Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

It has been a couple of hectic weeks for Lena. Of course she's no stranger to busy weeks, being the CEO of one of the most powerful corporations in the world, and briefly also the CEO of one of the most important media companies of the country. Not to mention all the extracurricular activities she finds herself involved in. The last year alone has been a long road to recovery after her brother's final attempt at world domination. The damage he had caused then was, admittedly, monumental. But in the end they have defeated him, for good this time.

So yes, this last year has been the busiest Lena has ever had, between the recovery of the world and the emotional work they have had to work through. She's in therapy now, they all are, no doubt Kelly’s influence. It's working. The world has turned back on track, and her relationship with her family, her found family (her real family) is the healthiest it has ever been.

These last two weeks of mundane hectic workload had been a welcoming return to normalcy. She misses some superfriends gatherings, though. A game night here, a movie night there. She misses them, but she knows she can make it up to her love ones after this situation is under control. They have been understanding of it, too. Every one of them having to have dealt with readjusting to their new normal. All in all, Lena is optimistic, for once. Maybe Kara is rubbing off on her. She smiles at the thought. Her relationship with Kara had gone through a rollercoaster. But she thinks they've come through better than ever. They have fought each other, and for each other. They communicate better. And between all that hard, painful (but worthy) work, they have come closer.

Lena would not be able to point the exact moment their relationship changed from friendship to romance, it was gradual, sneaky, until the realization hit them in the face one night. Kara had argued it was something that has been growing since they met. And, looking back, Lena must agree this hypothesis has some weight to it.

She's still smiling, thinking of Kara, when she enters her office. It's late at night, she has just ordered Jess to go home, planning on getting her things and doing the same. Giddy by the notion that Kara will be waiting for her there. Perhaps dancing in the kitchen, or asleep in the couch. She’s now privy to Supergirl missions, so she’s pretty confident her hero is not busy today.

The moment she's inside her office, however, she realizes none of those scenarios will come true tonight, as she can spot Supergirl sitting on her balcony rail. Staring at their city, cape softly swaying behind her. Lena's heartbeat picks up, and her smile grows impossibly wider at seeing her love waiting for her there. But after taking a couple of steps further inside, she stops. Something's not right. Kara has not acknowledged her at all. Which means she has not noticed Lena's arrival or she's choosing not to react to it. Neither of those options sit well with Lena. The latter would mean Kara is upset. The first option means something is wrong.

Lena casts a suspicious look around the space, still paranoid. The only light comes from her computer’s monitor and the lamp on her desk. Other than the glooming superhero in her balcony, everything seems to be in order. Safe. She allows a sigh to escape her lips and approaches the doors to the balcony. The moment her heel clicks on the tiled floor, Kara’s head tilts the slightest bit to the left, a sign she has heard Lena, but she remains as she is, facing the city lights, head tilted up, shoulders slumped down.

Now that she knows Kara is aware of her presence, Lena comes to her slowly, mindful that this may be a case of sensory overload. Lena’s quiet and careful when she wraps her arms around Kara from behind. It’s never a good idea to startle a super-powered alien, no matter how controlled she is. At the contact Kara sags a little in her arms, and Lena tightens her hold a tad.

“Hi.” Kara whispers.

“Hello, love. Bad day?”

“Not really.” Lena hums and frowns a little at the unusual roughness she notes in Kara’s voice. For now, though, she settles for placing a loving kiss to the back of Kara’s neck. Wracking her brain for any hint of what could be wrong with her lover. She’s sure there were no news of Supergirl fighting anything otherworldly, or loss of life in any major incident around the city. Not that she’s going to push the issue, she knows Kara needs a little time to process her emotions and express how she feels.

So Lena waits, debating if she should get the noise cancelling buds, or the actual heavy blanket she engineered to comfort a Kryptonian. She doesn’t, though. She seems to be the only comfort Kara needs right now. She’s not wrapping her cape around her own body, nor is she fidgeting, or wincing. A sensory issue seems unlikely.

“I can hear you thinking.” Kara’s rough, amused voice reaches Lena, and she instinctively smooths her frown and clears her throat.

“I’m sorry, darling.”

“Not at all. I’m sorry if I’m making you worry.” Lena is about to protest and dooming them to an absurd cycle of unnecessary apologies, when Kara lightly pushes her back with her shoulders, so she can float around and face her properly.

“Oh, Kara! What happened?” Kara’s eyes are puffy. No, they’re swollen. Her right eye particularly is very, very swollen. Lena itches to touch, to check and make sure it’s all right. But when it’s Kara who self-consciously reaches a hand to it, Lena catches it before it makes contact with skin.

“Don’t worry. It seems to be just an allergic reaction.”

“What?”

“I know, right? We didn’t think it was possible. I haven’t even come close to an allergic reaction when I’ve solar-flared.” Kara is not smiling, but her voice is calm. Serene, even.

“How did it happen?”

“We’ll we were dealing with an alien that had some issues with communication. I was there to help J’onn in the translation.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he had some items that he wanted to keep, but they looked like nothing on Earth, so they spiked the interest of the DEO. They were harmless, of course… well, except for this.” She smiles then, pointing at her eye with her free hand. Lena hasn’t been able to let go of the other, yet.

“Are you sure it’s just an allergic reaction? Have you treated it? Can it get treated? Would it get worst?”

“I’m pretty sure. And Alex couldn’t find anything more damaging or menacing. She even zoomed Eliza to consult.” Kara chuckles at Lena’s mix of scientific interest and concern. Then laughs when she mumbles a I hate that you use ‘zoomed’ like that. “Besides, I remember having this reaction on Krypton.”

Lena falters a bit. Not because they have never thought about Krypton, or Kara’s life there. But because she knows it’s a delicate topic.

“You had allergies on Krypton?”

“I know what you’re thinking. It was a surprise back then, too.”

“I mean, I figured a genetically engineered child would not be vulnerable to the elements of her environment.”

“I wasn’t. My aunt Astra traveled a lot as a high ranked member of the Military. She always made a point to bring me back a souvenir.” Kara’s smile is wistful. “This one time, she brought me a plant; they were so rare on Krypton already. But this one had a bright yellow color. She knew I would’ve been fascinated by such an oddity. And I was. It was incredible to see it for the first time. A color so vivid, and happy.”

Kara stops for a second, lost in a memory. Lena tightens her hold on the hand between hers. Anchoring.

“You showed signs of allergies then?”

“Not really? I mean, I didn’t even sneeze. But, a few hours later, my eye started to itch, and then it was so swollen. My mom was so worried. My voice too.”

“Like now?”

“Yeah.”

“How did they treat it?”

“Oh, it was an issue. Allergies were just not a thing there. Everyone was at a loss. Even my dad and uncle Jor. I remember my mom complaining about having the greatest scientific minds for nothing.” She lets out a wet laugh. Longing. It’s not really the allergic reaction, it’s the longing that has Kara enveloped in such a nostalgic aura. “Aunt Astra made me a tea. I can’t remember what she said it was. But she figured it worked once she felt under the weather on a mission and was offered one at base. She said she never went anywhere without it since.”

“Did it work?”

“Yes. It made me a little sleepy. But a few hours later I was back to normal.”

“I guess we could try some of Earth’s herbal infusions. Do you remember the taste?”

“I was able to draw how the leaf looked for Alex. She and J’onn are searching the database and consulting experts to see if they can find some or at least something similar.” Lena’s so proud of Kara and so thankful for Alex.

“Smart girl.”

“You must be rubbing off on me.” Kara smiles and her otherworldly blue eye disappears behind puffy skin. Lena can do nothing but hmm for a second. She keeps eying Kara. There’s a silence that Kara takes to get back to her place looking out to the city, and Lena resumes her protective position just shy of being behind her and a little to the side. Hugging her from behind and resting her chin onto Kara’s shoulder.

“I haven’t thought of her in so long, Lena.” Kara says, and Lena hates the tremor she can hear in it. “Astra. We were so close. I idolized her as a child, of course I know now that things weren’t as clean as I used to think. Not only with her, my parents, too. I know she did some questionable things, on Krypton and on Earth, but…” Kara seems lost in her exposition, so Lena thinks she can lend a hand now.

“I know. I don’t have to explain to you how complicate my family history is. My father was kind, but absent. Lex was warm just for convenience and manipulation. Lilian, well, she’s not near anything resembling care, and yet she always seems keen on keeping me safe. And my mom… I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten her and now have her replaced by this ethereal ideal. No one is extent of deception, love.”

“Oh, no. I know. I’m not struggling with her wrongdoings. Not anymore, anyway. But, Lena, I didn’t spare a single thought for her in the last year!” Oh…

“Darling, should I make a summary on the year you had? Scratch that. Should I make a summary on the last couple of years? Kara, you are the strongest person on Earth, not because of the way the solar energy affects your cells. You’re resiliently brave. You’ve lost so much, faced so many adversities. It’s insane.”

“What if I forget about her?” And she sounds so small.

They sit in silence for a few minutes. Lena refuses to give Kara empty comfort. So she rakes her brain for a way to fix this. She’s thinking of contacting Alura in Argo when she remembers the mysterious box Kara has in the Fortress. For the vague explanation Kara gave her the forgettable first time they visited together, she thinks it might be full of Astra’s belongings recovered after Non’s death.

“We should make a sort of memorial for her, yeah? In the Fortress, maybe? It can be somewhere else if you don’t feel comfortable doing it there.” They had done their work in recovering the Fortress as a place of safety for Kara. A piece of her old home on her new home.

Kara is quiet for several seconds, but not enough to make Lena feel on edge. However, Lena was not expecting to be hit with a dose of emotion of her own.

“I like that, thank you.” Kara takes Lena’s hand that has been resting on her stomach, and lift it to her lips, so she can place a tender kiss on Lena’s palm, making her shiver. “We could add one to your mom?” She’s shy in her request.

“Oh, that’s… That’d be lovely, darling. Thank you.” Lena never thought of having a place for her birth mom in her life. Ever. She’s always make sure to think of her, not that’d be easy for her to forget. But she’s never actually thought of having a physical space for those thoughts. It’s moving, and thoughtful.

“I’d like to visit Eliza soon, too. And Jeremiah’s resting place. Would you come with me?”

“Of course.” Lena tightens her grip on Kara, as hard as she can, and places another loving kiss, this time on her shoulder. They share quiet I love yous. She can feel Kara has relaxed. But now she’s starting to develop a persistent cough. Nothing too extreme, but considering Kara never coughs, it’s a little alarming. “Do you want to order in? I can place it now so it’ll get home about the same time as we will.”

“Ah, that’d be great! Do we have ice cream?” Lena levels a look at her and Kara gives her best grin.

“As if I would allow your precious supply of ice cream to dim.”

“My hero.” Lena fondly rolls her eyes, while closing up and getting her phone.

“Pizza and potsickers?”

“I should prompt the Nobel people to give you one of those medals.”

“Unless you’d like a kale pizza, you better shut it.” Kara’s laugh is all Lena wanted, needed, to hear.

“You’re disgusting.”

“Oh, I’m disgusting?”

“You are if you eat a kale pizza.” They keep the banter until they reach the car. There Kara grows quiet again. Lena now knows it’s the longing in her heart. So she lets her process it until they’re back home. Deciding to check her phone for notifications, she discovers a message from Alex informing her that they were able to find something close to the leaf Kara explained was used to heal her allergy. Thinking Kara would appreciate having more of her support system with her right now, she extends an invitation for Alex and Kelly to join them for diner, as Alex was going to drop by anyway to deliver the medicinal infusion.

So only Kara is surprised when they arrive home to Alex waiting for them at the door.

“Kelly’s on her way. She insisted on bringing some dessert and wine.” She’s still hugging Kara but she levels an unimpressed look at Lena when she complains about her girlfriend’s liquor tastes. “Something about whiskey being an ‘old man's drink’.” Lena smiles and lets them in.

By the time they make the tea and have Kara drink it whole, Kelly has arrived, the food is displayed on the kitchen counter, and they had settled for a night of family and comfort. Once Kara is knocked out by the tea and in bed, Lena and Alex plan the logistics of making the memorial in the fortress and the visit to Midvale.

It’s hours later when Lena sits next to Kara’s sleeping form, checking her pulse, temperature and the state of her eyes, right before sliding beside Kara in bed, and snuggling up to her. Kara stirs a little, just to snuggle back into Lena.

“I’m so glad we worked things out, Lena. It’s was terrible not having you with me.”

“I know, love. Did you ever feared we wouldn’t?” Lena knows she did, and Kara knows that, too.

“No. I got really frustrated for a moment. But I always knew in my heart” Lena smiles, she likes to think she also knew, deep inside.

“I love you, Kara.”

“I love you, Lena.” Kara's mumbled words, sincere as they are, bring the relief and comfort Lena needs to finally sigh with a smile and let sleep take her down.