The times that Irene had visited Jimmy Olsen's apartment were few as the two friends usually gathered at her apartment, mostly because it was closer to the Planet. They had both tarted their internships at the Planet together, if it wasn't for their shared struggles of being young interns Irene couldn't be sure if they would have become close friends. Other than the fact that they usually liked to work alone her and Jimmy were opposites. In many ways Jimmy was considered the more likable and reasonable of the pair.

"Irene?" Jimmy questioned being understandable shocked that she was standing at his door considered that she hadn't told him she was visiting. The truth was in her excitement the thought of warning Jimmy she was coming over hadn't crossed her mind. Raising the neatly wrapped box she handed it over to Jimmy who looked down at it with curiosity. "Did I forget my own birthday?"

Shaking her head Irene stepped around Jimmy and into the modest apartment. Although she had never met Jimmy's parents she did know that they were wealthy and that Jimmy was determined to make a life of his own away from his disapproving parents. "I owe you a new camera."

Slowly peeling away the wrapping paper he smiled as it revealed a brand new camera meant to replace the one that got shattered into pieces in Ellesmere. Irene was very aware that Jimmy possibly had an entire collection of cameras but because of their little trip to Canada he had lost two, oddly both times related to the mystery man in some way. "You... you didn't have to."

"Yes I did." She replied firmly needing to acknowledge her own mistake. Not only should she have never taken Jimmy's camera, but she should have never went after the mystery man. Yet, it seemed that Irene hadn't learned her lesson as she was planning on going after him again. Clearly her reckless behavior was something that had to be addresses at some point but now she only had one thing on her mind. "I should have never taken it in the first place."

Jimmy nodded as he walked over to the counter placing the gift down and eagerly opening the packaging. His eyes immediately seemed to light up the moment he held the camera in his hands. "You seem a lot less tense."

The photographer didn't seem the slightest bit interested in their conversation as he began to expertly pull apart the camera.

"Did I seem tense before?" Irene questioned thinking about yesterday and the way that she acted in the office. She was undoubtedly disappointed that Perry refused to publish the story she co-wrote with Lois, and she did snap at John in a way that was admittedly unusual for her.

"Tense is an understatement." He muttered under his breath, his attention still completely devoted to the camera that he was now putting back together. Irene knew her way around a camera but Jimmy had a complete other level of knowledge that she didn't believe possible.

Deciding to ignore Jimmy's insult, Irene's mind began to wonder again. Bitting her lip Irene weighed her options of whether or not telling Jimmy what she was about to do. Though she knew that she could only keep it from Jimmy for so long because he would have questions as to why she wouldn't be at work for the next couple of days. It was better to not put off the inevitable. "I'm going to tell you something. I know it's going to sound crazy..."

"You're going to follow your mystery man story." Jimmy stated immediately as he set the camera on the counter giving Irene his full attention. He met her eyes with a surprising amount of focus for a man who always seemed to have his head in the clouds. "I know you Irene."

"I've been thinking about it these last couple of days and... I need to know more."

Jimmy seemed skeptical as he looked away from her eyes. The uncertainty was clear on his face and normally it would make Irene reconsider as Jimmy really could be a voice of reason but her mind was set. This was something that she absolutely had to do. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean if this guy can do what you say, he could be dangerous."

Shaking her head Irene slowly began to pace the room as she usually tended to do when she her mind went on overdrive and she simply couldn't stay still. It was completely understandable that a man with extraordinary abilities could also be incredibly dangerous, but her instinct simply told her it wasn't the case. She had already considered all the facts, and the truth was she never felt in danger with him that night. The reality was that she felt a little insane for trusting him and feeling safe that he wouldn't hurt her. "Why would he try to hurt me when he went thought the trouble of saving my life? He could have easily left me there to die. Instead he saved me knowing that I would know someone like him existed."

"Gosh I guess you're right." Jimmy replied after a moment of deep silence even if he still seemed slightly skeptical. Irene really couldn't blame him as she acknowledged that fact that she was aware of just how insane all of this really was. "So what are your leads?"

Irene smiled thrilled to be able to talk about all the research she had spent the entire night gathering. Her veins were buzzing with excitement even with the lack of sleep because this was what she knew she could do bet. She was passionate about reporting and finding answers. Her engery could also be related to all the cups of coffee that she had this morning, and she was expecting to crash that second she got back to her apartment downtown. "We already the he went by a false name at the camp base. So I did some digging  and in a small town outside of Ellesmere there was an incident of a truck that went through a utility pole."

"Definitely weird."Jimmy acknowledged as he slowly tapped the marble counter waiting for her to continue. He was expecting her to spend the next couple of minutes going into extreme detail about her leads as she usually did whenever she thought she had a new story on her hands. Only this time Irene didn't feel that it was right to go into extreme detail about everything she had collected, even if it was Jimmy who would never say a word.

This time it felt like the detail and locations were something that she had to keep to herself. Like it was a secret that she couldn't share. In some way it felt like she would be betraying the man who saved her life if she did.

"If that leads to a dead end there's other stories. Other witnesses that say they saw a man save another person under extraordinary circumstances." Irene explained vaguely and surprisingly calm by her standards, especially with all the cups of coffee in her system. "I know some of these could lead to nothing but there's a clear pattern here. A man who goes by fake names, disappears when unexplainable accident occurs. I can find him. I know I can. What do you think?"

"I think that this is insane." The photographer replied without hesitation and for once Irene didn't appreciate Jimmy's tendency to be extremely honest. "As in it's not going to be easy. But if anyone can do it, it's you Irene."

Her friends belief in her was something that Irene didn't realize she needed. Most of the time Irene wanted to believe that she didn't need anyones approval or validation, but it was human to need those things. "I already called Perry told him I had a family emergency and that I'm going to need the next week off. He's going to kill me when I get back, but hopefully I have the story and he'll forgive me."

He chuckled awkwardly at the thought knowing that Perry didn't tend to be very forgiving whenever someone went against his orders. Usually Irene tended to respect his wished but this was different. Even Jimmy who was the perfect employee had experienced one of Perry's famous 'talks' that consisted of a serious conversation of why is was important to follow his direct orders. "That's wishful thinking. You don't want me to go with you?"

Irene instinctively shook her head both because she knew that Jimmy really didn't want to go, it was written all over his face regardless of his words, and because she felt like this was something that she needed to do on her own. Though she couldn't deny that he own selfishness was a factor as she felt she didn't want to share what she knew or could discover. At least not yet. "I couldn't ask you to do that. I'll be fine on my own."

"Better be worth all this trouble."

"He saved my life Jimmy. I can't just let that go." She admitted unsure of why she felt uncertainty of why the man would save her to begin with. It did seem that saving people was a pattern for him, but so was covering his tracks and starting over. Ultimately, Irene was a liability who could reveal that he existed. He chose to let her live.

It seemed that in the end she was proving that maybe he should have left her to die considering that she trying to find him and reveal that he existed to the world. Of course whether she could convince him of revealing his existence was unknown, but she still felt the need to know more.

"He wouldn't have needed to save your life if you didn't recklessly follow him into an alien space ship." Jimmy countered earning a look of disbelief from Irene who didn't appreciate his tone. Most because she knew he was right. She should have never followed that man or let her ambition and curiosity dictate her decisions like they did that night.

"Okay. This conversation is over." Irene declared as she stepped away from her friend ready to finish packing for her trip tomorrow morning.

Undoubtedly tonight would be the last night that she would have a peaceful nights sleep because Irene knew that for the next couple of days she would have to sleep during uncomfortable plane rides and cheap motel beds. She was spending all of her savings in pursuit of this story and her instinct told her that it was going to be worth it in the end.

At least that was what she had to tell herself.

The airport was bustling with people eager to get to their designations. Although she would never admit it Irene hatred flying simply because she hated having to sit still in one place for a long period of time. The only instance where she could be seated for an endless amount of time was when she was writing because she always fully emerged herself in her work.

It almost seemed impossible to think about sitting in a long flight and latter a train ride when she was buzzing with excitement at the possibility of finding the answers to the questions that had been burning inside her mind since that night.

As she waisted nervously in the waiting area for her flight number to be called her phone began to ring though it could hardly be heard considering the endless chaotic noises all around her. The sight of Lois' name on the screen caused Irene's heart to stop. There was no reason for Lois to be calling her, unless it was simply to know more about why she wasn't at the Planet today.

Ignoring the call was incredibly tempting, but Irene knew that it would only seem suspicious. The possibility of Lois already knowing what Irene was just about to do was very high. In fact Irene was almost certain that Lois was very aware or at the very least suspicious of what she was up to.

Before she dared change her mind Irene accepted the call moving away from some of the large crowds clutching the few belongings that she pack. "Lois..."

"You're going after your mystery man aren't you?" Lois questioned immediately not that Irene was surprised. Maybe Lois Lane knew that she would end up doing this even before Irene did.

"How did know?" Irene asked not bothering to deny the truth and certain of the fact that Lois wouldn't tell Perry what she was up to. Defying Perry's orders was something that Lois did on a daily basis whenever following a story, however this was new to Irene knowing that Perry could fire her if she caught him on a bad day. Lois didn't have the same worries considering that Perry would never dare get rid of the Planet's star Pulitzer winning reporter. The Planet needed Lois more than Lois needed the Planet.

There was silence on the other end and for a moment Irene's nerves seemed to have woken in fear that maybe Lois would say something too Perry. There was an undeniable hesitation from Lois' part that Irene couldn't even attempt to unravel.

"Because it's what I would've done." The older reporter finally replied, understanding thick in her voice. A tone from Lois that seemed completely new as she always tended to keep her emotions in check, something that Irene herself had yet to learn. "I wouldn't have been able to live without knowing."

Lois Lane had always been someone who Irene greater admired, but was never someone that she had ever personally identified with. The two women simply came from very different backgrounds as Lois was from a wealthy military family. It wasn't until now that Irene realized that the two of them might not be as different as she thought, because Lois understand to desire to not leave a story untold.

Even with Irene's usual confidence in her abilities as a writer and reporter, this was the biggest story she could possibly ever go after. The reality was that the world was so big that her possibility of finding the man who saved her life was slim. But her instinct told her that she was meant to find him and even if she wasn't one to believe in fate, this definitely felt like it could be.

A/N: It was Jimmy's turn for some love and attention. For the last couple of chapters I've been struggling with wanting to meet a certain word count but I've ultimately decided to just end the chapters where it feels more natural for the story. Hope you have all been enjoying and I know that so far it has been a very slow burn but I promise that things are going to start getting more interesting in the next upcoming chapters.