Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“It’ll do.” Lena stated after another cursory glance around the apartment.

It was bright and vibrant with huge windows to one side allowing an incredible amount of light in to illuminate the welcoming and comfy looking furniture. There was a light grey sofa with a fluffy blanket thrown over the back, and cushions that were mismatched but looked genuinely ‘cushiony’, rather than stiff and decorative. Assorted knick-knacks and random items dotted the entire place, but all identifiers about who had occupied the place beforehand had been removed.

It was like a strange jigsaw puzzle with large and fundamental pieces missing.

Everything was inviting and well loved.

Except for the kitchen. The various appliances looked completely untouched yet brand new despite Lena knowing the models were at least a few years old.

The puzzle became clearer whilst at the same time more mystifying.

“Perfect.” The realtor cheered, pulling a contract out of her large bag. “The person renting it out is insisting on a monthly lease, meaning they can ask you to leave at the end of the month… but there is the potential for it to be extended to a longer lease agreement if they so wish… so hopefully-”

“That won’t be necessary, I won’t be staying too long. Just until the renovations of my house are finished. A monthly lease best suits my needs.” Lena cut in neutrally, as she dismissed the realtor’s plans.

The realtor flushed and quickly recomposed herself as she highlighted the places for Lena to scribble her signature.

Lena moved in the next day with a small suitcase of newly bought clothes to replace those she had lost in recent events.

Lena could’ve stayed in a hotel, but she had a deep abiding hatred of hotels. She hated the clinical set pieces that made up the suites she stayed in. The bed that would never look slept in as the sheets were replaced and unruffled every day. The wardrobe that would look simply wrong whenever clothes were actually hung up in it.

Lena hated feeling like a guest. Like she didn’t actually belong there.

It reminded her far too much of the Luthor Mansion.

So here Lena was, renting a fully furnished apartment whilst her house was ‘renovated’ (rebuilt would be a more accurate term but Lena refused to acknowledge that).

It probably took a maximum of fifteen minutes for Lena to unpack her meagre amount of belongings. Her sharp work dresses were quickly hung up in the cavernous closet that obviously used to be overflowing with clothing; the shelf above the clothing rack was stuffed to the brim with random board games and classic books. Lena eyed the towering pile above her and questioned the safety of such a placement.

The only thing that truly made the place Lena’s, the only thing she added that was truly hers was an album that she placed on the bedside table on the side of the bed she normally slept on.

The kitchen was quickly filled with food; Lena loved cooking. (That was another thing Lena had hated about staying at hotels: the limits on cooking.)

Lena didn’t eat out very often (or at all since recent developments), in fact, other than work Lena was a recluse in nearly every way, she never went out, even her grocery shopping was delivered straight to her door. However, Lena loved cooking as it allowed her to try new things without ever leaving the sanctity of her own home.

Lena liked the apartment she had settled in. Admittedly, it wasn’t to her normal taste. It was too colourful, too sunny, but it was homily, and after what she had gone through… that factor meant everything.

In fact it meant so much that Lena was willing to overlook the apartment’s noticeable… quirks.

Quirks like…

The radio or television occasionally starting up at random and playing incessant pop songs like NSYNC and Britney Spears. (Lena couldn’t help appreciating that the electronic glitch seemed to at least have a consistent preference for 90s music.)

Board games  that Lena clearly remembered as being stacked at the very top of the closet, appearing in the centre of the coffee table when she got back from work.

The oven flickering off and the drawer that was rammed tightly shut due to the large number of takeout menus it contained having forced itself open taunting Lena to reach out and take the Chinese menu on the top of the pile.  

If Lena didn’t know any better she would say she was being haunted.

By an actual ghost.

But Lena knew better. She had one of the highest IQ’s in the country. So Lena knew better.

Aliens she could accept as being real. The concept that some people in the world truly believed that humanity was the only intelligent species in the universe made Lena scoff and roll her eyes.

Therefore, Lena was obviously open-minded but that doesn't mean she was naïve enough to believe in the supernatural.

Lena worked extraordinary hours. She was up and out of bed by six every morning; a quick coffee and a bowl of porridge with fruit as she watched the news saw her out of the door before seven. Lena then didn’t return until close to ten (sometimes eleven), she would then spend her limited free time cooking herself up an interesting meal and watching low-funded sci-fi or disaster movies as she made her way through a bottle of wine.

Exhaustion was her constant companion, with intermittent visitations from her on-again, off-again lover: high-level stress. Lena knew that these factors could lead to memory lapses, hallucinations, and loss of rational thinking.

Therefore, Lena presumed she had gotten the board game down without thinking. She and Lex used to play board games all the time… Lena must have gotten the game out whilst thinking about Lex, something she still did too often for her own liking.

As for the electronic anomalies (the oven, tv and radio), Lena spent an entire Saturday taking them apart and rebuilding them until they were running better than ever. The screen of the television depicted a clearer picture, the radio gave out a far improved sound and the oven now provided a more accurate temperature than many scientific ovens used in the LuthorCorp labs.

Lena crawled into her comfy bed later that night absolutely satisfied that she had now fully dealt with the quirks of her apartment. Lena’s eyes closed slowly as she burrowed into the pillows, and enjoyed the flowery, sweet scent that clung to the sheets.

“What are you doing in my apartment?”

Lena shot up so fast she momentarily jumped into the air and hung there like a cartoon character as her head snapped back and forth to find the source of the voice.

Nothing. No one was there.

Lena’s heartrate had skyrocketed, her breathing was coming out in harsh pant-like gasps. Lena gripped the duvet tightly with claw-like hands. She remained on high alert for at least another ten minutes, staring into the darkness of the bedroom looking for so much as a flicker or signal that someone else was occupying the space with her.

Lena’s mind slowly kicked in and rationalised that the auditory hallucination side of her exhaustion was coming into play. Her subconscious must be playing into her fears of never belonging, the confused question of asking about her presence in the apartment was reminding her that this wasn’t her home. That she didn’t have one.

Lena carefully fell back into the cocoon of bedding that she had created previously and tried to quieten the thoughts running rampant through her mind. It was as Lena was on the verge of sleep for the second time that she thought back over the voice she had heard. The strong, frazzled tone that had been intimidating in the stillness of the night; Lena now remembered as having a soft and honey-like quality.

Lena admired how her mind had created such an attractive voice to scare her with before falling into a light slumber.

Lena’s subconscious continued to wreak havoc on her.

Instead of the radio or television playing annoyingly chirpy music from the 90s, Lena would hear a dulcet voice singing the lyrics from a different room in the apartment. She would quickly run to catch the source of the noise, abandoning her pots and pans to boil and burn. However, as soon as she entered the bedroom, the singer’s voice would cut out leaving Lena in silence. After the first few times, Lena stopped running to inspect where the singing was coming from. Lena would claim that she no longer felt it was necessary. She was a scientist and she had rationalised that the music was coming from her mind. If she went to follow it, it would stop. She knew everything she needed to know.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she actually enjoyed the singing hallucination. That would be weird and slightly crazy.

And Lena was not crazy.

She wouldn’t allow herself to be. She refused to be like her brother.

(Also, if she pretended it wasn’t happening… there was good chance it would go away on its own, right? That’s how the world works, right?)

Lena had been living in the quirky apartment for nearly two weeks when she realised she may need to rethink her previously limited belief in ghosts…. When her auditory hallucination went full on visual.

Lena had gotten home late again, and rustled herself up a simple (yet brilliant, Lena would insist) spaghetti bolognaise before setting up camp on the couch to watch the most recent ‘Sharknado’ movie. Lena guffawed at the bad movie causing a splash of bolognaise sauce to land on the grey sofa.

“Shit.” Lena squeaked, depositing the plate on the coffee table before running to grab a spray and cloth to get rid of the rapidly forming stain. As she rushed back into the living room, Lena saw her.

Her being a woman, with radiant blonde hair half-up, with a pair of large, thick-lensed glasses, dressed in a baby blue dress. Lena, though, saw very little of the intruder’s appearance other than the dazzling blue eyes that were blazing with annoyance and irritation the second they narrowed in on Lena who dropped the cleaning supplies she was carrying without thought.

“What the heck are you doing in my apartment?” The voice that had been haunting (Lena would argue that haunting was a bit too on the nose description) her demanded, an adorable crease appearing between the blonde woman’s eyebrows. Lena’s eyes drifted to the crease, unable to fully believe her mind would conjure up such a detailed illusion.

“Not only do you have the nerve to break into my apartment, but you also stain my couch.” The illusion or ghost (Lena was still trying to work out which was more likely) admonished.

Lena shook her head, choosing to blindly stick with her exhaustion inducing hallucination theory regardless of the fact that she was working on the most amount of sleep that she had had in weeks, possibly months or years. “You’re not real. You’re not real.” Lena repeated this mantra steadily, as she bent down and collected the various cleaning items before moving past the blonde to get to the sofa and begin cleaning.

A gasp of outrage escaped from the blonde, “I AM REAL! And you are in MY apartment.” Lena ignored the angry yelling, refusing to turn and acknowledge the existence of her imaginary (and very attractive) ‘friend’. “Don’t ignore me!” The blonde waved her hand in front of Lena’s face who held back her reaction with a stoic and concentrated expression. Another angry huff escaped the not-existent entity and a foot was stamped in frustration; Lena had to bite back a smirk of amusement at the childish action. “Fine, that’s it. I’m going to call the police!”

Lena continued her valiant attempt to wipe and clear up the stain she had created as the blonde stormed loudly away and into the bedroom behind her.

Silence fell on the apartment.

Lena gave up trying to eliminating the stain, got to her feet and followed where the childish imagination had stomped away to.

The bedroom was empty, containing absolutely no sign of the blonde at all.

“Okay, I admit this may be more than just my imagination…. And now, I’m talking to myself. Wonderful. Mother will be pleased.”

Chapter Text

‘The Paranormal’

‘Ghosts’

‘Reasons for haunting’

‘Ghosts in apartments’

‘Blonde ghost + National City’

‘Ghosts + Pop music’

‘Ghosts + Aversion to cooking’

“Err… Miss. Luthor?”

Lena’s head snapped away from her most recent google search, her fingers instantly manoeuvring the mouse to minimise her rather embarrassing internet page. Jess, her secretary, was standing in front of Lena’s desk staring at her boss wide-eyed and apprehensive. She was holding out a rather intimidatingly thick folder and her arm was beginning to tremble as it struggled under the weight, indicating that she had been suffering from the strain for a while.

Lena awkwardly half stood to reach out and take the file. “Thank you, Jess.” Lena blurted out before falling back into her chair and staring down at the new piece of work to hide her growing blush. Jess lingered, clearly wanting to say more but unsure of where the line in the sand was in her relationship with her boss.

Jess worked day in and day out with Lena, knew more about her than probably anyone else in the world, but she was never sure if she had the right to simply ask if the woman was okay. Jess would happily offer friendship to the reclusive Luthor. Lena was kind, compassionate, generous and even known to be rather witty on occasion, she would make a wonderful friend and Jess felt Lena more than deserved a friend, no matter what anyone else said. The difficulty was Lena held very strong professional boundaries and views.

Her father and brother, during their respective residencies as CEO, had been known (yet never proven) to embezzle and bribe with regards to Luthor Corp funds; Lena, in response, had taken a staunch approach to remaining on the straight and narrow. She wanted to prove herself, and Luthor Corp, as a force for good, unfortunately this meant Lena found it extremely difficult interacting on a personal level with those she worked with, not wishing to present herself as under another person’s sway or as showing favouritism. Therefore, it was difficult for Jess to know how far she could go, how much concern she could display without being shut out.

Jess, though, had decided to risk it, just this once.

Lena had not been acting herself all morning. She had been distracted, not showing any of her normal, singular focus. She had lost her usual assertiveness as shown in a meeting earlier this morning with a particularly uppity shareholder who was making remarks about Lena’s ability to hold the position of CEO due to her gender. Normally, Lena would “verbally bitchslap” (as Jess and the rest of Lena’s employees liked to fondly call it) the man in the space of five minutes (her recorded average), before easily dismissing him as if he was of little importance. Jess (and security in the lobby) would always enjoy watching these people leave with their tail between their legs. Many of the employees regularly placed bets on how quickly Lena could dismantle those arrogant enough to take a potshot at her, betting on the time it would take from them entering the lobby to them leaving. Security kept an accurate timesheet to record this, which employees often examined before gambling.

Today, though, it took Lena twenty minutes to work up to putting the man in his place.

Twenty minutes!

Jess had lost over twenty bucks to Pam in Human Resources due to this anomalous result. Many employees were massively out of pocket, and numerous members of the accounting department were hurriedly redesigning their statistical models to account for such an event.

“Miss. Luthor, are you okay?” Jess inquired tentatively, tapping her foot nervously as she did so.

Lena, who had been staring unblinkingly at the as of yet unopened file, slowly raised her head to take in her secretary. “Um… err…,” Lena eloquently stuttered before clearing her throat and starting again, “Yes, of course… why do you ask?”

Jess bit her lip as she thought, in for a penny in for a pound, “You haven’t seemed yourself, and I wanted to check that everything was… alright. That nothing had happened?” Jess’ voice through no choice of her own lilted upwards as if in question of herself rather than Lena as her confidence began to wane.

Lena paled visibly, “Happened –pfft… nothing, nothing has happened.” Lena spluttered, pausing to take a deep breath as she flexed her hands and examined them on the table in front of her. The next words were soft and quiet as if revealing a secret, Jess leaned in to hear the words her boss was entrusting to her, “I don’t really know what’s happening, I can’t really explain it and I’m worried I’m going crazy… but I’m… I’m kind of seeing someone…” Lena trailed off, cringing internally.

“Miss. Luthor, that’s wonderful news!” Jess exclaimed causing Lena’s jaw to drop in surprise at the sudden bout of enthusiasm her secretary was displaying. “I was worried something terrible had happened. But you’ve met someone! I am so pleased for you.”

“No, you see, what I meant was-” Lena tried to cut in, but Jess was in full swing.

“And you’re not going crazy, I know falling in love feels like that sometimes-”

“Oh no, I’m definitely not falling in-” Lena denied vehemently to little effect of discouraging her much cheered on secretary.

“That’s what you think now, but give it time.”

“Time?!” Lena squawked.

“If you need any advice or support, I’m here… as are many others at Luthor-Corp. All of us want you to be happy. You deserve it.” Jess affirmed with such sincerity and conviction, that Lena felt the fight go out of her, she sunk further back into her desk chair and simply swallowed thickly before nodding in acceptance.

“Thank you, Jess… I appreciate that.” Lena breathed out in defeat.

“Of course, Miss Luthor.” Jess beamed at her before turning on her heel with military precision and leaving the office.

Lena groaned, dropping her head onto her keyboard and lightly banging it against the keys. “Now what do I do?” Lena mumbled incoherently into the unresponsive desk.

After wallowing for an appropriate amount of time, Lena lifted her head and made to return to work only to find her face-to-keyboard interaction had yielded a google result, ‘Krypton Psychic and Mystic Bookstore’.

“I’ve waited all my life for a sign and I get this…” Lena whined in frustration, “Fine! I’ll go to the creepy bookstore!”

“What was that Miss. Luthor?” Jess called out from the other side of Lena’s door.

“Nothing!” Lena yelled back, quickly noting down the address before closing the page and wiping her history.

Lena would probably admit that the large sunglasses and scarf wrapped around her head was a step too far, even if it did make her look a little like a 50s film star. Leaving work earlier than usual (purposefully ignoring Jess’ knowing smile), Lena hurried to the bookstore hidden in the centre of town tucked beneath a bridge. She drove herself there and, at first, she wasn’t entirely comfortable leaving her rather nice car unattended in the area or walking around in her new, designer work clothes but she was reassured by the familiar high voltage taser she always kept tucked away in her handbag.

The shop itself was quaint and rather dingy. ‘KRYPTON’ was printed in bold cursive on the store window with ‘psychic and mystic bookstore’ written in smaller underneath as if added in afterthought or in the hope that people wouldn’t see it and enter the store before they realised what it really was.

Lena paced outside the store for a full minute before psyching herself up enough to enter. Her main motivation being, could she really live with cheesy 90s music for another night? No, she could not. And with that thought, Lena pushed open the door into the dimly lit store; a tiny bell tinkered as she entered causing the few wayward inhabitants to look up at her in surprise.

Lena quickly dodged the looks of the ‘locals’ by diving behind one of the stacks to begin her perusal.

Aliens Among Us? Lena examined the book selection related to extra-terrestrials and was disappointed to find the majority focused on either crop circles or ‘fictitious’ accounts of alien abductions.

Telepathy, it’s more likely than you think. Lena snorted loudly in response to the title garnering disapproving stares and tuts from what Lena presumed were permanent inhabitants of the store.

Help! A witch cursed me! Lena rolled her eyes, thinking that whoever brought that book probably deserved whatever curse had been inflicted upon them.

Are dogs planning to overthrow humanity?

By this point, Lena had reached her wit’s end. “Where the hell are ghosts?!”

“Next row.”

Lena jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of a short-statured woman, with dark eyes, tanned skin and chocolate hair tied up in a ponytail, who was watching Lena with a cool stare and a no-nonsense expression. “Err… thanks?” Lena muttered once her heart had returned to an almost normal beat. The woman nodded, and led Lena round the corner to the section on ghosts.

“Megan.” The woman offered her name as she tapped the most relevant row for Lena to inspect. “So, ghost problem?” The brusque woman asked raising both eyebrows in question, even though the mischievous glint in her eyes revealed that she already knew the answer.

“Possibly.” Lena shrugged as she moved to examine the collection of books that might help her.

“No, possibly about it. You’ve got a ghost.”

Lena bit back a sigh, “I’m simply exploring all options.”

“If you say so.” Megan stared at her for a long, thoughtful moment as if looking for something that Lena couldn’t see, before acceding and leaving Lena to her selection. Lena quickly selected a few choice books. One seemed a genuine and thorough investigation of historical ghostly occurrences in the local area. Another explored the scientific possibility of ghosts, focusing on well-thought out scientific theories. And finally, Lena indulged and bought an anecdotal book on ghost encounters (she hoped that there might be someone else who had a similar musically enthused ghost who could offer practical solutions, she doubted it, though).

Lena stacked her books up in her arms, and headed to the counter to find Megan reading a hardback behind the till. “These books, please.” The bookstore clerk held up a finger to signal that Lena should wait. Lena tapped her fingers on the counter in what she hoped was an irritating rhythm, whilst Megan finished her chapter.

Megan carefully slotted a bookmark into place before picking up Lena’s books and scrutinising her selections closely. “These won’t help, you know?” She remarked with disinterest as she frustratingly slowly tallied up the books on the outdated register.

Lena pursed her lips recognising that Megan wasn’t going to let her leave until she had fully imparted whatever knowledge or wisdom she thought Lena needed. “Won’t they?” Lena prompted with false, mocking cheer.

“No. If you are being haunted a book won’t tell you why, only what’s haunting you will.” The woman responded with a neutral nonchalance, that Lena wished she could emulate for work.

“So your suggestion is I invite my ghost to a discussion over dinner?” Lena snarked back.

The bookstore clerk smirked, “Sounds more date-like than I what I had in mind.”

Lena flushed, pushing thoughts of golden hair and bright blue eyes over a candlelit dinner out of her mind, “Don’t be ridiculous, she’s not my type.”

“And also a ghost.”

“Yes, that too. I mean that’s… that’s what I meant. The ghost part.” Lena blushed even brighter red, as she despaired over the fact that her normal eloquence appeared to have deserted her for the entirety of today.

“Right…” Megan strung out the word in such a way to emphasise that she didn’t believe a single word of Lena’s stumbled correction.

“What did you have in mind?” Lena inquired, wringing her fingers together, hoping to move on from her embarrassing slip.

“Well, there is a tried and true method. It’s been proven time and time again. Well-known to provide clear communication with most spirits.” The woman stated as she crossed her arms and leant back against the shelving loaded up with various knick-knacks and other ‘proven’ mystical devices.

Lena sighed, knowing she was about to be schmoozed into buying something truly ridiculous. “What is it?”

Megan smiled widely before leaning to the side to grab a nearby box that she proceeded to place on the counter in front of Lena.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Lena groaned as she handed over her credit card.

Lena downed the entirety of her first glass of wine as if it was a shot of tequila, and quickly refilled it and took another large gulp, half emptying it as she warily eyed the Ouija board set up on the coffee table.         

“Okay, Lena, there are two options. First, there is such a thing as ghosts and you are currently renting a haunted apartment.” Lena spoke sternly to herself as she paced beside the sofa. “Or two, you have gone insane. Which when you take into consideration your family history and that you are… in fact… currently talking to yourself… would appear to be the far more likely option…”

Lena downed the rest of her second glass of wine at that realisation, before shaking out her body and boldly striding to the coffee table and kneeling in front of it. Lena positioned her index and middle fingers of both hands on either side of the pointer, in preparation for being ‘steered by the spirits’ as the ‘spirit guidebook’ that had come with the board helpfully stated.

“Oh spirit, I summon thee.” Lena called out in a steady voice, trying (poorly) to hold off her disdain for the over-the-top pronouncement. “Why are you here?”

“Because this is my apartment.”

Lena, who was crouched down, jumped back in shock landing hard on her ass, as the blonde spectre walked through the doorway of the bedroom to stand across the coffee table staring at Lena. Lena glanced from the ghost to the Ouija board and back again. “Shouldn’t you be moving the pointer thing…”, Lena gestured at the pointer with a pout before reaching for the instructions, and flicking through it manically. “This isn’t covered in the spirit guide.”

“What?” The blonde questioned with a tilt of her head that was rather adorable to Lena’s chagrin. Blue eyes dropped down taking in the board, “Oooh, are you playing a board game? Can I play?” The blonde dropped to her knees in excitement, a giddy smile taking over her features, when all of a sudden she shook herself and forced a haughty expression. “What am I doing? This is my apartment you’ve broken into. You shouldn’t be here… playing…” The blonde peered closer at the board through her thick glasses, “Ouija.” Lena watched in bemusement as the ghost pouted in confusion and what she assumed was disappointment regarding Lena’s board game choice. “Why do you have a Ouija board in my apartment?”

Lena had by this point shifted so her back was leant against the sofa, allowing her to fully focus on the spectre in front of her. “To contact a ghost.” Lena stated with the best duh voice she could.

“THERE’S A GHOST IN MY APARTMENT?!” The blonde shrieked shooting to her feet as if in preparation to fend off any errant ghosts or ghouls. Lena covered her ears at the decibel of the shriek and rolled her eyes at the reaction.

Lena was tipsy, tired, on the verge of having herself committed and so completely not in the mood to handle a ghost with an identity crisis. “Yes! You, you idiot!” Lena snapped back loudly as she climbed rather unsteadily to her feet.

“I’m not a ghost!” A deep crease appeared between the eyebrows of the blonde woman as she gasped in shock at the accusation and insult. “I live here!”

“No, you don’t. I do. I moved in two weeks ago.”

“What, no you didn’t! You’re- You’re just a very determined squatter.”

“Squatter?!” Lena shouted back, heavily insulted by the term.

“Or- or,” The blonde spluttered, gesticulating wildly, “You’re the ghost and it’s like that film with Nicole Kidman… and- and- she was the ghost all along.”

“Spoilers!!” Lena roared, that film was on her ‘to watch list’, how dare the ghost ruin it for her.

“That film has been out for years!” The ghost dismissed with a casual wave of her hand.

“Argh, okay, fine!  No more nice Luthor.” Lena’s nostrils flared as she crossed her arms channelling her inner CEO bitch. The ghost watched her warily, as a creepily cold veneer fell over the raven haired woman. “When was the last time you left this apartment?”

Baby blue eyes blinked rapidly, and the ghost’s mouth dropped open as if to reply, “Errrr…”, and then fell shut as no answer came out.

“Last time I saw you, you left to phone the police, do you remember doing that?” Lena asked coolly, moving around the living room until she was in front of the ghost, trapping the blonde woman between herself and the coffee table. The spectre pouted petulantly, her eyes beginning to go downcast, as she shook her head childishly.

“What do you do most of the day? What do you do when you don’t see me?” Lena pushed taking a step forward forcing the ghost to take one back involuntarily in response.

“I do… things…” The blonde said weakly, “Important things…”

“Uh huh.” Lena took a final step forward, pushing the blonde back just that little bit further. “What’s your name?” Lena queried pulling out her phone in preparation to search for the woman on google with the intent of finding a news story regarding the blonde’s passing.

Lena tapped her thumbs against her phone’s screen waiting for an answer. The blonde’s mouth fell open and a look of complete anguish crossed her face, “I don’t… I don’t know.” She answered so softly and quietly that Lena’s heart clenched in sympathy and regret for her harsh pushing. Just as Lena was about to apologise and try her hand at comfort, which Lena knew she would be incredibly bad at, the blonde’s expression hardened and turned defiant, “You’ve been drugging me, haven’t you? That’s why I don’t remember anything!”

Lena’s jaw dropped and the building sympathy vanished at the accusation. “The reason you don’t remember is because you are dead! You. Are. A. Ghost!” Lena enunciated each word with a pointed finger.

“I AM NOT A GHOST!”

Lena took a step back and nodded her head downwards to the blonde’s lower body. The ghost raised an eyebrow in question at the nod before slowly looking down to find herself stood in the middle of the coffee table.

“Holy moly!” The blonde squeaked as she kicked out her legs watching them pass through the table with absolutely no interaction.

Holy moly? Is this ghost from the 50s or something?, Lena thought as the blonde tried futilely to pick up the tv remote beside her calf on the table, her fingers slipping right through the plastic. Lena rolled her eyes at the action as the blonde then began to do squats to see if her ability to pass through objects extended up to her chest or was restricted to her limbs.

Lena yawned as she picked up her wine glass that had been deposited on the corner of the table and quickly refilled it as the ghost kept trying ineffectually to make contact with well… anything. Lena began to gulp down her third glass as she leant against the full windows; the blonde watching her movements out of the corner of her eye. “Okay, see, you’re a ghost. Now that we have established that, see if you can find the bright light.”

“What?!” The ghost stopped her flailing to turn back to Lena and fully regard her.

Lena shrugged and waved her hands, “You know a bright light… the thing… and then go into it.”

The blonde slowly did a full spin on the spot her eyes sweeping the entire area, “There’s no light…”

“Huh… is there a flaming, fiery pit? That’s just as valid as a bright light…”

The ghost scrunched up her nose and gave Lena a hard look. “Really?”

“I’m just covering all options.” Lena defended.

The open mouth and pinched expression on the ghost’s face was the perfect example of ‘affronted’ that Lena had ever seen and her mother was Lillian Luthor who presumably invented the expression. “All options had to include eternal damnation?!” Lena merely shrugged half-heartedly in response and took another swig from her wine glass. “Wait a second, why I am even listening to you?”

“Because I have one of the highest IQs in the country?” Lena answered arrogantly with a slight slur to her words; alcohol had always gone straight to her head or more correctly her ego.

“Sure…” The ghost mumbled in a tone that exaggerated how little she believed Lena’s assertion. “The drunkard squatting in my apartment is a genius…”

High levels of arrogance caused by alcohol mixed with an insult at Lena’s intelligence was never a good combination and as usual brought out her mother’s genetics more than anything else. “What would you know? Living up to stereotype much? Dumb blonde getting lost on the way to the afterlife?!”

The growl was the only warning Lena got before the blonde charged at her.

The blonde’s face was stiff with determination and her hands were stretched forward to push at Lena. Lena for her part flinched whilst the hand holding her glass instinctively held the alcohol out of the way of the rapidly approaching sprit.

The blonde charged… straight through Lena and straight through the window.

Lena shuddered as her body tingled warmly all over after the blonde had passed through her. She quickly spun around to peer out the window for any sign of the ghost. The street below was empty, cars were passing by irregularly, dark clouds were rolling in indicating rain… no ghost anywhere to be seen.

Lena beamed happily and fist pumped as she moved to set down her now empty glass on the coffee table and headed to the bedroom where she ‘flumped’ (that is the technical term) onto the bed. With the wine warming her blood and the ghost finally vacant from her apartment, Lena knew she would sleep well tonight.

Lena wiggled up the bed and pulled the album, resting on her bedside table, to her chest with the intent to flick through it before succumbing to sleep. She sighed as she made to flip open the album at a random page when-

“This is still my apartment.”

“GOD DAMNIT!”

Chapter Text

War.

The rooms of the apartment shifted into battlegrounds.

Lena quickly and easily conquered the kitchen… the blonde seemed reticent to enter it in the first place but regardless of that fact Lena was proud of her victory and rubbed her achievement in by passively aggressively making really fancy and healthy meals that consistently brought an expression of disgust to the spirit’s face.

Lena truly believed that in a war with an apparition living in your apartment it’s the little things that make you feel better about the whole… GHOST ROOMMATE THING!

However, the ‘blonde who got lost on the way to the afterlife’ did not take Lena’s claim on the kitchen well and set up her own base in the living room. Singing was her main weapon, which Lena would have secretly been fine with considering she had heard the ghost singing before and found she had a beautiful voice. Thing is, though, the ghost must have supernaturally known this as she chose to purposefully sing out of tune and sing only the most annoying songs she could think of.

Old McDonald did not have a farm but a menagerie if the ghost’s convoluted and ridiculous lyrics were accurate.

Why is the lime being put in the coconut? Have they never heard of a glass?!

And yes… the spirit most definitely knew a song that could get on Lena’s nerves.

Lena’s mature response to the singing was to increase the volume on the television to a deafening decibel until the neighbours began banging on the walls demanding she quieten it down. The ghost’s extremely loud singing did yield one revelation… Lena was the only person who could hear her (a fact which didn’t help quieten down her still present fears of insanity). The neighbours only complained when Lena turned up the television volume and never when the dead ‘pop artist’ sang her ‘greatest’ hits.

So, Lena slowly began to accept that she was losing the living room battle; her experience as a chess player meant she knew how to fight tactically… Lena would keep up a front of defiance in the living room to distract from her play for the bedroom.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” The blonde screeched as she appeared in the doorway of the bedroom… the bedroom Lena had just finished re-decorating…

“Redecorated. Do you like it?” Lena asked politely as she cocked her head to the side as the blonde began to pace about the room.

The bedroom used to have light blue walls reminiscent of open skies that flowed beautifully into the large windows that took up most of one wall. Now the walls were plastered with dark, horror movie posters.

“’IT’! YOU COVERED MY ROOM WITH FREAKY CLOWNS! NO ONE LIKES CLOWNS!”

The bed used to have creamy bedding and a fluffy, royal blue throw. Now the bedding was crimson, with a black fluffy (Lena had been unable to relinquish that particular aspect of the previous bedding) throw.

“Don’t you know violent colours are not conducive to sleep?!” The ghost yelled as she gestured wildly at the vibrant fabric.

Lena, who had been lounging on the bed flicking smugly through her cherished album, smirked as she murmured, “What does it matter to you? You’re a ghost, you don’t sleep, remember?”

The spirit ignored these rather reasonable points as she caught a glimpse of the slightly ajar closet door.

Boardgames and numerous well-loved books used to be stacked to dangerous heights within the storage space. Now…

The blonde let out a strangled cry after pushing her head through the closet door to peer inside.

“WHAT THE FRICK!”

Lena would admit that she was somewhat disappointed that she hadn’t gotten the ghost to swear but the look of pure horror on the spirit’s face when she whirled around was more than worth the effort of moving all the books and boardgames and replacing them with…

“Oh, don’t be a prude.” Lena tutted as the blonde seemed to choke on the air that she wasn’t actually breathing.

“Sex toys?” The ghost hissed at a barely audible volume, her obvious modesty preventing her from confidently spitting out the words.

“Yes, a whole closet full of them.” Lena answered cheerfully, rather enjoying the all-consuming blush that was afflicting the blonde’s complexion.

“B-b-but… Grr… Err… WHY?!” The spirit finally demanded.

“Victory.” Lena replied as her smile broadened.

There was a long pause as the blonde paced back and forth in the room muttering angrily about Lena’s changes and her fighting dirty. Lena easily tuned out her unwanted roommate’s soft utterances, having learnt to already do so with her far more frustrating singing.

It was due to Lena’s selective hearing that she didn’t notice when the blonde had stopped her ranting and begun chuckling.

“You know what? You win.” The voice was suddenly right next to Lena’s ear and it caused her to recoil in her spot and slam the book closed on her own fingers. The shock wore off pretty quickly though as she registered that her opponent was surrendering.

“Aw, darling… I always win.” Lena teased, biting her lip playfully as she focused in on the cool blue behind thick glasses that always mesmerised her. In fact, it mesmerised her so much she failed to see the light blush that dusted the spirit’s cheeks at her teasing.

“Good for you.” The blonde assured as she pulled away from where she had been hovering over the dark haired woman. “Your spoils are a room covered in horrifying images, a closet which you can never let anyone else see inside of and a bed you will probably never fall asleep in. So, well done on your victory.” With that revelation the blonde sauntered back to the living room with a well-deserved swagger.

Lena apprehensively looked around her bedroom.

It was in fact… creepy.

“Shit.”

Lena returned the bedroom to its previous state, restarting the war in earnest and Lena, had to finally admit that… maybe… she couldn’t get rid of her ghost on her own.

It was time for some external assistance.     

“So did the Ouija board work?”

“Yes and no.”

“Yes and no?”

“Well, the anomalous disruption of space, time and matter-”

“You mean ghost?”

“Can we… err… call her… the anomaly?”

“It’s your ghost call it whatever you want.” Megan shrugged dismissively as her eyes dropped away from Lena and returned to her book.

Lena pouted in frustration as she spoke without thinking, “She, not it.”

That comment caused the bookstore owner to snap the hardback closed and drop it onto the counter giving Lena a nod to continue once she had crossed her now empty arms. Her actions made it clear that Lena had done something right and was being rewarded with her full attention. Lena wasn’t overly sure that it was a reward though, Megan’s eyes were far too knowing and being under her scrutiny reminded Lena of the psychiatrist her mother used to send her to once a week following her father’s death. “You made contact with her?” Megan prompted bringing Lena back to the present conversation.

“Yes and before you ask,” Lena answered curtly, holding a hand up to prevent any interruptions, “the Ouija board was pointless… she didn’t even move the counter and I set it up and everything!”

“The board wasn’t for her, it was to get you to reach out and clearly it was rather successful.” Megan responded with an amused twitch to her lips.

“Pfft…” Lena snorted dismissively in such a way that her mother would have disowned her on the spot if she had heard it. “I’m not falling for the wise woman thing you’re trying to portray.” Lena said, gesticulating wildly as she did so. “And do you want to know why I’m not falling for it?” Lena asked causing Megan’s eyebrow to quirk and a smirk to appear. “Because I know that the non-descript hardback books you have been reading that you’ve covered like a hipster with brown paper are in fact… the Fifty Shades series.” The smirk vanished from Megan’s face as a smirk simultaneously appeared on Lena’s. “And I know that because I discovered my mother reading those years ago… that’s right I know you’ve been reading smut for middle-aged women.”

Megan’s response was to snatch up her book and disappear behind the drab 70s curtain that sectioned the bookstore off from the backroom. Lena couldn’t help but think it might actually be her snarky attitude stopping her from having friends rather than her last name…

“Megan! Please, I’m sorry! I need your wise advice. Megan!” Lena pleaded from the other side of the counter at the unyielding patterned curtain. “How do I get rid of my ghost?!” A short statured man who had come up behind Lena with the intent to purchase a book on telepathic Martians blinked in surprise at the dark haired woman as if she was crazy, Lena noticing the look whispered harshly. “You can not judge. Martians? Really?” The man ducked his head in shame and took a step away from Lena, “I’ve tried everything! And I mean everything…”, Lena confessed embarrassedly.

“Like what?” Megan’s voice called out curiously from behind the curtain.

“Uh… what’s with the priest?” The blonde spectre inquired as she walked into the living room from the bedroom that Lena knew to have been empty only a couple of minutes ago. Lena ignored the question and focused on keeping her attention on the man dressed in religious garb.

“So… uh… do you… uh… sense a presence, Father Green?” Lena inquired scrutinising the priest closely to see if he acknowledged the appearance of the blonde.

The priest went by the name of Johnathan Green or ‘Keen Green’ by his regular parishioners for his overzealous attitude with regard to well… everything. Hence, when presented with the opportunity to perform an exorcism, nothing was going to stand in his way of completing the task to the best of his ability… even if his experience, knowledge and ability were noticeably lacking.

“YES! I sense a presence.” Father Green called out ominously as he spun carefully on the spot.

Lena eyed the blonde gleefully who merely rolled her eyes in response completely unimpressed by the priest attempting to use his bible as a dowsing rod. “You have no idea how glad I am that someone else can-” Lena began, attempting to voice her gratefulness that the ghost was no longer solely her problem or down to her imagination.

“HA! THERE!” Father Green stopped his slow rotation and shouted out his success.

Lena bit back the groan. The ghost, however, began to cackle with laughter as the priest reached into his inside pocket, withdrew a flask of (presumably) holy water and began to chuck it liberally around the area.

The area which was in the complete opposite direction to where the spirit was actually stood.

“You were saying?” The spirit asked through giggles as she came to stand beside Lena to observe the ‘exorcism’ in action.

“Oh… shut up.” Lena muttered under her breath as she petulantly crossed her arms over her chest.

“BACK FOUL DEMON! RETURN FROM THENCE YOU CAME!” Keen Green screamed from the top of his lungs as he threw the now empty flask onto the floor and pulled out a new one to continue water damaging the apartment.

“Harsh.” The blonde complained lightly as the priest continued to accuse her of being a demon. Lena closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay as puddles of holy water that had a distinct alcoholic odour began to form. “You better clean up his mess later.” With that final statement the spirit retreated back to the bedroom.

“THE PRESENCE IS GETTING STRONGER! IT’S DARKNESS IS TRYING TO CONSUME ME!”

Lena just about managed to hold back a cutting remark when all of sudden she was sprayed with a strong dousing of ‘holy’ water.

Oh, now Lena was going to show that priest darkness.

“Before you say anything… the website looked pretty professional and they had good rates…”

“That’s what you’re going with?”

“Err… yes… that’s what I’m going with.” Lena stated resolutely as the four men in overalls pointed their bulky laser tag equipment at random items in the flat.

“Ghostbusters, Lena, seriously?” Lena ignored the question and the small thrill she got whenever the blonde said her name which she had taken to doing quite regularly since hearing Lena introduce herself to the priest a couple of days ago.

The four men wandered around the apartment in their muddy boots for an hour, at one point one of them happened to stop right in front of where the blonde was stood. Lena felt her hopes begin to rise as the portly man raised his excessively large laser pointer and fired.

“Ahh!! It’s burning me! I feel myself passing on!” The ghost overdramatically yelled, as she slumped to the floor lifting her arm up to cover her eyes like the fainting women in old black and white films. The ghostbuster, completely unperturbed by the spirit’s dramatics, walked through her to continue price-checking a potted plant in the corner of the living room.

Lena stomped over to the blonde who was still playing ‘dead’ on the floor. “I believe we can rule out acting as your past career, darling.”

The ghost moved the arm covering her eyes out of the way so that the only living person who could see or hear her would get the full effect of her pout. “Meanie…”

The power of the pout and the pathetic tone of voice that the blonde used turned out to be Lena’s (until as of that moment’s) unknown weakness. “You may not have been an actress but at least you didn’t pay for four idiots to trudge through your apartment and attempt to blind you with laser pointers.”  

Lena stared at the floor unable to look the prone blonde in the eye as she poked fun at herself. When the ghost remained silent and didn’t use the opening Lena had provided to rip into her, Lena glanced over at the blonde only to find the softest of smiles dancing across her face. That soft smile caused adorable crinkles to appear on either side of the blonde’s baby blue eyes.

Lena’s breath caught in her throat as she realised just how truly… beautiful the ghost that haunted her apartment really was. Lena’s tongue felt thick in her mouth yet she still felt the words in her throat rising to voice her sudden realisation when-

“We’ve got it, ma’am.” The largest and oldest of the four wannabes revealed as he appeared at Lena’s side tentatively holding an enclosed silver pyramid as if it contained radioactive material. “We’ll dispose of the space, time and matter anomaly. You need not fear.” The man spoke resolutely as if he was a soldier having returned from a particularly bloody battle in a long drawn out war.

Lena peered at the ‘cage’ which her ghost was also staring at from her spot on the floor.

Lena knew she could argue with the man, point out the obvious flaws in his work but Lena was… tired and emotionally drained from her slowly shifting emotions regarding her housemate.

“That’s wonderful… thank you, so much.” Lena wearily responded. “Just out of curiosity… how are you going to dispose of… the ghost?”

The man blinked once before answering as if it should've been obvious. “Throw it in the ocean, ma’am. Water’s natural properties disrupt the energies of the spirits, ma’am.”

“Oh… yes. Of course… why didn’t I think of that…” Lena bitterly muttered.

“Hey, maybe if the priest had actually used water rather than vodka- which the floor still smells of by the way- his exorcism might have actually worked.” The ghost added helpfully with a cheeky grin replacing the soft smile that had once been there.

The stirring of affection Lena had momentarily felt for the blonde vanished.

“That’s why we’re the experts, ma’am.” The elder ghostbuster added matter-of-factly completely unaware of the ghost’s comment.

“Yes… experts... that’s the word…” Lena deadpanned.

“Okay, so I understood the priest and the ghostbusters but this-”

“I told my secretary that my apartment had… bad ‘energy’… and she suggested this and… I just… I couldn’t say no.” Lena finished morosely as she slumped down further on the sofa as the hooded figures swung scented candles around the darkened room in large gaudy braziers. Lena glanced down at her ghost who was sat on the floor holding her knees close to her chest and staring up at Lena with that damned soft smile again, which again made Lena’s breath catch. “What?” Lena questioned as the hooded figures imperiously moved around the room, not caring in the slightest that the homeowner was talking to herself.

“Nothing, it’s just…”, the blonde murmured with an amused shake of her head as her eyes began to sparkle, “You’re secretly a big softie.”

“No, I’m not!” Lena scoffed. “I am the CEO of one of the largest technological corporations in the world. I intimidate even the most powerful of people. I graduated from MIT top of my class and have invented some of the most revolutionary technologies of this decade. I was born into one of this country’s most powerful families, a family akin to royalty. A family which has a well-accepted reputation for being cruel, vindictive and above all else cold. So, no… I am not a softie.” Lena finished her imperious speech with a calculated eyebrow raise.

The blonde’s smile dimmed for a second before returning more genuine and sweet than ever before. “You know that’s the most you’ve ever told me about yourself.” The ghost said gently, her voice filled with something akin to gratitude. Lena swallowed thickly wanting to look away from the blonde’s kind gaze but unable to.

“I wish you could tell me about yourself…” Lena confessed quietly.

“Me too.” The spirit whispered back in return. They both fell into silence, neither of them sure how to handle the vulnerability they had just displayed to each other. The hooded figures, sharing the space with the two women, continued their practiced movements, lighting more and more candles as they wandered around the apartment, “They’re going to set off the sprinklers.”

The ghost was proven correct within the next five minutes.

Lena was getting attached.

Growing to care for someone who wasn’t there. Someone that could vanish from Lena’s life the very next day. Lena hadn’t truly cared for anyone in years. Hadn’t let anyone in, in even longer.

As Lex, the most important person in her life, began to pull away from her and continue his descent into madness, Lena had pulled back from the world in turn. Had built walls thicker and taller as those that she trusted turned their backs on her or used her for their own gains.

Lena crafted a mask, an unbreakable face that would never crack or strain under the insults, jabs and cruel words people would throw at her. And now… someone who potentially wasn’t even real was making Lena consider opening up, revealing more and more of herself.

After Lena and her ghost’s soft words last night (before the sprinklers went off), Lena felt herself becoming acutely aware of the despondent expression that would consume the blonde’s features when she thought Lena wasn’t looking. That sad countenance hurt Lena in a way she couldn’t fully explain.

And then there was that damned soft smile that had Lena wanting to tell her ghost everything about herself to see if she would be granted another viewing of it.

It was all too much and yet not enough at the same time.

Lena found herself wanting to befriend her.

And that…

That was crazy. This development in their relationship would have to be put to a stop immediately.

Hence, Lena’s return to the Krypton bookstore.

“I’ll do anything you say! Buy anything you suggest!” Lena begged, her final statement caused the hideous 70s curtains to twitch and a hand to slowly appear through the drapes holding bright green, luminescent stones.

“So, what crazy plan have you hatched to get rid of me tonight?” The blonde asked as she walked through the bedroom doorway. Lena, who was curled up on the sofa watching her choice terrible movie of the night (‘The Happening’), no longer even flinched at her ghost’s unannounced arrival anymore.

Lena waved a hand at the green rocks on the table dismissively. “Kryptonite.”

“Ooohh, interesting.” The blonde cooed happily as she crouched down to examine them more closely. “They’re really pretty.”

“They glow in the dark too.” Lena commented, fully unsurprised that they seemed to be having absolutely no effect on the spirit. And anyway her ghost was right… they were quite pretty and added a nice decorative element to the place.

Lena had mostly bought the rocks out of desperation and a desire to get back in Megan’s good books. After buying the rocks, she had stayed and surprisingly had a rather long and pleasant conversation with the bookstore owner. Lena didn’t want to jinx it or get her hopes up too much but she thought… that possibly her and Megan could become… friends. Turns out embarrassing stories of trying to get rid of the ghost in your apartment were good icebreakers.

So, Lena wasn’t upset that the rocks didn’t work. They were pretty. She might be making a friend because of them. And more importantly, though Lena would deny it, it meant her ghost wasn’t going anywhere for that little bit longer.

Lena paused the film so she could give her full attention to the blonde examining the rocks from every angle with a child-like curiosity that was truly adorable and endearing. “What can I call you?”

The blonde froze and carefully turned her head to stare blankly up at Lena. “Huh?”

Lena moved until she was sitting on the edge of the sofa and closer to the blonde crouched on the floor. “What can I call you? In my head…”, Lena began to explain, pausing to lick her dry lips, “I call you, the blonde or blue eyes, the spirit or my ghost.” The blonde cocked her head to the side as the crease appeared on her forehead. “And I’ve realised how… impersonal that is… I mean, I may not overly like the idea of a ghost for a roommate but the fact is… you’re here. And you should have a name… not a descriptor.” Lena finished quietly, her eyes dipping down to focus on her own hands that were fiddling with a thread that had come loose on her jeans instead of blue eyes.

“I like it when you call me Darling.” The ghost whispered into the stillness of the room, the crack in her voice being the only indicator of her hesitancy.

Lena lifted her head to find the blonde staring at the floor intently, a light blush diffusing across her cheeks in embarrassment. “Darling, it is then.” Lena affirmed with a decisive nod.

Darling’s head snapped up, the crease steadily vanishing to be replaced with a broad grin. “So…,” Darling began dragging out the word as she shuffled round in her crouched position until she was staring at the television, making it look as if her back was leaning against the sofa next to Lena’s legs. “What absolutely awful film are we watching tonight?”

Lena rolled her eyes as she fell back against the cushions and hit rewind so that they could both watch the film from the beginning.

BANG! BANG!

The loud reverberating sounds made Lena shoot awake with a gasp. “It’s okay, just someone knocking at the door.” Darling said soothingly from her spot on the floor. Lena had fallen asleep about a third of the way through the movie which was now only a few minutes away from finishing. Lena turned down the volume of the television, pushed herself up off the warm, inviting cushions and made her way (careful to avoid stepping through Darling) to the front door.

“I’m sorry was the television too lo-” Lena started to apologise as she opened the door only to cut off when she saw the cold, hard face awaiting her on the other side.

“Lena.”

“Mother.”

Chapter Text

She was losing track of time.

One moment she was discovering the dark haired woman spilling spaghetti bolognaise sauce over her sofa. The very next moment she was finding the exact same woman, now wearing different clothes, binge drinking red wine and playing board games on her own.

Then she found out she was dead.

And had absolutely no idea who she was.

She didn’t even have a name! She was just… she…

But she could walk through things which was kind of cool… then again she couldn’t sit on the sofa… or change the television channel… yeah… being intangible actually kind of sucked. It was a stupid superpower… if she could pick one she would want the ability fly. Then again knowing her luck, the first time she did fly she would probably end up crashing into a building.

Anyway, the only thing she had, the only thing she knew, was that this open plan apartment was hers. She felt ownership over the cushions on the sofa, she had some vague recollection of buying the navy blue throw for the bed, and remembered struggling to open the takeaway drawer in the kitchen that was crammed tightly shut with the excessive amount of menus it contained.

She knew that this apartment was where she belonged.

Admittedly, though, she had tried to leave the apartment multiple times but whenever she did she was driven back to seek refuge by how the rest of the world made her feel insubstantial. It would appear that no one, except for the extremely intimidating woman (who she found out was called Lena via a drunk priest), could neither see nor hear her.

It all pretty much frickin’ sucked.

Outside the walls of her small apartment… or without Lena… she ceased existing. Or felt something equivalent to that.

The whole not-existing thing happened often and usually without her realising. She would want space from Lena and then she got it. ‘It’ consisted of a strange fleeting feeling of emptiness and darkness. After what felt like a second or a heartbeat, she was back. Usually walking through a doorway to find Lena either cooking some bizarre meal that disappointingly lacked copious calories or to find Lena passed out at the dining room table surrounded by paperwork and an open laptop or to find Lena trying some new hare-brained scheme to make her feel like she should leave.

She strongly disliked Lena (at first).

Lena was occupying and taking over the only place that gave her a connection to the world. And Lena was actively seeking a way to dispel her existence. Irritating the dark-haired woman with loud, off tune singing or standing in front of the television or through the table to act as a visual obstruction to whatever Lena was looking at may have been petty… but it was also satisfying.

Issue was, though, as time passed, she began to find her initial opinion of Lena alter.

Lena had first come across as abrasive, hard, and spiteful… but she was beginning to see that this was not an accurate description of the woman. One of the first things she realised was that Lena was hard-working. Lena didn’t return home until late in the evening, and would leave for work before the sun had even risen. At the weekend, Lena would spend a large portion of her time working at the dining room table, preparing documents and reviewing numbers on spreadsheets.

It made her sad, Lena didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t do much in terms of entertainment. The only thing Lena seemed to truly enjoy was cooking and bad films. Upon this realisation she found herself purposefully not disturbing Lena’s free time as much as she had initially taken to doing. Instead, she chose to linger off to one side, out of sight, watching Lena guffaw at the poor acting in whatever terrible sci-fi flick she had selected for the evening.

Equally, Lena pretended to be disinterested and mean-spirited towards her, but she found Lena would do little things for her… things Lena would probably say were accidental… Things like leaving the television on so she had something to watch whilst Lena was at work. Or leaving her favourite music playing in the bedroom. Or making sure the blinds and curtains were always open when Lena left so that she could easily look out on the world.

Little things that showed such kindness and consideration that she found herself wanting to know more about Lena. Wanting to know about the work that she devoted so much of her time to. Wanting to know why no one ever phoned Lena. Wanting to know what was in the album that Lena always read after a long and obviously bad day. Wanting to know why there was such deep heartbreak and sorrow in Lena’s piercing green eyes.

She wanted to know Lena almost as much as she wanted to know herself.

So she had started talking to Lena slowly, carefully, granting Lena the opportunity to open up. And she was rewarded. Lena was funny, with a dry, self-deprecating wit that she hadn’t expected. Lena cared about her employees if her inability to refuse the advice of her secretary was anything to go by. Lena called her darling and not in a dismissive manner but as a term of endearment.

Darling, she had a name (not a real one but she had something… an identity to begin building for herself).

Lena had fallen asleep halfway through the film, Darling knew this as Lena’s searing commentary quietened and cut out. Darling instantly missed Lena’s comforting words and her comments had made the film ten times more enjoyable but Darling refused to disturb the clearly exhausted woman. Hence, when Lena shot awake with a terrified and panicked expression at the loud knocking, Darling was quick to reassure her that it was simply someone at the door.

“Lena.”

“Mother.”

Darling shot to her feet as she heard the greeting being exchanged. Moving quietly so as not to draw Lena’s attention, Darling tiptoed forward to get a glimpse of Lena’s mother. The woman at the door had a stern face that made Darling think of a strict school teacher, her hair was done up in a far too tight bun, and the lines on her face indicated that she was more inclined to frown than smile. She was dressed in a long black coat that fell gracefully to her knees, and heels so high that Darling couldn’t help but be impressed with the woman’s balance and confidence in them.

“Are you going to invite me in or am I to stand in this… ‘hallway’ as we converse?”

Darling felt a chill creep down her spine as she watched Lena go rigid and tense. The original thought that Lena was cold in any way seemed ridiculous when confronted with the unnerving tone invoked by Lena’s mother and the derogative way she spat out hallway as if the drab corridor had personally offended her.

“Of course not, please come in.” Lena answered resolutely, sounding completely unperturbed but slightly defeated. Lena’s mother strode past her daughter and Darling watched, with growing dismay, as unbeknownst to Lena her mother’s face twisted into a look of disgust and displeasure as she examined the abode before morphing back to collected and business-like. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Lena inquired half-heartedly as she led her mother into the living room.

Darling could instinctively tell that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for Lena and wished desperately that she could offer support, could stand beside Lena and subdue the older woman with a glare or at least reassuringly squeeze Lena’s shoulder so that she knew she wasn’t alone. But Darling didn’t want to make Lena self-conscious or have to pretend she wasn’t seeing or hearing someone that wasn’t there whilst already on guard. So Darling retreated backwards, momentarily catching sight of Lena’s bright green eyes, she gave Lena a determined nod. Green eyes twinkled and glowed with appreciation for a moment before hardening as they shifted back to her mother.

Darling expected to vanish then. She wanted to give Lena privacy and assumed Lena wouldn’t want her nearby... that was normally the recipe for her departure.

But Darling didn’t disappear.

She didn’t go into the darkness and return to find hours had passed.

She didn’t go anywhere and she couldn’t help thinking, as Lena’s eyes quickly flashed back to her with a look of helplessness, that Lena might not want her to leave…

“Can’t I come and visit my daughter?” The question was polite yet venomous as Lena’s mother warily eyed the sofa and deigned not to bother with sitting down.

“You can but you wouldn’t.” Lena bit back as she paced quickly across the room to lean against the wall closest to the bedroom, an action which coincidentally brought her to stand right next to Darling.

Darling blinked in surprise at the action, Lena hadn’t looked at her as she moved into place but Darling felt a flutter in her chest regardless as Lena was clearly seeking her presence out in some way for comfort. “Maybe I would if my daughter actually treated me with the respect and decency I deserve.” The admonishment came too fast in Darling’s opinion, as if Lena’s mother had practiced it before arriving. 

Lena sighed mournfully, “Mother, you know I have the highest opioni-”

Lena’s mother cut in halfway through Lena’s sentence and Darling was surprised to see Lena meekly allow it. Darling had never seen Lena back down or allow someone to so easily interrupt her. “You wouldn’t hold the position of CEO if I hadn’t intervened in the board’s decision, and yet you still refuse to take my advice.”  Lena’s mother rebuked spitefully, however Darling was pleased to see Lena’s face now harden the same way it usually did as she geared up for a confrontation (often with Darling, who wouldn’t admit that she found Lena’s ‘battle-mask’ exceedingly attractive).

“Advice? I think you mean orders more like.” Lena scoffed derisively.

Lena’s mother’s jaw clenched and her nostrils flared; the blonde bystander wouldn’t have been surprised if the older woman was about to charge especially since Darling could personally attest that Lena did have that effect on people when she wanted to. “My ‘suggestions’ wouldn’t be necessary if you could prove that you had enough business sense when it came to investing.”

Lena’s eyebrow rose sharply and she crossed her arms over her chest, her fingers carefully wrapping round her own bicep. “This is about the hospital again, isn’t it?” Lena asked with an unsettlingly quiet voice.

Darling had, until that moment, believed that she had experienced Lena’s anger and loathing yet she now realised that she had never actually been faced with Lena’s ire; Darling had clearly only ever been on the receiving end of Lena’s mild annoyance or irritation. This was angry Lena and it was terrifying.

“You are throwing the money your father and brother earnt right down the drain by giving it away to anyone with so much as a cold.” Lena’s mother spat, her eyes beginning to blaze as she raised her chin defiantly.

Lena’s eyes narrowed acutely as she lifted a solitary finger, “Firstly, I wouldn’t call saving lives flushing money down the drain.” Lena raised a second finger. “Secondly, Father and Lex took more from the company than they put into it. And thirdly, and most importantly” Lena raised a third finger and emphasised every word with a step toward her mother, “I don’t give a damn what you think.”

Darling beamed proudly as Lena stood her ground against her mother, barely resisting the urge to clap and jump on the spot like a cheerleader whose team had just scored a touchdown.

Lena’s mother leisurely adjusted her coat that she hadn’t bothered to take off then shook her head slightly in disappointment. “You may not give a damn about what I think… but the board does.” The older woman smiled slightly and spoke patronisingly as if to a child, “The board won’t sustain your naïve desire to save every person that so much as crosses your path. It’s weak.” Lena’s mother tilted her head to the side and smiled wider, “And most importantly… it’s bad for business.” And with that statement, Lena’s mother swept past her daughter and Darling, not even pausing as she called out over her shoulder, “I’ll see myself out.”

Lena stood motionless in the middle of the living room, not even responding to the front door swinging shut. Whilst outwardly Lena was immobile, inwardly her mind was whirring, calculating and deliberating.

“Lena?”

Lena flinched and felt a sudden flash of guilt as Darling jumped back into the shadows obviously upset that she had scared Lena in some way, when the truth was Lena had simply forgotten about her ghost (which made Lena feel even guiltier). “Sorry, Darling.” Lena muttered exhaustedly to Darling who quickly protested against the apology, claiming that she should be apologising for surprising Lena.

Honestly, Lena barely heard a word of what Darling said, her mind was focusing on the obstacles that her mother was about to throw at her and the crummy deals she would have to make to clamber over them. She could best her mother, she knew that, she had been prepared for the day her mother would pull this stunt… she’d just always hoped that the day would never arrive.

Darling eventually fell silent, probably once she realised that Lena hadn’t registered a single word she’d been saying.

Lena continued to stare into nothingness until a pair of baby blue eyes filled her empty gaze. Lena blinked once but still didn’t respond until Darling reached out and brushed her fingers through Lena’s hand that hung loosely at her side. A warm tingle spread from where Darling’s finger’s had passed through Lena’s to the rest of Lena’s body.

Without a further word, Darling nodded to the bedroom before retreating, Lena didn’t even hesitate to follow her. Darling gestured to the bed with a comforting and fond smile and Lena on auto-pilot pulled back the covers, curled up under the duvet without even bothering to change out of her clothes, grabbed her album that was on the bedside and opened it to where she had left it last night.

After a few minutes of further silence, “Can I ask what’s in there?” Darling inquired gently from the end of the bed where she was stood hovering uncertainly.

Lena glanced away from the page in front of her to see her ghost point at the album clutched in her hands. Lena breathed out deeply releasing the stress that had accumulated within her. “Come and have a look.” Lena offered, resulting in a bright smile from the blonde. Lena lowered the album to rest on her knees so that Darling could see what was stuck so exactly and lovingly to the pages.

“Newspaper clippings?” Darling queried as she squinted through her pair of thick spectacles at the pages.

Lena chuckled lightly, “Magazine clippings, actually.” Darling stared at Lena with a furrowed brow and pouted lips, obviously curious but unsure if Lena would either listen or answer after her silence in the living room.

Lena swallowed thickly as the guilt crept up, her tongue feeling heavy with regret.

Regret that Darling had see Lena’s mother be… well, Lena’s mother.

Regret that Darling had seen Lena go full CEO bitch.

Regret that she had completely ignored Darling and treated her (even if it was just for a moment) like she had done when they had first met.

Lena hadn’t wanted her to leave when Lillian had arrived, and she didn’t want her to leave now.

“They’re all magazine clippings written by this columnist who goes by the pseudonym ‘Supergirl’.” Lena paused, laughing lightly as Darling rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘conceited much?’ after Lena pointed to the ‘Supergirl’ byline underneath the title. “Anyway,” Lena continued as Darling held her hands up in surrender to indicate that she would refrain from insulting Lena’s idol, “she writes these incredible stories about ordinary people who have done amazing things… She writes about everyday heroes, people who have carried out acts of incredible kindness and selflessness… and she writes about them so beautifully… it’s genuinely inspiring.” Lena sighed wistfully as she traced the clipping she had painstakingly cut out of the CatCo magazine and stuck as precisely as she could in her cherished album. “These stories inspires me every day to do more and be better. They also remind me that for every cruel person I come across, and I’ve come across plenty with Luthor as my last name… there are plenty of compassionate people to match and outnumber them.”

If Lena hadn’t been focusing so much on the printed words before her and instead on the woman listening attentively at her side, she would have seen the expression of overwhelming affection consuming Darling’s features.

“From what I know of you Lena, I don’t think you need this album to inspire you to be a better person. You are… Lena... there are no words to describe how generous you are.” Lena lifted her gaze to find twinkling blue eyes and a soft smile.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you earlier-”

“You don’t need to apologise.” Darling cut in causing Lena to give her a hard stare until her ghost exaggeratedly mimicked pulling a zip closed over her mouth.

“As I was saying, I’m sorry for ignoring you, I was deep in thought and to be honest I’m not used to having people around… well, ever. If you haven’t figured it out yet… I’m a bit of a hermit.” Darling moved her hand in a so-so motion indicating that she may have picked up on that fact already. “And… I’m sorry for how rude I was to you when we first… uh… ‘met’. Not being of sound mind… kind of… um… runs in the family and that made you kind of hard to accept.” Lena confessed softly her eyes dipping back to the album as she was unable to continue looking into Darling’s earnest gaze.

“Lena.” Darling breathed out with a tone filled with compassion and care.

Lena shook her head vigorously as another warm tingle spread from her shoulder indicating that Darling had tried (and succeeded unknowingly) in providing a comforting touch. “I’m not ready to talk about it.” The warm sensation vanished, and Lena rotated round until she was directly in front of Darling who had been stood beside the edge of the bed. “But when I am ready… you’ll be the first person I tell.” Lena affirmed confidently.

“I promise to wait patiently until then.” Darling promised softly.

“Well, whilst you’re waiting, how about we find out who you really are?” Lena offered tentatively, unsure how Darling would react to the concept.

Lena needn’t have worried.

Darling looked as if Lena had revealed that Christmas had come early, her blue eyes became ten times brighter, and a large tremulous smile appeared as her legs began to vibrate with excitement. “Yes, please!” Darling squealed causing Lena to chuckle in amusement, Darling’s joy spreading easily and infecting Lena instantly. “When do we start? What do we do first? Should we look for clues?”

Lena laughed loudly and joyfully, thankful for the respite from the woes her mother had caused as her ghost fired question after question about their future investigation. Lena was only able to get Darling to stop rambling by waving a hand back and forth in front of the blonde’s face. “We’ll start tomorrow morning and head out once I’ve baked the necessary cookies.”

“Necessary cookies?” Darling asked quizzically.

“Yes. How else are we going to get your neighbours to talk about you?”

Chapter Text

Apartment 205

“Hi, there! My name is Lena Luthor, I recently moved in opposite you. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the woman who lived in my apartment previously?” Lena asked with over-the-top cheer and a creepily wide smile as she held out the plate, with a stack of still warm cookies, in front of her neighbour like a bribe.

Darling, who was stood beside Lena in the hallway, her brow wrinkled in bemusement, murmured under her breath, “Tone it down a bit, Stepford.”

Lena shot Darling a dark glare and forcibly bit down on her lip to prevent herself from replying with a snarky comment that would (a) hurt Darling’s feelings and (b) make her look like a crazy woman to the neighbour she was currently trying to get information out of. Lena turned back to the wizened, elderly woman who had answered the door. She was short and hunched over, with thick glasses that she was squinting up at Lena through.

“What did you say?!” The senior woman yelled, cupping her ear with her hand as she leant forward thinking that would aid her in hearing Lena’s response.

Darling jumped back in surprise at the sudden shouting and vanished through a nearby wall unable to stop herself from falling through it. Lena rolled her eyes at Darling’s disappearance and took a careful step back to prevent herself from going deaf during her conversation with her neighbour.

“Hello! I’m Lena!” Lena yelled back.

“Xena!” The woman repeated inaccurately, nodding her head in a satisfied manner.

“No, Lena!” Lena futilely attempted to correct.

“That’s what I said!” The woman proudly stated.

“Yeah, Xena, that’s what she said.” Darling teased, having now reappeared from her stint through the wall. Lena shot Darling a hardened stare that caused the ghost to pale visibly.

“Yes, you’re right, my mistake!” Lena surrendered.

“Glad I could be of help!” The old woman said cheerfully as she reached forward to take a cookie. “It was nice meeting you!” The elderly woman, believing she had now aided in the young woman’s case of mistaken identity, then proceeded to step back and close her apartment door on Lena and Darling.

“Wait!” Lena and Darling both yelled out as the door clicked shut.

“That went well, I think.” Darling reflected after they had both stood and stared at the closed door for a significant amount of time.

“Remind me later that Luthor Corp should invest in a line of affordable hearing aids.” Lena requested her blonde companion dejectedly; she then took a deep breath and knocked again… loudly.

After what felt like a lifetime (but was probably only half-an-hour), and Mary pre-emptively closing the door on them a further four times, Lena and Darling finally got to ask the questions they wanted.

Mary, it turns out knew pretty much… nothing.

All Mary really remembered of the woman who had lived in Lena’s apartment previously was that she was a smiler (Mary’s words). She was also helpful, always offering to help Mary with her shopping bags whenever she could. She also ate a lot of takeaway food which Mary did not approve of; Darling shuffled her feet at this point and murmured an unheard apology as she felt like she had let her own grandmother down (Lena found that reaction particularly adorable).

But, for all the little details that Mary revealed about Darling’s previous existence she couldn’t for the life of her remember her name.

Eventually admitting defeat, Lena (and Darling by extension) said farewell to Mary with a promise to come over for a ‘proper meal’ of beef stew and left with a faint ringing in their ears.

Apartment 206

Darling did not like Eve who lived two doors down in Apartment 206.

She didn’t like her perky attitude, or her bottle blonde hair, or that stupid little laugh she let out whenever Lena said something funny. She didn’t like how ‘touch-feely’ Eve was; that first handshake with Lena had gone on far too long in Darling’s opinion.

And did Eve really need to keep caressing Lena’s forearm like that?!

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who used to live there. I’m new to the building as well. Only moved in last week and still knee deep in unopened boxes.” Eve giggled lightly as she fluttered her eyelashes, finally giving Lena an answer to her question after a good five minutes of unsubtle flirting.

Darling had endured the entire conversation by shooting irritated expressions at Lena and mockingly repeating any of Eve’s attempts at flirting in a childlike tone of voice. Lena had grown more and more confused at Darling’s attitude but kept her attention on Eve so as not to appear strange.

Darling’s stomach twisted, feeling nauseous as Lena smiled at Eve’s words.

“Ah, no problem. Thank you for your time.” Lena replied sincerely, waving her hand to dismiss Eve’s apology then offering up the plate of cookies in gratitude. Darling smirked smugly as she saw the flash of disappointment cross Eve’s face.

“Oh, it was my pleasure. Us building newbies should stick together.” Eve answered as she bit, overly suggestively, into the cookie she had just picked up resulting in Lena blushing and Darling grinding her teeth together loudly. “Maybe we should get together sometime… It would be nice to have a friend so close.”

Darling scoffed so loudly and derisively that Lena couldn’t stop herself from shooting Darling an arched eyebrow in shock, Darling merely shrugged and muttered, “Oh come on… she is not even being subtle.”

“What do you think?” Eve asked pushing forward a step, forcing the plate to dig into Lena’s and Eve’s chests on either side.

Lena gulped as Eve stared wide-eyed and unblinking up at her with (in Lena’s opinion) dull, blue eyes.

“Time to go!” Darling yelled, jumping in between the other two women so that she was pressed even closer to Lena who flinched in surprise as she stared directly into baby blue eyes instead of duller blue ones. “She knows nothing! Time for the next one!”

“Darling!” Lena reprimanded.

“Oooh, pet names, already, huh?” Eve questioned with a chuckle, her hand shooting out through Darling’s chest, who shuddered uncomfortably at the feeling, to squeeze Lena’s arm.

Darling had been passed through by a few people by now and it always gave her the feeling of being hit by a bucket of ice cold water.

Lena was the only exception.

When Darling touched (or should she say attempted to touch) Lena, she felt a warm tingle fill her entire being, it made her think of hot chocolate by a fire or snuggling under a warm duvet on a Sunday morning.

“Wh-a… no! Um… sorry… what I meant was, I need to get back to my… uh… dog… Darling! I should go!” Lena spluttered, shaking herself free from Eve’s grip as she struggled to come up with a good enough excuse for her outburst.

“Dog!” Darling noted with an affronted tone.

“Yes, dog!” Lena repeated as she backed away from the now overly attached Eve. “I think I can hear her now!”

“Ohh, I love dogs. Can I meet her?” Eve pressed causing Darling to glare vehemently at the pushy blonde.

“No, you can’t!” Darling dismissed, momentarily forgetting that she wasn’t a dog, visible or audible in any form.

“She’s not great with strangers, I’m afraid.” Lena said as she continued moving away, Darling speeding over to her once she finally noticed that Lena had been gesturing wildly for her to follow.

“Maybe later!” Eve called out as Lena and Darling began to turn a corner.

“Maybe!” Lena relented.

“Probably not!” Darling countered dismissively.

Once they were out of sight and hearing, Lena turned on Darling, “What was that all about?”

Darling blanched as she shrugged in feigned confusion. “What? She didn’t know anything… there was no point wasting time.”

“You had no problem ‘wasting time’ with Mary.” Lena pointed out, crossing her arms as she scrutinised Darling who shuffled her feet and stared at the now supremely interesting floor.

“That was different.” Darling murmured unable to meet Lena’s eye.

Lena realising she wouldn’t get an actual explanation for Darling’s rude attitude, sighed disappointedly, “Come on, let’s try the next neighbour.”

Darling nodded dejectedly, letting Lena lead the way.

Apartment 207

“Hello.” Lena greeted warmly as the door opened ever so slightly giving Lena a slither of a view of a small, portly man with rich, brown eyes. He stared up at Lena unblinkingly. “I live in apartment 204.” The man’s eyes scrunched up in suspicion but he opened the door a little bit wider. Lena shot Darling a look who merely shrugged and rolled her hand in a ‘go on’ movement to encourage her. “I was wondering if-”

The man pushed the door open fully as he noticed the cookies that Lena was holding out.

“Er… yes, you’re more than welcome to-” Lena began offering up the plate for the man to inspect.

He stared at the plate for a moment before reaching out, snatching the plate out of Lena’s hands and swiftly slamming his door shut. Lena didn’t even have a chance to say that he could have one.

Lena stared dumbfoundly at the door.

“It’s slightly worrying that I’m a ghost but am not the strangest person living in this building.” Kara commented and Lena couldn’t help but agree.

Apartment 208

“Oh my god, you’re Lena Luthor!” The dark-haired, bright-eyed young man happily exclaimed. He was dressed in jeans, a grey short sleeved shirt and a dark blue cardigan.

“Um… yes. Yes, I am.” Lena said, mildly taken aback that someone was actually pleased to meet her.

“You are a genius! The way you revolutionised hydroelectric power is incredible. I mean… you’re like… brilliant.” The young man gushed, grinning widely and bouncing like a puppy on the spot. Lena blinked fast in surprise to the way the man was looking up at her. Darling, who was watching the interaction off to one side, beamed loving the fact that someone thought so highly of Lena due to her intellect.

“It looks like you have a fan…”, Darling teased in a sing song voice with twinkling eyes that had Lena blushing a far deeper red than what Eve had caused.

“Thank you... um… I didn’t catch your name.” Lena prompted gently.

“Oh, it’s Winn. Winn Schott. I… um… err… actually, work for Luthor Corp, in your R&D department.” Winn revealed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked nervously up at his employer.

“Wait… as in the Mr. Schott who noticed and fixed a major security flaw in our cyber systems a month ago?” Lena asked as her mind jolted with a start. She remembered being impressed with the man’s work but hadn’t had much time to fully follow up and thank him for what he had done.

Winn proceeded to turn a blistering shade of red as Lena then graciously thanked and commended him on the spot. Darling merely smirked knowing that Lena had made this man’s year by simply remembering his name.

Lena found she liked Winn, he was sweet, funny when he wasn’t too star struck and extraordinarily intelligent. Upon realising the potential wasted by keeping Winn in the small R&D lab across town, Lena committed herself to moving the genius to the special projects department in headquarters first thing Monday morning.

After being invited in and settling on the couch, Lena and Winn chatted away for close to an hour on the various projects Winn was involved in. Darling would make comments or quizzical expressions when she didn’t understand something and Lena would then strive to find a way to explain whatever it was that confused Darling without coming across as patronising to Winn who already understood. It was a challenge but a worthy one as Lena loved the way Darling’s eyes would light up when she finally got whatever development the two scientists were talking about.

Lena’s conversation with Winn was so consuming no one would have blamed her if she forgot the original reason for knocking on Winn’s door in the first place, especially since Darling hadn’t once tried to remind her of it. The reason for that, though, was that Darling wanted Lena to have friends, people who she could interact with. And, for the first time in a long time, Lena seemed to be getting very close to having that therefore Darling had absolutely no intention of derailing that by forcing her own agenda onto the conversation.

Lena, however, did remember.

In actuality, she stood absolutely no chance of forgetting, especially not when she wished Darling could be truly involved in the conversation.

Lena hated that she had to hide the large smile trying to spread across her face whenever Darling caught her eye. Lena hated that she had to forcibly keep down the chuckles and laughs that Darling drew from her with her quick-witted one liners. Lena hated that she couldn’t see Winn and Darling interact because Lena was certain Winn would also see how amazing Darling was and Lena wanted to share that realisation with someone else. 

So, Lena didn’t forget to ask and Winn, unfortunately, admitted he didn’t know the blonde that used to live in Lena’s apartment. Winn revealed that he had become a hermit in a lot of ways over the past few years, mumbling something or other about his father that Lena kindly pretended not to hear as the haunted expression on his face warned that he wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. Lena, instead, confessed that she had picked up many of the same isolationist habits as him, even going so far as to admit that her normal routine involved staying in with a bad film. This admission resulted in Winn saying he usually occupied his time with videogames, and Lena, much to her own surprise, found herself quickly offering to play co-op games with him, if he was interested, in the future, an offer which Winn readily and gleefully accepted.

Lena and Darling prepared to leave both buzzing happily after their most recent interaction as Winn led them to the door, “It was really nice to meet you. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help you much. I remember that before the blonde girl moved in, a redhead used to live there, she was pretty intimidating, though. But still nice… in her own way…”, Winn’s eyes glazed over as a vague recollection crossed his mind.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’ll see you soon, Winn.” Lena smiled as she imagined Winn’s surprise on Monday when he finds out about his promotion.

Lena and Darling both waved and bud farewell before heading towards the next door.

“You made a friend.” Darling affectionately teased as they strolled down the hallway.

“Yes. I did.” Lena proudly replied with a raise of her chin.

“Looks like you might finally have a reason to spend less time tucked away in your apartment.” Darling said, her smile dimming as she realised that would mean even less time spent with Lena, and more in the dark void that waited for her when Lena wasn’t around.

“Less time tucked away in our apartment… but not less time with you.” Lena whispered fervently; Darling stilled and stared at Lena who was giving her a soft, reassuring smile that caused butterflies to perform an impressive air display in Darling’s stomach.

“Me?” Darling asked, pointing a finger at herself.

Lena chuckled, “Yes, you silly. Just because I made a new friend, doesn’t mean I’m going to spend any less time with my old friend.”

“We’re friends?” Kara said her eyes going wide with joy.

Lena tilted her head at the question. “I like to think so.” Lena stated softly.

“I like to think so, too.” Kara agreed as she felt a wide grin explode onto her face.

Apartment 209

“Hello, my name is L-“

“I know who you are.” The tall, unkempt man spat out.

Lena’s heart sank like a lead weight in that moment. She had hoped and prayed that Darling would never have to see the dark side of her name…

“Luthor.” The man grunted out with a tone of such disgust and disdain, Lena felt her insides shrivel and twist painfully. Outwardly, though, Lena maintained a neutral, slightly apologetic face, if there was one thing Lena was grateful to her mother for teaching her it was how to hide her emotions. How to bury them deep.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you-” Lena began in a placating voice.

“What the hell do you want? Has your company not taken enough people’s money, you’ve now got to go door to door to rob them? Or have you just gone as crazy as your brother?” The man aggressively questioned as he clumsily lunged forward a couple of steps placing himself in Lena’s personal space. Lena, who had experienced more than her fair share of these intimidating moments, reacted quickly and ducked around the man until she was out of arm’s reach.

Lena tensed, readying herself to run if he turned violent, when-

“Leave her alone, you son of a bitch!” Darling yelled placing herself between Lena and the man.

Lena had never seen Darling so furious.

Her mouth was twisted into a snarl, her eyes were now a raging storm rather than their normal entrancing baby blue, her hands were in almost excruciatingly tight, clenched fists. Though, Lena knew that Darling’s threat was ineffectual since it would go unheard, and her anger would go unseen, Lena’s heart still swelled and soared at the action alone.

Darling was protecting her.

Darling believed Lena was worth protecting.

And if that was true that meant Darling genuinely cared about her.

Only thing was… it turned out Darling’s threat wasn’t as ineffectual as Lena may have first thought.

The scary neighbour seemed to stop all of a sudden as if he had hit an invisible wall and then… 90s music that Lena had become extremely familiar with during her time with Darling began blaring at a deafening volume from the man’s apartment.

“What the hell?” The man squeaked, covering his ears as the entire apartment block began to shake with every deep, throbbing, bass note.

Seizing the opportunity presented by the man’s distraction, Lena swiftly dashed down the hallway and around the corner and back into her own apartment. The barely audible sound of the man’s door slamming shut as he went to wrestle with his errant music system, provided Lena the security she needes to lean against the closed front door and concentrate on regaining control of her trembling limbs.

“Lena.” Darling said softly, hovering off to one side. “What can I do to help?”

Lena’s heart hurt at the offer.

It was so genuinely given that Lena knew Darling meant it. Issue was all Lena wanted was to be pulled into a hug and told everything would be okay, that her name didn’t matter, that she was a good person. But she would never get to experience that form of comfort from Darling and that truly, deeply hurt.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Lena muttered keeping her eyes closed and towards the ground. “I just need some space, okay?

A long silence followed and Lena eventually looked up to find that the apartment was empty, bereft of any other inhabitant.

Darling had vanished.

Lena slumped down the wall and pulled her knees to her chest as she longed for something she couldn’t have.

Chapter Text

Lena was alone.

Which, admittedly, was something Lena was extremely used to by this point in her life, though less so in recent days. Darling had become a reassuring and welcome presence in Lena’s life, a source of comfort and distraction.

A reason to come home from work at a reasonable hour.

A reason to let off steam.

A reason to put down the heavy weight and burden of being Lena Luthor, CEO.

A reason to be nerdy Lena Luthor who secretly loved the childish pranks that Darling pulled on her and the ones that she got to pull in return.

It reminded of her those carefree childhood moments Lena had spent with Lex when they were able to escape from under their parents’ harsh, watchful glares for fleeting minutes and hours to wreak havoc on everything and anything they could find. Those memories were few and far between.

Lex’s descent into madness and cruelty began when he was forced to work in Lionel’s shadow at Luthor Corp. Lena was sent to boarding school and due to the distance and irregular meetups was too slow in recognising how Lionel was twisting Lex into a cruel man and chipping away at the kind-hearted boy that had been Lena’s brother.

By the time Lena became fully aware of what her brother had become, he was too far gone to save. Lena could and would never forgive herself for not being there to stop what had happened.

The bright, smiling, younger version of her brother and the philanthropic man he had the great potential of being would always weigh on Lena’s shoulders. Those two intangible figures, Lena was certain, would haunt her until the day she died.

Upon Lionel’s passing, Lex fast became even colder than his father, and more and more bloodthirsty and greedy in all of his ventures. LuthorCorp rose to higher profits on the backs of the downtrodden and the poor. Lena turned her back on her family, choosing instead to create and develop a startup tech company with her best friends at the time Jack Spheer and Samantha Arias. Their mission statement was to devise technologies that could benefit humankind.

Things were going well, Lena still missed her brother everyday but she had a happy and full life, doing what she loved with people she cared about. That was of course when Lex blow it all to pieces.

Her brother was dead and hated.

And Lena being the only Luthor left standing, especially since her mother proceeded to throw her into the firing line by thrusting the role of CEO onto her already burden laden shoulders, was chosen as the target by the hurt masses for their loathing and pain.

Many of Lena’s friends cut ties instantly. Jack hid in his work to avoid the responsibility of standing by her.

Sam was only the exception.

She was ready to take on everyone and anyone who threatened her oldest friend. Lena clung to her for support, right up until Sam and Ruby got a death threat due to her friendship. Lena cut ties immediately and uprooted herself and Luthor Corp’s headquarters from Metropolis to National City.

She got good at having to move from house to house as Lex’s supporters and haters found and tormented her.

She got good at not having someone around to defend her.

She got good at not opening herself up to people.

She got good at being alone.

Then, Darling appeared and changed everything.

Lena wished she had the strength to tell Darling the whole story but the irrational and all-consuming fear that Darling would want nothing more to do with her or even hate her for the blood that ran in her veins, prevented her from doing so.  

After visiting the neighbours that Sunday morning, Lena did what she always did when faced with the results of her family’s nefarious actions. She strove to do better and threw herself face first in work and good causes. The ultimate example and Lena’s first choice for this was the Luthor Hospital.

With Lillian’s threats of reduced funding, Lena was determined to gather as much evidence and goodwill support as possible to ensure that the hospital would be untouchable in the upcoming battles Lena would have to endure to fend off her mother. Lena’s afternoon was spent ignoring the dull ache in her chest as she missed the blonde ghost that had come to mean so much to her. Lena filled her time with meetings and reviewing the hospital finances.

It was approaching early evening when Lena finally ventured out of the small, empty office she had cocooned herself in to seek out some much needed coffee. After getting directions from a nurse, Lena found the much outdated and tired looking family waiting room.

Two ancient vending machines lined the wall, one of which had a permanently out of order sign sellotaped to it. The sofas and chairs were an off-putting, putrid, green colour, and all the cushions were sagging from excessive use. The walls were painted a dull, soul-destroying grey that sapped the little energy Lena had left out of her. The television in the corner was so old Lena was surprised that it was actually in colour. The box of toys in the corner were abused and broken.

“Okay, so all the family waiting rooms need to be massively renovated. Better put that on the to do list.” Lena promised as the coffee machine coughed and sputtered out a rather grim looking liquid.

“As long as you improve the coffee machine, I don’t think anyone will care about the rest of the stuff.” A light voice remarked from behind Lena, who turned to face the speaker.

The woman behind Lena was tall, with doe-like brown eyes that were wide and endearing whilst simultaneously being inquisitive and suspicious. The woman’s hair was a vibrant red, cut into a choppy bob with slight curls at the end. She was dressed in skinny jeans, black boots, a green t-shirt and a well-fitted leather jacket. The most remarkable aspect of this woman, however, was how she stood: she was leaning on one leg, hands perched on her hips and her head cocked to the side. She radiated confidence and an inner strength that was both intimidating and welcoming.

Lena had no idea what to make of her.

“The coffee can’t be that bad.” Lena said as she eyed the mud-like consistency of the drink in her polystyrene cup with a grimace.

The red-head arched an eyebrow, “Try it and tell me I’m wrong.”

Never one to back down from a challenge, Lena took a large sip and then immediately spat it back out again causing the other woman to chuckle lightly. “Okay, replace the coffee machine first and foremost.”

“Much appreciated, Miss Luthor.” The woman smiled with a gentle nod as she held out a water bottle for Lena to drink from and rinse out the taste of the awful coffee.

Lena’s hand froze in the process of reaching out for the proffered bottle as she heard her name being spoken so casually. The tension that radiated from Lena was instantly felt by the other woman who winced and held up a hand in a ‘I mean no harm’ manner. Lena forced out a breath and accepted the bottle with a murmured thanks and an avoidance of eye contact.

“So, I’m going to be honest… I didn’t follow you into the waiting room to warn you about the bad coffee.” The woman revealed earnestly and with an apologetic smile. Lena watched her warily, her hackles raised, already composing a simple goodbye that would allow her to flee back to the sanctity of the unused office. “I actually, wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Lena repeated with an astounded expression and tone.

“Yes.” The red-head affirmed with a furrowed brow as if she couldn’t quite understand why Lena appeared so confused by her words. “My name’s Alex, and your hospital and the financial support it provides… please, believe me when I say it has made the world of difference.”

Lena blinked slowly at the heartfelt words coming from the strong woman in front of her. “You don’t need to thank me-”, Lena refuted gently, unaccustomed to praise or gratitude in any form.

“I do. I… uh… work for the FBI. I was involved in the investigation into your brother and I’m not proud to admit that… for a while… I painted you with the same brush as him.” Alex cleared her throat guiltily and Lena shrugged half-heartedly at the confession completely unsurprised by Alex’s original thoughts. Lena was used to this mindset by now. “My family, quickly showed me the errors of my way, and this hospital…”, Alex bit her cheek as she scrutinised Lena closely who was fidgeting uncomfortably on the spot, “I don’t think you realise how much everyone at this hospital appreciates all that you do.”

Lena exhaled slowly, Alex’s kind words acting as a soothing balm over the wound inflicted by the neighbour’s earlier harsh accusations. “Imagine how much more they’ll appreciate me when I get them a decent coffee machine.” Lena joked lightly, the watery smile on her face revealing to Alex how touched she was even if her own words didn’t.

A bright, blinding smile passed over Alex’s face and Lena, for some inexplicable reason, couldn’t help but think of Darling when she saw it. “They will be commissioning statues of you in no time.” Lena chuckled at the comment before glancing down at her watch to see how late it was getting. “Someone expecting you at home?”

It was such a innocent question but it hit Lena like a ton of bricks.

Firstly, there was the sudden awareness that the small, open-plan apartment had become home. And secondly, there was the life-changing realisation that for the first time in forever there was someone waiting for her .

Someone who was happy to see her and talk to her.

Someone who Lena, in turn, always looked forward to seeing.

Someone who Lena wanted to know everything about.

Someone who Lena wanted to talk to about her day, about her plans for the hospital and about meeting Alex.

Lena realised she didn’t have to or want to be alone anymore.

Why the hell was Lena running away from the best thing that had happened to her? Why was she running away from something she had always wanted?

“Yes! I do!” Lena exclaimed loudly and joyfully causing Alex to flinch in surprise. “I’ve got to go.” Lena stated, throwing her cup of coffee away and striding purposefully to the door. Just as she was about to leave, Lena whirled around and said, “Oh, if you need anything… or if there is anything I can do for you, please, don’t hesitate to let me know.” Lena insisted with a sincere smile that had Alex nodding and quickly promising that she would do so.

Alex watched in a slightly dazed and confused state as the CEO suddenly departed with a rapid click-clacking of her heels. Alex had no idea what had just happened but knew it would at least be an interesting story to tell her fiance when she got home later.

Alex’s opinion of Lena had changed yet again upon meeting the woman in person. She had always thought of Lena as unbreakably strong, untouched by the words and actions of others as that had been how the media had presented her to the public. But now, Alex had seen the flashes of vulnerability underneath Lena’s composed exterior as they spoke, and her heart went out to the other woman.

Alex shook her head as she gathered her belongings and headed down the corridor to the last room on the right. Once inside, she slumped down in the pink armchair that she had pulled closer to the hospital bed and focused on ignoring the bleeping sounds in the background.

“Guess who I just ran into?” Alex asked softly as she leant forward to hold the limp hand on the bed. “Lena Luthor.” Alex revealed with a emphatic voice. “And before you ask, yes I did say thank you. See, I can be nice to people outside of the family.” Alex teased with a soft smile, squeezing the hand she was now holding. “I think you would like her. She’s a bit like me… hard shell but soft inside… you’d have her wrapped around your little finger in no time.” Alex chuckled, her free hand moving to push a lock of golden hair out of the way.

Alex’s phone buzzed and she dug it out of her pocket to see a message saying dinner would be ready in an hour or so.

“That’s my cue. I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise.” Alex stood up and leant forward to kiss the unmoving figure’s forehead, now freed from blonde hair. “I love you, Kara.”

Chapter Text

“Darling?” Lena called out as she flung open the front door and raced into the darkened apartment, barely even slowing down to flick the lights on.

“I’m here.” Darling responded quietly as she walked through the doorway from the bedroom. Lena’s insides twisted painfully as she immediately noticed the subduedness that clung to Darling. The blonde wasn’t her usual cheery self, appearing positively sombre; even her unchanging, eye-catching, blue dress seemed to be more lacklustre as if in solidarity with its owner. Her head was hung low and she seemed unable to meet Lena’s eye.

Lena didn’t hesitate to rush over to her friend, “I am so, so, so sorry.”

Darling seemed to do a double take at the apology, her head snapping up as she took in Lena’s flustered and frantic appearance, “Wait… what? Why are you apologising?”

Lena brow furrowed in equal confusion, “For leaving… for abandoning you.” Lena said slowly as if it should be obvious.

Darling’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she shook her head as if that would physically clear it of whatever thoughts were plaguing her. “Wait. So... I didn’t scare you?” Darling asked with wide eyes as she peered up at Lena through her thick glasses.

“Scare me?” Lena chuckled as she begun to smile, finding the concept completely ridiculous. “You could never scare me, Darling.”

A small uptick to the ghost’s mouth appeared and Lena found her eyes focusing in on the movement, experiencing the all too-familiar desire to encourage the motion into Darling’s signature full-blown grin. “Really?” Lena nodded fervently in answer, her green eyes glowing with fondness and amusement at Darling’s shy question. “Not even when I yelled at that guy or caused… the other stuff to happen…”, Darling’s voice cut out as she spoke softly and proceeded to dip her head back down to the ground.

Understanding blossomed within Lena as guilt and sympathy quickly followed behind. “Wait here.” Lena commanded gently before walking past Darling and disappearing into the bedroom. Darling exhaled heavily (well, she exhaled as much as a ghost could exhale) as she felt that all too familiar feeling of hollowness take up residence inside as Lena left her once again.

Darling didn’t know how to explain what had happened earlier.

The man had threatened Lena, and she had felt an inexplicable surge of fury and protectiveness that she hadn’t realised she was capable of. Darling had spent the entire morning watching as Lena repeatedly put herself out there by knocking on people’s doors and speaking to strangers. In other words, watching as Lena continuously stepped out of her own comfort zone to simply help Darling. Therefore, when that neighbour had begun to intimidate Lena… Darling responded on instinct.

Anger mixed equally with the goal to shield Lena had brought forth a rush of energy and power that Darling had channelled without forethought.

Lena made her escape the second the man had gotten distracted by the music and been prevented from chasing after her by Darling’s emotionally driven ability. Finding the strong, dark-haired woman slumped down against the apartment’s front door was heartbreaking for Darling. Knowing she had lost control, had brought forth presumably terrifying powers, Darling had assumed the reason Lena was trembling and unable to meet her eyes was down to her and what she had done.

The very fear Darling had wanted to protect Lena from... Darling believed she had caused.

This belief meant that when she was dismissed, Darling went gladly into the darkness relieved that she couldn’t bring further fear or harm to Lena from there.

Darling experienced an emotional-fuelled spiral of conflicting thoughts competing inside her mind as she waited for Lena to reappear from the bedroom. Half of her wanted to believe Lena’s easy rejection at so much as the idea of Darling being capable of scaring Lena, whilst the other half of her kept remembering that determined, almost fierce expression on Lena’s face when Darling reminded Lena of her actions earlier.

“Just so you know, I’ve figured out your tell.”

Darling turned around only to be faced with a pile of blankets and pillows from under which Lena’s disembodied voice had come from. The assortment of fabrics carefully maneuvered around Darling, acting as if she was a solid person and not an intangible being and therefore a possible shortcut. After a moment, the mountain of textiles was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor revealing Lena underneath, who had changed out of her usual smart clothes and into sweatpants and a university jumper, Darling always thought this look suited the secret softy far more than the killer high-heels and professional work dresses. Not that Darling didn’t appreciate Lena’s work attire… but for completely different reasons which she wasn’t overly comfortable discussing especially when she was only living with Lena at the moment when Lena wished it (Darling would be correct in presuming that Lena was not yet aware of her ability to truly dismiss Darling…)

“Uh…?” Darling eloquently mumbled at a complete and total loss at what to ask first. Should she ask about the blankets? Should she ask about her ‘tell’? Should she ask why Lena had that expression on her face? That expression being warm, inviting green eyes and a proud, smug smile.

Using her left hand, Lena beckoned Darling forward who complied instantly to the request. Lena pointed a finger at Darling’s forehead allowing only the barest slither of distance between the blonde’s ghostly form and the tip of her forefinger. “You get a crease… right there.” Lena whispered gently, “If you’re not speaking, it means you’re rambling on the inside.”

Darling at once slapped her hand over her forehead as she blushed bright red and rolled her eyes. “Pfft… No, it doesn’t…”, Darling denied weakly causing Lena to giggle lightly as she crouched down to lay the blankets out properly across the floor in front of the television. “What’s with the blankets?” Darling asked as she watched Lena meticulously position the pillows to optimise comfort.

“I’m sick of sitting on the sofa on my own. If you can’t sit on the sofa then I’m going to sit on the floor with you.” Lena responded with a hardened edge to her voice to make it clear that she would not be convinced to do otherwise… admittedly, the intimidating effect was somewhat lost by the fact Lena finished speaking and then proceeded to childishly drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Darling blinked and pushed up her glasses before carefully crouching down to sit beside Lena, “But… why?” Darling inquired, curious as to why it bothered Lena so much.

Lena inhaled sharply prior to carefully licking her lips, both actions serving as physical preparations to encourage her to answer Darling honestly. “Everything’s better with you around.” Lena said quietly into the stillness of the room as her fingers fidgeted with the corner of the blue throw taken from the bed. “Even when my mother was here… just having you near… it made me feel brave… like… a hero, I guess.” Lena sighed, her hands switching from picking at the blanket to running through her dark hair in a nervous manner. Darling’s eyes were drawn to the movement, and she felt a sharp twinge of personal grief over the fact that she would never get to feel Lena’s soft locks with her own hands. This loss, though, was alleviated by Lena’s gentle words and dazzling eyes that sought her out.

“Lena, you are a hero. You stood up to your mother. You-” The words spilled forth from Darling easily and in a torrent that she couldn’t hold back.

“You’re my hero.” Lena cut in firmly, as she tilted her head to the side and gifted Darling with a soft and certain smile. Darling’s voice failed her as she stuttered for a breath she didn’t need. Darling knew the crease was forming on her forehead without needing to see Lena arch her eyebrow and nod towards it. “You could never scare me, Darling. You protected me. You made me feel safe. No one has done that for me in a long time.”

The last piece of fear and guilt evaporated from inside Darling at the earnest tone and expression on Lena’s face. Curiosity and concern, though, burned brighter within Darling at the loss of her other tumultuous emotions and she found she couldn’t stop the question from coming out. “Lena, why are you alone? You don’t deserve to be. You don’t deserve to be treated the way that… that… jerkface spoke to you.” Darling gesticulated as she struggled to find a suitable insult for their rude neighbour.

Lena snorted at the prudish word choice, wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them to her chest.

“I’m sorry. You don’t need to answer that. I shouldn’t have asked, I promised I wouldn’t force you to talk about it and there I go asking about it. God, I’m sorry, Lena. I won’t bring it up again, I promise.” Darling rambled, getting more and more flustered with each word.

“Darling, you’re rambling.” Lena commented with a teasing hum to her voice highlighting her amusement.

“Right… sorry.” Darling stopped speaking and covered her mouth with her hand to prevent further verbal diarrhoea.

“I’m ready to talk about it, though… that is... if you’re still up for listening?” Lena asked sweetly as she buried the lower part of her face behind her knees, leaving only slightly scared green eyes peeking out below dark hair.

Darling lowered her hand away from her mouth and smiled reassuringly at Lena, “Always.”

Lena’s throat felt raw and her eyes stung from the tears that had fallen unbidden as she shared her story and family history with Darling who had simply listened attentively. Words of encouragement and care were offered by the blonde so sincerely that Lena couldn’t believe that she had thought, for even a second, that Darling would ever be cruel enough to place Lex’s crimes on Lena’s shoulders.

Darling, whilst listening, wanted nothing more than to pull Lena into a hug, to wrap the incredibly strong and hurt CEO up in her arms and promise that she would always be there for her. To promise Lena that she wasn’t going anywhere.

The fiery urge to protect and the raw power that went with it returned as Lena revealed that the reason she was renting this apartment in the first place was because one of Lex’s victims had set fire to Lena’s house, thankfully, due to Lena’s extreme working hours she hadn't been home at the time. Only very few of her personal belongings had survived the attack.

Lena helped return Darling to a state of relative ease and calmness by reminiscing about the first few days she spent in the apartment, and how she was being driven crazy by the apartment’s seemingly random quirks. The two women rapidly dissolved into giggles as they relentlessly mocked and teased each other for their early day antics.

Their laughter faded out and Lena fixed Darling with a steely gaze, “Alright, tell me what I can do to fully say sorry for abandoning you.” Lena demanded.

Darling gulped and shook her head, “You’ve spent the entire evening on the floor, you don’t need to do anything.”

“I sat on the floor for my own benefit as I’ve already told you.” Lena reminded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Come on, tell me something I can do. I feel bad that our attempt to find out who you are this morning didn’t turn up anything.”

Knocking on the neighbour’s doors, Lena had already known, was a last ditch effort. Lena had already tried to find out who had lived there previously by going through the realtor who admitted, unsurprisingly, to knowing nothing. Lena had also tried to investigate who she was renting the apartment from, however the contract Lena had insisted upon to protect her own identity had the unintended side-effect of preventing her from knowing who was on the other side of it. Lena, probably, could have hacked her way to the information, but due to the criminal reputation of her family, Lena could never bring herself to do anything even slightly legally dubious, further limiting her options before even starting.

“That’s not your fault.” Darling reassured before her expression turned ever so slightly mischievous, Lena began internally groaning ahead of the ghost even having a chance to say whatever had sprung to her mind. “There is something you can do, though…”

Lena forced a smile and gritted her teeth as she asked, “What?”

Huang Li had seen a lot of strange things since opening his Chinese restaurant, especially late at night.

He had served an entire clan of fully grown Ooompa Loompas, all of whom were speaking a language he didn’t recognise.

He had seen a slight, blonde, girl not only complete the all-you-can eat challenge but set a new record for it at the same time.

He had seen a man, come in and work at his computer all night, eating platter upon platter of food without even looking up. At close to dawn, by pure bad luck he had spilled his coffee over his laptop. The man had stared at his computer which had slowly begun to smoke for half an hour in a near catatonic state. He had then proceeded to get up, place enough money to cover his bill on the counter and walked out, leaving behind his now useless computer. Huang never saw him again.

Those examples all came from the same one week period.

Therefore, Huang was used to strange sights in his restaurant and as such didn’t blink twice when he saw the raven haired woman muttering to herself and reprimanding some unseen person for their ‘poor dietary choices’ and repeating ‘you can’t even eat it’ over and over again.

After a heated debate with herself, which she somehow managed to lose, the solitary woman approached the counter, took a deep breath and began to reel off a long and complex order. The order, though, struck a chord in Huang’s mind and to speed up the process  he quickly cut in to finish the woman’s request, “And two helpings of egg fried rice and twenty-four potstickers, right?”

The woman’s mouth fell open in shock as she stared at Huang, “How did you know what I was going to order?”

Huang chuckled as he tilled up the order, “I’ve never been very good with faces but I never forget an order, especially one I used to hear at least once a week.”

The dark haired woman seemed to do a double take, “Someone ordered that much food every week?!’’ The woman’s head suddenly turned as if listening to someone, whatever she had heard made her wince apologetically, “You’re right not the point, sorry.”

Huang chose to ignore the internal conversation that the woman was happily playing both sides of. “Kara Danvers.” Huang supplied without the question being asked.

A heavy, nearly all-consuming silence seeped into the room.

The woman stared unblinkingly up at Huang.

“Blonde. Blue eyes. Thick pair of glasses. Could eat more than five grown man. She works a couple of blocks over at CatCo magazine. She hasn’t been in for the past few weeks and trust me I noticed as my restaurant’s profits halved in the space of a month.” Huang finished inputting the order into the system and looked up to find the woman jumping up and down excitedly.

“Oh my god! Kara Danvers!” The woman didn’t hesitate to throw an excessive amount of money down on the counter as she yelled and proceeded to race to the restaurant’s front door,.

“What about your order?” Huang half-heartedly reminded the energetic woman, not overly caring if she came back since she left behind more than enough money to keep Huang in business for the next month.

“Thank you so much!” The woman called back in response as she grabbed the door handle preparing to wrench it open before coming to an abrupt stop. “What do you mean go back for the food?!” The noble appearing woman whispered in exasperation.

A long pause ensued.

Huang observed his customer’s nose scrunch up with disbelief.

“I really don’t think Chinese food is the priority right now… Kara…” The dark haired woman’s stern expression softened as she said the name with such reverence, she then smiled so brightly following it’s utterance, Huang thought the lights in his restaurant began to glow even more brilliantly than they had ever done before.

Another long pause.

The woman seemed to be listening for something.

“I really don’t think you still being dead tomorrow but the food being cold is a good enough reason…”

Another pause, then a heavy sigh that Huang was intimately familiar with having raised two children he couldn’t bring himself to say no to.

“FINE! I’LL GET THE FOOD!”

The woman proceeded to stomp back to the counter and take a seat with a heavy pout.

Huang merely shrugged and promised, “Your food shouldn’t be too long.”

Chapter Text

“Kara, stop fidgeting with your dress! It’s distracting and no one else can see it anyway.” Lena lightly admonished as the lift doors closed leaving Lena and Kara alone in the small metal container.

Even though she was being told off, Kara couldn’t stop the bright, beaming smile that had the habit of appearing whenever Lena said her name.

Her real name.

And Lena said it all the time.

It was as if she wanted Kara to never forget that she had an identity ever again. As if she, personally, gained immense joy from being able to say Kara’s name as well.

After finding out her name and returning to the apartment with an extraordinary amount of food, Kara wandered the flat taking it all in again. Her memory still wasn’t back. It remained fuzzy, unclear and missing huge chunks but she now had flickering, yet developed recollections.

She remembered random, yet deeply familiar, voices calling out her name. She now had more concrete flashbacks of living in the apartment. She remembered getting ready for work. She remembered evenings eating chinese food as she read a book or watched a cheesy romantic comedy.

But she didn’t remember everything.

It was as if she had remembered only solitary memories of being Kara Danvers. Any family or friends were still locked away in the recesses of her mind. Even memories of being at work were absent.

Kara had a theory. (One she had yet to share with Lena, especially since she was working with so little evidence.)

Kara and Lena were linked.

Lena was Kara’s lifeline (or deathline depending on what terminology is the most appropriate for Kara’s ghostly existence).

Kara came into being when Lena moved into the apartment. Kara’s existence started with vague memories of owning the place. Then, Lena (still unknowingly) gained the power to dismiss Kara, a power which the blonde was sure developed as her own feelings towards Lena changed and became more and more positive. And finally, their shared discovery of Kara’s name provided a clearer, yet still not fully fledged, identity. It was as if Lena’s knowledge of Kara was the limiting factor on her own memory.

Kara had to discover who she was through Lena’s eyes.

Fortunately, Kara didn’t mind this at all. For some incredible reason, Lena appeared to delight in every new thing she learned about her, the best example of this being how Lena would say her name at every available opportunity. Lena made learning even the smallest detail about Kara a wondrous and extraordinary experience. Therefore, it’s unsurprising, that Lena was the one who suggested and insisted that they visit CatCo at the first opportunity to gather more intel.

Lena groaned and gripped her stomach tightly as she leant against one of the elevator’s metal walls, “I can’t believe you made me eat all that food, Kara.”

Kara grinned in return as she teased, “I can’t believe that the strong, independent woman that is Lena Luthor, CEO of the largest tech corporation in the country gave into a bit of light peer pressure.”

Lena’s pained expression turned unamused as she narrowed her eyes at Kara, “I wouldn’t call screaming ‘EAT IT! EAT IT!’ for nearly an hour a bit of light peer pressure.”

Kara merely shrugged in response, her smugness not decreasing even remotely at the retort… that is until the elevator dinged and the doors began to open. Kara froze, suddenly experiencing a concentrated dose of anxiety as she realised that this could end up being far more real than hearing her name.

There would be people that knew her.

People who would say that she had been kind or cruel.

Funny or rude.

Smart or dumb.

Most importantly, though, whether they missed her or not.

Lena moved without a word and pressed the button to close the doors that had opened up to reveal the bustling workspace of the CatCo. offices. The metal doors closed and Kara became even more acutely aware of her panicked state in the quiet and stillness provided by being locked away.

“It’s okay, Kara.” Lena murmured as she carefully approached the blonde trying not to spook her further. Kara stared at the open affection and compassion in Lena’s every gesture, which, unfortunately, caused the fear to increase, not decrease.

“What if I don’t like who I was?” The words tumbled out without Kara’s consent. Lena’s eyes widened and her lips parted in shock at the confession. “What if you don’t like who I was?” Kara shut her eyes at that final admission unable to meet the penetrating green eyes that had the ability to truly see her.

“Kara.” Lena’s voice was like hardened steel; Kara openly winced at the tone. “Open your eyes and look at me.” Lena commanded, with what Kara had taken to calling her ‘CEO voice’, which Kara thought was wholly unnecessary as she could never truly bring herself to say no to Lena anyway. She haltingly opened her eyes to find green eyes misted over and filled with a mix of hurt and affection. “That won’t happen. It’s simply not possible, Kara. And do you want to know why I’m so sure?” Lena asked with a tilt of her head, her fingers fidgeting with the impossible desire to pull Kara close.

“Why are you so sure?” Kara repeated with a tremulous voice.

“Because I liked you before we even met.” Lena replied with a shy smile. “I have never felt so safe and so at home as I did when I first moved into your apartment. That apartment was filled with cheesy board games, more books than the local library, and more warmth than anywhere else I have ever lived. How could I not like the person who lived there?”

Kara breathed out deeply as the anxiety began to ebb away with Lena’s honest words and ardent expression. “Thank you.” Kara whispered as she felt herself return to her normal equilibrium.

“Anytime.” Lena promised, quirking a more amused yet sincere gaze at Kara. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Alright, so the goal is to find out more about you… but… you know… if we run into Supergirl… that would be good as well.” Lena muttered offhandedly, out of the corner of her mouth as she peered around the office space obviously looking intently for a placard that read ‘SUPERGIRL’ in big letters.

Kara huffed and crossed her arms petulantly, recognising the anger boiling inside of her for the now familiar emotion of jealousy. “You know I read some of her articles…” Kara said conversationally.

“Really?” Lena whispered with a surprised turn of her head in Kara’s direction, forgetting not to draw too much attention to the fact that she was talking to herself.

“Yeah, you left your album out.” Kara replied stiffly.

“And? What did you think?” Lena prompted with a curious eyebrow raise.

“Ehh… Cliched.” Kara commented dismissively.

“Cliched?!” Lena repeated astounded, her jaw dropping.

“Yeah, cliched. Also rather dull and simplistic as well.” Kara continued, enjoying being able to vent out her jealousy in what she believed to be a healthy and unobvious manner. Admittedly, she might have stopped there if she had been aware of the steadily darkening glare on Lena’s face, who (due to their public location) was unable to argue back as vehemently as she wanted to in return. “And a bit heavy-handed with the whole hero stuff. And her writing could do with major editing. Like… she just goes on and on, without stopping. I bet you, in person, she loves the sound of her own voice and won’t shut up for anything. Like you want her to just stop talking but-”

“Hello, Miss. Luthor. Is there something I can help you with?” Kara and Lena both turned to face the man who spoke, wary of whether the speaker would be hostile based on the fact that he recognised Lena by her last name.

“Mr. Olsen, right? We met at Luthor Corp’s charity ball last year.” Kara’s surge of apprehension faded as Lena shifted to an at ease composure around the towering, well dressed man, who Kara had to admit had one of the most genuinely sincere smiles she had ever seen.

“Please, call me James.” James replied kindly as he and Lena shook hands with ease.

“Only if you call me Lena.”

“Will do. Anyway what can I or CatCo do for you today?” James asked again as he gestured Lena towards his office to provide some privacy.

Once inside, Lena glanced at Kara who had followed along silently, and gave her a determined nod of assurance. “I’m going to be honest and tell you that the reason I’m here is that I am, in actuality, a huge fan of CatCo magazine.” Lena began as she took a seat across from James who, courteously, only sat down behind his desk when Lena had settled.

James’ brow furrowed as he asked incredulously, “Is Luthor Corp interested in buying Catco?”

“What?! No! Why? Is CatCo being sold?” Lena spluttered, completely taken aback.

“Oh… uh, yes.” James answered, trying to hide his embarrassment at jumping to the wrong conclusion. “The board is looking for a buyer. The only person with the funds and interest to do so is... Morgan Edge.” James expanded with a dejected tone revealing his distaste at the prospect of working for this potential owner.

“I understand, I’ve had less than pleasant dealings with the man myself.” Lena sympathised, her kindly expression being taken at face value by James, but Kara, who had grown to know Lena, could see the dark shadows that crossed her face as she spoke. Lena was, obviously, understating how poorly her interactions with Morgan Edge had previously been and Kara felt an instant and potent dislike for this man she didn’t know grow within her. “I’m guessing he would implement some rather radical changes at CatCo?”

“That would be an understatement.” James murmured, as the confidence and gentleness he had been exuding turned despondent for a heavy second.

Kara watched James intently and found her heart went out to him without hesitation as if she knew him so well that his sadness had a personal impact on her.

Kara knew then and there, even though she didn’t remember, that she knew James.

That he had been her friend. A close friend.

The sadness that clung to James in that moment disappeared as he shook his head and forced a friendly smile, returning the focus back to Lena. “Sorry, I interrupted you with that tangent, you were saying?”

Lena bit her lip thoughtfully as she scrutinised James behind the desk. Kara realised that Lena had also picked up on James’ melancholy and was pleased Lena was clearly trying to decide whether allowing the topic change was in James’ best interest. “Right. I was saying that I am an embarrassingly big fan of CatCo magazine. And I was hoping… if possible...  to, maybe, meet one of my favourite reporters? Just to pass along my compliments.” Lena asked so demurely and with such deference, Kara knew that James stood absolutely no chance of saying no to her.

“I’m certain, I can make that happen. Every reporter here would love to know they have you as a fan.” James said acquiescing immediately resulting in Kara coughing something that sounded an awful lot like ‘suck up’. “Who’s the lucky writer?”

Lena visibly hesitated at the internal dilemma this question presented causing Kara’s jaw to drop in outrage, “Don’t you dare say Supergirl.”

Lena flashed a put out expression at Kara who was stood off to the side. “Umm… Kara Danvers?” Lena, responded with a lilting voice as if she wasn’t quite sure of the answer herself which deeply offended Kara.

James blinked very rapidly and dipped his head to look at the papers strewn across the top of his desk. Kara waited with bated breath for the ‘I’m so sorry to tell you…’, or the ‘Ah… actually, there’s something you should know…’. Instead what came out was: “She’s not here right now.”

Kara and Lena exchanged a bewildered glance, completely not expecting the diversionary answer.

“I’m surprised Lena, I didn’t really think Kara’s work would be really your style.” James continued, brushing past his first statement without hesitation.

“Oh, why is that?”

“I always had you pegged as more of a hard-hitting, investigative journalist type rather than anecdotal, uplifting, columnist type.” James replied with a wave of his hand.

“Columnist type?” Lena repeated slowly.

“Yeah… the Supergirl column?” James said equally slowly, worried that he had missed something and jumped to conclusions again.

Realisation dawned on both women.

Lena’s face broke out steadily into the smuggest smile in the history of the universe. Kara, in turn, paled and threw her head back so hard in dismay that if she had been corporeal she would have knocked herself out when it connected with the wall.

“Kara is Supergirl? Supergirl is Kara?” Disbelief laced Lena’s every word as she trembled with barely restrained gloating.

“Uh… yes?” James answered, feeling as if he was taking a test that he hadn’t even remotely prepared for.

“Right. Right. Sorry about that… I just… love the sound of my own voice. ” Lena said bright eyed and grinning.

Kara groaned loudly and miserably from where she was merging with the wall.

“And, I’ve just got to ask out of personal curiosity… does the Supergirl column require a lot of editing before going to print?” Lena asked, wide eyed and eager.

“Not really…. But that might be down to the fact Kara is very set against the story being diminished by over-editing.” James shook his head wearily as he spoke indicating just how passionately ‘set against’ editing Kara truly was.

“Really?” Lena squeaked, as she fought off the laughter. Kara couldn’t help noticing how Lena, in that moment, looked like Christmas had come early.

“I get it, okay?” Kara whispered in frustration as she knelt down beside Lena’s chair.

Lena faked a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand so that she could quietly reply, “Oh, was I being heavy-handed?” Kara rolled her eyes as she got to her and went sulk in the corner. “So, it’s not possible to meet Supergirl?” Lena checked when she had finished her fake yawn.

“Err… Not today.” James coughed.

Lena pursed her lips as James dodged the truth, finally deciding to push the issue especially as she had picked up on the repeated use of the present tense James insisted on using with regards to Kara, “I’d heard a rumour… which, I’ll be honest, is what prompted my visit in the first place to check for myself… that… um…,” Lena started attempting to be as tactful as possible, “Kara had passed on…”

“Passed on…?” James repeated dumbly. “You mean moved to a different magazine?”

Lena opened and closed her mouth unsure how to push the conversation delicately, “I mean ‘passed on’... to the other side…”

“Kara would never work for a tabloid.” James swiftly denied, jumping into action to defend his employee’s integrity.

Kara was seriously rethinking her original impression of James as she couldn’t believe that someone who ran a major communication corporation could so belligerently miss what was being implied. Lena, it appeared, had also reached the end of her fuse as she threw tiptoeing around the subject right out the window, “Dead. I mean dead.” Lena exclaimed causing Kara and James to wince awkwardly.

“Wow, tactful.” Kara deadpanned as James’ jaw dropped.

“He wasn’t getting there…”, Lena mumbled under her breath.

“Well, he’s definitely there now…”, Kara stopped talking the instant Lena made eye contact with her.

The non-verbal conversation that passed between them at that moment meant they almost missed what James said next after he had sufficiently recovered from his bout of shock.

“Kara’s not dead.” It was said so simply and surely, neither women really registered it for a long, pregnant pause.

Lena’s now blank, uncomprehending gaze moved from James to Kara and back again.

Kara wasn’t even aware if anything else was going on or being said. There was a distinct and ever-present ringing in her ears that was keeping her full attention.

“I’m sorry… can you repeat that?” Lena requested completely devoid of emotion.

“Kara’s not dead.”

“What?!”

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, you aren’t dead...” Lena breathed out as she stepped into the hospital room and saw the comatose figure on the bed.

Kara couldn’t bring herself to move further inside the spacious hospital room, couldn’t bring herself to even really look at her body. And it was definitely her body.

Her golden hair strewn across the hospital pillows.

Her hands resting lifelessly on either side of the bed.

Her skin, now far more pale and sallow, than her ghostly form but still hers.

Her familiar, tiny scar next to her eyebrow.

Kara averted her eyes away from the body in the bed and focused her attention on the room. A fresh vase of bright pink and purple flowers, was positioned with obvious care and attention to detail beside the bed. Get well soon cards littered any and all available surfaces; the cards came in various shapes, sizes and themes, some funny, some emotional, all again placed to ensure that they were visible to the unaware form tucked in the bed. What caught Kara’s attention, though, above all of this was the brown, well-loved, patched up teddy bear that was resting as close to Kara’s body as possible like a loving and protective sentinel.

Clearly, there were people that cared for her and this gave Kara the strength she needed to face the bed once again.

“It’s you. Kara, it’s really you.” Lena whispered as she approached the side of the bed, completely oblivious to the decorations of the room as Kara mesmerised and consumed her entire attention. She peered down at Kara’s body in utter amazement and awe.

Kara cautiously crept forward to stand on the other side of the bed to Lena. The wires and tubes were far more obvious up close, and the beeping of the machines seemed deafening. “How is this even possible?”

Kara still couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t believed James when he had said it and she didn’t believe it now with the evidence right in front of her.

This changed everything.

She was alive (to some degree that is) and was now faced with possibilities.

Possibilities Kara found she was unable to fully comprehend.

Lena glanced up to Kara’s, no longer ‘ghostly’ but, ‘disembodied’ form and shrugged helplessly, “We both thought you being a ghost was possible, why is this any different?”

“Because…. I’m alive, Lena. I’m right there…”, Kara cried out, the depth of the crease in her forehead reaching new profoundness as her mind swirled and stormed.

“Kara, we’ll figure this out, I promise.” Lena swore with a steely glint in her eye as she reinforced her sentiment by reaching down to hold Kara’s physical hand in her own.

Kara raised her ghostly, intangible hand and stared at it.

It was tingling with pressure, it felt warm and encompassed by some unseen force. “I can feel that…”, Kara said softly completely spellbound by the sensation of being able to feel human contact.

Lena’s eyes snapped down to where her fingers were wrapped around Kara’s, with a growing smile on her face she squeezed Kara’s hand and brushed her thumb over the knuckles. Kara gasped as she felt a reassuring tightness and then a soothing flutter across her skin marking Lena’s actions perfectly.

“You’re still connected to your body.” Lena jubilantly exclaimed like a scientist yelling out eureka. Lena let go of Kara’s hand (Kara immediately mourned the loss) so that she could gesture between Kara (non-corporeal) and Kara (corporeal) before commanding without much forethought, “Touch yourself!”

Kara burned hotter than the sun as her face turned red and she began to choke on nothing.

It took Lena at least another ten seconds of gesturing to realise what she had said and how it could be interpreted, “I mean touch your body… I mean… I mean… YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!”

“Right, yep.” Kara assured, unable to look at Lena, who, in turn, paced away from the bed to regain control of her own rapidly developing blush. Kara stepped up to the bed and slowly extended her hand out to brush against her own forearm. Kara’s fingers hovered above her skin; filled with apprehension she took a deep breath and pushed forward those final millimeters.

Her fingers passed, without resistance, through the bed bound body.

No warm sensation.

No feeling.

Nothing.

Kara pulled back her hand, her shoulders drooping at the lack of, well… anything. “Nothing…”,  Kara said dismally.

Lena sighed, immediately beginning to pace back and forth as she tried to come up with a plan. After a few minutes she halted, “You know, in chemistry, you can put two chemicals together but no reaction will occur until you put energy into the mixture.” Lena remarked thoughtfully, cupping her elbow with one hand and tapping the finger of her other hand against her chin whilst she examined the two Karas.

“So, you think, we might be missing energy?” Kara asked, tilting her head to the side like a puppy trying to better appraise the situation.

“Possibly…”, Lena sighed, coming to stand at the foot of the bed as she gazed intently at the immobile woman.

“Okay… so how do we add ‘energy’?” Kara prompted employing the use of air quotes as she did so.

“Uh… how about a running start?” Lena suggested lifting her shoulders up and giving a full bodied shrug.

“A running start?”

“Yep.”

“You want me to run and jump into my body?” Kara repeated with raised eyebrows as if to truly say, ‘you can’t be serious’.

“Have you got a better idea?” Lena huffed.

“Well… no.” Kara relented as she tried to think of literally anything else. “Alright, move over.” Kara ordered, flapping her hands to usher Lena to the other side of the room by the door so she could have a runway up to the foot of the bed.

Kara backed up until she was as far away from the bed as she could get without passing through the wall; she began to swing her arms by her sides in long sweeping motions to build momentum. “Would you like a countdown?” Lena offered with a smirk, rather enjoying the show of Kara amping herself up for literally the couple of metres she would charge.

“I know you’re mocking me… but yes, if you could, that would be great.” Kara said between deep steadying breaths, an activity that took up so much of her focus she missed the beginnings of a blush consume Lena’s features as she watched Kara ready herself.

“Oh… uh… yeah… sure.” Lena choked out as she pulled her eyes away from Kara’s legs that kept tensing and untensing. Kara shot a curious glance at the other woman due to her croaky tone but quickly narrowed her eyes and continued focusing on the task at hand. Kara conjured up an image in her mind of reuniting with her body. “One… Two… Three. GO!” Lena yelled and Kara dashed forward proceeding to leap into the air when she was only a step away from the bed.

Lena crossed her fingers tightly by her side as Kara soared through the air about to bodyslam into her comatose, physical body like a pro-wrestler when she heard the hospital room door open and a recognisable voice call out, “Lena?”

Lena spun on the spot, missing the sight of Kara passing through her body without stopping, disappearing through the bed and slamming into the floor. The now, unseeable Kara let out a loud groan of pain and frustration which told Lena that their plan had literally belly flopped.

“Alex?” Lena said as she took in the redhead who was stood in the doorway with a quizzical expression on her face as she shut the door behind herself and strolled into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Alex inquired with a tilt of her head; a movement Lena found distinctly familiar.

Lena pursed her lips as she quickly thought up a good excuse, “Checking in on the hospital, seeing if there is anything else I can do. Making sure the rooms and the patients have everything they need.” Kara let out another groan of pain from behind Lena, who had to forcibly stop herself from turning around to see if her friend was okay.

The agent smiled broadly at Lena’s excuse, thankfully accepting it as the truth. “Do you ever rest?” Alex asked as she raised a to go cup of coffee up for inspection, “The new machine, by the way, is a godsend.”

Lena beamed at the comment; Lena had called around on her way back to the apartment (after speaking with Alex) to organise a new coffee machine to arrive first thing in the morning, and she was pleased to see that her effort had succeeded and was already being appreciated.

Lena rose an eyebrow as Alex walked comfortably past her to approach the bed, pausing to place her drink on the side. Alex, then proceeded to lean down, sweep golden hair out of the way and place a soft kiss on Kara’s forehead.

A vice-like grip wrapped tightly around Lena’s heart at that moment. Her eyes instantly sought out and found the glittering diamond ring on Alex’s finger that she had failed to notice the first time they had met

When James had said Kara wasn’t dead, had told them that she was at the Luthor Hospital, Lena hadn’t believed him for a second.

It had been too good to be true.

Then, she had seen her for herself. Had seen Kara, warm, alive and solid lying in that bed. Lena had been able to touch her, hold her hand and feel the life running through her.

Hope.

All consuming, incalculably potent hope.

The most destructive of emotions.

Hope meant Lena, finally, felt it was possible to admit that Kara had been slowly stealing tiny, almost imperceptible pieces of her heart from the moment she had moved into that damned apartment. Kara had wheedled away at Lena’s walls, chipping at them and breaking them down until she was laid out bare and vulnerable in front of her.

Lena had seen Kara alive and had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities it meant for the future.

Yes, Kara was comatose, but Lena had hope and intelligence; she was certain that she could and would figure it out. Nothing would prevent her from reconnecting Kara’s detached soul with her body. And once, that happened…

Lena shook her head and strived to hold off the tears stinging at her eyes and pushed all the fantasies she had happily conjured, in the space of a few minutes, out of her mind.

Kara was, obviously, in a relationship with a stunningly beautiful, charming and dedicated woman.

Lena’s hands clenched into tight fists at her side, her nails biting into the skin as she reinforced the idea that it didn't matter.

That, realistically, it changed nothing.

She would still get Kara back to her body and then they would go their separate ways. Lena admonished and belittled herself harshly in her mind as she reminded herself continuously that her and Kara weren’t anything to each other anyway. That the stupid fantasy she had allowed herself to indulge in had been just that… a fantasy. Even if Alex wasn’t Kara’s other half, the dream of something more was naive to the extreme.

Lena in the space of a couple of heartbeats had convinced herself that once Kara regained the ability to communicate with whomever she so desired, would have no further interest in speaking to Lena. Lena was just the only available option at present.

She and Kara were simply roommates due to a universe mishap.

Nothing more.

“Sorry about that, Kara gets antsy if I don’t say hello to her as soon as possible.” Alex apologised with a lopsided smile, completely unaware that Lena’s whole world had shifted on its axis in the space of those couple of seconds.

Non-corporeal Kara chose that moment to begin emerging from underneath the bed in a groggy and groaning state.

Lena couldn’t bring herself to look at either of the Kara’s at that moment and chose instead to give Alex her full attention as she switched into CEO mode: a polite yet guarded smile and an attentive, neutral expression. “I completely understand.” Lena reassured because, in all honesty, she did understand the joke after having lived with Kara.

In the early days of their apartment warfare when Lena was pretending that Kara wasn’t really there and ignoring her at every opportunity, Kara would follow her from room to room indefinitely, talking constantly about everything and nothing until Lena finally acknowledged her with a grunt or a greeting.

“You make a beautiful couple.” Lena added sincerely even though the words stabbed viciously at her heart.

Kara, who had finally scrambled free of the bed on the opposite side to Alex, realised that she and Lena were no longer alone in the room and began struggling to push herself to her feet to see who Lena was talking to.

Alex, in turn, blanched considerably at Lena’s words, going so far as to turn a sickly shade of green, and rapidly began shaking her head, “Woah, no! Completely wrong end of the stick there.” Alex vehemently denied. “See, Kara is my-”

The rest of what Alex was going to say was lost on Lena as Kara’s voice reverberated around the room with unrestrained emotion, “Sister.”

2 Months Ago

“Kara, where are you?” Alex whined in exasperation from the other end of the phone.

Kara glanced guiltily at the time to find she should have been there twenty minutes ago. Kara switched the phone onto speaker before throwing it down on the soft bedding as she rushed to get ready. “I’m leaving now, I swear.” Kara assured, trying to placate her sister as much as possible as she zipped around her bedroom, quickly stripping out of her work clothes between rummaging through her various articles of clothing in the search for a suitable dress.

“YOU HAVEN’T EVEN LEFT YET?!” Alex shouted causing Kara to wince sharply and drop at least three dresses onto the floor.

“I’m sorry. The interview ran long, and it was such an emotional story and it was so hard for her to share it. And I couldn’t just tell her to stop talking as I had somewhere else to be. And you know, it has taken me months to convince her how incredible and inspiring her story is and that it should be shared. And then she started crying and then I started crying and-”

“Kara! You’re rambling!” Alex cut in bringing Kara out of her verbal and mental spiral. The interruption made Kara aware that she had been pacing and had, on auto pilot, pulled on a dress.

“Right, sorry, thanks.” Kara exhaled deeply, dispersing the pressure that had built up in her chest as she spoke without pausing for air. Kara approached the mirror that was hung on the closet door to find the dress she had put on without thinking actually looked pretty good. It was a simple, baby blue that brought out her eyes, it fitted well and was within keeping with the smart casual dress-code for the evening.

“You know you’re meant to be giving a speech in like fifteen minutes, right?” Alex reprimanded.

“I won’t be late.” Kara promised, turning off the pop music that had been playing in the background, before picking up her bag, figuring she would sort any make-up or hair needs once she had arrived and could call upon Alex for aid. “Alright, heading out the door now.” Kara said as she scooped up the phone and headed to the front door, turning off the apartment lights as she went.

“I’m proud of you, by the way.” Alex stated softly, her words turning crackly through the speaker as Kara carried the phone with her.

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you? It’s the night of your engagement party.” Kara replied, taking the phone off speaker and balancing it between her ear and shoulder as she locked the flat’s front door.

“Well, yeah, you should be saying it to me.” Alex shot back with a mock offended tone that had Kara chuckling whilst she waved cheerfully at her elderly neighbour who was coming down the hallway. “But… in all seriousness, I am proud of you and the work you do. I just… I feel like… I don’t say it enough to you.”

Kara smiled shyly at her sister’s mumbled and slightly intoxicated declaration. Kara knew full well how sentimental Alex got after a few drinks and at big occasions where her family and friends were in attendance. “I love you, too.” Kara responded sincerely as she thudded down the stairs of the apartment complex.

“Alright, enough wishy-washy crap. Get your ass here. I need my sister and my fiancé is determined to set you up tonight.” Alex’s voice became gruff and Kara shook her head in amusement at her sister’s antics as she hefted open the building’s excessively heavy door.

“No, set-ups, Alex!” Kara admonished. “The last person you set me up with was a frat boy living in his mother’s basement who thought a good first date consisted of getting drunk, throwing up on me and then getting confused about why I didn’t want to sleep with him after all that.”

“I make one bad choice-”

“Maxwell. Lord.” Kara reminded, emphasising the name as she walked up the street trying to spot a cab she could hail.

Alex remained silent for a long moment, “Okay… I make two bad choices…” Kara snorted at her sister’s poor about turn. “But, I swear to god, if you mention Maxwell Lord in your speech tonight…” Alex threatened in a cold, quiet voice, “I will cancel Game Night indefinitely.”

Kara gasped in shock as Alex went straight for the nuclear weapon. “Fine, I’ll rewrite it on the way over, but no setups… I mean it!” Kara counter-demanded as she finally noticed an unoccupied and parked taxi on the other side of the road. Kara, muttered a grateful thanks under her breath for her bout of good fortune.

“Grr… deal.” Alex relented with a growl, “You should know, though, that it is my fiancé who thinks they’ve found your future soulmate-”

“Your fiancé has a name.” Kara reprimanded as she waved at the taxi driver who started the engine with a smile and gestured for her to come over. Alex had taken to calling her wife-to-be ‘my fiancé’ at every available opportunity, mostly to gloat, but Kara also knew that it was a way for Alex to combat her ever-present disbelief over the fact that she was actually getting married.

“Yeah, the future Mrs. Danvers.” Alex crooned, a slight slur becoming noticeable from the alcohol she had presumably been sipping throughout their conversation and since the start of her engagement party. “As I was saying… my fiancé… ”, Alex continued belligerently as Kara rotated her head from side to side to check that the road was clear before crossing. “Has found your dream girl… if she turns up… that is…” Alex coughed awkwardly as she trailed off; Kara rolled her eyes and smiled at the catch as she stepped out into the road.

“Story of my life, Alex. Always waiting for my dream girl to-”

“Always waiting for your dream girl to… what?” Alex’s voice called out from the phone that had clattered to the tarmac. “Kara?” Alex asked as she heard the sounds of tires and panicked shouting but nothing that sounded like her sister.

“Kara, are you still there?” Alex questioned, her voice becoming slightly strained as fear began to grow within her.

“Kara?!”

Present Day

“She’s my sister.” Kara choked out as she stared at Alex’s profile who was still blushing from embarrassment and awkwardness at Lena’s inaccurate assumption. “I remember everything.” Kara whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

Kara stared at her sister who didn’t react to her voice or her appearance.

Tears welled up and began to fall, sliding down her cheeks in large droplets.

Nothing hurt worse than this.

The realisation that she was inaudible, invisible and intangible to the person she loved most in the world.

Heartbreak and gut wrenching loneliness tore at Kara from the inside as she stared at Alex who didn’t glance at her even once.

The pain had reached its pinnacle when Kara felt that familiar warm tingle spread from her hand to the rest of her being. Kara turned her head, and through her watery eyes saw Lena.

Lena had come to stand by her side, her green eyes reflecting the sorrow in Kara’s as if she personally felt the heartache Kara was experiencing.

Kara felt another warm and reassuring tingle radiate from her hand.

She glanced down to find the source, only to discover Lena lightly swaying her own hand causing it to brush through Kara’s incorporeal one in a soothing, continuous motion providing the comfort Kara so desperately needed in that moment.

Chapter Text

2 Months Ago

Alex hated the coffee from the waiting room.

The first cup tasted like ground dirt. The second cup tasted like coffee that had been left out for about two years. The third cup tasted like, well… nothing since Alex had burnt her taste-buds away on the first two cups. The fourth cup tasted like ground dirt again.

Alex documented the taste of the coffee to occupy her time whilst she waited for Kara to get out of surgery. Meanwhile, Eliza paced up and down the small room and nearby corridors prodding anyone nurse or doctor that came by for more information. James, on the other hand, sat in the corner making phone calls, keeping everyone who was worried about Kara (which was a lot of people) in the know. Ruby fell asleep sometime past midnight. And Sam shifted into full mother-mode and was focused on making sure everyone was alright. She talked to Eliza, bought James a phone charger from the hospital store, got a blanket from a kind nurse to cover Ruby up with and gave Alex as much support and care as she could, even if that meant simply providing her fiance with cup after cup of awful coffee.

“Cup number five. I added one of those de-hydrated milk sachets that were on the side. Thought there was a chance it would improve the taste. Overly optimistic, I know.” Sam said softly with a small smile as she held out the polystyrene cup and slid into the seat beside Alex.

Alex nodded her thanks as she accepted the cup and muttered, "Weren’t those sachets covered in like an inch of dust?”

“Eh…”, Sam replied with a shrug, “That’s why I’m making you try it out first.”

Alex let out a half-hearted chuckle, appreciating what Sam was trying to do more than it actually succeeding. Her laugh must have died out too quickly if Sam linking their fingers together and pulling Alex into her side so the agent’s head was tucked between the crook of her neck and shoulder was any sign.

“It was my fault.” Alex finally whispered, feeling safe enough to voice the guilt that had been consuming her the moment a stranger had picked Kara’s phone off the tarmac and told her that there had been an accident. Not having to look Sam in the eyes as she said the words but still feeling her arms around her gave her the security to speak.

Sam sighed deeply as she kissed the top of Alex’s head and then asked in a quiet voice so no one else could hear them, “Do you know Ruby broke her arm when she was six?”

Alex shook her head gently, her voice too scratchy to use.

“Long story short? She fell off the swing at the local park.” Sam stated with a casual tone. “Work was incredibly hectic and I was on my phone constantly. And… I,” Sam cleared her throat as she spared a quick glance at her daughter curled up on the green sofa across the room. “I wasn’t paying any attention to her, she fell and I didn’t even notice. Another mother at the park had to come over and get me.” Alex squeezed Sam’s hand in her own as she felt her go tense at the memory. “I felt like I had failed her, like it was all my fault.”

“I see what you are doing…” Alex choked out as she shifted even closer to Sam’s reassuring warmth.

“Is it working?” Sam queried.

“Not right now… but it will.” Alex answered after some reflection.

“Well, until then… I promise you an unlimited supply of truly atrocious coffee.” Sam promised as she played with the ring on Alex’s finger.

“See, this is why I’m marrying you.” Alex mumbled sleepily.

Alex curled up into Sam’s side and dozed fitfully, eventually waking up when the surgeon appeared grim-faced and stoic with news. The surgeon had enough social skills to realise he shouldn’t beat around the bush with his information and assured everyone that Kara was alive but…

Coma.

Alex didn’t hear much after that.

Wasn’t really aware of much either.

She was vaguely aware that Eliza was questioning the surgeon on every aspect of Kara’s condition and the surgery itself. James was calling Lucy, who was currently out of town, giving her the news and looking for personal support and comfort. Ruby was asking panicked questions about when Aunt Kara would wake up. Sam was trying valiantly to balance looking after Alex and fielding Ruby’s questions.

To be honest, there was only two things Alex remembered of the two days that followed the surgeon’s news regarding Kara’s state. The first was the image of her bright, excitable, ever hopeful, little sister, immobile and silent in the hospital bed surrounded by machines. The second was the grey pallored lawyer sitting her down and saying the words: medical power of attorney.

For the following month, Kara’s family and friends were ever present.

Kara’s work colleagues stopped by every other day to check in. Old friends from out of town travelled into see how she was doing. Eliza, put off returning to Midvale, spending her time constantly arranging and rearranging all the get well soon cards around the room. James regularly stopped by after work to read Kara the news and any submitted articles by her work colleagues that she would have found interesting if she was awake. Lucy even got away from work for a couple of days and more or less camped out in Kara’s room whilst she was there much to James’ appreciation and chagrin. Sam brought fresh flowers at every available opportunity to bring in some colour and freshness. Ruby visited Kara after school everyday and, in Alex’s opinion, made the best and most generous addition to Kara’s room. Ruby left her favourite brown teddy-bear that she’d had for years at Kara’s side, promising that it would watch over Kara when she was alone.

“Are you ready to talk to about it, yet?” Sam asked every evening as they got ready for bed.

Every evening Alex replied, “Not yet… ask me tomorrow.”  

Sam would always nod at the request then pull Alex into her arms as they settled under the covers and whisper, “Miracles do happen, you know?”

“I know. I met you, remember? That’s the biggest miracle I could have asked for.” Alex would murmur as she drifted off to sleep.

The Arias-Danvers family quickly settled into their routine.

However, Alex felt a shift in the second month of Kara’s coma.

Old friends gradually forgot to call and ask how Kara was doing. Kara’s work colleagues stopped making the trek to see Kara after work. Eliza had to go back to Midvale and her own job (though she still came back for the weekends as much as she could). James was staying at work later and later, to cover Kara’s workload to ensure that her job was still waiting for her when she got out, unfortunately this meant that he had less time to actually visit the friend he was trying to protect. Lucy couldn’t get anymore time away from work for another visit. Sam still bought flowers whenever she came to the hospital, however, this was less often since she had to organise postponing the wedding and keeping the home fires going as Alex was strained to capacity with her job and being at Kara’s side as much as possible. Ruby remained consistent, still coming into the hospital after school everyday to do her homework in Kara’s hospital room and tell the comatose woman about her day.

“You won’t believe who I ran into today.” Alex called out as she shut the front door behind herself and made her way to the kitchen that was producing the most appetising fragrances.

“Who?” Two sets of voices asked at the same time.

Alex walked into the kitchen just as Ruby finished setting the table and Sam began dishing up. “Lena Luthor.” Alex said slowly as she sank into her designated seat at the table. The effect on the Arias girls was immediate: Ruby smiled widely and bounced on her chair whilst Sam looked equal parts sad and hopeful.

A break in at the tech company that Sam had started working at was how her and Alex met. Alex, instantly crushing on the other woman, found every excuse in the book to warrant coming back to ask more questions until Sam bluntly asked Alex out to coffee who agreed with a strange sputtering sound. It wasn’t long into their relationship that the two women realised they had the Luthors in common, through Alex’s work in the Lex Luthor investigation and Sam’s old friendship with Lena. It was following this revelation that the couple came the closest they ever had to breaking-up. Alex, blinded by the pain she had seen first hand caused by the Luthors, commented that Sam was lucky to not have a Luthor in her life anymore. Sam had gone deadly quiet and in the harshest tone that Alex had ever heard come from the doting mother warned Alex to never speak of her friend like that ever again, especially in front of Ruby.

Alex immediately sought out her sister to complain about her girlfriend’s reaction only to find absolutely no sympathy from Kara whatsoever. CatCo had been writing pieces on Lena and LuthorCorp for years and Kara was adamant that Lena was trying to do good against the unearned hatred of the masses. After a severe reprimanding from Kara, Alex returned to Sam with her tail between her legs and grovelled to the best of her ability. Sam easily relented and accepted Alex’s apology and proceeded to tell Alex about her friendship with Lena.

Lena and Sam had met in college and instantly bonded as Lena had been extremely supportive of Ruby and doted on her at every opportunity; Sam was even convinced she wouldn’t have been able to finish college if Lena hadn’t been around to help her. Ruby’s favourite toy for the majority of her childhood was the fluffy, brown, teddy bear her aunt had given her when she had admitted to being scared of starting school. Lena had handed her the bear with the promise that this teddy bear would watch over her even when Lena or her mom weren’t around. Unsurprisingly, after Lena was thrust into the spotlight following her brother’s descent into insanity and death, Lena would still go out of her way to priortise Ruby and Sam above everything else. That was until Ruby received a death threat in the mail from a Luthor hater. Lena completely broke apart and cut all ties much to the dismay and heartbreak of the Arias girls.

Sam tried regularly to reach out to Lena over the years, even going so far as to send her an invite to her engagement party which admittedly was a longshot as Lena moved so often there was no guarantee she would have received it anyway.

“How was she?” Sam inquired with a melancholic tone.

Alex bit her lip in thought, “She seemed sad at first but cheered up when I asked if she had anyone waiting for her at home.”

“Aunty Lena is dating someone?” Ruby exclaimed, happy at the news that someone who had meant so much to her may have found love.

“Err… possibly.” Alex answered with a shrug as she began to dig into the chicken pie placed in front of her.

“You met her at the hospital?” Sam questioned.

“Yeah, she was working on improvements for the place.”

“Sounds like Lena.” Sam commented with a knowing eye roll. “Did you-”

“Yes. I said thank you and I asked her to replace the coffee machine.” Alex cut in with a smug smile.

Sam gave Alex an unimpressed look at the interruption, “I was going to say: did you mention me or Ruby?”

“Errrrr….”, Alex whined, “I asked about the coffee machine. I get points for that, right?”

Ruby snorted with laughter which caused Sam to shake her head in faux-annoyance. “You do… but not enough points to get out of washing up.”

Alex groaned but couldn’t stop the smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Dinner passed with light-hearted talk followed by a small, family game night but… throughout all of it, Alex missed Kara.

Kara who was currently alone in a hospital room.

Kara who was hooked up to  machines.

Kara who would never have an evening like this with her own family.

Kara who she would never get to speak to again.

Kara who she was keeping trapped in the hospital, in a grey room, as more and more people slowly forgot to keeping visiting.

“I think I’m ready to talk about it.” Alex choked out as she sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, before Sam even had a chance to ask that night. Sam, who was in the process of brushing out her hair, froze for a second took a deep breath then walked over to sit down beside Alex and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Okay.” Sam breathed out, “Where should we start?”

“What would Kara want?” Alex suggested with a voice already cracking at the very topic.

Present Day

Kara fought down the tears as much as she could as she stared at her sister.

Alex looked almost exactly the same as she had done when Kara had last seen her. Her hair was slightly longer making her curls more prominent, she was dressed in her standard leather jacket and jeans, and she still had that steely aura of confidence that was distinctly Alex to the core. The only crucial difference was the shadows under her eyes. They weren’t overly noticeable if you didn’t know Alex well enough but Kara knew her sister better than anyone.

Kara saw the shadows.

She saw the sadness and the pain.

“Sorry, my mistake.” Lena apologised with a weak smile, her attention taken up too much in subtly trying to comfort Kara to be able to convincingly fake her way through a conversation with Alex. Lena needed to get herself and Kara out of there as soon as possible before the agent noticed Lena’s already erratic behaviour. “I saw the ring and just presumed-”

Alex glanced down at the ring on her finger and began twisting it around in nervousness as she tried to take the opening offered to her, “Actually… I’m getting married to-”,

“I should really be going. I need to stop by other patients… see what else I can do to help.” Lena continued speaking, not registering Alex’s words as she focused on trying to entice Kara towards the door by passing her fingers back and forth through Kara’s hand.

“Oh… okay. It was nice to see you again, Lena.” Alex mumbled, deflating significantly, as she watched Lena leave, jerking her left hand seemingly in random motions as she did so.

Lena hurriedly led Kara down a few corridors until they were in the empty office she had used not so long ago on the night she had first met Alex. Once Lena had shut the door, closing themselves off from the rest of the world, Lena gave Kara her full attention. “We’ll figure this out, okay? We’ll get you back to your body, I promise. We’ll get you back to your sister.” Lena had no idea how she generated the confidence that went with her grandiose promises but she knew she would stay true to her word. Lena would move heaven and earth to never have to see Kara look so distraught ever again.

Lena continued to brush her fingers through Kara’s hands, not sure if Kara could even feel the interaction but hoping that just seeing the action would at least provide some sort of comfort. Kara stared down at where Lena’s hands were sending warm flares to the rest of her body.

“She didn’t see me.” Kara eventually forced herself to choke out.

“I know, darling.” Lena whispered, the term of endearment instinctively slipping out.

Kara stared up into Lena’s captivating green eyes that were filled with such sympathy and the burning desire to do something, anything for her. Kara swallowed thickly as she gnawed on her bottom lip, “She looked so sad.”

Lena exhaled deeply and shook her head, “Kara…”

Kara dipped her gaze to the floor, struggling to say what she intended to do when looking into Lena’s eyes. “I need to stay.”

Lena blinked once, her mouth dropping open ever so slightly in shock. “What?” Lena muttered, feeling cracks begin to spread across her heart as the sharp pains of loneliness she had gotten used to not having returned.

Kara didn’t see the heartbreak in Lena’s eyes all she saw was Lena’s hands retreating to her sides, and feeling the sharp loss of warmth they had provided. “Maybe…. Maybe… this is where I need to be. My body is here and my sister…” Kara trailed off.

Kara desperately, selfishly, wanted to stay with Lena, wanted to stay with the one person who could see and hear her.

Actually, that’s not true.

Kara didn’t want to stay with Lena as she was the only option, she wanted to stay with Lena because she made Kara happy. She made Kara laugh, made her feel safe, made her think, made her day so much better.

But Alex…

Alex must have come and seen her everyday.

Sat by Kara’s side even when Kara couldn’t see or hear her either, simply hoping that her presence provided at least a modicum of comfort.

So, shouldn’t Kara do the same?

If Alex was struggling… shouldn’t she be there for her? Like Alex had obviously done for her.

“I need to stay.” Kara said more resolutely this time as she resolved herself to her decision.

“I understand.” Lena murmured after a long pause. Lena, genuinely, did understand, she would have made the exact same decision if it had been the Lex she remembered from her childhood in Alex’s place. “Well… um…”, Lena began, shifting into business mode as a way to protect and distance herself from her emotions, “I will do some research and figure out-”

“Lena, please don’t.” Kara pleaded, hurt by the brusque, dismissive tone that Lena was using on her.

“I have some leads I can look into. I’ll stop by in a… a week or so?” Lena asked as she felt the sting of tears in her eyes.

“Lena.” Kara repeated desperately as Lena took a step back.

“I’ll figure this out, I promise.” Lena stated determinedly leaving Kara little doubt that she meant it even if she was withdrawing into herself and away from Kara.

“I know you will, you’re a genius, remember?” Kara hoped the attempt at humour and the callback to when they had first properly met would bring the real Lena back. Would give Kara a glimpse of the person who meant so much to her before they separated.

Lena froze, slowly untensing, as she carefully looked at Kara, “I’ll miss you.” She murmured so honestly, Kara’s breath stuttered out in response.

“I’ll miss you too, Lena.” Kara replied equally earnest, never wishing for the ability to hug Lena more than in that moment.

Chapter Text

Kara poked her head through her hospital room wall to check that Alex was still there. Upon seeing that the red-head was sat by the blonde’s bedside reading out choice articles from the latest Catco magazine, adding in her usual derisive comments about how the writer doesn’t hold a candle to her sister, Kara crossed into the room and came to stand beside her.

“Oooh, how about next we read ten fairytale princess hairstyles that you can do at home?” Alex asked with over the top cheer.

“As long as you promise not to try them out on me, sure. I still haven’t forgiven you for the mess you made of my hair for prom.” Kara remarked with a dark glare, the bird’s nest-esque hairstyle flashing through her mind, as she watched Alex scrutinise the first picture far too intently for Kara’s liking.

“I can try them out on your hair. With you in a coma, you can’t mess up all my hardwork like you did for your prom.” Alex grumbled under her breath eliciting a sharp gasp of outrage from Kara. WIth Alex unaware of her indignation, Kara huffed bitterly and settled on the floor beside the armchair as Alex continued to point out her favourite styles to the unresponsive figure in the bed.

Five minutes passed of Kara disagreeing with every hairstyle Alex liked when the door to Kara’s room opened to reveal a cheery pre-teen girl swinging her bag off her shoulders and into her hands. Kara instantly beamed brightly at the arrival of her more-or-less adopted niece. She couldn’t help noticing that Ruby’s hair was shorter and she was now carrying a new backpack causing Kara to experience a familiar twinge of loss. Thankfully, though, not a lot of time had passed so it wasn’t as if the young girl had grown a few inches or radically changed as she shifted into being a teenager, appeasing Kara for the most part.

Ruby’s eyes alighted brightly upon seeing Alex already present and seated. “What are you doing here?” Ruby demanded in lieu of a greeting as she rushed over to the red head with a wide smile and a curious expression that was the spitting image of her mother’s. Alex opened her arms and pulled Ruby into a hug.

“It’s nice to see you too. My day was good, how was yours?” Alex deadpanned with an eyebrow raise, causing Ruby to grumble and roll her eyes.

“Hello. Happy, now? How come you’re here?” Ruby rushed through the greeting unfazed, and Alex’s eyes glinted with affection much to Kara’s enjoyment.

“I was investigating a case a couple of blocks away and had an hour free, figured I’d stop by now so I could spend some time with you and your mum later.” Alex answered easily with a shrug as Ruby stepped up to stand beside Kara’s bed and squeeze her aunt’s hand in greeting.

Kara stared down at her intangible fingers hoping to feel Ruby’s action like she had done when Lena had touched her. Her hand, though, remained void of feeling and Kara felt herself deflate as she watched the little family interact, unable to join in or feel involved in anyway, shape or form.

Kara already missed Lena.

Not the ability to feel some form of contact or sensation from another person. But Lena specifically.

Lena would know the exact right thing to say or do to make her feel better. Would provide just the right amount of comfort, the right amount of humour so Kara didn’t feel so alone anymore.

“How is she today?” Ruby asked as she stared down at the bedridden blonde.

Kara watched as behind Ruby’s back, Alex’s face went stricken with sorrow before she forced a smile and answered in a light voice, “Bitter. She still hasn’t let senior prom go.”

“Really, I’m the one who’s bitter?” Kara’s retort went unacknowledged, which was probably for the best as Alex always fought dirty when they bickered.

Ruby giggled as she began to pull her school books out of her bag, Alex quickly offered the armchair she had been occupying, stating that she should probably get back to work soon anyway. “What’s Kara helping you with today?” Alex asked curiously as she gathered up her items.

“Algebra. She always helps me with maths.” Ruby replied simply as Alex bent down to kiss Kara’s forehead, then Ruby’s before leaving.

“If… if Kara can’t help, you know me and your mum are here as well, right?” Alex offered in a quiet voice as she lingered uncertainly beside the young girl.

Ruby paused for a long minute, freezing in the process of moving her books around as she pondered what Alex was saying. “I know.” Ruby whispered. “But Kara always used to help me with my homework. It’s our thing, you know?”

“I know.” Alex repeated as she gave Ruby a final, tight hug before making her exit.

Kara hesitated for a fraction of a second, undecided whether to follow Alex or stay with Ruby… but Ruby’s statement quickly helped her make up her mind. This was the time that Kara and Ruby always used to spend together. Her decision made, Kara waved her sister farewell as she settled down to proudly watch Ruby remember everything Kara had ever taught her to complete her homework.

-

Kara easily settled into the rhythm and routine of the Arias-Danvers family over the next few days.

Sam was always the first one up in the house and Kara would trail after her through the kitchen enjoying the secondhand fumes of the coffee that Sam drank as she sat beside her to watch the headline news. Those few minutes of calm were followed by utter madness as Sam took a deep breath to do battle with her morning resistant fiancé and daughter with the intent of getting them up and out of their respective beds. Each morning Kara was flabbergasted with how well Sam handled Alex’s morning grumpiness with ease and managed to get Ruby out of the door on time.

The frantic movement and hurried exits left Kara with the pleasant dilemma of deciding who she would follow for the day.

Day One:

“The mother-in-law did it.” Kara commented as Alex finished up assessing the scene. “I mean just look how secretly pleased she is. She’s pretty much doing an evil cackle.” Alex completely deaf to Kara’s insightful assessment continued to jot down notes in her notebook. “Oh, don’t tell me you fell for her waterworks, that was so obviously fake! And I should know, I used to pull that trick on you all the time!” Kara bellowed as she paced back and forth in front of her sister in the foyer of the murder victim’s house.

“How is everything going, Agent Danvers?” The crisp question came from Alex’s superior, John Jones, who Kara had met numerous times and knew to be a key role model to her sister.

Alex straightened up on the spot, trying to appear even more professional than she already was which Kara didn’t think was possible until that moment. “CSI have nearly finished, and I’ve interviewed the witnesses.”

“Any main suspects so far?” Agent Jones questioned with a curious glance.

“The mother-in-law did it.” Kara stated confidently as she stepped between the two agents with a cocky stance.

Alex remained quiet and thoughtful for a long moment before crossing her arms over her chest and nodding to herself, “I think the brother did it, he has the biggest motive. With his brother out of the picture he stands to inherit the entirety of his parent’s fortune and gains control of the company him and his brother ran together.”

“Yeah but…. The mother-in-law looks scary….”, Kara defended weakly.

Day Two:

“Oh my god, your job is so boring!” Kara moaned as Alex continued to complete paperwork for the fourth hour straight. “Where’s the gun fights and car chases?” Kara mumbled to the focused agent. “At least go talk to someone or go for a walk or... anything! Your office has absolutely no natural light, that isn’t good for you, no wonder you’re becoming more and more peaky.” Kara scrutinised her sister’s pasty complexion under the flashing ceiling lights.

Kara was bored beyond belief.

She had exhausted all the games she could think of to keep herself entertained.

She had played the, ‘what’s in every agent’s drawer game’, by poking her head through their desks. Hodgkins, who had been in the department for nearly fifteen years, had food that could probably be traced back to his first day on the job. Lucas had several NSFW magazines and photos that had Kara blushing for at least an hour. Vazquez’s drawer, though, had put an end to that game when Kara found several gruesome crime scene photos that had turned her stomach.

Kara then tried to guess who was responsible for the cases everyone was working on which was fun for five minutes but was now on pause until the cases were actually solved.

After that Kara counted sheep for an excessively long time. 14,565 sheep were each individually named and given identifiable markers and accessories. (Ewestace Ramsey was Kara’s personal favourite.)

“You know, what?” Kara said angrily to her sister who was giving her undivided attention to a witness statement. “I’m going to school with Ruby tomorrow as it has to be slightly more interesting than this.”

Day Three:

“Damn it! School still sucks!”

Day Four:

By day four, Kara had accepted the monotony of being someone’s ghostly shadow and spent the daily grind looking forward to the later parts of the day.

The afternoons were spent for the most part in her hospital room as Ruby and Alex (and Sam occasionally) spent some time with her and talked to her, which Kara loved as much as it broke her heart. The evenings, though, were Kara’s favourite part of the day as they consisted of: family dinners, movie nights and games.

Kara loved that Alex had created this wonderful life for herself and, though, she was pleased and proud of her for the most part, there was a small, tiny, part of herself that burned with jealousy.

She was jealous that Alex had someone to curl up and watch a film with.

She was jealous that Alex had someone who teased and mocked her with a flirtatious smile.

She was jealous that Alex had someone who looked at her as if she lit up the whole room.

She was jealous that Alex had someone who loved her so much.

But mostly, she was simply jealous that she had never and would never get to experience it for herself.

Day Five:

“I fricking told you the mother-in-law did it! Oh yeah, I should so be a detective!”

Day Six:

Alex picked Eliza up from the station early in the morning and drove straight to the hospital.

The car ride was extremely awkward and the conversation was excessively stilted, and that’s saying something considering Kara had witnessed Lena interact with Lillian Luthor. For the entire journey, Kara desperately wished Ruby or Sam were there to provide some innocuous conversation to cover up the fact that Alex and Eliza had barely said a word to each other.

Ruby, though, had soccer practice that morning. Alex had pleaded with Sam to convince her to come along but her fiance had merely given her a knowing look followed by a sweet kiss and an encouragement to, “Tell her what are you thinking. She’ll understand, I promise.”

Kara shouldn’t have been surprised that the car journey had been awkward at all especially since she knew Alex and Eliza so well.

Ever since they were children and Kara was adopted into the Danvers family, Kara had been acutely aware that Alex would often struggle to go to Eliza to get advice or support or simply to tell her what she was thinking. Alex had somehow built it up inside her head that she shouldn’t need help and that her mother would only be disappointed with her decisions. Hence, when Alex wanted to say something important she would fall into a brooding silence intermixed with longing expressions cast at Eliza.

What Alex didn’t know, and Kara was acutely aware of, was that Eliza had picked up on Alex’s tell years ago and employed silence as her own method of getting her daughter to open up.

It was supremely effective.

Unfortunately, it also made being around the two women the most awkward experience ever. Especially when you are an intangible, inaudible being so your attempts at filling the silence with your rambling thoughts are completely ineffectual.

By the time, they all reached the hospital Kara was on edge and had run out of random points of trivia to blurt out. “So… uh.. Here she is…,” Alex pointlessly stated as they entered Kara’s room and gestured at the bed with a weak wave of her hand.

“I see that.” Eliza commented as she quickly moved forward to straighten up Kara’s pillows and murmur a hello to her daughter before taking the only seat beside the bed. Alex hovered timidly by the door and Kara couldn’t resist the urge to shove her sister’s shoulder to push her further into the room. That action only resulted in a cold sensation through Kara’s palm and the reminder that she wasn’t there to bring her family together.

“Hey… err… mum?” Alex began shyly as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand and took a step further into the room.

“Yes, Alex?” Eliza prompted kindly, not looking away from Kara’s limp form.

Alex winced visibly as she walked over to stand closer to her mother. “I… err… I… ummm… I need to talk to you about something.” Alex stuttered out causing Eliza to turn her head to face her daughter and cock an eyebrow up at the agent who was moving her weight from one foot to the other.

“Yes?” Eliza repeated gently, allowing Alex to build up to whatever she needed to say.

“I’ve been thinking about… about what Kara would want.” Alex whispered, her gaze ducking down unable to meet her mother’s eyes.

“Oh, Alex. Come here.” Eliza commanded, opening her arms wide to invite Alex forward. Alex hesitated for a long moment before instantly crumpling in on herself and falling readily into Eliza’s embrace.

Kara’s mind raced at what Alex had potentially meant. She came up with various different options: ‘Kara would want Ruby to get a dog’, ‘Kara would want to be moved to Midvale’, ‘Kara would want a statue built in her honour’, ‘Kara would want me to find a reason to get her neighbour Eve permanently removed from her apartment block’. Kara secretly hoped it was the last one. (The idea of Eve stopping by to see Lena whilst Kara wasn’t there was a far bigger fear than she would like to admit or acknowledge.)

Kara allowed herself to pretend she didn’t know what Alex was alluding to or what had been weighing heavily on her. Kara had been living with the Arias-Danvers for six days now. She had heard the mutterings… had seen the pondering expression on Alex’s face that was always present when Alex was faced with a considerable decision. She had seen Sam being extra attentive to Alex, watched Ruby turn a blind eye, acting as if nothing was amiss so as to not put any further pressure on her parents.

Kara knew what she had told Alex she had wanted in the case of special measures.

Kara knew what Alex was on the brink of deciding.

She didn’t need to hear Alex breakdown over doing the very thing she had asked her to do. So, Kara took a deep breath and left her sister to talk honestly with Eliza.

All Kara wanted at that moment was to run home and hideaway.

Run home to Lena, who would make her laugh, would make her feel brave and safe. Because nothing could ever be so bad or scary when she was with Lena.

As Kara hid in the hallway outside her hospital room, she wondered when home and Lena had become so interchangeable in her own mind.

Day Seven:

“So…. uhhh… so…”, Ruby murmured with a furrowed brow as she tapped her pencil against the page of her book.

“X equals five.” Kara said as she peered over Ruby’s shoulder.

“Ummm… X equals…”, Ruby began again slowly for the eighth time.

“Five.” Kara repeated yet again.

“Si-... Sev-... umm…”

“FIVE! FIVE! FIVE!” Kara yelled as the frustration at not being able to help her adopted niece like she used to finally made her crack. Kara slumped down on the floor and groaned loudly.

Kara desperately missed Lena.

Something would happen; Alex would make a joke or Ruby would figure something out for herself and Kara would instantly turn to tell Lena and would repeatedly have to deal with the disappointment of Lena not being there. Kara missed watching films with Lena, missed watching her perfect a new recipe she had been trying out, missed her acerbic humour. Kara even found herself pretending Lena was with her and began sharing her thoughts with a spectre that wasn’t there, in much the same way Alex would speak to Kara as if she was around.

On the one hand, it shocked Kara to the core how much she missed Lena, on the other hand, though, she wasn’t even remotely surprised with how quickly Lena had taken up residence inside her heart and mind.

Kara sighed deeply from her spot on the floor as she stared up at the ceiling.

“Five, duh!” Ruby shouted out all of a sudden causing Kara to jerk up. Ruby fist pumped victoriously, and began to pack her bags as she moved around the room, straightening up all the various knick-knacks in a manner very similar to Sam when she visits. “Hey, someone knocked over Princess Zor-El.” Ruby exclaimed as she picked up the tatty, brown bear, that had been perched by Kara’s comatose form, off the ground.

Kara slowly got back to her feet as Ruby carefully placed the bear back in it’s usual sentinel position. “I know the name is stupid but I was five and didn’t know any better.” Ruby revealed with a shy smile.

“I always liked the name.” Kara confessed with a cheesy grin, as she admired the bear from the other side of the bed to Ruby,

“My aunt… well, my aunt in the same way you’re my aunt... gave it to me before I started school. She told me that this bear would always watch over me, even when she wasn’t around.” Ruby said quietly, stroking the top of the brown bear’s fur in a familiar pattern. “I took this bear everywhere with me as it always made me feel safe...  and loved, even when I was alone.” Kara watched Ruby closely as she spoke, there was a slight tremor to her hands and her eyes had begun to mist with unshed tears. “And I wanted that for you too. When Lena left… I knew it was because of me… Mum never said anything but I know Lena left because she was trying to protect me.”

Kara’s jaw dropped as her mind whirred and she felt like she could slap herself.

Lena knew Sam and Ruby.

The memories of this had been pushed down and Kara hadn’t had time after getting her memories back to make the connection. Lena had even told her about leaving her best friend and daughter. Sam and Ruby had told her years ago about Lena.

Kara and Lena had been connected for years, unknowingly.

The meaning behind that, the strings that linked them were overwhelming in Kara’s mind.

“Princess Zor-El… reminded me that even though Lena had left… she was still with me. And I wanted you to feel the same way. That even when we’re not together, we’re still with you.” Ruby bit her lip as she moved the bear from beside Kara’s head and tucked it under Kara’s pliant arm instead. “Alex told me what that we’re letting you move on… but I just want you to know… I love you, Aunt Kara, and no matter what, you’ll always be with me.” Ruby bent down and kissed Kara’s forehead in the exact way she had seen Alex do so many times before, then she wiped her tears away and left through the door with a final glance back over her shoulder.

Kara didn’t follow the young girl.

Instead, she stayed and stared at her comatose form. A form that was the focus of so much love and affection.

Kara didn’t follow Ruby because she wanted to go home.

She had wanted to go home so much over the last week, not because she didn’t love her family, seeing them had been exactly what she needed but it wasn’t everything. She had resisted going home, feeling that it would be selfish, that she would be abandoning Alex and everyone if she didn’t stay.

Kara knew better now, though.

There was only one place she truly wanted to be. One person she truly wanted to see.

Kara had finally realised that that was exactly where she was meant to be all along.  

Chapter Text

The apartment was quiet. (Lena refused to say ‘too quiet’ as that was just asking for trouble especially since this had all started out as a ghost story.) It also seemed less colourful, less bright and less inviting especially when Lena first walked back through the front door expecting to see a beaming blonde and finding… nothing… no one.

Lena shrugged it off, shutting down her emotions and sitting down to start work.

Lex.

Jack.

Sam & Ruby.

Kara.

Lena was now experienced at losing people whether that was her choice or their choice made little difference.

Lex had hurt the most due to her being completely unprepared for it. And even worse, she had to go through losing him twice: first to her father’s greed and then to Lex’s own madness. Jack had stung but Lena had Sam on hand to support her and Ruby who still looked up to her despite the tabloids’ headlines.

Giving them up?

Now, that had torn a chunk out of Lena the size of which nearly matched the loss of Lex. That’s when Lena had fully developed her coping mechanism (not a particularly refined or inspiring one mind you).

Work.

Lena drowned herself in work. In projects. In operations. Buried herself in the numbers and details. Sought out charities that she could develop and fund. Personally patented at least 150 new products every year since leaving Metropolis. Created an entirely new mission statement and code of conduct handbook for LuthorCorp to highlight their reformed, socially responsible way of working.

Since being truly alone, Lena had worked harder and longer than any other point in her life.

Then... Kara had come along.

And, for an entire month, Lena was thrown off her rhythm. She didn’t stay late at work or rush out the door in the morning. She had become more approachable to her employees, many feeling incredibly more comfortable speaking to her about their problems and what they thought Lena was doing well. Lena had found herself reaching out to people, first to Megan who she had kept in contact with over the phone since her last visit to the Krypton book store, and then with Jess who she now shared regular lunches with during the day.

Lena was personally working far less, yet… she had never been more productive.

She had felt comfortable delegating, trusting other people with her pet projects due to her overwhelming desire to get home at a reasonable hour to see what her ghost had planned to torment her with that night. Because of this, she had discovered how impressive and inspired her employees’ work could be when given a suitable challenge. The pride on their faces when Lena briefed them on what was wanted should have easily foretold how well they wished to make a success of it all. Which they did.

Luthor Corp shares had risen even as Lena’s mother tried to destabilise her position as CEO.

An employee satisfaction survey had reported a noticeable uptick in morale.

But the biggest and most noticeable change (at least to everyone who saw Lena) was how happy Lena had become, how more likely she was to genuinely smile than smirk, laugh instead of frown.

Kara had made Lena inexplicably happy.

And now she was gone.

And Lena was intent to reach a whole new level of productivity in her absence.  

Day One

Lena spent most of the previous night, staying up and scouring the internet for any and all information that could possibly explain what had happened to Kara and how to fix it. All Lena had found out though was that the internet was a truly terrifying place when you delve deep enough.

She had awoken to her alarm, her face resting on the keys of her laptop, and rushed out the door after making herself presentable. The day was filled with fine-tuning projects, meeting with investors and trying to convince shareholders and members of the board not to take whatever Lillian was undoubtedly offering them. Jess, who was aware of the stakes due to organising Lena’s calendar, was on hand before every meeting to provide Lena with details about each person to help win them over.

By the time evening rolled round, Lena showed no sign of slowing down and Jess was lingering behind worriedly.

“Miss. Luthor, I’m about to head out.” Jess informed her employer as she hesitated in the doorway watching Lena, hunched over, stare at her computer with an emotionless mask.

“Oh… Uh… thank you, Jess, for all your help today.” Lena replied with a ghost of a smile before returning her focus back to whatever she was doing.

Jess’ heart sank as she watched her boss. Lena had been so much better, had been so much happier… and now… she was exactly like she was a month ago before she had started ‘seeing someone’. Something had happened, Jess was sure of that, and her bet was on whoever had captured Lena’s heart had definitely broken it.

“Miss. Luthor?” Jess called out again, prompting the raven haired woman to look up with a startled expression.

“Yes?” Lena asked, blinking owlishly.

“Do you… um… fancy getting a drink or something?” Jess offered in a friendly tone, hoping to provide a distraction or comfort.

Lena’s head tilted in confusion, as if dumbfounded at the concept that someone would want to spend time with her. In that moment, Jess wanted to punch whoever had most recently hurt Lena more than anything else in the world, she would even have given Pam the formula she used for betting in the office pool for the chance to yell at the person who had foolishly let Lena go.

“Err... ,” Lena’s eyes flicked from Jess to her computer to the papers strewn across her desk and back again. Jess saw the moment Lena deflated as it immediately followed the ‘ping’ sound of an email arriving. Lena stared at her computer screen for less than a second before saying in a defeated tone, “Not tonight, but thank you…”.

Jess nodded as Lena began typing away again. “Goodnight, Miss. Luthor.”

“Goodnight, Jess.”

Jess shut the door behind herself already knowing that Lena would not be going home that night.

Day Two

“What- what do you see, Lady M’gann?”

“I see… I see… betrayal!” Megan proclaimed as she waved her hands back and forth over the glass bauble. Julie, the middle aged woman sitting opposite Megan, gasped loudly in genuine shock, lifting her hands up to cover her gaping mouth. “Greed is the root from which this pain will come.” Megan preached giving the other woman a raised eyebrow.

Julie flapped her hands in agitation and yelled, “I bet you it’s my cousin Kevin! He’s a liar! He’s been telling everyone that I took our grandmother's pearls that she left for him. He lost them gambling, I bet you anything!”

Megan nodded sagely as she waved her hand another time over the glass ball, “Both rivers lead back to the sea.”

The antsy woman stilled as she absorbed the absolutely meaningless statement with wide eyes. “Lady M’gann, please.... tell me... how will Kevin betray me? Speak to the spirits for me, I beseech you.”

At that moment the heavy seventies curtain behind Julie was thrown back and a pale, dark haired figure with bright green eyes set in dark circles, stepped forward,  “AHHH!!! DEMONS! THEY KNOW! I STOLE THE PEARLS! I’LL RETURN THEM TO KEVIN, JUST PLEASE DON’T TAKE ME!” Julie screamed ducking to the floor and curling up into the foetal position.

Lena stared down at the woman on the floor who was now rocking back and forth as she whimpered and begged for mercy. Lena shook her head deciding that it wasn’t her problem. “Megan, I need your… What… what are you wearing?” Lena asked, her original request for help going right out the window as she stared at the bookstore owner who was dressed up in what could only be described as a cookie crisp wizard costume.

Megan wafted her hands around in a dramatic fashion and answered in an imperious tone, “My name is Lady M’gann M’orzz. Revealer of destinies. Bringer of fate. Prophet of life. Legend of tomor-”

“You’ve got to be kidding me...” Lena groaned, cutting in as she bent down to help Julie up off the floor and quickly ushered the woman out of the dark backroom of the bookstore, telling her that she really should give back her cousin whatever she had stolen. That had caused Julie to merely sob louder and promise repeatedly that she would as she clinged to Lena’s arm. Lena had to shake her arm repeatedly and shove the woman out of the building to finally get rid of her.

By the time Lena returned to the back room Megan was packing away her fortune teller props and ensemble. “Your ghost keeping you up?” Megan asked quietly as she opened a drawer to stash her glass ball inside.

“No, why?” Lena answered with a curious lilt to her voice.

“You look like you haven’t slept in a couple of days.” Megan commented gently as she turned back to face Lena, a concerned expression taking over the bookstore owner’s face.

Lena shrugged half-heartedly, knowing she couldn’t get away with lying under Megan’s scrutiny. “Been busy.”

“Uh huh…”, Megan muttered at the brush off before brusquely moving on, “So… what brings you back here anyway?” Megan gestured at a sofa tucked into the corner of the backroom for Lena to sit on.

“Well… I no longer have a ghost problem…”, Lena joked with false light humour.

Megan blinked in mild surprise as she fell onto the worn seat beside the other woman. “You got rid of her?”

“Well… the thing is… she was never dead to begin with…”, Lena weakly revealed as she visibly cringed in on herself.

“Oh…”, Megan replied with a dull, almost bored tone in what Lena presumed was an attempt to regain the image of being a wise, knowing woman (something Lena would never fall for again after seeing Megan’s Dumbledore cosplay only moments ago).

“Yeah… she’s um… kind of just disassociated from her body and I was wondering if you have any idea what could be done to help her reconnect with… well… herself?” Lena sputtered out absolutely unsure how to say what was happening without sounding as crazy as the hysterical woman she had just dragged out of the room.  

Megan stared at her for a long time before sighing heavily and getting to her feet. Upon standing up she grabbed the blanket that was covering her fortune teller’s table and proceeded to hold it out to Lena, “I don’t know of anything off the top of my head but how about I do some research whilst you get some sleep?”

Lena stared at the red, velvety blanket and Megan’s soft, caring expression. “I… uh… I…” Lena mumbled, unsure what to say when faced with an offer of such kindness.

She was so tired.

She hadn’t properly slept in two days… not since Kara had left. It had felt wrong being in the apartment without her nearby. The first night Lena had stayed up instead of sleeping, focusing entirely on work and research. The second night… Lena couldn’t bring herself to even go home. She had chosen to spend an uncomfortable night in her office than face the loneliness she would feel back at Kara’s apartment.

“Rest, Lena.” Megan commanded, throwing the blanket over Lena in a childish action.

“Just for a couple of hours…”, Lena bargained, her voice muffled by the blanket draped over her head.

Day Three

Lena hesitated outside the door to her apartment. She hated the feeling of hope that built up inside of her as she walked towards the door and pulled her keys from her pocket. The hope that Kara would be there, on the other side, humming a pop song as she pestered Lena about what she was planning for dinner that night.

Lena knew Kara wouldn't be there.

Yet the persistent flutter in her chest never seemed to go away completely, no matter how many times she reminded herself of the truth.

Lena leant forward and rested her head against the door. She was exhausted and still no closer to figuring out how to help Kara.

Last night, she had managed to catch a couple blissful hours of sleep before jolting awake when she rolled off the sofa by accident. After waking up, Lena had hurried to join Megan who had spent the time Lena was sleeping researching on her own. Lena, however, was disappointed when all Megan could provide was platitudes about reconnecting with oneself instead of anything substantial. She and Megan, though, had stayed up chatting until the bookstore owner had fallen asleep, prompting Lena to drive the woman home before returning to her own office where she had a power nap on the couch.

“Err… Lena?” A cautious voice called out from further down the corridor causing Lena to jump out of her reverie and nearly knock herself out by banging her head on the heavy wooden door. Lena spun on the spot to see Winn, by his own apartment about to unlock his door, staring at her with a fretful expression. “Is everything okay?”

“Um… yes… I was just… uh…”, Lena trailed off as she eyed the ground nervously.

“Any chance you would be interested in video games and pizza?” The question had Lena’s head snapping up to stare at the fidgeting young man who also seemed to be hesitant to enter his own empty apartment.

Lena slowly smiled causing Winn’s agitated movements to steady and ease, “Very interested.” Lena replied sincerely as she pushed away from her own door and approached Winn who beamed as he held open the door for her.

Lena and Winn spent the evening until the early hours of the morning playing video games and talking about upcoming technologies that sparked their interest. Winn talked almost non-stop for an hour about his recent promotion and everything he was getting involved in now and Lena revealed how much she missed having more time to work with the technology herself. An agreement was quickly reached to make evenings like this a weekly occurrence with the host picking the game for the night.

It was light-hearted and fun but most importantly, Lena found it provided the perfect distraction from the trials and tribulations that she had been experiencing. Though, Lena would be lying if she didn’t admit that having Kara there would have made the night even better.

Day Four

“Mother.” Lena called out from the doorway of her office. Hearing Jess’ raised voice from her desk had beckoned Lena to come and investigate the source of her secretary’s ire.

“Lena, tell your guard dog to stand down.” Lillian commanded with a haughty expression, not deigning to even acknowledge Jess as she spoke.

Lena’s fist clenched in anger by her side at Lillian’s dismissive attitude. “Her name is Jess and you will treat her with respect.” She rebuked, her confidence at standing up to her mother increasing as she saw the pleased and grateful smile on Jess’ face.

Lillian’s lips thinned to almost nothing in rage as she nodded curtly in response. At the minor acquiescence Lena gestured for Lillian to enter her office, knowing that her mother wouldn’t leave until she had said whatever she had intended to say. Lillian strode past Lena with her nose held high; behind her back Lena shot Jess an apologetic smile to which Jess simply nodded her understanding.

“What do you want, Mother?” Lena asked getting right to the point as she shut the door behind herself. Without Jess there to defend or Kara to provide support, Lena felt her confidence begin to ebb and wane.

“As blunt and unrefined as always.” Lillian commented with a snarl of disappointment to which Lena overdramatically rolled her eyes at. “I merely wanted to stop by and tell you that the board will be convening the day after tomorrow to make a final decision.”

“Wait! What?” Lena exclaimed, her arms dropping to her side and her jaw going slack.

“Yes, I have put an offer on the table and there is no obvious reason to delay.” As Lillian spoke she pulled a folder free from her handbag and placed it authoritatively on the centre of Lena’s desk before strutting back to the door and towards Lena. “Close your mouth, dear. It’s very unbecoming.” Lillian smirked, patting Lena’s shoulder as she left through the door.

It took a few, long moments before Lena could bring herself to cross the room and examine what her mother had left behind. ‘Business proposal for a merger between LuthorCorp and Edge Holdings’. The proposal would make the board very, very rich at the cost of significant job losses within the company to enable Morgan to bring in his own people. The cherry on top was that it would position Lillian as CEO of the scalped out Luthor Corp.

“Shit.” Lena mumbled as she flicked through the pages and then yelled out, “JESS!”

Lena had no intention of going home again tonight.

Day Five

It was hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.

Lena, Jess and surprisingly Winn (at the behest of a sneaky text sent from Jess who had heard from Lena about their developing friendship), had spent nearly all of yesterday and night trying to come up with a business plan more desirable than what Lillian’s merger would offer. Nothing they thought of could possibly match the money on the table.

Jess had to forcibly push Lena out the door and insist she go home, get some food and rest. So that’s where Lena was… standing outside her flat door once again, saddened that she wouldn’t see Kara’s smile on the other side.

“Ah! There you are Xena!” A jubilant voice shouted down the corridor resulting in Lena’s eardrums instinctively stinging as she flashbacked to the last time she was exposed to Mary’s booming voice for an extended period of time.

“Mary!” Lena greeted trying her best to match the elderly woman’s volume.

“You’re late!” Mary reprimanded as she strode down the hall and wrapped a wrinkled hand around Lena’s wrist to tug her towards Mary’s home.

“I am?!” Lena squeaked in confusion as she was frogmarched down the corridor. “For what?!”

“Dinner!” Mary revealed as if it should’ve been obvious.

“Oh… right.” Lena muttered under her breath, thinking that if Kara was there she would be laughing hysterically at her.

Day Six

Lena slumped into her seat in the boardroom. She had just finished her presentation that detailed all the reasons why a merger with Edge Holdings was not in the best interests of the company. The board members had appeared receptive for the most part but Lena knew there was no changing their minds even before she had started. The money on the table was too great. It would take an act of god to stop this deal going through.

“Shall we vote?” Lillian inquired with a victorious smile that Lena personally wanted to slap off her face. A mumble of assent spread around the room. “All those in favour of merging with Edge Holdings?” Lillian’s hand lifted into the air immediately, slowly other hands began to rise when the door to the boardroom was flung open and Jess, flanked by two security officers carrying boxes filled with paper walked in.

“Uh… Jess?” Lena quirked an eyebrow as her secretary who smiled proudly at the same time the security officers deposited the boxes onto the table.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lillian demanded in outrage.

“A new offer is on the table.” Jess revealed gesturing at the overfilled boxes. Whispers and mumbles rippled through the boardroom. Lena stared at Jess in complete perplexity, this being the first she had heard of any new offer.

“What new offer?” Lillian scoffed derisively.

Jess positively beamed at the question, “It’s pretty simple really. These boxes are filled with resignation letters from about… 80% of the Luthor Corp staff.” Jess paused at this moment to shoot her boss a wink, “The other 20% are on the night shift so we haven’t had a chance to talk to them yet, though, we figure they will add their own letters as soon as we have a chance to speak to them.”

“Resignation letters?” Lena spluttered.

“Yes. And all of them will be handed in if the merger goes through or Lena is forced to step down as CEO.” Jess crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back as the boardroom fell into complete silence.

Lena leaned over the table grabbing Jess’ arm and yanking her downwards to whisper harshly, “Jess. You can’t do that! This is people’s livelihoods we’re talking about! I am not worth anyone losing their job over.”

Jess didn’t reply for a long moment, instead choosing to stare into Lena’s hardened green gaze before sighing and saying in the softest voice Lena had ever heard the other woman use, “Miss. Lu-... Lena, you have no idea how much everyone in this company would disagree with that.”

Lena’s breath came out in a choked little gasp as she released her hold on Jess’ arm and the boardroom erupted into a cacophony of noise, the board members commencing their backtracking and arguing.

“Megan, get your ass to my apartment, now!”

“Lena? Are you drunk?” Megan asked as she heard an unfamiliar cheeriness to Lena’s voice that she had never heard before on the other end of the phone.

“Not yet, but I will be soon.” Lena giggled uncharacteristically giddy.

“What’s going on?” Megan inquired with a smirk on her face as she flipped the open sign on the door to the Krypton bookstore over to closed.

“We’re celebrating!” Lena cheered.

“Celebrating….?”

“Yeah! Me, Jess and Winn! We’re drinking and playing games because… I GET TO KEEP MY COMPANY! WOO!” Megan pulled the phone away from her ear at the intense volume and the sounds of two other drunken people yelling joyfully in the background.

“Wow… loud.” Megan muttered to herself, mostly because there was no way Lena would be able to hear her over the ruckus going on in the background.

“So, get your ass here now. Everyone that matters is here… except you know…” Megan smiled at the comment that she mattered to Lena enough to be included but the painful silence that followed Lena trailing off had Megan’s heart going out to the other woman.

“Your ghost?” Megan prompted gently.

“Disassssssssoooocccciiiaaattteedd body… friend… person…”, Lena corrected, unable to say the word without slurring or dragging it out highlighting her uncertainty about whether it was the correct term to use.

“Uh huh…” Megan said after a long pause when Lena fell silent.

“I miss her.” The quiet way Lena confessed it was heartbreaking.

“I know you do.” Megan assured sympathetically, “I’ll be right over. Try not to drink much more without me.” Megan suggested as she collected her bag and headed out.

“No promises.” Lena laughed over the phone, returning to her happy drunk state with the assurance that Megan was now on her way.

Day Seven

“Ugh… I am never drinking… ever... again.” Lena groaned from her curled up spot on the bathroom floor.

Lena, Jess, Winn and Megan had drank and played games until the early hours of the morning rejoicing in Luthor Corp’s victory over her mother. Lena, though, was now paying for it heavily with a hangover to end all hangovers.

But to be honest… Lena had never been so pleased to be unable to hold down any food or face direct sunlight. Her hangover had come about because she had spent the night with her friends. Actual friends.

Somewhere between the third tequila shot and fourth round of Trivial Pursuit (Jess and Megan demanding that they get to team up with either Winn or Lena to stand a chance of actually winning), Lena realised that her biggest fear since Kara had left hadn’t come true. She had feared that when Kara stayed with her family, Lena would have no one. And that hadn’t happened. Not once.

Jess.

Megan.

Winn.

Mary.

Everyone at LuthorCorp.

Lena had people. People who cared about her. She wasn’t alone anymore.

She still missed Kara but purely because she wanted Kara to be there as well. She wanted to see her nose scrunch up when she didn’t know the answer to a trivia question, she wanted to see her bounce up and down on the spot with glee when she moved into the lead. She wanted Kara to tell and laugh at her own god awful puns. She wanted to watch Kara’s forehead crease up whenever she was constructing an argument or babbling away in her own head.

Lena wasn’t alone but it would have been better if Kara was there as well.

Lena eventually hoisted herself up off the floor and stumbled into the shower where she rid herself of the stench of alcohol. She then did a quick clean up of the flat before responding to her friends’ texts about how they were all handling their own personal hangovers. (Winn had made it to his apartment but collapsed in the hallway and had been unable to move since. Jess was eating the greasiest food Lena could ever imagine, the photos of which had Lena running back to the bathroom. Megan had run a marathon, an activity that Lena thought was certifiably insane and she felt confident to make that assessment considering her own family’s history.)

Once all the immediate chores were done, Lena sunk onto the sofa wrapping the blue throw from the bed around herself, settling into watch ‘The Planet of the Apes’. Lena sighed as she eyed the spot Kara usually took up when she put a film on.

“So, what terrible movie are we watching today?”

Lena jumped in her spot, whipping her head around to see Kara, standing timidly across the room, a shy smile directed solely at Lena and her hand fiddling nervously with her glasses.

“Kara…”, Lena breathed out as she got unsteadily to her feet, her balance thrown off by twinkling, affectionate blue eyes that were entirely focused on her green ones. “Wh- What are you…”

“I wanted to see you.” Kara whispered, the tell tale crease appearing on her forehead revealing that she had a lot more to say on the matter but instead she chose to simply state, “I missed you.”

Chapter Text

“So… how was your week?” Kara asked after Lena, mouth agape and brow furrowed, had remained silent for nearly a minute and continued to stare at her as if she had grown a second head on top of being an intangible being. Kara’s arms swung by her sides as she took a step towards the dark haired woman and plastered on a crooked, anxious smile in an attempt to alleviate some of the tension building between them.

Lena shook her head at the question as if to snap herself out of whatever reverie was currently occupying her mind. “Well, um…”, Lena licked her lips as she pondered how best to answer the question, “My mother tried to get me fired as CEO by offering a business deal that would merge Luthor Corp with Morgan Edge’s company. That deal was only stopped by all my employees threatening to quit if it went through. I had dinner with Mary and am pretty sure I am now deaf in one ear. I also have friends… by the way. And they are responsible for making me drink an entire bottle of tequila almost single handedly… so… uh… yeah… busy week…”, Lena trailed off with a wince as she shrugged her shoulders awkwardly.

Kara blinked and yelped, “That… that… all happened… in a week?!”

“Yes.” Lena confirmed with pursed lips, “Though... when you compare this week with the week I discovered I was living with a ghost, I still think it’s safe to say that the latter week was the far crazier one.” Lena shrugged with one shoulder and shuffled a couple of footsteps forwards. This hesitant movement reduced the distance between the two women to slightly over a foot and the sudden closeness provided Kara, her much desired, first proper look at Lena since returning.

Kara scrutinised the dark circles under Lena’s piercing green eyes, observed the messy bun Lena had thrown her hair up into and the nervous way she kept biting her bottom lip. Even though it was obvious Lena was exhausted and hungover, Kara thought she had never looked more stunning than in that moment.

“And… What about you? How was your week?” Lena asked curiously with an arched eyebrow that immediately captured Kara’s attention and made her realise with a start how intensely she had been staring at Lena’s face.

Kara ducked her head in embarrassment and tried to formulate her answer, “It was… uh… good. I mean… no one could see or hear me which kind of sucked.” Kara laughed nervously as she transitioned into full on babble mode, “I invented loads of new games… like ‘what’s in that drawer?’ and ‘what’s in that cupboard?’ and ‘affair or wife?’.” Lena’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the last one and Kara quickly mumbled shyly, “I ended up playing that one a lot more than I thought I would… Alex’s co-workers don’t appear to be the most faithful of people.”

“Uh huh…”, Lena hummed unsure how to respond to that statement.

Kara though was in full swing so fortunately for Lena, she didn’t slow down or require input on the matter, “I also saw my mum when she came to visit… oh, and I solved a murder, but the biggest thing-”

“You did what?!” Lena exclaimed as Kara appeared completely comfortable skipping over ‘murder’ like it was little more than an afterthought. Lena noticed that the crease on Kara’s forehead had deepened to the depth of the grand canyon which meant Kara was building up to something big and was trying to rush through everything else to get there. Lena, however, did not agree with the assessment that murder was something you could flippantly mention in passing.

Whatever words were about to pour out of Kara’s mouth disappeared as Kara tried to nod and shake her head at the same time, “Oh that… you know sister… FBI… investigates things...”, Kara, wanting to get to her main point, dropped the words that were crucial in forming a coherent sentence and chose to stick to the keywords. Lena couldn’t stop the smile that bloomed on her face as she considered this to be Kara at her most adorable, “It was the mother-in-law, which I guessed immediately. Alex thought it was the brother, but I knew better… she looked super creepy, kind of like your mot-”, Kara cut herself off, her face turning a blistering red and her eyes widening as she comprehended what she had been about to say.

Lena forced a stony expression and carefully raised her eyebrows as she fought off the affectionate smile trying to breakthrough.

“I didn’t mean… I’m sure you mother isn’t as terrifying as she appears… you know even with the whole trying to destroy your career thing… I mean she’s clearly bad but not… you know... Stabby stabby murder bad...” Lena held firm for half-second a longer to see if Kara would turn an even darker shade of red before bursting out laughing. “Not cool!” Kara accused with an angry pout.

“I’m sorry,” Lena tried to placate the blonde through her giggles, “You’re just so cute when you get flustered.”

“Pftt… cute? Me… huh… I mean you… You’re beau-... I’m just going to stop talking forever.” Kara spluttered incoherently at the compliment, deciding her best option would be merely to slap her hand over her mouth to prevent her foot from gaining access again. Lena shook her head in fondness at the action and without really thinking about it, reached forward and brushed her fingers over the back of Kara’s hand in an attempt to get her to drop it.

Kara’s heart fluttered in elation as the familiar tingling that made her think of s'mores by a campfire and glasses steaming up when you come home from out of the cold radiated through her. That feeling of warmth and home was now intrinsically linked to Lena’s touch.

“I like it when you ramble. Please, don’t ever stop talking on my account.” Lena gently requested in a quiet voice that was a stark contrast to her loud laughs a moment earlier.

Lena dropped her hand back to her side as Kara nodded bashfully, approaching the main topic she had wanted to bring up, “Lena, there’s something I need to tell you...”

“You can tell me anything.” Lena assured firmly with a small, encouraging nod that steadied Kara’s nerves enough to take the plunge.

“It’s about Sam and Ruby.”

“Wow.” Lena said, aptly summing up the whole situation in Kara’s opinion.

“Yeah.” Kara agreed as she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on top of the support she had created to aid in her continued and uninterrupted staring of the CEO since returning to the apartment. Kara justified what she could only presume was creepy staring as wanting to make up for not seeing Lena for a whole week, which was far, far too long in Kara’s mind. Lena, who was sat less than a couple of feet away from Kara, having made her custom blanket and cushion floor seating to be close to the non-corporeal woman, was now staring at nothing in particular as she absorbed everything she had just heard. Kara had told her how Lena’s old friends were getting on, how much they truly missed her and how Kara was connected to them, revealing how linked the two women had been before Lena had even moved into Kara’s apartment.

“We could’ve met years ago if I hadn’t been so… ”, Lena whispered darkly, regret lacing every word as her face twisted in pain and self-loathing.

“Don’t do that!” Kara reprimanded; seeing Lena beginning to spiral and blame herself caused a dull ache in Kara’s stomach that made her feel physically sick, “No what ifs and maybes, what matters is that we did meet. And that we got to spend some time together.”

Lena’s attention shifted back to Kara, her eyes misty and confused, “Did? You’re talking as if it’s all over.”

Kara’s mouth opened and closed before she swallowed thickly. Kara hadn’t brought up what her sister intended to do, the words just wouldn’t come and even if they were on hand, Kara wasn’t sure she would tell Lena anyway. Kara couldn’t bear to see Lena’s reaction, to watch the recognisable fierceness that overtook Lena whenever she was faced with an injustice or challenge.

Lena was kind, generous but mostly stubborn to all hell.

She wouldn’t give up.

And Kara couldn’t think of anything Lena could do to help that wouldn’t end up causing massive stress and strain to Alex and her family or getting Lena accused and convicted of the very lunacy she had spent most of her life trying to distance herself from. The destruction and devastation on everyone Kara loved would be absolute and it would be Kara’s worst nightmare come to life.

Nothing was worth put Lena or Alex through any of that.

Not even herself.

“I will figure this out, I promise. I know I had a lot on this week but I have been doing some research and there’s a few things that we can look into, okay? It’s not over.” Lena stated resolutely, believing Kara’s words and ensuing silence to mean she didn’t think Lena could solve Kara’s situation. A determined edge had crept into Lena’s voice which was reminiscent to Kara of when her and Lena had been doing battle for the apartment or when Lena had been faced with a particularly troublesome project. It was an indicator that Lena was about to bury herself in finding a solution.

Kara didn’t want that.

Kara didn’t want to lose out on precious quality time she could spend with Lena. She had come home because she wanted to see and talk to Lena, a wish that would come to nothing if Lena switched into her dogged, focused, work mode.

“I know.” Kara replied as she tried not to smile too sadly, her mind weighed down with the emotions and decisions she was burdened with.

Lena shifted to sitting on her knees and made to stand up, “Right, I’ll get to work-”

“Wait!” Kara begged, her hand shooting out pointlessly to grab Lena’s wrist, Kara pushed down her standard disappointment at the lack of an actual connection as her effort wrought an effect regardless of her intangibility. Lena stopped moving and tilted her head down toward Kara from her half-risen position. “It can wait until tomorrow. I was hoping… if you wanted that is… that we could spend the day together...” Kara suggested hopefully with a tentative pout, her eyes taking in the suddenly shocked yet pleased expression on Lena’s face.

A smile of genuine, childish delight and eyes that glittered with wonder illuminated Lena’s face and Kara was forced to remind herself that she didn’t actually need to breath when she found in that moment that she had forgotten how. “What do you want to do?” Lena inquired, already deciding that she would willingly do anything Kara suggested without hesitation.

Kara shrugged helplessly and replied with complete sincerity, “Anything as long as it’s with you.”

“We’re spending the day at your office?” Kara asked trying and failing to hold off the tinge of disappointment to her voice as they walked up to the LuthorCorp building.

Lena shook her head as she replied, “Not my office but my evil lair.”

“Evil lair? You have an evil lair?” Kara questioned her eyes going wide in disbelief.

“I’m a billionaire and a genius, of course I have an evil lair.” Lena stated as if it should’ve been obvious, at the same time she chivalrously held open the lobby doors for Kara even though it was utterly unnecessary.

“How foolish of me. How did I not realise that the woman who gives most of her money to charity and funds a hospital for those that can’t afford healthcare also has an evil lair where she is plotting world domination.” Kara deadpanned with an unimpressed smirk. By happenstance, Kara’s sarcastically delivered point was underlined when one of the security guards by reception thanked Lena for the birthday card she had left for him yesterday despite everything that had been going on.

“It’s all an act. I’m lulling you and the world into a false sense of security before I enact my malevolent plans.” Lena bluffed with an over the top haughty expression that was a poor imitation of her mother’s. Lena lead the blonde over to the nearest and available elevator after engaging Kyle the security guard in a ten minute conversation about how his day was going, how was his birthday and if there was anything she could do for him.

“Uh huh,” Kara mumbled in a tone that showed her complete disagreement as Lena, instead of hitting the button for the top floor, pressed for the basement. The doors slid closed and Kara, who was stood shoulder to shoulder with the dark haired woman, snuck a quick glance at Lena’s profile (admittedly Kara was still struggling to stop herself from staring non-stop at Lena since they had been reunited). With one quick look, Kara could tell that despite Lena’s humour and hardened front, she was actually rather anxious about showing Kara whatever it was she wanted her to see. “I’ll love it, no matter what it is because… it’s yours and I-”, Kara reassured sweetly stopping herself when Lena turned sharply to look at her with scared and vulnerable eyes. “I’m sure it’ll be awesome!” Kara quickly said transitioning from gentle to a forced over the top cheer; the fearful expression on Lena’s face having thrown Kara’s almost confession right out the window.

Kara pulled her gaze away from the raven haired woman and returned to staring at the closed elevator doors, reasoning that she would be far less encouraged to declare how she felt about Lena if she was staring at her own distorted reflection in the metal. (Which was when she realised that as a ghost she lacked an actual reflection, much to her chagrin). Anyway, if she had kept her eyes on Lena for even a moment longer she would have seen the unmistakable flash of disappointment eclipse her angular features at Kara’s unfinished exclamation.

“So… uh… what are you taking me to see?” Kara asked hoping to lighten the profound atmosphere that had settled once again between the two of them.

Lena shook her head and forced a smile, “Do you remember me and Winn talking about my work with hydroelectricity?” Kara nodded in response as the elevator pinged and the doors whooshed open, revealing a dimly lit, undecorated corridor that seemed to lead to multiple turns and offshoots. “Well, one of the main things I’ve been working on is how to direct the flow and movement of water without the need to generate vast amounts of infrastructure.” As she spoke, Lena began to confidently stride forwards at the same moment a light tingling sensation passed through Kara’s wrist and palm, indicating that Lena had, without really thinking about it, reached out and unsuccessfully tried to link them together. “And there… are… um,” Lena stuttered trying to not draw too much attention to her attempt at holding Kara’s hand. “Many potential applications for that sort of technology like-”,

To make up for Lena’s failed effort at closeness, Kara purposefully brought herself in line with Lena as they walked, enabling her shoulder to brush through Lena’s with every step, her own alternative offering to holding hands. Lena’s breath caught for a second at the repeated pulse of pleasant, comforting heat that she experienced everytime Kara passed through her ever so slightly.

“Err… like transporting water to people who don’t have easy access to it or improving the efficiency of hydroelectricity tenfold or decreasing the start-up costs of creating hydroelectric power stations.” Lena, as they progressed through the underground level, quickly regained her natural confidence by focusing back on one of the many technologies she was heavily invested in.

Kara smiled fondly, trying her best to take in the technical terms that Lena then began to spew out as she got increasingly excited over her pet project. Kara was also undeniably impressed with how Lena navigated the labyrinthine basement level, taking what seemed like random lefts and rights with no hesitation before coming to an abrupt stop in front of a seemingly ordinary blue door.

“Here we are.” Lena declared as she pulled a key from her pocket, unlocked the door and gestured for Kara to enter. In the centre of the room was a desk laden with a high processing power computer and three wide screens that were already on and monitoring figures generated by sensors elsewhere. Around the room were tubes and see-through vats of water that emitted an ethereal blue glow.

“Okay... I take it back. Evil lair was an apt description.” Kara teased as  she stepped up to one of the glass cylinders to inspect it closer, tapping her finger against it like a kid at an aquarium.

“Haha.” Lena deadpanned as she moved to start typing at the computer, her back to Kara as she started to speak in a soft tone, “When you first started ‘appearing’ at the apartment, all I heard was you singing.” Kara turned away from the water, cocking her head as she listened to Lena. “I thought I was going crazy-”

“I’m so sorry-”, Kara began sincerely apologising, as having now heard firsthand from Lena about her family and her deep-seated fears of becoming anything like the rest of them, Kara was consistently wrenched with guilt whenever she thought back to the internal struggle and turmoil Lena must have gone through in the early days of their meeting and getting to know each other. It put everything Lena had been doing in a new perspective and made her accepting Kara as wholeheartedly as she ended up doing an even more selfless and loyal act.

“Kara.” Lena admonished, raising one hand and wafting it in Kara’s direction, easily dismissing Kara’s feelings of responsibility and guilt without delay. Kara rolled her eyes at Lena’s back, “I don’t need to be looking at you to know you’re rolling your eyes.” Lena said, returning back to her rapid typing without looking over her shoulder once.

Kara’s jaw dropped and she quickly snapped it shut as she mumbled under her breath in what she thought was a barely audible volume, “Are we sure I’m the supernatural being?”

“I heard that.”

“Do you have like super hearing or something?” Kara gasped as she scurried into the centre of the room coming to stand a few feet behind Lena to peer over her shoulder to better see what she was doing.

“Does super hearing really count as an actual superpower? I mean it’s not like super strength or superspeed. It’s just the improved ability to eavesdrop.... Which is more creepy than charming.” Lena muttered dismissively before shrugging her shoulders and returning to what she had been originally talking about, “Anyway, I kind of grew… fond… ”

“Fond?” Kara repeated, an amused twinkle appearing in her eyes at the reluctantly given acknowledgement.

“Of your singing… that is when you weren’t singing the most excruciatingly torturous discography known to mankind.” Lena continued, purposefully ignoring Kara’s gloating tone and then her subsequent wince as she remembered singing the pokemon theme tune for close to two hours at one point. “Regardless of that, I would often come into work with whatever ridiculous pop song I had heard you singing stuck in my head for the entire day… and I had a sudden whimsical idea that… you know what? It’s probably better and easier if I just show you....” Lena said trailing off, her typing slowing to a stop. There was a minor pause where she took a deep breath before pressing down firmly on the enter key.

Lena turned on the spot and gave Kara a nervous, uncertain smile that sent Kara’s heart racing. “Show me-” Kara began to prompt as music started to play.

I’ve been hearing symphonies

Before all I heard was silence

The tremulous strings and lyrics began to reverberate around the laboratory and Kara flinched as the hatch doors on the tubes lining the walls and ceiling slid open. She waited for the water running through the vessels to inevitably spill to the floor in a cascading waterfall. However, instead of being doused in gallons of water, Kara witnessed a sight that was truly extraordinary.

The luminescent liquid drifted down in a controlled stream that swirled and spun around the room creating breathtaking patterns and traces perfectly in time with each incandescent note. Kara twirled as ribbons of water danced around her form before dashing and zigzagging upwards to dance above her head.

Even though the spectacle was mesmerising Kara’s eyes drifted and sought out her favourite sight of all. Lena with the brightest smile that Kara had ever seen on her face, her green eyes, shining far more than the shimmering liquid, staring back at her.

Kara, currently experiencing a moment more perfect than any she ever had before, was imbued with an untouchable confidence that had her stepping right up to Lena, her hand automatically reaching out to brush Lena’s cheek with the lightest of touches. Lena inhaled sharply as barely there electric shocks and sparks of kindling heat followed the path of Kara’s fingers.

“Lena,” Kara began softly allowing herself to fully accept the illusion she had created that she was actually touching Lena, that the otherworldly sensation that was radiating from her fingers was purely her body reacting to her feelings for the other woman. Taking a deep breath Kara smiled and whispered, “Lena, I-”

At that precise second, a loud beeping sound was emitted from the computer and the thin rivers of water that had been suspended in the air felt the full effect of gravity once again and immediately came crashing down to the ground.

Lena yelped as the equivalent of a paddling pool’s worth of water covered her entire being.

“That’s so not fair.” Kara seethed furiously to whatever deity was listening as Lena, absolutely sodden to the bone, shook her head to clear the water blocking her eardrums.

“There’s still a few glitches I need to work out!” Lena yelled at a volume even Mary would think was on the side of being too loud as she turned her back on Kara once again to see if her computer equipment had survived the drowning. “And I know you’re rolling your eyes again, Kara!”

“Feeling better?” Kara asked as Lena, now dressed in her pyjamas, wrapped the fluffy blanket around her shoulders and joined Kara on the floor of the living room.

“Much.” Lena practically purred, now free of her cold, damp clothes.

After the mishap at Lena’s laboratory, Kara had to more or less drag the inventor away from her computer equipment, assuring her that a full autopsy of what went wrong could be carried out when she was back at work. To make up for the surprise going awry, Lena insisted that they stop by Huang’s to get Kara’s regular order. Huang chose to pointedly ignore the fact that Lena was dripping water all over his floor and laughing at random points as she waited for her order. Lena, obviously, left a generous tip which almost made up for the recent disappearance of Huang’s most profitable customer. Upon returning, Lena had rushed to take a quick shower and change into more comfortable clothes, leaving Kara to relive over and over again those magnificent moments before the water had come crashing down on them.

“So, do you want to watch a truly terrible film?” Kara inquired with a light smile, trying to provide a distraction to the heat brewing inside of her as Lena stretched out on the floor.

Lena suddenly went rigid at the question and then sprung to her feet, rushing to the bedroom, calling out over her shoulder as she went, “Actually, there’s something else I’d rather do.” Kara tilted her head in curiosity as Lena reappeared only a minute or so later lugging at least five different board games that had been stored at the top of the dangerous tower in the bedroom closet. “Last night, my friends and I played board games and… whilst I loved it…. All I kept thinking was how much better it would’ve been if you were there.” Lena revealed as she placed the boxes down and took her place on the floor, lightly pulling all her hair over one shoulder so it was out of the way.

Kara gulped and forcibly pulled her eyes away from the creamy skin of Lena’s exposed neck, “Uhh… you know I can’t like roll the dice or anything, right?”

Lena smirked as she pulled the first game towards her, “Hence why I picked games that don’t require rolling a die. Smart and beautiful, right?” Lena teased, biting on her bottom lip resulting in a pretty pink blush spreading across Kara’s face as she stammered out her agreement.

“I should warn you, by the way…”, Kara started with a mock serious tone that had Lena looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “Me and my sister have held a game’s night every week since I was thirteen. You. Are. Going. Down.” Kara enunciated every word as Lena finished setting up the board.

“Game on.” Lena whispered with narrowed eyes, whipping the first card out of the holder.

By the fifth game, Kara had to admit she had never laughed nor giggled so much in her life. The constant teasing and in-jokes came naturally and grew with each turn. Kara spent most of the time playing telling Lena about her life, about the accident, about every moment big and small that she could remember. Kara would have felt awkward about how much she was speaking about herself if she had been with anyone else. Lena, though, was giving her that expression which was identical to when Kara had only been able to tell her snippets about herself. It was a look that made Kara feel invincible and rare. That even the most ridiculous of facts about herself were important and worthwhile knowing.

Lena had given her the most sympathetic of smiles when she told her about not being able to tell time on an analog clock until she was twelve. When Kara revealed how much she loved baseball but never had time to go and see a game, Lena had immediately promised to take her to see the next one and then proceeded to give her a lecture on baseball statistics. Lena had positively lit up like a christmas tree when Kara talked Lena through the articles she had written, the background behind them, what she had been thinking and feeling at the time.

Kara found that there was nothing quite as life-affirming as watching Lena beam at every detail she shared.

“There’s something I want to show you.” Kara murmured as Lena began to yawn.

“Okay.” Lena agreed without hesitation despite the obvious fatigue weighing down her every movement and word.

Kara insisted Lena bring as many of her warm layers and blankets as she could before leading her out of the apartment and up the stairs to the roof. On the roof, were a few disarrayed chairs and tables and a dilapidated bit of decking for people to lounge on. Lena, instantly, went to inspect the furniture but was stopped by a tingle on her shoulder as Kara led her to the deck instead, where she proceeded to lay down and stare up at the night sky. Lena cocked an eyebrow but shrugged regardless and laid out as close to the other woman as possible without touching her.

The moon hung large and captivating in the sky, surrounded by glittering diamond-like stars. “I used to come up here when i was struggling with a story, or a problem or…”, Kara whispered into the stillness.

“Or?” Lena prompted, turning on her side, looking away from the expansive view to observe Kara’s profile as she spoke with a rare melancholy voice.

“When I felt alone.” Kara confessed her voice cracking over the final word. Lena wanted to reach over and stroke Kara’s cheek, tell her that she would never be alone especially not when she was so kind-hearted and generous, but she bit her tongue. The crease that Lena had become ever so familiar with was in place and she didn’t want to interrupt whatever Kara was trying to get out. “I mean I’ve always had and always will have my sister and I know I have amazing friends, so I have nothing to really complain about. It’s just... all of them have someone who is there day in and day out, someone who they can imagine a future with, someone to really share their lives with... whereas... I’ve never even been in love…” Lena’s heart clenched as Kara’s eyes slid shut for a long moment grappling with emotions that wanted to be set free, “Being up here, though? Seeing how truly big the world and universe is… Most people would say it makes them feel more alone but not me… I always believed that the right person for me was staring up at the exact same sky, waiting for me like I was waiting for them.”

“Kara…”, Lena breathed out, her throat feeling tight whilst her eyelids began to droop from the exhaustion she had been holding off for the last week. Warm under her blankets, with Kara by her side, seeing the entrancing colour of her blue eyes, Lena finally experienced that feeling of comfort and home she had missed for the entire time Kara had been away. The effect enabled her body to finally relax, and the need for sleep crept and crawled over her, weighing heavy on her eyes.

“I think, I figured it out.” Kara said in a hushed tone, lulling Lena to the edge of sleep, “I assumed that getting to be a ghost... or whatever I am... was a way for the universe to let me see my family one last time. That my miracle was getting to say goodbye but I realised that wasn’t it at all. My miracle was getting to meet you.”

Kara finally shifted round so that she was positioned in a mirror reflection to Lena’s own body. Kara’s heart sank as she realised that Lena’s green eyes were closed and that her breath was coming out deep and regular. Reaching out with a tender touch like she had done earlier that day, Kara traced Lena’s cheekbones with the tips of her fingers careful not to wake her or pass through her and ruin the illusion.

“My miracle was that I got to fall in love with you.”

Chapter Text

“Hey there, sleepyhead.”

Lena’s eyelids creeped open, the warmth and light from the risen sun making her hesitant, however her desire to see golden hair, sea blue eyes and a smile that was truly breathtaking made Lena push past the remnants of her slumber. “Kara.” Lena greeted in response, her voice croaky and husky by being sleep ridden.

Kara, still in the same spot she had been when Lena had fallen asleep, was on her side half-risen, using her elbow to lift her upper body, and rest her cheek against her palm. Lena stared up into blue eyes that crinkled as she made eye contact leading her to glance down at lips that had pulled back into the sweetest smile she had ever seen.

“You’re still here.” Lena breathed out in gratefulness and surprise. She had expected Kara to have disappeared when she fell asleep, to have vanished back to wherever she used to disappear to in the early days, or to have to decided that it was time to return to her family.

Whatever the reason would be didn’t matter, what mattered was that Lena hadn’t expected Kara to stay.

The smile on Kara’s face faltered and dimmed as her eyes seemed to glaze with hurt, “Of course. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” She whispered fervently as her hand reached out to stroke Lena’s cheek like she had done yesterday.

Lena’s breath came out in a stutter as Kara’s fingers carved out a river of warmth over her cheek that delved and spread through her. Lena gripped the blanket she had wrapped around herself so tightly her knuckles turned white, her main aim being to prevent herself from foolishly reaching out to try and grab Kara and pull her into a searing kiss that would never happen.

“Lena-”

“Breakfast?” Lena and Kara both spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping but Lena’s panicked tone made her question the far more audible. Kara retracted her hand as Lena scrambled to her feet, gathering up her blanket as she did so. “How about I teach you to make pancakes?” Lena offered genially once Kara had gotten to her feet and began to lead them back inside the apartment building.

“I know how to make pancakes.” Kara replied, slightly offended that Lena would think she was completely incapable of cooking despite evidence that would agree with Lena’s assessment.

Lena cocked an eyebrow and stared at her with a withering look, “Without using store bought pancake mix?”

Kara’s mouth opened and closed in frustration before she haughtily crossed her arms and stated childishly, “No one makes pancakes from scratch.”

Lena smirked as she turned away from Kara and skipped down the stairs to their apartment floor, “I do and soon so will you. When you get your body back you will have no excuse to not make your own pancakes.” A stab of regret lanced through Kara at the words and even more so at the confident wink Lena threw back at her.

Kara knew she needed to tell Lena. And tell her soon.

Upon returning to the apartment, Lena immediately set to work pulling ingredients and utensils out whilst she began to regale Kara with what she fondly liked to call her alternate thesis entitled: ‘The Technical Culinary Requirements and Specification of the Supreme Pancake.’ Kara listened as Lena told her how every Sunday when she and Sam were at university together Lena would make pancakes and take copious notes with the main intent being to create the perfect pancake, Ruby had been the ultimate judge and guiding force at the time. Lena talked Kara through every step in what would have been excruciating detail to anyone but Kara who found Lena’s passion and excitement so adorable she found herself invested in every word.

“Viola, the perfect pancakes.” Lena finished with a flourish, dishing up the food onto a plate before liberally sprinkling the stack with icing sugar and scooping a dollop of ice cream onto the side. Kara’s mouth watered at the sight, she had never missed food so much than in that particular moment.

Kara took over the conversation as Lena ate, rambling about everything and nothing, Lena listening as intently as every other time Kara had spoken. Lena finished her meal, then went to take a shower and check her phone which she had left in the apartment overnight. Kara breathed a sigh of relief at her momentary absence as it allowed her time to collect her thoughts and plan out what she wanted to say. Her plan had been to tell Lena everything that morning as soon as she woke up but Lena had thrown a spanner in the works by rushing off to make breakfast.

And then, everything had just been so… domestic.

Lena making breakfast as Kara teased her about how precise she was being. Lena sipping at her coffee as her eyes crinkled with amusement at Kara who ranted about the problems she used to have at work. Kara got to experience a truly dream-like sunday morning.

Kara paced the living room, wringing her hands together as she threw glances at the closed bedroom door where Lena was getting dressed and ready for the day. “You can do this. You can do this. Just tell her.” Kara murmured under her breath as her anxiety increased with each passing moment.

“You knew, didn’t you? That’s why you came back, right?”

Kara’s head snapped up at the cold, accusing questions to find Lena, her dark hair still damp, dressed in jeans and a green shirt, one hand wrapped tightly around her phone, her other gripping the doorway as if it was a crucial support in keeping her standing. Kara took in Lena’s tense composure before looking up to see her normally green and vibrant eyes had become dull and red-rimmed. A cold heaviness settled in Kara’s stomach as she saw how distraught the woman she loved was.

“Knew? Knew what?” It was a stupid question especially since Kara knew exactly what Lena had found out.

“Don’t play dumb, Kara!” Lena snapped, her nostrils flaring with anger causing Kara to hang her head in shame. “Were you going to tell me?” The question was desperate and raw, Kara found she couldn’t look at Lena as she said it, the pain in her voice was too much already without having to visibly see it.

“Yes… no… I don’t-”, Kara stuttered out as her hand instinctively fiddled with her glasses.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me? I could help. I could do something. I-”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you!” Kara exclaimed, having finally found her voice. There was a building tightness around her chest that was growing and constricting with every second she was exposed to the pain she had caused within Lena. “You wouldn’t stop!”

“Of course, I wouldn’t stop. Would you honestly expect me to stand by and do nothing?! Just stay quiet on the sidelines as they turn off your life support?” Lena cried as she pushed off the wooden door frame and strode into the room, moving closer to Kara whose own eyes had begun to water.

“It’s not your decision to make!” Kara rebutted, her hands flying wildly as she spoke. “My sister has spent two months at my bedside waiting for me to get better. I’m not going to get better Lena! There is no magical cure here.”

“How can you say that when you are standing right HERE?!”

“Because I’m not standing right here, am I? Only you can see and hear me. I can’t interact with anything in the world. I can’t even touch you!” Kara shouted, her words catching on the final sentiment.

Lena blinked and paused for a long moment, her green eyes going vulnerable and wide at Kara’s last sentence before she shook her head, “I promised you that I would figure it out. You didn’t trust me to do that.” The words were much quieter than Lena’s earlier yells but they pierced so much deeper.

“It wasn’t that, I swear.” Kara whispered pouring as much sincerity as she possibly could into what she was saying. “It’s because I trusted you too much. Lena, you-... you are so kind and so strong. You would go to the ends of the earth to help someone even if… if it hurt you in return.” Kara’s fingers that were by her sides twitched and flinched with the need to pull Lena, who had folded her arms and was staring resolutely at the wooden floor, into a tight, all-encompassing hug. “Lena, there is no way you could save me without getting yourself hurt in the process. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t be the reason for it.”

Lena slowly looked up and stared Kara directly in the eye, the tears had stopped only to be replaced with a cold, distant hollowness as she asked, carefully enunciating each word. “Which do you think would have hurt worse? Trying to save you and failing... or waking up in the morning to find you were gone forever without saying goodbye?”

Kara’s heart shattered as Lena turned on the spot and retreated back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind herself.

“How did you find out?” Kara asked quietly to Lena’s back as she was curled up in a protective ball on the bed.

Lena sniffed, as she wiped to clear the tears under her eyes, “I left my contact information for Alex at the hospital… told her to call me if she needed anything. She left a message thanking me for everything the hospital had done and that she was planning on taking you off life support tomorrow.”

“Ahhh…”, Kara murmured, shifting from foot to foot before taking a deep breath, “Lena, I am so, so, so sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologise.” Lena replied, her voice muffled as she buried her face further into the pillows.

“Yes, I do.” Kara, tired of speaking to Lena’s back, wandered around the bed and crouched down in front of the other woman whose face was half scrunched up and half hidden.

“No, you don’t.” Lena lifted her head to look straight at Kara, the lines on her face easing and disappearing, “I know you were just trying to protect me. It’s what you always do.”

Kara gnawed at her bottom lip as she breathed out defeatedly, “I still hurt you.”

“You were always going to hurt me, Kara.” Lena stated as if it should’ve been obvious, “Losing you was always going to hurt. You at least tried to pick the option that would bring me the least pain.”

“And failed.” Kara muttered bitterly as she fidgeted with her fingers once again before a familiar tingle spread through them. Kara glanced down at her hands to see Lena had rested her own hand above them, stopping their incessant movement.

“Kara.” Lena said sympathetically, her own hurt feelings softening and vanishing as she realised how her own pain was damaging Kara as well.

It was a strange moment of realisation for Lena.

Discovering that someone cared for her so much that her pain became their pain.

Thing is though, Lena never wanted Kara to suffer for any reason and especially not because of her. “Look at me.” Lena demanded causing Kara to hesitantly lift her gaze back up enabling Lena to visibly see the swirling, all consuming guilt clouding her favourite pair of blue eyes. “I would pick getting to know you and losing you over never having met you every single time. I don’t and will never regret you.”

“Really?” Kara whispered tentatively.

Lena paused upon hearing the vulnerability and hopefulness expressed in that one word and, without stopping to overanalyze her next action, slowly leant forward to brush her lips against Kara’s heavily creased forehead. The warm spark smoothed out the lines and had Kara’s eyes slipping shut and mouth falling open in shock. “Really.” Lena repeated as she pulled back.

“Er… umm… I… err…” Kara stuttered out, her eyes flickering back open, revealing dark, heavily unfocused pupils that couldn’t fully accept the reality of what Lena had done.

“I won’t do anything, by the way, if you don’t want me to. Because… you were right… it’s not my decision.” Lena sighed whilst Kara’s expression shifted to downcast as she quirked her head to the side. “Thing is, though, it’s not Alex’s either… it’s yours.”

“Mine?” Kara squeaked as if confused by the very concept that she could have a say.

“Yes, yours. I will respect any decision you make for your own life but I won’t accept anyone else’s on the matter. You may think that because you are not ‘physically’ here, you shouldn’t get a say but you do. And I won’t let anyone take that away from you.” Lena exhaled deeply, the weight that had been on her chest easing as she got to say what she truly thought.

Kara’s eyes went wide and her entire body turned static and unmoving

“So, Kara… What do you want?” Lena asked, the promise to abide by whatever Kara requested not needing to be said with how sincerely she had asked the question.

“You know you can’t keep summoning me whenever you want a drinking buddy.” Megan reprimanded as Lena swung open the door and gestured for her to come in. “Who am I kidding? Of course you can.”

“Drinking buddy? It’s ten thirty in the morning!” Lena exclaimed, mildly perturbed as she shut the door behind one of her newest friends.

“Eh, I don’t judge.” Megan shrugged, placing her bag on the kitchen counter-top and pulling her coat off, making herself right at home.

Lena rolled her eyes at the comment as she made her way over to the kitchen. “I didn’t invite you over to drink.”

“Shame.” Megan tsked with a devilish smirk as Lena busied herself with getting them both glasses of water instead. “Then what was with the emergency invite?” Lena pushed a glass in front of Megan who took a small sip whilst Lena began to gulp the entirety of hers down. Megan arched an eyebrow as the other woman finished the drink and placed it with slightly shaky hands back on the counter.

“You remember my ghost not being a ghost problem?” Lena mumbled as she began to tap her fingers against the marble.

“I know I run a bookstore purely aimed at a strange clientele but I’m not likely to forget something like that.” Megan assured with a crooked smile.

“Right… right… so the timescale on this problem has changed significantly. See,” Lena flapped her hands nervously as she readied herself to reveal all of the details she had held back from Megan previously in a futile attempt to reduce the level of craziness she exposed Megan to, “my ghost’s name is Kara Danvers, she used to live in this apartment and, as it turns out, she is also massively connected to me in a variety of ways... which we really don’t have enough time to cover or untangle…” Lena muttered dismissively before delving right back in, “Anyway, as you know she’s not dead, in a surprising twist, she’s actually in a coma. Like a real coma. And we’ve just found out that her family are going to turn off her life support. Which, Kara has admitted that she’d rather they not do so now we have until tomorrow morning to figure out how to get Kara’s ‘spirit’ or ‘essence’ or whatever hell you want to call it back into her body.” Lena panted, her face having turned flush with the exertion of rushing through everything.

Megan stared at her blankly, “I don’t… I don’t understand…”

“Which bit tripped you up? Was it the coma? The coma twist got me as well…”, Lena prompted as she leant forward on the counter.

Megan’s mouth moved to form words but nothing came out for a long moment before she shook her head and said, “The bit where it turns out you were actually being serious this whole time about having a ghost problem.”

“WAIT, WHAT?!” Lena squeaked.

Chapter Text

“What did you think was going on!?”

Megan shrugged helplessly and grimaced whilst she muttered, “I thought we were talking in metaphors.”

“METAPHORS?!” Lena yelled indignantly.

“Yeah, I figured you were using this ghost and ‘disassociated from your body thing’ as a way to get indirect therapy.” Megan confessed with a wince.

“For what?” Lena squawked.

“Well… the ghost situation was obviously an analogy for an ex you were still in love with and couldn’t get over.” Lena spluttered and blushed a deep shade of red as her eyes darted over to a spot by her side. “And the body disconnection was clearly about your low feelings of self-confidence brought on by your mother’s bitchy betrayal.” Megan revealed with a her familiar all-knowing, wise woman voice.

“Oh my god, that was why you were reciting those strange platitudes about feeling comfortable in your own skin, finding happiness within yourself and not requiring external validation!” Lena realised slapping her forehead as she remembered the seemingly random and pointless advice Megan had been spouting when she had last visited the bookstore.

“Yeah, I just took all of that from self-help websites.” Megan admitted in a quiet voice. “I assumed since you were so famous, you didn’t comfortable going to see an actual therapist.”

“Why would my solution to that problem be admitting to a fake mystic - who by the way has the worst costume I have ever seen - that I am seeing a ghost?!” Lena interrogated, gripping the countertop for support as she stared down at her friend who was now perched on one of the counter stools.

Megan pouted despondently and eyed the glass she was twirling between her hands, “I’ve got pretty good reviews on yelp…”

‘Yelp?’ Lena mouthed, unable to bring herself to fully voice the word, “Also, why would you sell me a ouija board and glow in the dark stones if you knew they wouldn’t work?” Lena continued, deciding to leave Megan’s strange rationalisation that a three-star yelp review equaled a medical degree for another day.

“I do run a business, believe it or not.” Megan retorted, purposefully ignoring the eye-roll from Lena. “I can’t just give out free therapy and expect to have food on the table.”

Lena sighed heavily, as she moved around the table and slumped onto the kitchen stool beside Megan, “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter. You don’t believe me.” Lena muttered as she deflated in on herself.  After a second of silence, Lena’s head snapped up and turned to her left, her eyes focusing in on an seemingly empty space. Megan watched Lena’s eyebrow rise steadily as she seemed to be listening to something. “What do you mean you know her?”

“Are you talking to your ghost?” Megan checked since Lena had spoken without turning back to look at her.

“One second.” Lena urged by flapping one of her hands in a shushing motion back in Megan’s direction, Megan harrumphed but kindly, bit her tongue and waited. Lena, suddenly, flushed a bright red, her jaw dropping as she yelled out, “AFFAIR OR WIFE?!”  

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I am a main meal and never a side.” Megan bit back without hesitation as Lena spun on her seat to look at her, the shocked mask still in place.

“Oh, girlfriend.” Lena sighed out gratefully, the tension easing back out of her as she tilted her head in question at the unseen entity, “Who? John Jones?”

Megan’s eyes bulged at the casual identification of her current flame. She raised a hand and pointed an accusing finger at the dark haired woman, “Facebook stalker!”

“Am not!” Lena denied haughtily, offended at the indictment, especially since she didn’t even have a facebook account (a dummy account created to look up Kara’s old profile didn’t count in Lena’s humble opinion as that was more research than stalking…)

“Then how did you know-” Megan crossed her arms over her chest as she began a question that was cut off by Lena who instantly began gesturing to an empty spot at her side.

“I didn’t! Kara did! Her sister is Alex Danvers.” Now that name rang a resounding bell in Megan’s head, causing her defensive posture to become less rigid. Her certainty that ghosts (or disembodied beings) weren’t real was taking a significant hit at the specific details and answers Lena was able to provide without delay.

“John’s protege?” Megan prompted incredulously.

“Err, I don’t-” Lena mumbled blank faced for a second before she began to nod furiously, “Kara says yes.”  Megan pursed her lips as she allowed herself to really scrutinise the CEO opposite her, “Do you believe me now?” Lena asked her eyes wide and desperate, pleading with Megan to give her a chance.

“Ummm….” Megan hummed, uncertainty and indecision gnawing ferociously at her.

“What can I do to convince you?” Lena asked, deciding to change tactics as Megan continued to remain silent.

“Well…”, Megan said, her mind rapidly whirring into life with the options.

“How many?”

“Five.”

“And now?”

“Eight.”

“Now?”

“The middle finger, really?” Lena’s face twisted with disgust as she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head in disappointment at Megan who was standing on the other side of the room.

“HAH! It was middle fingers, plural!” Megan shouted out victoriously, revealing the hands hidden behind her back and waving them round as if they were the linchpin in a murder trial.

“Come on, Megan! I don’t have time for this!” Lena roared, stomping her foot in exasperation and despair. Megan’s hands slowly fell back to her sides as she watched the energy leak out of her friend. Lena shook her head once before covering her face with her hands to hide the disappointment and pain that was twisting her expression.  “I get it okay?” Lena whispered through her fingers. “You don’t believe me and think I’m crazy so you won’t help. That’s fine, I understand.”

Megan felt a sudden chill rush through her as if someone had just run across her grave. She shivered unconsciously and watched as Lena then seemed to shift ever so slightly to her right as if she was leaning into something… or someone… Megan pushed that thought away and strode purposefully towards the other woman realising she had to set a few things straight. “Lena.” Megan called out once she was in front of the raven haired woman, “Listen, I may not fully believe the whole ‘seeing a ghost thing’”, Megan waved her hands as she said the words to distance herself from the fact that she might just be starting believe what Lena was saying, “but I never said I wouldn’t help you.”

“What?” Lena’s hands fell away from her face, revealing an expression that could only be described as ‘befuddled’ and had Megan snorting affectionately at the now very young looking CEO.

“You’re my friend, Lena.” Megan stated in her signature ‘duh’ voice. “I’m here for you so... of course, I’ll help in any way I can. Just tell me what you need.”

“Megan, that’s…”, Lena blinked, her green eyes positively mesmerised, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Lena repeated, practically vibrating on the spot with gratitude. “You have no idea, how much that-” Lena’s joy and exuberance vanished, “Wait! Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? We’ve been playing ‘guess the fingers behind my back’ for twenty minutes!”

“You never said you needed help. You went straight into trying to convince me.” Megan replied easily as she shrugged dismissively.

Lena’s mouth opened and closed before she held up an accusing finger to a spot on her right, “Kara, I can hear you laughing!”

“So, what do you need?” Megan inquired earnestly choosing to ignore Lena’s gaze that kept wandering over to someone she couldn’t see with a fond, loving smile.

“Genuine supernatural advice on how to deal with this situation.” Lena requested, frowning as she realised how ridiculous the words coming out of her mouth sounded.

“That I can do!” Megan enthused with a rare and easy grin, “I will admit, though, I was momentarily worried that you would ask me to do something illegal… wait, what’s that face for?”

Lena’s smile had become crooked and small. “Well, we may need to take… protective measures…” Lena awkwardly stated, clapping her hands together in front of her.

“Protective measures?” Megan repeated, arching a defined and imperious eyebrow.

“Yeah… like... hide Kara’s body until we figure out how to fix this.” Lena waved her hand as if to say ‘no biggie’.

“Hide…? You mean kidnapping?!” Megan exclaimed, her cool persona going right out the window.

“As a protective measure…” Lena breathed out with a childish pout at how Megan seemed to only be taking the worst possible twist on what she was saying.

Megan exhaled deeply, “Fine but when we go to prison, I get the top bunk.”

“Deal.” Lena quickly agreed.

“Were you cursed by a witch?” Megan questioned without glancing up from her phone, Lena was gripping her elbow and directing her safely through the hospital without causing further harm to any of the patients she was always on the verge of colliding with.

Kara for once was thankful for her intangibility as a doctor in a rush ran straight through her without slowing down, the only noticeable effect being the scrubbed figure shuddering and nearly tripping over after passing through her. “No.” Kara replied, in much the same vein she had answered all of Megan’s questions.

“No.” Lena repeated for Megan’s benefit who merely grunted and scrolled down with an aggressive swipe of her thumb.

“What about Voodoo? Did someone ever make a voodoo doll in your image?” Megan suggested as she was tugged around the corner of a corridor.

Lena glanced over at Kara and gave her an expectant expression. Kara’s brow furrowed as she stared into green eyes and exclaimed,  “How would I know that?”

Lena shrugged at her in amusement before parlaying the message, “How would she know that?”

“I don’t know! I’m running out of ideas here!” Megan shouted in exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air before shaking her phone and glaring daggers at it. “There’s no spiritual demon for her to fight. Or spiritual totem. Or animal spirit guide.” Kara cringed as two nurses, they walked past, shot concerned glances their way upon hearing Megan’s absurd rant. Catching a glimpse of Kara’s worried face, Lena picked up the pace and dragged Megan past the nurses as fast as she could. “Or even any unfinished business that she’s aware of.” Megan continued unabated despite the change of pace that meant they were now jogging through the hospital. “I’m getting desperate. I’m onto the third page of google, Lena! No one goes to the third page of google!”

Lena brought them to a sudden halt as they reached Kara’s hospital room and more or less shoved her friend inside as she continued to rant about the dregs of the internet that was hidden away past the first page of the google search results. Kara shook her head in dismay at the ‘expert advisor’ Lena had promised when she had first called Megan over that morning.

Kara hesitated outside her hospital room, the loathing she felt for this place rearing its head yet again. She hated the way she felt trapped, even though she could walk out through the door (or wall) at any point. Her comatose body was a physical reminder that she wasn’t fully alive or real. That she couldn’t do everything she wanted.

Couldn’t talk to her sister.

Couldn’t help Ruby with her homework.

Couldn’t hug Lena.

Couldn’t-

“How are you doing?” Kara jolted on the spot at Lena’s soft words that were spoken right by her ear. Lena was hovering beside her, her eyes flitting across Kara’s face, examining her closely.

“I’m fine.” Kara lied quickly, unable to meet Lena’s compassionate gaze.

“Okay.” Lena relented, though it was obvious she didn’t believe Kara who was more than aware that the crease on her forehead was like a blaring sign stating ‘LIAR’. “Just remember… that I’m here for you. Always.” Lena promised with a quiet yet determined voice that had Kara finally looking up to see the softest and most understanding smile on Lena’s face. It made her heart flutter and skip a beat. It made her feel safe in a place where she hadn’t a moment earlier.

Lena nodded at her making to turn away and head into the hospital room, Kara’s heart sank as she momentarily lost sight of her favourite smile. “Wait, Lena.” Kara pleaded causing Lena to look back at her with a curious head tilt, “There’s something I want to tell you...” Kara took a deep breath, determined this time to continue speaking regardless of Lena’s sudden wide-eyed and fearful expression.

“Oh my god, it’s Ruby.” Lena whispered loudly, her gaze fixed on a point past Kara’s shoulder. The declaration hit Kara in a whoosh of breath as she whirled around to see Ruby wander out of the bathroom down the corridor and begin to make her way to the exit.

“Go see her. She would love to talk to you.” Kara urged gently as Lena became rigid and tense.

“Kara, I abandoned her.” Lena choked out and Kara instinctively reached out to stroke her cheek in her now regularly comforting manner. Lena exhaled slowly, leaning into Kara’s light, not quite there touch, “All I left her was a stupid brown be-” Lena bitterly muttered, cutting herself off when she noticed Ruby duck down to tie up her shoelaces, an action that upon standing up from would give her an unrestricted line of sight at Lena, “Quick inside.” Lena demanded rushing inside, yet again forgetting that she couldn’t tug Kara along with her.

Kara sighed in dismay, disappointed that she had failed to tell Lena how she felt yet again and failed to give Lena the right encouragement to get her to reach out to the young girl who still adored her. Shaking her head once, Kara proceeded to pass through the slightly ajar door to find Megan by the side of the bed staring down at her physical body with an assessing demeanour and Lena hovering at the foot of the bed waiting for Megan’s input.

“She’s pretty.” Megan finally declared with an unimpressed shrug.

Kara was marginally flattered by Megan’s assessment but it was nothing compared to the effect of Lena’s instinctive correction of, “Beautiful.”  Kara blushed a pleased pink whilst Lena coughed in a pathetic attempt to cover up her compliment that only resulted in Megan giving her an all too knowing smirk. “Let’s just focus on the task at hand, shall we?” Lena insisted with a flick of her hand.

Megan harrumphed but quickly moved into action. Her hands began to wave and shift, dancing out intricate patterns in the air as she murmured and mumbled an almost indecipherable incantation using words Kara was convinced she had read in the most recent Harry Potter book. As Megan shifted from spell to ritual to rite, Lena moved round the bed and held Kara’s comatose hand in her own.

Kara lifted her warm and comforted hand to her chest, holding it over her heart as Megan ran through every bit of arcane knowledge she had come across in her time as a purveyor of the supernatural. Kara watched the seemingly ridiculous scene being carried out in front of her. Her empty shell of a body in the middle, Megan on one side invoking every god she could think of, Lena stoking her lifeless hand with gentle care, flowers blooming around the whole room, a brown teddy bear acting as sentinel, the-

Kara’s gaze tracked backwards and locked onto the teddy bear.

The mottled brown fur was worn and fuzzy from where Ruby had clung to it tightly for years. There was a distinct cross-stitch line running along the join of one arm where it had clearly been ripped off and lovingly stitched back together. The brown glassy eyes were smudged with finger marks but still seemed bright despite the long years.

This teddy bear had been placed at Kara’s side by a little girl who was scared of losing another member of her family. This teddy bear had been placed at her side with the promise that Kara would never be alone.

This teddy bear was the personification of the physical link between Kara and Lena.

Kara walked forlornly over to the bear and let her had brush over the fur.

She wasn’t even remotely surprised to find it was the only item that she could physically interact with. The small brown bear was solid to her, and her fingers could feel the soft fur as she stroked over it.

“This is a hospital! You can’t make an animal sacrifice in here. Right, Kara? Back me up here.” Lena’s exasperation cut through the haze that had built up inside of Kara, her hand shot back to her side trying to hide her discovery from green inquisitive eyes.

“Hey, that’s… that’s Princess Zor-El. What’s she doing here?” Lena stepped around Kara who tried futilely to block Lena’s access to the bear with her body. Lena was so captivated by the sight of the cuddly toy, that she didn’t register what Kara had been attempting. With a child-like wonder, Lena picked up the bear for close inspection, a pleased, joyful smile lighting up her face.

“Princess Zor-El?” Megan repeated besumedly, watching the way her friend seemed delighted at the appearance of a ratty brown bear.

“It’s a teddy bear I gave to Ruby on her first day of school. I promised her that as long as she had this bear, I would always be with her, no matter what.” Lena revealed with a wistful sigh as she fiddled with one of the bear’s ragged ears.

“Oh, Lena…”, Megan murmured; Kara didn’t need to look at Megan in that moment to know she had made the connection, the sympathetic tone of voice gave it away. Though, Megan could come across as bizarre or standoffish at times she was highly in tune with the world and the people in it. Kara finally understood why Megan probably had so much success as a fortune teller and why Lena had found it so easy to open up to her in the first place.  

“Oh, Lena?” Lena played back Megan’s words with a confused expression, Kara took the opportunity of Lena being distracted to put a few steps of distance between the two of them, again she couldn’t bring herself to look Lena in the eye.

“She’s just figured out why I’m here.” Kara whispered into the stillness of the room, refusing to look back and see Lena, knowing how young and innocent she would look clutching that well-loved teddy bear to her chest.

“What do you mean why you’re here?” Lena questioned, frusation seeping into her tone as she found herself in the dark repeating her friends’ words in the hope of gaining answers.

Megan rubbed the back of her neck as she rounded the bed and pulled Lena into a tight hug, “I’m going to leave you two alone. But I’ll be just outside if you need me.” Megan whispered sadly into Lena’s ear as she gave Lena a comforting squeeze, the teddy bear crushed between them.

Lena didn’t respond to the consoling embrace, her arms had become as heavy as lead, her mouth felt dry and her jaw was tightly locked preventing her from speaking. Megan eventually pulled away, gripping Lena’s biceps as she did so, forcing Lena to meet her steely gaze. Megan was seeking an acknowledgement, a sign that Lena understood that no matter what happened next she wouldn’t be alone.

Lena gulped painfully around a lump that had taken up residence in her throat. Megan remained for a second longer, holding Lena close as she checked that Lena was standing strong and steady before she released her arms and retreated to the hospital room door where she stopped to call out, “Hey, uh... Kara?”

Kara, who had kept her back to the scene that had played out between the two women. lifted her gaze from the floor to stare at the fierce woman who was scanning the room in the hope that she would kind of being looking at Kara as she spoke even if it was only for a moment, “I just want you to know that I am so sorry.” Megan said sincerely, pausing to lick her lips as she chose her words carefully, “And I really wish I could’ve met you in person. The way Lena looks at you… you must be pretty special. ” With that Megan bowed her head in goodbye and left, considerately closing the door behind herself to ensure Kara and Lena would have some privacy.

“Kara, what’s going on?” Kara hated how scared and unsure Lena sounded in that moment. She didn’t need to turn around to know Lena was now standing right behind her.

“See… I thought it was all about you…”, Kara began quietly, keeping her eyes locked on a vase of creamy flowers on the window shelf.  “Well, meeting you, that is.” Kara folded her arms across her chest and curled protectively in on herself, “I thought I was getting a chance to- It doesn’t matter. Because it was never about me.” Kara’s voice cracked and tears stung sharply at her eyes.

“I’m not following.” Lena whispered, as she placed a hand on Kara’s back to soothe the turmoil she could see in Kara’s tense posture.

“It was about Ruby. It’s always been about Ruby, don’t you see?” Kara asked, glancing over her shoulder to see Lena’s confused expression and her arm tightening noticeably around the bear she was holding to her chest. “The teddy bear is the key.” Kara carefully turned around causing Lena’s hand on her back to slip away and fall to her side, removing the flood of warmth that had given Kara the courage to face Lena’s scared expression. “You promised that if she kept the bear she would never be alone… that you would always be with her… she then gave the bear to me… and it meant I wasn’t alone.” Kara was practically begging for Lena to understand to make the connection, and to further prove her point Kara reached out with one hand and grabbed one of the teddy bear’s arms, waving it back and forth to show how it was tangible in her grasp.

Lena stared down at the action, her eyes then following Kara’s hand as it returned to her defensive crossed arm position.“Okay, so how do we use the bear to get you back into your body? How do we wake you up?” Lena’s questions were filled with enthusiasm and hopefulness but they were like a physical blow to Kara.

“Lena. There is no waking me up.” Kara answered, her expression beseeching as she shuffled back a step from Lena, who seemed belligerent to accept what was being laid out in front of her.

“Don’t say that. We’ve got a piece of the puzzle. We’re almost there.” Lena begged desperately.

“You need to reach out to Ruby.” Kara demanded with a strength she didn’t know she had in that moment. “That’s what this has all been about. You need to make sure she’s not alone.”

Lena blinked at Kara, her jaw going tight and set, the fogginess of confusion and misunderstanding vanishing to be replaced with a sharp and focused gaze, “And what happens when I do that?”

Kara winced at the harshness of the question, forcing herself to take a deep breath, stare back into Lena’s rapidly cold growing eyes and say, “She gets someone who loves her back in her life, as do you.”

Lena bit her bottom lip, ducking her gaze to the floor as tears began to fall from her eyes, “And you? What happens to you?” Her whisper was heartbreakingly quiet.

“My work is done.” Kara stated, trying and failing to keep a steady tone.

“No. I won’t do it.” Lena refused, a visible tremble running through her entire body.

“Yes, you will.” Kara replied easily, stepping back into Lena’s personal space, knowing she now needed to be the strong one for Lena.

“I won’t.” Kara ignored Lena’s weak declaration, choosing instead to cup Lena’s cheek with her hand, careful to keep her hand from passing through her skin.

“You will. And do you want to know why?” Kara asked softly, brushing her thumb back and forth unable to wipe the tears away as they fell. Kara ducked her head so she she could catch a glimpse of vibrant green eyes, “Because you, Lena Luthor, are generous and selfless, but most importantly... you have a kind and beautiful heart… it’s why I love you.”

Lena’s head snapped up and she stared into sincere blue eyes that filled with pure, undeniable love for her. “Kara-” Lena brokenly whispered.

“Aunt Lena?!” The shrill, excited voice cut through the heavy moment and had the two women pivoting round to find Ruby with the most hopeful expression on her face.

“Ruby?” Lena gasped out as she properly took in the sight of the little girl she loved, now taller, older and still looking at her the exact same way she done all those years ago. Without even thinking about it Lena involuntarily stepped forward, her arms shifting with the desire to pull Ruby into a tight hug.

“You’re here!” The young girl cheered, her entire face lighting up in delight as she practically skipped towards Lena, “Alex said you checked in on the patients but I didn’t think… I hoped… I left my backpack and here you are…”, The rambling pouring from Ruby’s mouth was so reminiscent of Kara, that Lena felt her mouth uptick into a smile and a chuckle escape. Ruby paused at the sound of the laugh and the affectionate smile, staring up at Lena in elation deciding to sum up her feelings with a simple, “I missed you.”

Lena glanced over at Kara who was giving her a watery, encouraging smile, “I- I- I missed you too.” Lena stuttered out honestly, carefully dropping to her knees to bring herself to the same level as Ruby and gingerly offering up the bear that she had been clutching tightly this entire time

Ruby’s hands slowly advanced forward and took hold of the bear, “Please don’t go away again.” Ruby begged staring directly into Lena’s eyes.

Lena’s breath came out in a choked sob as she was faced with an almost unbearable choice to make.

If she reached out to Ruby, promising she would never go away again, she would lose Kara, the person who owned her heart like no one else ever had.

But with Ruby, staring at her with eyes filled with equal parts hope and fear at being pushed away.

There was no choice.

Lena knew what the right decision was and her arms had already opened instinctively wide without hesitation.

“I’m not- I’m not going anywhere, ever again, I promise.” Lena breathed out as Ruby rushed into her open arms. Kara, glowing with pride and sorrow, made eye contact with Lena over Ruby’s shoulder.

Kara could feel the cold darkness that used to encompass her in the early days pulling her back yet again. It’s grip was firm and decisive this time, and there was a strong sense of finality in the way it beckoned to her. She could feel herself disappearing, vanishing for the final time. Lena’s heart began to crack and shatter as she watched the woman she loved become increasingly transparent.

Lena realised in that moment as Kara gave her a soft, farewell smile that she hadn’t told Kara how she really felt, and the words came out in a sharp gasp as Kara disappeared from sight. “I- I love you.”

“You just had to be the hero, didn’t you?” Lena teased with a weak smile as she came to stand beside the bed and stared down at the blonde who didn’t respond.

Lena spent the rest of the afternoon with Ruby (and Sam once Ruby had phoned to tell her about her reunion with Lena). Lena had taken the mother and daughter out to a restaurant down the road from the hospital. She heard all about their lives and everything that had happened since she moved away from them. It was a bittersweet moment for Lena, who was overjoyed at reconnecting with the first true family she ever had and devastated that Kara was truly gone.

Their time together was short as Sam and Ruby couldn’t stay for long; they wanted to get home in time to be there for Alex to provide support and comfort the day before Kara’s life support was switched off. Lena assured them that she understood and gave both girls her contact information, promising Ruby that she would answer her call at any time of the day, that got Lena the tightest hug she had received in years. As they left, Lena insisted that if they or Alex needed anything, they should let her know which Sam was grateful for. The old friends agreed to have a proper catch up as soon as time allowed.

After they left, Lena returned as if on autopilot to see Kara one last time.

“I could barely make it a week without you and now I…”, The words caught in her throat as Lena stared down at Kara’s eerily pale face, her bright blue eyes hidden away forever. Lena bent down, resting her forearms on the bed next to Kara’s head, “How am I supposed to go forever without your stupid puns? Or cheesy music taste? Or your ridiculous food preferences?” Lena asked as she brushed loose strands of golden hair off Kara’s smooth forehead that was completely free of the crease Lena adored, “I’m never going to see you smile again. Or hear you ramble. I never even got the chance to tell you…” Lena exhaled deeply, letting her fingers stroke across Kara’s hollow cheek as she tried to conjure up the words.

“Before you came along… I was the ghost, you know?” Lena tilted her head as she thought over how she used to be, “I was barely existing. I didn’t let anyone in. I was completely alone and I thought that was what I deserved. Then you just appeared in my, I’m sorry,” Lena smiled wistfully as she corrected herself with a light chuckle, “I mean your apartment and you... blasted my life to pieces for the better. I know I complained bitterly and fought you tooth and nail at the very beginning, but you have to admit, you were just as bad. Worse even… okay, maybe not worse but still pretty terrible.” She teased with smirk as her fingers stilled their movement, her gaze focusing in on the robotic like breaths that escaped past Kara’s lips.

“But the truth is... you brought me back to life. You gave me so much joy and… hope. Hope for more. Hope for better. I stood up to my mother. My company has never been more successful. My employees have never been happier. I even made friends! Good friends.” Lena smiled at that and the way that Kara had glowed with pride when she told her about Megan, Winn and Jess (even Mary).

“You even got me my family back. Ever since my brother…”, Lena shook her head, pushing aside the dark memories that came with that part of her past. Kara had helped her move on, had given her so much light to make up for it all, her goodbye should focus on that rather than anything else. “Let’s just say, I thought the universe hated me, that I deserved to be alone. Then it sent me you.” Lena breathed out in reverence cherishing the warmth that Kara’s body emanated, “It gave me my very own blonde miracle. And you were everything I didn’t know I wanted and... you… you were so easy to fall in love with.”

Lena carefully got back to her feet and pulled her hand away, “I love you, Kara.” Lena whispered, gathering her courage before slowly bending down to brush her lips over Kara’s. Tears trickled down Lena’s face, and dripped onto Kara’s cheeks, Lena’s eyes slid closed as she allowed herself to be close to Kara for a precious few seconds more.

Lena, eventually, pulled away with a light sigh, standing up straight as she made to leave when she heard the distinct change in the beeps sounding out from the numerous machines surrounding Kara’s body. Her eyes snapped open as she stared down to find Kara’s eyelids fluttering, her breath coming out less deeply, her fingers that had lied limply for months twitching and tensing.

“Kara?!” Lena shouted, grabbing Kara’s hand, her heart expanding as she felt her own hand get squeezed gently in response. “I need doctors in here! She’s waking up!” Lena yelled as loudly as she could at the door. Kara’s eyes slid properly open, providing Lena with the view of a breathtaking pair of truly alive, baby blue eyes, “Kara! It’s me, it’ Lena!” She called out as Kara’s gaze shifted over to her, staring up at her blankly. Kara shook her head, a fearful expression on her face as she weakly tried to pull her hand away from Lena who let it go immediately and stepped back.

Lena’s fragile heart that had begun to beat and come back to life, ground itself into dust.

“Who- I don’t know you…” Kara’s voice was raw and barely audible from disuse but Lena didn’t have to hear a single word Kara had said to know the truth.

Kara was looking at her as if she was a complete stranger.

The door to the hospital room banged open and a wave of doctors and nurses swooped in. Lena allowed herself to be pushed aside as the doctors got to work. She hovered for a moment longer on the periphery trying to capture and lock away the image of Kara alive and tangible before slipping quietly out the door and disappearing.

Chapter Text

1 Month Post Coma

“It should be more or less the same as you left it.” Alex said softly, placing the large suitcase down by the door as Kara wandered into the centre of her apartment and took it all in. It was midday and the tall windows were allowing light to stream blindingly into the living room, illuminating the apartment with brightness and colour. Kara smiled widely and spun around in the space, finally feeling the sense of home she had been significantly lacking for the past month. “Happy to be home?” Alex asked knowingly, as Kara giddily leapt around her apartment.

“Supremely.” Kara cheered, rushing over to pick up the abandoned suitcase with the intent to put all of her belongings back in their rightful place. Alex shifted on her feet uncomfortably and rubbed the back of her neck, Kara’s joy subdued slightly as she realised how Alex was probably feeling, “You know I loved staying with you.” Kara affirmed as she looked up at her big sister. “But-”

“I can’t keep you locked away or watch you twenty four seven.” Alex supplied with a weak smile and a wistful tone, “No matter how much I would like to.”

Kara dropped the suitcase back on the floor and pulled her sister into a tight hug, “I’m not going anywhere ever again.”

“You better not.” Alex retorted with faux harshness as she squeezed Kara tighter to her, “I need my sister.”

“Me too.” Kara replied softly.

The two siblings held each other close for a minute or so before Alex fully recomposed herself and gruffly tacked onto the end of their conversation to lighten the mood, “We also need your pancakes.”

Kara snorted and shook her head as she pulled away from her sister, “And there’s the real reason you don’t want me moving back out.”

“Hey,” Alex held up a finger in warning and shot Kara a steely gaze, “You are a medical marvel. You went into a coma with no cooking ability and you came out of it with the skill to make the perfect pancake. Don’t get mad at me for wanting to capitalise on this miracle.”

Kara rolled her eyes, ignoring the strange way her heartbeat increased at the word miracle. Alex, seized the opportunity offered by Kara’s distracted emotions to swoop down and pick up the suitcase once again, brushing Kara’s attempt to carry it to the bedroom aside. Kara allowed herself a moment longer to twirl around her home before hurrying after her sister to help unpack, the excitement of getting back to her pre-coma life making her force down the disquieting thought that there was something important she had forgotten to bring home with her.

It had taken a week for Kara to finally get her way and be released from the hospital. And in that time, she had gone positively stir-crazy locked away in that room as the doctors ran what appeared to be a never ending stream of tests.

Kara had never been lonely during her time in hospital, Alex had been there for two full days, taking time off work to fully appreciate her sister coming more or less back from the dead. She had then proceeded to pretty much live in Kara’s room, leaving only for work and when Sam came by to frogmarch her home and to bed.

Sam, also, had taken a day off of work and let Ruby skip school for the first day Kara was awake,  she then shifted into full-on mum mode and focused on supporting everyone to the best of her ability. Sam, very considerately, went so far as to bring an unending supply of books, an ipad loaded with episodes of tv shows Kara had missed and old catco magazines to keep Kara entertained. Kara was convinced that Sam’s thoughtfulness was the only thing that kept her from breaking out of the hospital.

Eliza came down from Midvale and was there for the entire week, driving the doctors and nurses insane with how she questioned and queried every medical decision. James and Lucy came by and updated Kara on everything she had missed with regards to work (courtesy of James) and celebrity drama (courtesy of Lucy).

The highlight of Kara’s day, though, was always Ruby’s visits after school. She would skip in with her backpack and books, jump onto the bed to sit beside her aunt and tell Kara everything she had learned at school that day. Kara would then help Ruby with her homework. It was the best part of the day, as it was the most normal .

It was the only part of her routine from before the accident that she had been allowed to fully partake in.

Kara loved her family and friends. But Kara had been so bored of the hospital, she felt like she had been there for months (which she had though she didn’t remember it). Upon being released, Kara had received a string of bad news in rapid succession.

Firstly, she wasn’t allowed to go back to work for at least a month, most likely longer.

Secondly, the doctors had recommended that she stay with her sister for at least a week which Kara didn’t mind, she was just worried about how much of a burden she had already been to her sister. (When Kara apologised to Alex for how much trouble she had caused and was causing, Alex had broken down, repeating how simply grateful she was that Kara was there. Kara’s feelings of guilt rapidly disappeared at the appearance of her sister’s tears.)

Thirdly, (and the cherry on top) was that her apartment had been rented out so she couldn’t even move back in for a month anyway due to the way the contract was written.

Kara had loved staying with her sister but she was desperate to get back to her normal life and routine. She had lost two whole months of her life. Two whole months of not being able to do the job she loved. Two whole months of not being able to talk to her family and friends.

Two whole months gone in the blink of the eye.

For nothing.

Her sister had even postponed her wedding to the love of her life because of Kara’s accident.

Kara had to get back to normal.

And the first step was moving back into her apartment.

It was after a week of living in her apartment that Kara found out that the statement ‘more or less the same’ was an eerily perfect description of her current living situation.

Kara couldn’t help but think her apartment had become a jigsaw that was nearly complete but missing crucial pieces. She could see the overall shape but it was fuzzy and indistinct. Like a childhood memory, she could remember the broad strokes and random intense details but key parts were missing.

Kara found herself fascinated by the minor differences or quirks (as Kara liked to call them for some unknown reason) to her apartment. She found herself cataloguing every quirk and tucking them away at the back of her mind where they took up mental processing power to complete what Kara presumed was a pointless jigsaw puzzle.

On the surface everything appeared to be identical to how she had left it the day before her accident (that is if it had been clean and tidy at the time which was a rare occurrence).

The kitchen was immaculate, the only evidence present that anyone had lived there in her absence was that a few of the cooking utensils were placed in far more practical locations and no longer appeared as if they had all been bought yesterday (a state Kara had created by never using any of them in her time whilst living here).

The living room was almost exactly the same.

There was the same fluffed up, mismatched cushions, same fluffy throw, same random knick-knacks but there were now almost imperceptible differences. Among her various decor items, there was now the addition of bright green stones that instantly captivated and mesmerised Kara’s attention tucked away on some shelves in the corner. In addition, there was also a small stain on her light grey sofa. Alex had mentioned it and revealed that the person who had been renting it previously was more than willing to pay for a proper clean or even buy an entirely new sofa to compensate. Kara, however, was vehemently against the offer much to her own and Alex’s surprise. Almost every night since discovering the stain, Kara would find herself tracing it with a finger and staring at in amusement more than once. The other odd thing, that everyone else also commented on when they came over, was that the television seemed to have upgraded itself, the resolution was much better quality and it now even picked up channels Kara didn’t remember ever having access to.

The biggest and most noticeable change though was in the bedroom…  specifically the closet. Kara and Alex had been astounded to discover that where there used to be a dangerous tower of books and games was now a simple yet sturdy series of shelves that held and showcased all of Kara’s well-loved items.

Kara loved every little quirk that she found, yet every discovery caused an uncomfortable ache to grow in the pit of her stomach.

2 Months Post Coma

“First story since coming back. Excited?” James asked with a wide grin as Kara giddily handed over her meticulously written up article.

“You have no idea.” Kara giggled gleefully as James took the sheets she was holding out before dropping down into his office chair. Kara waited as he flicked through the pages, smiling at certain points, frowning at others and repeating certain sentences under his breath every now and again. She began to pace as he read, pulling her gaze away from her friend to seek out a distraction and finding one in the scattered documents across his desk. Copious excel spreadsheets, letters from lawyers and correspondences stamped with Edge Holdings covered the entire surface.

Kara swallowed thickly, feeling her stomach sink.

She knew that CatCo had been in a rough spot before her coma but clearly things had escalated significantly since then. James certainly looked more tired than he used to and he was pushing all of the reporters to write more attention grabbing news stories. However, all of this extra work didn’t appear to be providing much benefit in the grand scheme of things if the board report Kara had just caught a glimpse of was anything to go by.

Kara knew that Morgan intended to make radical changes to CatCo if he took over.

The magazine Kara loved would become little more than a propaganda machine for Morgan’s larger holding company, and many of their investigative journalists would be removed to ensure greater availability of space for advertisements. Kara’s own column would most likely become twisted into a native advertising horror show or, even worse, if she was allowed to continue writing about heroes they would probably be heavily selected and vetted by Morgan’s team so they could chose people who they wished to gain influence with.

“Incredible as always.” James kind words brought Kara out of her spiraling dark thoughts of the future with a start.

“What no notes? No editing?” Kara asked in surprise.

“I’m sure you don’t want me ‘watering down the story’.” James gave her a fatigued, knowing smile as he put air quotes around the phrase Kara had thrown at him in the early days of her column.

Kara pursed her lips and tilted her head, “Actually… um… I would rather like your view. I know I can be rather rambly at times in my writing and even… er… heavy-handed occasionally… and I would like to do better.” The words came out softly, hesitantly as Kara tried to voice how she had been recently thinking.

Whilst stuck at home with little or nothing to do, Kara experienced an intense level of curiosity and introspection that had her going eagerly back over her old pieces of work. Her attention was drawn to certain stories over others and the ones that captured her attention the most were the ones she had (to some degree) taken on and incorporated some of James’ advice. James’s minor suggestions that she had, originally, bitterly fought against because she had believed they diminished her interviewee’s personal story, she now appreciated (thanks to her most recent read-through) as actually bringing a sharp focus onto the main thread of her story without throwing it in the reader’s face.

As Kara read the stories she had collated about some of the most incredible people, a repetitive thought kept bubbling up in her mind that resonated deeply with her, ‘these stories inspire me every day to do more and be better’. Kara wanted to be better, and asking James for his guidance was a simple way to do that.

James stared at her blankly for a few seconds as Kara fidgeted nervously with her glasses; slowly a small and deeply touched smile illuminated his face. “I would be honoured to help in anyway I can.” James said sincerely, as he gestured for Kara to take a seat so they could go through her article together, eagerly prioritising this task over the pile of documents waiting for him on the side.

“Here let me take some of that.” Alex said as she swooped in, taking a few of the food cartons out of Kara’s over-laden arms so that Kara could more easily extricate her keys and unlock her apartment door. As Kara pulled her keys from her coat pocket, she noticed her elderly neighbour struggling under her own shopping bags ambling down the corridor. Kara quickly unlocked her own door and pushed it open for Alex before rushing over to help the older woman.

“HELLO! LET ME HELP YOU!” Kara bellowed at the top of her lungs as she reached out for a bag that the senior was close to dropping.

The elderly woman immediately jolted on the spot, her shopping spilling all over the floor as she flinched away from the blonde. Kara instantly stepped back from the scared looking woman who was resting a hand over her chest in fright. “There’s no need to yell, dear.” The woman stated with a voice at normal volume.

“Kara, what the hell?” Alex admonished from the doorway of the apartment having watched the entire scene play out.

Kara blinked in shock, her mouth dropping open as she realised she had absolutely no reason to explain why she had more or less screamed at her neighbour. “I am so sorry.” Kara apologised profusely, ducking down to the floor to begin gathering up all of the dispersed shopping items. “I have no idea why I did that… I must have just assumed…” Kara began to splutter as she awkwardly built a tower of pasta and tins.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” The older woman reassured gently patting Kara on the shoulder to encourage her to stand up. “My hearing didn’t used to be as good as it is now.”

“Really?” Kara inquired, getting to her feet carefully to avoid dropping her gathered bundle as Alex appeared at her side having just dropped their takeaway food for sister’s night off in Kara’s apartment.

“See, my girl Xena built me this fancy hearing aid.” The woman, beaming with pride, pulled back a few locks of whitened hair to reveal a small, sleek black earbud nestled comfortably within in her ear.

“Who would name their child Xena?” Alex muttered amusedly under her breath at a volume she assumed only Kara would be able to hear.

“I won’t hear anything against my girl, dear.” The older woman threatened, her improved hearing meaning there was absolutely no chance she missed Alex’s barely audible comment.

Alex turned a bright red and spluttered an apology immediately kneeling down to scoop up as many of the items on the floor as possible in recompense. Once they had retrieved all of Kara’s neighbour’s (who they found out was named Mary) supplies they both hurriedly returned to the apartment trying to avoid putting their foot in their mouths again.

“Interesting neighbour, you’ve got there.” Alex mumbled once she had settled on the sofa as her sister sat on the floor across from her, a habit Kara had developed and couldn’t shake in the past couple of months.

“I like her.” Kara responded without delay, unable to stop the smile that hadn’t disappeared since hearing how fondly and proudly Mary talked about what appeared to be her adopted daughter. Alex raised an eyebrow, not at the surety of Kara’s statement but at how eagerly she was digging into her new and now regular food order from Huang’s. Kara’s order was smaller than it used to be and far healthier (though the number of potstickers remained unchanged).

Alex dug into her food and scrutinised her sister closely, adding another point to her list of how her sister had changed.

3 Months Post Coma

Kara grew to really like her neighbour Mary, who she would now happily chat away to at least twice a week whenever they passed each other in the hallway. The only issue Kara had was that Mary was now very intent on setting her up with her friend Xena at any given opportunity. Whilst Kara appreciated the fact that she had endeared herself enough to Mary that she was found worthy of someone Mary stated was the ‘greatest woman in the history of the human race’, Kara didn’t overly trust Mary’s judgement of them being a good match. This was mostly down to Mary describing Xena as easily confused (‘she forgot her own name when we first met’, Mary revealed in a pleased, hushed tone) and as having a significant alcohol problem (if Mary’s statements regarding her drinking level was anything to go by).

Kara also met two further neighbours shortly after Mary. The first was Winn, who seemed to have an incredibly busy social calendar. Kara had only had a chance to speak to him in passing as he was always either in a rush to meet a group of friends for food and drinks or coming back in the morning, heavily hungover or exhausted from a night out. Kara found him to be extremely sweet and intelligent, and Kara wished she had more time to get to know him and become friends, however, despite this loss, she always felt a pleased fluttering in her chest whenever she saw him rushing out to yet another social event. Like Mary, Kara found that Winn instantly endeared himself to her for reasons she couldn’t explain.   

That wasn’t the case with Eve.

Kara instantly disliked her.

Kara had met Eve when she had headed down to the laundry room and was forced to endure her company whilst she sorted and folded her clothes. Eve was chatty, obnoxious and constantly going on and on about a hot  previous tenant that she ‘totally could have gotten with if she hadn’t moved out’. When Eve had begun to describe how susceptible her old neighbour had been to her charms, Kara’s stomach had twisted tightly, and she experienced a totally foreign and overwhelming desire to knock the chatty woman out. That desire had been so intense, she was forced to abandon her washing for the rest of the evening, only coming back in the early hours of the morning when she knew Eve wouldn’t be there to ensure she didn’t actually act on her inclination.

Kara detested violence more than anything else, therefore she was shocked to the very core at the realisation that she was incredibly willing and eager to throw out her view on the matter if she could get away with suckerpunching Eve just once.  

“Luthor-Corp are going to be presenting a new hydroelectric technology tomorrow, Caleb do you feel comfortable covering for Isaac and attending in his place?” James queried looking at an older, balding man standing on the right hand side of the ring of employees that had gathered for the daily staff catch up meeting.

“Uh… I don’t know much about…. Well… any of that.” Caleb stuttered out as he rubbed his chin.

“Does anyone feel comfortable talking Caleb through the basic principles underpinning this technology?” James asked throwing the question out to the wider group of reporters.

Kara, who had been scuffing her toe on the carpet floor, her attention having drifted once her column piece had been covered, didn’t even fully register that her hand had shot up into the air until she became aware of the fact that everyone was staring at her.

“Uh, Kara… You… er… you think you can talk Caleb through it?” James checked, his forehead creasing in surprise at his friend whilst all of their co-workers began to murmur and chuckle amongst themselves.

Kara slowly lowered her hand, her mouth opening to say ‘no’ when a strong and confident, “Yes.” came out instead, much to her surprise (and everyone else’s).

James crossed his arms over his broad chest and stared at her, obviously not quite believing her confidence on the subject matter but not wanting to call Kara’s knowledge or ability into question in front of a crowd. “Um…” James awkwardly murmured, undecided in his course of action.

Kara squirmed uncomfortably and yet again opened her mouth to take back her offer.

She knew absolutely nothing about hydroelectricity, what on earth had she been thinking when she put up her hand, Kara scornfully thought to herself.

The apology was on the tip of her tongue but what came out instead was a descriptive, technical and fully accurate explanation of the fundamentals of Luthor-Corp’s most recent Hydroelectric generator.

The entire room was silent by the time Kara had finished her lecture.

“Right, so… Kara will talk you through everything Caleb.” James declared once he had regained control of his jaw. Caleb merely nodded weakly having not taken in a single detail of what Kara had said. Kara equally remained silent for the rest of the meeting trying to work out when she had become so knowledgeable on this technology.

4 Months Post Coma

“And…. done! In record time no less. This calls for ice-cream.” Kara affirmed causing Ruby to blush with pride as she tucked her maths homework away in her backpack. “Come on, let’s go.” Kara ordered, ushering Ruby out of the apartment and then eagerly locking up as she rushed to get herself and her niece their well-earned treat.

Kara knew she had taken to spoiling Ruby since coming out of her coma but she wanted the young girl to know she was around and that she loved spending time with her. She was also aware that Ruby was going through big changes in her life (her mother was getting married in a month, her long lost aunt had come back into her life and her other aunt had been in a coma), even if Ruby was happy with all of these events, Kara knew it all must have an effect and she wanted Ruby to feel supported regardless.

“Looking forward to the wedding?” Kara asked as they left the apartment building and made their way to their favourite ice cream parlour a couple of streets away.

“Definitely. It’s going to be awesome.” Ruby said, her face brightening up immediately as she went on to reveal. “My mum asked aunt Lena to be her maid of honour.”

“That’s nice.” Kara replied, pleased that Ruby was still excited even after the long delay Kara’s accident had caused. “You’ll have to introduce me. If you and Alex like her, I’m sure I will too.”

Ruby stopped on the spot and turned to look up at Kara with a deeply thoughtful expression that slowly shifted into a sly smile, “You’ll definitely like her.”

Kara narrowed her gaze and pointed at the not-so subtle smirk on her niece’s face, “What’s with that smile?”

“Nothing.” Ruby dismissed quickly, pivoting on the spot and then proceeding to skip away from her aunt as fast as she could.

“Ruby! What are you planning? Ruby?” Kara futilely yelled after the giggling girl that she had to run to catch up with.

“I figured, I’d find you up here.” Kara turned her head to the side to see Alex walking towards her, “Holy shit! Someone’s upgraded your hideaway.” Alex whistled in amazement as she looked around the rooftop. Kara smiled softly remembering how overwhelmingly touched she had been when she had first climbed the stairs and seen her vastly improved safe place since returning home.

The decrepit furniture had been replaced with sturdy, yet comfortable wooden chairs and loungers. The disused and slightly broken decking Kara loved lying on and staring up into the sky had been repaired, sanded down and repainted. New lamps and lanterns were positioned across the roof to illuminate the area with soft lighting. Flower beds and young trees were some of Kara’s favourite new additions as they brought life and colour to the grey, concrete space.

It was as if someone had designed the roof with Kara’s ideal improvements in mind.

“I know. I can’t even thank the person who did it as the building owner has no idea.” Kara revealed sadly, truly upset that she couldn’t tell the person who had made her favourite place even more beautiful how much it meant to her.

Alex gave her a sympathetic smile, stopping to inspect a nearby flower bed before heading over to Kara and sitting down beside her on the decking. She leant backwards, resting on her hands to position herself in a mirror image of Kara. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on?” Alex asked softly, her hand reaching over to squeeze Kara’s fingers.

Kara shook her head as her eyes remained fixed on the luminescent moon hanging above her. “Nothing’s going on.” Kara lied, attempting an even tone but knowing it came out as more like a croak.

“You only ever come up here when you feel lonely.” Alex whispered knowingly.

Kara sighed and shifted in her spot, her gaze dropping from the night sky to the wooden decking, “I don’t know how to explain it…”, Kara confessed quietly, unable to meet her sister’s eyes that were now scrutinising her closely.

“I’ll be patient, I promise.” Alex assured, lightly squeezing Kara’s hand in encouragement.

“I feel like I’m missing a piece.” Kara swallowed thickly, struggling to push the words out past the growing lump in her throat. “Ever since, the coma… I’m different… not in big ways… I’m still me but... I know things I didn’t know before, I see things in a different way, my likes and interests have changed slightly.... I find myself watching awful films that I used to hate and loving them. I want to learn how to cook. I want to eat healthier.” Kara paused in her ramble to glance over at her sister, who was staring at her with an understanding and accepting expression that revealed she was more than aware of the changes in her sister.

“Do you not like who you’ve become?” Alex prompted with a curious eyebrow raise.

Kara instantly shook her head, “That’s the thing… I’m different but I like it. I woke up from this coma and brought all these incredible things with me.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Alex questioned as Kara bit her bottom lip and stared back up at the bright moon.

“For all those things that I gained… I feel like… I feel like I left the most important thing behind. I can’t explain it… but my heart hurts , Alex.” Tears began to prickle and fall from Kara’s eyes. “It hurts so much. I think it’s broken and I have no idea why…”

“Oh, Kara.” Alex murmured soothingly as she wrapped her arms around her younger sister and pulled her into a tight hug. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.” Alex repeated that message over and over again interspersing it with the occasional kiss to the top of her sister’s blonde hair. Kara sobbed, finally, letting out the pain that had been building up inside of her for months.

Chapter Text

1 Month Post Coma

“You ready?”

Lena didn't respond immediately as she stared blankly at the apartment that had become her home. The feeling of simple homeliness had decreased significantly in Kara’s absence but there had been enough traces of the woman Lena loved for her to still feel that warmth, safety and comfort that was intrinsically linked to: a bright living room, cosy bedroom, disused kitchen, baby blue eyes, wide full grins, crinkles around eyes, thick-lensed glasses and forehead creases.

The second week without Kara had been the hardest.

Lena had survived the first week by forcing herself to focus on the simple fact that Kara was alive and reunited with the people she loved the most in the world. The other main reason Lena had coped during that initial loss was Megan. Megan had been on hand to keep her company at nearly all times, distracting her as much as she could and calling on Winn and Jess to watch over her (giving them the made up excuse that Lena had gone through a pretty rough break up) when she couldn’t be there herself. The second week, though, had been the worst as Lena finally allowed herself to accept the fact that Kara wasn't going to remember her. This surrendering to fate meant Lena quickly began to spiral and question if any of her interactions with Kara had even been real in the first place.

Had she unknowingly caught a glimpse of Kara in the hospital and subsequently created a ludicrous hallucination which coincidentally linked to Kara waking up?

Megan had slapped her across the face (and not lightly mind you) when she found Lena nearly passed out drunk spewing nonsense about how she was crazy and none of it had been real. That Kara could never have been real, Lena claimed, because she had been perfect, kind, gentle, funny, pure hearted and most importantly she had said she loved Lena. That final point was so unbelievable that it had to have all been in her head, Lena had drunkenly declared to Megan who had stared at her with more sympathy than Lena had ever received in her life before slapping some sense into her.

“No.” Lena muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and shutting her eyes tight to prevent the tears from falling. Lena felt arms wrap around her from behind as Megan pulled her into a much needed hug.

“It’ll be okay.” Megan whispered softly and firmly.

Lena shook her head, patting Megan’s forearm indicating for her friend to loosen her grip so she could turn and face her. “It already is okay.” Lena affirmed with a watery smile causing Megan to raise an eyebrow in question, “Don’t you see? She’s alive and she’s coming home. This is the happy ending to the story.”

Megan’s brow furrowed and her entire larger than life persona seemed to deflate upon seeing the resignation in Lena’s eyes that told her she wouldn’t accept any argument against what she had just said. “But you’re not happy.” Megan couldn’t help but say bitterly, unlike Lena who had accepted how the universe had more or less screwed her over, Megan was incalculably frustrated and angry on her behalf.

Lena gripped the handle of the small suitcase that contained her meager number of possessions, linked arms with the pouting fake mystic and tugged her towards the door, pushing down the sharp stab of pain as she acknowledged that this would be the last time she would ever see this apartment. “It doesn’t matter if I’m happy, it was never my story in the first place.”

“Alright so I was thinking…”, Winn began eagerly, “we could warm up with some ‘Call of Duty’, transition into ‘Battlefield’ and then top it off with some ‘Star Wars: Battlefront 2’.. .the old one, not the new one that is.” Winn listed off the games on each finger in an impressive balancing act with the pizza boxes that he was holding. Lena hummed in the right places but her focus was anywhere but on her friend as he led her back through the apartment building she had moved out of a week ago.

‘Winn and Lena’s Videogame Tuesday Extravaganza’ was now a set and accepted part of Lena’s week. Winn and Lena had taken to alternating whose place they had the event at, last week was at Lena’s house across town. She had gone all out, setting up the living room with snacks, huge screens and the latest games, she hadn’t just done this to make the night better but also to secretly convince Winn that they should permanently have the event at her house.

Lena simply couldn’t bear the thought of returning to the building where Kara was now living.

She couldn’t bear the idea of walking into that building and not going to the apartment, and woman, that was her home.

She couldn’t bear running into Kara only for the baby blue eyes that Lena adored to stare at her as if she was a stranger.

Winn, however, didn’t take the bait. He was noble and sweet and because of this he wanted to prove that his friendship with Lena had nothing to do with her wealth therefore he insisted that he was happy to organise their evening together and supply their array of junk food.

So here Lena was... unable to take a step or turn a corner without an overwhelming mix of fear and hope crescendoing inside of her as she anticipated catching a glimpse of blonde hair. “Hey, Winn.” Lena cut in gently as they approached his front door, Winn stopped babbling immediately when he saw the apprehensive expression on Lena’s face.

“Everything okay?” Winn asked. concern heavily lacing the two words, causing Lena to lightly smile to reassure him.

“Yeah, I just need to see someone.” Lena revealed, nodding her head down the corridor. Winn raised an eyebrow in curiosity but didn’t request any further information. “Come with me, I think you’d like to meet her.” Lena offered without hesitation, mostly because she didn’t want to walk towards her old home on her own but also because she truly believed what she had said. Lena, Winn, Megan and Jess had become a tight group of friends in a short space of time, but Lena knew Winn could benefit from even more people in his life, in much the same way everyone could benefit from having Winn in their life in return.

Lena haltingly stepped down the corridor, averting her gaze as much as possible from the door that hid away the person Lena loved the most.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Lena smiled encouragingly at Winn who flinched at the way she had hammered on the front door at a volume that could raise the dead. There was a long pause before the door was pulled open.

“Hi Mary!” Lena yelled in greeting causing Winn to shoot her a shocked look at how she had shouted deafeningly at the wizened, old woman who had answered the door.

Mary, though, positively lit up with joy as she stared at Lena, “XENA! It’s so good to see you!”

Winn winced and covered his ears as he looked between the two women in complete perplexity, “Xena? Her name’s not- Argh!” Winn let out a high pitched yelp as Lena stomped on his foot with her heel to prevent the correction.

“Is he alright?!” Mary inquired loudly as she watched Winn hunch over on himself and hop up and down whilst gripping his foot.

“He’s fine!” Lena dismissed with an overly wide smile to drag Mary’s attention away for Winn’s pained mutterings. “I’m actually here because I have something for you!” Lena admitted, reaching into the handbag hooked over her shoulder and pulling out a small black box stamped with the LuthorCorp logo.

“It’s not my birthday, dear!” Mary said with a firm shake of her head, not wanting to accept a gift she didn’t feel she deserved.

“I know it’s not your birthday! This is a thank you for looking after me when I needed it!” Lena explained as she took the lid off the small box, revealing two sleek, black earbuds.

“My dear girl! You don’t need to thank me! Just getting to know you is more than enough!” Lena froze as Mary reached out, placing a hand over Lena’s that was offering up the small box, giving it a gentle squeeze. Mary’s words and expression were so sincere that Lena was left completely speechless. Mary genuinely believed that being able to cook and talk to Lena was a gift. Being able to simply spend time with and look after her was more than enough.

Lena’s throat tightened as she wondered if this was what Lillian should have been like all along.   

It was Mary’s soft gaze and Lena’s touched heart, that had Lena stepping forward to hug the older woman who seemed absolutely delighted at the display of affection. “Mary! Please let me do something nice for you because you genuinely deserve so much!” Lena couldn’t help but worry that the sincerity of her words were somewhat lost by the fact she was yelling them into Mary’s ear.

She needn’t have worried, though, because as she pulled back she caught sight of Winn who was teary eyed and whispering. “That was beautiful.”

Lena rolled her eyes and yet again offered up the earbuds to Mary who, this time, accepted the gift. Thinking the hard part was over, Lena was immediately disappointed when Mary scrutinised the present closely and said, “So… What is it?!”

Lena groaned internally, plastering on a smile as she prepared herself for the hard work that was about to come.

It took 2 hours to get Mary sorted and explain how the earbuds worked and why Mary would benefit from them in the first place. Winn quickly endeared himself to Mary, resulting in both of them agreeing to weekly Wednesday night dinners with Mary from that day forth.

2 Months Post Coma

“Miss Luthor?” Jess inquired, knocking at Lena’s open office door.

“Jess, we’re friends even at work. You can call me Lena.” Lena replied with an encouraging smile to her secretary who was fidgeting in the doorway nervously.

“Right… um… Lena…”, Jess began again, taking a hesitant step forward as her voice dropped in volume.

“What’s wrong? Is my mother here?” Lena pushed her chair away from her desk abandoning the report she was working on the instant she recognised how uncomfortable her friend was.

“There’s an FBI agent to see you.” Lena froze halfway across the room, her heart dropping, finally understanding Jess’ discomfort.

The FBI, National City Police Department... pretty much every law enforcement service in the country had called upon Lena in the past with the aim of finding the one piece of evidence that could be used to put her in the chains they so wished to have put on her brother. Visits from the various department representatives used to average once a month when Lena had first moved to National City. Lena never shied away from them. She was open and honest and took all of their dark glares and snarls in her stride.

Jess, on the other hand, hated the way they would ruck up, cocky, and superior, demand entrance and swagger inside thinking that they would be the one to finally bring down Lena Luthor. Lena had to, more than once, send Jess away to cool down whenever her protectiveness began to attract the ire of whatever agent or officer was visiting that day.

Fortunately, Lena hadn’t received a visit for six months or so. She had finally let herself believe that she had been accepted, that she had proven herself worthy.

Lena couldn’t help bitterly kicking herself about her naivete.

“Send them in.” Lena replied defeatedly with a wave of her hand, returning to her desk and stiffly falling into her chair. Jess stared after her with pursed lips, clearly trying to hold off her own anger that someone was trying to bring her friend down once again especially when today had been the first day in nearly two months Lena had actually gone down to her lab and worked on the pet project she had barely touched.

Jess nodded once before disappearing out the door, Lena reminded herself to invite Jess out for lunch after this meeting to help her friend cool down. Lena shuffled the documents spread across the desk into a neat pile, only stopping when she heard a set of footsteps approaching.

“I hope you don’t mind but… I… uh… used my badge to get into see you.” Lena’s head snapped up to see none other than Alex Danvers shifting from foot to foot, rubbing the back of her neck and looking more unsure of herself than Lena had ever seen her before. Due to the few brief times Lena had run into her, and through the stories Kara had shared about her sister, Lena couldn’t imagine Alex not striding into a room with her superhero pose and owning the room with the amount of quiet confidence she typically exuded. Now, she seemed positively shy.

“Umm… you didn’t need to use your badge. Sam has access and if she had told me you wanted to see me I would have gladly put aside some time.” Lena offered easily, gesturing to one of the chairs on of the other side of her desk; Alex smiled weakly seeming to curl in on herself in much the same way Kara had done when she had been afraid in the CatCo elevator.

Lena tried not to scrutinise the red head too closely. She did this out of a desire to make Alex feel more comfortable but also because she also didn’t want to pick up on the familial traits that were so reminiscent of Kara.

The nervous way Alex’s hands fidgeted with her badge was identical to the way Kara fidgeted with her glasses.

Then there was the shy smile that always preempted a full blown grin.

And what appeared to be the exact same childish eye-roll.

Lena swallowed thickly, feeling more haunted by Kara in that moment than when she had believed Kara to be a ghost.

“I didn’t want Sam to know. And I couldn’t think of a way to get see you without telling her why.” Alex confessed as she settled into the leather chair facing Lena. That revelation had Lena leaning back in her chair and regarding the agent with a curious eyebrow raise.

“And why’s that?” Lena asked with a cool tone, not sure at that moment how to feel about Alex going behind her best friend’s back.

Alex winced, then forced herself to take a deep breath before meeting Lena’s piercing green eyes. “I know you paid for my sister’s hospital bills.” Lena’s weary expression faltered and fell at those words, her mouth dropping slightly in surprise. “You didn’t want me or Sam… or Ruby to know… and I wanted to respect that.” Alex revealed, her confidence slowly building back up if the way she straightened up in her chair was any indication.

“Oh… how did you… err…” Lena trailed off awkwardly, her gaze dipping down to her desk as her mind whirred to figure out what had given her away.

She had been so sure that she had covered her tracks.

She had gotten the hospital to state that Kara had been applicable for a financial support programme.

She had also anonymously supplemented the financial settlement Kara had received for the accident.

And finally she had gotten the hospital to state Kara had been selected for a grant due to the long-term medical benefits her surprise recovery could provide for future medical cases.

Three separate funding streams to cover Kara’s treatment in hospital, recovery out of it and to ensure she would be well supported for at least a couple of years if she couldn’t work. It had been meticulously well designed so as to ensure no further spotlight was thrown on Lena… at least that’s what she had believed.

Alex smirked proudly as the last trace of self-confidence vanished, “I didn’t know for sure until you just confirmed it.”

Lena’s jaw dropped before a heavily put out frown took up residence on her face and she crossed her arms over her chest petulantly.

“I had my suspicions from the beginning. It was all just too perfect. Too lucky.” Alex said, her eyes narrowing in on Lena’s face tracking every bit of emotion that flitted across it. “ Too kind.”

Lena tilted her head to the side at that last bit, pondering what Alex’s actual reason for coming was.

Did she want to give back the money?

Did she want to say thank you?

Did she want to tell her off for interfering?

Lena knew Alex very well from Kara. Knew how proud the agent was, how noble she was to her very core. Lena had no intention of taking back a cent.

The money was for Kara.

To make sure she could transition back to her normal life pre-coma without anything over her head, without losing anything. Lena would fight bitterly to the end for that, consequences be damned.

“We can’t repay you-” Alex stated slowly.

“I don’t want you to.” Lena cut in without hesitation. Alex blinked in surprise at the sharp way Lena had interrupted. “The reason I didn’t want you, or Sam, or…”, Lena’s throat clenched at the name and she forced herself to work around it, “your sister to know was that I figured you wouldn’t accept it. Ruby has told me enough about you and your sister to know that neither of you would feel comfortable taking the money.” Lena continued, resolving herself to not say Kara’s name if possible, Alex was watching her far too intently and the expression on her face if she said Kara’s name would reveal far more than she wished Alex to know.

Alex nodded once in agreement before asking curiously, “Did you do it for Sam and Ruby?”

Lena bit her tongue to hold back the ‘yes’ as it would be too blatant a lie.

Yes, she did it for Sam and Ruby as Kara was important to them.

Yes, she did it for Alex, for the sister that sat by Kara’s bedside in an incredible display of loyalty and love.

Yes, she did it for Kara. The woman she loved. Kara, who she wanted to simply be happy without a shadow looming over her constantly reminding her of the cost of what she had been through.

Yes, she did it for herself, it was one of the few things she could do for Kara to express how much she had given Lena. The money was a fraction of the value of what Kara had bestowed upon her during their time together.

“In part.” Lena settled for in answer.

“In part?” Alex repeated with a curious lilt.

Lena smiled sadly as she added, “Maybe I just think good things should happen to good people.”

Alex let out a deep breath, and moved forward in her seat, her gaze boring deeply into Lena’s own, as she shifted into her intimidating agent persona. Lena held her breath as Alex’s harsh threat came out, “You better be at mine and Sam’s wedding.”

The minor fear that had been building evaporated in an instant as Lena chuckled and Alex broke out into a wide grin, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Lena asserted with a determined nod.

Alex got to her feet satisfied that Lena wasn’t going to disappear from Sam and Ruby’s lives again, “I need to get back to work.”

“Me too.” Lena agreed with a wane smile as she gestured at the stack of paper on her desk, “No rest for the wicked.”

Alex, who had been in the process of backing away, froze, her expression morphing into concerned, “Lena.”

“Hmm…”, Lena muttered glancing from her computer to the agent who was giving her another hard stare.

“You’re a good person too, you know?” The question was soft and sincere, the unspoken you deserve good things looming heavily beneath it all.

Lena nodded mutely, purposefully not voicing her agreement or disagreement.

LuthorCorp was doing well.

Knowing she was supported and trusted by her employees to such a degree that they were willing to take a huge risk with the their livelihoods, Lena was determined to return their faith tenfold. Without the shadow of her mother hanging over her, and the board suitably mollified by the force of the company’s entire staff, Lena was finally free to bring about all the changes she had wished to since being granted the position of CEO.

With the support of Jess and Winn, Lena was able to get the majority of her big changes planned out and designed with the aim to implement over the year. Lena improved the pension scheme offered and set about ensuring the Luthor Hospital would be funded no matter what happened in the future. She also began to shift the company away from any weapons manufacture and pushed the focus onto renewable energy. A change which annoyed the board who saw it as a financial misstep whilst the employees in R&D were ecstatic, especially since Lena took on many of Winn’s suggestions like restructuring the department to enable people to work on many of their personal pet projects. In the space of a month, breakthroughs were already streaming in.

Lena was proud of her work.

Proud of her employees.

“Just one quick stop then we can go to lunch, I promise.” Lena apologised, waving a file and gesturing for Sam to follow her as she stepped out of her office to see her old best friend waiting for her.

“Don’t worry about it. You run one of the biggest companies in the world, I understand that you’re busy.” Sam reassured good-naturedly with a dismissive flick of her hand, falling easily into step with Lena.

“I never want you to feel like I’m too busy for you, though.” Lena affirmed with a hard stare, coming to a stop in front of a heavy set of doors just down the corridor. Lena made to push open the door but was stopped by a hand on her arm, she turned to face Sam who was giving her a soft smile.

“Lena. You don’t need to prove anything. Ruby and I understood why you left, we’re just grateful we got you back.” Lena blinked rapidly to dissipate the tears that rapidly built up in her eyes.

She forced a smile and shook her head, “Not as grateful as I am.”

Sam chuckled, withdrawing her hand and rolling her eyes, “Do you have to turn everything into a competition?”

Lena smirked as she pushed open the door and nodded for Sam to enter, “Firstly, I’m a Luthor so of course I do.” Sam snorted in response, strolling past Lena into the newly refurbished office. “Secondly, I don’t know if you can call it a competition when I always win.” Lena teased, striding confidently by Sam, who was admiring the room, to place the folder in her hands on the cleared desk.

The office was nearly the same size as Lena’s own one. It was a corner office so two walls consisted of floor to ceiling windows, a large glass desk faced towards the impressive cityscape and two simple black leather sofas were situated on the other side of the room. The office was as spotless as a blank canvas.

“Impressive.” Sam whistled in wonderment as she moved to look out of the large windows, her back to Lena.

“I’m glad you think so.” Lena stated in a neutral tone as she crossed her arms over her chest and leant back against the desk to scrutinise her friend.

“Why’s that?” Sam asked, whirling around to face the still smirking Lena.

Lena shrugged, glancing down at the desk and reaching out to turn over the face down name plate that was one of the only objects in the immaculate space. “Because it’s yours.”

Lena gently placed the flipped over nameplate emblazoned with ‘SAMANTHA ARIAS’ on it down on the desk before raising her gaze back to her friend.

Sam’s jaw dropped, her entire expression went blank and she froze on the spot.

Lena cocked an eyebrow at her motionless friend, pushing herself off the desk and crossing the room to stand in front of her. “LuthorCorp is in desperate need of a new CFO. And I don’t want just any CFO… I want the best. Which is you.”

Sam’s jaw snapped shut all of a sudden and she began to shake her head in denial, Lena, though, held up a hand to stop Sam from voicing her disagreement for a moment longer. Sam pursed her lips but remained silent.

“Sam… straight out of college, you pretty much single handedly ran the business side of our start up whilst raising the most incredible young girl in the world. To this day I have no idea how you did it all. Then you moved to work for two further companies, all of which reported noticeable upticks in profits and share prices with you at the helm. Your job history speaks for itself. On top of all that… I trust you.”

Lena paused at this point, hoping that Sam would understand how important this final point was. For years, Lena hadn’t been able to depend on anyone in the company’s top positions as they were usually filled with Lex’s supporters or her mother’s puppets. Lena, however, needn’t have worried as Sam’s eyes were understanding and filled with compassion.

Lena took a deep breath and finished off with the strong assertion, “I truly believe that you would be amazing at this job. If, however, it is LuthorCorp you are unsure of, I have an hour long powerpoint presentation that outlines all the benefits you could experience by taking this position.”

Sam let out a breath she had been holding in one long stream. “An hour long presentation, huh?”

“Well… it was fours hour long but Jess told me that might be a bit excessive.” Lena admitted with a slight frown, “But I can do that one if the concise version doesn’t convince you.”

Sam laughed lightly, walking past Lena and to the desk, her hand reaching out to trace the letters of her own nameplate. “You really want me to be your CFO?” Sam asked quietly, her nervousness apparent in the way she couldn’t face Lena.

“You’re the only person on the list.” Lena revealed without a hint of teasing. “The folder on the desk outlines the job details, salary, benefits and upcoming projects.” Sam picked up the folder at the light prompting and flicked through, failing to hide her surprise at how it all seemed to be written purposefully for her. “I’m not asking for an answer today. Please go home and talk to Alex first… all of this was-”

“Your over-dramatic side coming out?” Sam guessed with an amused smile that broadened into a full grin when Lena huffed out a breath and put on her best pout.

“Sooooo…”, Lena dragged out the word, “what are you thinking?”

Sam’s gaze flicked between the file and Lena a few times, her smile not lessening for a moment, “I’m thinking… the only reason I was able to run a successful start-up company and raise, as you say, the most incredible young girl in the world was because I had my best friend at my side.” Sam decisively closed the file, “And I would love to have that opportunity again.”

3 Months Post Coma

“To another successful launch!” Lena cheered, raising her bottle in the air to complete the toast. Lena’s words were repeated at different volumes (dependent on the the person’s blood alcohol levels) by everyone around the table. Lena took a swig from her beer as she admired the group that had gathered at the bar to celebrate.

On Lena’s left was Sam, already blisteringly drunk from trying to match Megan and Lena drink for drink only to discover that her alcohol tolerance had taken a significant nose-dive in recent years. Next to Sam was an extremely giggly Jess who kept leaning on Winn who positively lit up at the attention he was receiving. And finally, Megan rounded up the table, on Lena’s right, not caring for the technical details of the launch, instead only interested in goading Winn by purposefully getting every science fact wrong despite the number of times he carefully explained the concepts underpinning it all.

Lena had been slightly worried that Sam wouldn’t get along with the group of misfits she had bonded with in the past few months. This turned out to be a truly preposterous concern.

Sam won over Jess in the space of a day with how organised she was and how she gave Jess insider tips for the office betting pool by innately understanding Lena’s mood (Jess made nearly two hundred dollars in a week, much to Pam in Human Resources’ fury). Sam displaced Lena as Winn’s hero in less an hour… she’s just that charming. The biggest concern had been Megan, who Lena feared would begin to feel like an outsider to the group with everyone working at LuthorCorp which again was another unfounded fear. Megan was a force unto herself, she didn’t need to be involved in the same daily grind to fit into the conversation. Her and Sam had also got along like a house on fire immediately… mostly (to Lena’s frustration) by sharing embarrassing Lena stories that they had separately accumulated.

Friday night had become the group’s regular night, it was either spent playing games at Lena’s house or out at their local dive bar. Friday nights had become one of the two highlights of Lena’s week (the other was Saturday afternoons that were set aside for Ruby).

“I’m so glad it’s over.” Winn groaned rolling his shoulders to alleviate the tension, though he was careful not to disturb Jess who was resting her head on one of his shoulders.

“Tell me about it. I can’t wait for the honeymoon after this project.” Sam agreed with a fatigued smile, “Just laying on the beach enjoying the sun.”

“At least you can see the sun from your office. The lab we work in has no windows... I’ve forgotten what sunlight actually looks like.” Winn whined with an exaggerated pout aimed at Lena.

Lena merely snorted and shook her head, “Don’t look at me, Winn. The CFO has a tight grip on the purse strings now.” Winn moved the focus of his pitiful expression onto Sam who merely rolled her eyes.

“I have a young daughter; I have been immune to the puppy dog eyes for years.” Winn dropped the act and harrumphed; his aggrieved expression disappearing quickly when Jess kissed his cheek in mock sympathy. “If you want to see sunlight, do what everyone else does. Leave your laboratory and go on holiday.”

Lena laughed as Megan and Sam high-fived across the table.

Lena leant back and happily listened as her friends talked about the various places they had been on vacation recently. Sam spoke fondly of the time Alex surprised her and Ruby with a trip to Disney World last year. Winn talked about his last trip where he had decided to go somewhere out of his comfort zone only to immediately contract Malaria on the first day and subsequently spend the rest of his holiday in hospital. Megan and Jess had both gone backpacking and shared war stories of some of the more ‘eccentric’ people they had met.

Lena was so absorbed in listening to her friends’ chatter that she forgot that her silence would be noticed by her nearest and dearest. “How about you, Lena?” Sam asked cheerfully causing all eyes to swivel and stare at her except for Jess who snorted derisively behind a hand.

“Uhh….”, Lena eloquently responded.

“Uhh?” Megan repeated with a quizzical eyebrow raise.

“Lena hasn’t been on holiday once whilst I’ve been working with her.” Jess revealed, purposefully ignoring the threatening glare Lena shot her.

“Remind me again how long you’ve been working with Lena.” Sam prompted, her expression hardening as she stared at her old best friend with a deeply unamused look.

“She hired me the week after she moved the company to National City.” Jess replied with a shark-like grin, clearly looking forward to watching Sam and Megan rip into her boss in the way she had wished she’d been able to do years ago.

“YOU HAVEN’T TAKEN ANY HOLIDAY IN FIVE YEARS!” Sam screeched in disbelief at the same time as Megan fixed Lena with the scariest expression Lena had ever seen on the fake mystic’s face.

Lena slumped down in her seat, not even remotely defending herself as she faced the brute force of her friends’ love and concern in the form of yelling, interrogations, gentle ribbing, not-so-gentle ribbing and them all planning out a getaway for Lena drunkenly on their phones.

An hour, and another two rounds of drinks, later Sam was slumped down on the table lightly snoring whilst Winn and Jess were making out by the bar.

“Oh my god.” Lena moaned despondently as she took another gulp of her drink.

“What?! What is it? Where’s the vomit?” Sam questioned, suddenly jolting awake upon hearing Lena’s exclamation.

Megan fluttered her hand at Sam indicating for her to return to her nap and reassured her by saying, “It’s okay, Lena is just reaching her depressing drunk stage.”

Sam nodded sleepily in understanding, murmuring, “Oh, okay. Don’t let her reach her daredevil stage. Last time she did we spent the rest of the night in the ER.” With that minor revelation, Sam’s head dropped back onto the sticky table with an empathetic ‘thud’ followed by loud snores.

Megan eyed Lena warily and mouthed ‘daredevil stage’, with an overly wide grin which meant terrible things for Lena’s future. “So… what dark and gloomy revelation did you just have?” Megan asked, seemingly abandoning whatever evil plan she had for the immediate future.

Lena puffed out a sigh, “I’m the single friend.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Megan prompted with a sharp eyebrow raise.

Lena rested her chin on her hand and slumped over the table, “Well, Sam’s getting married, you’re pretty much moving in with John-”, Megan snorted and made to disagree but was stopped by Lena’s recognisable ‘I’ve seen you wearing a merlin costume so I’m not going to fall for anymore of your bullshit’ expression, “and now… Jess and Winn have finally sorted themselves out and are getting together. That leaves me. Alone. I’m the single friend.” Lena finished with a dramatic flourish, sweeping up her drink and knocking it back.

“You’re not the single friend. You’re just… the friend that is currently single.” Megan weakly attempted to correct.

“Wow, you’re right. That’s completely different.” Lena deadpanned, dropping her now empty bottle back onto the table.

Megan sighed, leaning closer to Lena to ensure that Sam, even in her dozing state wouldn’t overhear, “Lena, you and I both know you are single through choice at the moment.”

“Pfft.” Lena puffed out and rolled her eyes.

“You are a hot, genius billionaire… admittedly you have massive psychological and self-confidence issues induced by one hell of a messed up family… but regardless of that there isn’t a single person in this city who wouldn’t be interested in dating you. You are single through choice whether you want to admit it or not.” Megan paused at this point, reaching over to squeeze Lena’s hand in an affectionate manner, “Kara is alive. You are best friend’s with her sister’s fiance, just reach out to her.”  

Lena, with her free hand, traced a completely meaningless pattern on the tabletop, “She doesn’t remember me.”

“So what?!” Megan practically yelled.

For the past three months, Megan had been prodding and needling away at Lena about the idea of reaching out to Kara. About potentially ‘stumbling’ into one another and getting to know each other once again. Lena had plenty of opportunities to arrange bumping into Kara, especially since Lena was over at the old apartment block up to twice a week seeing Mary and Winn. But Lena knew Kara’s old schedule so well from their previous conversations that she could actively remove any and all possibilities of them running into one another. Lena avoided Kara to such a degree that she had purposefully turned down dinners or events with Sam that she had a strong suspicion Kara would be in attendance as well.

Megan fundamentally didn’t understand.

Lena was in love with Kara. And her love hadn’t diminished even slightly since they had been separated.

So Megan could not for the life of her understand why Lena was actively avoiding Kara.

Lena’s hand stopped it’s meaningless movements as she shifted in her seat so she was directly facing Megan. There was a soft vulnerability in Lena’s green eyes which contrasted and complemented the determined frown on her face. “I wouldn’t survive it.” Megan didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t understand enough to be able to respond, Lena recognised this and took a deep breath. “Can you imagine what it’s like to look into the eyes of the person who owns your heart and for them to not see you? To not know you? To not love you in return?”

“If she got to know you again-” Megan attempted to argue.

“There’s no guarantee she would fall in love with me again.” Lena interrupted with a heartbreaking whisper. “If I don’t see her… I get to hold onto the memory of what is was like to be loved by her. If I see her… I lose that. If I see her… I may find out that she only fell in love with me because of the circumstances… because I was the only person available.”

“You would rather hold onto the ghost than try for the real thing?” Megan asked in disbelief, unable to imagine Lena unwilling to fight for what she truly wanted.

Lena shrugged lightly, letting go off Megan’s hand as she got unsteadily to her feet, “Weren’t you the one that slapped me and told me the ghost was the real thing?” Lena shot Megan a weary smile as she pulled out her card with the intent to go and get another drink. Lena pursed her lips and stayed a moment longer at the table to reveal in a quiet voice, “Ignorance is bliss. This way, I never have to find out that she fell for me because I was the only option.”

Megan sighed and shook her head, the fighting going out of her as she watched her strong friend sway drunkenly on her feet, “You wouldn’t survive finding out that.”

“Exactly.”

4 Months Post Coma

“The science museum?”

“We did that three weeks ago.” Ruby reminded with a slight shake of her head before taking a large bite out of her burger.

“Oooh, how about ice skating?” Lena suggested as she scrolled down the list of various activities she had noted down on her phone.

Saturday afternoons was designated as Lena and Ruby bonding time. Lena would pick Ruby up from her morning soccer practice, grab some lunch and then complete one of the many things Lena had missed out on taking Ruby to over the years they had been parted. Ruby was aware Lena was trying to make up for lost time by taking her to do something new and different each week but she really didn’t care what they did. What mattered was that her aunt was back in her life now and promised that she would never disappear from her life again.

“Sure.” Ruby acquiesced easily, punctuating her agreement with a loud slurp of her milkshake. Lena set her phone down, at ease now that they had a plan, and cupped her mug of coffee with her hands as she thoughtfully stared at her adoptive niece across from her.

Lena hated how much she had missed with regards to Sam and Ruby’s lives. Hated that she had missed out on watching Ruby grow up to become such an impressive young girl. The guilt regarding not being there for some of the tougher times in Ruby’s life would eat away at Lena for years to come (of that she was sure). Therefore, Lena was determined to prove to Ruby that she wasn’t going anywhere, that she would always be there to support and help her no matter what. That’s why Lena hadn’t missed a single Saturday with Ruby. Had not once considered prioritising work (like she used to do) on the weekend.

“Excited for the wedding?” Lena asked with an encouraging smile, genuinely wanting to check that Ruby was happy with the permanent change to her family. Ruby laughed lightly in amusement causing Lena to raised an eyebrow curiously. “What’s so funny?”

“You sound just like Aunt Kara.” Ruby replied with a growing smile and a twinkle in her eye. “You’ll see what I mean when you meet her.”

“Uh huh.” Lena muttered ducking her gaze to focus on the remnants of the dark liquid in her cup.

“You’ll really like her, I swear. She’s so smart, she helps with my homework all the time.” Lena’s heart squeezed uncomfortably with equal parts love and trepidation as Ruby began to list, unknowingly, many of the reasons Lena already loved Kara. “She’s also really funny, often when she’s not even trying.” Lena smirked faintly, imagining the exact pout Ruby’s comment would produce on Kara’s face. “She’s also really nice. She’s like tied with you for the nicest person I know.”

“She sounds lovely.” Lena cut in gently trying and failing to stop her smile from looking overly melancholy. Ruby fell silent with a deep sigh, obviously disappointed by the interruption as she clearly had a lot more to say on the subject.

Ruby quickly shrugged, physically brushing off the disappointment of, what Ruby assumed was, Lena’s disinterest in Kara. The noticeable twinkle in Ruby’s eye eventually returned as her expression became more set and determined. “She is. You’ll love her, I’m sure.”

Lena felt a distinct twisting sensation in the pit of her stomach as Ruby smirked at her whilst taking another loud slurp from her milkshake. Lena knew she was in trouble.

Lena carefully cut out the most recent ‘Supergirl’ article and proceeded, with great care, to stick the story on a blank page in her album. Lena smiled fondly down at the heartfelt words as she flicked through the most recent additions.

She hadn’t thought it was possible but Kara’s work had reached a new level of greatness. Each article was an improvement on the previous one. The internet was abuzz with the possibility of Kara potentially receiving an award for her work, and Lena couldn’t be prouder.

Lena breathed out a deep breath, scooting off the bed to inspect her appearance in the mirror. She was dressed in a strapless, knee length, light pink dress with a black fabric belt around the middle that tied into a small bow at the back. Megan had kindly put Lena’s hair up into a simple style using a black clip, exposing her pale neck and shoulders.

“Nice dress.” Megan complimented, appearing in the bedroom doorway, having just finished off her makeup. “I’m impressed Sam didn’t force you into some ugly neon green bridesmaid dress.”

“Is that what you would have done?” Lena asked in amusement, moving away from the mirror to shut her prized album closed and place it back on her bedside table.

“No. When I get married I’m going to force you into the frilliest monstrosity I can find.” Lena would have made a snarky comment back but no words came as she was so genuinely touched by the implication that Megan would want her as a bridesmaid in the first place. Upon seeing the soft, grateful smile on Lena’s face , Megan rolled her eyes and gestured for her pick up the pace. “John’s waiting in the car outside. Come on.”

Lena chuckled lightly at the brusque change of topic and forced herself to focus on the positives of the day rather than the fear bubbling up inside of her whenever her mind wandered to the image of blonde hair and blue eyes.

Today was one of her best friend’s wedding day.

An event that Lena hadn’t thought she would ever get to be a part of and if, for whatever reason, she had indulged in the fantasy of attending Sam’s wedding, she always thought it would involve her sitting at the back not knowing anyone, being shunned and leaving once the cake had been cut.

Now here she was.

Maid of honour and attending with her closest friends.

Before Kara, Lena had been a torrent of self-loathing and negativity. She had felt like she didn’t deserve friends, admiration or even pride in her own work. Kara had changed all of that. Had fundamentally changed Lena. Yes, Kara had said she loved her, and that had meant the world to Lena but what had meant so much more was everything before that.

Kara had admired Lena’s intelligence.

Had been proud of Lena’s work.

Had laughed at her jokes.

Had listened attentively and made Lena feel like her opinion and words were valuable.

Lena had got fall in love with Kara which was the universe’s gift to Lena, but Kara had given Lena another, even more valuable, gift.

Kara had made Lena fall in love with herself.

Yes, Lena still had hang-ups and doubts about herself but she refused to let these hold her back especially when it came to believing she deserved friends and family.

Knowing Kara didn’t love her anymore, would never love her again, hurt more deeply than Lena thought possible but Kara had left her with the strength to call upon others for help without fear of being rejected. An ability Lena never thought herself capable of.

Lena made to stroll past Megan and head out to the car, but her friend caught her arm and gave her a long, scrutinising look. Lena stared back, her resolve firming up under the inspection. Megan sighed heavily before asking the dreaded question, “You ready?”

“No, but I have some pretty good friends to help me through it.”

Chapter Text

The week running upto Alex’s wedding was one of the most intense of Kara’s life. Her sister, who could remain cool and level headed under gunfire, lost all composure. Kara had assumed that out of the two brides it would have been Sam that would have gotten obsessed with making everything perfect especially as she had been the far more enthusiastic and excited bride about getting the perfect wedding dress. Therefore, Kara was in no way, shape or form prepared when her sister transformed into, what even the wedding planner dubbed, the fiercest bridezilla ever.

Kara, in some ways, was thankful to be run ragged by her sister as it allowed her to fully squash down and ignore the, still unexplained, heartbreak she was constantly suffering from.

In other ways, Kara was tempted to slip back into a coma to get out of the ridiculous demands her sister threw at her during her, now daily, wedding panic.

On Monday, Alex (after falling down an internet rabbit hole regarding the symbolic meanings of flowers) pulled out a full on queen of hearts impression. Alex requested that the pink roses they had ordered, to be in keeping with the bridesmaids’ dresses, be either exchanged for white ones or, if not possible, for Kara to dye them all. Kara had spent a long time at the florist that day.

On Tuesday, Alex had convinced herself that the dress she had picked out for the wedding wasn’t good enough and Kara had to accompany her sister around every National CIty wedding boutique until Alex changed her mind yet again and decided to stick to the original one.

On Wednesday, Alex fretted over whether a lemon flavoured wedding cake was too adventurous and that maybe they should stick to a simple sponge instead. Kara never thought she would be sick of cake until that day.

On Thursday, Alex created a perfect scale model of the wedding venue, featuring dolls that represented all the major people involved and insisted that Kara help her act out the entire ceremony with the figures just to make sure Alex knew exactly what was supposed to happen and so they could find any problems in advance.

On Friday, Alex worried that the lemon flavoured cake wasn’t adventurous enough. Kara was close to throwing the cake (and her sister) out of the window by that point.

On Saturday, Alex insisted on reciting the wedding vows she had written over two hundred times. By the end, Kara was convinced she had undergone a far more painful version of water torture.

It had been a long week.

Kara couldn’t help feeling a certain level of anger and spite directed purely at Sam’s maid of honour who had been given the far easier bride to manage. Sam was absolutely chilled in the lead up to the wedding, her only requests had been that Ruby give her away and be ring bearer. Nothing else really mattered to Sam in the long run.

The day of the ceremony, Kara refused to let anything go wrong especially after how much work she had put in during the lead up. Alex stayed the night at Kara’s apartment so they could get ready together and so that Sam could use the house.

The morning of the wedding, Kara was forced to dump a bucket of cold water on Alex to wake her up, partly because getting Alex out of bed any morning was a herculean task and partly as a form of revenge for everything Alex had put her through in the last week. Alex had spluttered and chased Kara around the flat determined to get vengeance, this led to them falling behind the extremely tight schedule Alex had planned out and had entrusted Kara to enforce.

Eliza and Lucy arrived as Alex’s hair and make-up was nearly finished. Both women, having heard of Alex’s bridezilla transformation, wisely left most of the tasks to Kara, instead choosing to start on the champagne early. An hour later, Kara yanked on her own her dress and shoved the three women (two of whom were already tipsy) out of the flat and into the car outside.

The wedding and reception was taking place in a rustic hotel a half-an-hour’s drive outside National City. It was built in a picturesque location, with green fields that swept up into rolling hills all around, the hotel had a large hall with wooden beams that would comfortably house all of the guests. Floor length windows and glass doors along the hall opened up to an incredibly well-tended garden which provided the perfect backdrop for spectacular wedding photos. All of this made it the perfect location for a wedding, but that wasn’t the reason why Alex had insisted on it for the venue. This hotel had been the place Alex and Sam had gone for their first mini getaway together and it had been where Alex had realised that she wanted to marry Sam.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Kara took charge of everything insisting that her sister relax and focus on marrying the love of her life. Kara ran back and forth around the venue: adjusting the decorations, straightening up the seats, checking that the string quartet knew what song to play when the brides entered and that Father Green who was conducting the ceremony hadn’t started on the gin, Kara somehow innately knew,  he had tucked away in a flask before the service.

“You look beautiful.” Kara commented upon entering the room where Alex was waiting before the ceremony began. Eliza and Lucy who were sat at the back of the room were talking quietly between themselves providing the sisters some privacy.

Alex flashed her the brightest smile Kara had ever seen on her sister’s face at the compliment. “Thanks, Kara.” Alex’s dress was simple and more old-fashioned in style, with lace sleeves and very little beading. It was refined and elegant whilst having the effect of making Alex seem younger than she really was.

Kara fiddled with her glasses as she stepped up to her sister, unable to meet her eye, “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Alex asked, reaching out to take Kara’s hands in her own. “Is the priest drunk? I knew I should have listened to you about him, wait till I-”

“No, nothing like that.” Kara cut in before her sister started a fistfight with Father Green minutes before her own wedding. “It’s just… I’ve never seen you look as happy as you do now… and… because of me you had to wait even longer for today than you were supposed to.”

“Kara.” Alex admonished with a soft tone before pulling Kara into a tight hug, “There was no way I was getting married without my sister there.” Kara snuggled into her sister’s arms, overwhelmingly grateful that the stars had aligned for her to be present on probably the most important day of Alex’s life.

Kara gave her sister a tight squeeze before pulling back to make sure she hadn’t ruffled her sister’s pristine dress and flash Alex a cheeky grin, “To be honest, you kind of needed me around. No one else would have put up with your absolutely insane demands this week.”

Alex whacked Kara’s arm and shook her head. “I can not wait to see how crazy you get when it’s your turn.”

“Hey, I will be cool, calm and collected at all times.” Kara rebutted, pointing her finger accusingly at the bride.

“Kara, you haven’t once been cool, calm and collected, in all of the time that I’ve known you.”

“That’s because I’m saving it all up for when it counts.” Kara weakly defended when a knock at the door told the women that the ceremony was about to start.

Everything that happened next was a blur of activity to Kara.

Putting the finishing touches to Alex’s dress.

Having a good cry with Eliza and Lucy over how happy they all were for Alex.

Waiting outside the venue, ready to walk down the aisle.

Hearing the music play as the doors opened.

Walking down the aisle, focusing on not falling over.

Watching Alex light up as she made eye contact with Sam.

The music stopping as Alex linked hands with Sam at the altar.

Listening as Father Green started the ceremony with, “We are gathered here today-”

A flash of bright green.

The whole world coming to a stop.

Opposite Kara and standing proudly beside Sam was a raven-haired woman, with pale skin, and the most captivating green eyes Kara had ever seen. She recognised Lena Luthor immediately from the photos Ruby had shown her and the numerous news articles the CEO was pictured in. She was also aware that Lena was the maid of honour so she should have been more than mentally prepared to see her in person.

But... for some reason... it was as if her entire world had come to a stand still the second she had laid eyes on her. Kara’s brain was buzzing and crackling with energy, working overtime to fill some unforeseen knowledge gap that would explain why a simple glimpse of this woman’s eyes would have her entire body undergoing a total shutdown.

The ceremony continued, completely unperturbed by Kara’s utter loss of cognitive function.

After a minute of what could only be described as gaping at the other woman, who hadn’t once glanced Kara’s way (her green eyes remaining fixedly staring forwards at the actual wedding ceremony), Kara managed to drag her gaze away and re-focus on her sister. No matter how hard Kara tried, though, her eyes kept inexplicably wandering back to stare at Lena.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

“Okay, you made it through the ceremony and the photos. That just leaves a few speeches, the first dance and the cake cutting then you can make your dash for freedom without upsetting Sam.” Megan laid out the plan as the CEO fell into the seat beside her at the round table. John was off speaking with Alex and Sam on the other side of the room whilst Jess and Winn were taking a romantic stroll around the gardens allowing Megan to provide comfort to Lena without unnecessary scrutiny or talking in double meanings. “How are you doing?” Megan asked tentatively as Lena began to gently bang her head against the table to unleash her frustrations.  

Lena’s head stilled and came to a rest on the white sheet draping the table, “She’s not wearing blue.”

“Huh?” Megan responded, adequately summing up her confusion over Lena’s statement.

Lena turned her head, resting her cheek on the forearm she had tucked underneath herself to make the hard surface more comfortable, “She was always wearing the same blue dress for the entire time we were together. She’s not wearing blue anymore.” Lena let out a deep sigh, allowing herself to glance over at Kara who was chatting happily away to a beautiful woman with brown hair.

20. That was the maximum number of times Lena would allow herself to look at Kara today.

This most recent glance took Lena to 12. She had been unable to drag her eyes away when Kara had walked up the aisle ahead of her sister, positively radiant in her pink bridesmaid’s dress. Lena had to then threaten and cajole every fibre of her being not to glance at Kara during the ceremony. The photos in the garden had been excruciating.

Kara had simply been so alive . So joyful.

Lena had used up a large number of ‘looks’ in the space of half-an-hour, watching Kara interact with Ruby and usher everyone around with that broad, easy-going smile that had Lena’s heart leaping out of her chest to be presented wholly on a platter to Kara.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Megan inquired, causing Lena to break her stare and return to Megan’s concerned face.

“Both.” Lena answered honestly.

Megan nodded, patting Lena’s back sympathetically before getting to her feet to get them both a much needed alcoholic drink.  

The table slowly filled up with Lena’s friends. Jess and Winn had been, relatively speaking, last minute additions to the wedding but Sam had insisted that she wanted them there. Sam stopped by for a few minutes when Alex was forced to let her go so she could go to the toilet. Everyone congratulated the bride and wished her the best for her upcoming honeymoon. Not long after Sam’s visit, the quartet cut out and there was a sharp dinging sound as someone lightly tapped a glass with a piece of cutlery.

Everyone fell silent.

13.

Kara was stood up on stage, looking out over the crowd with a forced, bright smile. Lena, however could instantly see through Kara’s faux confident front. She could see how nervous the blonde truly was by how Kara’s fingers kept continually shifting on her champagne flute with the desire to fiddle with her glasses instead, by how her smile wasn’t at full illumination but was more of a facsimile of her broad grin and of course… there was the tell-tale crease on her forehead.

“Hello, everyone.” Kara shyly greeted the filled room with an awkward wave. “For those that don’t me, I’m Alex’s sister Kara. Most of you probably don’t know me as I wasn’t at the engagement party… I overslept and missed it by a couple of months.”

No one laughed, Kara winced and Lena cringed on her behalf.

“Too soon!” Alex yelled from the other side of the room which garnered a few chuckles and helpfully eased the tension in the room.

“Right, well… uh… anyway.” Kara stammered trying to regain some of the fake confidence she had earlier.

It was at that moment that Kara glanced over at Lena’s table and made eye contact; without analysing it too much, Lena gave the jittery blonde a warm smile and a nod of encouragement. Instantly, Kara took a deep breath and straightened up in response, her normal charm slowly taking over and brightening up the room.

“Alex has been my hero since the day I was adopted and welcomed into the Danvers family. She’s the strongest person I know and I’ve always thought that there would never be anyone in the world good enough for her.” Kara paused here, making eye contact with Sam who gave her a curious eyebrow raise. “I am so thankful that I was completely and utterly wrong on that count. I knew I was wrong the moment Alex knocked on my door at close to midnight, rudely waking me up I might add, after her first date with Sam. She skipped into my apartment - I know all of you are thinking that there is no way Alex skipped at any point in her life, most of you probably believe she was born in a leather jacket, loudly proclaiming you’re under arrest, but I swear she genuinely skipped - she then proceeded to talk about Sam for over three hours without stopping. But it wasn’t the skipping or the hour long monologue on how smart Sam was that made me realise I was wrong. It was the fact that no one has ever made Alex smile that wide and that often as Sam did in one evening. Then Alex met Ruby and all of a sudden it was strange not to see Alex smiling.”

Alex beamed as she pulled Ruby who was sat beside her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead.

Kara shifted on her spot, the crease on her forehead decreasing in depth as she found her footing. She spoke the next words confidently and with a level of sincerity that revealed how deeply she believed what she was saying. “If there's one thing Sam and Alex have taught me, it's that love changes you. True love, real love, makes you better, makes you kinder, makes you more than you were before. Love changes you in ways that you cannot fully comprehend, in a number of infinitely small and big ways. Alex has changed because of her love for Sam and Ruby and their love for her. The first change I noticed Sam inspire in Alex was how she began to actively seek out new perspectives, she refused to judge people by first appearances and what she’d heard from strangers. Ruby, in the space of a year, made my sister one of the most carefree people I know and achieved what I thought was the impossible and got her to love disney films.” Lena stared unblinkingly up at the woman who owned her heart, captivated with every word Kara lovingly said. “Love has the power to fundamentally change a person. That change can be big and life altering but it can also be as simple as your favourite colour switching from red to blue because the love of your life wore a blue dress on your first date.”

Alex groaned lightly, ducking and burying her head into Sam’s neck as all eyes turned away from Kara to give Alex fond smiles and chuckle lightly at her embarrassment.

“I have a reputation for being rambly and going on for far too long, so I won’t keep any of you for much longer.” Kara carefully lifted her glass into the air, “I will simply say that: Sam and Alex, if I ever get the chance to fall in love and that love is half as epic and wondrous as yours, I genuinely couldn’t ask for more.” Lena who had been sat on the very edge of her seat as she listened to every word that Kara had said, deflated noticeably and only raised her glass half as high as everyone else in the room. “To Sam and Alex.”

The room erupted into applause followed by the sound of glasses clinking together.

Lena turned to Megan, once everyone had settled and returned to their conversations prior to the speech, “I’m going to get another drink, you want anything?”

“Lena, wait.” Megan grabbed Lena’s arm before she had a chance to push off the table and run away. Lena froze, settling back into her seat to show she was listening to Megan. “Talk to her.” Megan practically begged.

Lena sighed and shook her head dismissively, “Not this again.”

Megan squeezed Lena’s forearm to ensure she had the dark-haired woman’s attention, “You don’t understand, she’s been staring at you all night.”

“No, she hasn’t.” Lena snorted and rolled her eyes to emphasise how much she disagreed.

Megan ground her teeth together in frustration and forced herself to stay calm. She knew why Lena was so against letting hope in, but Megan refused to backdown. “Yes, she has. And you would know this if you hadn’t been purposefully ignoring her. She. Can’t. Take. Her. Eyes. Off. You.” Megan emphasised each word in the vain hope that it would help her her message get through to Lena.

A long moment passed, Lena’s green eyes were open and vulnerable, and she was biting her bottom lip nervously, just when Megan thought she had convinced Lena, the green eyes hardened and Lena’s jaw went tight. “You’re imagining things.” Lena whispered.

Megan pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest angrily. She had finally reached her limit. She had watched Lena be heartbroken for four months and now that there was a visible sign or indication that Lena’s Kara was still in there… Lena wasn’t willing to try… Megan couldn’t stand watching her closest friend suffer when there was a chance it was totally unnecessary. Megan’s frustrations boiled over and the sharp rebuke came out without any chance to stop it. “That’s rich coming from the girl who literally fell in love with her imaginary friend.”

Lena flinched ever so slightly, but it was enough of a reaction for Megan to know her comment had inflicted a degree of hurt on Lena.

“Lena, I’m sorry, I didn’t-” Megan began to apologise, but Lena was waving her apology away with her hand as she got to her feet.

“Don’t worry about it. I'm going to get us both another drink. I think we need it.” Lena’s words were spoken in a neutral tone, the disappearance of her usual snarky warmth letting Megan know she screwed up if even Lena wouldn’t acknowledge it.

Megan sighed and didn't stop Lena from walking away this time.

Kara jolted at what she at first thought was a rather sudden end to the wedding ceremony, only to realise that she had been in a daze for the entire event. The cheers and applause cleared the mist from Kara’s mind and brought her back to reality (actually it might have been losing sight of Lena’s green eyes in the crowd more than the noise that really did the trick).  

Kara quickly kicked herself into action, ushering people out into the garden for the wedding photos and providing the staff the time they needed to rearrange chairs and tables to turn the hall into the wedding reception. Though, Kara tried to be present for the photos and her family’s joy, she would constantly catch herself looking around the area for another sighting of Lena.

It was flashes and glimpses, nothing substantial.

The buzzing in Kara’s head was now constant companion and Kara found herself getting involved in every little task and problem to alleviate the tension it was creating.

“Aunt Kara!” Ruby yelled out, suddenly appearing out of nowhere as Kara was stepping down from the stage after her speech. Before Kara even had a chance to get a word out, Ruby had grabbed her hand and was dragging her across the reception hall.

“Hey, slow down, Ruby. Where are we going?” Kara questioned in concern, her gaze dropping to the floor to focus on her feet as she struggled not to trip over in her heels.

Ruby came to a sudden stop causing Kara to stumble forwards and collide with another body.

Bang!

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Kara apologised profusely to the woman she had just knocked to the ground. Jumping to her feet, Kara held out a hand to the woman who ignored it and gracefully got up by herself, her dark hair coming free of the clip holding it up.

“Aunt Kara this is Aunt Lena. Aunt Lena this is Aunt Kara.” Ruby introduced them with a positively gleeful smirk as Kara stared at the woman who was now freeing her hair from it’s updo and flicking it over her shoulder. Kara was only vaguely aware that her jaw was hanging open and that Ruby was pointedly prodding her side to get her to say something.

Kara proceeded to eloquently introduce herself, apologise once again before engaging Lena in a wonderful discussion about how pleased they both were for Sam and Alex, then Kara bravely asked Lena to dance and the breathtaking woman instantly said yes with a pleased smile.

At least.... that’s what Kara wished had happened.

Instead, Kara let out an embarrassing, “Errrrrrrrrrr…”, sound, losing all power of speech. Ruby and Lena both stared at her with slightly concerned and very confused expressions. “Kara.” Kara finally stammered out in greeting.

Lena blinked in surprise before an amused smile quirked up the corner of her mouth. “Yes, I’m aware.”

“Oh, right.” Kara exclaimed, flapping her hands wildly as she laughed loudly in a very poor attempt to hide the fact that she could no longer form a coherent sentence as the buzzing sound in her head had reached a deafening decibel the longer she spent in Lena’s presence. Kara abruptly stopped laughing upon noticing Ruby making a cutting motion across her own throat. “It’s uh… nice to meet you.” Kara tried again, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand and fiddling with her glasses with the other.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Lena agreed sincerely.

“Oh, look, Mom's calling me. I’ve got to go.” Ruby exaggerated waving at her mom and put on a noticeably false tone of disappointment that she had to leave. Kara shook her head in exasperation as the young girl skipped away with a proud smirk gesturing for Kara to talk to Lena behind the the other woman’s back.

“Please tell me she doesn’t have any aspirations to be an actress.” Lena dryily begged causing yet another unattractive and unpreventable snort of laughter from the blonde. Kara was mildly shocked to find she felt incredibly at ease in Lena’s presence despite the way her heart was hammering and the way her head was still filled with an unidentifiable white noise.

“Last I heard, she wants to be a scientist like her aunt… or a spy.” Kara replied, pleased with how Lena ducked her head shyly at the comment of how Ruby looked up to her.

“Yeah, I really should have thought through making her watch ‘Spy Kids’ when she was younger.” Lena frowned, her gaze going distant with the flashback.

“Oh, so it’s your fault I had to convince Ruby not to complete her exams in invisible ink and I had to dress as one of Charlie’s Angels for the last two halloweens?” Kara interrogated with fake outrage.

“Hey, it’s only fair you suffer a little, I had to create an entire range of ‘spy weapons’ for her birthday when she was younger and then deal with the tears when the tranquilizer pen didn’t actually knock out the mean kid in her year.” Lena harrumphed, her blazing eyes revealing that she was ready and willing to throw down over the topic over who had suffered the most from Ruby’s spy obsession.

Kara raised her hands up in a sign of surrender. “Well, it’s a good thing she has you back in her life to inspire her towards a different career path.” Kara said softly, her heart squeezing at the range of emotion that flickered across Lena’s face before the dark haired woman ducked her head deprivig Kara of the green that she had been seeking out since the start of the ceremony.

“Yeah… well… I guess I should thank you for that.” Lena mumbled almost under her breath.

Kara quirked her head to the side at the comment, “Thank me?”

Lena exhaled deeply and slowly as if preparing herself for a truly arduous task, “I never would have been reunited with Ruby and Sam if it wasn’t for you.” Lena lifted her head, making eye contact with Kara, her gaze direct and piercing, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

Kara blinked in surprise and forced herself to breathe in, having forgotten to inhale, “I don’t-”

“I met Ruby at the Luthor Hospital. In your room, actually.” Lena cut in to explain, her eyes flickering to a spot on Kara’s forehead as she did so.

“M-m-my room?” Kara stammered out uncertainly.

Kara couldn’t help but think the smile on Lena’s face from that point onwards was tinted with sadness as her gaze returned to Kara’s eyes. “I was doing rounds to see if there was anything I could do to improve the hospital.”

“Oh…” Kara murmured reverently, her heart skipping a beat at the thoughtfulness of the woman in front of her. “There it is then.” Kara stated matter-of-factly.

“There what is?” Lena questioned with an arched eyebrow.

“The good thing that came out of it all.” Kara explained, beaming at Lena whose face went blank.

Lena opened her mouth, her eyes going wide and vulnerable. She remained in this state on the edge of adding something further to Kara’s comment for a few seconds, Kara shifting from foot to foot in anticipation for whatever she was obviously building towards.

In those few seconds, Kara leaned forward slightly, feeling drawn towards Lena, struggling to fight the desire to reach out and provide support and comfort for whatever inner argument Lena was currently having with herself. This slight movement and the way Kara’s hands shifted ready to fulfil the wish to connect with Lena in a real way had the opposite effect to what Kara intended. Lena’s jaw snapped shut and her expression became noticeably closed off.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right.” Lena’s words were clipped, almost harsh and Kara was left floundering, trying to figure out what she had done wrong. Lena cleared her throat, glancing over her shoulder at the bar she had been heading towards before Kara had crashed into her, “Well, I promised a friend a drink, so I should…”

Lena trailed off; Kara’s heart plummeted and her stomach felt hollow as she nodded mutely in understanding. She couldn’t keep the look of hurt from sweeping over her features when Lena turned and began to walk away.

The buzzing in her head seemed to go up another notch, causing Kara to wince and squint at Lena’s retreating figure.

That’s when it hit her.

“Oh my god! I remember you!” Kara yelled out jubilantly. Lena came to juddering stop and haltingly turned round, her eyes wide and filled with hope. Kara positively lit up at the look of warmth and affection being directed at her form the woman who had been closed off only a moment ago. Kara without hesitation hurried across the distance between them, “You were there when I woke up!”

The look of pure joy instantly vanished from Lena’s face, and Kara couldn’t help thinking that she had somehow destroyed one of the greatest treasures in the world in that moment. “Yes. I had left behind my bag after running into Ruby, I came back to retrieve it. You woke up whilst I was there.” Lena’s voice was completely monotone and empty of all emotion.

Kara forced a smile, “You have no idea how much it’s been bugging me all night. I kept thinking I knew you, like I’d met you before…” Kara trailed off as Lena refused to look at her, “Well, anyway… that explains everything…” Kara winced as Lena gave her a curt nod and began to move away again. The buzzing hadn’t lessened, not even slightly. “Do you want to dance?”

The question came out with absolutely no forethought. Kara couldn’t even explain where the request had come from nor what had made her say it.

Kara’s hand had also moved on autopilot to hover, palm up, in the space between them in offering to Lena.

Lena’s cool gaze flicked between Kara’s hand and her face for less than second before she began to shake her head fervently, “No.” Lena uttered once, her voice cracking audibly over the word before she turned and strode away.

Kara’s hand fell back to her side lifelessly, the heartbreak that was constantly with her and had been in the background for most of the evening reviving and bringing with it a pain ten times worse than what it was before.

“Lena?” Megan whispered as she knocked on the bathroom door.

Megan had seen it all. Had seen the moment Lena’s heart had fully self-destructed.

Megan had felt unbearably guilty about her snapped out comment previously. What had made her guilt so much worse was knowing that it was purely her sharp tone that had hurt Lena not the words itself (they had joked and made far more snarky comments about the events that led to their friendship before this). She had at first intended to wait for Lena to come back, but found the uncommon guilt had her on her feet a lot sooner. Megan rushed off in search of her friend, John giving her a proud and understanding smile. Her ‘boyfriend’ (Megan grumbled out the term of endearment) was beyond pleased that she had made such a good group friends and had been overwhelmingly supportive in her leaving behind her lone wolf persona to connect with this gang of misfits.

Megan had found Lena quickly enough, walking away from Kara and towards the bar. That’s when she had witnessed the hope and the heartbreak.

Megan’s heart had soared alongside Lena’s when Kara had declared that she remembered. Lena’s entire face had become a beacon of light, her entire posture improving as the heavy regret and sadness weighing on her vanished. And then it had all come crashing down. Megan’s gut had wrenched and twisted, recognising that this moment probably hurt Lena far worse than when Kara had originally forgot.

Kara had appeared truly devastated when Lena had more or less ran away from her and her invitation to dance, but Megan understood why Lena had needed space.

Lena couldn’t look into blue eyes that only saw her as a stranger a second longer. And the offer of finally being able to hold the hand of the person she loved for the first time for it only to mean so much less to Kara was beyond cruel.

There was an audible click as the bathroom door unlocked. Megan took a deep breath prior to pushing the door open, terrified of the state she would find Lena in this time, scared that it would be so much worse than when Lena had convinced herself that none of it had been real.

Lena was slumped on the floor, her arms holding her knees to her chest and her head buried into her forearms. Megan shut the door behind herself and quickly knelt down beside her friend, pulling her into a tight hug. “What do you need?” Megan asked, not bothering to tell her it would be okay. She wouldn’t do that again, not after what had just happened.

Lena hiccuped out a sob, raising her head to reveal a tear-stained, mascara smeared face. “I can’t be here anymore.”

“Okay, I’ll get John. He can drive us, alright. I’ll tell Sam you’re not feeling well-”, Megan started to plan, figuring out how best to get Lena away from the wedding as fast as possible without raising too many eyebrows.

“No.” Lena cut in with a weak shake of her head, “I meant… I need to get away from National City.”

Megan rocked back on her heels, falling away from Lena, her face twisting with shock. “You’re running away? What about-”

“Not running away.” Lena interrupted, her tone clipped and resolute, “I promised Ruby, I wouldn’t run away again.” Megan exhaled, grateful that the closest friend she’d ever had wasn’t going to vanish from her life, “I also wouldn’t do that to you.” Lena added with a weak smile that Megan returned easily. “Or Sam. Or Winn. Or Jess. Or Mary.”

“Then, what are you going to do?” Megan asked curiously, reaching out to grab some tissues to help clean Lena up.

Lena gave her a crooked, broken smile, “My friends have recently informed me that I’m five years overdue for a holiday.”

Chapter Text

2 Weeks Later

The days following the wedding should have been joyous for Kara. Her sister and newly wedded wife had jetted off for a two week honeymoon in Hawaii, leaving Kara with her favourite little human being in the whole world. Kara had planned the ultimate two weeks of fun for Ruby until her legally cemented family got back.

Regular movie nights and trips to local attractions meant the two weeks should have flown by.

And they did… in a way.

When she was with Ruby, Kara managed to force down the pain in her chest and ignore the annoying buzzing in her head, her mind still whirring away on a problem she couldn’t solve. She was also able to prevent herself from reliving, what had quickly become one of Kara’s most painful memories, saying and doing whatever it was that caused Lena Luthor to look so completely crestfallen. The guilt had been viciously clawing at Kara ever since Lena had walked away (what made it even worse was her awkward invitation to dance that she still couldn’t explain).

The issue was the rest of the time.

Being alone was the worst, especially in her apartment where everything was too quiet no matter how high she turned up her music. Work was almost as bad but for far different reasons. CatCo, at first provided her with enough of a distraction to keep her mind occupied, however, that all changed with the reality check provided by Morgan Edge.

James had been forced to show their prospective new employer around the office. Morgan had strutted around, a posse of fawning yes men in his wake to whom he would turn (blatantly ignoring James and his input) and loudly proclaim his plans for this part of the office or the content produced by the department he was being shown. The entire science and technology writers division would be wiped out to make room for studios to photograph Edge’s personally selected models. Morgan derisively turned his nose up at pulitzer prize winning journalists and scoffed dismissively at their long-term investigative pieces, telling them in no uncertain times that quantity and fast output would be the new standard.

The future painted for Kara was just as bleak and was presented to her by the sleazy businessman as he leered at her, making pointed comments about how it was ‘such a waste she hid herself away below jumpers and cardigans’. Kara had been correct when she had presumed that her dream job of pointing the spotlight at everyday heroes over celebrities would be twisted into a propaganda and bribing tool. Edge revealed at least three people he would require Kara to interview once CatCo was his… none of them had an ounce of morality, kindness or anything remotely representing heroism between the lot of them.

Kara’s optimism and positivity was extinguished that day. Faced with the dark feelings inside of herself and the gloominess Kara’s friends and co-workers began to exude due to the bleak future laid before her, Kara struggled to maintain her normal cheer and optimism.

‘Knock! Knock!’

Kara and Ruby were curled up on the sofa, halfway through their awful, outdated monster movie binge when they heard the resounding knock on the front door that could only belong to one person, and had both girls jumping to their feet. “Oh god, we didn’t finish packing.” Kara exclaimed, quickly rushing to answer the door at the same time Ruby shot her an accusing look which Kara batted her hand to dismiss.

Kara had taken to leaving work early and working from home to be there for when Ruby finished school. It wasn’t just the desire to be responsible for Ruby that had her getting home increasingly early, she wouldn’t admit it but, she selfishly wanted to be around the only person who brought back her good mood faster than anything else at the moment. Because of this Kara may have been indulging her more or less adopted niece a lot more than normal, hence when she got home today, she had given up packing and roped Ruby in to watch crappy films with her instead.

Kara pulled open the door, to reveal a beaming Alex. “Hey-” Alex began to greet, but was quickly stopped by Kara and Ruby who pulled her into a rib-crushing hug.

“Alex!” Both girls yelled out joyously, clinging tightly to the now tanned woman.

“I missed you guys too!” Alex choked out, struggling to get air in her lungs, “But… I can’t breathe…”

Kara and Ruby instantly let go of the red-head who staggered, nearly falling over upon losing the weight of the two people she had been holding up. “Where’s mum?” Ruby asked, finally having the chance to look around and noticing her mum wasn’t there.

“She had to stop by work, your aunt Lena has had - and I quote - ‘a completely, ridiculous and insane idea’ and your mum had to go in and help her pull it off.” Alex shrugged helplessly, Ruby raised an eyebrow at the explanation and the way Alex’s eyes seemed to twinkle with a rare fondness for her aunt Lena. “We’re going to pick her up from Luthor Corp and grab some dinner together afterwards. Have you packed up all your things?” Alex asked, affectionately brushing a strand of hair behind Ruby’s ear.

Ruby and Kara exchanged a guilty glance and winced at the question causing a heavy sigh to escape Alex, “One thing. I asked for one thing. For you to be packed and ready to go.”

“It’s Aunt Kara’s fault! I was packing and she made me stop so we could watch monster movies.” Ruby confessed, pointing at Kara with an accusing finger.

“What?! No! She’s ly- I mean… Traitor!” Kara spluttered weakly, before shooting Ruby a dark glare who merely shrugged in response.

“Okay. Ruby, sweetie, can you go finish packing up, please?” Alex wearily requested, giving Ruby’s shoulder a squeeze of encouragement.

“Alright…”, Ruby murmured with a light huff before disappearing off to the bedroom to pack up her things.

“Hey, the quicker you pack, the sooner we get your mum and food.” Alex added to provide further incentive to Ruby’s retreating form. “How was she?” Alex asked turning to her sister who was still sporting a considerable pout at Ruby’s betrayal.

Kara’s face eased and broke out into a light smile, “Perfect as always.” She answered sincerely, leading Alex into the kitchen and gesturing at a glass, “Want a drink whilst you wait?”

“Mhmm.” Alex hummed her ‘yes’, perching on one of the kitchen stools, watching her sister busy herself with pouring them some water. It was whilst watching Kara that Alex finally noticed that something was off with her sister. It was a realisation that sent a cold shiver of dread coursing through her.

Alex hadn’t noticed when she first arrived as Kara had been genuinely smiling and Alex had been so caught up in being reunited with Ruby. Now, though, there was nothing to distract her from seeing the dark circles under her sister’s eyes and the crease in her forehead that now seemed deep and ever present.

“Kara, what’s happened?” Alex was on her feet immediately and rounding the kitchen island to pull Kara close by her wrist.

Kara blinked in confusion, “Nothing. Ruby’s fine, I swear. Not a scratch.” Kara answered with a shake of her head as Alex shifted her grip and squeezed her shoulders. Alex stared into her eyes, intensely scrutinising the blue irises.

“I didn’t mean Ruby, I meant you… you look…”, Heartbroken , was the word that came to mind above all others to Alex. The pain Kara had confessed to experiencing on the roof not so long ago, was no longer hidden. It was too immense to hide. Alex kicked herself viciously for having not done more to help her little sister, especially after promising to be there. But the wedding had been right around the corner and then she had gone off on her honeymoon without a care in the world. Guilt swept up and consumed Alex as her sister stared back at her blankly.

Kara exhaled slowly, her gaze dropping to the floor, quietly murmuring, “I don’t know. It’s gotten worse.”

“Oh, Kara.” Alex wrapped her arms around her little sister and pulled her close, beginning to murmur in her hair. “Okay, we’re going to fix this. Sister’s night tomorrow.” Kara buried her head into the crook of her sister’s neck and sobbed quietly, “We will make a game plan and figure this out. I’m so, so, so sorry.”

Kara carefully untucked her head from where she had buried it and looked up at Alex with watery, confused eyes, “What are you sorry for?”

Alex swallowed thickly, smoothing her sister’s hair down with care and clearing it from her devastated face, “You told me how you were struggling and… I wasn’t there for you even when I promised I would be.”

“Al-”, Kara started to interrupt, her expression turning soft as she began to shake her head to refute what Alex was saying.

“No, Kara. I screwed up. But I’m going to make it up to you. We will figure this out. Whatever you need, I’m here.” Alex’s eyes were fiery and determined, she looked ready to pull out a gun and venture into hell to fight off whatever was tormenting her sister.

“I know. I’ve never doubted that.” Kara responded in kind. What she said was true. Kara had never, ever felt like she couldn’t turn to her sister, couldn’t depend on her. Alex had made sure she never felt that way.

The next day, Kara came into work to find the usual gloom that pervaded CatCo had ratcheted up significantly. No one was working, everyone was grouped together in little cliques whispering amongst themselves and shooting worried glances at each other. Kara dropped her bags off at her desk then rushed over to James’ office to see if she could find out the cause of the dark atmosphere.

“James?” Kara questioned, knocking on James’ slightly ajar door. James was hunched over his desk staring blankly at nothing in particular with absolutely no intent to start on the pile of papers sat beside him.

“Kara.” James groaned out in greeting, shifting back in his seat to look at her.

“What’s going on?” Kara asked, moving into the office, and shutting the door behind herself.

James sighed heavily, “It’s happening.”

“What’s happening?” Kara prompted, deeply perturbed by how defeated James looked at that moment.

James rubbed his eyes with his hand to dispel some of the exhaustion and depression weighing heavily on him, “An offer has been made to buy the company. A generous offer… very generous. The board are meeting right now to vote. CatCo is to be sold.” James revealed all of this without any emotion, it was as if he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore.

Kara fell into the chair opposite James, feeling completely devastated and without any idea about what she could do. She wanted to storm and rage. She wanted to fight. This was her dream job. A job that gave her purpose and joy. And now it was going to be taken from her. She was about to lose another crucial part of herself and that… that was unacceptable.

“Screw this!” Kara snapped, jumping to her feet and stalking out of the office. James blinked in surprise before getting out of his seat and rushing after the furious blonde.

“Err… Kara? What- What are you doing?” James sputtered, struggling to keep up with the long strides of the reporter. Everyone in CatCo turned and watched the normally cheerful blonde with fire in her eyes stamp out of the office and aggressively stab at the call button for the elevator.

“Going down swinging.” Kara replied, stepping into the lift and pressing the button for the floor above. James quickly dashed inside to join his friend before the doors slid shut, smiling for the first time since he had gotten the news about the bid.

“Sounds like fun, can I watch?” James requested, shooting Kara an encouraging smile that had her nodding and smirking whilst the doors opened. The two of them walked with purpose down the corridor, their eyes set on the double doors in front of them.

Kara shoved the doors open causing the aged board members, sat at a long, oval shaped table, to abruptly break off their discussion to spin and face the newcomer. The confidence that had been burning inside of Kara began to wane when faced with the cool stares and raised eyebrows of the suited up business men and women.

“Can we help you?” A grey haired woman with sharp features asked lightly with an encouraging smile, when Kara continued to gape helplessly at everyone.

James cleared his throat, placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder, clearly ready to step up to the plate when Kara faltered, that though provided Kara the kick she needed to get the words clogging up her throat out. “Please, don’t sell CatCo to Morgan Edge.”

The older woman who had spoken first raised an eyebrow, “My dear, we-”

Kara shook her head not wanting to hear the light dismissal, or the kindly pointed manner in which ‘you don’t get a say’ would be conveyed to her. “My name is Kara Danvers, I’m a writer for CatCo magazine, I write the Supergirl column.” Kara introduced herself, trying to make it clear why she should get a say, why her opinion should matter. Kara took a deep breath and let out what had been building in her from the second Morgan Edge had strutted around the CatCo offices as if he already owned the place. “I love my job. I love everything about it. Which, trust me, I know is rare. It’s rare to come into work and feel as if you are doing something important, something that truly matters and, on top of that, love it more than anything. This magazine gave me that. It gave me something unbelievably precious. And if you sell CatCo to Morgan Edge, you’ll be taking that away from me, from all of us who work here.”

Kara licked her lips nervously, her hands clenching and unclenching into fists at her sides as she took a determined step forward ensuring she kept everyone’s attention on her. “The thing is… you wouldn’t just be taking something away from us, employees. I know on the surface CatCo looks like any other glossy magazine, but the people who read it?” Kara paused, her gaze flickering up to the grey-haired woman who tilted her head in question and prompt for her to continue. “They know different. We have more than one Pulitzer prize winning journalist working here. Yes, we may not publish the most current news and we have various tips on fashion or hairstyles.” Minor tittering and whispering followed that statement and Jame shot her a look, Kara, though, simply rose her voice to drown out the background noise. “But we are also credited with publishing some of the most ground-breaking investigative pieces of journalism in the last decade. Everything we write is fact-checked. Everything we write is accurate and about something that matters to people. A wide range of people. CatCo has spent years building trust with it’s readers. That trust is the most valuable thing about this place… and if you sell that trust to Morgan Edge?” Kara shook her head miserably at the future she was trying to prevent, “Please believe me when I say, CatCo will be worthless the second the first issue Edge dictates goes out the door.”

Kara fell silent, the board members staring at her with various different expressions: some amused, some smiling, some annoyed. The older woman who Kara had directed her speech towards, mostly just to keep herself focused, cleared her throat and laced her fingers together on the table, “Thank you for letting us know the opinion of the staff-”, Kara’s heart sank at the older woman’s kindly yet seemingly dismissive tone, “but you should know,” The woman leant forward and gave Kara and James a small smile, “we are not selling CatCo to Morgan Edge.”

Kara physically flinched in surprise, she glanced over at James who looked equally as shocked and perplexed, “Then who are-”, Kara started to ask, the question spilling forth without her control.

“That would be me.” A light, amused voice rang out from the other end of the table. The tone was familiar and called out Kara in a way she couldn’t fully describe. It caused her heart to inexplicably skip a beat and the buzzing in her head that had fallen silent to rise up in a crescendo.

“Lena.” James murmured from behind Kara, both of them turning to see, no other than, Lena Luthor lounging in a black leather chair with the proudest and most satisfied smirk Kara had ever seen. Kara’s jaw dropped and a croak came out in total contrast to the eloquence she had literally possessed thirty seconds ago.

“Miss. Luthor has offered to buy the company.” The older woman explained, James turned his attention back to her whilst Kara found herself, yet again, unable to pull her gaze away from the dark-haired woman who quirked an eyebrow at her in question. “Interestingly enough, Miss. Luthor’s reasons for buying CatCo and her long-term plan align quite closely with what you said Miss. Danvers.” Kara finally looked over at the board member when she heard her name.

“Long term plan?” James asked, suddenly anxious about what changes being under Luthor Corp would bring to the company. “What does she intend to do?”

“Nothing.” Lena answered before the board member had a chance. The CEO got to her feet and walked around the table, coming to a stop in front of the CatCo employees, a warm and reassuring smile on her face that instantly put Kara at ease and gave her an incredible level of comfort.

“Nothing?” James queried uncertainly.

“Absolutely nothing.” Lena repeated with a wink directed at Kara that had her blushing brighter than the sun. “I intend to change absolutely nothing about CatCo.”

“Ooookay. But what about-”

“I’m putting in place a legal document which means CatCo will receive it’s operating budget every year no matter what CatCo publishes. No matter what it writes about Luthor Corp or me. It doesn’t even need to turn a profit. CatCo will be untouchable… even from me.” James and Kara exchanged a look of total disbelief before turning back to stare at Lena with a look of total wonderment. “I would like for you to continue as CEO, James.” Lena revealed causing James to splutter and nod vigorously. “My only major request is that…”, Lena hesitated, her gaze switching over and locking onto Kara’s wide blue eyes that were staring at her with utter adoration. “CatCo does everything in its power to preserve and develop the reputation of trust it has created.”

Kara gulped and nodded her head as if to promise that she would personally carry out Lena’s request.

“Well, um... that sounds… um... “, James gestured wildly trying to locate the right word to describe how incredible everything had turned out. His hands dropped to his sides, going still as he broke out into a broad grin, “Amazing, actually. A miracle.”

Lena’s green eyes broke away from Kara’s own, the warm smile on the CEO’s face disappearing and that hurt expression that had seared itself into Kara’s memory at the wedding reappeared. Kara’s heart splintered at the sight and the buzzing in her head became almost painful. “I wouldn’t call it a miracle. More like karma.” Lena replied, a professional mask slipping into place.

“Karma?” Kara prompted gently; selfishly wanting the green eyes that made her heart thrum and the pain in her heart decrease to return to focusing on her.

Lena gave her a glimpse of the green that was quickly becoming her favourite colour, and a tight smile revealing that she was restraining herself from something painful and unknown. “Yes. Good things should happen to good people.”

James had ushered Kara out of the boardroom after getting caught up on the details of the bid and the plans for CatCo’s future, allowing Lena and the board to finish hashing out the final details. James had done a joyous, and completely out of character celebratory, jig once the double doors had swung shut. Kara had joined in on the dance but remained firmly in place when James attempted to tug her towards the elevator with the intent to tell the other employees the good news. James had raised an eyebrow and Kara explained that she wanted to speak to Lena about something. Upon seeing the hard set to Kara’s features when questioned about the matter, James relented and left her to wait. Kara watched James practically skip away, his broad, welcoming grin that had disappeared over the last few months reappearing with a vengeance.  

Thank you.

That’s why Kara need to stay. She hadn’t said thank you to Lena. Hadn’t vocalised her gratefulness to the woman who was preserving something so indescribably important to her. Protecting and shielding one of the few things that was a sanctuary and source of happiness to her.

The meeting went on for most of the day. Nearly all of the board members left at one point or another for a bathroom break… but not Lena. She didn’t appear once. Therefore, Kara was forced to wait until the bitter end. Kara paced back and forth relentlessly, her normally short attention span seemingly unending for once in her life as if it had been saving up her patience throughout her life to aid in this task. The white noise in her head seemed to quieten during her vigil but didn’t disappear and was, admittedly, louder than it normally was on an average day.

Eventually, the meeting came to an end and the attendees trickled out in pairs. The elderly woman who had been kind to Kara when she had interrupted gave her a wave and a smile as she passed by. Of course, Lena was the last to leave, having had to shut down the laptop from which she had been presenting and pack away her various items in her black bag. Kara fidgeted with her glasses as Lena opened the door and strode through nearly walking straight into the blonde.

“Kara?” Lena jolted in surprise at the journalist’s presence.

“Uh… hi.” Kara greeted shyly with an awkward wave that had her cringing.

“W-w-what are you doing-” Lena stammered out in complete contrast to the cool and in control CEO from earlier. Kara’s heart fluttered and her palms began to sweat at how adorable the woman under the professional mask really was.

“Thank you.” Kara blurted out before Lena even had a chance to finish her question. Lena froze and stared at Kara unblinkingly, “I realised that… that during that whole debacle,” Kara winced at her choice of words wondering where on earth they had come from, “I didn’t say it. It being thank you.”

Lena seemed to jolt in place as if undergoing a system reboot, instantly her head began to shake and she ducked her gaze to the floor. “You don’t need to-”

“Yes, I do.” Kara cut in yet again. “Sorry, I keep interrupting you.” Kara winced apologetically drawing a light chuckle from the other woman that quickly became one of Kara’s favourite sounds in the whole world. “But… I do, owe you a thank you. You have no idea how much CatCo means to me.”

Lena sighed gently, lifting her gaze back up, revealing eyes that were filled with understanding and replied softly, “I think understand more than you may think.”

Kara nodded in agreement before flashing Lena a soft, vulnerable smile, “Well, I look forward to getting to know you better, boss.” Lena raised a coy eyebrow at the ‘boss’ term that had Kara blushing. It was then that her uncontrollable mouth made yet another invitation before she really had a chance to think it through, “If you want I can give you a tour of CatCo tomorrow? Introduce you to everyone. I’m sure they’ll all want to say thank you to you in person.” Kara flashed Lena a nervous glance, her fingers instinctively reaching to play with one of the arms of her glasses.

Lena seemed to deflate at the the offer, “That sounds lovely, but-”

“It’s okay, don’t worry. It was just an-”, Kara began to ramble, not sure she could bear hearing another rejection from the woman in front of her.

“Kara!” Lena raised her voice causing Kara’s jaw to snap shut and stare at Lena with wide eyes, “That sounds lovely, but… I’m going away on a long overdue holiday for a few weeks. I fly out tonight.” Lena explained gently.

“Oh!” For some reason, the concept of Lena leaving pierced Kara’s heart far worse than the potential rejection. Kara swallowed thickly and forced a smile. “That sounds… You deserve…. I hope you have a great time.” Kara finally settled on saying, Lena tilted her head in confusion probably at how hollow Kara’s words sounded. “I should let you get on your way... “, Kara whispered quietly, more as a command to herself than anything else.

Her hand, having suddenly gained a mind of its own, slowly lifted up and hovered in the space between herself and Lena in offering of a handshake to say goodbye. Lena stared down at Kara’s hand, and Kara couldn’t help but see that same flash of hurt on Lena’s face from the wedding. Lena shook her head before looking up at Kara with breathtakingly vulnerable, green eyes and reached out to grip Kara’s hand with her own.

Warm tingles cascaded through Kara from where her and Lena were holding hands. She was immediately consumed with comforting thoughts and sensations that silenced the buzzing in her head and removed the pain from her chest.

Sitting by a warm fire on a winter’s night.

Sleepy sundays wrapped in a duvet.

Comfort food after a hard day at work.

Hugging and holding tight someone who loves you as greatly as you love them.

Lena squeezed Kara’s hand gently, grounding her back in the present and returning her focus back to soft green eyes. “Thank you, Darling.” Lena whispered graciously in goodbye, an almost imperceptible croak escaping when she let out the term of endearment. Lena took back her hand, removing the reassuring warmth that had made Kara feel more at home than she had ever had before, and walked away.

Darling.

Kara didn’t move.

Darling.

Didn’t say anything.

Darling.

The warmth vanished.

Darling.

The buzzing reappeared.

Darling.

Her heart felt empty and void of all emotion.

Darling.

Her entire mind went into complete shutdown.

Darling.

‘Knock! Knock!’

Darling.

Kara was jarred from the trancelike state created by the endless droning in her mind which was constantly repeating the same word over and over again incessantly by the heavy knock on her front door. Kara’s fingers that had been continuously tracing the now comforting stain on her grey sofa twitched and flexed with annoyance at the disruption.

Darling.

Kara had no idea how she got home.

Darling.

How she ended up sat on the sofa staring blankly at the turned off television.

Darling.

Hours had passed without Kara being even remotely aware.

Darling.

On autopilot, Kara got up from the couch and walked over to open the door revealing Alex and Ruby standing there with cheerful smiles. “Hey sis, hope you don’t mind that I brought Ruby over. Sam is suffering from jetlag and needed to get some sleep.” Alex happily explained, stepping into the flat and giving her sister a tight hug that Ruby dived to join in on. Once Alex and Ruby had relinquished her, Kara robotically turned and headed back to her seat, her face blank and her movements zombie like. Alex and Ruby exchanged a concerned look behind Kara’s back and Alex gave the young girl a firm nod followed by a light squeeze of the shoulder to encourage her forward.

Darling.

“Aunt Kara?” Ruby asked quietly, causing Kara to stop and shift back around to look at her niece. “Have you seen my teddy bear? Princess Zor-El? I think I left her in your room.” Kara blinked once, not recognising the look of worry on her family’s face or the blatant distraction they were creating so they could have a moment to think up a plan.

Darling.

Kara nodded, automatically changing direction and stepping into her bedroom deaf to the sudden whispered conversation going on behind her. Kara’s feet took her to the side of the dresser without any input from her mind.

Darling.

A brown, ratty, well-loved teddy bear had fallen from the top of the drawers, landing on it’s back making black, beady eyes stare up at the ceiling.

Darling.

Kara bent down and reached out for the bear, her fingers hovering over the mottled, soft fur.

Darling.

“What’s wrong with Aunt Kara?”

“I don’t know, honey, but we’ll figure it out.”

“She’s supposed to be happy… Mum said Aunt Lena saved the day.”

“I know.” Alex reached out and pulled the young girl into her arms trying to provide her comfort and strength.

BANG!

At the loud sound, Alex and Ruby released each other and spun to see the bedroom door slamming open and Kara racing through it at top speed. Kara’s eyes were wide, her hair frazzled, she was panting heavily, trembling with energy and Ruby’s beloved teddy bear was dangling by her side in a white-knuckled grip. Alex and Ruby, though, noticed none of this, all they saw was the smile on her face.

It was the brightest smile Alex had ever seen not just on her sister’s face, but ever. Her smile seemed impossibly wide and lit up the entire room better than the lights overhead.

“Kara?” Alex inquired gently, her concern not abating even slightly despite the expression of elation on Kara’s face.

“I REMEMBER!” Kara shouted joyfully at the top of her lungs, beginning to dance around the living room without a care in the world, the teddy bear being used as stand-in for a dancing partner.

“Remember what?” Alex demanded, raising an eyebrow in an unplanned synchronisation with Ruby who was equal parts giddy at her aunt’s sudden joy and disturbed.

Kara’s ungraceful dance moves came to a sudden stop as she chose instead to bound over to her family and jump up and down with pure delight.

“That I’m in love with Lena Luthor.”

Chapter Text

“See, see! This stain was made by Lena, we met for the first time whilst she was trying to clean it up!” Kara cooed, kneeling by the couch to stroke the off-colour patch on her sofa. “I swear she fell asleep on this couch every other night. Gosh, she always looked so peaceful and adorable... but she snored louder than a jackhammer.”

“Kara?”

“Oooh, oooh!” Kara squealed jumping to her feet and rushing over to pick up three green rocks placed by the window. “This is kryptonite! Megan guilt-tripped Lena into buying them after the drunk priest, fake ghostbusters and candle wielding death-eaters failed to get rid of me.” Kara lovingly placed the stones on the windowsill to make them luminescent in the early evening light when her eyes suddenly alighted on something else.

“Ghostbusters, death-eaters? Kara? What on earth-”

“Lena taught me how to make pancakes here!” Kara ran past the gobsmacked figures in the middle of her apartment and twirled around the kitchen reliving that blissful morning she had spent with Lena.

“I knew those were Aunt Lena’s pancakes!” Ruby exclaimed, emphasising her victory by slapping her fist into an open palm.

“Lena would work at the table over here, whilst I sang the pokemon theme tune to distract her!” Kara yelled bounding over to the table and momentarily falling into the chair that she had designated as Lena’s over their time together.

“Kara?!” Alex called out, trying to yet again grab her sister’s attention to little effect as Kara sprinted by her and rushed into the bedroom.

“She built shelves for me!” Kara shouted out proudly from the bedroom whilst she thundered around the room seeking out every single trace of Lena’s presence, every little moment and momento that marked out their love story.

“KARA!”

Kara reappeared in the doorway, the teddy bear that she had tucked under her arm now looking fraught and weathered after it’s overly vigorous tour of the apartment. Alex didn’t think it was possible but Kara looked even happier than she had done the first time she had exited the bedroom cheering, ‘I remember’, at the top of her lungs. Kara’s blue eyes, that had never looked so vibrant and alive with colour, locked onto Alex and before the federal agent had a chance to react she was engulfed in the tightest hug imaginable.

“Alex!” Kara more or less shouted into her sister’s ear. “I know what I was missing! It was Lena! All this time it was Lena!” With that declaration, Kara hefted Alex into the air and spun on the spot not even remotely impeded by her sister’s weight.

“KARA!!!!” Alex screamed, causing Kara to flinch and drop her too quickly.

Alex stumbled when her feet hit the ground but she righted herself and prevented an undignified descent to the wooden floor. Alex breathed deeply trying to regain some air after her outburst, Kara fidgeted wide-eyed and nervous in front of her whilst Ruby looked between the two sisters with a look of complete perplexity.

“I have so many questions!” Alex finally settled on stating before following it up with some of the questions at the forefront of her mind, “You’re in love with Lena?” Kara nodded vigorously, “Haven’t you two only met once, at the wedding?”

“Well, twice in a physical sense.” Kara corrected with a light, encouraging smile.

“A physical-...?!” Alex’s jaw dropped and she quickly moved to cover Ruby’s ears with her hands as she reprimanded her sister. “Ruby is right there and I can’t believe you would sleep with someone after only knowing them for a couple of hours!”

Kara blushed a bright red with embarrassment as she spluttered, “No! I didn’t- We haven’t-.. I meant physical in that we could touch each other!” Alex raised an eyebrow in disbelief causing Kara to shrink in on herself and to internally beg for her previous invisibility and muteness to return. “CORPOREAL! I meant corporeal! We’ve met twice when I’ve actually been corporeal!”

Alex slowly removed her hands from covering Ruby’s ears, however, her raised eyebrow did not descend, “Corporeal?” A worryingly large crease appeared on Kara’s forehead causing Alex and Ruby to share a truly terrified look. The appearance of the wrinkle on the blonde’s face was the ultimate early warning system of an incoming epically long and almost incomprehensible rambly speech that was about to be thrown at them at high velocity.

“Okay, so you know how I was in a coma?” Kara began excitedly, bouncing up and down on the spot.

“Yes.” Alex and Ruby both said tersely.

“Well, I wasn’t quite in a coma.”

Alex held up a hand, her face twisting with anger, “Are you telling me you were faking?!”

“No!” Kara shook her head and hands, doing a spot-on impression of a raggedy doll, to dismiss her sister’s fury, “Let me explain! Please! I know this is going to be a lot to take in but I’m begging you… please, give me a chance to tell the whole story.”

Alex groaned, and glared at the ceiling to avoid being confronted with the pout and puppy dog eyes that were inevitably being thrown at her. She carefully crossed her arms over her chest and lowered her gaze back to her sister.  “Alright, we’re listening.”

“So... you want me to believe that Ruby’s teddy bear is magic and that it turned you into a... ghost?”

“Lena and I settled on disassociated being as opposed to ghost… you know since I wasn’t actually dead and all…” Kara trailed off, anxiously watching the gears grind painfully in her sister’s mind as she attempted to comprehend the sheer lunacy Kara had just unleashed.

“Riiight…”, Alex dragged out the word uncertain how she should respond to Kara’s correction, she decided to move past it and focus on trying to rationalise the amount of ludicrous information she had been dumped with, “The teddy bear… whilst in your coma sent your soul to keep Lena company.” Alex stated all this information in a monotone and with the same level of emotion she would when briefing her fellow agents on a case. “The main goal being to reunite Lena and Ruby together... to ensure Lena kept a promise she made to Ruby years ago. You got them to reunite-”

“That’s why Aunt Lena was always hanging around your room!” Ruby squealed, experiencing her own eureka moment. “I thought it was fate but it was you all along!” Ruby stared up at her aunt, positively star-struck, her young face beaming with gratitude and amazement at what Kara had accomplished.

“Yep.” Kara popped out the word smugly basking in the hero-worship of her niece and more importantly the fact that Ruby obviously believed her. Kara held out a hand which Ruby promptly high-fived.

“Then you woke up from the coma... but with absolutely no memory of your soul’s adventure.” Alex continued to drone out, not even remotely put-off by the exuberance of the other two.

“Uhuh.” Kara hummed, feeling that Alex was seeking regular confirmation of what she repeated back.

“Months pass, and during that time, you feel heartbroken.” Kara smiled sadly at that but nodded regardless; the pain had disappeared the moment she got her memories back but she could still feel a dull ache when she thought back over that time. “Eventually, though, you come into contact with the bear again and suddenly you remember this wild experience.” Alex finished her rounding up of events, but Kara’s heart sank at Alex’s choice of words and the way she shook her head.

“Hey, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten there on my own. The Darling thing really struck a nerve. The bear just sped things up.” Kara weakly defended herself, more to postpone the inevitable moment when her sister would say she was crazy or even worse that she didn’t trust her nor have her back on this.

“And now you’re in love with Lena? And you intend to... what?” Alex began with a sigh, rubbing her face with her hand as she tried to help Kara see how illogical and stalkerish her spontaneous infatuation sounded. “Run after her, stop her going on holiday-”

“To Italy.” Ruby tacked on, in an attempt to feel more involved in the conversation.

Alex continued, merely pausing to give Ruby’s shoulder a squeeze to acknowledge her addition and presence, “-and proclaim your love.?

“See? You get it.” Kara let out a forcibly loud and almost hysterical laugh to move the conversation forward, “It’s pretty straightforward really.”

Alex exhaled deeply, her arms finally unfurling from their crossed position over her chest and stepping forward to lightly pull the teddy bear out of Kara’s hand dangling by her side and place it on the dining table nearby. With both of Kara’s hands now free, Alex could grip and comfortingly squeeze them as she moved into her personal space. Alex’s mouth opened, and she took a sharp breath in. Kara knew what was coming next and she couldn’t bear it.

Not now.

Not when she needed Alex on her side, like she’d been Kara’s entire life. This was a big moment, a life-changing moment and Kara simply needed her sister. She needed Alex to believe her and stand by her like she’d done the moment they had become sisters.

“Please, believe me.” Kara whispered, her voice breaking and cracking. Alex pursed her lips and stared into her sister’s blue eyes that were open, revealing how she was genuinely pleading with her. Begging for her support. “I’m not messing with you. I swear I am telling you the truth.” Kara paused here to allow Alex to fully scrutinise the sincerity of her words and see the all-consuming fear that was settling and growing below the surface the second she realised how Lena must have suffered over the months they were apart. “And right now the love of my life is getting on a plane and flying away from me, thinking that I stopped loving her or even worse that I never loved her in the first place.” Kara hadn’t even been aware that she had started to cry until Alex let go of her hands and cupped her face instead, her sister’s thumbs tenderly wiping away the heavy drops rolling down over her cheekbones. “I need my big sister to help me with this.”

Alex gently guided Kara’s head forwards and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. Kara’s eyes slipped closed at the affectionate action that she now knew to be how Alex had greeted, and bid farewell to, her everyday she was in a coma.

“Okay. Whatever you need.” Alex murmured into golden hair, causing Kara’s eyes to snap open and her to pull back only to find Alex giving her a determined nod and a light smile.

“What? Just like that?” Kara spluttered in total disbelief.

“Yes.” Alex said simply. “You’re my sister, I made you a promise and even if I hadn’t... I’ve always got your back.” Kara’s face lit up as Alex gave her a fond smile, shrugged helplessly and rolled her eyes, “And, anyway... if you’re going to get yourself committed then I am going to be right there sharing a padded cell with you.” Kara yanked her sister into another hug, an action which Alex huffed at trying to regain her cool, steely agent persona, however she gave herself away by how tightly she hugged Kara in return.

Ruby who had been watching the two sisters, smiled widely at the affection and support they were showing to each other. As the hug dragged on, Ruby’s eyes shifted to the teddy bear sat on the edge of the table and she was filled with pride at how her favourite toy had been instrumental in bringing her aunts together. Ruby’s fingers twitched to pull the bear into a hug and she instantly moved round the hugging sisters to make a grab for the teddy, murmuring under her breath, “I always knew my bear was magic.”

“Don’t touch the bear!” Alex shouted, having spotted Ruby moving to pick up the toy she immediately allowed her combat training to take over. She pushed Kara aside to free up room to run in front of the young girl and pull out the gun she kept clipped in the holster tucked under her leather jacket and aim at the stuffed toy.

Kara sighed in exasperation as Ruby stared up at Alex in half-awe and half embarrassment, “Alex, I really don’t think the gun is necessary.” Kara mumbled walking up to her sister and laying a hand on her forearm to gently push the gun aimed right between the black bead eyes of the immobile teddy bear down to the ground.

Alex turned on her sister with a shocked and angry expression, “You wanted me to believe? I believe! Therefore, I won’t let my daughter be exposed to dangerous magic which has the power to manipulate souls to fulfill promises.” Alex yelled, waving her hands wildly around which was especially alarming considering she was still holding her gun.  

Kara opened her mouth to try and placate her sister but was prevented from doing so by, “Daughter?” Ruby who was stood off to one side, asked in a whisper.

Alex rapidly re-holstered her gun and dropped to her knees in front of the girl, her mouth opening and closing uncertainly before she ducked her gaze to floor and said quietly, “Uhh… yeah. If that’s okay?”

Ruby remained silent for a long moment, eventually Alex lifted her eyes up worried she had upset the child she had come to think of as her own. As soon as Alex made eye contact her arms were suddenly full as Ruby rushed at her, wrapping her own arms around Alex’s neck and finally answering with a, “Better than okay.”

Kara cheered and clapped her hands loudly in the background, cooing over the moment between the newly accepted mother and daughter. Kara backed away and lingered waiting for the two to break apart.

A minute passed.

Another minute passed.

Kara began to get antsy. Her foot tapping out an erratic and irritating pattern to get the two of them moving.

Another minute passed.

“Come on. Come on.” Kara began to mutter under her breath, just loud enough for Alex and Ruby to hear. Her finger began to drum against the face of her watch in a pointed fashion.

Another minute passed.

Kara sneaked forward and bent down so her mouth was right next to the Arias-Danvers’ girls’ ears, “Guys, I appreciate that this is a beautiful moment and all... but we are under some significant time constraints.”

Alex spun her head and gave Kara a harsh glare as she snarked back, refusing to give up hugging her daughter, “She’s just going on holiday, she’ll be back in a few weeks.”

Kara’s eye twitched, her nostrils flared and her lips pursed, “A few weeks is all the time Italian Eve would need to make Lena fall in love with her. I can’t compete with an Italian Eve, Alex!” Alex and Ruby both jerked back at the wild-eyed look and the sudden increase in volume from the blonde, “Italian Eve can speak Italian and cook. Lena loves cooking! We need to get to her before Italian Eve gets a chance and you should know if we don’t…” Kara leaned forward and stared right into Alex’s eyes with a cold, hard expression which revealed how serious she really was, “I’ll hold you personally responsible. No one else. Just you.” Kara finished her threat with a nod, bring two fingers up to her own eyes then flipping them around to point at her sister.

“Who’s Eve?” Alex asked out of the side of her mouth to the girl who was looking between the two sisters as if she was at a tennis match. Ruby shook her head and merely shrugged in response. Alex gave Ruby one final squeeze and kiss on the forehead before getting to her feet and asking Kara, “What’s the plan?

“You phone your wife to get the details about Lena’s flight.” Kara ordered pointing at Alex’s chest with authority before turning to her niece and asking much more kindly, “And can you try phoning Lena, directly, please sweetie?”

“No answer, she’s probably fast asleep.”

“Aunt Lena isn’t picking up either. Mum told her to turn off her phone so she didn’t get dragged into staying to do more work.”

Kara’s shoulders slumped and she bit her bottom lip in desperation. There were at least three airports that Lena could be travelling from but even if they knew which one that still didn’t tell them her actual flight. “Do either of you at least know which airport or flight she’s getting?” Kara pleaded, wringing her hands together as she did so.

Alex and Ruby both shook their heads dismally causing Kara, stood by the kitchen counter, to fall forwards and lightly bang her head against the marble. Kara’s mind whirled and spun trying to think of anything they could do to find out Lena’s flight, anyone they could-

Kara bolted upright, barely resisting the urge to slap her forehead in her near stupidity. “Right.” Kara declared, running to gather up her bag, ensuring it her had her purse and passport inside, then striding to the front door and flinging it open.

“Where are you going?” Alex called out curiously, quickly putting on a burst of speed to keep up with the long strides of her sister.

“To someone who might have some answers!” Kara huffed as she stormed down the corridor and came to an abrupt halt a few doors down. “WINN!” Kara yelled, banging loudly against the wooden door at the same time. “WINN!” Kara continued to shout for another minute or so, before accepting that no one was coming to answer the door. “Dammit! Lena just had to help you get a social life.” Kara muttered bitterly, kicking viciously at Winn’s apartment door as if it had personally offended her.

“There are 12 flights out to Italy in the next couple of hours…” Alex said from behind Kara, having had the forethought to begin looking up flights to give them a starting point.

Kara appreciated that Alex was trying to find a practical way to help but all Kara could think of was Lena flying away on a plane, and spending her time away purposefully getting over Kara... falling out of love with her. “Grr!” Kara growled, pushing decisively off the door and walking back up the corridor, Alex and Ruby followed along in her wake and expecting her to return to the apartment so they could start properly figuring out which flight to chase after when instead she came to a stop outside another neighbour’s door. “Mary! Mary, please be in!” Kara called, banging on the door whilst Alex and Ruby stood off to one side scrolling through their phones for flight information.

Less than a minute later the door was being pulled open to reveal a wizened old woman who instantly lit up at the sight of one of her favourite neighbours. “Hello, dear. What’s all the hullabaloo about?” Mary inquired peering up at Kara with an encouraging and welcoming smile, as if Kara had only politely knocked at her door rather than tried to bang it down.

Kara let out a thankful sigh of relief, deciding to get straight to the point knowing how long Mary could keep a conversation going otherwise. “Do you know which flight Lena is on?”

Mary blinked in confusion and repeated in question, “Lena?”

“Xena. I meant Xena.” Kara corrected making Alex and Ruby look at her sharply and tilt their heads in the same direction at her.

Mary’s open gaze became closed off and her expression suspicious, “Why do you want to know?”

“Uhh…” Kara fumbled to think up a good enough reason that could explain why she needed to know without sounding like a deranged stalker.

“Well, dear?” Mary prompted, her tone much softer upon seeing the panic and sadness building within Kara.

Kara sighed heavily, muttering a minor prayer as she decided to be honest to the woman who was slowly becoming a surrogate mother to Lena. “Because I’m in love with her. And I can’t bear the thought of her not knowing that for a second longer.” Kara stated with conviction. “So, please… do you know which flight she’s on?”

Mary raised an eyebrow in surprise, her mouth twisting into a light frown of deep thought as she reached out to kindly pat Kara’s forearm, “Oh no. I’m sorry dear. She did tell me but I can’t remember the details.” Mary answered honestly giving the blonde’s arm a light squeeze.

Kara’s heart plummeted, and her head dropped down in dismay,“Oh, that’s-” Kara whispered despondently, only to be stopped by Mary turning in the doorway to yell over her shoulder.

“Winn! Jess!” Kara lifted her head, as she heard chairs squeak as they were pushed back from a table, “Dears, can you come out here?!” Mary turned back and gave Kara a reassuring wink that had the blonde shooting her a grateful smile.

“Yes, Mary?”

“Is everything okay?” Two voices, male and female called out almost immediately, obviously concerned about the older woman. A second later, Wiinn, dressed smartly in an ironed light blue shirt and cobalt tie, appeared in the corridor holding hands with Jess, equally dressed up in a simple light green dress, both of them wearing matching inquisitive expressions. The young couple’s eyes shifted from Mary to Kara in curiosity.

Mary let go of Kara’s arm as she turned to face the the pair. “This young girl appears to be in love with our Xena and would very much appreciate knowing which plane she should chase after in order to tell her.” Mary said bluntly, speaking like she was merely commenting on the weather and wished to know tomorrow’s forecast. “Is that about right, dear?” Mary asked, throwing Kara a glance over her shoulder.

Kara’s jaw dropped open at how easily and willingly Mary had thrown it all out there, getting straight to the point for the first time out of their interactions. Kara nodded vigorously and spluttered out, “Err… Yes, thank you.”

“You’re in love with Lena?” Jess repeated deciding to take control of the conversation since Winn seemed to have lost the ability to speak as he stared at Kara blankly.

“Have been for a while now, I just… forgot along the way…” Kara murmured, fidgeting with her glasses, unable to meet Jess’ now penetrating and heavily scrutinising stare.

“Wait a second…”, Kara instantly knew then that she was in trouble due to the truly terrifying transformation Lena’s beloved secretary underwent the second Kara had finished speaking. Jess raised a hand into the air, palm aggressively facing towards Kara, lifted an eyebrow, flared her nostrils and took a purposeful step forwards. The words that came next were spoken deathly quiet and sent a chill of dread down Kara’s spine, “Are you the girl that broke her heart four months ago?”

“Br-broke her heart? I broke her heart.” Kara stuttered, experiencing an almost unbearable level of physical pain at the idea that she had hurt Lena so considerably that she didn’t even register that her admittance of guilt unleashed a roar of fury from the small woman down the corridor.

“YOU BI-” Jess shouted, making to dive forward and tackle Kara. Kara jumped back in fright, as Alex stepped in front of her to be a shield whilst Winn wrapped an arm around Jess’ waist to hold her back.

“Woah!” Winn groaned out as he struggled to restrain his girlfriend who was swinging her fists wildly.

“Let me at her!! I can take her!! Let me go, Winn!”

Ruby stepped into the doorway between the two groups of people, a harsh frown on her face and her fists clenched tightly at her sides. “My aunt Kara would never hurt aunt Lena! Ever!”

“Yeah, what my daughter said!” Alex piped in, placing a hand on Ruby’s shoulder in support.

“I would have to agree with them.” Mary also chipped in from where she had shrunk into the wall to give Jess room for her charge if needed. “I can’t imagine Kara having a malicious bone in her body.”

“Ruby, everyone…”, Kara cut in with a despondent sigh, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do… but I obviously did hurt Lena…”, Mary’s brow furrowed and Kara quickly corrected herself, shooting the old woman a quick smile, “err… Xena.” Kara shook her head and stared at the floor.

Once she had gotten over the giddiness of remembering her love for Lena, Kara’s mind had spiralled as she imagined how Lena must have suffered when Kara woke up with absolutely no memory of their time together. Yes, Kara had suffered but she had been able to push down the pain, since she didn’t know where it came from, she wasn’t haunted by the memories, she didn’t know what she was missing… Lena? Lena had to bear the weight of knowledge all on her own. Lena knew exactly what she had lost and would be forced to face the reminder of it everytime she interacted with Ruby or Sam. Even worse than that though, and this particular realisation made Kara feel physically sick, Lena would have struggled with believing that any of it had been real in the first place. Lena would have had to face her worst fear of insanity, a fear she had fought to overcome to help Kara, and when Kara had woken up no memory, Lena lost the only person who reassure her that mind was intact and not fractured or broken.

Kara had left Lena living in her own worst nightmare for months.

“Not intentionally. Never intentionally. But she got hurt and all I want is the chance to make up for it. The chance to make sure it never happens again.”

A still quietness fell on the people occupying the small space, all staring intently at a truly defeated and broken looking Kara.

“Flight 5A0798. She’s flying from South National Airport on the nine fifteen to Florence.” Kara’s head snapped up sharply, she quickly wiped at her misting up eyes to give her a clear line of sight at Jess who had spoken and was staring at Kara with a soft expression.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Kara rushed forward and hugged both Winn and Jess much to their surprise.

“Just remember… hurt her again and not even Winn will be able to hold me back.” Jess whispered with a disarmingly innocent tone into Kara’s ear.

Kara pulled away and gestured with a thumb over her shoulder at Mary, “To be honest… I’m more afraid of what Mary might do to me…”

“Clever girl.” Mary muttered coolly with a terrifying smirk before grabbing Kara’s forearm and dragging her back out the door with the terse command, “Now you better get a move on and get the girl.”

“I will do, thanks.” Kara called back, grabbing her sister and niece by the wrists and dragging them down the hallway. Mary, Jess and Winn poked their heads through the doorway to watch the three figures begin to sprint away, all of them shaking their heads as they heard the blonde yell back, “And… uh… I’m really looking forward to getting to know all of you properly.”

“Hi, Lorraine.” Kara greeted with a charming smile after glancing at the rotund woman’s badge clipped to her red jacket. “I need a ticket for the nine fifteen flight to Tuscany.” Kara requested sweetly upon reaching the front of the queue, Alex and Ruby buzzing excitedly by her side.

Alex, using the sirens and lights built into her car drove them all to the airport breaking every speeding limit along the way, Ruby squealing and cheering excitedly in the backseat as Kara tried to not throw up at every sharp turn. Upon arriving they located Lena’s flight on the departure’s board and discovered that they would begin boarding shortly. Alex’s made up attempt to bluff their way through security using her badge failed spectacularly, hence why they were now forced to queue to buy a ticket.

“Alright, one minute.” Lorraine said with a bored voice, her expression blank and uncaring, Kara’s smile faltered at the unmoved reaction of the desk attendant to her sunny demeanour.

“Please, hurry.”Kara begged sweetly, her fingers dancing over the counter as she leaned forward to peer at the computer screen. Despite Kara’s plea and puppy dog eyes Lorraine continued to type painfully slowly and with absolutely no sense of urgency.

After a long pause, Lorraine stopped typing and flicked her gaze over to the jittery blonde. “There are only business class tickets left.” She stated evenly.

“Sure, whatever.” Kara quickly agreed, opening her purse ready to pay as fast as possible.

“Alright that’ll be…”

Megan sighed in exhaustion, taking another grateful gulp of the to go cup of coffee she had just bought, moving through the hustle and bustle of the airport with ease by throwing a glare at anyone who moved into her path. Megan stared down at her phone sending off a text to Sam to confirm she had successfully dropped Lena off at the airport and prevented her from returning to work with some inane excuse about fine-tuning this or that project. Megan shook her head dismally knowing how she would miss her workaholic friend during her time away but accepting the distance and time away from the city would do Lena a world of good.

“HOW MUCH?!” The yell broke Megan out of her reverie with a jolt and had her shooting a glance over at the source.

“Kara?” Megan muttered in confusion under her breath, her jaw dropping and her feet instantly starting to head in a different direction to the nearby exit.

“Okay, how about two credit cards…” Megan drifted closer, watching from the sidelines as Kara pulled out a second credit card and handed it over. The woman behind the desk swiped the piece of plastic, paused for a moment and then gave Kara a shake of her head causing the reporter to slump forwards and let out a long groan of frustration.

“Here. Use mine as well.” Alex, stood by her side, handed over her own card with a fond, encouraging smile causing Ruby to cuddle into the agent’s side, proud of her mother’s kindness.

“Alex…” Kara began, trying to lightly push back Alex’s offer.

“Don’t worry about it, consider it a future wedding present…” Alex pushed away Kara’s hand and gave Lorraine the card, “You better marry the girl after this.” Alex muttered side-eyeing her sister with a glint in her eye.

“I plan to.” Kara stated deadly serious.

Alex raised an eyebrow in surprise at how genuine Kara was, her mouth opening to make a comment when Lorraine cut in with a light shake of her and a cold, “Still not enough.”

“YOU’RE KILLING ME, LORRAINE!” Kara cried out when Lorraine merely shrugged without a care.

Megan rolled her eyes deciding to finally make her presence on the sidelines known, “Problems?”

“Megan. Wha-” Kara spun away from the counter to stare wide-eyed at the fake-mystic’s seemingly supernatural appearance out of nowhere.

“Dropping Lena off at the airport...because I’ve become the kind of person that does that now.” Megan mumbled in answer to the not fully voiced question with what, she would be disappointed to know, sounded like clearly forced bitterness at her new situation.

“Oh, that’s nice…,” Kara said unsure how to respond to that when, all of a sudden, her face twisted into an insulted expression as she pointed a finger at Megan’s chest in accusation, “And by the way I haven’t forgiven you for flipping me the bird the first time we met.”

Megan’s cool composure dropped away in a flash. Her arms that were crossed over her chest dropped heavily down to her sides and her face became gobsmacked,“Y-y- you remember?” Megan stuttered out, much to her own shock as she was pretty sure she’d never stuttered before in her life.

“Yep.” Kara answered with a pop.

“TOOK YOU BLOODY LONG ENOUGH!!”

Kara winced apologetically, “Sorry.”

Megan shook her head and took a deep breath, stepping forward and upto the counter, “Please tell me you’re here for Lena.” Megan begged, letting her concern for her close friend bleed through.

“Yes.” Kara affirmed trying to convince Megan with a single word, “I’m trying to buy a ticket onto her plane.”

“And failing.” Lorraine added under her breath.

“REALLY LORRAINE!” Kara spun back to the attendant. “I thought we were becoming friends.” Kara muttered with a pout that had Lorraine ducking her head in shame.

“Use my card as well.” Megan ordered, handing over her card to join the steadily growing pile of worthless pieces of plastic.

“I can’t let you do that.” Kara interjected, her brow furrowing.

“But you can let me?” Alex huffed from the side having watched the entire interaction and deciding the numerous questions that she had come up with during the encounter could wait until a less time sensitive occasion.

“You’re my sister, you don’t really get a choice.” Kara shot back with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Yeah, well… I’m doing it.” Megan seized the opportunity provided by the sibling bickering to push Kara out of the way and forcefully hand over her card to Lorraine. “It seems I’ve also become someone who wants my friends to be happy…” Megan muttered again in a completely unbelievable tone of bitterness. “And Lena is a billionaire, she’ll pay me back tenfold if it means being reunited with you.” Megan added with a knowing smirk and shrug which had Kara blushing.

“Thanks, Megan.” Kara moved to sweep Megan into a hug but was forcibly prevented from doing so by a palm on her forehead keeping her away.

“I still haven’t become someone who hugs…” Megan explained, removing her hand from Kara’s forehead but giving her a glare to keep her from attempting contact again.

“Right, sorry.” The blonde apologised, instinctively fidgeting with her glasses.

“Here’s your ticket….” Lorraine held out the boarding pass which Kara quickly grabbed and pulled protectively to her chest. “And uh…” Lorraine said with a light shake of the head and a quiet voice, “I made sure you got the seat next to a Miss. Luthor.”

“Aww, Lorraine. We were becoming friends.” Kara cheered whilst she was yanked away from the counter and pushed into a sprint by her family who yelled at her to get a move on.

Lena stared out the small oval window of the airplane, watching the various vehicles and workers moving around to load up the array of suitcases into the cargo hold, whilst her fingers played with the tagged and marked up guide book that her and her friends had looked through to plan out her trip a few nights ago. Lena exhaled deeply and tried to push down the fear in her chest.

Lena hated flying.

She knew it was one of the safest ways to travel and her technical knowledge of how planes work should have reassured her… but air travel still scared her. She knew from the various therapists that she had visited over the years that her aversion stemmed from how she only ever associated flying with journeying to traumatic events. Her first ever flight had been to a boarding school across the country when her mother had gotten sick of her being around. The subsequent flight after that one involved arriving at the airport, expecting her dear brother to be there to pick her up, only to find a brooding bodyguard waiting. That had been when she had first started to realise her brother was changing, becoming darker and more cruel. Standing alone in the airport was the first time she felt truly alone, and that feeling had never really left her since. Other trips included flying to her father’s funeral. Flying to her brother’s funeral. Flying away from Metropolis and leaving behind the two people that were like family to her. And now she was flying away from the only person who had ever owned her heart so completely.

The therapist’s recommendation, obviously, had been to go on holiday. To get on a plane and fly towards something positive and joyful. Lena had, obviously, ignored that good piece of advice and was now stuck on the precipice of a panic attack. Lena rubbed her forehead before placing the eye-mask provided with her business class seat onto her face and burrowing down into her reclining chair. She hoped to try and sleep through the take-off despite knowing it was going to be impossible for her to do so,  but Lena was stubborn to a fault and was determined to try regardless.

Her fingers wrapped tightly around the arm-rests, grateful that the seat beside her was empty so she could selfishly grip the leather without having to share. Lena forced out stuttering breaths, only half taking in the safety announcement and then forcibly trying to block out the sound of the growing roar of the engines.

Lena’s lips moved to inaudibly repeat a prayer over and over again.

The sounds of the engines grew louder.

Lena tried to get her mind to focus on anything other than the velocity her body was experiencing as the airplane gathered speed.

A shudder ran through the plane causing Lena to let out a yelp.

An image of Kara sprung to the forefront of her mind out of nowhere as a warm tingle spread through her body. Bright, beautiful, twinkling eyed Kara. Kara singing loudly and out of tune. Kara getting overly competitive during board games. Kara speaking passionately and honestly about love in her bridesmaid dress up on the stage. Kara strong and fervent, rushing to defend CatCo and everything it stood for.

The sounds of the engine disappeared into the background.

It was only then Lena became aware of a reassuring weight and warmth on top of her hand. Someone had placed their hand over Lena’s and was running their thumb comfortingly over her knuckles, Lena hadn’t even realised that her muscles had unclenched and her hand had gone pliant to the attention it was receiving. Shocks and bolts of electricity raced from the point of contact straight to her heart causing its pace to escalate radically.

Slowly, with her free hand, Lena reached up and lifted the eye mask up off her head and turned to look at who was occupying the seat next to hers.

“Kara?” Lena squeaked out in a less dignified manner than she had intended.

Kara raised an eyebrow at the high pitched tone and smirked with pleasure at the effect her surprise presence had on the normally unflappable CEO. The satisfied smirk and confidence of the blonde with an amused twinkle in her blue eyes gave Lena heart palpitations. “Fancy seeing you here.” Kara teased, her thumb still stroking over Lena’s knuckles in what could only be described as a loving manner.

“I- You- I- WHAT?” Lena finally exclaimed, providing Lena with her favourite sound: Kara chuckling.

“You know for someone with one of the highest IQs in the country, you seem to be struggling with forming a coherent question.” Kara responded, shifting around in her seat to fully face Lena and tuck one leg up underneath herself.

Lena’s brow furrowed and she pursed her lips as her memory stirred at Kara’s carefully selected words. Lena shook her head, pushing down the cruel flicker of hope, and practiced the question in her mind before asking in what she hoped was a neutral tone. “What are you doing here?”

Kara’s fingers stilled and Lena keenly felt the loss of the comforting movement until she noticed Kara’s other hand haltingly lift up and hover next to her cheek. Lena barely resisted the urge to lean into the warmth she could feel radiating from Kara’s palm towards her skin.

Kara swallowed thickly, and Lena noticed the appearance of the tell-tale forehead crease she adored. “You’re here.”

It took a long moment for Lena to realise that not only had Kara spoken but that she had also finished speaking after only two words; for once the forehead crease did not preempt a rambling speech. “Huh?” Lena eloquently said.

Kara smiled sweetly, her blue eyes focusing on her hand and how it looked like it was touching Lena’s cheek but was still an inch off. “You’re here.” Kara repeated.

“Yeah… still not following…”, Lena admitted weakly.

“You asked what am I doing here…”, Kara explained slowly, “And my answer is that you’re here.”

Lena licked her dried out lips, caused by the recycled airplane air, and tried to ignore the way Kara’s gaze shifted to track the movement due to how it further fogged up her already misted over mind. “Right… but why does me being here mean that you’re here…?” Lena winced at the fumbled question but kept her eyes locked on Kara’s which had in turn gone hard and set with determination.

It was then that Kara’s hand moved to cross that last slither of distance and cup Lena’s face; Lena’s eyes slid shut in response without hesitation as that elusive feeling of home that had been absent for months came rushing back. “Because I love you.”

Lena’s heart soared and her chest expanded to twice it’s normal size with the level of emotions and questions trying to get out. Her eyelids slipped open to reveal inquisitive and hopeful green eyes to blue eyes that were shining with love back at her. Lena’s jaw began to move to form words, this was stopped, however, as Kara’s hand slid down from her cheek to her jaw to still the movement, her thumb brushing over Lena’s red lips.

“Before you ask… Yes. Yes, I remember.” Lena’s eyes went wide and she felt her body begin to flinch backwards in shock, the memory of the last time Kara had said those words replaying cruelly, but Kara’s touch provided enough security for her to stay in one place. “I remember you buying a Ouija board and drunkenly summoning me. I remember priests, ghostbusters, death eaters and kryptonite. I remember cookies to bribe the neighbours, force feeding you chinese food and how my proudest work achievement to date is being your favourite writer. I remember that a week away from you is more than I can bear and that I regret never getting the chance to dance with you in your evil lair before being submerged in water. I remember board games, watching you fall asleep under the stars and making the perfect pancakes in the morning. I remember you giving me the confidence to ask for what want I wanted and you never giving up on me, not for a single moment.” Kara leant forward and carefully placed her forehead against Lena’s, their noses brushing against one another, “I remember falling in love with you... and I am so sorry that-”

Kara’s apology was cut short when Lena tilted her head to one side and moved forward to capture Kara’s lips with her own. Kara’s collected and composed attitude went straight out the window in a heartbeat as Lena’s lips explored her own with light brushes and the occasional gentle tug that would draw an embarrassing whine or moan from Kara and a smug smile from Lena.

Eventually, Lena tried to pull back with the intent of returning Kara’s previous heartfelt sentiment but it turned out Kara was completely against any activity that didn’t involve kissing Lena. Both of Kara’s hands were now placed on either side of Lena’s face, holding her tenderly in place to keep their lips pressed together for as long as their air supply allowed.

“Kara-”, Lena whispered out between kisses, “I”, kiss, “love”, kiss, “you”, kiss, “too.”

Kara chuckled lightly, Lena’s lips vibrating pleasantly in response due to being pressed to Kara’s. The blonde pulled back revealing the most radiant smile on her face to date, and Lena had to take a moment to absorb the extraordinary amount of love for her shining out of those blue eyes. No one had ever looked at her with that level of affection and it was almost too much for Lena who was so completely full of love and happiness.

Kara’s laughter slowly died away, “It’s a good thing you love me because… uhh…”, Kara winced and ducked her head awkwardly, “I have no money, no clothes and no way to get back…” Kara trailed off, squinting adorably up at Lena who fought to hold off her own giggles.

“No clothes, huh?” Lena coyly asked with a wink that had Kara burning a bright red, an effect Lena planned to cause as much as possible for as long as Kara let her. Lena darted forward to give Kara another quick kiss which had the side-effect of the red blush spreading to the tips of Kara’s ears. “Is there any chance-”, Lena stopped herself from asking the question she desperately wished to as her vulnerability and fear of rejection came back warning her not to ruin this perfect moment in any way.

“Anything.” Kara answered without pause, not needing to hear the incomplete question. Lena shook her head to dismiss her half-made request but Kara’s hands prevented the action and forced Lena to meet her eye. “Anything for you.”

Lena let out a stuttering breath, gathered her courage and asked, “Is there any chance you don’t head back to National City immediately? Is there any chance you… stay with me instead?”

Kara’s brow had been furrowed and her mouth had been set into a hard line as she concentrated on listening to Lena’s request, fully prepared for it to be difficult to accomplish. However, the second she realised what Lena was asking for, Kara’s brow cleared of all lines and the frown shifted and smoothed out into the softest of smiles. “Stay with you and… see Italy.” Kara stated to ensure she had fully understood.

Lena, whose hands were placed on either side of Kara’s waist squeezed lightly to remind herself yet again that the Kara in front of her was real and solid. That this wasn’t all a dream. That she was definitely awake and Kara was definitely sat next to her with kiss swollen lips, slightly askew glasses from where Lena had nudged them with her nose, and blonde hair falling loose from a ponytail begging for Lena to run her fingers through the locks.

This was real.

Kara was real.

And Kara loved her.

And Lena?

Lena had absolutely no intention of letting Kara go ever again, no matter what happened.

“Yes.” Lena affirmed, finally accepting and embracing the miracle the universe had given back to her. “What do you think?”

“I think…”, Kara whispered ponderously as if deep in thought as she leaned forward to put their foreheads together once more and for them to share the same breath, “I would do anything… as long as it’s with you.”