Do not own CW characters.
Okay for those of you who have followed me from Call Me Kara thanks for all the support you have given me. This is my next real story and one I have had in my head for a while. It will cover Kara landing on Earth with a baby Kal El. Jeremiah, Eliza and of course Alex Danvers will be heavily involved in the story. Hank Henshaw, Astra, J'onn Jonzz and a few others will be involved and some of my OCs I have written originals about on my site will also be here because I love those guys. This is the first story they have ever been in that is not rated M so they are having to cut back on the language. They aren't happy but they can get over it. The Danvers won't show up right away, probably chapter 3 or 4, but just so you know the pod did get stuck in the Phantom Zone so Alex is still one year older than Kara and we are going to get to see them really bond in a different way but still as close, maybe closer. Kara is going to be a bit more confident as she grows as well because I always thought a lot of her self esteem issues came from her feeling that she failed her promise to her mother through no fault of her own. I started out saying Call Me Kara was going to be about 20 chapters and it turned into 62 chapters and over 600K words. I'm not going to even guess how long this story will be so don't ask. My answer will be I don't have a clue. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy. I'm sure this won't be as popular without a romantic pairing but it is one of those stories I have to write or it will always be stuck in my head.
One more thing. To keep it easy when Kara is alone she is peaking Kryptonese. When she is with other and speaking her native language it will be italicized
Chapter 1 The Arrival.
The sun rose over the dense forest, the start of a new day. There were no people for miles and miles, no one to enjoy the quiet, the peacefulness of nature.
The quiet was quickly broken by a streak of light breaking the atmosphere. Despite the speed of the object, it was not destroyed, instead leveling out then impacting and sliding, broken tree limbs, forest floor and rock being destroyed, smaller trees knocked down until the nose of the ship crashed into a giant Oak.
The occupants inside were not jostled, despite the violence of the landing. The young girl had seen everything, the planet coming at break neck speed, she held in a scream and gritted her teeth when the pod had broken atmosphere. She had seen a large body of what she believed was water, though it was not brown or boiling. She had watched the shore approaching and when the dense forest enveloped her pod, the trees rushing by, the dirt flying, Kara Zor El finally did scream.
The scream stopped as the ship did, replaced by the crying of the baby in the seat behind her. At one solar year, Kal El had no idea what happened, no real idea, only that he had been woken from a very long nap and his bed was shaking.
Kara reached out with a shaking finger and hit the button opening the hatch, and praying to Rao that the atmosphere was breathable as her parents told her it would be. If not, she knew death was certain, but the idea of staying in this pod one second more, made death not so frightening.
She still held her breath, taking in a small breath through her nose, trying to get a taste of the air. Opening her mouth slowly, taking a larger breath, she was struck by how…pure, the air was. Kal El was still crying however, and she had a mission. She had to put away thoughts of her parents, of the sound of her home exploding, of the shock wave she knew she felt and the few times she had woken, not flying through wormholes and space but stuck, floating aimlessly in a void. She had to focus.
Standing up and exiting the craft, the rising sun broke through the trees a bit and the rays struck her. Kara remembered her mother saying the Earth's yellow sun would give her powers but not what kind of powers. She did know the sun rays felt so good, better than Rao's even.
Reaching over the side, Kara picked up the crying baby and held him in her small arms.
"Shhh. Its going to be alright Kal. I won't fail you. I won't fail us. It is going to be…"
Kara cried out at a figure overhead. Looking up quickly she saw winged creatures, many of them flying into the branches overhead, watching her.
"Hello?"
Kara shook her head. Of course no creature here would speak Kryptonese.
Krypton was gone.
She watched the creatures for a few moments, deciding they were small and would not attack. Even if they did, she was certain she could fight them off, despite their numbers. The girl had been given some combat training in the months leading to her escape. Though she had never been told exactly what was planned for her she knew the shaking of the ground was not normal. She had heard stories that the seas were not always brown and boiling in the past. Aunt Astra had told her many times before she disappeared that the planet was in danger but her mother shut her down when that topic was brought up. But Aunt Astra had left her, disappeared and her mother and father, aunt and uncle walked into her bedroom and told her it was time. She had no idea what time it was supposed to be, only that the shaking ground had gotten worse, it hadn't stopped in so long Kara was becoming used to it.
Then she found herself in the space port. Space travel had been banned a decade ago by the Kryptonian High Council for personal use but there was a ship here, a pod, small enough for two.
Kara refocused. She did not have time to think of her mother and father, aunt and uncle, friends, planet…she had heard the explosion, she knew they were gone.
"Okay, let's think. What do we need to do first, Kal?"
The baby had stopped crying, recognizing Kara's voice and taking in her scent. She had spent much time with Kal El in the months leading up to Krypton's… she supposed she knew why now.
"The bag!" Kara remembered, racing around to the back of the pod. She touched the compartment in back, noticing the pod was very, very hot but not quite noticing that she hadn't been burned in her near panicked state. She needed the supplies her parents had sent her.
"I need to set you on the ground for just a moment. Can you sit up for me?"
"Kawa?" was the baby's reply. At one he had been able to pull himself up on the tables at the family complex and chairs, sitting up and he had definitely learned how to say no. Thankfully he was not walking yet, as Kara would have enough to deal with but she knew the first steps were weeks away, maybe only days.
Though he had transitioned to baby food part of the time, he still required milk. The girl was happy to see the white bag had contained certain edible food that only required a liquid source, perhaps like the water made in the labs in their family dwelling. Kara wondered if the water here was drinkable, even if it was not made in a lab. She had heard stories that Krypton's water had once been drinkable, but found it hard to believe.
There were also condensed milk, that once shook for a while, should be good for him before bedtime. Whatever bed she could find.
Kara continued to dig through the pack, finding a few sets of clothes for her baby cousin, another blanket and a lot of crystals. She knew these crystals contained information, knowledge she would need to teach Kal El as he grew, but that wasn't her concern at the moment.
"There is no food in here for me. I only have a weeks worth for you. What is this? Why…where am I going to find food? No clothes, no… what were you thinking, mother?"
"Kawa?"
"Not now Kal El. Give me a moment. I am panicking. I don't know where we are. I don't know if any other humanoids live on this planet. I don't know if the whole Earth looks like this, surrounded by blue liquid and these large structures, they appear to be some sort of wood, like I saw in museums. I suppose they don't have to manufacture hard polymers for building materials here. I could build us a residence out of them, maybe. I don't see any power source. Vapor showers, heat, cooling, waste! What are we… calm yourself Kara. You swore to mother you would not fail."
The mention of her mother almost took her back, but she shook her head. There was no time. Kara was a practical girl now. She had to be. No more playing, no more crafts, no more classes…no more anything. She was a mother for all intents and purposes. A 13 year old homeless mother on a strange world with no food.
The blonde girl's questions about whether there were other humanoids on this planet were answered quickly. She heard the noise, a mechanical noise, surrounded by wind. Trying to see through the leaves into the sky for the source of the noise, she was surprised to find she could. The noise was quite far away.
"The atmosphere must be thin. I can hear every sound, sounds I have never heard before. We… I think we are about to be attacked by some large mechanical flying contraption. It isn't a pod or a hover… its crude and black…no its too soon. I don't … I can't trust these humanoids right now, Kal. We have to know more about them."
The mechanical contraption was lowering towards the ground, still a ways off, but Kara looked back and saw the smoking path her pod had left behind. They would be here in minutes, the trail she had left easy to follow.
"We have to run."
Picking up her baby cousin in one small arm and the bag in another, Kara did run. She had never been the fastest girl, her physical abilities were not great compared to all her other cousin's, making her wonder why she had been chosen for this mission. But in her heart she did know. Her and Kal's fathers were the head of the House of El. They made sure their children survived. They were alive because of who their parents were, when everyone else was gone. It hardly seemed fair. It wasn't fair. Running through the dense forest Kara was beginning to learn a lesson that she never had any reason to learn before. Life wasn't fair.
Because of the thoughts and worries running through her mind, the young girl didn't notice how fast she was moving. Using only her legs, the large bag in one hand and Kal swaddled in her other arm, she easily maneuvered around trees and fallen logs, never tiring going up large inclines and never losing control down steep drops. Kal even began to giggle. Kara only concentrated on running. The sounds of the machine were fading but new sounds were making themselves known. At times Kara could swore she heard foot steps next to her and howls, the small beautiful creatures overhead flew off when she passed. She could hear slithering of a sort and rattles, smell the scent of pines, dirt, moss, and other creatures she had not determined to be animals yet.
The girl thought she had run a decent distance from the black flying machine. She could not hear it and was surprised that she was not out of breath. The atmosphere on this planet was very friendly, she supposed. Kara had no idea that she had ran over a hundred miles in ten minutes through the heart of Oregon. She was still surrounded by trees but saw open patches of land as well. The sun was now overhead, and the blonde tried to keep track of its position, thinking she could determine a solar cycle by its movement. She knew that Krypton took 24 hours to circle Rao and the orbit took nearly 365 days, but seasons did not change much on Krypton. There was the hot season and the hotter season, the reason Kara and all Kryptonians stayed inside so much of their life.
This so called Earth was loud. So many noises were rushing her ears, she was afraid they might be injured. She thought of covering Kal El's ears with the red blanket he was still swaddled in but the dark haired child was smiling.
"It must be nice to smile little cousin. I wish I could. The sun is overhead but it isn't burning. The distance must be greater from the Earth to the sun than Krypton was to Rao. Perhaps… or it may have to do with the ground not shaking. Kal, before we left I heard it. I felt it. Home is gone. Our parents are dead, everything is dead." Kara finished, almost breaking down but not wanting to upset her smiling cousin.
She wondered how long until he was hungry. Kara was not sure how long they had been in statis. It shouldn't have been long, a month perhaps but something in the back of her mind told her this wasn't true. They had been asleep and frozen for much longer. Memories of waking up, floating in nothingness instead of rocketing through wormholes came to her. The blast… the darkness. Her pods power had been gone before she fell back asleep but she must have remained frozen.
Kara tried to remember the last thing she had eaten before she left and couldn't remember. Her parents had grabbed her as she was about to begin her morning meal.
"Eat?" Kal asked on cue.
"Yes, you can eat. I just need to find a liquid source that is clean to hydrate the food. Do you want a bottle? I can give you a bottle."
"Bah?"
"Yeah, I should be able to shake those and we will be fine. I don't trust the water. If I can find a source I will drink a small amount. If I get sick I can still take care of you and we will figure something else out. There must be food on this planet. Those mechanical pods had humanoids in them. I bet if we can find the source of their food we can…"
We can what? was Kara's unfinished sentence. She had no currency and nothing to trade. She certainly could not hand over Krypton artifacts. The only option she had was one of the highest crimes on Krypton, just under murder. Theft. Taking what wasn't hers. It was one of the most dishonorable things you could do on her planet. You would be cast out of the house for that crime.
But Krypton was gone. She had no house, no great family, no blood bonds. She only had Kal and an oath to protect him.
"I guess my honor does not mean much when it comes down to stealing or letting you starve to death, does it? Our life, nothing, everything, has changed, just like that. Is it bad to think I wish I hadn't gotten into that pod? I love you Kal but I am so scared. Why couldn't your mother have come with you? She would know what to do. I have no clue. I guess I can start with a bottle. I am so hungry I may take a couple drinks myself. I feel like I haven't eaten in years and my stomach is beginning to cramp."
Kal El reached his hands out, obviously wanting the promised bottle and not caring about Kara's stomach.
"Yes I know. Stop complaining. I could use a break. I'm not tired strangely but I need to think."
Kara sat against a tree stump and lay Kal across her legs. Reaching into the bag, she grabbed one of the premixed bottles, one of only ten she had and shook.
The blonde girl was taking in her surroundings when she felt the liquid splash on her face. Judging by Kal's reaction most of it got on him as well. Kara looked at the crushed cylinder in her hand.
"Rao, what did I do? Is it weak from the trip? That shouldn't be possible. This polymer is impossible to break."
She tore her gaze from the crushed plastic bottle and focused on a very angry Kal El, covered in formula. Taking the extra blanket from the bag, she wiped off his face and hers.
"One bottle down. Be careful Kara, they must be brittle from the travel." she chided herself.
Taking the next one from the bag gently, she shook it, stopping when her hand became a blur. With wide eyes, she noted the former hardened form was pure liquid now.
"How did I do that? Did you see how fast I was moving?"
Kal El could care less, only wanting the bottle in his hands. She gently, very gently helped him hold it and leaned back against the stump, looking at her hand.
Her mother's words came back to her, they had never really left. You will have great powers there Kara. The Earth's yellow sun… Kara looked at the sky and noted that the sun had moved slightly, no longer overhead.
She knew she should move, Kal was nearly finished with his bottle and would want solid food when night fell. She needed to find a liquid source. Kara thought she could hear the sounds of running water or something fluid moving not far away. Then again she had no idea how far away it actually was. Having a moment to think, trying to figure out how her arm turned into a blur, she recalled the trip to their present location.
How fast had she been running? How did she never fall down?
Taking her mother's necklace out of her white tunic, embossed with her family's coat of arms she stared at it while Kal happily slurped his bottle down.
"Mother." Kara whispered, closing her eyes and finally feeling the tears leak from her eyes. "What am I supposed to do? Please talk to me, give me a sign."
She kept her eyes closed not wanting to confirm what she knew in her heart. There were going to be no signs. She was on her own.
Crash Site
Hank Henshaw's excitement died when he saw the empty ship. Though it was a class he had yet to see, he did recognize some of the same technology as that of the apparent giant prison that had crashed recently. Whoever this alien was could have given him answers and allowed him to find weaknesses in the recent onslaught of enemies.
"Search the perimeter. The damn thing is still hot, whatever this thing is, couldn't have gotten far." he ordered his four men.
Walking to the cockpit he took in the flight controls. It did not appear to be a fighter, no steering capabilities he could see off hand, not enough for an attack vessel. He saw no weapons mounted, no tech he could use to improve his own weapons. There was a compartment in the back that had been opened and considering how hot it was, he would guess the alien was very tough, impervious to heat.
"Its an escape pod." a voice told him from the trees. His shoulders dropped, frustration setting in immediately. "Hope you don't mind us crashing your party, Henshaw."
"Connolly." he greeted, turning to face the man in camp, walking out from the surrounding woods.
"That would be Lieutenant Commander Connolly to you. I'm pretty sure you are directing a civilian agency, correct?" the man asked smirking. Henshaw hated this guy. Every time his team arrived at a crash site Connolly and his band of goons were there.
"How about I go with Jason?"
"How about I break your neck? Only friends and commanding officers get to call me Jason. You are neither.
Henshaw took in the man, 6'3, thin but muscular and supposedly the deadliest SEAL in the Navy. He was supposed to be a Spec Ops legend but since he had been placed under the direct command of Admiral Robert Greer to lead a small spec op team of the best operators for quick insertion missions, he had for some reason kept showing up at crash sites.
The rest of his team stepped out behind him, weapons at the ready. The shaved headed, tall grinning black man and sniper on the team Ty Gavin, the 6'9 monster Dan Hawk and the Jack Webb, supposedly almost as good at killing as Connolly was. Word was, he was Connolly's common sense.
"This isn't a Navy matter. You need to leave." Henshaw tried. He wouldn't be intimidated by these …sailers.
"Actually the pod went right over an Aircraft Carrier. Admiral Greer wanted us to check it out, make sure it wasn't a missile. Until I am sure this isn't a missile I need you and your men to step away. Dante, where are his men?"
Dante Youngblood, the long haired Cherokee on the team, the man that handled most of the explosives and was as quiet as Connolly walked up behind Henshaw.
"I found Director Henshaw's men taking a nap in the woods. I suppose it is a nice day, a nap would be good right now."
Henshaw reached for his sidearm but stopped at Connolly's grin.
"Look at that Hank, You can make a good decision." Connolly congratulated him, black knife in hand.
"General Lane will hear about this." Henshaw threatened.
"And if I was in the Army I might be concerned but since I'm not, I could give a damn. I'm here under orders from an Admiral. I need to continue my investigation of this pod. You should probably wake your men up. I'll let you know when you can come back."
"You know Jay, we could kill him now. He don't exist, we don't exist. Can't have a murder if someone who doesn't exists kills someone else who doesn't exist." Gavin pointed out.
"You do have a point, Ty. You don't exist, right Director?"
"I'm going to tell you one last time…" Henshaw's threat was stopped when his world went dark and he hit the ground, courtesy of Dante from behind him.
"Thats gonna hurt when he wakes up, Dante." Connolly teased.
"I should kill him. He is a bigot and needs to…"
"Hey, calm down. Since the clowns are out we have business to take care of. Find anything in the surrounding area, guys?"
"I did." Webb told them. "Footsteps, small, about the size of a young kid, or a really small adult, depending on the species. Footsteps were running East. Whoever it was, they were wearing shoes, most likely slippers and judging by the stride running. Probably when they heard those idiots flying in. We didn't get here quick enough."
"Yeah I know. Vivian does the best she can but pinpointing a landing point in a moments notice, if we hadn't been in San Diego we wouldn't have been here either. If we got too close we could have been hit. Whoever it is, Henshaw doesn't have him or her and he or she is not bent on world domination." Connolly concluded.
"How can you be sure?" Hawk asked. He had been looking for a fight and while taking out Henshaw's men was often entertaining, fighting the aliens who had recently escaped from the crashed Death Star was more entertaining than helping refugees.
"Look around back. There are small footsteps but also an impression on the ground, kind of rounded, looks like a baby was sat there. There are two seats, one large, a kid or small adult could fit in and one very small seat in the back."
"A space car seat. How about that?" Ty mentioned, impressed with alien's having safety seats in space ships. He learned more every day since he took this job. It definitely beat taking down terrorists in the desert.
"The compartment in the back isn't large, probably just enough for supplies and the alien and alien baby ran, far and fast according to Jack, instead of sticking around and observing. Hawk could you take Henshaw and dump him with the rest of his poorly trained agents?"
"Why do I have to always dump the bodies?"
"Because you are the biggest. Its not my fault you are strong. You are the one who lifted all those damn weights, not me. I need to call the Admiral. We need answers and he would be the one to know."
Hank threw the unconscious body of Hank Henshaw over his shoulder and began the trek into the woods, while Connolly called his boss.
"Admiral Greer."
"Secure line Alpha Tango 2674." Connolly responded, knowing Vivian was monitoring and no one could hear this call.
"Vivian has us covered. What have you found Jason?"
"Sending you photos now sir. Tech is close to that Alien base, prison, whatever the hell it is but this resembles an escape pod."
Taking several photos and sending them he waited for a few minutes.
"Kryptonian. From what Vivian has hacked from the DEO database, the alien space station was a prison and was designed on a planet called Krypton. Apparently it was placed in some section of space where time didn't pass. A life sentence meant an eternal life sentence. If this pod is from Krypton it could have gotten lost in this area and the station used it to navigate here. It's possible anyway."
"Any idea why an escape pod would have needed to leave Krypton?"
"No, but it couldn't have been good. First Krypton's space prison winds up on Earth and a week later we have this pod. I'm guessing something pretty bad happened to the planet. Kryptonian's are humanoids from what we found out, similar to us in every way, physiologically. There were many in the prison but we know next to nothing about them yet. I should say the DEO doesn't. Have you found tracks?"
"If I had to guess a small girl and possibly a baby, ran off into the woods with a bag. Jack says they were running fast. I have a feeling we could track all day and not cover the ground this kid did. The strides were… impressive. If the child is humanoid the baby… Admiral there is a kid with a smaller kid somewhere in the Oregon forest alone right now."
"I know and if Henshaw gets a hold of these two he will experiment… the thought of what he could do…this is your number one priority. Forget the prison escapees. The Army and DEO can handle them. I want your team to find these two. Once you do contact me and I will figure out a place to hide them. Where is Henshaw now?"
Connolly looked at the smirking faces of his team.
"Taking a nap."
"Damn it! This is the third time in the last three months you have knocked him out. I am the one who has to cover for you guys with the Joint Chiefs. Not to mention the President."
Connolly took a deep breath. "It's not my fault, sir. My team gets overzealous at times. You know Hawk is hard to control and…"
"Hawk didn't do it. If he had Henshaw would be dead."
"And that would be a bad thing?" Connolly asked, his opinion already clear.
"Henshaw is dangerous and stupid. You kill him, he could be replaced by someone dangerous and smart. We don't need that right now."
"Or we kill him and you replace him, J'onn." The team leader suggested.
He heard a sigh on the other end of the line. "It may come to that. It probably will. If he stays in charge every alien is in danger, not just the ones who mean us harm. But right now, your only goal is to find these young Kryptonians, make friends, and keep them hidden until I can determine a safe location."
"And our window?"
"I don't care how long it takes, just find them. There is nothing worse than two kids… alone here, especially homeless and lost."
"If we encounter hostiles? You know, bad guys, DEO, politicians, people who talk in the movie theater?"
"Deal with it, but Henshaw is off limits right now. He will be focused on these escaped prisoners and will give up the chase after a while. Just keep him off the trail and be careful. The kid is going to be scared and by how fast you think she is, will have powers. She may not even realize how many she as and definitely won't know what to do with them."
"Aye Aye sir. Connolly out."
Connolly turned around and looked at the concerned faces of his team, even Hawk seemed disturbed.
"Remember in Khabul when we were pinned down and that villager in the Hawaiian shorts and Mickey Mouse T shirt came out firing and AR at the enemy?" Ty asked. "You said you would never see anything weirder than that. I bet you didn't think we would be taking orders from a Martian posing as an Admiral one day, did you? The Martian Manhunter won't let us kill Henry here and we are supposed to find an out of control kid alien, keeping a baby alive in these woods? There ain't nothin but woods for four hundred miles."
"J'onn hates it when you use that name. He would have given you a lobotomy by now if he thought you had a brain to work on." Webb reminded his friend. "She won't stay in the woods. If she has a baby and I am betting it's a she by the footprints, she will head for the nearest populated area. They both have to eat and I doubt a bag that size is going to hold food for a year. She may not make herself known in public but she will be around."
"So we find the kid, who doesn't speak English, is freaked out, taking care of a baby and a ticking time bomb of potential unknown powers and convince her we are her friends, then hide here somewhere." Dante summarized. "Seems easy enough."
"Thats the kind of positive thinking I like to hear guys. Thank you Dante. If she looks like she is going to blast us with some space laser get behind Hawk. He is big enough that he can shield us all. Lets load up and get to the chopper men. We need drones, infrared, energy spike readings, the who ballgame. Vivian you listening in?"
"Yeah."
"So can you…"
"I can do my job. Do yours and find the kid. Don't screw this up."
"Yes ma'am. You heard the bit…Vivian, lets get a move on."
Oregon Idaho border
As the sun fell, Kara found what she was looking for. A source of water. It appeared to be some sort of… she didn't know the word for it, having never seen one before. The bottom of this drainage ditch was layered in rocks and the water on top was clear.
What she did know was that she was famished. The cramping in her stomach had not stopped but gotten worse as the day moved on. She had avoided the really loud sounds she knew must be cities because she was not certain she could remain hidden. Until she could find out what sort of armies guarded these population centers it was not safe. She had figured out as the day wore on that she had to hold Kal very lightly. She had squeezed a bit too hard and he cried earlier. She didn't think she had squeezed hard at all but there was a small bruise on his arm. Kara was becoming stronger and everything seemed to become softer, more brittle. It was like living in a world of delicate glass.
Kal was becoming grumpy and she had an idea he would need a diaper change. Though she didn't smell the tell tale signs of waste she surprisingly could smell urine and new he was wet. Kara couldn't understand how. The blonde felt as she would die from thirst and hunger.
Setting the grumpy baby down for a moment, the girl bent over the water and cupped it in her hands. Smelling it, it sort of resembled the lab made liquid in the family estate only a bit more… grimy? It wasn't completely pure. She looked at it closely, peering hard and then saw everything. She could see the grains of minerals in it, so small she normally would never noticed. She looked around and the trees were fading in and out. Kara was able to see through some but not others.
"Stop it." she begged, not sure who she was talking to. She closed her eyes tightly and breathed. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and her sight was normal.
"What was that Kal?"
"Hungry." he sniffed.
"Yeah, me too. Hold on."
Relaxing, she cupped another handful of water and tasted. It tasted strange but good as well. She was so thirsty…this was all she had.
Taking one of the food containers out, she dripped water on it. Thankfully the baby food did as it was designed to. The vegetables became soft and the smell hit her strongly, causing her stomach to growl more.
"I'm going to feed you this, okay baby? Then… we can change your diaper after you do your business. I know you are wet but we only have so many and I really don't want to steal until we have too. I really don't. I know… it doesn't matter. Here, let me grab a spoon and I can feed you. I don't need food. I have water and that will be enough. I… I can give you a little after you eat. I'm not sure if it will hurt you so let it sit in me for a while and if it is good you can drink out of my hand. That will be…new, right? For now you eat."
Kal El sat in Kara's lap while she leaned up against a tree, doing her best to ignore the cramping. She needed food but she could survive. As long as he was eating that was all that mattered. A few hours went by, one diaper change and her stomach had not revolted, she decided the water must be clean enough. Watching Kal El sipping the water from her hands and laughing when it splashed on his face, she was glad at least one of them was having fun. Drinking more water to fight off the hunger, Kara wrapped the baby in his blanket and used the extra blanket to cover them both while she drifted off, sitting against a tree under the night sky with Kal El on her chest, hoping tomorrow, she could find food.