your body is here, but your mind is trapped in your work. You live there, your only friends are there, you have nothing outside of it."

"You've been here three weeks, I've been here three hundred years," J'onn pointed out. "I think I know a little more about how to engage with this world than you do."

M'yrnn raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for showing me the way here. I will return if I require more brown water."

"Father, come on," J'onn began.

"You have completed your mission, and now I would like to return to my room," M'yrnn spoke over him, walking off.

J'onn watched him go, musing over what he had said.

***

The last doctor inside the medbay left. As soon as she had, Mon-El's eyes opened. His eyes scanned his surroundings before he tossed the sheet off him, quietly getting up and walking out of the medbay. He watched one agent walk the other direction, then lightly ran down the hall.

He still knew the D.E.O. as well as he had and found the room he was looking for quickly. He ducked behind cover when an agent left, then darted out and slipped through the doors just before they slid closed.

He walked along the shelves, looking through the devices stored there. He reached for a ring-like device on the top shelf –

"Hey, you shouldn't be in here!"

Mon-El turned around and punched the agent reaching for his shoulder, then grabbed another in a chokehold. He felt the agent go limp in his grasp, then lowered him to the floor. He looked around to check for any more agents, then turned around and grabbed the ring.

When he turned around, Kara was there and knocked him out with one punch to the head.

***

Kara didn't want to be here again. She really didn't.

But here she was, watching Mon-El wake up in the cell he had been in when he had first woken up. "I don't understand," she said as he looked up at her. "I wanna give you the benefit of the doubt, but you attacked two agents." Mon-El slowly sat up, but didn't say a word to her, and Kara sighed, turning and pacing. She had known something was up with Mon-El. She had been around Team Arrow long enough for them to rub off on her. But Mon-El attacking two agents? She hadn't expected that. "Was – " She shook her head. "Were you confused by the hypersleep?" she turned back around. "Is that why you snuck out of the medbay, broke into a secure storage room and almost killed two people?"

"I didn't almost kill anyone," was all Mon-El said.

Kara stared at him, shocked. That was all he was going to say? "Is it not you?" she whispered.

"It's me," he promised.

"Then – " Kara took a deep breath. "Then make me believe it. Please." Mon-El just stayed silent, and Kara snapped. "You know, I couldn't sleep? For the longest time, I laid awake at night, just staring at the ceiling, because if I closed my eyes, I dreamed about you dying. I would see you disappear into the blackness of space forever. This was all I wanted. This." She shook her head, covering her mouth as she felt everything just start to bubble up. "I broke, Rao, I broke, and I couldn't feel anything any more, because if I did, I could have just hurt more.

"And then – " She hiccupped, running a hand over her face. "Everything changed. One trip to CatCo, and everything I knew changed. I felt stronger. I felt I could be better. And then I got careless enough that the next time I faced Cadmus, they got close enough to me to knock me out and inject me." Mon-El looked up, a flicker of concern in his eyes, but as quickly as it had arrived, it vanished. Kara felt her voice break as she continued, her voice rising. "I thought I was done for. For weeks, I was at their mercy, wondering if they would ever just let me die, but they never did. Kryptonite injections, blades digging into my arms. They made me bleed just so they could see how much I could in one go! I was ready to die, Mon-El!"

She broke off, a hysterical laugh coming from her. "But I never did. I wondered why I never did. And at the end of three weeks, I found out why. It wasn't the D.E.O. that came to rescue me. It wasn't my cousin. No, it was a group of vigilantes that went off a communication pattern and came to see if I was OK. A communication pattern!" Kara spun around, starting to pace, a hand over her mouth, trying to keep herself intact. "And if they hadn't come . . . " She trailed off, then shook her head. "They came, and they made damn sure Cadmus could never hurt me again. And you know what else, Mon-El? If someone had told me I could have ever loved someone more than you, I would have laughed in their face. But you know how I know that's true? It's not your death I started dreaming about at night. I started dreaming of an island exploding. Of criminals and assassins getting a lucky shot."

She walked up to him, seeing him still looking at her, his gaze unreadable. "I moved on. I never would have thought I could say that, but I did. I moved on. Or I thought I did. And when you came back, I never thought I wouldn't be as happy to see you. I was, but other than that . . . nothing. I'm sorry, Mon-El, but it's not you anymore. And even if it was . . . you're different now. And I don't know how I could cope with that." She took a deep breath, expecting to see . . . something from him. She didn't know what expression she wanted to see, but Mon-El wasn't showing anything. "You have nothing to say?" she asked. "Nothing?"

"I'm sorry," was all he said.

Kara's jaw dropped at the casual brush-off. She had just poured everything in front of him, from her nightmares to Cadmus to being in love with someone else now? And all her former boyfriend said was I'm sorry? She swallowed and backed up. "Shame on me for having a human heart," she whispered before turning and storming off.

***

Winn and James watched Kara storm past, seeing how red her eyes were and how much she was shaking. "Oh, no," Winn whispered.

"OK, if she's not going to call, we're gonna have to," James announced. "I'll get Lena."

"I'll call the Protective Bunch," Winn nodded.

James paused, turning to him. "The Protective Bunch?"

"Yeah, you know Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel? Come on, man, if they're not the definition of protective, then what is?"

James tilted his head back and forth, considering the name, before making a sound of agreement and nodding. "Good name."

"Thank you," Winn beamed, pulling out his phone and walking off as James pulled out his. Winn took a deep breath, then dialed the number.

Oh, he was not going to enjoy sharing this information at all.

***

Sam drove through the desert, drinking her umpteenth cup of coffee, seeing no one pass her by. She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she was following the rod glowing on her dashboard.

When her car started making disturbing noises, she pulled over and ran to check the front of her car. She opened the hood and groaned when she saw her engine had overheated.

Just her luck.

She sighed and leaned against it, looking around. Here she was, out literally in the middle of nowhere, with her only guide a glowing stick that had come from the alien pod she had come from.

"What are you doing, Sam?"

***

Winn was not a happy camper when he walked back to where Mon-El was being kept. He had called Oliver and Slade and Malcolm and Laurel . . . and none of them had picked up. How could none of them not have their phones on them at the time? He had left messages for all of them to call back twenty minutes ago, but if none of them had been able to answer, it had to be important. Winn didn't know how important, but for Kara's sake, it had better been damn important.

Well, if they couldn't help, he could at least try to.

He found Mon-El leaning forward, his forehead on his fists. He rapped on the glass, and the Daxamite looked up quickly. "OK, you look different," he started out, then waited, giving Mon-El the chance to say something.

"How are you?" Mon-El asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," Winn gave him a seething look. "I'm better than Kara." He expected some kind of reaction, but all Mon-El did was avert his gaze. "Yeah, I'm assuming that since you didn't tell her anything, you are definitely not gonna tell me anything, so . . . " He held out his arms, leaning against the frame. "Still, here I am. Thought I'd give it a shot." Mon-El stood and walked to the other end of the cell, but Winn stubbornly followed him. "I know something's going on. Oh, yeah, that alien ship? That's not just any alien ship, is it?"

"There's a lot that you don't understand, OK?" Mon-El told him. "It's . . . it's different now."

"Different how?" Winn glared.

"It's just different, OK?" Mon-El shouted angrily. Winn just glared back at him, not accepting that. "There's a lot . . . there's a lot to explain here, OK? I acknowledge that. And I'm sorry, Winn, but I need you as a friend right now. I need you to believe me, and I need your help to get back to that ship."

Winn stared at him incredulously, then scoffed and turned his back on him, walking back towards the exit. He couldn't believe him right now. Mon-El had returned, not saying a word to anyone, had barely reacted to Kara unleashing on him . . . and now he was asking Winn to help? To believe him? Yeah, right. Like he would do that –

"People will get hurt if I don't!" Mon-El called. "Kara will get hurt."

Winn stopped, narrowing his eyes. Now that was a low blow. On the other hand, if Mon-El was telling the truth . . .

"Please," Mon-El added.

Winn turned around, looking long and hard at him. On the other hand, if Mon-El was telling the truth, Oliver would have his head if Kara got hurt.

Well, that made this decision much easier.

***

Kara walked past Mon-El's cell, back in her Supergirl uniform, when she stopped, seeing the door cracked open. Looking around worriedly, she stepped into the room.

Mon-El's cell was empty.

She froze, then narrowed her eyes.

***

Mon-El slid the device into position in his ship, watching the wall light up. "Oh, oh," Winn watched a screen on the wall light up.

"Come on, come on," Mon-El whispered.

"I think it's working," Winn watched an analysis of the pods show up.

"OK, the stasis fluid levels are OK," Mon-El nodded. "How's the power?"

"Are you sure this is safe?" Winn asked worriedly.

Mon-El's attention was caught by something else on the screen. "Crief. The therian pump is jammed!"

"I don't know what that means!"

"OK, just reset the circuit on the end of the first pod," Mon-El ordered.

Winn nodded and turned to go, only to come face to face with Kara. "Winn," she looked him over. "You OK?"

Winn blinked. Man, Oliver really had rubbed off on her if she was able to arrive like that without making a sound. "Um – "

"He's fine," Mon-El interrupted, walking over. "He's . . . I just made him help me."

"You kidnapped him," Kara glared at him.

"I didn't – !"

"He didn't kidnap me," Winn quickly cut in. "Listen, we only have your best interests at heart."

"So, which of you two is deciding what my best interests are?" Kara asked coldly.

"In my defense, the alternative would've been getting my head lost if the rest of the gang heard about this," Winn held up a hand.

So that meant Mon-El got Winn's attention by saying if he didn't help him, she would get hurt, which would then mean Oliver would be demanding how it happened. Kara didn't blame him. "You're off the hook," she finally told him, then glared at Mon-El. "I'm taking that," she pointed at the power thing, "and you back to the D.E.O."

"I – " Mon-El lunged forward when Kara walked towards it. "I can't let you!"

"Get out of my way!" Kara shoved at him, but froze when she saw what dangled out of his shirt. She slowly reached out and took her necklace in hand, staring in shock at it. Mon-El had kept this? "My necklace," she whispered.

Mon-El took it back and put it under his shirt, walking back to the console. "Why'd you have to come down here, anyway?" he asked.

Kara gawked at him. "If we hadn't come here, you would have died!"

"It doesn't matter," Mon-El shook his head. "I'm not your problem anymore, especially not after what you told me."

Kara stared at him, hurt by that statement. Did he really think that even though she loved someone else, that didn't mean she stopped caring about him? "How could you have changed so much?" she demanded. "It's only been seven months!"

"No, it's been seven years!" Mon-El snapped, looking up at her. Kara blanched in shock, and Mon-El took a deep breath. "It's been seven months for you, but it has been seven years for me since the day I went in that pod. When I left Earth, I went through some kind of wormhole. Kor-El calls it a disruption, and it took me to the future, and I've been living on Earth, in the 31st century, for the past seven years."

"That explains why he's not allergic to lead anymore," Winn said optimistically.

"L-Corp develops a cure about four hundred years from now," Mon-El nodded.

"So what?" Kara asked, folding her arms. "You were in the future, that explains why it was so hard to get a message. But after everything, after you tried so hard not to tell me anything . . . why are you still wearing the necklace if you barely even acknowledged me?"

Before Mon-El could say anything, rapid beeping started, and Kara turned to see the other pods turn yellow instead of blue. "No," Mon-El blanched, running up. "No, no!"

"What?" Kara asked. "What is it?"

"The power to the chambers are failing," Mon-El answered, running back to the console.

"Does that mean that everybody else is gonna wake up?" Winn asked.

"No, it means they're going to die," Mon-El shook his head, tapping away. "We can reroute the power to all the chambers except . . . " Kara turned her head when one of the chambers started to bubble, and she saw one of the figures inside one, a female with long hair, start to jerk. "No," Mon-El breathed, running over.

"What's wrong?" Winn asked.

"She's drowning!" Mon-El answered, trying to punch into the glass. "Damn it!" He gave a few more punches, but nothing worked. "I can't – it's white dwarf glass! I can't – "

Kara put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. She curled her hand into a fist, then drove it into the glass.

It shattered, and out toppled a dark-haired woman in a black leotard-like suit. Mon-El quickly caught her bridal style, pulling her out. "Imra?" he asked, crouching down. "Imra? Imra?" She didn't wake up, so Mon-El bent down to check for a pulse. "She's OK," he sighed in relief. "She's breathing."

***

Sam walked along in the desert, checking the pulsing rod every so often. It suddenly started vibrating in her hand, and Sam held it up, watching it glow brighter and brighter. It pulsed quicker and quicker the further she walked, then it suddenly lit up brighter than ever. The ground rumbled and shook, causing Sam to collapse on the ground. When she straightened back up, she stared in shock at what was happening in front of her.

Stone spires shot out of the ground, twisting and interlocking. Sam slowly stood, watching the spires rise high into the sky, forming some kind of fortress, then started walking towards it, in utter disbelief at what she had just discovered.

***

I think there's a good place to end, don't you guys?

Good news is there's literally about ten minutes of the episode left for me to work with. Bad news, the way things are working out, a lot of the next chapter is going to have filler stuff because . . . well, let's be honest. The episode doesn't show anything that happens after that reveal.

So, we'll see if that gets uploaded tonight or not. At any rate, I plan on getting a good night's sleep. Here's to another school week of waking up before seven every day. Yay. *snorts*

Keep an eye out, guys!