Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Against other things, it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death, we human beings all live in an unwalled city. Do you know who said that?”

“Please, Lex, you don't have to do this.” Tears welled up in Lena’s eyes while the TV in front of her displayed images of cars crashing and buildings collapsing.

“I'm doing this for us, for the entire human race. Listen down below,” Lex whispered from behind her, bending down to be at her level, since he had his sister zip-tied to an office chair. He made a long pause for dramatic effect—or so Lena gauged because that surely was his style—while rolling her chair so she could look out the window, where the sun was tinting the world in a red hue. “They're already cheering. And it was Epicurus, by the way. An aphorism two-hundred and thirty years old, and yet still as apt as ever.” 

Of course she was scared, she could feel the fear running through her body, freezing her veins. However, Lena wasn’t sure whom she was scared for: herself, the rest of the world, or both. Both. She quickly came to the conclusion. “You sound like a freshman philosophy major and you're gonna kill millions of people. The world can't live under a red sun.”

“Neither can Superman.” Quick to interrupt, Lex couldn’t help himself. This was his baby sister, after all, and he wanted her on his side. He was sure that Lena would eventually see things clearly and join him; she was a Luthor, after all. “You see, Sis, we as a people have become soft. And fat. And stupid.” The sound of a helicopter and a police officer announcing their presence and asking him to surrender over loudspeakers interrupted his beautifully crafted speech, and the man looked annoyed for a split second before hitting a button on his watch that triggered an explosion outside, making Lena jerk back in her chair and gasp, completely horrified. “Where was I?”

“My God, Lex, you killed them.” Lena’s effort to contain her heartbreak made her voice barely audible. 

“Oh, that's right. We must put faith in ourselves, but instead, we look up to him, with big glassy eyes because we think he's invincible. It's my duty to dispel the world of that notion. And when he dies, they will finally wake up and see him for what he really was, a false god.” There was nothing that could ruin this moment for him. It was clear that Lex had planned for every possible scenario and knew exactly how the events would unfold.

“At least he's a good man.” It wasn’t smart to point it out, Lena knew that, of course, but still there was a part of her that refused to be quiet, to play along, to enable this deranged man that was once her dear brother.

“He is not a man!” Lex yelled angrily at her words, making Lena flinch and close her eyes. If there was anyone in the world who could rile him up, it was his sister. “I was the Man of Tomorrow, not him! Not him!” Now he was truly pissed.

The younger Luthor gulped in fear, but still looked him in the eye, not willing to let him intimidate her. “So it's all ego, then?” 

“No, it's science. I want to see if the Kryptonian pretender can bleed.” His expression had softened and he took two carefully calculated steps back. “Even gods can die.” Lena would’ve loved to say that she was surprised he was aware of what was about to happen, but this was Lex, of course he knew the police would enter his office at that exact moment, that’s why he took those steps back, so they could comfortably arrest him. “You'll see. Everyone will see. And then, they're gonna thank me.”

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People could say whatever they wanted about Lex, but obviously his one virtue was patience.

Four years. It took him four years to finally be able to move another one of his proverbial chess pieces.

In those four years Superman had—painstakingly slow, mind you—learned to trust Lena. Alright, maybe trust was too big a word to describe their relationship; they tolerated each other. They could be civil and share a city, and that was more than what could be said about Superman and Lex. She helped him whenever needed, and in return the Man of Steel did his best to stop judging her based on her last name and do it solely on her own merit. Although Lena was sure that was Lois’ doing and not Clark’s.

Oh, yes, that was another thing, she knew Clark Kent was Superman. Not because he trusted her with his secret identity, far be it from it, no. Lena figured it out after they started… collaborating with each other. Seriously, a cardigan and glasses? How did people even fall for that? However, she never told him she knew, assuming he would tell her whenever he felt comfortable or was absolutely necessary. Needless to say, neither ever happened, so she kept her mouth shut and played along.

Four years, the whole penitentiary system getting tricked, James Olsen almost dying, a Kaznian Superman-doppelganger, several assassination atempts and a lot of Luthor manipulation at the hand of Lex was all it took for Lena to finally agree to hear Superman’s plan to keep her safe.

And now that she did, she wished she hadn’t.

Not only because she could very well take care of herself—thank you very much—but also because his idea was, simply put, absolutely ridiculous.

“That’s hilarious,” Lena said with a little chuckle, looking at the man standing in the middle of her office. He looked at the young Luthor with a worried frown on his face and his lips pursed. “Superman, please, tell me this is a very bad joke.”

He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head, “it’s for your own safety, Miss Luthor. I think it’s the best course of action right now, considering how dangerous Lex is getting. Your friend at the DEO agreed.”

At the mention of the DEO Lena got up from her chair, placing both hands on her desk and leaning on them. “You’re playing nice with the DEO now? I thought you didn’t like them.”

“I don’t trust them enough to work together as long as they have Kryptonite, but I trust Director Danvers to protect you.” He stated firmly with a short nod. “I’ve known her since I was a teenager. Her parents helped me a great deal when it came to learning how to control my powers. She has a good head on her shoulders.”

“Are you implying that I don’t?” Lena interrupted him, holding his gaze before eyeing him up and down, “because if I’m not mistaken, you’re wearing an Original Lena Luthor right now.” Her hand moved in front of her, signaling his super suit.

“That’s not what I said, Miss Luthor,” Superman shook his head and held his hands up in surrender. “You already ended up in the hospital once. How many more attempts on your life are there going to take before you admit this is the only viable way to keep you safe from Lex’s murderous madness?”

She was smart enough to admit he had a point, but surely there had to be a better solution. However, until she could come up with a good plan to stop Lex once and for all, she had to give him something. “I’ll think about it.”

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In hindsight, maybe pushing it off hadn’t been her greatest idea.

Currently Lena was not-so-comfortably waking up zip-tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse that smelled strongly of gunpowder and Lex’s cologne. The open crate displaying several machine guns to her left was clearly the cause for the former. The mad-man pacing impatiently in front of her was the reason for the latter. 

“Oh, good, you’re awake!” Lex exclaimed happily, coming to a stop in front of her and clapping his hands once. “I was starting to worry.”

Her vision was still blurry and Lena closed her eyes tightly. “Were you?” The blunt hit to the head that knocked her unconscious had likely messed with her contacts. She opened her eyes again and felt a bit better, at least now she could focus on her brother’s face. 

The man laughed and shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands into his pockets in an image of innocent nonchalance that clashed drastically with his next words. “Not really. To be honest, it would’ve saved me a lot of trouble. This is a nice suit, I don’t want to ruin it with your blood, I’m sure you understand.” As if on cue, one of his goons appeared from the darkness that covered the background, handing Lex a gun and silencer, which he took with a grateful half smile and a nod. “However, I feel like I have to do this myself this time,” he started attaching the silencer to the gun, rolling it slowly while focusing on Lena again, “how many times have those guns-for-hire missed now? Four?”

“Five.” She should be scared. Lena knew that in the past four years Lex’s madness had only gotten worse, and she had no doubt that he was about to kill her. Maybe she was scared, but years of running a company taught her how to control herself to command a board room, and she wouldn’t let her emotions show. She had gotten so good at hiding them that sometimes she convinced even herself, like right now.

Lex tsked and shook his head in disappointment. “Ah, it’s even worse than I thought, then.” The silencer clicked into place and he smiled once again, “how does that saying go? If you want something done right, do it yourself.” He paused and aimed the gun at her head.

“So, that’s your whole plan? Shoot me? And then what?” The corner of her lip turned up in a smirk and she arched a questioning brow at her brother. “Sounds a bit mundane, brother, not very Luthor-like.”

The older Luthor chuckled, throwing his head back in amusement. “Oh, dear sister, if you must know, I plan on killing you and make it look like a kidnapping gone wrong. Some of my associates are already taking care of everything to make it look like one.” He jerked his head back to the shadows, where Lena could now see a few silhouettes moving around. “And then, as your next of kin, I inherit everything. Your money, your share of Father’s trust fund—since mine was so unfairly taken away by our embarrassing judicial system—and, the pièce de résistance, my company that you took from me after locking me up.”

“Mh,” Lena smirked once again and looked him in the eye, “are you sure about that?”

Few times in her life had she seen Lex make the face he was making after hearing her question. When she beat him at chess for the first time at the age of five, next when he found out she got into Harvard at age fifteen and, finally, the day she testified against him in court.

Today would be the fourth time.

Hopefully the last, too, regardless of the outcome of her less than ideal situation.

“Excuse me?” Lex asked with a little teasing smile, playing down his rather growing curiosity.

“Are you sure you’re going to inherit everything if I die?” It felt so good not having to bluff. It was actually one of the first things she had taken care of after taking control of the company. First, change the stupid narcissistic name. Second, make absolutely sure nothing goes to Lex or Lillian if something ever happened to Lena. In the case of her demise, every single one of her assets would go to either Sam or Ruby—once she comes of age, of course. Sam would get the company and the money would be split in two: half for the Arias women, and the other half going to different charities of her choosing.

“You have no children, Lena. I’m your only brother. My people checked, they couldn’t find anything, and they are very good.” Lex stated matter-of-factly.

Lena nodded her head slowly and forced the smile to disappear from her face. The last thing she needed right now was to make him angry and have his trigger-happy finger make an early appearance. “You do realize I have very good people working for me, too, right? I have a will. An ironclad one.” Okay, she shouldn’t make him angry, but… honestly, she couldn’t help herself, his expression was priceless. “Haven’t you done your homework yourself, Lex? That doesn’t sound like you. Are you getting sloppy, brother?”

His jaw clenched tightly and Lena could see his index finger tightening on the trigger before he let out a long, frustrated sigh. “You’re bluffing, Lena. I know you. Family is everything to us: we are Luthors.”

“Yeah, about that,” she pursed her lips, deep in thought, and frowned while looking at him, as if asking his opinion like she often did when they were younger, “I’ve been thinking about changing my last name. Maybe to something less… maniacal murder-y? Getting a reservation under the Luthor name has been increasingly difficult since you escaped prison and made a mess of things again, it’s a hassle for my assistant.”

She was getting to him, if his body language was any indication. Lex closed his eyes and brought the heel of his hands to his temples, jaw clenched tight and groaning loudly. “You are a Luthor!” He finally shouted, startling her enough to make her body jerk back away from him, even if she was still tightly bound to the chair. His hand holding the gun moved back in front of him, this time aiming at Lena’s chest. “You are a Luthor, Lena. Should have been born a Luthor, and you will die a Luthor.” He finally declared more calmly now.

Now, don’t get her wrong, Lena had no intention to die. At least not there and at the hand of her brother. She would rather do it much, much later, of old age, preferably in her sleep. However, she knew a calm Lex was way more dangerous than an irritated one. She knew her brother, he made mistakes when he was angry and frustrated, and she would take a bullet to the arm rather than her chest any day.

“And for what? If I may ask,” she asked with her eyebrow arching questioningly again. “I’ll indulge you, we can pretend for a moment that I don’t have a will and you get a few million dollars. Isn’t that rather… tacky?”

“Try billions. I know how much you’re worth, Lena. Don’t underestimate me.” He scoffed, still believing he was the one in charge. “But if you must know, no. It’s not for the money, the properties, or my company—that you so blatantly stole from me. No, this is about something far greater, more important than you could ever realize. This is about honor, about the family name that you tarnished with your ridiculous good deeds. The Luthor name used to be respected; it used to be feared, Lena, now look at us,” he scoffed again and waved the gun in her direction, “you’re trying to make the company a ‘force for good.’ Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Pathetic. The world doesn’t need that, just as it doesn’t need your latest associate, that false God everyone calls   Superman.” He paused to let out a loud, humorless chuckle. “All humanity needs is a new leader, a strong one. It needs the real Man of Tomorrow. It needs a true Luthor to set it straight and Luthor-Corp is–”

“How inappropriate would it be if I made ‘straight’ jokes right now?” Lena interrupted him, biting back a smug and proud grin. “Oh. Sorry, I forgot you don’t like talking about that. Guess I got used to not hiding while you were away on your penitentiary vacation. My apologies, please, go on.”

Her brother glared at her in that same way he had when he caught her kissing a girl when she was fifteen years old. It was oddly satisfying to still have this power over him, even if only to piss him off. “I will not have you disrespect me like this!” Lex was fuming to the point of spitting while yelling at her and he backhanded Lena so fast she never saw it coming. “Your less than savory preferences die with you, you hear me?!”

Something caught Lena’s attention when she opened her eyes after taking the blow in complete silence—the way she was trained to. She licked the blood off her split lip and a small smile appeared on her face. Maybe she wouldn’t have to die today, after all.

She briefly locked eyes with Superman and then everything was a blur. Lena could hear the gun several seconds before she realized what was going on. She was suddenly on her back, looking up at the ceiling, and the sharp pain on her shoulder made her realize why. “Ugh, Lex, you cunt,” she groaned and looked at her left shoulder, where blood was pouring freely now. “Jesus, fuck!” Her jaw clenched tightly and she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths in an attempt to endure the pain without passing out.

“Miss Luthor, are you okay?”

Lena’s eyes opened to see Superman kneeling next to her. He quickly freed her hands and ankles and picked her up, much to her dismay. “I’m fine, Superman, thank you. You can put me down now, I can walk.”

“You’re hurt,” he pointed out frowning, ignoring her request to set her down and looking at her shoulder with his X-Ray vision. “The bullet didn’t go through, it’s lodged against the bone, I need to take you to the hospital.”

She groaned again, only this time half in pain, half in frustration. “I can call my personal medical staff here, I don’t like flying.”

“It’ll be just a few seconds, trust me–”

“I said no, Superman.” Lena’s glare would’ve melted his face if she was kryptonian. Sometimes it was a good thing she wasn’t. However, she had her own Luthor power, because the Man of Steel put her down immediately. “Thank you.” She ripped part of her already torn shirt off and used the piece of fabric to press on the wound, not without a lot of very colorful cursing that would’ve made even Alex blush. “Can you call Director Danvers? I’m assuming that would appease you.”

The man nodded once, “she's almost here, I can hear her. Your friend, Miss Arias, called the DEO after you went missing, they’ve been looking for you for hours. It was only when you regained consciousness that I could focus on your voice to find you, I’m sorry it took me so long.”

The door burst open and a team of DEO agents entered the warehouse, frantically looking around and rounding up everyone Superman had been able to capture and restrain. 

“Lex?” Alex asked straight to the point, not even looking at Superman, rushing to Lena’s side instead and helping her cover the wound more firmly.

“He got away.”

Lena’s head snapped and she looked at the man in disbelief. “You let him go?! He was right here!”

“He had a kryptonite blade on him,” Superman started explaining, showing a long, green-looking gash on his arm. “He used his transmat watch, and you were hurt. I had to prioritize your well-being over going after him, Miss Luthor.”

Alex nodded and started guiding Lena outside where a DEO ambulance was waiting for them. The young Luthor followed slowly, but not without throwing back a quick glance at the Man of Steel. “Thank you for your help, Superman. I believe we can start making arrangements for my trip to Argo now.”

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“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Lena mumbled under her breath, indignantly looking around the now very familiar building.

She was currently at the Metropolis DEO headquarters, where Superman was talking to a man named J’onn J’onzz, Director of the National City branch of the DEO, who apparently was a Martian and owned some sort of ship. Of course, as a scientist, this had to be the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her, but she’d let Lex murder her with a butter knife and keep L-Corp before admitting that out loud, especially in front of Alex, who was standing next to her barking orders at some agents.

“Don’t act like you’re not curious, I know you, Luthor.” 

“Why are you even here?” Lena asked in mock indignation, trying to hide a little smile when her friend turned to look at her arching one eyebrow.

Alex chuckled and folded her arms, leaning closer to bump Lena’s shoulder—the one that wasn’t in a sling—with hers. “As if I’d miss the chance to go on a nice off-world vacation with my friend.”

“I’d hardly call this a vacation, Director,” Lena scoffed and rolled her eyes. “This is me having to leave Earth because my deranged brother is hell-bent on killing me to be the sole heir to the Luthor Dynasty.”

The brief, yet very accurate, description of the situation made Alex laugh, and she shrugged her shoulders, looking at the brunette again. “Either way, I get a paid vacation at an exotic destination. I call that a win.”

“What does your girlfriend have to say about that?”

Alex scoffed and had to laugh at the memory afterwards. “Honest to God, she told me she’d ‘dump my sorry ass’ if I let anything happen to you.”

The young Luthor tried to hide her smile, but it was practically impossible after that. “I have to admit, Superman was quite creative this time. If Lex finds me, like he did every single time I went into hiding, I’ll hand him the gun myself.”

“Isn’t that a little morbid?”

Lena turned to her left at the sound of the new—yet familiar—voice and rolled her eyes so hard she was afraid they might get stuck there. “Seriously?!” She glared at Alex, as if the eyeroll hadn’t been enough to show her displeasure.

“I had nothing to do with this, Superman insisted.” Alex explained with a little shrug, then gave Lena a little apologetic look.

“Did you even fight him?”

“What are we talking about?”

Alex looked at the man standing on Lena’s other side and shook her head, trying to tell him to shut up. Of course, subtlety had never been his forte, so he had no idea what that look meant and just stayed there, grinning proudly.

“Mon-El, why don’t you go help the agents loading the ship?” She ended up suggesting, at least to get him away from Lena for a few minutes. The situation was stressful enough as it was, the last thing they needed was Mon-El getting on her nerves.

The young Luthor’s eyes narrowed and she glared at Alex once the man went to do what she suggested, turning her full attention on her now. “Care to explain?” She asked coldly.

The redhead closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. “He knows how to fly a ship and has been to Argo before with Superman,” she explained slowly, finally opening her eyes and looking at her friend once again, “we don’t really know what to expect when we land, it wouldn’t hurt for them to see a familiar face.”

“Clearly you don’t know him well enough if you think this is not gonna hurt.” 

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Three hours into their flight and Alex was more than ready to admit Lena had been absolutely right. She wouldn’t say it out loud, of course, mostly because if she did she’d never hear the end of it, but her expression told Lena everything she needed to know.

At the moment Mon-El was babbling and barely making any sense, all while fixing some new weird set of coordinates onto the ship, and the fact that this man-child was in charge of getting them safely to Argo was absolutely baffling.

“I would feel a lot more comfortable if you paid attention to what you’re doing instead of talking non-stop while flying us across space,” Lena said in a dangerous tone, glaring at the back of his head. It definitely was a good thing she didn’t have heat vision.

Instead of listening to the woman, though, Mon-El turned around and gave her his version of a dazzling smile. To be fair, he was objectively handsome, and while that smile would’ve made many women on Earth swoon, it just made Lena want to punch him right in his stupid handsome face. “Oh, don’t worry about that, these things practically fly themselves.”

“Then why are you here?” She snapped at the young man, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

His expression turned into a confused one, as if Lena should know the answer to that question. “Well, someone has to be there, just in case. You know, you need a man to protect you, and since Superman couldn’t come–”

“Excuse me?!” Lena’s head shot up so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “I can protect myself, Mon-El. And even if I couldn’t, I have the Director of the DEO here with me. The last thing I need right now, amidst this already very stressful situation, is some sort of glorified incompetent bodyguard.” It was probably a bit harsh, she would admit that later, but right now her nerves were through the roof and she didn’t need his cave-man, macho attitude.

Mon-El gulped and at least had the decency to blush as he looked apologetically at them. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, I just wanna help.”

Great. Now he looks like a sad puppy. Lena took one more deep breath and let it out slowly, doing her best to compartmentalize and not let her irritation get the best of her. He was from a very different culture, she reminded herself, and at least he was trying. He had come a long way from when he first landed on Earth as a spoiled man-child who spent his days either drinking too much, breaking things, or fucking random women in random places.

“It’s alright,” Lena reassured him, even if her appeasing smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, “I guess it’s a good thing that you’ve joined us, since you know some people there already.”

Mon-El’s smile returned full force and he nodded excitedly.

“Is there anything you think we should know before we get there?” Alex asked, clearly trying to change the subject into something more pleasant, or at least useful, before he put his foot in his mouth again.

The man scratched the back of his head and shrugged, “I don’t know. Lena, you’ve met Alura already when you made the Harun-El for them, right?” At Lena’s nod, Mon-El nodded back and continued, “her daughter, Superman’s cousin, I think her name is Kara, she's also a scientist. You might get along, or at the very least have something to talk about.”

The thought of ‘getting along’ with someone just because they shared an interest for science didn’t do much to ease any of Lena’s concerns. In her experience, it was usually the exact opposite, but maybe that was because of her last name and the fact that most people on Earth still didn’t trust her, no matter how many times she helped save the world. She couldn’t voice her thoughts, though, because all of a sudden the ship shook violently, startling all three of them and interrupting her train of thought. Both women exchanged a worried look, and their frowns only deepened when all Mon-El did was grin childishly and face forward again.

“Um, what the hell was that?” Alex found her voice first, and thank goodness she did, because between Lena’s nerves and her crippling fear of flying, she was on the verge of having a panic attack in the middle of fucking space. 

“We’re here.” Mon-El pointed ahead to a meteor right in front of them. 

Her curiosity got the best of her, and Lena got off her seat, pulling herself forward with one hand on each of the front seats to lean closer and get a better look. “Is that it? Is that… Argo?” She knew it was, she’d heard the stories, but getting to see it with her own eyes was both amazing and a bit disappointing. It looked just like any other rock floating in space; meteors, asteroids, Lena had seen her fair share. Granted, maybe not from this distance or from a Martian spaceship, but it still felt a bit anticlimactic.

However, her feelings changed in a matter of seconds once the tractor beam pulled them closer and she could see what was clearly a force shield. They still couldn’t see inside the dome, it was designed to blend in and not draw unwanted attention, but it was noticeable for anyone who knew what they were looking at. Now the whole Harun-El situation made much more sense. The amount of energy needed to not only maintain a force shield of that size, but also sustain life for millions of people inside it was beyond anything Lena could’ve imagined in her wildest dreams. She could feel a rapidly growing worry in the pit of her stomach and a little voice in her head told her that maybe she should have worked harder, be better, come up with a more efficient solution instead of just handing Alura the formula to make more Harun-El and be done with it. Maybe it was the guilt born from her family’s crimes she still couldn’t get rid of—no matter how hard her therapist tried to make her see reason—maybe it was the need to still atone for her brother’s sins, or maybe she was simply a good person who wanted to do good things, like Sam always told her, but in that moment she knew what she had to do. If everything went according to plan she would be living on Argo for the foreseeable future and Lena was now determined to dedicate all of her time and effort to help an alien civilization that would—very likely—offer her asylum and a safe place to live while her own brother tried to kill her back home.

“Yes, pretty cool, right?” Mon-El looked at her and laughed softly when he noticed how close Lena had gotten to the front of the ship, the way her head poked between his and Alex’s, and her expression full of wonder. “I’d suggest you sit back down, it can still get bumpy until we land.”

Lena nodded silently and sat down, but her eyes were still glued to the meteor that kept getting closer and closer. It only took them a couple more minutes, then suddenly a bright light filled the interior of the ship, momentarily blinding all three of them, and when Lena opened her eyes again she could see the most beautiful city in front of her. They had made it past the force shield and landed safely with a soft thud that rendered her speechless once again.

Mon-El pushed a few buttons and the constant buzz they had grown used to after a few hours stopped at once, shocking Alex and Lena out of their trance. One of the doors on the side of the ship slid open with a soft hiss and next thing she knew, Mon-El had jumped down and was holding his hand out, offering his help. Of course, Alex ignored the hand and jumped after him, but Lena took it with a thankful smile and carefully stepped down, because what the hell had she been thinking, wearing heels for this? Old habits die hard, I suppose.

It looked like the man was about to say something, but before he could, what can only be described as a swarm of small flying robots surrounded their position, pointing some sort of futuristic looking weapons at them. “Intruders. Identify yourselves.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mon-El held his hands in the air and turned around, placing himself between the robot that had spoken and Lena. To be fair, he tried to shield Alex too, but the redhead was having none of it and shoved him away from her. It also didn’t help that she had drawn her own weapon and was now pointing it at one of the robots. 

“Drop your weapons. Initiating invasion protocol.”

“What are they saying?!” Alex shouted over the blaring of their alarms, moving her gun back and forth between some of the machines.

“We are not invaders,” Mon-El stated loudly, speaking in a language the robots could apparently understand. “Alex, you need to lower your weapon,” he added after, tilting his head to speak to the woman.

“The hell I will!”

“If you don’t, they’ll treat us as invaders. I can’t see that ending well for us, please.” He pleaded softly, still holding his hands up.

It made sense, Lena supposed. An alien species landing on their planet unannounced, pointing weapons at them? She would have assumed they were invaders, too. “Alex,” she whispered softly, placing her hand on her friend’s shoulder, “Kryptonians are peaceful, they’re not gonna hurt us if you lower your gun, please.”

“Language detected: English,” one of the robots said. “Drop your weapons.”

Alex finally did, but not without a lot of grumbling. She holstered her gun but kept her hand close and at the ready, even if they were at a huge disadvantage, numerically speaking.

“My name is Mon-El of Daxam,” he stated calmly, finally lowering his hands when the robots put their own weapons away, “I’ve been here before with Kal-El, we have a message from him for Alura Zor-El.”

“Checking database for Mon-El of Daxam.” One of the robots in the back said, only to speak again after merely a second of silence. “Mon-El of Daxam. Last assessment: friendly. Affiliation with the Great House of El. Welcome back to Argo, Mon-El of Daxam.”

Lena’s relief didn’t last more than three seconds after hearing those words before she got startled again by a small group of people walking behind them. “Kelex, stand down.” The three of them turned around to see a red headed woman with long hair and a serious looking uniform approaching them. She was followed closely by two women, and Lena quickly recognized Alura among them. Behind the trio, four guards dressed in the same gray uniforms as the redheaded woman kept their distance and a watchful eye on all of them. “You are dismissed.”

Whatever the woman had said was probably a good thing, because the robots scattered around for a moment and then left without another word. Lena could hear Alex let out a long, relieved sigh, and her own body relaxed, too.

“Mon-El,” Alura addressed him, taking a few steps forward to get closer, “is everything alright? Is Kal with you?” The woman looked around and, after not seeing her nephew, her brow furrowed deeply in concern. “Is he alright?”

It was almost imperceptible, but Lena noticed the blonde woman behind Alura standing at attention at the question, her whole body tensing and her fists clenching at her sides while she also looked around for the Man of Steel.

“He’s fine,” Mon-El’s words relaxed both women and the blonde let out a relieved sigh, “I have a message from him, we need your help.”

“If it’s not too much trouble.” Lena added softly, taking a small step forward. She had no idea if Alura even remembered her; why would she? It had been a couple of years, after all.

The older woman's expression immediately softened when she turned to look at her, and she took Lena’s hands in her own, smiling brightly. “Lena,” she whispered almost reverently, “I’m sorry, I forgot my manners when I thought Kal-El was in danger. It’s so wonderful to have you here, welcome to Argo.”

“You… You remember me?”

Alura’s expression of complete disbelief made Alex snort, which in turn had Lena glaring at her for a moment. “How could I not? Lena, you saved Argo, I will never forget that. We are all in great debt to you. Whatever it is you need, I’m more than happy to help.”

The blonde behind Alura scoffed and Lena caught her rolling her eyes, even if she was trying to be discreet about it. The elbow to the ribs she got from the uniformed woman was enough to let Lena know she had seen and heard correctly. The blonde realized too late she had been caught and she cleared her throat after getting elbowed, but her gaze never wavered and she held Lena’s defiantly.

“Oh, Rao, I must have forgotten my manners at home today!” Alura stepped to the side and turned to look at the younger women behind her. “This is Thara Ak-Var, Chief Peace Officer of Argo City,” the uniformed woman folded her hands behind her back and nodded her head respectfully, “and this is Kara Zor-El, my daughter.” The blonde just gave them a short nod of acknowledgement, otherwise keeping her head held high, and something in her expression was so irritatingly cocky that it got on Lena’s nerves right away. 

“Pleasure to meet you,” she said, taking the high road and smiling politely. “I’m Lena Luthor, this is Alex Danvers, and I believe you’ve met Mon-El already.”

“We have. Welcome to Argo.” The blonde, Kara, said as politely as one could through a clenched jaw. She then looked at her mother and arched an eyebrow, “if that is all, mother, I still have work to do. Thara can help you here.”

The way Alura looked at the young woman and arched her own eyebrow made Lena purse her lips trying not to smile. They looked so much alike then, it was almost funny, despite the obvious tension of the whole situation. “You can speak English, Kara, please do so,” she admonished her daughter, “I raised you better than this.”

“This is still Argo, mother.”

“Doesn’t matter where we are, you will speak so everyone can understand you. We have guests, don’t be rude.”

Kara frowned but ultimately seemed to drop it. She held her mother’s gaze and nodded once, but Lena had a feeling this conversation was far from over. “Would that be all, mother?”

Alura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “yes, you may go.”

“Thank you.” With one last curt nod and a particularly vicious glare directed at Lena, Kara turned around and walked away.

“What was that all about?” Alex leaned forward and asked in a small whisper so Lena would be the only one able to hear her.

The brunette’s gaze was still on the retreating form of a very grumpy blonde. She frowned and shook her head before whispering back, “I have no idea, but I have a feeling she’s not gonna make things easy for us.”

Chapter Text

It took them less than thirty minutes after Kara’s departure to get to Alura’s home alongside her and Thara. The Chief Peace Officer had suggested they go to one of her offices instead, or even gather the High Council, but the matriarch of the House of El wanted their conversation to remain private—at least for the time being, until she knew exactly what was going on.

Lena had been looking around in complete awe ever since the fear of getting brutally murdered by alien robots faded away; from the amazing architecture to the incredibly vibrant colors of the beautiful flowers, not to mention the hover-car Thara had driven them on. She immediately made a mental note to look into those and their eco-friendliness later.

Right now there were more pressing matters to attend to, so she sat down next to Alex when Alura offered her living room for them to talk. Once they were all settled, Thara exchanged a quick glance with Alura and excused herself, giving them some much needed privacy.

“Not that I’m not thrilled to see you all here, but what exactly is going on?” Alura asked with a little concerned frown in place.

Both Alex and Mon-El looked at Lena and she knew this whole thing was up to her. It made sense, since she was the reason they were all there. The brunette answered with a short nod and took a deep breath, then straightened up her posture. “I’m so sorry we had to arrive unannounced,” she started apologetically, and Alura dismissed her with a warm smile and a wave of her hand, “Kal-El tried to contact you through the transmat portal system, but he was unable to do it.”

“I’ll ask Kara to look into it later, she takes after her father.” Her proud smile warmed the whole room, and she ushered Lena to continue with an encouraging nod afterwards.

Lena nodded back and nervously bit the corner of her lip before she spoke again. “I can go into more detail later if you want, I would hate to bore you unnecessarily, but I’m in desperate need of a safe place to live.”

“What do you mean?”

“Earth isn’t safe for me anymore. I ran out of options back home and Kal-El suggested Argo might be a good idea.”

The older woman frowned and sat up straighter, too, her posture almost regal in her blue tunic. “Not safe?” She asked, then looked at Lena’s arm—the one still in a sling—and shook her head, interrupting herself to give them some peace of mind at the very least. “Of course you’re all welcome to stay here for as long as you need, but what’s going on back on Earth? Can we help somehow?”

Both Alex and Lena breathed out in relief, letting their shoulders relax. “Thank you so much,” the brunette said, blinking back tears that were threatening to fall after hearing those words. “I don’t think there’s anything else you can do. Letting me–us stay here for a while is already more than we could’ve ever asked for.”

“You are always welcome here, all of you.” Her gaze moved from Lena, to Alex and then finally Mon-El. “I trust my nephew’s judgement. If he trusts you and thinks this is a good idea, then so do I. Of course, I’ll have to inform the rest of the High Council about this because we keep records of everyone living here, but that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll vouch for you myself and, besides, you’re famous in Argo City, Lena.”

“You mean, like, ‘famous’, famous?” It was Alex’s turn to ask, and the amusement in her voice made Lena blush.

Alura laughed softly and looked back and forth between the two friends. “Yes. Did you think I would take credit for the Harun-El myself?” She asked before focusing solely on the young Luthor. “Everyone here knows your name and what you did for us, Lena, I made sure of that.”

“That wasn’t necessary, Mrs–”

“Oh, Lena, please call me Alura.”

“Alura,” Lena finished, smiling shyly. “I didn’t do it to get recognition or anything like that, I just wanted to help.”

“I know,” the older woman said fondly, “and that’s exactly why you’re getting the recognition you deserve.” Alura stood up and ran her hands down the front of her robes, then looked at the group. “I will likely be able to start making living arrangements for all of you once I speak to the rest of the Council, but in the meantime you can make use of our spare rooms, we have two available, feel free to get settled however you’d like, I’m sure Kara won’t mind.”

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In the end Mon-El ended up getting his own bedroom—which was a good thing, because if he was planning on babbling as much as he did during their flight, neither Lena nor Alex wanted to be anywhere near him—and the two women decided to share. It would be temporary, anyway; hopefully Alura would get their situation sorted with the High Council soon enough and they would be able to move into a different place, because the last thing Lena wanted was to be more of an inconvenience to the woman who had welcomed them with open arms and nothing but understanding.

They took close to an hour to get settled and, after a much needed shower and a change of clothes, both Alex and Lena decided it was in their best interest to go with Alura and meet the High Council in person.

Which brought them to their current situation.

Both women were standing before the seven members of the High Council of Argo City, and even Lena—who was used to press conferences and board rooms—had to admit it was a bit intimidating. She looked around and some of the severe expressions she found made her gulp and actually fear for their situation, but one glance at Alura’s motherly smile eased some of her worries.

A tall, serious looking man who, quite frankly, was more intimidating than Alex, looked at them in silence for a few seconds before humming and pursing his lips. “I have some concerns,” he stated calmly. “I don’t deny that your situation seems… precarious back on Earth, but how can we be sure the same kind of chaos won’t erupt here in Argo City with your presence?”

Lena could feel her blood boiling. Was this man seriously implying her situation back home was her fault? Way to blame the victim, Mr. Advanced Alien Civilization. She opened her mouth to respond, but Alex’s hand found hers quickly and squeezed in a silent request to not engage. The brunette closed her mouth and took a deep breath, squeezing back to thank her friend in silence.

“I’m surprised to hear you suggest something like that, Jul-Us.” It was Alura who intervened in an even, yet dangerous tone. “I would’ve thought that you, of all people, would’ve learned not to judge someone for the actions of their family by now.” She arched her brow and leveled the man with a glare that made Lena want to laugh and cheer and cry, all at the same time. “Lex Luthor’s actions are not Lena’s. He is the reason she had to flee not only her home, but her planet . Do you understand how serious the situation must’ve gotten for her to seek asylum here? She’s leaving her whole life behind for Rao knows how long, not because she wants to, but because her life is in danger every minute of every single day.”

“I am not saying her situation is her fault. Of course I understand that, Alura.” The way the man looked at Alura told Lena there was a story there, but far be it from her to meddle; it was none of her business. “I’m worried that this Lex Luthor character will still find her here and, pardon my bluntness, murder us all.” His frown deepened and he looked around at his fellow Council members. “It has been stated that he hates all aliens, but has a very personal and strong issue with all Kryptonians because of Kal-El. Who knows what he’s capable of if he ever finds out Miss Luthor has been living here?”

This time it was a woman who had greeted them with a soft smile and the kindest eyes who intervened, glancing at the man, Jul-Us, with a disapproving look. “Is that reason enough to deny her request and send this child back to Earth to a certain and early death? Or worse, have her seek asylum somewhere else where she might end up enslaved?” The woman shook her head and folded her hands in front of her, exchanging a quick glance and short nod with Alura. “We do not cower. Especially not for what if’s ,” she said looking back at the man, “this is but a small request from the woman who saved Argo City, wouldn’t you agree?”

Before Jul-Us could say something, though, Alex cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “For what it’s worth, Lex Luthor doesn’t even know Argo exists.”

All seven Council members exchanged glances and this time a man in a green suit asked, “how can you be sure of that?”

“Argo City is the best kept secret in the DEO,” Alex explained. “Only agents of the highest ranks know of your existence, and that would be me and National City Director, J’onn J’onzz, no one else. We don’t even have your location, Superman disclosed it to Mon-El just so he could bring us here, and we intend to keep it that way. There are no records, digital or otherwise, not even a single mention; nothing. Anyone else who knows about your existence, I trust with my life not to say anything.”

“I believe we should vote, there’s not much else I need to hear to make a decision,” the kind lady suggested, and Lena’s nerves skyrocketed in a single second.

In the end they won five against two and Alex hugged Lena in celebration once it was decided they could stay.

“Now that it has been settled,” a woman in white and gold robes said over the small celebration between the two friends, “there are a few things that will be required of you as Argo citizens.”

“Of course, anything, just name it.” Lena nodded eagerly.

Jul-Us smiled for the first time, giving them a short nod. “First of all, in the name of the High Council, allow me to officially welcome you to Argo City.” The contrast of his demeanor with his previous stance was jarring, but welcomed nonetheless. “Now, you are going to be official citizens, which means you’ll have to contribute to our society in whichever way and form you see fit according to your interests and abilities.” He paused, waiting to make sure they understood, before continuing his explanation. “Of course, you’ll receive a fair compensation for your contribution; I believe on Earth you call this exchange a ‘job’?”

Both women laughed softly and nodded their heads, which pleased the severe looking man and prompted him to continue. “In addition to that, we will require a sample to add to the Codex at your earliest convenience.”

“The what now?” Alex asked with a confused frown, looking from the man to Alura, who just sighed.

“Is that absolutely necessary?” The older woman asked, looking around at her fellow Council members. “Chances are they won’t be permanent citizens, this is an extraordinary situation.”

This time all six other members exchanged quick glances, finally letting the woman in the white and gold robes speak for all of them. “I’m afraid it is necessary, Alura.” She looked at Alex and Lena, addressing them once again. “If you’re going to live among us, you shall be treated like one of us.” 

Lena couldn’t really disagree with that. She nodded and tilted her head to the side in question. “I understand. May I ask what the Codex is, though?”

“Of course, child, you may ask whatever you want and we shall do our best to answer,” a man in deep blue robes said kindly. “The Codex is basically a database, I believe you call it. It contains all the genetic information of all the bloodlines of Krypton. Well, Argo City now.”

“Uh… we’re not Kryptonians, though.” Alex’s frown was adorable, and Lena would’ve pointed it out, if she wasn’t busy going over the fact that they literally stored the genetic information of… what? Trillions of people, probably?

Jul-Us smiled in amusement as he looked at Alex and folded his hands behind his back. “We never said ‘Kryptonians,’ there’s a difference.”

“Oh.” Alex paused and scratched the back of her head. “So, just because we’ll be living here… what? We’re part of the ‘bloodlines of Krypton’? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Alura let out a soft laugh at her cheekiness, and so did a few other members. “Basically,” she said, still laughing, “but there are a few other reasons for it, Alex.”

“Like what?”

The man in the green suit was quick to answer this time. “Emergencies, some medical procedures, in your case could be for interspecies matches. There’s also reproduction through the Matrix and—”

“Wait, what?” Those last words got Lena out of her head and brought her back to the conversation.

“Emergencies—”

“No, not that part.” She interrupted again and shook her head. “Reproduction?!” The alarm was clear in her voice and this time Alura stifled a laugh when Alex started freaking out, too.

In the end it was Alura who took pity on them and explained calmly, if only briefly. “Those are some of our uses for the Codex, doesn’t mean they have to be yours.”

“I have so many questions,” Lena mumbled under her breath, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead. However, she was well aware that now was not the time for those questions, so she stored them for later. There had to be someone who could explain to her how all of this worked. “None of our genetic information will be used without our consent, right?”

“Of course not,” the kind woman said with her own amused smile. “You will sign your consent so it can be used in case of a life-threatening emergency at the time of your deposit, but that’s the extent of it. Every other use needs consent from all parts involved.”

Good enough. Lena exchanged a quick glance with her friend and after a silent conversation, they both nodded at each other. “Alright. I suppose we can arrange a day and a time so you can collect our samples.”

“You better pray to Rao I don’t find a mini Alex running around in a few years, because I’m gonna be so pissed and so will my girlfriend. She might kill me and if I’m going down, I’m taking all of you with me.”

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As tense as the meeting with the High Council had been, it was nothing compared to what would be waiting for her later that night. To be fair, Lena’s scientific and analytical brain should have expected it, considering their brief interaction earlier, but she was feeling so relieved after the long and exhausting day she had that she totally forgot about the only factor that, so far, promised to make her life in Argo City a living hell.

Enter Kara Zor-El.

They were all talking amicably—and even laughing—in the living room when the blonde arrived, immediately disrupting the mood. In fact, Lena could hear the sound of a broken record in her head the moment she stepped inside and all conversation suddenly stopped.

“Um, mother? What is this?”

“English, Kara. I don’t want to have to remind you again.”

The blonde huffed, but ultimately nodded. “What’s going on here?” She asked with a deep frown, and if Kara hadn’t been so hostile towards them, Lena would admit it was the cutest frown she had ever seen. Objectively speaking, of course.

“Lena, Alex and Mon-El will be staying with us until I can arrange a more permanent living situation for them now that they are residents of Argo City.” The House of El matriarch explained more eloquently than Lena would be able to at the moment.

“I’m sorry,” Kara said with that same objectively cute confused frown, “they are what ?”

Alura took a deep, calming breath and crossed one leg over the other, leveling her daughter with a pensive look. “If you had stayed earlier today instead of using work as an excuse to leave you would be aware of the situation they are facing, Kara.” She responded slowly, much to the blonde’s dismay, who looked like she was ready for a fight. “They came to Argo seeking asylum and the High Council has granted their request, making them official citizens.”

“Why? Is Argo some sort of exotic destination now? Are rich people on Earth buying their tickets to come here already?”

Lena’s attention was fully on the blonde during their interaction. She was trying to keep her cool and stay out of the argument, but after having to do so all day her patience was running very thin and she couldn’t hold back any longer.

“What is your problem?” She asked, openly glaring at the other woman.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. What is your problem with us?”

“I have no problem with you.” Kara placed her hands on her hips—and her resemblance with the Man of Steel was as annoying as it was endearing—then frowned at her as if her question was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

Lena scoffed and arched her eyebrow before standing up and taking a few steps closer to the other woman. “You could’ve fooled me. Your behavior suggests otherwise.”

They were standing merely a foot apart and still glaring at each other when Alex decided to intervene before things got out of hand. “Why don’t we all sit down so we can explain our situation to Kara?”

Both women kept glaring at each other, neither wanting to make the first move, until Alura reached over to take Kara’s hand and give it a soft squeeze. “Please, honey.”

The blonde looked at her mother and her expression immediately softened. It was as if Kara was a completely different person then and, with a little nod, she sat down next to Alura.

For whatever reason, this was the time Mon-El decided to be quiet, and Lena had the slight suspicion that maybe he was a bit smarter than everyone gave him credit for. Regardless of his lack of involvement, the three women put Kara up to date on the situation, and this time Lena could explain in a bit more detail what her life back on Earth had been ever since Lex escaped prison.

By the time they were done it was pretty obvious that Kara was not happy, but at least she wasn’t putting up a pointless fight anymore. Instead she was sitting comfortably, looking from one human to another over and over, while her brow furrowed once again, clearly deep in thought, or so Lena assumed. “Alright,” she said after a few minutes, surprising them all.

“Alright?” It was Lena who asked, not having expected that at all . In fact, she had been getting ready for a fight the whole time the blonde took to process the information.

Kara looked at her mother for a second, then back at Lena, sparing a quick glance at her injured shoulder. “Yes,” she stated firmly, her voice carrying the sort of natural confidence Lena wished she had herself. “I’m not happy with the situation, and I may not fully understand, but I’m not a monster. I would never willingly endanger anyone.”

“I’m happy to hear that, honey.” Alura wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her closer, kissing the side of her head.

“That being said,” Kara looked at Lena once again and her gaze turned a bit colder, “I’d feel more comfortable if we could sort out your living situation as soon as possible. I value my privacy.”

It looked like Alura was about to protest, but Lena beat her to it before she could berate her daughter again and say something that could potentially make things far worse for them. This she could work with. She could understand and relate. “Thank you. I feel the same way. I have absolutely no intention to invade your home.”

This time the blonde’s gaze changed to a pensive, less malicious one, and Lena could see that she was trying to decide if she should believe her or not. “Good,” she finally said, nodding once and getting up, then walking away without another word.

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“Alex, are you asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Come on.” The sentence came a bit more whiny than Lena anticipated, but once it was out there, there was nothing she could do about it so she just rolled with it.

“Lena, please.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Of course you can’t, you won’t shut up!”

“It’s not my fault, I think I’m jet lagged.”

“This isn’t Japan, that’s not a thing.”

The brunette huffed and kicked her feet around, rustling the soft sheets and annoying Alex even more. “What do you think Kara’s deal is?”

“I really don’t care right now.”

“Alex, please?”

“She’s probably annoyed because you don’t let her sleep. Oh, no, wait, that’s me.”

“You’re the fucking worst.” Lena huffed again and turned around, facing away from Alex as if her friend could see her turning her back on her.

There were a few long moments of silence, but ultimately Alex just groaned and turned around, knowing there was no way she would get any sleep if she didn’t engage in this conversation with Lena first. “Fine. I’m assuming you have theories?”

Lena was silent, but the redhead could hear the rustling of the sheets, indicating that she had turned around once again and was facing her. “A few,” she finally conceded.

“I’m listening.”

“Well, my main one is that she hates me because I’m a Luthor.”

“Lena, I know you’re a certified genius, but that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Alex, just think about it: my brother is constantly trying to kill her cousin. To be honest, I would also be reticent if I was her.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Alex propped her head up in her hand, trying to get more comfortable. “You would never judge someone for what their family does, otherwise you wouldn’t be friends with Winn.”

The brunette sighed sadly, “I miss Winn so much, why did you have to bring him up?” 

“How is it that you have the attention span of a mosquito right now?”

“Jet lag.”

Even in the darkness of their bedroom Lena could see her friend pinching the bridge of her nose before sighing loudly. “I’m not even gonna–you know what? Whatever. I don’t think her issue with us has anything to do with you being a Luthor. Technically speaking, we are invading her planet, even if it’s a peaceful and friendly invasion. You don’t like unannounced guests either.”

Lena chewed on the corner of her bottom lip and propped her head up just like Alex did. Now that their eyes were adjusting to the darkness she could see her friend’s expression. “Do you think she’s xenophobic, then?”

“I doubt it; she was raised by Alura. The woman has done nothing but make sure we felt comfortable and welcome since we arrived.”

“Mh,” the young Luthor paused and started biting the skin on the side of her nail, “homophobic?”

“Oh my fucking God. Are you serious?”

“What? It could be!”

“Lena, how on Earth would she even know we’re queer?”

“I don’t know, maybe they have a more advanced Alien gaydar? Lately you’ve been giving out very strong gay vibes, Danvers. They’re hard to miss.”

“That’s it, you’re getting annoying and I’m done with this ridiculous conversation.” Alex huffed and turned around, mostly so Lena wouldn’t see her trying not to laugh.

For her part, the young Luthor was well aware of the fact that Alex was facing away from her so she wouldn’t see her smile, which made her let out a little giggle herself. “It’s the hair, in case you didn’t know.”

“Fuck you.”

Lena giggled again, but this time she was cut short by three loud bangs against the wall on the other side of her headboard. “Thin walls!” It was Kara’s voice, grumpier than before, making them both freeze and look at each other with panic written all over their faces. “And if you must know, I’m not xenophobic, that’s ridiculous. Oh, and homophobia isn’t even a thing here. For the love of Rao, just go to sleep.”

“Sorry,” both friends mumbled at the same time after sharing a cringey look, then each got settled to sleep once and for all.

“Alex?” Lena whispered after about two minutes, trying to be quieter this time. “What do you think it means that homophobia isn’t—“

“If you don’t shut up I swear I’ll tranq you, Luthor.” The redhead whispered back almost aggressively.

All she got was some loud huffing, a groan, and some more rustling of sheets, but not another word.

Once the rustling stopped, Alex turned her head to whisper in her friend's direction as quietly as she could. “Lena, do me a favor?” 

“Yeah?”

“Remind me to bunk with Mon-El tomorrow, it can’t be worse than this.”

A pillow to the face and a low chuckle from the other side of the wall was all the answer she got.

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The moment Lena opened her eyes the next morning everything felt incredibly surreal. She hadn’t been able to appreciate the soft orange-golden glow that a red sun was casting over the whole city the day before, but it was impossible not to do it now. It was nothing like Earth’s Sun, which made sense because, for starters, this wasn’t the real Rao, but some sort of synthetic projection set in place that made all Kryptonians living in Argo City feel more at home. Still, it warmed her skin in a way that wasn’t at all uncomfortable—which was a real issue with the sun back home and her constant need for sunscreen. She felt warm and peaceful, and for a fleeting moment Lena found herself thinking that she could get used to it before she dismissed the thought entirely.

The second thing that felt strange was how rested she was. It had been years since she had felt this way, and maybe Alex was right after all and an off-world vacation was exactly what she needed. 

Speaking of Alex, the redhead was nowhere to be seen, and that led her to believe that maybe she felt so rested because she really overslept. So, after one long, careful stretch, Lena kicked the rest of the covers off and decided to get up.

It didn’t take her long to get ready and look relatively decent to face the day in her Earth clothes. This time she made the decision to not wear heels. Jesus, what the hell was I thinking? However, Lena knew that their wardrobe could be a potential issue in the long run if they wanted to really fit in, so she might accept Alura’s offer to take them to the best tailor in Argo City so they could get more appropriate clothing ready as soon as possible.

But first things first.

It was time to face her new life, and after everything she had gone through over the past few months Lena was more than ready to start this new chapter.

She carefully placed her arm on the sling once again and sighed in frustration, already feeling annoyed and uncomfortable, but knowing there was no other option if they wanted her shoulder to heal properly. 

“Well, well, well,” Alex smirked from across the kitchen island once Lena made her way there, “look who finally decided to grace us with her presence. How did you sleep, Princess?”

Any and all witty remarks were set aside for a later time—mostly because Alura was present and she had already made a fool of herself the previous night with Kara on the other side of the wall—so Lena just smiled and shook her head, walking further into the kitchen and taking the mug Mon-El was offering her. “Thank you,” she said softly, making the man beam with pride. “I had a wonderful night of sleep, how about you?”

“Slept great once you finally decided to shut up.”

Alura laughed at Alex’s remark, making Lena realize that maybe she had heard something, which immediately made her blush. “Yes, I got an earful about that earlier this morning from Kara.”

“I’m so sorry,” the young Luthor started, blushing even more, “if I’d known she could hear us I would’ve been more careful. The last thing I want is to disturb you.”

“Lena, relax.” Alura chuckled lightly and took a sip from her own steaming mug. “I can’t presume to know what Kara’s issue is, since she won’t talk to me about it, but I can assure you it’ll get better. My daughter is the sweetest, most caring person I know. She’ll adjust. We all will.”

Sweetest? Were they talking about the same person? Of course, Lena knew better than to argue with that, so she just smiled and nodded her head, deciding that focusing on drinking her coffee was definitely a good idea. Only it wasn’t coffee. She paused and frowned at her mug, not because she didn’t like it, but because it took her by surprise. Why had her brain been expecting coffee was beyond her, but she would attribute it to the fact that she had just woken up. Up until this moment she didn’t even think about the gastronomical implications of living on another planet—or whatever Argo was—and even though it felt inconsequential compared to all the other things she would have to adapt to, it was a little bit exciting, something to look forward to. It was the right level of adventurous wonderment that would help distract her from everything else.

Breakfast was a quick affair after that. Alura would be leaving for work in the following minutes, so she put them up to date on what was required of them that day. Thara would be picking them up and drive them to the labs where some members of the Science Guild would be expecting them to properly take their samples for the Codex, then they would go to the Peace Officer’s Headquarters, where they would gather any information about them they considered relevan or pertinent, and store it in the main Argonian database.

Mon-El had proudly claimed he had already submitted his sample the first time he was in Argo City, so he said he would use his time wisely and find some Argonian clothing to start blending in with the rest of the citizens. The only reason why Lena believed him was because she knew he would get incredibly bored otherwise. 

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“Alright, ladies, this is it,” Thara said cheerfully, parking the car in front of the most beautiful and technologically advanced building either human had seen in their lives.

Now that their situation was properly sorted with the High Council, Lena discovered Thara was way friendlier and nicer than she had let them believe when they first met. It was smart, considering what her job was and everything. She was a sweet woman who clearly loved her people and could talk for hours about her two kids, which Lena found endearing. It also ended up getting her a bit nostalgic, reminding her of Sam and Ruby, and the fact that she had no idea when she would see them again.

Alex got out of the car first and looked around in awe. “Wow, are you guys for real?” 

The Chief Peace Officer followed her and smiled proudly, motioning with her hand to the entrance for them to follow her inside. “I take it you don’t have buildings like this on Earth?”

“Are you kidding? The closest thing we have to this kind of technology is L-Corp, and it’s not even a close competition.”

Lena’s nostrils flared and she glared at her friend. “I resent that,” she said coldly, even if she knew Alex was right.

“Well, it’s true.”

“What’s an L-Corp?” Thara asked, confused.

“It’s my company,” the brunette said, craning her neck to be able to look at Thara while walking alongside both women.

Apparently Alex found that response lacking, so she decided to expand on it. “It’s the leading company specializing in technology back home. Her brother is a psycho who was using it to make weapons, but Lena here changed that as soon as she took control of it. Now they develop all kinds of things, and a lot of them are aimed to protect aliens and humans alike.”

“Oh?” Thara’s interest was proof that maybe Alex’s explanation was needed, but it still felt like a weird flex for Lena. She honestly didn’t like the attention. “Is that an issue on Earth? Do aliens need protection?”

“Sadly, sometimes they do.” It was Lena this time who responded, mostly because it was a topic she felt so passionately about. “One of the last things we created was an image inducer for those who wish to hide their true appearance and look more human-like, at least out in the world. There have been several cases of hate crimes against aliens lately.”

Thara pursed her lips and shook her head in disappointment. “I’m sad to hear that. But thank you for looking out for us, Lena.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she dismissed it with a wave of her hand, “anyone with the means would have done the same.”

“That’s very, very untrue.” Alex scoffed and looked at Thara. “Don’t let her cold exterior fool you, this woman is a saint. She saved more lives than I could count.”

This time Thara chuckled and nodded at Alex, throwing a conspiratorial wink her way, but kept quiet otherwise.

They had made it past the entrance of the building and walked down a long hallway, then took a few turns down one of the corridors. Now they were standing in front of a shiny sliding door that had a digital plaque displaying something in kryptonese on the left side, and a biometric reader on the right. The Kryptonian woman moved in front of the reader and placed her hand on the scanner, waiting for a few seconds until her hand print turned green. Then she leaned closer and a little laser that came out of nowhere scanned her whole face. When that was over, a voice that sounded like all the robots they met the day before had said something they couldn’t understand, but Lena assumed it was asking for her name, since that was the answer Thara voiced.

The doors opened with a soft hiss and both Lena and Alex were immediately taken aback by the incredible lab in front of them. Tables and desks took a big part of the space with every kind of equipment imaginable, some they recognized, some they didn’t. One of the walls was lined with full cabinets with glass doors displaying from beakers to several vials with different color liquids inside, and even some things neither Lena nor Alex had the slightest idea of what they could possibly be. The opposite side held enough space for two exam tables with their respective carts and trays for tools. 

Lena was so distracted in her fascination that she didn’t notice the single scientist who was quietly working inside and had just looked up at them. “Good, you’re here. Let’s get this over with.”

Of course it had to be her. Clearly Rao had a terrible sense of humor.

“Hey, Kara, we didn’t see you this morning.” For some reason that Lena couldn’t understand, Alex seemed to actually like Kara.

By the way the blonde smiled at her in greeting, the feeling seemed to be mutual. “Alex, how are you?”

“Great! How about you? Could you get some sleep?”

This time Kara laughed, which Lena assumed was a good sign. The blonde motioned to the exam tables and nodded, following them there. “Yes, eventually I did. How about you?” Her gaze shifted briefly to Lena with an expression close to amusement when she asked, but the brunette didn’t notice. However, it was not lost on Alex, but she would keep that information to herself, at least for the time being.

“We slept great, thanks again for letting us stay at your place.”

Instead of using her words, Kara just nodded this time and got to work. She discarded the gloves she had been wearing and put on some new ones from a box nearby, then reached for a little electronic device that was lying on the cart next to Lena. She popped some sort of glass cartridge into it and then looked at the brunette with her eyebrows raised in question. When Lena nodded, she nodded back. “Please hold your arm out. I’ll make a small puncture on your forearm with this and it will extract a couple drops of blood.”

“Is that all?” Lena asked, holding her arm out.

“Yes. All we need is just a drop or two.” She answered, placing one end of the pencil-like device on Lena’s arm and looking up at her. “I’ll store both your samples here following Codex protocol, have you sign a form so we are legally allowed to use your samples to help you in case your lives are in danger, and then you’re free to go. May I proceed?”

“Go ahead.” Lena nodded and kept her full attention on what the blonde was doing. Not because she lacked trust in the woman, but because she was still fascinated by how different their tools were.

To be fair, she barely felt it. Maybe it was the device, maybe Kara was really good, or maybe both, but she barely had time to register the faintest of stings when the blonde was already pulling the device away. “Thank you, Miss Luthor.”

“You can call me Lena, you know?”

It looked like Kara had every intention to protest, but Thara was looking at her with a stern expression that Lena couldn’t really understand, but it seemed to make Kara reconsider. “Lena,” she corrected. “You may call me Kara.”

“Thank you, Kara.”

There was a little grunt and nod coming from the blonde that Lena found really amusing, so she tried to hold back a smile while Kara switched devices to take Alex’s sample. She thought she was doing a great job at hiding her amusement, but the way Thara was looking at her made the brunette realize that maybe she wasn’t being as smooth as she thought she was. The redheaded Kryptonian smiled and winked conspiratorially at her, so in an attempt to hide her blush Lena just bit her bottom lip and looked away.

Kara finished quickly with Alex, too, while the redhead asked her a hundred questions about the device she was using. The blonde did her very best to answer all those questions, but eventually had to take both samples to one of the work tables to store them properly. She handed Thara two tablets with the digital forms for them to sign, and Lena noticed with a relieved smile they were in English. It was pretty standard and concise, going straight to the point and stating the exact same thing Kara had just explained.

While they were signing the papers the blonde was working with her back to them and that’s why it took Lena a moment to realize that she was talking to her when she heard her voice. “Do you want me to fix that while you’re here?” She asked as if Lena should know what she was talking about.

“Fix what?”

Kara closed the two tiny cases with their samples she had just labeled and set them aside before turning around. “Your shoulder.”

The brunette frowned in confusion, “what do you mean ‘fix it?’ There’s nothing we can do about it, I just have to wait.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it. I can.”

Rude. 

“Let me get this straight–”

“As if you could–”

“Alex, I swear to God!” Lena glared at her friend, making her laugh and shut her mouth afterwards. Then she focused on Kara again, who was oblivious to the brief exchange between the two friends and the meaning behind Alex’s attempted joke. “Are you saying you can… what? Instantly fix my shoulder?”

“Yes.”

“Just like that? Fix it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not a woman of many words, are you?” The redhead asked with a little laugh, and Thara laughed with her. 

“Just wait until she feels comfortable around you,” the woman said, earning herself a little glare from her best friend.

“Do you want me to or not? Because I don’t have all day.”

“Well, you’re just charming, aren’t you?” Lena knew one day her smart mouth would get her in trouble, but honestly, how could she help it when Kara was so snappy around her for no reason?

“I have no interest in charming you.”

The nerve of this woman.

Lena arched a brow and looked at the scientist in front of her with one of her coldest glares. “If you’re gonna have an attitude about it, I’d rather deal with it as it is.”

Alex and Thara were looking back and forth between the two of them as if they were watching a tennis match.

“Do you expect me to beg you to let me help you?”

“No, but you don’t need to be so rude.”

“How is asking if you want me to help you considered rude?”

“It’s not what you said, it’s the way you said it!”

“Why are you getting mad at me?!”

Both their voices were starting to get louder so, after exchanging a quick glance, Thara and Alex decided to intervene. “Luthor, just let her help you. That sling has to be annoying you.”

“It’ll be quick and painless,” Thara explained, “she’s been treating me for years.”

“Fine,” Lena finally said with a loud scoff, fully intended to annoy Kara.

The blonde just rolled her eyes and walked to the cabinets lining the opposite wall. “Remove the sling and whatever clothing is covering the wound.”

“I’m not gonna get naked in front of you. Are you even a doctor?” Lena was almost outraged, but she removed the sling nonetheless.

Kara paused to pinch the bridge of her nose. She sighed in frustration and mumbled something in Kryptonese under her breath. “I’m not asking you to get naked, just uncover your shoulder.” She took a clear jar filled with a soft pink gel from the cabinet and turned around again. “I’m not a physician, but I’m just as qualified.”

Lena was about to come up with a snarky comment when Thara leaned closer to her. “She was the youngest member of the Science Guild in history. Still is.”

“How young?” That fact made her curious enough to forget about her comment.

“She was recruited at eleven. Started her training at thirteen.”

“Eleven?!” Kara seemed to hear her and pause what she was doing to look at her as if she was crazy, so Lena averted her gaze and lowered her voice once again. “How?”

“She’s brilliant.” Thara looked so proud and so sincere that the brunette decided to put her doubts aside and just trust them. “Trained most of our actual physicians, since we lost so many people with Krypton.”

“That’s…” she glanced at Kara’s serious and focused expression and was suddenly reminded of the losses they had suffered. “Impressive.”

“She is. They didn’t make her head of Argo’s Science Guild for nothing.”

That she wasn’t expecting. “How old is she?” Now Lena was really impressed. Kara looked about her age, maybe a year or two older, but not more than that.

“If I’m not mistaken, she’s thirty years old in Earth years.”

Alex decided to lean closer after eavesdropping their whole conversation to offer her two very unnecessary cents. “I have a feeling she can give you a run for your money, Luthor.”

“You didn’t uncover your shoulder. Do you want to do this or not?” Kara interrupted her before she could tell Alex to mind her own business.

“For fuck’s sake,” Lena mumbled under her breath and silently accepted Alex’s help with her clothes. She still glared at Kara, though, and made a point to fully cover her chest using her free arm, which made the blonde roll her eyes again.

“You’re ridiculous,” Kara observed, placing the jar and a device that looked like a portable scanner next to Lena’s body on the table.

Her eyes narrowed instantly and the brunette glared at her as if she was trying to burn a hole through her skull. “In my experience, I’m just being cautious,” she said coldly.

“I’m not going to be looking at your breasts, Lena.”

“You never know. They are rather spectacular.”

“Rao, you’re insufferable, has anyone ever told you that?”

Now, Lena had mixed feelings after that. On the one hand, she wanted to tell Kara to go to hell and storm off like the extra woman she was. But on the other hand, she actually respected the fact that the blonde said that to her face without an ounce of fear or doubt.

In the end, respect won over pettiness, and Lena smirked. “Once or twice, I believe.”

“I’ll make sure to remind you more often. Now stay still.” All of Kara’s attention was focused on Lena’s shoulder. She replaced her gloves and carefully removed the bandage, inspecting the wound and softly tracing her thumb over the stitches. “Who stitched you up?”

“That would be me,” Alex said, raising her hand.

Kara looked at her and gave her a small half-smile. “You did an outstanding job. Are you a medical professional?”

“I’m a bioengineer and a physician, so yes, pretty much.”

The blonde looked actually impressed and smiled wider. “I look forward to working with you, Dr. Danvers.”

“It’s getting really hard not to take this whole thing personally,” Lena said grumpily, frowning like an angry child.

Kara smirked without even trying to hide it and shook her head. “Insufferable,” she whispered only for Lena to hear this time due to their proximity.

The blonde reached for the jar and spread some of the gel over the wound. She waited a few seconds and, just when Lena was about to ask her what she was waiting for, she felt a tingly sensation all around the wound. “That should be numb now. I will remove the stitches so you don’t get a scar.”

Lena just hummed and nodded, but then realized what she had just heard. “Isn’t it gonna scar anyway?”

“No.”

“At all?”

“Not if I can remove the stitches, so stop moving.” She didn’t say anything else, just grabbed a little blade that looked similar to a scalpel and started working on the stitches. Her expression was hard and focused the whole time, but her gaze softened for a second when she looked at Lena halfway through. “Does it hurt? ”

Something in her voice was also different enough to give Lena pause. She just smiled and shook her head carefully. “Not at all, I can barely feel anything.”

“Good.” She wasn’t sure if Kara had whispered that to herself or to answer her, but it didn’t really matter and soon she resumed with the rest of the stitches. “Now, I’m going to apply some more gel and it’s going to feel tingly again. A bit stronger, too. Then I’m going to boost your regeneration from the bone out and by the time I’m done you shouldn’t even have a mark.”

It was fascinating, really. She had been accused of being a workaholic before, and maybe they had been right, but this time she was dying to start working here for the sole purpose of trying to figure out how Kryptonian technology worked.

Lena just nodded and pursed her lips, keeping her attention on what Kara was doing.

It couldn’t have been more than a minute of the blonde holding the device that looked like a scanner over her shoulder, when she pulled it away and turned it off.

There was nothing there. No wound, no scar, no nothing. Lena kept looking back and forth, from the wound to Kara and vice versa, before finding her voice once again. “That’s amazing.”

She could’ve sworn she saw Kara smile while she cleaned the rest of the gel away, but it was gone before she could be entirely sure. “You’re welcome,” the blonde said afterwards, her tone dripping with annoying smugness.

“Thank you Doctor Zor-El,” Lena said in mockery, but the way Kara looked at her made her stop in her tracks.

“If anything, it would be Doctor Kara Zor-El. Doctor Zor-El was my father.”

Thara cleared her throat loudly to interrupt and get everyone’s attention, which worked on both accounts. “Alright, Kara, if you’re all done here, I have to take them to my office next.”

The blonde’s gaze softened once again and she nodded, taking a step back and looking away while softly clearing her throat, too. “That would be all. On behalf of the Science Guild and High Council of Argo City, I thank you for your collaboration and ready disposition. Have a good day.”

And just like that, without even waiting for an answer, she gathered her tools and walked away, leaving two very confused humans following Thara once again.

Chapter Text

“Okay, I have to admit that wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be.”

“Why would you assume it would be painful?”

“It always is with you, Lena.” Alex huffed loudly. She was walking alongside her friend, hands shoved in her pockets and boots kicking some of the pebbles she came across.

Lena was trying to pay attention to the city around them while also looking at a new device in her hand.

They had gone to the tailor’s, a charming middle aged man who immediately got excited at the prospect of dressing both humans and promised to have a few things ready for them soon. He said he would message them whenever they could come get their clothes, which led to Alura using that as an excuse—although Lena suspected she probably planned it that way—to give each one of them one of the devices Lena was holding right now. If she had to look for a comparison, it would be the Kryptonian equivalent of a human smartphone. With the exact same technological gap between the two of them.

“It’s not my fault if you have no patience, Alex.” 

“Remember that time you tried on the same dress five different times, kid? No one would have that kind of patience.”

“I did buy it and wore it to the gala in the end, didn’t I?” The memory made Lena smirk. She knew she looked stunning in that dress, there was no denying that.

Alex scoffed and bumped her shoulder against Lena’s. “That you did,” she nodded, “remember Jack’s face?”

Oh, yeah, that. “Not my finest moment.”

This time the redhead laughed, throwing her head back and everything. “Never thought I’d see so many of your exes in one room.”

“Regardless, that’s proof that trying on that dress so many times was well worth it.”

“Worth it?! Lena, I came home from that gala sporting a brand new black eye!”

“I said what I said.”

“You’re a shit.” No matter how hard she tried, Alex couldn’t keep the laughter off her words. “This time it was actually fun. I liked them.”

Lena liked them too. Every single person they came across that day had been nothing but friendly and accommodating. In some cases they even showed excitement to see them, like Tyll-Gen, the tailor. 

And then there was Kara.

Whatever her problem was, it was starting to get on Lena’s nerves. Not because she needed to be liked by everyone, no, she was actually used to people not liking her. In this case, it was not knowing why that was bothering her. She was trying to not let it affect her, but it was getting harder to ignore, especially after some of Kara’s comments and jabs during their last exchange. And, yes, Lena was fully aware of which comments exactly had bothered her the most, but it was something she was not ready to acknowledge. If she had to take it to the grave, then so be it.

Luckily for her and her very dangerous train of thought, they arrived back at Alura’s home, so the conversation was cut short in favor of greeting the woman.

“How did it go?” Alura asked excitedly, fidgeting like an excited five year old. “Did you manage to find something to your liking?”

The young Luthor laughed softly and nodded, “we did, thank you so much for helping us. I honestly had no idea there were so many options, and Tyll-Gen was a delight.”

“I got pants!” Alex exclaimed out of nowhere. “I thought it was all robes and dresses, but no, I could get pants!”

That made Alura laugh fondly and shake her head affectionately. “Of course we have pants, Alex,” she said, still incredibly amused, “we want everyone to feel comfortable in their skin, so our tailors make sure to provide any and all available options. They’re even open to create custom designs, should anyone require them. I believe gender-nonconforming clothing was always a thing for us.”

The use of the term surprised Lena, and she was about to comment on it, but a sudden voltage drop made her pause and look around in worry. “Um, what was that?”

“I’m assuming Kara had something to do with it. She’s downstairs in the lab trying to figure out what was going on with the portal.” 

There was a lot of information to unpack from that simple explanation, but the one that Lena’s brain chose to focus on was the fact that they had a private lab. Or, more accurately, Kara had a private lab, because she knew Alura’s field was most certainly not science related. 

She was trying to figure out the best way to politely ask to see said lab when the older woman beat her to it. “Would you like to join her? I’m sure three highly intelligent brains are better than one.”

“I honestly doubt your daughter would agree with that statement. She’s not particularly fond of me, for whatever reason.”

Alura’s eyeroll could probably be seen from Earth. She turned around and motioned for both women to follow her, which they did without hesitation. “Well, she’s going to have to get used to it sooner or later. Might as well start now.”

The lab was considerably smaller than the one they had visited earlier that day, but just as impressive, if not even more. The equipment looked a bit more high-tech, which was already bordering on ridiculous compared to Earth's standards.

There was some music playing softly in the background that neither human could recognize, but it sounded similar to Earth’s Indie Rock. Kara was lying on the floor, screwdriver in hand, adjusting something on the side of the portal and facing away from them. Her hair fanned out on the floor and the little smudge of grease on her cheek made her look adorably soft.

No! Bad Lena! Kara is not adorable. Stop that.

“Kara–”

The blonde was clearly not expecting any company, if the shriek she let out and the way she banged her head against the side of the portal was anything to go by. She mumbled something in Kryptonese while rubbing her forehead and glared at the intruders, looking even more annoyed when she noticed Lena was trying very hard not to laugh, while Alex was just grinning without a care in the world.

“Such grace,” the redhead commented and, honestly, Lena was actually impressed with her boldness. “Looking good, Kar.”

Kara’s eyes narrowed even more and for the first time her glare was directed at Alex. “Don’t push your luck, Dr. Danvers,” she grumbled while getting up and dusting herself off. “How can I help you?”

“Actually, I was thinking that perhaps Lena and Alex could help you?” Alura suggested carefully, which meant she was aware of her daughter’s hostility towards them and that Kara wasn’t always an aggressive person.

The blonde opened her mouth to reply, but shut it again quickly before saying anything. She took a deep breath through her nose and waited a few seconds, probably to reign in her impulses. After a few moments she let it out in a long sigh and put a very fake smile on her face. “I appreciate it, but that won’t be necessary, I just finished here. It needed to be recalibrated.”

Lena was aware that the conversation kept going, but she spaced out contemplating the fact that Kara had not only figured out what was wrong with the portal, but also fixed it. Of course, they knew beforehand that the blonde was a scientist but, in her experience, a lot of people who would call themselves scientists, when it came down to it, would consider manual labor a menial task beneath them. That clearly wasn’t the case with Kara, and the young Luthor was here for it.

“Lena?”

Kara’s voice calling her name took her out of the little world her mind had pulled her into, and Lena had to clear her throat in a desperate attempt to appear nonchalant. “Huh?” Smooth.

“I asked if you want to try it.”

“Try what?”

“Oh my God, Luthor, you’re useless,” Alex groaned and shoved her lightly to the side, walking closer to Kara and inspecting the portal. “Can I send a message?”

The blonde scientist moved to the digital panel next to the portal—completely ignoring Lena after that—and made sure the connection was stable. “Go ahead, I took the liberty to add a feature to notify whoever’s in charge on the other side of incoming messages based on urgency. It should work both ways, I only have to set some filters now that you have your own… um, kir raozrhynj…?”

“I believe they call it a phone, dear.” Alura intervened, looking back and forth between the two humans for confirmation.

Kara snapped her fingers and pointed at her mother before either Lena or Alex could confirm. “Smartphones, yes! We could do the same on the other side and establish a proper communication network that doesn’t require intermediaries.”

Alex was clearly impressed and her face showed it, but the moment she looked at her friend, her expression went from impressed to thoroughly amused. “Do you need a minute, Lena?”

“Shut up.”

“Are you alright, dear?” Poor, poor Alura asked, concern written all over her face.

Lena could only blush furiously and try to look away. “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m–”

“Thirsty.”

Fucking Alex. 

“What’s going on?” Kara looked lost, trying to get some sort of clarification about what was happening between them. Lena should have known that Alex would notice the not-so-subtle turn her thoughts were about to take. Not only was her friend an incredible agent with unmatched skills, but she had known her for years.

“Nothing.” The brunette said firmly, glaring at Alex, shooting very subtle metaphorical daggers at her. 

To her credit, the redhead only laughed and shook her head, then went to change the subject once again. “So, we could communicate with Earth using only our phones?”

Kara nodded proudly and took out hers, quickly calibrating it to the portal’s frequency. “If we can get someone on the other side to do the same on their phones, I could have a well established private communication network set up by tomorrow.”

----------------------------------------------

Mon-El was the kind of man that would end up making friends with random people, no matter where he was. It had happened on Earth many years ago, so it was really no surprise when the same thing happened on Argo. 

A few days after Kara and Brainy successfully set up the private communication network, a giddy and excited Daxamite entered the living room where Lena, Alex and Alura were discussing their new living arrangements over a cup of tea. All three women looked at him fidgeting in his spot, clearly waiting for a lull in their conversation so he wouldn’t rudely interrupt them. Of course, the sight was already distracting enough, so Alura just smiled fondly, acknowledging him. “Are you alright, dear?”

“I have fantastic news!” The man announced, grinning, and it was a little bit endearing. True to his usual self, he didn’t even wait for someone to ask what the news were, and instead started a fast paced, excited monologue. “So, I was out today, minding my own business, and I ran into a friend that I made a couple of days ago. She invited us to a bar tonight, or at least I think it’s a bar? By the way she described it, I think it’s like a bar.”

For a split second Lena wanted to ask why that would be deemed as ‘fantastic news,’ but Mon-El looked so happy she actually felt bad about being a bitch. “Okay, I guess…? Have fun.”

“What? No, no, no.” He shook his head and moved his hand in a circle as if he was rounding them up. “We’re all going.”

This time Alura laughed and placed her mug on the little table next to the couch. “I think it’s a great idea,” she said directly to Lena, who looked like she was about to protest, “you should all go. You haven’t really done anything fun since you got here. I’m too old for bars, but I hear they’re great. Young people here love them.”

Alex looked at her friend and arched her brow, engaging in a silent conversation for a few seconds while Mon-El kept shifting from one foot to the other. “I mean, I could use a drink,” she finally said, smirking a little bit, and Mon-El fist-pumped the air.

“Well, can’t the two of you go?” Lena rolled her eyes dramatically, more out of habit than actual annoyance.

“You and I both know he’s gonna ditch me the second a pretty girl bats her eyelashes his way.” The redhead stated matter-of-factly, pointing her thumb at the Daxamite, and Lena knew she was absolutely right. “Please? We haven’t gone out in so long. Even before coming here.”

With a loud groan—because she still wanted to put up an absurd fight—and one more eye roll, Lena agreed. “Fine. One drink.”

“Three.”

“You’re pushing your luck, Danvers. Two.”

----------------------------------------------

She should have known that this would happen. 

Much like everything else on Argo, the bar was absolutely beautiful. They found a nice high table on the patio at the far back, where the space was open and surrounded by all kinds of beautiful plants and flowers. Nature appeared to be the whole concept of this bar, and it was incredible. Little fairy lights hung randomly all around them, and the music wasn’t so loud out there, which created a nice, relaxed environment for conversation.

And then, of course, there were the drinks. Those fucking drinks. After the first sip Lena knew she wouldn’t be able to hold her promise of just two. They were absolutely delicious. It was infuriating. It took them a while and a lot of questions to pick what they would deem ‘the right one,’ but the bartenders had been polite, friendly and oh so patient with them, explaining not only flavors, but the processes of fermentation and distillation they used.

Yes, yes, it was fascinating, and that made it even more infuriating. She was finishing her second glass of Kryptonian whiskey—that was what they decided to call it, because neither she nor Alex were that good at Kryptonese yet—and Lena knew she was about to order a third one. And probably one more after that. Or two. 

To both human’s surprise, Mon-El was still with them. Not only that, but he was also pleasant company at the moment. Either that or the drinks were starting to kick, which wouldn’t be the worst thing, to be honest. Regardless, the man was drinking a light caramel colored ale and hadn’t run off to chase some unsuspecting lady. All in all, Lena counted that as progress.

It was during her fourth drink that three strangers approached their table, and only then did Lena realize how packed the bar suddenly was. Alura was right, a lot of young Argonians seemed to be there, and by the looks of it, they were having fun.

The tall man of the trio said something, and Lena made a mental note to find a way to learn Kryptonese sooner rather than later.  Alex looked at her with questioning eyes, but the brunette just shrugged and looked at Mon-El instead. 

“He’s asking if they can join us,” the young Daxamite translated, and something seemed to click for the Kryptonians, who just smiled brightly. Well, at least two of them, the third one rolled his eyes and just left without saying a word. 

“Oh! Uh… sure?” Alex looked at her friend for confirmation, but Lena just shrugged again and took another sip.

The man sat closer to the redhead and this time when Lena held the glass to her lips again was to hide an amused smirk. It didn’t last long, though, because that meant the only free seat was now the one next to her, which the young Kryptonian woman took swiftly. “So, I take it you’re the humans, then?” The man asked with a smile in a very strong accent, switching his gaze between the three of them.

“We come from Earth, yes,” Mon-El stated, and for the second time in the span of a few days Lena realized that he was probably way smarter than he let anyone believe. There was no point in bringing up his native origin, not here. The history between Daxamites and Kryptonians was one of hatred and betrayal, and the last thing any of them needed was that bad blood ruining not only their night, but also their stay.

The woman nodded and took a sip from a bottle. “What brings you here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A psychopath and several assassination attempts, mostly.” 

Lena Luthor, making people uncomfortable since 1993.

Not knowing her at all, the Kryptonians had no way of knowing if she was joking or not, so they exchanged a quick look before laughing it off and carrying on as if nothing had ever happened. “My name is Ral-Vir, by the way. Can I buy you a drink?” The man asked Alex, and this time Lena had to actually bite her lip not to laugh.

“Uh…” The redhead looked at her, desperately pleading for help, but her friend just shook her head and arched a brow, waiting to see how she handled it. Alex narrowed her eyes, silently promising vengeance, and turned to the man once again. “I’m Alex,” she started politely, “I’m… not really sure how things work here, but I don’t really feel comfortable accepting that drink, I have a girlfriend back home.”

To be honest, the man took it with more dignity than either Lena or Alex had ever seen in a man who had just been rejected. He nodded in understanding and smiled, holding his bottle up in silent toast. “Lucky lady.”

“How about you?” The woman asked Lena, “do you have someone too? Can I get you a drink?”

She wasn’t expecting that. At all. Now it was Alex’s turn to just stare at her in amusement and the redhead was enjoying it greatly. “Um, I–” It took her a few long seconds, but Lena finally composed herself and cleared her throat. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll also have to decline.”

The woman nodded and never lost her smile. It was almost surreal for Lena, who was used to people reacting badly whenever she rejected them, no matter how politely she did it. “May I ask you something? I’m curious, you’re the first humans we’ve met.” She paused and waited for Lena to nod before asking. “Is it true that you have defined… What is it called?” She asked, looking at her friend for help, who just frowned like he had no idea what she was talking about. She sighed in frustration and quickly chose a different way of expressing herself. “Would it be because I’m a woman?”

Then it dawned on Lena what she was trying to ask, and now she had so many questions herself. “Sexualities, you mean?”

“Yes. That.”

“I suppose it’s true,” she said calmly, pursing her lips in thought, realizing what that question actually said about Argonian society.

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? You’re saying you don’t?” Alex asked, the bafflement in her voice making her louder.

Both Kryptonians chuckled and shook their heads. “We don’t,” the man explained briefly, “there’s no need for us to even question that about ourselves here. The Codex has never been wrong, it matches us to our perfect partner, no matter the gender.”

“Are you two matched?” Curiosity had gotten the best of her by now. In addition to learning Kryptonese, Lena would have to talk to Alura about getting some more information on the subject. It was fascinating.

“Not yet,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Our genetic material gets taken into consideration for matching when we turn twenty-five years old.”

Alex choked on her drink and started coughing violently. “You’re not even twenty-five?!” She was shooting daggers at the man sitting next to her. “I have at least ten years on you!”

Ral-Vir laughed and shrugged sheepishly, “that is not a problem for me, I find you very attractive.”

“You never answered my question,” the woman said, looking at Lena once again. 

Normally, the brunette would just stare coldly at whoever asked anything about her personal life and proceed to ignore them, but this woman had been nothing but respectful, and she was merely asking out of curiosity. “I’m sorry… Um, what was your name?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. My name is Avi Pill-Nun, it's a pleasure.”

“Lena.” The brunette paused to nod shortly at her in acknowledgment. “And to answer your question: no, it’s not because you are a woman, I’m actually bisexual.”

“You are?” Mon-El asked, completely taken aback by the revelation. “How come I didn’t know?”

Suddenly he was on the receiving end of the icy-Luthor-glare. “I’m sorry, I was unaware that I had to run it by you.” There was absolutely no room for misinterpretation; even Mon-El could tell Lena was being sarcastic. “Next time I want to invite someone into my bed I’ll make sure to ask for your approval.”

The man rolled his eyes and took another sip, used to Lena’s responses after a few years of knowing her. “Always so dramatic.”

The observation made Alex laugh. The idiot had a point after all. “Well, you know her: Lena Kieran ‘Extra’ Luthor.”

“Wait a minute,” Avi said more to herself than anyone else. “Lena Luthor?!” She looked at her friend and her palm hit the table in what Lena assumed was sudden realization and excitement, dragging the attention of a few people around them. “Ral-Vir, she’s the woman who saved Argo!”

“Of course!” He said excitedly, “that’s why the name sounded so familiar! Miss Luthor, we owe you so much.” 

Lena quickly shook her head while blushing, trying her best to dismiss the topic in a low voice. She had never enjoyed the attention; it hardly ever had positive connotations, so she’d rather lay low. That’s what a lifetime of shitty experience after shitty experience with the press taught her, and it was so ingrained in her that she didn’t even know how to take a compliment, let alone praise. “It was nothing–”

“We are alive thanks to you,” Avi said in awe, “you literally saved all of us. Thanks to you now the Science Guild can create as much Harun-El as we need. Wait, have you met Kara Zor-El? She’s the head of the Science Guild. My brother works with her, you should meet her, she was so relieved when Council Member Alura Zor-El came back to Argo with the formula. I believe she called you a genius.”

Well, now that was absolutely ridiculous and there was no way it was actually true. Lena smirked and downed her drink in one go, only to have it replaced right away by a new one, courtesy of a sneaky Ral-Vir. She would have objected, but the topic was making her so uncomfortable that she actually drank half of it in an attempt to numb her senses a little bit more.

“Mhm.” And just like that, the rest of her drink was gone. How many was that? Four? Five? She had lost count, that didn’t bode well for her. “I hardly think she–”

“Kara!” It was Ral-Vir who spotted the blonde at the bar and decided to call her over. “Come join us, look who’s here!” 

Ral-Vir, you clueless idiot.

Lena turned around, trying to see if Kara was really there, and she discovered two things at that exact moment: One, judging by the way the room started spinning the moment she turned around, she was drunk. And two, Kara was, in fact, right there.

Even in her drunk state Lena could see the blonde smiling brightly at the man—whom she clearly knew—and then frown when she noticed who was at the table with him. In her defense she tried to avoid joining them, gesturing to a table on the other side of the bar, and the brunette really appreciated it, but Thara was not having any of that. She laughed and said something to her friend that Lena couldn’t hear or understand, and then pushed her forward in the direction of their table.

“Um, hello,” she said softly, uncomfortableness radiating from her body in waves. “It’s good to see you all.” At least she was being civil.

Thara joined her quickly and handed her another drink that looked like Mon-El’s, which the blonde started downing almost desperately. “Hi, guys! How are you?” She asked them way too cheery, and that’s when Lena realized they were probably as drunk as she was.

“We’re great,” thank God for Alex, “how are you? Please, take a seat.” Ral-Vir was already borrowing chairs from neighboring tables for them.

“Thank you!” Drunk Thara was too peppy for Lena’s taste, but whatever interference she could get here, she would make sure to welcome it with open arms. “Having fun? How do you know each other?”

“Oh, he was hitting on me,” Alex started, pointing to the man, “poor thing, doesn’t know I’m as gay as the day is long.” She made a brief pause, grinning when Thara laughed and Kara seemed to smile at her. “And Avi here was trying to get into Lena’s pants.”

“What?! Alex! No, that’s not–!” Why was she reacting like that? Get a grip, Luthor, what the fuck?

Avi just laughed and shook her head, “I just wanted to get her a drink, that’s all. Although, I do find her very attractive.” She looked at Kara and asked excitedly, “have you met Lena? She’s the one who gave your mother the formula for the Harun-El.”

“I’m aware.” There was not even a hint of a fake smile. Nothing. Kara’s words were clipped and dry, and for some reason Lena started to feel irritated by them. “We have met.”

Turns out that ‘reason’ was alcohol. Argonian alcohol, more specifically. Even Alex looked tipsy, and that was not something most people ever got to witness. However, Lena still managed to keep her mouth shut. They were having fun until then and she truly didn’t want to ruin the night. Of course, Kara acting like she was completely ignoring her—when in reality she kept stealing quick glances her way—made things much harder.

And by ‘harder’ Lena meant painfully annoying.

It wasn’t intentional. To be honest, she didn’t even notice she was glaring at the blonde until the woman in question called her out on it. 

Kara looked her in the eye with an intensity the brunette had ever experienced before, not even during board meetings. “What?” She asked bluntly and loud enough to make all eyes fall on them. “Is there a reason you’re trying to burn holes in my head?”

Lena’s eyes narrowed and somehow her hand found the rest of Alex’s drink, which she stole and downed in one go because she simply didn’t care anymore. “The fuck is your problem?” Her words were starting to get a bit slurred, her Irish accent getting thicker, and that should’ve tipped Kara off, she should’ve known to just ignore it and let it go, but the thing was, Kara’s came out just as slurred.

“You. You are my problem.”

“The fuck have I ever done to you?!”

Alex got up and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder in an attempt to get her attention, but Lena just brushed her off without even looking at her.

Noticing that, Thara seemed to sober up a bit and tried to do the same with Kara. If she knew what was going on, she was excellent at hiding it, because she looked just as lost as Alex. She leaned closer to the blonde and spoke in Kryptonese, her tone soft and calming, and bouncing right off her best friend who didn’t even acknowledge her.

“What do you think you’re doing here? You come to Argo and… what? Just demand to stay? As if we owe you something?” Kara’s hands started moving around for emphasis as she got more and more agitated. 

Now Lena got up because she refused to stay sitting and have Kara look down at her. Sure, it didn’t work because the blonde was still a bit taller once she stood up, too, but it gave her a little push. She meant business now. “I didn’t demand anything, Kara! Your cousin sent me here! You think this would’ve been my first choice?” 

“Hey, how about we all calm down and–”

Kara looked at Mon-El and pointed at him before he could say anything else, “you sit down, this doesn’t concern you.”

“You don’t talk to him like that!” Why was Lena defending him? She would never know, but hearing Kara address Mon-El that way felt wrong. “Your problem seems to be with me, so leave Mon-El and Alex out of this.”

“Of course my problem is with you!” The blonde chuckled in disbelief, then took another sip from her bottle. “Are you really that dense? Of course you would be so entitled.”

Without either of them noticing the patio had started to empty around them. There were a couple of waiters and bartenders urging people back into the front of the bar to avoid causing a bigger scene. It was more out of respect for Kara than anything else, Alex assumed, or maybe Thara? Probably both. Regardless, soon enough it was just the five of them out there; even Avi and Ral-Vir were nowhere to be found anymore, and the glass doors leading to the front room were tightly closed.

Lena chuckled loudly, but there was no humor in it; it was quite frightening. Not that Kara showed any sign of being affected by it. “Please, enlighten me, oh superior Argonian–”

“Kryptonian,” Kara interrupted icily.

“What?” There was a little pause. Lena had not been expecting that at all.

“I was born on Krypton, I’m older than Kal-El,” she said slowly, dangerously. “I am a resident of Argo City now, but I was born under Rao’s Light on Krypton.”

“What difference does it make?” It made no sense to Lena. None whatsoever. 

Also, how is she older than Clark? She doesn’t look a day past thirty. Not now, Lena! Focus!

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Kara’s jaw was clenching so hard that Lena was wondering if her teeth would suffer permanent damage after tonight. “I am not some random citizen who doesn’t remember our home; our real home. I am Kara Zor-El, sole heir to the Great House of El of Krypton, since my cousin seems to have forgotten his birth name when he became your Champion as if it was–no, as if it meant nothing.” She placed her bottle down on the table with a loud bang and then pointed her index finger at Lena. “You have no idea what any of that means.”

“Of course I don’t,” Lena said dangerously, glaring at the woman in front of her, “you can’t be bothered to talk to me, let alone explain anything, so how am I supposed to know?”

“It means I’ve spent my whole life trying to live up to whatever everyone expected of the daughter of the Great Zor-El, the girl who was the youngest member to ever be accepted into the science guild. My father just had to go and sacrifice himself for all of us, didn’t he? And now everyone in Argo expects me to be just like him and uphold the family name.” The blonde paused to take a breath and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Sometimes I wish my pod had left with Kal’s,” she finished softly.

Everyone was at a loss after that. Suddenly Kara had a depth Lena had not been expecting, and what was even more surprising was the fact that she could absolutely relate. However, before she could even try to offer some comfort, the blonde had to piss her off again.

“But, oh, please, let’s start organizing a month-long festival to honor the human who saved Argo City. If a month is not enough for you I’m sure we can make it two, just ask my mother, she’ll be so happy to help you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Please, Lena, don’t try to play dumb with me. You think I don’t see it? You set foot here and suddenly you’re Argo’s savior. You even have my mother wrapped around your finger because you figured out the formula for the Harun-El right before I did. No one listened. My mother just gave me that briefcase and the High Council put me to work non-stop until I could make enough for them to feel comfortable with our situation.” She paused and frowned deeply, then picked up her bottle again. “They kept me and my team working day and night. No breaks, barely enough to take a few hours of sleep in between shifts. But, of course, by the time we could finally make it, all everyone could talk about was the human who saved us all.” Kara looked at Lena and smirked, but there was no humor nor amusement in it. “So, tell me, Lena Luthor, savior of Argo City, how does it feel to be everyone’s hero?”

“You think that’s what I want?” That was so much information in such a short period of time that Lena’s brain was still trying to process it all. “You wanted to be the hero? How is any of that my fault?”

“Because–”

“No. Do not.” Her eyes were narrowing again and she was glaring at Kara harder than ever before. “It is not my fault if you have a hero complex and your ego got bruised. Honestly? I think you deserve all the credit. Hell, if I could make everyone forget I helped, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t want the attention. I don’t like it, it makes me feel uncomfortable. So, please, Kara, just fucking take it and leave me the fuck alone.”

“I don’t have a hero complex.”

“You sure have a funny way of showing it.”

“You know nothing. Argo doesn’t need a hero, it just needs its people. I’ve spent my entire life trying to follow in my father’s footsteps to honor his sacrifice. If I’m here it’s only because of him. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, surely he would be too. I just wish my mother felt that way also, but alas, she’s too busy singing your praises it seems.” Kara took her phone and unlocked it, placing it briefly over a display glowing on their table. After a few seconds the whole table glowed green and beeped, and the blonde pocketed her device once again. “There you go, Princess, I’ve got your tab so you don’t have to worry about earning your stay here. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

Lena was left standing there gaping like a fish, watching Kara walk away and quickly disappear past the front door. 

“I’m so sorry,” Thara said wincing, addressing the young Luthor, “I’ll talk to her.”

All the brunette could do was nod shortly, what else could she do after what just happened? Thara left in a rush after her friend and Lena was about to tell Alex that she wanted to leave, too, when all of their phones beeped at the same time. Mon-El was the first one to check his and immediately went even more serious. He frowned deeply and looked from Lena to Alex. “We have to go. Now.”

----------------------------------------------

It took them longer than expected to get to Alura’s in their drunken state, but the cool night air had at least sobered them up a bit more. Not knowing what they were going to find had Alex on edge already, and by the time they made it to the front door her Hand of the Soldier had turned into a gun. She nodded at Mon-El and then jerked her head at Lena, silently telling the man to keep her safe while she ventured first into the house.

She made sure to make a quick but efficient scan of the ground floor before nodding at them to come inside. She was about to go up the stairs when Alura’s voice called for them from the lab, “down here,” the woman said simply, and the calm in her voice relaxed all three of them. Alex still went first, just in case, but when she made it down there and could see that the woman was, in fact, unharmed, she finally breathed normally again and the tension in her shoulders seemed to leave.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” The redhead asked, stepping closer to the Kryptonian as if to assess the situation.

The woman nodded and sat down, motioning for Lena to get closer, too, which she did without missing a beat. “I’m alright, but there has been a new development that needs your immediate attention,” she explained calmly, but the tone did nothing to ease neither Lena’s nor Alex’s worries. “It seems Kal-El was correct: Lex Luthor has not stopped looking for you and he is quite frustrated with the situation. Somehow he infiltrated the DEO and got some information from the alien database–”

Alex’s expression went from one of worry to complete horror. “No. No, no, no.”

Alura made direct eye contact with her and nodded sadly, making Lena’s heart wrench painfully. She then looked at something over the redhead’s shoulder and jerked her head, silently telling them to redirect their attention that way. “Two of your friends dropped them off about thirty minutes ago. I already called Kara for help.”

The moment Lena’s eyes adjusted to the dark she could see a tall figure limping in an attempt to get closer to them, hugging a young girl tightly and protectively at her side. The light of the room hit them at last, and her heart broke into a million pieces when her suspicions were confirmed and she could clearly make out a badly beaten and battered Sam, holding a red-eyed Ruby. A sob escaped Lena, wracking her whole body and making her knees go weak. She covered her face with both hands and leaned back against the wall, letting her body slide down until she was sitting on the floor.

The redhead rushed to them and helped support some of Sam’s weight, silently crying but not letting the tears cloud her judgment. She helped Sam to the hospital bed Kara kept there and once she was sure she was comfortable, her focus went to the scared teenager. She cupped Ruby’s face in both her hands and examined her closely, tilting her head a bit from side to side to look for injuries. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? I’m gonna fucking kill him. I swear to God–”

“Ma!” Ruby placed her hands over Alex’s and shook her head. “I’m okay, he didn’t hurt me, mom didn’t let him get to me.”

Alex let out a relieved sigh and kissed Ruby’s forehead before letting the teenager go and turning to Sam once again. The woman was looking at them, eyes wistful and half a smile waiting for the redhead. “Hey,” she whispered softly over a split lip, making Alex sob loudly.

“Hey,” she whispered back, reaching for her hand and giving it a soft squeeze. 

“How bad is it, doc?”

The question made the redhead chuckle in between sobs, which resulted in one of the weirdest sounds she had ever heard. “Baby, what happened?”

Sam took a deep breath with some difficulty and had to hold her side, which told Alex that she had a broken rib, if not more. “Guess the secret is out now,” she explained calmly, “he came to our place looking for Lena, saying he should’ve known his sister has a soft spot for Kryptonians.”

Alex’s eyes closed tightly and she sat down next to the bed, holding onto Sam’s hand for dear life and resting her forehead on the bed. 

“I’m going to kill him.” Lena’s statement got everyone’s attention. Her voice was cold and determined. She wiped her face with both hands and stood up, getting closer to her best friend and offering her hand when Sam silently asked for it with her own. “I’m not playing nice anymore, he’s messing with my family. I’m going to kill him.”

“No, you won’t.” If anyone was brave enough to contradict Lena when she was this angry and determined, it was Samantha Arias. “I won’t let him take away your humanity, Lena. Superman, Dreamer and Brainy are on it.” She took a deep breath and winced in pain, but ignored it in favor of talking sense into the brunette. “He will pay.”

Lena would’ve liked to fight her on that, but the sound of Kara frantically rushing down the stairs told her that it wasn’t the right time to get into an argument.

“Jeju!” Kara spotted her mother and rushed to her, not noticing anything else around them at first. “Are you alright? What happened? What’s the emergency?” She paused when it was clear that Alura wasn’t hurt and looked around the room. Her eyes darkened for a split second when she saw Lena there, but the redness in her eyes gave her pause. That’s when she noticed the woman on the bed and the fact that Alex’s eyes were as red as Lena’s. “Rao, what happened?” 

The blonde rushed closer to the bed and reached for a dispenser with a blue liquid that was sitting on the table next to it. She poured some of it into her hand and held it out for Alex, pouring some into hers, too. Once they both rubbed their hands—likely disinfecting them—for a few seconds, Kara handed the redhead a set of disposable gloves and put some on herself. “How drunk are you?” She asked, and Alex shook her head, still unable to talk, afraid she might start crying again. “Alex, I’m not a physician, this is going to be up to you. I will assist you however I can, but I need to know you can handle it.”

Alex gulped loudly and nodded, pushing her hair off her face with her forearm. “I’m fine. The air on the walk here and the adrenaline sobered me up.” She glanced at Sam, who apparently told her something with just one look, because next she looked at Alura with pleading eyes. “Alura, would you mind showing Ruby around the house?”

“What? No! Mom, I want to stay with you.” The teenager protested, folding her arms.

“It’s not gonna be pretty, Rubes,” Sam said softly with great effort. “Pretty sure some of my bones need to be reset, I don’t want you to see that.”

Ruby scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen worse, you know? Ma and I watch medical documentaries all the time when you’re not home.”

“Seriously, Ruby? This is the time you chose to throw me under the bus?”

Sam laughed and immediately groaned in pain. “Ruby, please.”

“Fine,” she said, showing her displeasure with her tone and turning around to Alura, “I guess checking out an alien house wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

The woman laughed softly and motioned for Ruby to follow her up the stairs. “You remind me a lot of Kara when she was your age.” That was the last thing they heard before Alura closed the door after them.

Both Alex and Kara set to work the second they were out of earshot, and that also seemed to be Sam’s cue to be more vocal about her pain. The blonde reached for a portable device and started scanning Sam’s body, humming and nodding to herself as the image uploaded to a digital panel mounted on the wall, displaying all broken bones in red.

“Kara, I need to sedate her,” Alex was checking her various cuts and bruises, but didn’t want to touch anything broken without some sort of sedation. “You have to guide me here.”

“Local or general?” The Kryptonian asked, ready to provide either.

“I’d go with general–”

“Local,” Sam said firmly, looking Alex dead in the eye, as if daring her to contradict her. “I want to be awake.”

For a few moments it looked like she would, or at least she really wanted to, but the redhead knew it was a topic better left alone. “I guess we’re going with local anesthesia.”

It was amazing the way they understood each other with just a few words or gestures. While Alex was the expert on the field, Kara wasn’t so far behind, and soon enough she was scanning several parts of Sam’s body again after the redhead reset them with the utmost care. “You’re doing great, Doctor Danvers.”

The praise made the woman in question chuckle softly, hiding the part of herself that wanted to cry and scream, hating the fact that she just had to reset several of her girlfriend’s bones because a lunatic had found out she was an alien.

“Alex?” A little tear was falling down the side of Sam’s face, and Alex leaned over her, humming and pushing her hair back, softly running her gloved fingers through her hair. “I think it’s time to remove the implant.”

There were a few moments of silence, but ultimately the redhead broke it with nothing but understanding. “Are you sure?”

Sam nodded and looked at Lena, then back at her girlfriend. “If something like this ever happens again…” she trailed off as more tears escaped her eyes. “If someone I love is in danger–God, I would’ve never been able to forgive myself if something happened to Ruby because I have a dampener and couldn’t protect her.” She bit her lip and nodded at her own left arm. “I want it out. We’ll find another way. I can’t–” Her pulse had started going up and the machine attached to her was beeping loudly.

“Hey, hey,” Alex leaned closer and kept running her fingers through her hair, nodding before kissing her lips. “We’ll find another way, okay? We have time. I’m sure Lena can come up with something. You won’t have powers here anyway, with or without the implant.”

The brunette stepped closer so Sam could see her, but still kept a safe distance for the doctors to keep working. “I’ll find a way, I’m sure I can make it portable somehow. Kara is also a brilliant scientist,” that made the blonde look up with a confused frown, having no idea what was going on or why her name had come up, “I’m sure once we explain the situation to her, she’ll be happy to help you.”

“Okay,” she whispered, sighing in relief, and closed her eyes in exhaustion. “I trust you,” she mumbled before passing out.

Chapter Text

Several hours later, once Rao was comfortably bathing the house in an orange-golden light, Kara and Lena silently made their way out of the lab. They had tried to get Alex to join them, but the redhead refused to leave Sam’s side and was now finally sleeping next to her girlfriend in that small bed. Alura was waiting for them in the kitchen, where the smell of delicious Kryptonian brew permeated the air and that brought a little life back to Lena.

“How is she?” The matriarch asked, concern etched on her face, while she poured two cups of the dark, rich hot beverage.

“Stable.” Kara sounded exhausted. Enough for Lena to actually look at her and feel sympathy for the woman. The blonde took the mug Alura handed with a tired smile and a short nod. “Alex refused to leave her side, so they’re both sleeping now.”

Lena took her mug with a soft “thank you” and looked around, hoping to find Ruby, but the teenager was nowhere in sight. “She’s sleeping in your bedroom, honey,” Alura explained without needing to hear the question. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Lena smiled relieved, “thank you for taking care of her, I know how stressed and scared she was, that couldn’t have been easy.”

The older woman urged Lena to sit down next to Kara, and once she did, she set two full plates in front of them. “She was an angel, truly.”

“I find that hard to believe,” the younger brunette laughed tiredly, “that kid is a menace, I should know, she’s my goddaughter, after all.”

Kara looked at her with open and honest curiosity, “goddaughter?”

Lena nodded after a long sip and turned a little in her seat to look at the blonde sitting next to her. If Kara was finally willing to be civil to her, she would make the most out of the opportunity. “It’s a title we use on Earth. On occasion, parents will choose godparents for their children. Sometimes it has a religious connotation, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sam and Alex are not religious people, and neither am I, but they still chose me to be Ruby’s godmother.”

Kara nodded in understanding and pursed her lips, seemingly very interested, which surprised Lena. Pleasantly so. “What does it entail?”

“Well, I suppose it means different things for different people,” she explained calmly, wary of spooking Kara, who up until that moment seemed to despise her. “I don’t feel comfortable delving into how the religious part works because I don’t practice and feel like it’s not my place to do so.” She made a brief pause, waiting to see if Kara understood her reservations. When the blonde nodded, Lena tried to hide a little smile and continued. “Sometimes there’s the misconception that if something were to happen to the parents, it’s inherently up to the godparents to raise the children, and while that could’ve been true a long, long time ago, today it’s a bit outdated.”

“How so?” Kara was actively engaging in the conversation and Lena could not believe it. She attributed it to the fact that the blonde was probably too exhausted to pick a fight, but any progress counted at this point.

“Well, for example, legally speaking, if something were to happen to Sam and Alex, Alex’s mom, Eliza, would have custody of Ruby. My commitment as Ruby’s godmother goes beyond custody or financial care—which I am absolutely willing to provide if needed—I love that girl as if she was my own daughter and I always will. Whatever she needs, she knows she can count on me unconditionally. I promised her to always listen and support her without any judgement. She knows she can trust me and come to me if she needs to, and she has on several occasions. Especially now that she’s a dramatic teenager and sometimes can’t stand her parents.“

That made Alura laugh softly, and she tried to hide it behind a glass of water when Kara narrowed her eyes at her. It only served to amuse Lena, who smiled and cleared her throat. “I’m sure every teenager goes through something like that at one point or another. I know I did, even had a goth phase and everything.”

Kara looked back at her and half-smiled, which actually left Lena speechless and, to be honest, a bit disoriented. “I guess we all did,” she said softly before taking a sip and a few bites from the plate in front of her. 

They both finished their breakfast in silence after that, and once they were done and tried to clean up after themselves, Alura shooed them away. “I put Ruby in Alex’s bed, so yours should be free,” she told Lena. “Both of you, go sleep for a few hours,” she then looked at her daughter and cupped her face in both hands, looking into her eyes, “you did an amazing job last night, sweetheart, I couldn’t be prouder of the woman you’ve become.” The woman kissed Kara’s forehead, then turned her around and lightly pushed her to the door. “Now go to sleep.”

Kara, confused and tired, looked at Lena once they were out of the kitchen and she seemed to recover her speech. “What just happened?”

Of course the question made Lena laugh, because she also had no idea what that was all about. “Maybe your mother finally realized you can’t read her mind.”

Lena woke up with a start several hours later. It wasn’t unusual, especially when something was worrying her, that her brain kept working even in her sleep. She sat up in bed and the first thing she noticed was that Ruby wasn’t in the room anymore. 

The brunette got up quickly and headed to the bathroom, taking a few minutes there to gather her thoughts while she rushed through her routine. She knew exactly what she had to do to help Sam and, if it worked, not only would it help her best friend, but also any and all Kryptonians or Argonians who could need it.

She rushed downstairs to an empty living room, but she didn’t stop there, her destination being Kara’s private lab. The moment she opened the door she could hear voices, which meant everyone else was awake and she didn’t need to be careful, so she practically ran down the stairs. “I need to activate the portal,” she said in a rush, pointing to it and looking at Alex.

“What?” 

“I need to go back to Earth for a few hours.”

“What for?” This time it was Sam the one to ask, her voice low and raspy. “Lena, it’s not safe.”

Lena’s hand quickly gestured at Sam, “clearly!” She was starting to get exasperated. “But I can help you, I just need to get a few things.”

“Absolutely not.” Alex got up and stared at her friend, folding her arms across her chest.

The brunette groaned and rolled her eyes, “Alex, quit being stubborn. Where’s Kara? It’ll be quick. I just need to–”

“Hey!” The redhead interrupted her, raising her voice and glaring at her. “I almost lost my family last night, I’m not gonna give that psychopath another try. You’re not going anywhere near him. Understood?”

“You can’t tell me what to do, I’m an adult, Alex.”

Alex sighed and pursed her lips, holding Lena’s gaze with all of her determination. “If you’re not gonna listen to me as your friend and mother of your goddaughter, then you’re gonna have to listen to me as the agent assigned to your protection.” She paused and straightened her back, tilting her chin up in defiance. “The government entrusted me with your safety and I fully intend to do my job. If you don’t like it, then tough shit, Luthor, you signed an agreement. I will sue the shit out of you if you don’t listen, don’t try me.”

Lena could hear Ruby trying to stifle a laugh and she briefly glared at the teenager, noticing how Sam was also smiling. “You don’t understand, Alex, we can help so many people!”

“And we will,” Alex said, trying to soften her voice this time and approaching her friend, forcing her to look into her eyes instead of the panel that activated and made the portal functional. “Make a list. We’ll have Nia or Brainy get whatever you need here. They already know how to operate the portal. None of us need to go there, you can work here.”

“I don’t think Kara will like that.”

“I don’t give a shit, Lena. You’ll be working here and if Kara has a problem with that, I’ll talk to her. Now tell me what you need so we can get it here as quickly as possible.”

After one overly loud and frustrated groan, Lena ran her fingers through her hair and started pacing back and forth. “Okay, start texting them, I need at least two of the yellow sun lamps I designed, the ones you keep at the DEO. I also need some notes I left in my apartment,” she paused and looked at Alex then, “Superman should probably go get those, I’m sure Lex will have his goons nearby. They’re in a safe, the one that's in the closet. Just tell him to get me all the notebooks he can find there. All paper, nothing digital. I’ll tell you how to open it.”

Alex nodded and kept texting as fast as she could in an attempt to keep up with Lena’s brain. “Okay, what else?”

“I suppose I can borrow some of Kara’s tools or get my own here, I don’t think I’m gonna need them to bring those,” at this point Lena was just thinking out loud, but everyone in the room knew better than to point it out. “I could also start working on a different kind of dampener,” she said, pointing at the bandage covering Sam’s left forearm, “yes, that’s a good idea. Tell them to get me one of the portable red sun lamps, too. You know, the ones I designed when Sam was afraid she might hurt your during se–”

“Hey, hey! Whoa! Okay!” Alex had to interrupt her again, this time to avoid scarring Ruby for life. “We don’t need to go into detail about those.”

Sam smirked and cleared her throat, noticing how her daughter was frowning and looking around, trying to understand what was going on. It only took a few more seconds until the teenager closed her eyes and covered her ears. “Eeeww!! Gross! I didn’t need to know about that!” She fake-gagged and opened her eyes to glare at Lena. “Thanks a lot, aunt Lena, I’m sure I’ll have nightmares for a week. You’ll have to pay for my therapy.”

The brunette winced while Sam laughed and Alex rolled her eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered sheepishly, then shrugged before resuming her pacing. “I… I think that should be enough for now. Oh, wait! My glasses! I totally forgot them and the contacts are killing me. They're on my nightstand.” She stopped her pacing again and looked Alex in the eye, “maybe Nia or Jess should get those, I don’t think Superman is gonna enjoy what he might find there.”

Lena had been partially right. Kara wasn’t too fond of the idea of her using her lab, but the blonde ultimately agreed to it with the promise that it would only be until Sam was healed and could move on her own. 

Alura had spent the day getting their new homes ready with the help of Mon-El, after all, so the brunette was planning to get the fuck out of there as soon as she could. Sure, she understood Kara a bit more after their drunk fight, but that didn’t mean she would put up with her shit any longer, from now on the blonde could vent to a therapist instead of taking her mommy issues out on her.

Ruby had joined Alura and Mon-El on their quest the next day because “science is so boring,” and they had left just in time, right before the portal buzzed with a purple glow. Considering they were expecting new equipment, Kara had decided to stay and help them set up—Lena was sure she just wanted to make sure nobody broke anything, and honestly, she couldn’t blame her—so now she was eagerly waiting on the other side of the room for someone to walk out of the portal.

The first one to do it was Nia. She was in civilian clothes, carrying a duffle bag on her shoulder and a grin on her face. Lena rushed to hug her as tight as humanly possible, almost breaking into tears after seeing her unharmed. “Thank you, thank you,” she whispered into her shoulder, letting out a little sob when Nia tightened her hold around her. “This means the world to me, thank you so much, Nia.”

“Anytime, babe,” Nia whispered back right before they broke their hug to make room for Superman to come through, who was carrying all of the heavy weight by himself.

He made it into the room and immediately groaned loudly. “A little help, please? I don’t have super strength here, remember?” Everyone but Sam—for obvious reasons—rushed to help him, and once they set everything down, he and Kara hugged just like Nia and Lena had done minutes ago.

“Cousin,” Kara greeted him with the biggest grin Lena had ever seen on her face. “I’m so happy to see you alive and well.”

Clark hugged her again, whispering something in kryptonese that made Kara chuckle. “I see you still have a terrible accent,” she said jokingly, but nodded her head when he looked into her eyes as if he was waiting for an answer. “I’ll try.”

“I know how hard it is for you, Kara, but I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“I can only promise to try, cousin.”

“Then I guess that should be enough for now.”

“Um, you two Kryptonians: rude.” It was Nia breaking the ice and making everyone laugh, and one more time Lena was reminded of how lucky she was to have her friends by her side. She carefully handed her the bag, “here, your personal belongings,” she explained, then added in a lower voice with a little smirk, “if I were you, I would open that in private.” She then turned to Kara and quickly introduced herself, since no one seemed to remember to do it.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Nia had packed for her after that comment and Lena just blushed, clearing her throat and trying to change the subject. “Did you manage to find the notes in my safe?” She asked, looking at the Man of Steel and purposefully avoiding Nia’s gaze in the process.

“Yes,” he got the box from the floor and placed it on a table nearby. “I didn’t know exactly what you needed, so I got everything. Better safe than sorry, right?”

“Thank you so much, this will do so much good, you have no idea. Not only for Sam, but for the people of Argo, too.”

While Lena went through the contents of the box and Kara set the rest of the equipment in different places, Superman and Nia went to check on Sam and Alex, leaving both scientists working in close proximity. “Uh, Lena?”

“Mm?” The brunette looked up to find Kara looking at her with a little conflicted frown.

“Are you–I mean, I don’t know what you’re planning to do with all of this, and I just overheard what you said about helping my people, and–Um, I could set up a lab for you at the Science Guild building, I mean, if that’s what you’d like to do while you’re here. I know you’re a scientist, so it would make sense, right? But you could choose something else if you wanted, no pressure–”

“Kara,” Lena softly cut off her little rambling, smiling at her, “I would love that, thank you.”

It took Lena two ‘Kryptonian days’ to get an improvised yellow sun bed up and running after that. Everyone found it quite impressive, but the brunette had gotten mad and frustrated with herself more than once. Figuring out how some Kryptonian tools worked took longer than she had anticipated, and every time her progress hit a little bump, her mood would get increasingly worse. It also didn’t help that she barely got any sleep, but the topic was quickly dismissed after Sam brought it up and Lena simply mumbled a “fuck off,” ignoring her for the rest of the night.

In the meantime, she had learnt that what they had been referring to as a ‘Kryptonian day’ was actually called a zehtiahr and it was roughly the equivalent of 27.78 Earth hours. The most embarrassing part was that she learned it from Ruby—the only person she could actually tolerate and not snap at—who, in turn, learned it from Kara. None of the adults had even had the decency to actually try to learn how time passed on Argo, but that was an issue to feel mortified about on another day.

“Lena?” It was Kara walking down the stairs who called her name and stopped her spiraling before it was too late. “Ruby said you needed to see me?”

The brunette nodded and pushed her glasses up her nose, “yes, I’m ready to try it.” She finally looked up at the other woman who was… staring at her? “What?”

Kara quickly averted her eyes and when she looked back at her, her expression had completely changed to her usual one, the one Lena was so familiar with already. She cleared her throat and walked around the solar bed, standing on the other side of it. “Alright, did you follow the specifications I gave you to power it?”

“Yes,” she nodded and handed her a long black wire that was open at the end, “thank you for that, by the way.”

“No problem.” The blonde took it and sat on a nearby bench, grabbing some of the tools that were scattered around and quickly putting together the plug that would connect to the outlet and power the machine. “How are you going to test it?” She asked after plugging it and breathing out in relief when nothing exploded.

“Oh! I have a portable solar radiation measurement device, it’s the same one I used back home when I built the first yellow sun beds.” Lena placed a device the size of her hand on the bed and turned it on, effectively checking it was working properly before powering up the yellow sun lamps.

They turned on immediately, making both scientists smile excitedly. “I have to admit, I’m impressed,” Kara said teasingly, “how are the measurements?” She reached over to check the small device before Lena even noticed what she was doing.

“Kara, wait!”

It was too late, though. The blonde dropped it on the bed and pulled her hand back, gasping and stumbling back in complete shock. She reached over a nearby stool to stabilize herself and watched in complete horror as it bent under her palm. “What–”

“Shit!” Lena quickly turned off the lamps and rushed to her side, carefully putting her hand on her arm to get her attention. “Kara, don’t touch anything.” When the other woman looked at her she made sure to make her focus and held her gaze. “Just look at me and breathe, you’ve been exposed to–oh, fuck! Kara, you have to close your eyes, now .”

“What?” Her voice sounded completely terrified.

“You’re gonna burn a hole through my head, I need you to close your eyes now!” Her hand squeezed Kara’s bicep and Lena sighed relieved when Kara quickly closed her eyes. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

“I’m not!”

“You are, just keep your eyes closed and focus on my voice.” Her free hand moved to Kara’s other bicep and she held her as firmly as she could, anchoring her to the ground before she started floating. “You’ve been exposed to a really high dose of yellow sun radiation. It was brief, though, so your body will burn it in no time.”

Kara started taking deep breaths, trying to follow Lena’s. “My eyes are burning, Lena!”

“That’s your heat vision, don’t freak out.”

“You just told me I might burn a hole through your skull, how am I supposed to not freak out?!”

Lena had completely forgotten Sam was in the room with them taking a nap, or at least she was until all the yelling started. However, she was quickly made aware of it when her friend called her name before tossing something her way. “Get that in her hand,” Sam instructed, her voice sounding stronger and commanding.

“Yes! God, thank you, I fucking love you, Sam.” She quickly opened the case and placed the little item that was inside in Kara’s hand. “Close your hand, but be as gentle as you’d be if you were holding a ladybug.”

“What? Lena what the hell is a ladybug?!”

“Jesus, fuck,” trying to think fast, Lena decided it was worth the risk and she placed her thumb on Kara’s palm along the dampener they had removed from Sam’s arm. “Kara, I know you can feel a lot of things right now that are overwhelming you, but you have my thumb in your hand, if you’re not incredibly careful, you’re gonna completely shatter it because the radiation gave you super strength. Now close your hand as softly and carefully as you can, just focus on the sound of my voice and ignore everything else.” She paused and could see the hesitation on the blonde’s face. “I trust you, you’ve got this.”

That was all it took for Kara to start closing her hand slowly. It took her several seconds, but she finally managed to do it without breaking Lena’s thumb or the dampener.

“That’s it, you’re doing great,” the brunette said encouragingly, rubbing her other hand up and down Kara’s bicep and feeling it starting to soften. “I’m gonna slowly remove my thumb, but keep your hand closed just like that around the dampener, okay?” The blonde gulped and nodded, and Lena carefully did what she said she would.

The commotion apparently reached the upper levels of the house, because Alex was suddenly rushing down the stairs and looking around for threats. “What's going on?” She asked when she found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

“Kara got powers and freaked the fuck out,” Sam explained, confusing her girlfriend even more.

“Did not!” The blonde tried to defend herself, but it was pretty pointless.

“Did too,” Sam chuckled, “but we all freaked out like that the first time. I think I was even worse, burned the ceiling and everything. You’re fine, Kara.”

The woman was blushing furiously and it only deepened when she heard Alex chuckle. “Um, my eyes are not burning anymore, can I open them?”

Lena squeezed her arm again to check if it would be safe and took half a step back. “You can, but look down at the floor, just in case.” When the other woman did just that, she peeked at her eyes and sighed in relief. Her eyes were back to their normal blue instead of that fiery red that usually preceded the blue beams that could cut through buildings. “How do you feel?”

“That’s… hard to answer.” Kara paused and took a deep breath. “Can I look back up?”

“Yes, it’s over.”

The blonde was about to sit down but stopped herself at the last second, remembering how the stool had bent as if it was nothing under her hand. “Is it safe to sit?”

Lena pulled another stool closer to them and patted it, “come here.” When Kara sat down—not without trying several times to see if she would break anything else—the brunette stood in front of her and held her closed hand in both of hers. “May I?” She asked softly. Kara nodded and opened her fist, letting Lena grab the dampener and put it back in the case. “Do you mind if I ask Alex to check you up?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Me?” The redhead asked from Sam’s bed. After seeing Kara was okay she had resumed her position next to her girlfriend.

“You’re DEO. I believe what just happened qualifies as extranormal.” Lena said matter-of-factly.

Alex actually laughed and looked at her friend. “Nah, I’m good. Besides, you have your own MD and a very extensive expertise in Kryptonian physiology under a yellow sun. You could give my parents a run for their money. This is more up your alley than mine.”

It was so annoying when Alex was right. The young Luthor groaned, admitting defeat and turning to face Kara once again with an apologetic expression on her face. “Um, would you mind if I did it instead?”

There was something in Kara’s eyes Lena couldn’t just place or identify, but the blonde shook her head and sat up straighter. “Go ahead.”

Something had definitely shifted between them. If it was good or bad, Lena had honestly no idea, but it was there and it was almost tangible. She made sure to ignore it, though, performing any test she could think of to make sure Kara was okay and the radiation was effectively out of her system. She didn’t need to make things even more awkward between them by bringing it up. What was the point, anyway? Hopefully she would be moving out soon and would only see Kara at work, if at all. Probably for the best.

“Hey, Lena?” Kara asked softly, her annoyingly cute little frown making an appearance.

She looked up and gulped at the sight of blue eyes staring intently into her green ones. “Mm?”

“What’s a ladybug?”

“No way, are you serious?” Sam asked in complete disbelief, looking around until she could make eye contact with Alura.

She was back. After all the suffering, fear and heartache, the woman was back to her usual self, and in no small part thanks to her best friend. Lena still didn’t know how to take a compliment or the credit she deserved for her amazing achievements, but Sam always made sure to remind her of them every chance she got.

After Lena made sure Kara was okay and no lingering effects of the exposure to yellow sun radiation remained, she had recalibrated the lamps—because what had happened with Kara scared ‘the living shit out of her,’ as she had explained later that night before passing out—to a lower setting and Sam had taken her rightful place on that bed for about six hours. It was slow and could’ve been boring, if it wasn’t for Kara, who remained by her side so Alex could get a painfully stubborn Lena to eat something, take a shower and look at least a little bit human again. 

They had deeply bonded in the span of those six hours without even trying or even realizing it. Sam had learned a lot about Kryptonian culture from the younger woman, and in turn she told Kara all she could remember about her experiences as Reign and how Lena and Alex had managed to merge the two of them, with Sam fully in control and no fear of losing it again, only now with the same extraordinary powers of Superman.

That day, when she walked up the stairs and made it into the kitchen, happy but starving, Alex had burst into tears and hugged her so hard it would have hurt if she didn't feel the effects of the yellow sun still coursing through her body. Lena tried to hide it, but Sam saw her discreetly wiping away some tears, too. 

Thanks to her genius friend and Kryptonian physiology, she had recovered completely in a matter of hours.

Which brought them here a few days later. They were standing in their new home. A beautiful apartment overlooking the most magnificent city any of the newcomers had ever seen. 

Alura smiled, pleased with herself, and nodded. “Yes, this is your new home,” she explained, the smile never leaving her face. “I wanted to make some changes to what we had initially planned to accommodate a family now, that’s why it took me a couple more days.”

They were in complete awe. Lena had no idea what she had been expecting, but certainly not something like this. The apartment easily rivalred her penthouse in Metropolis, furniture and all. Alura had kept them neutral, not being sure about their tastes, but got everything they could possibly need to start living independently. 

“This is too much, Alura,” Lena felt the need to point out, looking around and shaking her head. “We couldn't possibly–”

“Speak for yourself,” Ruby interrupted her before she could ruin this for her, then walked to the glass wall to look out at the city from their twenty-fifth floor. “I’m loving this!”

The older woman laughed wholeheartedly while Sam and Alex apologized for their daughter’s behavior, then pointed out once again how her cheekiness reminded her of a younger Kara. “Please, don’t worry about it. It’s refreshing, to be honest. I’m surrounded by adults all day, every day, it’s so boring.” She glanced at Ruby for a moment, then back at her mothers. “It kind of makes me feel like a grandmother, and I’m enjoying it. I hope you don’t mind. I don’t think Kara is anywhere near giving me grandchildren, so I might spoil Ruby just a little bit, if you allow me, of course.”

Alex and Sam exchanged a brief look, then smiled. “We would be honored, Alura.” The redhead said, proudly glancing at her daughter again.

“And to be honest, we could use the extra help, she’s a handful,” Sam added.

“I heard that, mom!”

“We’ll, it’s true, kiddo.”

“Who do you think I got it from?”

“Your godmother, for sure.”

“Hey, don’t rope me into this!” She tried to remain serious but, to be fair, it wasn’t entirely wrong, so Lena ended up laughing. “This is all on you, Samantha”

“Ready to see your home, Lena?” Alura asked, walking out the front door when the younger brunette nodded her head. “I think you’re going to like your neighbors, but they might be a bit loud sometimes.”

The young Luthor laughed when Alura walked right next door, motioning at the bio-scanner for Lena to place her hand on it. The door unlocked with a low hiss and they walked into a very similar apartment to Alex and Sam’s, only a bit smaller. The furniture was also very similar, which made sense, she could add a few personal touches here and there later.

“It’s… perfect,” she whispered to herself, smiling brightly. The design was open, much like her apartment back on Earth, but the technology was a thousand times more advanced. 

Alura took her time giving her the tour, and Lena was touched when she noticed she had turned the spare bedroom into an office/lab. It had some equipment there already, and the brunette was about to ask about it, but the older woman beat her to it. “Kara helped me with that,” she pointed at some electronics and tools that were neatly placed around the room, “I don’t have the slightest idea what any of it is, but she assured me this is a perfectly functional starter lab.”

Now Lena was in awe. Kara? Really? She bit her lip, trying to hide her smile, but judging by Alura’s knowing look she was probably very unsuccessful. “This is incredible, Alura, thank you so much.”

“It’s the least Argo City could do for you.”

That sentence triggered something Lena had been definitely not expecting. She got sudden and very vivid flashbacks of a drunk, angry Kara; images she clearly hadn’t been able to forget or ignore. “Um, yeah, about that, do you mind if we have a little chat?”

“I already know, Lena,” the older woman said calmly, her smile soft and understanding. She looked very… motherly , there was no other way to describe it. “Thara reached out to me a few days ago.”

Oh.

“I’m very sorry I inadvertently put you in the position you’re in with my daughter. It wasn’t fair, to either one of you, and while Kara is the one who needs to apologize to you for her behavior, I would like to do so for the part I played in it.”

What do you say after that? ‘It’s fine?’ Because, no, it most certainly is not. If everything Kara had told her was true—and Lena believed it was—not only Alura, but all of Argo owed Kara an apology. They had treated their finest scientists like shit, it was no surprise the blonde had so many conflicting feelings. Sure, her resentment was misplaced, but… honestly? Lena couldn’t blame her. Who knows how she would’ve reacted in her place?

“I… I’m gonna be honest with you, Alura, I don’t really know what to say here.” Luthors weren’t known for beating around the bush, were they? “I accept your apology, of course, but I do believe it’s not me who you should be apologizing to.”

“I understand.” The woman nodded solemnly. Everything about her body language screamed regret , which made Lena feel bad for her, but she remained firm in her position. “I will fix everything, I can promise you that. I was shocked when I learned how my daughter has been feeling for the past… Rao, I don’t even know how long. She’s such an exceptional woman and I’m so proud of her. It broke my heart when I heard what happened the other night.”

“I believe she needs to hear you actually say that , don’t assume she knows it, because, for whatever reason, she doesn’t.”

Without any sort of warning, the older woman got closer and hugged her tightly, confusing Lena for a second until she heard the tiniest sniffle coming from her shoulder. She hugged her back, willing to do it for as long as Alura needed her to, but it only lasted a few more seconds before she broke contact. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that without asking you first,” she said, trying to wipe a tear that was threatening to fall.

“It’s okay,” the younger brunette said, trying to reassure her with a smile. “To be honest, I didn’t know I was needing a hug, too.”

Alura chuckled, the kind of watery chuckle that comes with held back tears. “I’m going to let you get settled,” At that moment her phone started to go off in a series of several message alerts and she took it out of her pocket to check on said messages. “Right on time. Apparently I’m needed at the High Council. If you need anything, you have my contact saved on your phone, don’t hesitate to ask.” She walked back to the door, but before she left, she seemed to remember something and turned around with a mischievous smile. “Oh! By the way, Tyll-Gen sent your clothes. Check your closet. I believe he added a few extra items you might find… interesting.” And with that and a final playful wink, she left the apartment, leaving a very confused Lena behind.

“Alura, thank Rao.”

“What’s the matter, Zethi? Why the urgency?” 

“There’s been a… development.”

“What is it?”

The woman, Zethi, held her palm up and muttered a single word in Kryptonese, making a hologram appear from the small device in her hand. She scrolled down and stopped at the section she wanted to show Alura.

“Is this… Rao, is it possible?”

“It clearly is.”

Alura took a few moments, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes.

“They can’t know.” She finally decided. “At least not for the time being. It would only make things harder for everyone.”

“Are you sure?”

“This stays between us, Zethi. Neither Kara nor any of the Earthlings can find out about this.”

“Understood.”

Chapter Text

“I know you want to regain some sense of normalcy, Alex, but I’m just not in the mood.” 

It had been two weeks since they moved out of Alura’s house and into their own apartments, and it had been such a relief. As much as Lena appreciated the woman’s kindness and would be forever grateful for it, she needed her peace and quiet. She cherished the moments where she could just be, the solitude after a long day at work, and being able to take long showers without anyone knocking on the door because they needed to use the bathroom.

They were all settling not only into their new homes, but also their jobs. Lena had taken Kara’s offer and was working with the Science Guild, while Alex decided to take a job with Thara as a Peace Officer along with Mon-El. Sam, for the time being, was allowed—per her request—to take time to study her origins and her Kryptonian heritage. She and Alex had also taken Alura up on her offer to homeschool Ruby on all things Kryptonian while the humans teamed up to take care of her more traditional, Earth-related education in their free time, much to the teenager’s dismay.

The young Luthor heard the robotic voice at the Science Guild labs announce that Kara Zor-El was at the door, and she moved the phone away from her mouth to grant her access with a tired “let her in.” The door opened and Kara walked in, placing some things on a nearby work bench when she saw Lena was on the phone. Yes, the brunette had finally started learning Kryptonese. In her mind it was incredibly disrespectful not to. That, and she found it fascinating and exciting.

“I’ll be with you in a second,” Lena whispered—in English, she wasn’t confident enough in her Kryptonese yet—then moved the phone back to resume her conversation with Alex. “I don’t know how I’m gonna feel tomorrow, what kind of question is that?” She saw Kara try to hide a smile while her friend kept trying to convince her to have a game night. She narrowed her eyes at the blonde, glaring playfully, and Kara held her hands in the air, as if she hadn’t done anything.

“Alex, I have to get back to work, Kara just got here, can we–” she paused and frowned. “What? No, I’m not gonna put her on the phone.” The line went dead after that one sentence without any sort of previous warning, and while Lena looked at the screen and muttered a “rude” Kara’s phone started ringing in her pocket.

The blonde fished for the device and let out a little chuckle when she saw it was Alex calling her. “Officer Danvers, to what do I owe this pleasure?” She asked mockingly, making Lena smile against her better judgment. “Yes, I do believe it’s a good idea.” 

“Kara, don’t you dare!”

The woman grinned, and even though Lena could somehow—for reasons she wasn’t ready to acknowledge just yet—actually feel the warmth of that grin all over her body, she groaned and covered her face with her hands.

“Tonight it is.” Kara hung up and pocketed her phone again, casually announcing to Lena, “it’s game night tonight. We don’t have to work tomorrow, so you’re out of excuses, or so Alex says. Apparently Thara and I are also going and bringing booze , whatever that is.”

“I hate you.”

“Likewise.” She reached for a screwdriver and grinned again, completely unaware of the effect that simple act had on Lena. “Can we go back to work now?”

Things with Kara had been weird lately, to say the least. It felt as if, from time to time, the blonde would forget she was supposed to resent her for whatever made up reason she had come up with, and she would actually be nice and warm, exactly the way everyone who knew her would describe her. But then she would suddenly remember and, even though it wasn’t as bad as it was in the beginning, Kara would revert to that wary and cold person who still didn’t trust her.

Lena was starting to get really fucking tired of it.

She had walked on eggshells around her family since she was four years old and got adopted by the Luthors, the last thing she wanted was to keep doing that. At first she wanted to play nice and be grateful, patient, understanding. Almost a month later and she was over it.

The brunette had done everything in her power to prove to Kara that she was wrong about her, that she wasn’t the enemy and could actually be a great ally, but there was always something that would set Kara off and sooner or later, she would go back to that coldness that chilled Lena to the bone.

And today… today was a weird day.

They had been working on a new project together for one fanf today. One full week in Argo working almost amicably, with the occasional argument, but it was slowly starting to feel like it would get better. At least it did that morning when Kara talked to Alex and they arranged a game night. The blonde had been nice, playful even, but at some point in the afternoon she just… went quiet. She had been staring at a whiteboard full of equations while Lena explained how the yellow sun lamps worked and something had shifted. Then Kara was suddenly very, very quiet.

However, she hadn’t been mean or rude, just distant. Her answers were short and clipped, she didn’t elaborate on any of them, and at the first chance she got, the blonde announced she would leave work early to get the booze Alex asked for and pick Thara up for game night.

Lena saw it for the excuse that it was and, even though it was disappointing, she nodded and told Kara she would see her later that night at Alex’s.

What she didn’t know was that Thara’s house was halfway between the Science Guild building and her apartment. 

Since she hadn’t gotten around to getting a car yet, Lena decided to walk back home. It wasn’t that far away and it was a nice day outside, anyway, might as well enjoy it. She gathered her things and left her lab, making sure to put everything away and lock the doors behind her. It wasn’t even half a mile later that some giggles and sudden movement to her left caught her attention, and the sight made her stop in her tracks.

The two giggling children were picked up in the air and gently thrown over each shoulder of the blonde woman who was playing with them. She turned around and, even though Lena would already recognize her anywhere, it confirmed her previous assumption. Kara seemed to glow with happiness under the deep orange light a setting Rao cast upon them. She was laughing herself, saying something Lena couldn’t quite understand to the children while she carried them around in between happy giggles and shrieks.

The image felt surreal after everything she had gone through with the blonde. She had started to loosen up, sure, but this was something else entirely . This was pure, undiluted happiness. Love and adoration clear as day. She watched as Kara set the kids down and they both hugged her at the same time, clinging with their tiny arms around her neck and back while she knelt down so they could reach better. She hugged them back, and Lena was shocked out of her trance when she saw Thara walk out of the house and tell the kids it was time to go back inside. She hoped and prayed she hadn’t been caught staring, but the redheaded woman had already spotted her. Kara still had her back to her and was distracted watching the kids run back inside, which was the only reason she missed Thara’s smile and the wink she sent Lena’s way.

“Lena!” The woman shouted, waving her hand as if she needed to get her attention.

Kara turned around when she heard the name and Thara gave Lena the blessing of not mentioning the fact that she had been staring. Instead, she actually covered for her.

Lena appreciated the hell out of that woman. She should remember to get her some sort of gift basket.

“Wait up! Are you heading home?” Thara asked, urging her to walk closer by waving her hand in a gesture that proved to be literally universal. “We are heading there, do you need a ride?”

The brunette walked closer and nodded, nervously clearing her throat. “Y-yes, I’m heading home,” she stuttered, “but I don’t mind walking.”

“Nonsense,” the redhead said, shaking her head, “come on, Kara’s car is big enough for the three of us.”

That’s how she found herself on the backseat of the blonde’s beautiful car. She had to almost fight Thara for it, who insisted she should take the passenger seat to enjoy the view, but ultimately gave up when she noticed the discomfort on the other woman. Kara was quiet for most of the ride, only answering questions instead of engaging in the conversation, but since it was a short ride Lena didn’t really have a lot of time to question it. She decided to ignore it and let it go. Whatever was going on with Kara she could deal with on her own or seek the help she needed, she was a grown woman after all.

They could hear Sam granting them access right before the door opened, and Lena walked into her friend’s apartment with a heavy, relieved sigh. She was home. Not home home, but as close as it would ever get when it’s not her own place. “You okay?” Sam whispered into her ear when she hugged her, and Lena felt her body relax. She nodded and released the taller woman from her hug so she could go greet the other Kryptonians.

“You look like you need this,” Alex said, handing her a glass of whisky that Lena held onto for dear life.

She dropped her purse on the floor next to the couch and sat down, downing half of the glass while pointedly holding eye contact with Alex.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Later.”

The redhead nodded and let it go, smiling as if nothing ever happened while greeting the newcomers and inviting them further into their home. “Please, come in and get comfortable, I’ll get us some snacks.”

“Oh, here!” Kara handed her the bag she had been carrying since they got out of the car and Alex laughed when she looked at the contents.

“You’re my favorite Kryptonian right now,” she said, still grinning and unloading the bag full of wine and the whisky they liked.

“You want to get laid ever again, Danvers?” Sam asked from the couch next to Lena, tilting her head back to look at her girlfriend.

Alex seemed to think about it for a second, then looked at Kara and corrected herself, “second favorite, for sure.”

The blonde laughed and nodded, showing her understanding. “Good call.” She walked to where the rest of the group was sitting and took a seat on the couch opposite Lena and Sam. “So, you call it ‘getting laid’ ?”

“Among other things, yes,” Sam answered with that mischievous grin that meant she was up to no good. “I could make a list for you if you need it.”

Kara cleared her throat and took the glass of wine Alex was offering her. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you.”

“If you ever change your mind, let me know.”

“Will do.” At this point the blonde was blushing so much Lena actually felt sorry for her. She knew what it was like to be on the other end of Sam’s sass and she wouldn’t wish it on anyone else. Thankfully for Kara, the robotic voice announced Mon-El was at the door, interrupting them and distracting Sam before she could keep digging on the subject.

The man entered the apartment carrying several bags of snacks and a case of ale that he deposited on the coffee table before taking a seat on Lena’s other side and placing his arm on the back of the couch. In retrospect, the brunette could understand what that might’ve looked like to a bystander, but at the time Mon-El’s arm placement was the least of her worries. She did notice the frown on Kara’s face, though, but it had been such a common occurrence lately that she just ignored it in favor of finishing her drink.

It was only after a failed game of Monopoly—because Alex still didn’t know how to lose gracefully and she had almost flipped the board—and halfway through Jenga that the Daxamite started to get all giddy, annoying Lena with his excessive fidgeting. “What is the matter with you?” The brunette finally asked once she had had enough of him switching positions every few seconds.

Mon-El grinned and leaned closer to whisper conspiratorially, “I got something.”

“Are we talking like an STD or…?” Lena made exactly zero effort to keep her voice down, getting everyone’s attention with her question.

“Wha–?! No!” The man finally stopped moving after that, taking something out of his pocket instead and grinning like the child he was at heart. 

Kara laughed and leaned back in her seat, which told the people from Earth that, even though they had no idea what the man was talking about, it was supposed to make sense for the people of Argo. “Where did you get that?” The blonde asked, thoroughly amused.

“My friend gave it to me when I told her I was gonna get together with you guys.”

“What is it?” Sam was the one to ask, looking curiously at the little pen-like device.

Mon-El grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “It’s supposed to be like weed. On steroids. I wouldn’t know exactly because I can’t get high on Earth, but that’s what I’m assuming. I tried it here and it was amazing.”

“Dude, you’re an officer! Thara and I are right here! What the hell are you doing?”

This time it was Thara who laughed and reached over to place a hand on Alex’s arm to ease her uneasiness. “Relax, Alex. It’s perfectly legal here.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t expecting that answer. “Really? Even for us?”

The other redhead nodded calmly. “As long as we don’t partake during work and are completely sober by the start of our shift, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not addictive and there’s no hangover afterwards.”

“It’s been a while, though.” Kara looked at her best friend with a playful grin, laughing when Thara covered her face with both her hands in embarrassment. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” The blonde didn’t wait for an answer, instead she motioned for Mon-El to hand it over and when he did, she lit it up with a little button on the side of the device and brought it to her lips.

Stop staring at Kara’s lips. Stop staring at Kara’s lips. Stop staring at Kara’s lips. 

Busted.

Lena quickly averted her eyes when she noticed the blonde was looking at her with a little curious smirk. “Is it some sort of cannabinoid?” She asked after clearing her throat, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

“I wouldn’t know exactly.” It was Kara who answered, she was the most qualified to do so, after all. “I would have to study both to give you a proper answer, but based on what very little information I have on cannabis, I would say they behave similarly.”

“How do you call it?” Sam’s voice came strained from the effort of holding her breath for a few seconds before slowly blowing out a whitish thick smoke while handing the device to Lena.

“Khahsh.”

The brunette brought it to her lips tentatively at first and then once more, a bit more eagerly, once the pleasant citric taste of the herb coated her tongue. “Like ‘breath’?” She asked, visibly surprising Kara, who nodded with a little smile. “Don’t look so shocked, I’ve been studying.”

It wasn’t even an hour later that Thara had completely passed out on the couch. Mon-El was clumsily playing Jenga by himself while Alex and Sam cuddled on the armchair that was way too small for the two of them. Lena watched in almost awe how Kara carefully moved her best friend’s head off her shoulder, helping her lie down properly instead.

Problem was that Thara took up most of the couch, leaving the blonde without a place to sit.

“Do you mind?” She asked in slow motion, pointing to the spot next to Lena.

The brunette just smiled and patted that spot, silently inviting Kara to join her. It was short lived, though, because the moment Sam and Alex started heavily making out, Lena decided she needed to be somewhere else entirely. “Nope. No. Gross. That’s rude.” She got up way too fast and would have ended up on Kara’s lap if it wasn’t for the blonde catching her.

“Whoa,” Kara got up with her, holding her elbows to stabilize the other woman. “You alright there, Lena?”

The brunette closed her eyes in an attempt to make the dizziness go away and when she opened them again she was met with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They took her breath away for a few long seconds. “This is no regular weed,” she admitted with a little giggle.

The other woman laughed with her and shook her head. “It is not, Mon-El told you so. Wait, where are you going?”

“Away from here, I don’t need to see them making out.”

“Lena, you can barely walk.” Now Kara was giggling, too, which meant that, even though she held herself with a lot more grace than everyone else, she was still high. “Stop! Where are you going?”

Lena just clumsily pointed to the balcony, “out there.”

“Are you sure that’s safe?”

“Are you sure this is?” Her question came with some wild gesturing at the two women who were still making out without a care in the world. “Honestly, we’re lucky they’re not fucking yet. I just wanna get out of here before they start.”

“How about you go to your apartment and stay inside? It would make me feel a lot better.”

The brunette stopped in her tracks and just looked at Kara for a long time. “Will you come with me?” She asked almost shyly, avoiding her gaze afterwards so the blonde wouldn’t see how much her rejection really affected her.

“Do you want me to?”

“I’m the one asking, aren’t I?”

“Lena, you’re high, I don’t–”

“Kara, I’m not asking you to have sex with me, I just don’t wanna be alone in there and freak out because I’m high as all fucks with an alien substance I know nothing about.”

That seemed to do it for the blonde. She blushed furiously and looked around to see if anyone had heard their exchange, but the embarrassment was easy to overcome when she had to catch Lena again and hold her steady. “Just… Okay, let’s go.”

It wasn’t an easy feat for either one of them, but they finally made it to Lena’s apartment. The brunette turned the lights on and sat on the couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table and closing her eyes. “Hey, Kara?”

“Yeah?”

Lena’s eyes were still closed, it made it easier to focus on words if she didn’t have to see the walls moving around her. “How come you’re so young?”

“What?”

“How come you’re so young?” The brunette repeated herself, but this time tried a bit harder. “You said you’re older than Kal-El, yet he’s in his forties and you barely look like you’re thirty on a bad day.” Yes, forming coherent thoughts was a lot easier when her eyes were closed, but this was an important question she had been meaning to ask for a long time now, so she wanted to see Kara’s face. Lena slowly opened her eyes just in time to see Kara sitting on the other end of the couch. The distance the blonde put between them was almost ridiculous, but that was an issue for another day.

“You noticed, huh?”

The snort-laugh that somehow came out of Lena’s body would’ve been embarrassing if she wasn’t so high. Instead it just made her laugh even more, which prompted Kara to start laughing with her. “Yes, Kara, I noticed.”

“Are you really gonna make me explain this while we’re both high?”

“Yes. And I’ll have you know I do my best thinking when I’m high.”

“So annoying.”

“I try.”

The blonde took a deep breath and tilted her head back, letting out a loud, frustrated groan. “Fine.” She looked at the woman again, trying to decide how to approach the subject. “Do you know what temporal distortions are and how those relate to wormholes sometimes?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Lena said, smirking when Kara’s expression showed her surprise. “Yes, that’s right. Don’t underestimate me anymore, Kara.”

“I…” The blonde stopped in her tracks and shook her head, her little half-smile doing things to Lena she completely decided to ignore. “I won’t. Ever again. Are you just familiar with the theory or are you actually from the future or something? Because I feel like that would explain a lot.”

The brunette laughed and shook her head, looking at her hands for a second before meeting Kara’s eyes again. “I used to be familiar with the theory, yes. But since we had to send Mon-El away when we released lead into the atmosphere to repel a Daxamite invasion and he ended up a thousand years into the future I became more familiar with the practical side of things.”

“Wait, what?” Kara briefly closed her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to clear and organize her thoughs. “Daxamite invasion? A thousand years? Mon-El? Lead?” She obviously failed.

“Yeah, that was fun. I can tell you about it some other time, we’re talking about you now.”

Kara smirked once again. “Fair enough. Honestly, it’s not even an interesting story. When Argo separated from the rest of Krypton, the explosion propelled us right into a massive wormhole, causing a disturbance. No one could’ve predicted that, it certainly wasn’t in my father’s plans. For you it’s been over forty years while, for us, it’s been merely… seventeen, I suppose. I am , for all intents and purposes, somewhere around twenty-nine and thirty years old in Earth years.”

Lena’s mouth started moving, but no sound was coming out. Mostly because she had no idea on what to say at that point. While she had her best ideas when she was high, processing that kind of information was proving to be hard this time. “Hold on,” she finally found her words, “did you just say ‘somewhere around?’ Aren’t you supposed to know how old you are?”

“Lena, you’re a scientist.” The blonde shifted in her seat to be able to face the woman a bit better. “The way time passed on Krypton is very different from the way it does on Earth. It’s also different here. Things changed so much for us, it’s been… hard. We’re not a planet orbiting Rao anymore; we’re an asteroid that orbits a planet, that in time orbits a red dwarf star. Adapting our comprehension of time passing to such a foreign concept is not the easiest thing. While you and I can understand why that would be important from a scientific point of view, most people don’t care and just want it simplified.” 

“That’s… Oh, my God, I never thought of that.” The brunette frowned and saw the walls moving again, but a bit slower this time. “I’m still too high for this.”

Kara laughed and nudged Lena’s leg with her foot. “I tried to warn you.”

“I stand by my decision to carry on this conversation. Kara, this is fascinating.”

“It is,” the blonde said with a shy smile. “I have to admit it’s nice to be able to talk about this with someone who cares and, more importantly, understands what I’m talking about. Thara got lost two minutes in and told me to stop talking because it was freaking her out.”

“What about your coworkers?”

Lena saw Kara wince almost in slow motion. “I’m not really that close with most of them.”

“I sense a story there.” Her eyes were narrowed and her smirk was playful.

The blonde’s smile was soft, if a bit pained. “Maybe for another time.”

“Anyway!” Lena could be accused of a lot of things, but never of the kind of insensitivity that would drive her to push the subject when Kara was so visibly uncomfortable with it. “So, how did you solve your time-problem?”

She was grateful for Lena’s effort to return to their previous subject, and even if she didn’t say it with words, she did with a half smile and an additional nudging on the brunette’s leg. “We kept Krypton’s. It’s what made more sense in the end. Our cycle is literally programmed and we control it from the Science Guild. People are more comfortable this way and I learned how to live with it.”

“Makes sense. So… you’ve been basically dumbing things down for us humans.” It wasn’t an accusation, more like a fact, and Lena didn’t take offense because she knew how hard it would be to try to explain to just anyone what Kara had just explained to her.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I get it.” She tried to convey her understanding with a little smile, and when the blonde smiled back she knew she had been successful. “I actually appreciate it. You’ve been making an effort and I didn’t even realize it until now. Thank you.” She got a smile and a nod in return and, for now, that would be enough. “God, I’m parched.” Her own words prompted Lena to get up and slowly go to the kitchen, filling two glasses with water and handing Kara one when she resumed her position on the couch.

“Thanks. It’s a common side effect,” the blonde explained, taking a long sip and putting the glass down on the coffee table. “So, um…” Kara paused to clear her throat and, for whatever reason, Lena got the feeling that she was uncomfortable with what she was about to say. “How long have you and Mon-El been together?”

That’ll do it.

The brunette sprayed water all over Kara’s shirt the moment she heard the question. She was coughing, mortified about basically spitting on Kara, and terribly grossed out by the question. “What?” She asked once the coughing fit was over.

Luckily, the other woman seemed to get the message Lena’s reaction had just sent and she chuckled, looking down at her shirt. “You two are not together? It looked like it earlier when he arrived. He had his arm around you.”

“No. No, no. What? No.” Great, could you be any dorkier, Luthor? “We are not together and he definitely didn’t have his arm around me.”

“I’m sorry, it looked like it from where I was sitting.” At least Kara wasn’t bothered, she was still laughing about her reaction. “My apologies.”

“Yeah, you better apologize, Kara Zor-El. That’s gonna give me nightmares, you know?”

“I’m sorry! I promise never to assume you and Mon-El are a couple ever again. Happy?” The blonde was still grinning, even more than before now.

“Very.” The brunette held eye contact and hoped Kara knew she meant more than she had initially asked. Everything about this moment was making her happy. Which inevitably brought a question that Lena was unwilling to ignore any longer. “Kara, are you being nice to me just because you’re high?”

Clearly the blonde hadn’t been expecting that question, if her surprised expression was anything to go by. “No,” she said after a few moments. “I mean, yes, but no.”

“Okay, now I’m even more confused.”

“It’s probably how it started,” she explained slowly. There was a little crinkle between her eyebrows when she frowned and Lena couldn’t stop staring at it; it was the cutest thing. “There’s no denying that. But… It lowered my inhibitions enough to give this a chance.” She smiled and her frown disappeared. “I’m glad it did, I’m enjoying talking to you.”

“So am I.” 

Someone was clearing their throat which, honestly, made no sense because she was supposed to be completely alone in the meadow. It was also very annoying, because the water flowing down the river nearby and the rhythmic sounds the soft breeze brought in steady intervals had been very soothing up until that moment. Lena tried to ignore it, but when it happened again, louder this time, her curiosity was piqued and she figured it was worth the risk and decided to check it out.

What she found when her eyes opened was most definitely not what she had been expecting. Instead of the bright yellow sun shining down on her there was an orange glow coming from a window nearby warming up her back. The sound of the river was gone, but she could still hear the wind blowing softly and, somehow, that didn’t make anything any less confusing. 

“The hell?” Lena mumbled to herself. After a few seconds she finally focused enough to realize that she had been dreaming and that the person clearing her throat was Alex.

Alex, who was standing there with her arms crossed next to Thara and Sam. She had a knowing smirk on her face that threw Lena off, but it got even worse when she noticed that the other two women were sporting their own, too.

She was about to ask what the hell did they want and what were they all doing in her apartment when the couch beneath her moved and let out a little annoyed groan. 

Wait. Couches don’t move on their own and they definitely don’t make sounds.

The moment that realization hit her Lena felt an arm tightening around her body, fingers splaying protectively over her back and keeping her warm. Then the previous night came crashing down and she froze. Her eyes closed tightly and the brunette carefully moved her head, afraid to look up but knowing she absolutely had to. 

Her suspicion was immediately confirmed. There was no ‘soft breeze’ around her, what she could hear was Kara’s steady breathing close to her ear, since she was resting her head on the blonde’s chest and lying half on top of her. 

It was a reflex. A dangerous reaction that prevented her from actually thinking about the consequences her sudden movement would bring. Lena pushed herself up and off Kara as fast as she could, not realizing that the hand she used to push herself off was on the blonde’s stomach and not the couch. 

Which basically meant she woke Kara up by physically assaulting her.

“Ugh, what is happening?!”

Kara opened her eyes and quickly sat up, awake and alert, but still completely lost. The first thing she saw was Lena, blushing like she never had before, right before her attention got pulled over to the other side of the coffee table, where Alex was smirking, Sam was grinning and Thara was looking at her with amusement and curiosity.

“Good morning, sleeping beauties,” Sam said, her grin getting even bigger. “Had a good night?”

Both women on the couch exchanged a glance, realizing at the same time that they might have fallen asleep right there the night before and somehow, in an attempt to get comfortable, moved in their sleep enough to end up… basically cuddling. Lena was completely mortified, which tempted her to kick Kara off the couch when all the blonde did was shrug and try to hide that devastating half smile.

When neither of them answered, Sam decided to make their presence known again. “Hey, lover-girls, we were worried about you! You disappeared last night and neither one of you answered your phone this morning.”

“Sam!” Lena covered her face wishing Argo would split open and swallow her, which was a bit morbid and insensitive, considering how the asteroid that was Argo City actually came to exist.

“We were!”

The brunette was completely speechless, which apparently prompted Kara to intervene on her behalf. “You, traitor , were completely passed out as soon as the Khahsh hit you,” she said, pointing her finger to openly accuse her best friend. “And we had to leave when you two started making out,” now she pointed to Sam and Alex, who at least had the decency to look a little bit ashamed. “Lena said you’d start having sex right there and I didn’t really feel like watching.”

“Luthor!” Alex was the one blushing now, and even if Lena was still completely mortified, she still enjoyed her friend’s discomfort a little bit in that moment.

“In our defense, it really looked like you would.”

Sam let out what could only be described as a cackle and wrapped one arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. “What can I say? Almost twelve years and we still got it.”

“Congrats.” Lena deadpanned. “Now, I don’t want to be rude, but can you all leave, please?”

“Morning quickie?” Oh, how Sam loved to push her buttons. Lena grabbed a cushion and threw it at her, but her aim was very off and it landed at Alex’s feet instead. “Nice aim.”

“I just woke up, give me a break.”

In the end, Alex ended up being the level headed one who dragged the other two women back to the door. “We’ll be at our place. Come whenever you’re ready and we can go for brunch or something.”

The redhead didn’t wait for an answer, she just opened the door and led Sam and Thara out before following them, leaving a blushing Lena and an amused Kara behind.

Both women exchanged a look and couldn’t help but start laughing. Kara a bit more than Lena, who was still blushing furiously and clearly didn’t know what to do with herself. “Kara, I'm so sorry, I have no idea how we ended up like that.”

“Neither do I, it’s alright, Lena.” She was being as comforting as she could, and the brunette really appreciated it, even if she couldn’t stop feeling weird about it. “It wasn’t just you, I was there, too.”

“Yes, but I was practically pinning you down!”

That sentence made the blonde laugh, but this time, instead of feeling embarrassed, Lena laughed with her. “Okay, first of all, you can barely do that, even if you try. I don’t know if you noticed, but I work out.” As if she needed to prove her point, Kara flexed her arm, like the huge dork Lena was discovering she was. “And second, in your dreams, Luthor. I’m no bottom.”

Lena was utterly speechless. It took almost twenty seconds of silence and staring at Kara’s playful grin until she found her voice again. “You did not just say that. Are you still high?” 

The blonde got up and refilled their glasses while she laughed again. “I believe I did. And no, I am not.”

“Where did you even learn that term?!” She took the glass Kara was offering her with a nod that tried to convey her infinite gratitude, because her mouth felt like sandpaper.

“I’ve been studying, too.”

“Studying what? Porn?!”

“Um, no. What's that? Should I?”

“God, no!” The brunette pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Please don’t.”

They both laughed after exchanging one more look, then focused on drinking their water. “You know I’m still gonna look into it now that you mentioned it, right?”

“Why would you do that?”

“I’m a scientist, Lena, I’m naturally curious. And you seem so adamant on me not doing it, that I kinda want to do it, you know?”

“What are you, twelve?”

“We covered that topic last night.”

“So you remember being nice to me last night?”

Kara’s soft smile threatened to completely destroy the other woman. “I do.”

“Any regrets?”

“None.”

Lena bit the corner of her bottom lip in an attempt to hold back the happiest grin her face had seen in a long time. She failed. “I’m glad.”

The blonde smiled back and pursed her lips afterwards, bouncing back and forth, clearly not knowing what to do with herself after that. “Should we go next door?”

“Probably, before Sam starts making inappropriate jokes again.” Lena got up with a loud groan and stretched her sore back. 

“Your couch is very comfortable, I can see myself crashing here again.” Kara was a little tease, it was honestly surprising and not at all unwelcomed.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” There was no harm in playing along, right? It was just the two of them now after all.

“I did.” She also had this devastating thing that she did when she looked at Lena like that and gave her short and concise answers that were loaded with so much more than her words conveyed. “Was the cuddling to your liking?” Like she said, little tease.

“I’ve had better.”

“No, you haven’t, and you know it.”

Motherfu—

Chapter Text

Everything changed after that game night. At times it felt like Lena’s world had been turned upside down overnight. Where she had first encountered nothing but coldness and hostility during the early weeks of her stay, she now found something akin to friendship and understanding. Kara’s behavior had changed drastically for the better, and she no longer had to endure the hurtful remarks and annoyed glances. Instead she found a kind of camaraderie she had never known before meeting the blonde. It was completely different from what she had with Sam or even Alex, but Lena couldn’t even begin to explain how. So she kept it quiet. She didn’t mention it to anyone, afraid that it might disappear if she ever brought it up, and just focused on enjoying it for as long as it lasted.

Game nights had become a regular thing, and not only had Mon-El’s ‘lady-friend’—they used that term themselves, which Lena found juvenile, but who was anyone to judge them?—joined them on more than one occasion, but also Lir-Al did whenever his mother was available to babysit his and Thara’s children. Slowly and without even realizing it, they were building a steady friend group—even if Lena missed Nia and Brainy like crazy and felt like she was betraying them. 

It made no sense, the rational part of her brain knew that, but she couldn’t help it sometimes. They were back on Earth working with Superman to keep her safe, doing everything in their power and risking their lives so she could go back home and not fear for her safety, while she was building a whole new life in Argo City, even if only temporarily.

Of course, it wouldn’t have been the same without Sam, Ruby and Alex there with her. They kept her grounded. They were the constant reminder that she had a life back home, a life that needed her as much as she needed it back. They had thousands of memories together, ever since Lena met Sam at Harvard over twelve years ago, the two women—and Sam’s two year old daughter at the time—had become inseparable. Not long after that Alex and Sam started dating, and the four of them became a family. There had been the occasional addition to their little family, like Jack or Andrea had been, but neither lasted long and, if Lena was being entirely honest, she never considered either one of them to truly be a part of it.

In retrospect, it was clear that there had been very valid reasons for Lena to feel that way, but she never really dwelled on them. There was no point in revisiting parts of her past that weren’t relevant or important in her life anymore.

Except that was exactly what she had been doing lately.

It wasn’t intentional, the way it all started, but as a random thought during lunch with Kara, Sam, Ruby and Alex. One minute Lena was having fun and enjoying herself, and the next the realization hit her like a freight train and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since. Kara fit with them. Effortlessly and gracefully, despite every cultural difference between their two species, she just… fit. Granted, Sam was also Kryptonian, but she had been unaware of that little detail for the majority of her life so, for all intents and purposes, she acted and behaved like any other human.

Ruby absolutely adored her. Kara was kind and patient with her, she took the time to teach her as much Kryptonese as the teenager was willing to learn, as well as every single ‘cool thing’ about Argo City and Krypton she could think of, like the Fire Falls, the Rainbow Canyon or the Jewel Mountain. Objectively, Lena could understand Ruby’s fascination once she heard about those landmarks herself, they did sound pretty cool.

What actually surprised Lena the most was the relationship between Alex and Kara. Everyone in their circle knew the redhead was someone not to be messed with. She was cautious when meeting new people and, even if she always gave them the benefit of the doubt, she never let her guard down. It could take her months—if not years—to warm up to someone; Jack had been the perfect example of that. Sometimes Alex never came around to like them and knew she never would, and that was exactly what happened with Andrea and some of Lena’s ‘friends’ from boarding school. So, basically, Lena just assumed Kara had some sort of superpower when she befriended Alex right away. Not only did they like each other from the very beginning, but they were becoming really good friends.

It was annoying.

And then there was Sam. She was always friendly and warm towards the blonde, but there was something whenever all of them got together that felt… Well, unsettling was the only word Lena could think of. She knew, because both Kryptonians had told her separately, that they got along pretty great whenever they met so Sam could learn more about her heritage, but whenever they all got together Lena couldn’t shake the feeling that Sam kept stealing glances at either Kara or her. More than once she caught her best friend trying to conceal a smirk, but when she called her out on it, Sam dismissed the conversation and pivoted the subject to something else entirely, getting herself out of the spotlight. A true businesswoman, that was for sure.

“Argo to Lena,” Alex called, noticing the brunette was definitely not paying attention to her anymore. “Where did you go?”

“Huh?” Lena looked up at the woman walking beside her, as if she just realized she had been talking to her for the past few minutes.

“You didn’t listen to a single word I said, did you?” 

“I’m sorry.” She gave Alex a sheepish smile and shoved her hands in her pockets. “What were you saying?”

The redhead chuckled and shook her head. “Nevermind, you’re clearly distracted today. Wanna talk about it?”

Did she want to talk about it? Absolutely not. 

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she lied.

Alex pursed her lips and ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it back and off her face. “Fair enough. If you ever decide there is something to talk about, you know where to find me.” 

The grateful smile was all Alex needed to know that Lena got her message. She wasn’t buying it, they both knew it, but she would respect her friend’s privacy. Unlike Sam, who would probably push Lena to her breaking point, until they got into a pointless fight where no one would win.

They kept walking in silence, enjoying the warmth of a synthetic Rao shining down on them. Once again, Lena was about to get lost in her own thoughts, when Alex elbowed her not-so-subtly.

“What?”

They were following the carefully designed hiking trail in the middle of a beautiful park, surrounded by all kinds of flora that never ceased to amaze either one of them. Lena’s favorite were, by far, the singing flowers. However, that was not what Alex was pointing at nor why she was trying to get her attention. “Look,” she whispered.

There were several children playing around, some of their parents were running after them, trying to get them to behave, which Lena found pointless, to be honest. Children should be allowed to behave like children, in her opinion. That was a blessing she never got to experience. 

“What am I looking at?” The brunette asked, a bit exasperated. “Alex, you need to be more specific.”

“There!” She whispered again, more agitated this time, and Lena saw it.

Kara was lying back, resting on her elbows, eyes closed and a little smile on her face as she faced Rao. It made Lena smile; she looked happy, at peace. If Alex noticed Lena’s smile, she didn’t mention it, but it was short lived anyway, because soon enough the brunette noticed that Kara wasn’t alone and her smile slowly faded. There was a woman sitting next to her. She had just set a tablet down and looked at Kara.

Lena could see in greater detail than she would have liked how the woman bit the corner of her lip and carefully reached over to push a strand of hair out of Kara’s face and behind her ear. At this point Lena had no idea if she was seeing things in slow motion, or if the woman was moving that slowly, but it didn’t matter, anyway. She felt her stomach twist in what she assumed was shame, because it seemed like they were intruding on a very private moment between the two of them, so she looked away.

The brunette grabbed her friend’s elbow, pulling on her arm in an attempt to get her to keep walking and, even if she succeeded, she could see how Alex was craning her neck to be able to keep watching until they were out of sight. 

“Why–”

“Rude much, Danvers? Since when do you spy on people?”

“What?” The woman stopped in her tracks and shook her head. “No, Lena, you don’t understand–”

“There’s nothing to understand, Alex. You can’t just intrude and invade people’s privacy like that.”

“I wasn’t–wait, what are you talking about? We didn’t intrude.”

“Only because I stopped you.”

“Okay, Luthor, I’m in a good mood, so I’ll humor you. What’s wrong with saying ‘hi’ if we run into our friend? Wouldn’t you expect me to do it if I ran into you at some random public place?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? There was nothing wrong with it, in fact it was something that would probably be expected, and yet it still felt that way to Lena. It should’ve been the most normal thing to do, walk up to them and say ‘hello’ to their friend, introduce themselves to the woman they didn’t know. And yet…

“Well, I don’t know, okay? It just felt wrong.”

“Did it now?” Alex asked with a shit-eating-grin on her face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” That’s it, Lena, answer a question with another question. You’re just brilliant. Genius level intellect.

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Look, I don’t know where you’re going with this conversation, but I’m not interested in finding out. I’m going home, see you later.” With that, Lena turned around and left, leaving a grinning Alex behind.

Lena was a natural when it came to organization, she was great at planning ahead and making the most out of every single minute. She prided herself on it, actually: she was never late and made every second of her day count. It didn’t matter if it was work or leisure, Lena knew what she was going to do, when and how. Was it a trait she developed over the years out of extreme anxiety? Perhaps, but it gave her the sense of control she needed to keep her sanity intact. There were only so many Lex-shaped murderous surprises she could take without feeling like she would have a mental breakdown, after all. Sure, she still had the sporadic panic attack every now and then and was often described as a ‘ball of stress’, but who wouldn’t be when your brother is a megalomaniac psychopath who’s hell bent on murdering you?

However, prone to organization as she was, Lena had recently started to realize she had been relying on Jess and technology way too much to keep a perfectly organized, efficient schedule. Well, she didn’t have Jess in Argo, but she sure had a plethora of incredible technological options that were way more advanced than anything on Earth, even if not as loyal and efficient as her trusted assistant was.

That’s how her very own Lab-Kelex—Ruby liked to call it that—was the one to remind her that she had to go see Kara in five minutes to go over the last details of the Sun beds they were designing for the hospitals of Argo City.

Lena quickly gathered everything she needed, going through her notes to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything, and left the comfort of her own lab to visit Kara’s. In all fairness, it wasn’t that bad; the blonde made sure to do everything in her power to make Lena feel comfortable there, and the young Luthor appreciated the effort and tried her best to be a good lab-guest. 

This time, however, she didn’t get the chance to politely announce herself and wait to be granted entrance. The door to Kara’s lab was already open and she could hear voices inside. Voices that were gradually increasing in volume and cadence.

The brunette stood at the door for a few seconds trying to assess the situation. She had no idea what was going on, and the last thing she wanted was to intrude. Something didn’t feel right, though, and that made her take a few steps forward. She had years of experience and had learned how to read body language—mostly for her own safety—and nothing about this situation felt even remotely safe. There was a man standing there in the middle of the room, facing Kara and growing more and more agitated with each passing second. Lena knew the man, she had seen him around the building several times, she knew he worked there, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember his name. She could also see that Kara was trying to keep her composure, which spoke volumes of the blonde’s character as a leader, when the person in front of her was being incredibly disrespectful.

Lena, however, wasn’t the man’s boss nor did she care about pleasantries after hearing some of the things that came out of his mouth. Yet she decided to stay quiet, even if she made her presence known to the blonde by moving within her visual field.

“Got yourself a new play-thing and forgot about what you did?” The man literally spat out.

That was another thing: Lena had been studying Kryptonese every chance she got. She was getting actually good at it. Which basically meant that staying quiet was definitely not an option after that. What did he mean by that, though? Was he referring to the woman who was with Kara at the park the other day? Not now, Lena! There would be time for that later, now was not the time to even try to think about that. It was bad enough leaving Alex there and storming off like a child. She shook her head, as if doing that would clear those thoughts, and  approached them carefully, making sure to stay on Kara’s side of the room. “Kara? Is everything alright?”

“Oh, and there she is, of course.” He laughed a humorless laugh, then continued in a clipped, hard English. “Perfect timing, Doctor Luthor.”

Wait, what? Me?

“That’s enough, Nel-Bin.” Kara’s expression went icy cold the second Lena’s name left the man’s mouth and her jaw clenched tightly.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, your friend didn’t tell you? Of course not, why would she? Let me do the honors, then: she had her ex-fiancé arrested years ago and they just released the sentencing to the public, he’s being incarcerated for life. But of course, we should have expected that, with her mother being the Chief Justice and all.” 

“What?” Lena was so confused. Not only because she had just found out that Kara had been engaged, which was already something she had not been expecting, but why would she have someone arrested?

“Lena, can you give us a moment, please?”

“I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone with this man.”

“I can handle it.” Kara made a long pause and leveled the man with a stern glare, tilting her chin up. “I’m sure Nel-Bin here hasn’t forgotten I’m his superior and this is a work environment.”

“My superior?” The man scoffed and looked at Kara with a disgusted expression on his face. “What authority do you think you still have after what happened to Tan-Us?”

“I’m sorry, did you just say ‘what happened to Tan-Us’?” Kara was visibly fuming at this point and Lena feared for this man’s life. “ To him? He was the aggressor!”

“Or so you say.”

Hold on, aggressor?

“There were witnesses, Nel-Bin.” Kara switching back to Kryptonese like that only meant that she was losing the battle she was fighting against her temper.

The man, Nel-Bin, scoffed again and looked to the side for a moment. “Of course there were, your employees.” He finished, glaring at the blonde once again. “How convenient.”

“What are you implying? If you have something to say, just say it. I’ve had enough of this childish behavior of yours.”

“Whatever couple dispute you had should’ve stayed private. Instead you just had to go running to your best friend and your mother, didn’t you?”

Kara took a few steps forward, standing face to face with a man that towered slightly over her. She gritted her teeth and looked him in the eye without an ounce of fear. “Physical assault is not a ‘dispute,’ Nel-Bin. It’s a criminal act—one that he openly committed against me—punishable with life imprisonment depending on the degree and the ruling of our judiciary system. Tan knew that. He was well aware of the consequences his actions might have, and he still chose to carry on with it. In front of other people, nonetheless. Not only was he a disgrace of a Kryptonian, but also a very, very stupid one. Throwing tantrums like a child because his fragile ego got hurt, just like you are right now, only I’m not entirely sure about what your reasons are.” She paused and took a step back, folding her arms across her chest and leveling him with a stare that would have even Lena a bit intimidated. “So I would advise you to think– really think about what you’re about to do next.”

Nel-Bin’s face had gradually lost all color during Kara’s response and, for a moment, Lena thought he would shut up and leave, drop this whole issue and hope the blonde would also let it go. However, that was not the case.

“Did anybody ask what it was that you did to get that reaction from him?”

That was the moment Lena lost it. “Are you honestly blaming the victim right now?” She intervened, completely unable to help herself and surprising both Kryptonians, who just looked at her; the man with utter rage and Kara with pleased surprise. “Are you seriously that fucking stupid?”

“I won’t have an insignificant human talking to me like that,” he spat out in rage, turning his body to face the brunette and taking a few steps closer to her. 

He didn’t get too close, though, because Kara was standing between them in the blink of an eye, holding a hand back to gently place it on Lena’s stomach in a silent request to stay there and not come any closer. 

“You do remember we installed cameras everywhere after the incident, right?” Kara asked, her voice going back to calm and steady. “We have the finest surveillance system in all of Argo, you designed it yourself.”

That observation gave him pause. The man looked around, spotting several cameras around Kara’s lab, clenching his jaw in barely contained rage afterwards. “I wasn’t going to–”

“Yes, you were.” The blonde interrupted him. “Don’t make me call for a Peace Officer. Please leave voluntarily.”

Nel-Bin glared at them one last time before turning around and heading for the door. His steps were so loud in the otherwise quiet lab that Lena felt chills running down her spine. She was about to ask Kara if she was alright, when the blonde called after the retreating man. “Nel-Bin.”

“Yes?” He asked, slowly turning around.

“Don’t come back. Your employment here has been terminated, effective immediately.”

“What?” He asked, now visibly outraged. “You can’t!”

His boss leveled him with a stern glare and folded her arms once again. “All of our actions have consequences. Yours are not the exception. You were disrespectful and belligerent. That kind of behavior goes against everything we believe in and stand for, not only here in the Science Guild, but also as a society. Don’t make things more difficult than they need to be, gather your personal belongings and leave the premises.”

She could see it, Nel-Bin was dying to say something else, Lena wouldn’t be surprised if he hurt himself biting his tongue. His jaw was clenched tight and so were his fists at his sides. However, he didn’t react the way she was expecting him to, recklessly and violently. Instead he nodded and walked out, turning in the direction of his lab with fast paced steps that resounded loudly in the empty corridors.

The moment the man was out of earshot Lena placed her hand on Kara’s shoulder, urging her to turn around and face her. No matter how hard the blonde tried to avoid her gaze, Lena could still see the unshed tears threatening to break free. “Darling, are you alright?” She asked softly, trying to convey as much empathy and care in her tone as she could.

Kara sniffled and nodded, finally meeting the other woman’s eyes once she regained some control over those pesky tears. “Yeah.”

She knew it wasn’t true, the blonde was very clearly not okay and, even though Lena had no idea if there was something she could do to help, she still wanted to offer her support. “Kara…” 

Kara just smiled and shook her head. “I’ll be fine, Lena. It’s not the first time something like this has happened and I have a feeling it won’t be the last now that the ruling has been made public.” She made a pause and took a deep breath through her nose. “However, I am getting better at dealing with it.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just… stay safe, okay?” The blonde bit the corner of her lip and furrowed her brow, displaying that devastating little crinkle. “He made some comments that didn’t sit well with me and I’m afraid this might affect you, even if indirectly.”

“I’ve been either avoiding or surviving my brother’s assassination attempts for years, darling, I think I’ll manage.”

Kara’s open display of horror made the brunette chuckle and shrug her shoulders, as if the multiple death threats and attempts on her life were a common thing which, to be fair, they were. 

“How…” the blonde frowned even more and took a seat, reaching for the closest chair. “How do you live like that?”

Lena’s tongue darted out to wet her lips and she carefully sat down across the other woman, taking her time to think how to answer that question. “I’ve… struggled with the alternative.”

“W-what do you mean?”

Something in that little stutter let Lena know that Kara knew exactly what she meant. She had no idea if she could say it out loud and not break down, it was a topic she hardly ever discussed. The only people who knew about it were her therapist and Sam, not even Alex was aware of the full extent of her struggle. Lena preferred it that way. She had been taught since the age of four that Luthors don’t show weakness, if they struggle, they do it stoically in silence. That was one of the very toxic Luthor traits that she was still trying to unlearn and heal from.

Besides, realistically, she didn’t know Kara all that well yet. She would let her assume, but Lena would be damned if she said it out loud. So, in the end, she just fixed Kara with a pointed look while arching one eyebrow, hoping that would be answer enough.

It was. The blonde made it clear when she ran her hand down her face before letting out a long, tired sigh. “I’m so sorry, Lena.”

“Oh, please. It’s quite alright, Kara. Besides, this is not about me and I don’t intend for it to be. I’m more worried about you right now.”

There was a hint of a smile threatening to show up, Lena could see it, the corner of the blonde’s lips had just twitched, but it never showed; not completely. “I’ll be okay.”

“Has this ever happened before?”

Kara bit her bottom lip for a moment, looking down at the floor. “A couple times. Although never to this extent.”

“Do you know what made it different this time?”

“The definitive sentence, if I had to guess. Once it’s made public, it means it’s also final. The time for appealing is over.” The blonde looked back up, meeting Lena’s eyes. “Funny thing is, I wouldn’t even have found out about it if it wasn’t for Nel-Bin. I had to stop keeping track of Tan’s trials and constant appeals. I would give a statement whenever necessary, but otherwise I… I just wanted to forget.”

Lena reached over without thinking and placed her hand on Kara’s thigh, giving it a soft squeeze. When she realized what she was doing, the brunette looked up to find a sort of vulnerability in Kara’s eyes she never thought possible. “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” the woman nodded once, smiling sadly but reassuringly, “thank you.”

Without even noticing, they spent several minutes just like that: Lena silently offering comfort to the best of her ability, and Kara remaining open enough to receive it.

“May I ask you something?” It was stronger than her. No, Lena wasn’t proud of it, she just had to know, otherwise her curiosity would drive her crazy. “I swear it’s not related to… him .”

“Of course.”

“While I thoroughly enjoyed the way you stood up to Nel-Bin and put him in his place, I’m curious as to why did you do it in english?”

The blonde’s half smile and the way she rubbed the back of her neck were a clear indicator that she was probably still a bit uncomfortable, but she decided to answer anyway. “I find that switching to a language that is not my native one helps me detach myself from a situation that was painful and traumatic.”

“Oh.” The brunette frowned deep in thought. “It actually makes sense. Maybe I should try it sometime.”

“A lot of trauma?”

“You have no idea.”

“Well, if you ever want to do it in Kryptonese or some other language we both speak, let me know.”

Kara was being sweet. Sweet. To her. And smiling almost playfully. 

“Well, I just might one of these days.”

Not much work had been accomplished after that incident with Nel-Bin. As much as she tried to hide it, Kara had obviously been affected by the episode that led to her having to fire the man. It was the right thing to do, Lena would have done the exact same thing in her shoes without a hint of remorse or hesitation, but perhaps the blonde was a better person than she was. She was visibly troubled for the rest of the day, up until the point where the brunette suggested she should probably go home. Of course, Kara refused at first, but after twenty more minutes of being unable to properly put together a simple electric circuit—and getting shocked twice in the process—she finally agreed it was for the best and headed home.

Lena didn’t have much to do without the blonde there. It didn’t make sense to start a new project when they were in the middle of a very big one, so instead she decided to go back to study some more Kryptonese. It wasn’t easy, but she was getting good at it. Speaking it fluently and confidently was a bit of an issue still, but she was sure she would overcome it in no time. Besides, she had Ruby to practice with, which gave her another excuse to hang out with her goddaughter more often—not that she needed one, as the teenager’s mothers had pointed out.

By the time she decided to take a little break Lena noticed several hours had passed and it was way past the time she usually went home. It was fine, though; she didn’t have plans for the rest of the day, so she took her time, gathering her things with the utmost care and leaving her lab, still with her headphones in place, listening to the lessons Alura had procured for her.

She took a little detour, stopping by the market to get some groceries because she felt like cooking that night. That was another thing she had picked up again recently. Lena had always loved cooking, enough to sneak out of her bedroom during her childhood to hide in the kitchen and learn from Mrs. Thompson, the Luthor’s cook, who always welcomed her with a treat and the warmest of hugs. The woman taught her everything she knew, and Lena considered herself to be a decent enough cook thanks to her. She had lost some of the practice during her school days, but once she graduated after her third PhD and moved in with Jack, she had easily started doing it again whenever she had the time and energy, much to the delight of her ex-boyfriend, who loved her cooking.

Now, getting groceries in the beginning of her stay in Argo had been almost a nightmare. Not only did she have no idea what most of the things were, but she couldn’t even pronounce them. Going grocery shopping that day, after all the effort she had been putting in learning the language and having tried a lot of different new ingredients felt like a huge win. The vendors greeted her warmly, as they always did, and most of them happily complimented her on how good her Kryptonese was getting, appreciating with those simple kind words the fact that Lena was actively making an actual effort to show them how much their patience and ready disposition meant to her, especially in the beginning.

Barely an hour later the brunette was finally home, a bit tired, but happier than she could remember feeling after talking to so many people. That simple task was usually exhausting back home, probably because she couldn’t trust anyone there and had to assume everyone was out to get her. She could count with the fingers of one hand the people she could trust, and it took her leaving her planet to notice how exhausting living like that was. Why did she want to go back to that hell, anyway?

Nope! Not going down that road, Luthor.

Chuckling to herself, she walked to the panel that controlled most of her apartment’s electronics and turned on the stereo, smiling when the music Kara had downloaded into her system started playing. It worked almost immediately. She was no longer thinking about Earth and whatever was going on there, instead she could peacefully focus on her cooking, with the occasional random thought of beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair.

Maybe Kara had some sort of superpower, much like her cousin, but one of a different kind. Maybe she could read her mind, even in the distance, because shortly after she started invading her thoughts, Lena’s phone beeped with a new notification, the screen displaying Kara’s name on it.

She stirred the veggies on the pan and lowered the heat before picking up her phone to read the message from the blonde.

Hi, just checking to see if you’re 
okay after what happened today.

Lena frowned, a bit confused. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? She hadn’t been involved in what happened earlier that day, Kara had. And because of a very sensitive matter, nonetheless. 

Me? Darling, you were the one who 
got into an argument with Nel-Bin. 

Are you okay?

Super fine 🙂

Okay, since when did Kara even know about emojis? No, wait, hold on. Since when did the app actually have the real thing? This was an app Kara and Lena had developed together that used the Latin alphabet instead of the Kryptonian one so the people of Earth could communicate between themselves in a language they understood without the need to use the translator. Kara and Thara also had installed it, because they had all become friends and it was convenient, but that still didn’t answer her question, because Lena was sure as hell she never implemented the little yellow faces into the code. Ruby, of course. Lena mentally facepalmed. The teen had her own phone now, of course she had taught Kara all about emojis, and of course Kara would have loved them enough to code them herself without even telling anyone. No wonder there had been an update a few days ago. God knows what else she had shown to the blonde.

Seriously, Kara? Emojis?

They’re so cute! How come you 
didn’t tell me about them? 
Look at this one 😉 it’s winking!

How are they necessary?

They are VITAL, Lena! You
betrayed me by withholding
this information. I trusted you 😢

And they say I’m the dramatic one? Lena laughed to herself and made sure to keep paying attention to the food, even if she was unable to put her phone down for long when Kara was the one texting her.

Oh, my god. The drama.
They are absolutely useless.
Are you going to tell me the truth?
I know you’re not “super fine” Kara.

The amount of time she had to wait for a reply made the brunette think she might have overstepped and had her panicking for a few minutes, but when her phone lit up again and vibrated on the counter, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Okay, I’m not super fine. I’m not 
fine at all, but there’s not much
I can do about it, only wait for things
to settle.

Lena bit the corner of her lip, reading the last message over and over, trying to decide if she should do what every fiber in her body was screaming at her to do. “Fuck it.”

Are you alone?

Yes.

Come over. 

That’s not necessary, Lena.
I’ll be fine, promise.

Kara, come over. I’m making dinner
and you shouldn’t be alone today.

She waited, then, taking a sip of the wine she had just opened and debating with herself if she should just let go of whatever inhibitions she had set in place almost twenty-three years ago, when she became a Luthor, to protect herself from a hostile world that only wanted to harm her. Her fingers didn’t wait for her to decide, going on autopilot and pressing send before she could delete it.

Please, darling. I need you here, it’s
the only way I won’t be constantly
worrying about you.

Five minutes passed. Five infinite minutes that almost made Lena regret that last message. Almost. But she didn’t, not really. She had never been this open to anyone about what she needed and it felt liberating. Having to keep her walls up all the time, always pretending she didn’t really care, it was fucking exhausting and she was ready to just… stop. The world offered her a second chance, a fresh start, and she was ready to take it and make the most out of it.

I’ll be there in ten minutes.

❤️

Exactly twelve minutes later Lena’s apartment announced Kara was at the door. In the span of those twelve minutes the brunette had had enough time to be happy, freak out, have a tiny anxiety attack, and then be happy again. Maybe she should bring that up in her next therapy session, whenever that happens.

She granted her entrance and walked to the door to greet the blonde, only to stop in her tracks when she noticed how red Kara’s eyes were. She had clearly been crying and her eyes still remained a little glassy.

“Oh, darling.” It broke Lena’s heart. She reached for the other woman and pulled her closer, holding her in a hug she hoped would bring Kara some comfort. She knew she couldn’t take the pain away, that wasn’t what she wanted to do, anyway. There were no magic words that would make everything better, Kara would have to go through it, it was the only way. But that didn’t mean she would have to go through it alone.

It took Kara a few long seconds, but she finally allowed herself to return the hug, which made her start crying again. 

If she had to stay all night standing here, holding the blonde and letting her cry, she would. Gladly.

But it appeared it wouldn’t be necessary. Kara sniffled and pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her hands and letting out a wet chuckle. “I’m sorry, I’m a mess.”

Lena smiled at her, reaching out without thinking and pushing a strand of blonde hair behind the woman’s ear. “You know that’s normal after everything you went through, right?” When Kara didn’t answer, she reached for her hand and dragged her to the kitchen, where she could pay attention to the food she was cooking, too. “I know I may not have been your first option, or even the second one, but I’m here for you, Kara.”

“You’d be surprised,” the blonde mumbled under her breath and reached for a tissue.

Had she heard correctly? It was hard to say, the sound of the food sizzling on the stove made Lena doubt, but she didn’t want to ask the blonde to repeat herself. “Have you talked to Thara?” She asked instead.

“I can’t.”

“Why not? Kara, I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

“Oh, I know she is. I mean I legally can’t talk to her about it. Or my mother, for that matter.” Kara looked up with tired eyes and took a deep breath, probably because she noticed Lena’s confused frown. “Thara was the arresting officer, she’s the one I called when it happened. Her connection to me made some people question her integrity, everyone knows we’ve been friends ever since we were kids. And since Tan-Us is the son of one of the members of the High Council, some accusations have been made right away about where her loyalties laid from the highest of places. Same thing happened with my mother, she had to either recuse herself or make sure to remain impartial by cutting all personal ties with me for a while.”

The brunette turned off the stove in favor of focusing all of her attention on the other woman. She could feel her blood boiling. This whole thing was way worse than she had initially thought. It wasn’t just a case of domestic violence or assault, politics had gotten involved almost immediately, and not in favor of the sweet, kind blonde sitting in front of her across the kitchen island. “Whose?”

“Whose what?”

“Whose son is he? I’ve met with them several times regarding our stay here and the work we —you and I—are doing. I want to know what kind of people I’m dealing with.”

Kara’s sad little smile broke Lena’s heart even more. “Lena, it’s not that hard to figure out if you think about it. The naming of our descendants isn’t entirely random, the family name is always there.”

It didn’t take her long after that, Kara was right, she should have known right away. “Jul-Us,” she stated, because there was no question anymore.

A short nod followed the name, confirming it.

“Kara, did Alura…?” There was a knot in her throat making it impossible for her to finish that question, but Lena knew she didn’t need to, Kara understood.

“She said she had to,” the blonde explained. “She said the rest of the council and our justice system couldn’t be trusted if the Chief Justice recused herself. It would leave Jul-Us with enough power to protect his son and sweep what he did to me under the rug.”

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.

“What the actual fuck?” It was an involuntary outburst but she didn’t even try to contain it, to be honest. Lena was so fucking mad she didn’t care anymore. “So she left you alone when you needed her the most? What was she thinking?!”

“She was right–”

“Don’t you dare.” It was cold and fierce. The kind of statement that would leave anyone paralyzed. Lena’s voice had gotten lower, but the tone was dangerous, it demanded attention and refused to be contradicted. “Don’t you fucking dare defend her actions. Not after this.” Her jaw clenched so hard she wouldn’t be surprised if Kara could hear the gritting of her teeth. “I can’t believe she did that.” Her disappointment was clear as day.

“It worked. She made sure–”

“Would you have done it?” The brunette asked in that fiery tone that resurfaced without her realizing it.

“Done what?”

“Cut all ties with your own child when they needed you the most? When they had just been severely and violently hurt. Deeply traumatized by someone they trusted.”

“I can’t answer that. I don’t have children.”

“That’s a bullshit answer.”

“What do you want from me, Lena?” Kara was crying again and, as much as it hurt her, Lena knew it was necessary.

“I want you to stop making excuses for everyone else. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth, because I haven’t known you for long, but I know you wouldn’t leave your child’s side no matter what, because neither would I.” 

Blue eyes met hers and Lena finally saw that fire behind them. It was burning bright and dangerous, ready to consume everything. “No. There is nothing in any world that could take me away from my child.”

“Then stop.” Lena sighed and walked around the island, placing her hand on the blonde’s shoulder to gently urge her to turn to the side and face her. “Stop making excuses for people who don’t even deserve your time. What your mother did was fucked up, and it’s not your job to justify her shitty choices. Especially when you were the one paying for them.”

“You’re cursing a lot tonight,” Kara pointed out with a little tired half smile.

Lena chuckled and playfully shoved her shoulder, taking that as the win it was and cutting the blonde some slack. “Well, I believe the situation called for it.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Kara laughed softly and wiped her tears one last time. “Love me a woman who can… how is it you humans say? ‘Curse like a sailor’ when needed. If anything, I’m surprised you have it in you, Lena Luthor.”

Chapter Text

A complete and utter shit show.

That was what the couple of days after the news regarding Tan-Us had been. Not for everyone, of course, but the Science Guild had gotten so divided that it put Kara in a position where she had no other option than to address the issue.

At last, Lena’s vast life experience with multiple scandals would be put to good use.

She rolled her sleeves—quite literally—and started pacing back and forth in front of the blonde, who was sitting on top of her desk, following her every move. “First things first, this has to be a public event. You’re holding it here for all employees, but anyone who wants to attend is welcome to do so.”

“What? Why?” Kara was so clearly in distress that it made Lena’s heart ache a little bit.

“Because a lot of people have a lot of opinions without knowing any of the facts.”

“And what do I care?”

Lena sighed and put a halt to the pacing, standing in front of the blonde and searching for her eyes. “Kara, your family is one of the most prestigious ones in Argo City, probably have been on Krypton, too.” She didn’t wait for a confirmation, she didn’t need it. “I know you are a very private person and I respect that, I’m the same, but this time you’re gonna have to go public and shut everyone up once and for all. For every Nel-Bin you have in here, there are ten out there, just waiting to jump at your throat the first chance they get. It’s not about Tan-Us out there, it’s about power. Who has it and who craves it.”

“They can have it for all I care, I just want them to leave me alone.”

“They won’t,” Alex interceded, taking a few steps to stand next to Lena. She was in her official Peace Officer uniform, standing tall with her hands folded behind her back. She meant business. “If you let them take that from you, they’ll make sure you become a pariah, otherwise you’ll always be a threat. Your family name will be tarnished and, although personally I don’t believe you owe anyone a single damn thing, I’d like to think I’ve come to know you a little bit over the past few months and can say with some degree of confidence that I know you don’t want that to happen.” Alex paused, giving Kara the chance to contradict her, tell her she was wrong and she didn’t care, but she didn’t. The blonde just looked at her, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and shook her head. “So listen to Lena, she’s done this more times than I can honestly remember.”

The brunette nodded in reassurance and her chest tightened when Kara looked at her with sorrow.

“How? How can this one thing define everything? I’ve done so much for these people, dedicated my life to make theirs better. It wasn’t even my fault, I didn’t do anything wrong.” She was on the verge of tears, and so was Lena.

“Alex, could you give us a moment?” The brunette asked softly, nodding her head to the door.

Alex nodded once. “I’ll be guarding the door. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Alex. For everything.” Kara whispered softly, getting a soft squeeze on her shoulder before the redhead left her lab.

The moment the door closed behind the Peace Officer was the moment Kara stopped holding back. She leaned forward just in time for Lena to catch her in a tight embrace and let it all out, crying out her frustration, her anger, her grief. Everything she had, she cried out in Lena’s arms.

“I would like nothing more than to take your pain away, darling,” she whispered softly once Kara’s crying started to subside. “I’d take this pain from you and endure it all myself if it meant you’d be happy, but I can’t.” At this point Lena had to fight the urge to kiss Kara’s temple. “What I can do is offer you my friendship, my experience, and anything else you might need from me. You can take whatever you need, Kara.”

Kara pulled back and looked into her eyes for a long time. A long time. She was clearly searching for something, but Lena had no idea what that was. So she just held her gaze, she would do it for as long as the blonde needed, until she found whatever it was she was looking for. “I want this to be over,” she finally said, broken and tired.

“It will be,” the brunette was quick to reassure her, “we’re doing this once, and that’s it. After that you won’t have to address this ever again, I promise.”

The blonde took a deep breath and her expression changed to full determination. She wiped away the tears and sat up straighter, looking into Lena’s eyes with a renewed fire in hers. “Okay, let’s do this. Get me ready.”

One of the first things they had to do to get Kara ready was find her some counseling. It wasn’t easy to get her to open up to the idea, but Sam had offered to help her find the right person for the job and Kara had accepted.

It turned out to be harder than either one of them expected. They had to find someone who could be objective and impartial, who held no ties to any of the families of the people involved. They tried for a week without any success and, ultimately, it had been Ruby the one to find the perfect solution.

“Well, why does it have to be someone from here? It’s, like, the El’s are famous or something.” The teen had observed, barely lifting her gaze from her textbook to look at the two women while they went through the list of options for the third time. “And guy’s dad is part of the High Council, everyone knows him.”

While Lena had chosen to stay away from this part of Kara’s process for personal reasons—“you’re not fooling anyone, Luthor,” Alex had told her—she still wanted to be around, even if only as a visual reminder for the blonde that she was not alone and she had a full support system. 

The moment she heard Ruby she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration with herself. 

Of course, why didn’t I think of that?

Because you’re an immature idiot who decided to stay away from this because your own feelings scare you.

Great, now I’m talking to myself. Maybe we can find a therapist that offers some sort of two for one discount.

Shut up.

“What do you mean, Rubes?” Sam asked, genuinely curious and interested.

Ruby put her pen down and leaned back on her chair. “Everyone knows who Kara is here and what happened, no one is gonna be able to be impartial, then why are you still looking here? They’re all in each other’s business. She could, I don’t know, like, do FaceTime therapy with someone from Earth or something.”

Both Kryptonians just stared at Ruby, mouths agape and dumbfounded.

“Or some other planet, I don’t know.” She added when neither one of them said anything. “It just seems like a waste of time to keep looking here, just saying.”

Sam’s mouth kept moving but no sound was coming out. She looked from the dining room table to the living room, where her best friend was looking at her with a proud smile on her face. “That’s my fucking goddaughter,” Lena said proudly and got up in her excitement the same way she did whenever she had some sort of breakthrough.

“Language!” Sam exclaimed, clapping her hands to get even more attention from Lena. “And excuse me, but I gave birth to her.”

“Nurture versus nature, love.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, next time she can tear your perineum with her giant head, how about that?”

“Hey! I don’t have a giant head!” Ruby exclaimed, then seemed to realize what was the other thing her mother had said and pulled a grossed out face. “And eeeww! Mom!”

“You sure used to, I had to get like ten stitches.”

“Why are you telling me this?!”

“I don’t know, I lost track of the conversation now.”

Kara started laughing all of a sudden and it was everything Lena didn’t even know she needed and more. There was a little snort at the beginning, like she had been trying to hold it in, but honestly, who could blame her for failing after that?

Lena and Sam started laughing with her and, even though Ruby was trying not to, her godmother could see the hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

“Okay, first of all: ouch,” Kara said once her laughter subsided, pointing at Sam. Then she pointed at Ruby and grinned, “second: you’re a genius.” And finally she pointed at Lena. “I don’t have a third one, I'm sorry, I don’t know why I started a list,” she finished. However, her eyes remained on Lena, who was grinning after that last part.

She’s adorable and she knows it.

It was in that exact moment that Lena could see what Kara was doing. It wasn’t the first time, she just never consciously noticed it before. It wasn’t uncommon for the blonde to make her laugh, in fact, it happened every single day, she just never assumed she was actively trying to do it until now. The realization didn’t stop Lena from grinning brightly, quite the opposite, actually, but she did bite the corner of her lip while they held eye contact.

And the thing was, Kara never broke it. She was still smiling, and Lena could see how her eyes drifted down to her lips for a brief second before Sam disrupted the moment with the finesse of a rhino.

“Okay, I’m gonna need you two to stop whatever is going on there because there’s a child present,” she demanded in her ‘mom tone’ and made sure both women’s eyes were on her. “A therapist from Earth, how does that sound?”

Kara took a moment and ran her fingers through her hair, which got Lena distracted and blushing again. “I think it can work. Do you know any?”

“I mean, I think the DEO has a few on payroll?” 

“Yes, but you don’t want those,” Lena said, now fully focusing and shaking her head. “They all know Superman, different bias, same situation.” Her brow furrowed while she tried to come up with a viable option and she bit the corner of her nail. She suddenly pulled her hand away from her mouth and snapped her fingers. “James sister!”

“Kelly!”

“Who’s James?” Kara asked, looking back and forth between the two friends.

“Lena’s ex,” Sam said so casually and dismissively that it was almost funny. Also, pretty accurate, in Lena’s opinion.

Now Kara was the one frowning, which didn’t go unnoticed by anyone. Well, except Ruby, who wasn’t paying attention anymore after the giant head comment.

“And your cousin's best friend.” Lena added. She would’ve liked to say it was only for clarification but, honestly, she didn’t want her little detail to be the one Kara remembered.

“Wait, and you think his sister can be unbiased? Her brother is Kal’s best friend.”

“Oh, she doesn't know that,” Lena explained, “she knows James is best friends with Clark Kent, regular human farm boy and journalist, not Superman.”

“Are you sure?”

“A hundred percent,” Sam answered, nodding her head in approval.

Kara didn’t seem to be very convinced. She pursed her lips and looked from Sam to Lena a few times.

“Do you trust us?” Lena asked, when in reality it wasn’t exactly how she wanted to voice it.

However, Kara seemed to get it, because she looked at her for a few moments and gave her a short nod. “I trust you.”

Getting in contact with Kelly wasn’t as easy as one would think. Lena had no idea if she would be out on deployment or if she was back home from duty, but she was able to reach out to Clark, who in turn reached out to James, who informed them that Kelly was not only back, but had retired from the Army and was living in National City with her—also retired—wife and their four-year-old daughter.

In a matter of days Lena set up a secure channel to contact Kelly via the network Kara had developed, establishing a connection between two terminals that, once activated, would only be accessible with Kelly and Kara’s biometrics. Brainy took care of Kelly’s side, since he was the only one Lena trusted for the job, while she took care of Kara’s for the same reason.

Everything was set up and running smoothly, all Kara had to do was scan her thumb and retina, and the computer would connect her, and yet she was still staring at the login screen and bouncing her leg.

“Are you alright, darling?” Lena asked, ready to leave, but not until Kara was comfortable with it. She placed her hand on Kara’s shoulder and squeezed softly to get her attention.

“Would you stay? Just for a few minutes to introduce us?” The blonde asked nervously, not alright at all.

The brunette smiled warmly and moved to stand behind Kara, placing both hands on her shoulders for comfort. “Go ahead, log in, I’ll be here with you for as long as you need me.”

And so Kara did.

Since this connection between the two terminals was also a test drive and time worked so different for each one of them, they hadn’t been able to set up a proper time for the first meeting, which led to Lena and Kara to find Kelly on the other side of the screen with a four-year-old girl sitting on her lap who seemed to be coloring while her mother commented on the beautiful bold colors she was choosing for a dragon.

It warmed Lena’s heart right away and without even realizing it, she squeezed Kara’s shoulders a bit tighter.

“Oh, hey! You’re here!” Kelly was still exactly as Lena remembered her, warm and sweet, greeting them with easy and tranquil joy.

Lena bent down a bit to be on the frame and her face ended up being closer to Kara’s than she expected. She ignored it, though, because the last thing they needed right now was to make Kara even more uncomfortable than she already was. “Hi, Kelly. Long time,” she greeted her, smiling and arching one eyebrow, clearly looking at the child for the other woman to notice.

“I’d say. You missed a few things since you dumped my brother.” She said with a mischievous smile. “Not that I blame you after you-know-what.”

“I promise we’ll catch up soon. This is Kara, by the way.”

“Oh, wow. Looks do run in the family, huh? Hi, Kara, I’m Kelly and this is Esme. It’s very nice to meet you.” 

Kelly’s sense of humor immediately worked on the blonde, who laughed and awkwardly waved her hand. “Nice to meet you, too. Thank you for doing this, it means more than I could possibly express in words.”

“Please, I’m happy to. Any friend of Lena is a friend of mine,” she said happily, then looked over the screen, smiling and nodding at someone who seemed to be there in the room with her. “Sorry, Cass is here to take Esme to the park so mommy can talk to Kara for a little while.”

“Wow, Mrs. Olsen, I never thought I’d see this side of you,” Lena said jokingly, lightening the mood a bit more for Kara, who smiled at the sight in front of her.

Cass came into the frame, even if it was only her torso until she bent down to pick up Esme and they could see a mane of strawberry blonde hair obscuring part of the screen. “Hi, Lena, nice to see you again,” the woman said, goofily staring very closely at the screen in front of her. “And nice to meet you, too, Kara is it? Clark mentioned your name, I swear I haven’t been snooping. I’m Cass, Kelly’s wife.”

Kara actually chuckled at that, and the sound made Lena oh so very happy. “Hi. Yes, it’s Kara. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi, Cass!” Lena added from behind.

“When are you gonna come visit?” The woman, Cass, asked after standing up, holding Esme on her hip. “We have this little one to introduce you to.”

“I’m a bit tied up at the moment, but I promise to give you a call next time I’m in National City.”

“Lex still giving you trouble?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Just say the word and I’ll make it look like an accident.”

“Cass!” It was Kelly the one to exclaim her wife’s name while Kara and Lena just laughed. “Just… leave!”

“Okay, okay!” She bent down and left a sloppy kiss on Kelly’s lips before disappearing from the screen. “Mama and Esme out! Off to the park!”

Kelly was staring at them fondly until they could hear a door close and she focused again on her computer. “I’m so sorry, Kara. I know that was very unprofessional, today was a bit hectic, but it won’t happen again.”

If anything, it had worked like a charm in Lena’s opinion. Kara seemed way more relaxed and at ease. “Oh, please, it was no problem at all.” The blonde responded with her usual charm and sincere smile.

“I’ll take that as my cue,” Lena said softly, squeezing Kara’s shoulder one more time and giving Kelly a pointed look. “I’ll be downstairs, okay? Just call me if you need anything.” That last part was aimed at Kara and almost whispered close to her ear before she stood up properly and left the room.

The Science Guild was attempting to take a very dangerous turn during the time Kara took to get ready for this moment. Lena could see it all from the inside, how half the people were loyal to Kara and supportive, while the other half spoke ill of her every chance they got. She heard all sorts of ridiculous rumors, ranging from Kara being afraid of Tan-Us replacing her as head of the Science Guild, to some sort of conspiracy theory about dangerous experiments gone wrong and Kara’s attempt to keep them quiet. It was amazing from a sociological point of view. But from Lena's personal one? She had to fight her impulses every day not to punch someone on the nose.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to fight them much longer. Kelly had been seeing Kara every three zehtiahro, which was roughly three and a half Earth days. Somehow the two of them had figured out a schedule that worked for them, so Lena didn’t question it. She didn’t need to question a single thing, because the changes were right in front of her. Kara was standing tall in front of hundreds of people, the El crest proudly emblazoned on the left side of her chest, over her heart, while she silently composed herself.

She was still struggling a bit, the blonde had told her as much, but Kelly’s approach had been to focus on addressing the people first, since that was the most pressing issue. However, if Kara wanted to keep going with their sessions, she had let her know she was available and actually encouraged it. She did specialize in trauma, after all.

The blonde was ready for this now. She had facts on her side, actual proof—that she didn’t owe to anyone, but still chose to share to put an end to it—and a fierce support system that would be there for her no matter the outcome of this.

Alura was standing with the High Council, fulfilling her duties as one of its members, but this time Thara was standing right by her best friend’s side, also tall and proud. She wasn’t wearing the gray Peace Officer uniform, but her own robes displaying her house crest, the deep red of the fabric contrasting beautifully with Kara’s blue.

Lena stood a bit further away to Kara’s left, close enough for comfort, but not as close as Thara was. They didn’t need to fuel the fire Nel-Bin had started with his comments. The blonde had protested when they were planning it, saying that she didn’t care how it looked but, once again, it was Alex who made her see reason and point out that, if anything were to happen, Lena would instantly become an easy target. That was enough to persuade her and Kara settled for having her close enough to see her.

It was impressive how the low murmur ceased at once the moment Kara addressed her people. Lena felt chills run down her spine and she shivered slightly. “People of Argo,” she started, confident but with that caring tone only Kara could create with just a few words. “I stand here today before you not only as head of the Science Guild, but also as a citizen, just like each and every one of you.” She paused and cleared her throat, but decided to continue before she lost her nerve. “I am fully aware of the discontent the recent events involving Tan, of house Us, and myself have created in some of you, but I cannot sincerely apologize for it.” Half of the room broke the quiet with low murmurs, but Kara’s voice rose above them. “For reasons I cannot fathom, some of you are suddenly skeptical of our judicial system, questioning its final ruling and accusing me of crimes I did not commit. All of you here know what happened that day, whether you choose to believe it or not. To those of you who are here to support me, you have my infinite gratitude. But if you are here in an attempt to keep discrediting me and tarnishing my reputation, well, I’m deeply sorry. Not for any of my actions, but for yours. Spreading rumors and supporting criminal acts. Victim-blaming and encouraging violence. I cannot recognize my people in those actions. I can’t see our cherished tiv girod in that behavior and it worries me that we might be losing them as a society. I’m shocked and saddened it has come to this. The day it happened… That was one of the worst days of my life, many of you were there. I loved Tan-Us. I truly did. I was heartbroken and it took me years to start to heal and trust again. I still cannot believe it has come to this: have half of you demanding to see for yourselves actual, physical proof of the assault. I don’t even know for how long I was in the hospital, healing from the wounds he inflicted on me, drifting in and out of consciousness. I’ve requested my physician to make those medical records public now, and I’ve asked the Chief Peace Officer to release all witness testimonies, as long as they gave us their consent, which most of them did.” She paused and looked at one specific spot in the crowd, and when Lena followed her gaze, she could see Nel-Bin with a group of disgruntled looking men, scoffing. “I know that won’t be enough for some of you. If you choose not to see the truth, then there’s not much I can do about it. I am also aware that I don’t owe anyone any explanations, but, as a last resort to clear my House’s name, I will leave you with actual footage of the incident. The Science Guild was always under constant surveillance in case of a security breach, that information was privy to a very select group of high hierarchy people. If this doesn’t make my case, then I hope it satisfies your perverse desire to see a woman suffer at the hand of a loved one.”

With that, Kara reached into her pocket for a small remote and pressed a button. She handed the remote to Thara and walked away as the footage of the incident started to play in very high definition on the huge screen that had been on the back of the makeshift stage the entire time.

It was planned. They knew it was going to happen, and yet Lena couldn’t stomach it. Just the sound was making her sick. She exchanged a quick glance with Thara and the woman gave her a short nod, then the brunette rushed after Kara.

She knew where the blonde would be if she followed their plan, and for the love of whatever deity was watching, Lena hoped Kara remembered. She ran to the emergency staircase and pushed the door open with her shoulder, quickly rushing the three remaining flights of stairs that would lead her to the roof.

“Kara, thank God,” she whispered the moment she spotted the woman leaning against the wall, crying in a new kind of grief. No more words were necessary, Lena just rushed to her and once again held her in her arms, letting her cry over Tan-Us and the woman she once had been for the last time.

As much as doing it had sucked, they found out that it had actually been cathartic for the blonde. To even her own surprise, Kara didn’t look like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders anymore. Instead she looked at peace. She could finally let it go.

Granted, it had been awful for a couple of days, so much that all of Kara’s friends took turns to be by her side at all times, with Thara and Lena taking turns between the two of them to make sure the blonde would have one or the other at any given time. Nobody questioned why. They didn’t need to ask, they already knew.

It was Lena’s turn that time. She had refused to go home for the second day in a row, and if she could get away with it, she would make it a third, but it wasn’t looking great on that front for her. She was running out of excuses and out of clean clothes, which was the real issue. After the third time she refused to go home with the excuse that Thara was working, Kara had lent her some clothes.

And Lena’s life was changed forever.

Wearing a simple pair of Argo’s version of sweatpants and a simple shirt had never felt so right. Nor was she expecting it to feel that way. The clothes were comfortable and soft, sure, but the way they smelled was Lena’s real issue. She was literally surrounded by Kara in—almost—every way. It felt good, and right, and warm, and so fucking painful.

She couldn’t keep lying to herself anymore, the more she tried it, the more things got out of hand. She was hurting herself at this point, and for the first time in a long time, Lena felt out of her depth.

How the hell did this happen?!

The screen on Lena’s tablet had dimmed a while ago, so when Kara looked away from the TV to check on her like she did every few minutes, she immediately noticed that Lena was staring at a black screen, at basically nothing. “Lena?”

The brunette was ripped out of her thoughts with guilty panic, as if Kara could read them or something. “Yes? Are you alright?” She immediately entered caring mode without even thinking. “Do you need something?”

Kara chuckled and shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You were staring at a dimmed screen.” She nudged her head at the sleeping tablet and tried not to smile.

Lena blushed and tried to hide it by rubbing her hands down her face. “I suppose I was. I'm probably just tired and spaced out for a minute, but I'm okay, don’t worry.”

“Do you need a nap? You can come use my bed if you want.” Now Kara was the one caring for her and that devastating crinkle between her eyebrows was destroying her.

However, the last thing Lena needed right now was to try to take a nap in Kara’s bed, right next to her, where she wouldn’t be able to escape smelling her shampoo on her pillows or her perfume all over her sheets. She had enough with the clothes she was wearing without the proximity. “No, no. I’m fine.” And as if it would prove anything, she turned the tablet back on to keep reading.

The blonde pursed her lips for a few moments and kept frowning, deep in thought, until she found the courage to ask what she wanted to ask. “Lena, are you sure this is how you want to spend today?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, you could be out there with your friends, going out for dinner or to that new bar. Doing something actually fun.”

That unsettled Lena for several reasons, but the two main ones were one that she was actually trying to avoid by keeping quiet, and the other… Well, “Kara, you are also my friend. A very close one. You know that, right?” She has to know that. Right?

“I know,” the blonde said, a shy smile playing on her lips, “I’m glad you said it, though. I consider you one of my closest friends, too.” Now Kara smiled brightly, igniting Lena’s soul, and she knew there wasn’t anywhere else she’d rather be today. “I’m just saying, I’m fine, you can go have fun.”

Where is this coming from? There is no way…

“Kara, stop it. I am having fun, okay? I enjoy just existing with you in the same room. There’s not a lot of people with whom I can do that.” She narrowed her eyes and paused, thinking about it for a second. “Actually, if I’m being honest, you’re the only one I can do that with and it feels nice. I need it more than people would ever know.”

“It does feel nice,” the blonde finally agreed, yawning right after and making Lena giggle.

“Sleepy?”

“A little bit,” Kara admitted without putting up a fight and readjusting her pillow. “It’s that thing my physician gave me for the anxiety, it makes me sleepy sometimes.”

Yes, that was a common side effect, Lena had been made aware of it by both the physician and Kelly, who had initially recommended finding something like that so Kara could sleep better. “Why don’t you take a little nap, then? I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

Kara turned on her side, making sure she was facing the brunette’s direction while she got more comfortable. “Promise?” 

It just made her laugh, because of course. “I wouldn’t dare make you miss a meal, Kara Zor-El. I know how grumpy you can get when you’re hungry.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

The blonde’s eyes were already closed and she had a content smile on her face. It was excruciating. “Sweet dreams, darling.”

She made a little noise and nodded her head a bit,  but the smile never left her face. “Hey, Lee?” She asked after a little while, surely about to fall asleep.

Well, that’s new. 

Lena looked back up, eyebrows raised in question. “Mh?”

She saw Kara grin in her sleepy state and open her eyes just the littlest bit, enough to be able to see her. “I did the math,” she announced proudly but secretively. “Happy birthday.”

Oh.

“Lena?” Kara asked tentatively once she entered the dark apartment. She noticed that the AI hadn’t announced her presence like it always did. This time, when she placed her hand on the scanner, the door slid open right away. She looked surprised, but didn’t comment on it. “Lee? Everyone’s waiting for you at the bar. Are you home?”

She was waiting for her vision to adapt to the darkness when the living room started lighting up slowly. Lena was sitting on the couch, remote in one hand and glass of whisky in the other. “You,” she stated, slowly and menacingly, narrowing her eyes and making that single word more frightening than it should’ve ever been.

“Lena, are you okay?” Always the bravest, the blonde took a few steps closer while the other woman poured herself some more liquor.

“Peachy.” She popped the ‘P’ and downed her glass in one go. It would’ve been impressive, considering how strong that whisky was, but she looked pretty drunk already, so Kara frowned in concern instead of commenting on it.

“What’s going on? Weren’t we going out?”

“Nothing is going on, Kara. I didn’t feel like going out anymore. I’m just vibing and living my best life here, can’t you see?”

Stubborn and sarcastic, this drunk Lena was quite intimidating, but Kara wasn’t just going to ignore it and let her get away with whatever she was trying to accomplish here by drinking herself into a coma.

When she poured herself another three fingers, the blonde sat on the coffee table in front of her and snatched both the glass and the bottle away.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Lena asked, visibly surprised and pissed at the same time that someone was bold enough to stand up to her like that.

“You’ve had enough already, don’t you think?” Kara asked and the other woman just scoffed. “Why won’t you talk to me, Lee?”

Lena’s green eyes seemed to darken in the already partially darkened room. She took a few seconds, clearly trying to come up with a good enough answer, but she was very drunk already and thinking rational thoughts was hard and exhausting. 

“Because fuck you, that’s why.” She finally said, pointing an accusatory finger at the woman in front of her. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” That finger poked Kara’s chest once for emphasis before it retreated and the brunette looked away, purposefully avoiding those devastating blue eyes.

Kara was speechless. Of all the things she could’ve expected Lena to say, that was probably the last one. However, she was as stubborn as her friend was, and she repositioned herself on the couch next to the woman so she would be looking at her again. “What the hell was that for? What did I do?!” She asked angrily. She tried to reign in her own temper, but it was almost impossible after the way Lena had just reacted.

“You just…” Lena gave in and looked into her eyes again. “You just had to be so… so fucking kind and caring and good.” She paused, still looking into Kara’s eyes and feeling her chest tightening. Her hand rose without asking for her brain’s permission and settled on the blonde’s cheek, where she softly caressed the flushed skin with her thumb. “So incredibly beautiful.” She saw how Kara’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but the words were out there already, so there was no turning back now. “So you.”

“Lena?” Kara asked after a few seconds of silence. She never wavered, not even when she was so clearly surprised by those words. She held Lena’s gaze and even leaned into the hand caressing her cheek, but that was probably Lena’s drunken imagination and wishful thinking. “I-Rao. Lena, I–”

“Hey, it’s okay.” In one swift motion the brunette removed her hand and shook her head, closing her eyes to compose herself while sitting up straighter. “You don’t have to say anything, darling. I’m just drunk, right?”

The blonde looked into her eyes. Really looked as if she was searching for something again. Lena held her gaze as best as she could until the bright blue became almost blinding and she was forced to look away. “That’s the thing, Lena: you’re drunk.” She said calmly. She didn’t sound mad or exasperated anymore. “There is a very high chance you’ll regret what you just said in the morning,” Kara explained calmly, “and for the very same reason, I don’t think it’s fair, to either one of us, for me to respond to it right now.”

“Kara, it’s fine. You don’t have to–”

“I want—I need you to be sober.” She interrupted her, nervously running her fingers through her hair. “You owe it to me now, after what just happened. If you mean it, I need you to be sober next time you say something like that to me. Do you understand?”

And Lena did. She understood. Even in her drunken state, she understood, because she would’ve asked for the exact same thing if she was in Kara’s shoes. So she nodded, a bit scared and still afraid, but also feeling emboldened by the fact that she wasn’t rejected right away. Maybe everyone else was right. Maybe they were the only blind ones.

So she reached for Kara’s hand and gave it a soft squeeze, trying to tell her with that gesture that she got it. The blonde turned her hand around, interlocking their fingers and bringing their joined hands to her lips, only to leave a soft kiss on the back of Lena’s. “Thank you,” she whispered softly, lowering both their hands but not letting go.

The stress she had been accumulating about this over the past few weeks washed over Lena in the form of complete exhaustion; especially after feeling the kind of relief only Kara could have provided with that simple gesture and, without thinking, she lay down with her head on the blonde’s lap, ready to pass out, but not before using the last of the very little control she still had over her body to whisper a devastating confession that would keep the blonde fully awake well into the night.

“I never stood a fucking chance, Kara. I was always destined to fall in love with you.” 

Chapter Text

Needless to say, Lena woke up in her bed with the mother of all hangovers. 

“Bloody fuckin’ hell,” she muttered to herself, shielding her eyes from Rao’s morning light filtering through the barely parted curtains.

Did I forget to properly close them before bed? Hold on, how did I get in bed?

Then the memories started slowly playing one after another like a movie. “Shit. Shit shit shit shit!” In her haste to get up, Lena pushed the covers off her body and saw that, while some articles of her clothing had been removed, her pants and shirt had been left on. She was also still wearing her bra, which could only mean that she didn’t undress herself. She hadn’t even gotten herself in bed. Did Kara…?

Lena patted her pockets and the bed trying to find her phone, only to find it on the charging station she kept on her nightstand, next to her watch. Both had been carefully set to charge and, as thoughtful as that was, it was nothing compared to the tall glass of water and the white pill that rested over a piece of paper with something scribbled on it.

It’s for the hangover, I swear I’m not trying to poison you. It’ll make you feel a lot better.

See you soon.

-Kara

The paper crumpled a little bit in her grip. Lena had to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill, so she focused on taking the pill and drinking the full glass of water. Only then she noticed how dehydrated she probably was, because her body was still asking for more water after she was done.

She opened the drawer on her nightstand and placed the note inside without even thinking. Throwing it out never even crossed her mind.

Getting herself to the bathroom had required tremendous effort, but after the amount of whisky she had the night before, Lena could no longer ignore nature’s call. Eventually, what was supposed to be a quick bathroom stop led to a long, hot shower, where she found herself pondering all of her life’s decisions.

Did she regret telling Kara how she felt? Absolutely not. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. However, she did regret doing it drunk. She should’ve been braver, more mature. She should have faced her feelings, make peace with them on her own, and then find the best way to let Kara know how she felt.

Now everything had gone to shit and she had absolutely no idea how the blonde had reacted to her confession because she had passed out like the idiot she was. Lena was a woman of science, though, and looking at the facts she could gather that the blonde was definitely not mad at her. She wouldn’t have gone through the effort of getting her into bed, nor would she have worried about her being hungover enough to leave water and… whatever that pill was, for her to take as soon as she woke up.

Alright, so Kara is not mad. That’s good. One thing at a time, Lena, you’ve faced way worse than a beautiful, troubled blonde woman with the kindest soul.

The thought of Kara staying the night never even crossed her mind, otherwise Lena would’ve put a bit more clothes on. Instead she left her bedroom wearing only a pair of plain black cotton panties and a Nine Inch Nails loose t-shirt that had seen better days and was hanging loose from one shoulder.

She made it six lazy steps into the living room while towel drying her hair one-handed with masterful dexterity before noticing she wasn’t alone in the apartment. Both women froze when they saw one another. Lena had the empty glass in her other hand—which she had every intention to refill up until that moment—and had to tighten her grip on it when she felt it starting to slip. Kara was standing on the other side of the kitchen island, presumably making breakfast judging by the smell of the amazing coffee-like-brew, now staring at her with her mouth open and blushing like Lena had never seen her blush before.

One could’ve expected her to feel embarrassed or, at the very least, a little bit shy; hell, Lena would’ve expected it herself, too, but that was surprisingly not the case. The way Kara was staring at her actually emboldened the brunette, and she bit her lips in an attempt to hide her smile while looking down her own body. “Um, I wasn’t expecting you to still be here,” she said, unable to keep the smile from making an appearance anymore, “not that I’m not glad that you are, I would’ve just…” she used the hand still holding the towel to motion down her own body. “Put some more clothes on.”

“I-I… Um, y-yes. About t-that…” It was the most adorable stutter Lena had ever heard. “I, um… I didn’t– oh, for Rao’s sake!” Kara looked away at a fixed point on the wall, making the other woman actually chuckle. “I didn’t want you to wake up alone after last night.” Now that she wasn’t looking at Lena the words came out as fluently and confidently as ever. “I heard the shower and figured you’d be hungry, so I hope you don’t mind, I made some breakfast.”

If she was being honest, it was one of the proudest moments of Lena’s life. Alex was right, she really was a shit.

“I don’t mind, I actually appreciate it, darling,” she said while placing the empty glass on the island, “would you mind refilling that for me? I’m gonna go put on some pants because I think I broke your brain.”

Kara moved her hand to the back of her neck, chuckling while still staring at the wall. “I’m pretty sure you did,” she said in between those chuckles. “It’s your home, Lena, you can wear whatever you want.”

“Are you gonna stare at the wall the whole time if I’m just wearing this?” She couldn’t help teasing the blonde a little bit, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she gave up the opportunity.

“Yup!”

This time it was Lena who chuckled and turned around, heading back to her bedroom. “Well, we can’t have that. I’ll be back in a minute.”

True to her word, she was back a minute later, having put on a bra and the sweatpants she stole from the blonde. “Okay, where’s that breakfast I was promised?” Was she avoiding bringing up the elephant in the room? You bet. Lena got to the kitchen island and took a seat, reaching for her steaming mug and humming happily after the first sip. The fact that Kara already knew how she liked her coffee didn’t go unnoticed, just unmentioned.

“I’ve been looking for those pants for over a week.” Kara had the cutest frown on her face.

The brunette grabbed a fork and shrugged the shoulder that had escaped the shirt. “Too bad, they’re mine now,” she mentioned casually, stealing a piece of fruit from Kara’s plate and popping it into her mouth with a proud grin.

“Hey!” 

They were very smart women. Lena was testing her and they both knew it. First with the sweatpants and now the food. And yet, Kara allowed everything to happen with nothing more than a fake frown and mock indignation.

“What? Yours look better, you probably did it on purpose.” It was bullshit, and yet she said it with a smirk, daring the blonde to call her out on it.

She didn’t. What Kara did instead was switch their plates and take hers to the other end of the counter, where Lena couldn’t reach it anymore. “I will stab your hand, Lena. Don’t try me.”

The brunette laughed and held her hands up in surrender. “I apologize. I‘d like to keep my hands unharmed.”

The way Kara was looking at her with her eyes narrowed in suspicion told her she wasn’t buying the apology. “You don’t mean it and you know it.” She was right. However, Lena didn’t get to answer that because Kara was quick to bring up the topic the young Luthor was trying to avoid at all cost. “Are we going to keep ignoring what happened last night?” She asked after a sip of coffee. “Do you even remember what you said?”

Lena could hold her gaze for a total of three seconds before she looked down, focusing on her own hands that were holding her warm mug for comfort. “I remember everything,” she said softly, every hint of teasing now completely gone.

“Oh.” Apparently Kara wasn’t expecting that. “Well, are we going to talk about it?” 

“What’s there to talk about? If you want to know if I meant it, the answer is yes. There’s not much more I can add to it, is there?” She gathered enough courage to look back up and into Kara’s eyes. They were once again that vibrant blue that often left Lena completely speechless. She took a deep breath to compose herself and get ready for an answer to a question she didn’t know if she was brave enough to ask. “Aren’t you supposed to say something after that? If you don’t I’ll just assume you–”

She couldn’t finish her sentence, though, because every single electronic device she owned or was installed in the apartment started beeping, ringing or vibrating at the same time, startling her out of her train of thought. Even the TV was turned on out of nowhere, and Lena’s blood froze when she saw the expression on the blonde’s face. That couldn’t be good. Just then she noticed that Kara’s watch and Phone were also beeping and ringing.

The blonde looked at her watch and then rushed to stand in front of the TV, so Lena followed her. The bright screen was displaying an array of symbols that Lena could now not only recognize as Kryptonian writing, but also read.

Science Guild security system breached. Threat level four. Immediate action is required. Awaiting response from authorities.

Kara looked into Lena’s eyes before glancing down at her bare feet. “Go put some shoes on, we have to go.”

The dread in those blue eyes told Lena she didn’t have time to question anything, so she just sprinted into action, rushing into her bedroom and slipping on a pair of chucks. She could tie up the laces in the car.

The moment she was out Kara grabbed her hand and almost dragged her out the door and into the elevator, not without making sure every possible entrance to the apartment was properly closed and locked.

It was the first time Lena saw the blonde react this way, which only made her worry even more. Kara was typing on her phone the whole time it took the elevator to reach the ground floor. Then she took hold of Lena’s hand again, looking at their surroundings before unlocking her car by pressing a few keys on her watch. “Get in the car.”

Lena could see she was trying so hard not to be harsh, and as much she appreciated it, she wanted to reassure Kara that she could be if the situation called for it. In the months of knowing her she had learned, for the most part, how to read the blonde, but this was uncharted territory. However, there were signs that were universal. Her hands had gotten sweaty all of a sudden, and once they got in the car and Lena could actually look at her, she could see her pulse had risen, pumping almost dangerously on her throat.

“Kara.”

“Not now, Lena. We can talk about it later.”

No, that wasn’t it. Now was not the time for that. “No, Kara, darling,” she tried again, this time placing her hand on the woman’s thigh while she drove them to the Science Guild, effectively getting her attention. “Not that. I want to know what’s going on. What’s a threat level four?”

“It’s one short from the worst thing that could happen.”

“Okay…? What does that mean for us?”

Kara glanced briefly into her eyes before focusing on the road again. “Someone broke into one of the labs. If it’s a fourth level threat, that could only mean they broke into the second basement lab.”

Oh.

Lena knew exactly what was stored in the second basement lab. That was where Kara and herself had finished their various prototypes. Where they had tested them with exceptionally remarkable results and replicated each and every one of them in several different ways and forms. Why would someone break into that one, though? She was about to voice the question when it answered itself the moment Kara took a turn.

Right there, about a hundred yards in front of them, was someone floating in the middle of the street. Kara gasped and blinked, almost in disbelief, but Lena would recognize that anywhere. They were floating in front of the Science Guild building, destroying as much of it as they could with their heat vision.

Kara stopped the car immediately, squinting behind the steering wheel to try to get a better look. “Is that…?”

“Whoever they are, they stole some or all of our solar prototypes, Kara. They are displaying the same powers your cousin has on Earth.” Without even thinking, Lena got out of the car to get a better look.

“Lena, what are you doing? Get back in the car!” Kara yelled after opening the door and getting out herself, too. “It’s not safe!”

“It’s not safe for you either!” Lena shouted back over the commotion. 

“Both of you get back in the car!” Someone shouted from behind them, and they turned around to find Alex rushing to the site. 

“What are you–”

Lena couldn’t finish her question, Alex didn’t have time for that. “All Peace Officers got the same alert.” She looked up at whoever that was, then at Lena. “Well, fuck.”

“Indeed.”

“How do we stop them?” Kara asked, completely disregarding Alex’s instruction to get in the car.

“We don’t do anything,” the redhead corrected, signaling them as a group. “I’ll take care of it until the rest of the Officers get here.”

Lena scoffed, earning herself a glare from her friend. “How do you plan to defeat a sun-powered Kryptonian?”

“I’ll think of something.” Alex was getting visibly irritated at this point. Just before she could add something else, the swoosh of a hover-car stopping behind them got their attention and the Peace Officer watched in horror as her girlfriend climbed out of it. “Sam, what are you doing here?! How–”

“The news,” she said with a roll of her eyes, as if that explained everything, before rushing to Lena’s side. “I thought it was Lex,” she said while trying to catch her breath, addressing her best friend and pausing briefly while Lena nodded because, even if she wouldn’t admit it, she thought so, too. “But this one looks… not bald,” Sam finished, also squinting to get a better look.

“Your brother is bald?” Kara asked, because of course that’s something she would find interesting in the middle of a crisis.

“Oh, yeah. Big time.” Sam was the one to answer, then motioned over her own head with her hand while doing some sort of ‘woosh’ sound that Lena found ridiculous. “He secretly hates it. I’ll tell you more about it later, it’s fun.”

“Can we please focus on the solar-powered rogue Kryptonian now?!” Lena had had enough of Sam’s randomness and Kara’s weird and sudden interest in her brother.

“Oh, right!” Sam grabbed Lena’s biceps and stepped in closer, making her look into her eyes, as if this was some sort of secret code that she had to figure out. “Please tell me you have something on you. Sun grenades, a shot, anything.”

Secret code my ass.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Get off me, Sam! God, you’re always so intense and annoying.” Her best friend groaned and rolled her eyes. “I’ve got nothing, let go.” She removed her friend’s hands from her arms with the last words and took a step back. “Don’t grab me like that again.”

“Shoot! I forgot. Sorry!”

“It’s fine. Whatever.” It clearly wasn’t fine. Lena’s expression had shifted into something way darker and she was avoiding eye contact with everyone, waiting for the uncomfortableness to pass.

Sam waited with her for a few seconds, then tried to find her gaze once again. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. So, now: seriously Lena? Nothing?!” Sam was scolding her now the same way she saw her scold Ruby so many times before. “Also, side note, who dressed you? You look like you’re in your PJ’s. And have you not learned how to tie your shoelaces yet? What are you, three?” She added, moving a hand down to point out Lena’s attire to finally address her sneakers.

“I was in the comfort of my own home having breakfast! How was I supposed to know something like this would happen?!” Her friend asked exasperatedly while crouching down to tie her shoelaces and ignore the question.

Kara got around the car, completely lost in their conversation, and held her hands up. “Hold on. Wait. Sam, what are you talking about? Grenades? Why would you need something like that?”

“I can take them down,” Sam explained, trying to calm down enough to make her point. “I don’t have a dampener anymore, and I have experience with those powers, which is something they don’t have. I could easily take them down, for fuck’s sake, Reign even defeated Superman, I just need a solar-boost.”

Lena could see the gears turning in Kara’s beautifully brilliant stupid head. “Based on that premise, any Kryptonian could.”

“Do you remember the way you freaked out when you got exposed?” Sam asked, hands on her hips, exasperated as ever.

“Oh.” Kara’s sheepish expression was so adorable Lena could have kissed her right there. Thankfully, Kara kept talking, so she could stop thinking about kissing her. “There might be something left in the lab, but getting there could be tricky.”

Lena and Sam exchanged a look that Alex knew all too well. “Hell no,” she tried, only to get ignored.

“Can you give us cover?” It was Sam the one who asked her girlfriend, calling Mon-El closer when she saw him arrive, too.

“Sam, you are not going in there!”

“Well, do you have a better idea, Danvers? Because shit is escalating quickly over there, people are gonna get hurt if we don’t do something and I’m the only one around with the means and the experience.”

That did it. Lena knew it, Sam knew it, even Alex knew it. The thought of people getting hurt was always enough to convince Alex, she was too good for her own good. The redhead groaned in tired frustration but ultimately nodded. She looked at Mon-El’s hand, noticing he had the ring. “Can you fly up there and distract them? I’ll give Sam and Lena some cover so they can go inside.”

“Sure thing,” the man said, shifting the Legion ring on his finger.

“Have you all gone insane?!” Kara asked, watching in horror at the way a window exploded, raining glass all over the street.

Sam got in front of Kara, placing her hands on her arms this time and squeezing softly for a moment. “This is how we roll on Earth, baby. Get in or get out of the way.” She finished by pushing the blonde slightly to the side so she could rush closer to the building.

“Sorry,” Lena said with a little shrug, following Sam as sneakily as she could.

The blonde groaned, following them with their eyes, sighing in frustration. “Stupid humans!”

“I’m gonna assume you just cursed because I feel the same way, don’t worry, you get used to it eventually.” Alex patted her on the back and signaled for Mon-El to go, but before the man could do it, Kara snatched his firearm from the holster at his ribs.

“Let’s go,” she said, now armed and looking at Alex.

Mon-El took off, not wanting to be there to see Alex’s head explode. “What do you think you’re doing?” The redhead asked, the vein on her forehead getting more noticeable with each passing second.

“I have training, trust me.” Not willing to waste anymore time, Kara ran after Lena and Sam, ready to protect them if needed. 

“Goddammit!” Alex shouted and sprinted after her, catching up after a few strides. “Kara, you’re a scientist. Who trained you?”

“General Astra In-Ze, Military Guild.”

“Who’s that? Sounds familiar.” Alex’s timing was impeccable, Lena got part of the conversation and was also curious.

“My aunt.” Now that Kara had caught up to the other two women Lena  could notice the stone-cold expression on her face. Once again, the woman’s family seemed to be way more complicated than she thought at first. At this point, it could probably rival the Luthors. She wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

Kara clearly had no desire to explain further, so she rushed ahead, leading Sam to a side entrance to the building and holding the door open. She waited until Sam and Lena were inside, then looked at Alex expectantly. 

The redhead reached into her pocket and pulled a set of comms. She handed Kara one while placing the other in her own ear. “I’m giving you cover, you better have fucking good training. Go, keep them safe.”

A short nod was more than enough answer. Alex nodded back and both women headed in opposite directions: Alex walked back to the street while Kara led Sam and Lena to the second basement.

The damage inside wasn’t as bad as Lena expected. It was mostly the furniture and some of the glass, but the structure remained perfectly stable, which proved Sam right, they didn’t really know what they were doing. Either that, or whoever that was didn’t really want to damage the building as much as they wanted the attention.

That could definitely be a problem, because if they wanted the attention, well, they were taking the bait by going inside.

Two flights of stairs down and they made it to the destroyed door of the lab. Sam guarded the entrance while the only two scientists who knew this lab better than anyone searched for the missing items.

There were a few, but they could have taken so much more if they wanted to… which only meant they had probably walked right into a trap.

“Kara, wait–” 

“Alex, I can’t hear you!” Kara shouted over the comms, interrupting Lena. “I’m losing you down here.” She tried readjusting the earpiece, but Lena grabbed her wrist, getting her attention.

“They lured us in. They knew we’d come. It’s a trap, Kara.”

Sam’s body flew across the room, hitting the back wall with enough force to leave her unconscious.

“Oh, fuck!”

“Lena, take cover!”

A man walked calmly into the lab, looking around and kicking a chair out of the way. “Hello, Kara Zor-El.”

The brunette had rushed to Sam’s side, flipping a table to take cover behind it and protect her friend. She scrambled around, trying to find something that could help them in the debris.

“Nel-Bin. I should have known it was you.” Kara’s voice was angry, but there was something else there. Something that sounded a lot like disappointment in Lena’s ears.

“You really should have.” The man said, cutting a cabinet in half with his heat vision. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“Don’t make me shoot,” the blonde warned, pointing the gun at him, and Nel-Bin laughed. Fuck, Lena had hoped he wouldn’t be aware of the invulnerability part of the whole deal.

“By all means, open fire.” He stood with his arms open, offering himself up as a target. “I’ll let you have your turn, then I’ll have mine.”

And Kara, beautifully brave and stupidly optimistic, just went ahead and did it. 

Nothing happened, of course. The projectiles bounced off Nel-Bin’s body as if they were made of paper and the man laughed. “That was fun. My turn now.”

The blonde was ready for him, practically bracing for impact, but all the man did was push her aside. “Oh, no. It’s not you I want,” he said, and Lena was chilled to the bone when realization hit her. “I’m gonna hurt you the same way you hurt me.”

He was heading for her. Without even looking, Lena knew. She knew what he meant. She suddenly knew why. Everything made so much sense now.

“Leave them alone! They have nothing to do with this!”

The man stopped briefly to look at Kara. “You still don’t understand, do you?” His face contorted in rage. “What do I gain from hurting your body? Or even killing you? No, Kara Zor-El, I’m going to destroy your heart and let you live the rest of your life without it.”

He aimed at Lena at the same time the woman found a syringe they had designed thrown under a broken cabinet. She removed the safety Kara had insisted they put in place on the device and stabbed the side of Sam’s neck with it, pushing the button to inject the yellow fluid into her body. 

Everything happened so fast after that, it was a miracle she registered anything at all. Sam woke up suddenly and violently, gasping for air, at the same time Nel-Bin’s eyes turned red. This was it, she saw the blue beams appear and Lena closed her eyes, expecting to feel the pain of the burn, or bracing herself for at least a quick death, but none of those things happened. Instead there was a thud, followed by the awful smell of burned flesh and pained groan. A loud crash shook the whole building and Lena opened her eyes to find Kara lying on the floor right in front of her, bleeding profusely and holding her side. “No, no, no no no! Kara!” She looked up and saw that Sam had Nel-Bin pinned to a cracked wall, debating with herself on what to do. “Sam!” She called, cradling Kara’s head on her lap, trying to keep her awake. “Don’t you dare, Kara Zor-El,” she said fiercely through her tears and impotent rage, “you don’t get to just check out and avoid that conversation, you hear me?! Don’t you fucking dare! Why are you so stupid?! Why did you have to go, like the beautiful idiot you are, and get in the middle of it?”

Kara looked up at her and tried to smile through the pain. “Ha-have I t-told you… y-you curse li-like a sai-lor?” She asked, making Lena laugh once again, even through her sobs. 

There was a sudden whoosh sound and Kara was literally ripped from her arms. “I’ll be right back for you,” Sam announced, disappearing out the door. Lena heard the sonic boom and a few seconds Later her best friend was carrying her in her arms.

“I can walk,” she protested out of habit more than anything.

“Do you want to be by your girl’s side or not?”

She wanted to protest again, she was a brat like that, but nothing was stronger than her need to be next to Kara so: probably for the first time in her adult life, Lena shut her mouth, swallowed her pride, and nodded.

It was safe to say that every physician in Argo City was scared of Lena after that morning.

Sam landed them both right into the hospital room where at least six of Argo’s best professionals were fussing over an unconscious Kara. She strode over, pushing her way through them until she could stand next to the gurney and assess the injury for herself. “She needs a solar bed,” she announced, but none of the medical professionals paid her any attention.

“Miss Luthor, if you could just wait over there–” a sweet nurse tried to persuade her to take a step back and let them work, but Lena would be damned if she let anyone else take over.

“It’s Doctor Luthor,” she interrupted the woman, removing her hand from her shoulder with very little care. 

“Be that as it may, you’re not–”

“She is my daughter’s physician and you shall do as she says.” Lena lifted her gaze to see Alura being brought it by Sam, who just nodded at her and stepped aside. “Now, I believe she asked for a sun bed.”

The other two nurses exchanged a look and rushed off, likely to get it right away. Lena looked at the older woman and mouthed a ‘thank you’ that was reciprocated with a sorrowful and teary nod.

One of the physicians led her to a station where she could wash her hands, then handed her a pair of gloves and a tray of tools Lena was more familiar with by now. She made a cut on Kara’s clothes to peel them off and held back the gasp that threatened to escape when she saw the deep, burnt gash across her ribs and around her side. She quickly asked for the kind nurse from before to scan Kara’s side to see if any internal organs had been compromised, and when they saw they hadn’t, the brunette sighed in relief and started cleaning the wound as carefully and lovingly as humanly possible.

“Doctor Luthor, she’s losing too much blood, I believe she needs–”

“She needs the solar bed. Now.” She did her best to stop the bleeding, and while doing so and going through their options, a very distinct memory of a very different Kara made its way to the front of them all.

***

“There’s nothing you can do about it. I can. […] Do you want me to or not? Because I don’t have all day.”

“Well, you’re just charming, aren’t you?” 

“I have no interest in charming you.”

***

The memory made Lena cry and smile at the same time, confusing every other person in the room. She looked at Kara’s pale face for a second, then knew exactly what she had to do. She reached for the bottle containing a soft pink gel and carefully started applying it over the whole length of the wound. That seemed to at least slow down the bleeding a little bit, which allowed her to keep going. Next she reached for the same device Kara had used on her shoulder all those months ago while the memory kept playing at the front of her thoughts, helping her soothe her own nerves.

***

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“In my experience, I’m just being cautious.”

“I’m not going to be looking at your breasts, Lena.”

“You never know. They are rather spectacular.”

“Rao, you’re insufferable, has anyone ever told you that?”

***

This time the brunette chuckled to herself, which must have looked very weird while she was also silently crying and working with the utmost precision. She held the device over Kara’s wound and saw it immediately start to close. With renewed hope, Lena started moving it down along the deep gash, going from her back, around her ribs, and ending up right under the blonde’s right breast. It didn’t look completely healed yet, but the priority was to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, and that’s exactly what she did. After that, more calmed and in control of her emotions, Lena reapplied the gel. She started at her back once again and made a thorough job on the wound, carefully moving the device once she saw almost no physical trace of it other than a thin, red, slightly protruding line—probably from the burn that, for whatever reason, didn’t cauterize the wound—and the drying blood around it.

Once she was done, she turned off the scanner-like device and set it on the tray along with the rest of the tools, only to replace it with copious amounts of gauze and a solution that would clean Kara’s skin.

“Doctor Luthor, do you want me to do that?” The nurse asked, but Lena couldn’t even fathom the thought of anyone else taking care of Kara right now. Not even to clean off the drying blood still clinging to her body.

“It’s okay,” she looked at the woman’s name tag and smiled, “Nurse Pill-Nun, I’ve got it. Thank you, though.” The older woman gave her a nod that came with a little smile that spoke volumes, and Lena instantly regretted the way she had reacted before. “I would like to apologize,” she started, but the sweet lady stopped her by shaking her head and handing her more clean gauze.

“I understand now,” she said softly, looking from Lena to Kara’s pale features. “The way you treated her, the love and care in your touch…  I would have reacted the same way if it was my husband or any of my children.”

The brunette just bit her lip and nodded, trying to stop crying for at least a few seconds. “I believe I met your… daughter a few months ago? Could that be? Avi?”

The woman just chuckled and nodded. “She’s my youngest. Definitely a handful.”

Lena smiled and shook her head. “Oh, no, she was delightful. Please, send her my regards.”

“She was probably trying to court you, wasn’t she?” The nurse asked, but didn’t even wait for an answer, especially when Lena laughed. “I’d like to see her try that again once this one wakes up.” She gently patted Kara’s leg and winked conspiratorially at Lena.

No more words were needed.

Lena was checking Kara’s weak pulse when the other two nurses from before rolled one of the sun-beds into the room. 

“Just in time. Thank you,” she said, moving to stand at Kara’s head and motioning for someone to help her at the woman’s feet. “We have to move her, on three.” One of the younger nurses helped her by grabbing the blonde’s legs and in a matter of seconds they had successfully transferred Kara’s unconscious body to the solar bed. 

“How did she…? Her upper body? Alone?” Alura asked in awe to no one in particular, but Sam was right next to her and heard her.

“Adrenaline, I suppose,” she offered in a whisper, “it’s amazing what it can do to the human body.”

In the meantime, Lena took off and discarded her blood-stained gloves and started connecting and calibrating the lamps, making sure the intensity wouldn’t shock Kara, while one of the local physicians set up an IV drip and placed the electrodes on her chest to keep track of her heartbeat. It was weak, but still there. 

“Okay, all Kryptonians that are not Samantha need to leave the room right about now.” She looked around, waiting for them to move, but none of them did. 

“She said now.” Alura helped, holding the door open and urging everyone out before leaving herself. She still stayed close, right outside, looking through the glass and biting back tears.

There would be plenty of time to address Alura later, right now they needed to speed up Kara’s recovery. That was exactly why they had built the beds in the first place: to help people. Little did Lena know when they started the project that Kara would be the first one to need it.

“Okay, I’m going to turn the lamps on. You know what the deal is already. Could you place your hand close to her body? Hopefully you’re gonna feel it and be able to tell me if it works.”

“Just do it, babe. I’ve got you.”

So, Lena did. She turned on the lamps and looked at Sam, who smiled and nodded in return, silently telling her the bed was fully functional. “How do we know if it’s working on her, though?” She asked after a few seconds.

“Give it a minute.” Lena grabbed the tablet and dialed it up a little bit more, hoping it wouldn’t backfire like the first time Kara got exposed.

The steady beeping of the machine hooked to Kara’s chest sped up a bit, and the two friends exchanged relieved smiles.

“Now we wait?” Sam asked, running her fingers through her messy hair and noticing Lena’s with a grimace her friend didn’t appreciate.

“Now we wait.” Lena took note of the silent comment about her appearance and pulled her hair up, thanking Rao it had gotten long enough so she could tie it on itself in a bun without much trouble.

“So… Your girl, huh?”

“Sam, I’m exhausted. Can we not?” The young Luthor dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down, groaning when she heard her friend doing the same.

“Lena, it’s my sacred duty as your best friend to give you hell about this,” Sam explained calmly, yet teasingly, but then wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulders, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head. “But, if you must know, I’m very happy for you. Alex and I have been waiting forever for this.”

Lena leaned her head on Sam’s shoulder and closed her eyes, sighing tiredly. “Nothing happened, Sam.”

“What do you mean?”

Her eyes remained closed, but her fingers started playing with the hem of her tattered t-shirt. “I was drunk last night. Didn’t feel like going to the bar to celebrate my birthday–”

“That reminds me,” her best friend interrupted her, pinching the back of her neck hard enough to make it sting. “You’re a fucking dick, Lena. Keeping that to yourself?”

“I know.” It was all she could say, really. None of it had been right, she should have been more mature and communicated with words instead of hiding things and bailing on her friends, but there was nothing she could do about it now. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, go on.”

Lena sighed and opened her eyes, looking at Kara’s peaceful expression. “She came to check on me and I was an asshole.”

“Shocking.”

She groaned, but didn’t protest, aware that Sam knew her better than anyone else in the world, so her commentary was pretty accurate. “I ended up telling her everything before I passed out on her lap.”

“What’s everything?” The woman’s steady and calm tone helped Lena keep it together and use her words this time.

“I told her I’m in love with her.”

Sam gasped and pulled away, trying to look at her friend’s blushing face. “No way.”

“I did,” Lena nodded, gulping afterwards. 

“You’re in love? We just thought you really liked her and wanted to jump her bones ‘cause… look at her, she’s built like a fucking Greek goddess, not that you were in love!”

“Well, I am. And trust me, I know, but then I passed out before she could say anything, and now she’s unconscious and I don’t know how she feels. This is all my fault and it’s so fucked up, it’s killing me, Sam.”

“Hey, hey,” her friend turned in her seat to properly look at her, holding her face between her palms. “None of this is your fault.” She used her stern tone to get Lena’s full attention. “It’s incredibly fucked up, but not because of you. That Nel-Bin fucker is the only one to blame. And about not knowing how she feels…” Sam’s pause was so dramatic that Lena was getting exasperated. “She jumped in front of that man’s heat vision for you without a second thought. What do you think that means? Honestly, Lena, you two are the only ones who can’t see it. ”

Lena sighed and just looked at Kara. What else could she possibly say? Maybe her friends were right. Maybe they both had feelings for each other, for a while now, and they were the only ones who couldn’t see it. But, no matter the evidence, she would truly believe it when she could hear Kara say it out loud.

Several minutes passed and they stayed just like that. Sam still holding her close, and Lena infinitely thankful for her presence.

“Seriously, though, Lena: what the hell are you wearing? Not that I don’t love this industrial rock thing you have going on, it’s just very disconcerting. The dried blood on your shirt adds to the look, tho.”

Chapter Text

The following hours after Nel-Bin’s attack had been excruciating for Lena.

Kara’s recovery was taking longer than she anticipated, but the brunette only had herself to blame for keeping her hopes up. She knew better than to be optimistic and yet, in the presence of Kara, it was all she knew. That was what the blonde brought to her life, suddenly and inadvertently, bright optimism and more adoration than she knew what to do with.

She checked her watch for the millionth time—Kara’s watch, actually. She had borrowed it from her belongings after a few wolo of waiting—and noticed it had been almost thirteen wolo since the attack that left the blonde unconscious, approximately 36 hours in Earth time. Sam had gone back home some time ago to get some sleep after the solar-serum wore off, promising to bring her a change of clothes and her phone right after a quick nap, but Lena told her not to hurry, because she wasn’t planning on leaving Kara’s side anytime soon. 

Funnily enough, the only ones allowed in the room for the time being were the humans, Sam and Mon-El. The last two because they already had experience with the effects of sun radiation and wouldn’t cause any accidents by not knowing how to control their powers. Lena made a mental note to come up with a plan to train physicians in case they got exposed to it while treating their patients.

The irony of the whole thing was that, this time, Alura wanted to be by her daughter’s side and couldn’t. Life is funny that way. Or Karma. However you’d like to call it.

Lena had finally convinced her to go home and get some sleep, too, because there was no point in her staying when she couldn’t be in the room, even if it only was for her own comfort. There was a part of her, the vindictive and unforgiving part, that took some sort of sadistic pleasure in the fact that the woman wasn’t allowed inside, but she would keep that to herself. It felt wrong and it made her feel sick when she realized it, because the last thing she wanted was to ‘be a Luthor’ like that, but none of it erased the fact that a little part of her enjoyed it. It felt like avenging Kara’s grief, somehow, and she would deal with the guilt before she forgave Alura for neglecting her kind, beautiful daughter when she needed her the most.

This time she wouldn’t be alone. Lena would make sure of that.

She looked from the watch to the glass wall and let out a little chuckle when she saw Thara standing there with a cup of coffee and a bag of some sort of snack Lena was unfamiliar with. The woman held both up to the glass when she got the brunette’s attention, and smiled brightly when she saw her get up and walk to the door.

“How are you holding up, sweetie?” Kara’s best friend asked, and the care in her voice almost broke Lena for the hundredth time.

The brunette smiled, tired and afraid still, and nodded. “I’m alright,” she said, not convincing anyone, while looking back inside the room. “I just wish she would wake up already.”

Thara followed her gaze, looking at Kara for a few moments, and nodded her understanding. “She will.” It was reassuring coming from her. “She’s been through worse, and she always comes back.” The woman took one of Lena’s hands and deposited the steaming cup of coffee on it. “Now she has even more to fight for, she’ll come back to us, you’ll see.” Next she handed her the little colorful bag and looked at Lena with mom-eyes. “Now go back in there and eat something. I know you’ve been refusing food and what good will you be to her when she wakes up if you can’t even stand on your own? Do you plan on passing out on her again?”

The hell? Thara knows about that?

“Oh, yes. I know. Don’t give me that look. She’s my best friend and you fell asleep while she was having an existential crisis, of course she texted me. Now go back in there so she sees your gorgeous face the moment she wakes up. You both deserve that.” Thara placed her hands on Lena’s shoulders and literally turned her around, opening the door and pushing her inside before closing it quickly and saying through the glass, “you better love her right and make her happy, Lena Luthor. I’ll know where to find you otherwise.”

Seriously, am I the only one who was completely unaware of her feelings?! What the fuck did just happen?

She would have plenty of time to ponder on that once Kara woke up, hopefully they could do it together, because Lena was kicking herself for trying to avoid that particular conversation before all of this happened. She would like nothing more than to go back in time and hear whatever Kara had to say that morning. But there was no point in dwelling on that now, because she was not about to contact the Legends or The Flash to hitch a ride to the past. That had a history of backfiring tremendously and the last thing they needed right now was to make matters even worse. The fact that Nel-Bin had escaped was more than enough to worry about for now, but she still supported Sam’s decision to prioritize Kara’s well-being over capturing him. Those precious seconds could have been what saved the blonde’s life.

“You look cute when you’re thinking like that.”

The coffee that was halfway down her throat threatened to choke Lena to death the moment she heard that sweet little whisper, but she recovered quickly in favor of rushing to Kara’s side. She placed the almost empty cup on the table by her side and had enough sense to dim the intensity of the sun-lamps before reaching for the blonde. The last thing she needed was a terribly dangerous sunburn on her hands. Honestly, it was a miracle she realized it, being as sleep deprived as she was.

“Kara,” she whispered softly and her eyes filled with tears again. One hand moved to the blonde’s waist while the fingers of the other carded through that gorgeous mane of blonde hair. Lena bent down a bit in her need to be closer, and Kara took that opportunity to reach up and cup her cheek, caressing her with her thumb and wiping away a stray tear. 

“I’ve always liked the way those glasses look on you,” the blonde whispered nonchalantly, as if she was just waking up from a nap and seemed to notice the fact that Lena was wearing her glasses instead of her contacts. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Lena was crying and laughing at the same time, a sight to be seen apparently, if Kara’s smile was any indication. “How are you feeling?”

Kara avoided the question in favor of looking at her surroundings, noticing the sun-lamps and realizing she was on one of their sun-beds. “Smart to get me in here.” Her smile was proud when she focused on Lena once again, but the brunette’s eyes told her to just answer, and she didn’t seem to want to fight her on it. “My side hurts,” she said, shifting on the bed only for Lena to hold her waist tighter in an attempt to keep her from moving too much. “But I could be dead, so it’s not like I can complain.”

“Yes, you very well could be, you idiot.” Relief was giving way to anger, but it was short lived because Kara moved the hand on Lena’s cheek to the back of her neck, forcing her to look into her eyes.

“But I didn’t, and neither did you,” the blonde whispered slowly, holding the most intense eye contact, and Lena’s knees went weak because… yeah. It was embarrassing, but no one was there to see it, so whatever.

Long seconds passed before she found her voice again, but eventually Lena whispered back. “Never scare me like that again, Kara. I mean it.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I would love to, but I can’t promise you that, Lee.” There it was again, that little nickname, and Lena’s hold on her waist moved to her hip and tightened again for several different reasons this time. “I would jump in front of anything to shield you from harm.”

“You are one stubborn Kryptonian, Kara, you know that?”

“Yes, and you are one stubborn human. We’re clearly made for each other.”

The words landed heavily, probably the way Kara intended them to, because she was way too smooth for Lena’s sanity. But she still had to ask. “Are we?”

Someone started banging on the glass wall to get their attention—successfully so—and both women looked at it to see that it was Thara, doing happy little jumps while she kept tapping the glass with both hands. However, Lena wouldn’t move without an answer this time. Never again, actually, she had learned her lesson the hard way. “Hey,” she whispered, putting pressure with her hand on Kara’s hip to once again get her attention while cradling the back of her head at the same time. “Are we?” She repeated the question, still whispering, both hopeful and terrified.

The corner of Kara’s lips twitched, and soon enough she was looking back into Lena’s eyes with that little smile that looked more like a smirk, and nodding. “Yeah, we are.”

Those words were the only thing Lena needed. Had been needing her whole life without even realizing it up until that moment. Relief washed over her while whatever it was that had taken residence in her stomach started doing somersaults. 

It emboldened her. How could it not when Kara was looking at her like that? They both smiled and for a brief second their eyes drifted down to each other’s lips, but the happy tapping on the glass was starting to get the attention of the medical staff and they knew they were running out of time. “I want to kiss you so bad right now,” Lena confessed, blushing but not letting it affect her sudden confidence.

“Me too, but if I’m being honest, I’d rather do it in private. I think we might have an audience.” Both of them looked back at the glass and laughed. It wasn’t just Thara waiting out there anymore, one of the physicians and the sweet nurse were waiting for Lena’s all clear to go inside.

Lena let out a soft, happy sigh and kissed Kara’s forehead instead, taking her time to bask in the relief of having the blonde back with her. “I’m going to turn off the lamps so they can come in, okay?” She said once she stood back up.

“Okay,” Kara nodded and reached for her hand once the lamps were off in an attempt to keep her close. “Don’t leave.”

“Never.”

Little did they know how long they would have to wait to get a moment alone after that. Once the medical staff entered the room Lena had gone into doctor mode once again, but not entirely oblivious to the looks a certain blonde kept sending her way whenever she discussed her injury, recovery and subsequent treatment with the rest of the staff. 

However, she did have to ignore them, because Lena knew that look. That look had ‘trouble’ written all over it. Now that she thought of it, she had actually seen that exact same look on Kara before, and it had always been directed at her, too. She really had been blind.

Not that Kara was making it easy for her, of course not. Quite the opposite, actually. Whenever the blonde noticed that the staff was distracted with something else, she made sure to smirk, bite the corner of her lip, or send a little wink Lena’s way. Sometimes all three at the same time, distracting the brunette to the point where she would lose track of the conversation and would have to ask people to repeat themselves, to Kara’s clear amusement.

“Stop it.” She had whispered at one point, only prompting Kara to let out a little chuckle and shake her head ‘no.’ 

That Kryptonian little shit. Oh, how she wanted revenge. Luthors were known for being vindictive, after all. But, alas, her revenge would have to wait, because soon enough Alura was walking into the room, carefully hugging her daughter and fussing over her. Sam, Ruby and Alex followed her, then Mon-El, and finally Thara with Lir-Al and their two children.

“Can I go home?” The blonde had asked, looking at Lena with pleading eyes that almost made her cave.

“Not yet, darling. We’d like to keep you here under the sun-lamps for a bit longer.”

“How long?”

Oh, dear God, she was pouting now and Lena had to literally look away. “At least overnight.”

Kara had started to protest almost immediately, to the amusement of her best friend, but Lena’s attention was pulled to the child tapping on her shoulder. It was Thara’s  youngest, a little girl that looked not older than four years old by Earth’s standards, which would make her a little bit under three in Kryptonian years, or ahmzeht, to be more accurate. “Are you aunt Kara’s and jeju’s friend, the Doctor?” She whispered into Lena’s ear.

“I am,” she answered in practiced Kryptonese. “My name is Lena.”

“I’m Nihla,” the little girl answered and, to Lena’s surprise, she sat on her lap and hugged her neck as tightly as her little arms allowed her to. “Thank you for taking care of my aunt. She’s also a Doctor, but she was asleep so she couldn’t take care of herself.”

Eyes filled with tears and voice cracking with emotion, Lena returned the hug and rubbed soothing circles on the girl’s back. “It was my pleasure, Nihla.”

Having had enough of the hug, because: children, Nihla pulled back and looked at Lena. Really looked at her with a little confused frown that would indicate that she was judging something. “You’re very pretty, but you look really bad right now.”

“Nihla!” Thara exclaimed, completely mortified and blushing furiously. 

She made a move to pick her daughter up, but Lena laughed and readjusted the little girl so she would sit more comfortably on her lap, dismissing Thara’s embarrassment with that simple gesture. “I know, right? That’s because I haven’t been sleeping, sweetheart,” she explained, surprising even herself. Her whole experience with children was limited to Ruby, so this was almost uncharted territory. However, judging by Kara’s and Lir-Al’s smiles, she seemed to be doing alright. “Your aunt Kara had me very worried before she woke up.”

“Jeju was worried, too, but I wasn’t,” she paused and grinned at her aunt, trying to wink afterwards and failing in the most adorable way Lena had ever seen. “She‘s strong, she just needed a nap. Jeju says we get cranky when we don’t take a nap.”

“Will you tell your aunt not to scare me like that next time she needs a nap?”

“Sure!” And with that Nihla just gave Lena one last hug and jumped off her lap, running to Kara’s side and whispering something into her ear.

“Nihla!” Kara exclaimed, but immediately started laughing and holding her side when the little girl just ran away in a fit of giggles, presumably to find her brother. “She basically just told me I look like shit, too.”

Lena laughed and arched that devastating eyebrow, leaning back on her chair with a little smirk. “I mean, she’s not wrong.”

“Suddenly the betrayal runs deeper,” Kara said dramatically, looking away from Lena for emphasis. “Excuse me for saving your life, Doctor Luthor.”

“Uh, you can say that again.” There was a little satisfied hiss at the beginning of that sentence, but she was trying to be as quiet as possible so Kara would be the only one hearing her as part of her payback for before, and for the most part she was fairly successful, only because Lir-Al was busy trying to spot the children, but Thara seemed to hear her.

“Okay!” She clapped her hands once and laughed, looking from Lena to Kara, and then to her husband. “Time to leave. Goodnight, you two. Have responsible fun, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Kara just laughed and threw an empty paper cup at her friend. “That still leaves us with plenty of options, you’re not the role-model for good behavior. You seem to forget we grew up together, I know all of your secrets.”

“Most. You know most of my secrets.” Thara chuckled while taunting her best friend with a playful wink, but grabbed her husband’s arm and led him out of the room anyway, before Kara could actually say something incriminating.

This was a whole new side of their friendship that Lena hadn’t witnessed yet, and she was thoroughly amused by it. Was this how most people saw her own relationship with Sam? Now that she was thinking about it: probably.

Kara seemed to wait until the door was fully closed to clear her throat and get her attention once again. “Which part would you like me to repeat, Doctor Luthor?”

Oh, that little shit.

However, someone had to be the responsible adult here, and it seemed Kara had no intention of taking up that role. “Kara,” she warned her, once again with that eyebrow.

“What?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” The blonde had a shit-eating grin on her face.

Lena got up, but instead of approaching Kara, like the woman was expecting her to, she moved to grab the tablet that controlled the solar lamps. “Don’t start. You’re still recovering and the walls are made of glass. If I wanted to put up a show I would have started an OnlyFans.”

“What’s an OnlyFaaaa–”

Her question got lost somewhere between a surprised gasp—that sounded dangerously close to a moan—and a deep breath. “Rao, Lena. Is that how the yellow sun feels?”

Lena was low key surprised by the reaction she had just gotten from the blonde, but did a great job at hiding it. Instead she readjusted the intensity of the lamps and watched in amusement as the blonde let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. “What do you mean?” She asked after setting the tablet down and sitting on the edge of Kara’s bed, careful not to accidentally have her bent leg even grazing the woman's wounded side.

“I–I…” the little stutter was pretty telling on itself, and Lena was starting to get an idea of what was going on with Kara, but she would wait and let her find her words. “Everything is… a lot.” She paused and looked Lena in the eye. “Everything. And, Rao, you smell so good, I noticed before, but never like this.”

Ah, sweet, sweet revenge.

However, the last thing she wanted was to be mean or to make Kara feel uncomfortable, so Lena took it seriously, wanting to ease Kara’s mind at least. “It enhances your senses, darling.” That was a good explanation, right? “Like… Superman, for example, has super hearing and vision. I would assume an enhanced sense of smell, too, and you might be experiencing that,” she continued, “but if you're experiencing some sort of adverse reaction, we should stop it right now.”

“No, that’s not it.” Now Kara was blushing and Lena’s theory was almost confirmed. “Um, is it supposed to be all of my senses?”

“Do you have more than five?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I don’t know, Lena. I can’t think right now.”

That made Lena chuckle, and the sound had Kara following soon after. “Just tell me what’s going on, Kara. I can’t help you if I don’t know.”

“Um, you know how I’m very attracted to you?”

“Well, no. As a matter of fact, you never told me that.”

Kara groaned and rolled her eyes. “Well, I am, okay?” She didn’t wait for an answer, although Lena’s grin might have been enough for the time being. “You did that thing before when I called you Doctor Luthor and…”

“What thing?”

At this point the blonde looked like she was about to mentally smack some sense into Lena. She narrowed her eyes and groaned in frustration. “There was a… a hiss. And then your voice got all low and… sexy.”

“Oh?” Lena would be damned if she made it that easy for Kara.

She might’ve been smiling way too knowingly, because Kara just groaned in frustration and looked at the ceiling. “You know exactly what I mean.”

“I do.” She had to concede, even if she didn’t want to yet, it would have to happen at some point—might as well be now that her smile betrayed her—and put Kara out of her misery.

“You… Ugh, Lena! Why are you doing this to me?!”

“I’m not doing anything to you, darling.”

“Please don’t speak Kryptonese. You’re making it worse.”

“You’re speaking Kryptonese, Kara.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

The blush was enough for Lena to actually have mercy on her. She got up and grabbed the tablet again, slowly dialing it down until she could turn the lamps off without the shock being too much for Kara’s body. 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is that better?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, if anything, I’m quite flattered.”

Kara let out a long, tired sigh, and it was just then that Lena noticed how her breathing had picked up before. “Glad to be of service.” The blonde panted, smiling with her eyes closed now and trying to regulate her breathing.

Maybe she had taken it a little too far. “I honestly didn’t know this would happen, Kara. I’m sorry.” She really was. Lena had only noticed when Kara started showing signs of having some sort of sensory reaction. If she had known beforehand, she would like to think she wouldn’t have put the blonde through that.

“You had no way of knowing, it’s alright.”

“Next time warn me?”

“Oh, sure!” Kara’s eyes opened and she looked at Lena with a deadpan expression. “Next time I’ll say ‘Lena, I know you want to help, but you look and smell amazing, and I can actually feel the heat radiating off your body so, heads up, I might just orgasm from sensory overload in your proximity,’ of course, because that’s not ridiculous at all.”

Lena had no idea what she had been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that. She had to sit down, otherwise she would trip on her own feet. While standing still. That's where she was at after hearing the blonde’s words, so she resumed her position, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “W-what?” 

And then Kara seemed to realize what she just had said. She didn’t seem to care too much, though. She shrugged her left shoulder and just stared at the woman in front of her. “What?”

“You… You were… Um, you could have…”

“You like to make fun of me and you can’t say the word ‘orgasm’? Some Doctor you are.” The blonde rolled her eyes and Lena knew. She knew Kara was trying to rile her up, and she still dove in like an Olympic pro.

“Of course I can say the word ‘orgasm,’ Kara!” It had to be the weirdest, most ridiculous time she had to defend herself, and that included Sam’s comments on her attire not even two zehtiahro ago. “It’s not that what had me–you know what? No.”

It was Kara’s turn to smirk now. “Had you… what?”

“I’m not doing this.”

“You already started it, might as well get it off your chest.”

“The doctors out there are looking at us because your vitals have been spiking for the past few minutes.”

“So? They can’t hear us and they won't come in here without your approval.” She really didn’t care and Lena was honestly impressed. “Had you what, Lena?” Kara’s voice had suddenly gotten lower, sweeter, more caring, and the hand she placed on Lena’s knee did nothing to actually help her with her new found state.

“You know what I was about to say.”

“And yet I want to hear you say it. Humor me.”

Fuck it, two could play that game. “It’s the fact that you would suddenly have an orgasm, out of seemingly nowhere, because of me that had me actually picturing it in my head.” She was Lena fucking Luthor, dammit! She wouldn’t back down now. “I liked it.”

Kara was silent for a few moments after that, but she never broke eye contact with Lena. Her hand moved a little bit up the brunette’s leg and she squeezed her thigh just enough to make her gasp. “How long do I have to stay here again?”

“Nothing.”

“How about now?”

“Still nothing.”

“That’s not possible. Something is wrong with you.”

“I just don’t think it’s the right way, Lena.”

“What do you mean? I’ve been doing this for years, Kara. I think I know what I’m doing.”

“Well, I’m here and I’m telling you: I can’t feel a thing. Maybe if you move a little bit?”

“How is that gonna change anything?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s you.”

“Well, I resent that.”

“I’m sorry! I don’t know what to tell you.”

“How about you don’t say anything and let me take care of it?”

“Fine. Suit yourself. I’ll shut up and wait forever, it’s not like I have anywhere to go or things to do.”

“As a matter of fact, you don’t. You’re on medical leave and the only reason I advised your mother to co-sign your release was because you promised me you would take it easy. Micromanaging me is not ‘taking it easy,’ you know? I’m trying to help you, but I seem to have to remind you once again that you’re not my boss here.”

“Wouldn't you just love that, though?”

“Kara, I swear to God.”

“I don’t believe in your God, so that holds no power over me.”

“That's it, I’m done. You are fucking impossible.” Lena discarded the precision screwdriver she was holding on the coffee table and got up with a frustrated huff. She took her glasses off to rub at her tired eyes and stared down at the blonde afterwards, who was sitting on the couch and looking up at her expectantly, still holding her arm out, displaying a brand new watch-like device on her wrist.

Lena was not entirely sure why, but nothing was going as she expected once they got to the El household. At first she assumed it was because Thara and Alura were there with them, which made sense, because they had both already established that they had no interest in putting up a show. At least not for free. But Thara had left long ago, and Alura had some urgent matters to attend to with the High Council, so she also had to leave, but only after Lena reassured her five times that she would stay with Kara and that it was not a problem at all.

Well, now it was a fucking problem, because Kara was being annoying, Lena was frustrated, and they hadn’t kissed yet.

In hindsight, maybe that was exactly why Kara was annoyed—and annoying—and she was frustrated, but at the moment it just irritated Lena even more. She couldn’t really focus on what she was doing, because the constant reminder kept nagging and distracting her.

Now they had gone too long without doing it, so bringing it up felt weird. Well, maybe not weird, but uncomfortable. How do you do it, anyway? ‘Hey, remember we wanted to kiss? Yeah, let’s do that now.’ Definitely not.

“I’m sorry.” 

Kara’s apology focused Lena’s attention back on her and it was good. That she could do. Getting lost in her own thoughts was definitely not fun. “I know. I’m sorry, too.” She really was, the last thing she wanted was to lash at Kara.

“I’ll let you work without trying to micromanage you, I promise.”

But that wasn’t it. 

“Kara.” Lena sighed and ran her fingers through her hair while closing her eyes, taking a moment to organize her thoughts. “I’m not mad at you.” Yeah, that was a good start.

“You’re not?”

“No, darling. I’m not.” She tried to smile, but it came out a bit sad.

The blonde was looking at her now the way she did when she was trying to figure something out. She was frowning and the little crinkle was right there on full display. The thing was, Lena had no idea on what to say next. 

Kara made it easier for her by getting up like she would any other day, as if she hadn’t lost copious amounts of blood two zehtiahro ago. 

“Kara, what are you doing? You need to–”

“Lena, I’m going to say this with the utmost care and my deepest, most sincere affection: shut up already.”

“Excuse me?” Oh, now she was getting mad.

The blonde ignored her completely. She just walked up to her until they were standing toe to toe and cupped her face in her left hand. “Will you shut up now?”

They were so close Lena could actually feel Kara’s breath on her lips when she spoke, and her knees were suddenly weak again. She visibly gulped, but otherwise tried to remain calm. “Maybe.” It was a whisper, and she was pretty sure the blonde didn’t miss the way her eyes darted down to her lips for just a second.

Kara smirked that way Lena absolutely adored and placed her other hand on her hip while still looking into her eyes. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?” And then she waited. Of course she waited, because Kara would be absolutely perfect like that. She would wait for consent before kissing her, and Lena’s knees got weaker.

So she nodded, trying to smile and remain as calm as possible. “Yes. Please. Just… just kiss me, Kara.”

That seemed to be enthusiastic enough, because next thing she knew Kara’s lips were on hers and the hand that was previously on her hip had now wrapped around her waist to pull her impossibly close.

It shook her to the core. Lena had never experienced anything even remotely close to what she felt the moment their lips touched. For the first time in her life her brain had gone completely quiet. Nothing else existed aside from the both of them, and her arms wrapped around Kara’s neck, never wanting to let her go.

Much to her dismay, though, Kara gently broke the kiss a few moments later to look into her eyes. “Whoa,” the blonde whispered, and it was then that Lena noticed they were both panting. Right, lack of air and all that. “Holy Rao, Lena–”

“Kara, shut up.” She didn’t wait any longer after that. Lena crashed their lips together once again, this time taking it a bit further and slowly licking Kara’s bottom lip, only to be granted entrance almost immediately. She let out a low and very involuntary moan into the blonde’s mouth, and her right hand moved to the back of Kara’s head, fingers carding through her hair to ultimately close her fist on it and give it a tentative pull.

The response was immediate. Kara groaned into her mouth and, without breaking the kiss, took a few blind steps back until the back of her legs hit the couch. Lena could feel the arm on her waist tightening even more, and not only that, but that same arm picked her up as if she weighed nothing. 

There was no time to protest, not that the thought even crossed her mind, to be honest. Her legs bracketed Kara’s hips in a way that the moment the blonde sat down, Lena found herself straddling her impossibly close.

Kara’s hand moved to the back of Lena’s neck and, somehow, she managed to deepen the kiss even more, as if they were battling for dominance. Which, in all fairness, they were. 

Everything was brand new, but at the same time it felt like coming home. A sense of calm washed over her, it felt warm, like this was where she had been supposed to be all along. The whole universe suddenly made sense and, with that feeling taking over her whole body, Lena relinquished all control for the first time in her life.

She didn’t know exactly how, but she realized Kara knew what had just happened somewhere deep inside her, and somehow the blonde made sure to respond to it. She could actually feel it. She felt Kara answer to her blind trust and respond to her leap of faith. Maybe it was in the way she cradled the back of Lena’s head as if she was the most precious thing in the whole universe, maybe it was the way her hand slowly moved up her back under her shirt, warm and steady, fingers splaying across her tingling skin, holding her protectively while still giving her freedom, because that was what Kara meant for her: freedom. From her name, her family, her past. Kara was, simply put, the calm she had been looking for her whole life.

If anyone were to ask Lena how long they had remained like that, she could’ve said it was either mere seconds or days, there was no in-between. She didn’t know, didn’t really care, either. She held Kara’s face in both her hands, softly cradling her gorgeous jaw while she tilted her head a bit, playfully nudging the blonde’s nose with hers.

And that’s exactly how Alura found them.

Of course, they didn’t realize until they heard her surprise. “Oh! Oh, Rao! I’m so sorry!”

Their own surprise prompted them to part abruptly and look in the direction of the voice. Alura was standing at the front door, with the door still wide open, but shielding her eyes and looking to the side in a futile attempt to give the two women some privacy.

Lena, trying to hold what little composure she had left, carefully moved off the blonde’s lap and took a seat beside her, reaching for her glasses that had been discarded before on the coffee table and placing them on her face once again. Why? She had no clue, it seemed like an appropriate thing to do at the time.

They exchanged a pointed look and, to Lena’s complete horror, Kara just chuckled and moved her hand to soothe her kiss-swollen bottom lip with her thumb. “It’s alright, jeju,” she said in between throaty chuckles that did things to Lena she wasn’t ready to confess just yet. “You can look. I would appreciate it if you closed the door, too.”

Now that Alura knew Lena could understand and speak Kryptonese she didn’t seem to have a problem with Kara speaking in her native language in her presence anymore. “I’m so, so sorry,” the woman kept apologizing while closing the door, and Lena could now admit she found the whole situation a bit amusing, too. “I had no idea. If I had known I would’ve… gone for a walk or something.”

“Jeju, we didn’t know. How could you?” Okay, Kara had a point there.

“Is this-um, is it a new… development?” She asked, blushing more than Lena was, and that was saying something.

Both younger women exchanged a look and when Lena gave her a shrug followed by a short nod, Kara focused on her mother once again. “I suppose you could say that.”

“Is it a… courtship situation?” 

Lena had decided from the very start to let Kara handle the situation, so when the blonde looked at her again for an answer, she just held her hands up and gave her a look that said ‘I have no idea what’s going on.’

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” the blonde finally said after pondering the question for a few moments. “You just walked in on our first kiss, we didn’t really have the chance to discuss logistics.”

Alura let out a sound between a cackle and a choking gasp. “That was your first kiss?” She was so confused, the poor woman. Lena actually felt huge amounts of sympathy for her. “How–? With the sitting and the–? That?!” The last word was said pointing at the couch and Kara’s rumpled clothes.

All the answer she got was a blush from Lena and a shrug from her daughter.

Then she was quiet. Eerily quiet. Every little thing that could go wrong started popping up one after another in Lena’s head, but Kara seemed to even sense that, because she reached for her hand, interlacing their fingers together.

Finally, Alura seemed to have processed everything and was able to speak again. “Not that I’m not thrilled about this; I am. If I could have chosen the perfect mate for my daughter it would’ve been you, Lena.” She looked at the woman in question when she said that, and Lena could feel her chest filling with undiluted pride. Not that they needed Alura’s approval, of course, but it was nice to have it. “But.” Oh. There it was. The ‘but’ that would ruin everything. She had even switched to Kryptonese, that couldn’t be good. “You are almost twenty-two :zehkhai, inah. I don’t expect you to be celibate, but you have a bedroom!”

Lena did the quick math in her head, realizing that twenty-two :zehkhai would be, in fact, around thirty years old by Earth’s standards. 

“We didn’t plan it, jeju!” Kara was still laughing. How could she still be laughing? Lena squeezed her hand to make her stop, but it didn’t work. “Believe me, if I had planned this, we wouldn’t even be here. I would’ve suggested Lena’s apartment so we couldn’t be interrupted.”

“Um, excuse me? Presumptuous much? I’m Not that easy.” In this case, she absolutely was, but neither woman needed to know that, and she still enjoyed messing with the blonde a little bit. “At least buy me dinner first, Kara Zor-El. The nerve.”

“That’s not what I meant!” The blonde was quick to face her and shake her head while flailing her arms around. She was being cornered from both flanks and starting to get nervous.

Lena was now giving her the ‘Lena Luthor stare,’ eyebrow arched and everything, but she could see from the corner of her eye that Alura was not buying it, the woman was actually grinning, seemingly enjoying watching Lena take her daughter down a notch or two.

“I know, darling. I’m just messing with you.” Lena finally smiled and softly patted Kara’s cheek twice before leaving a quick kiss on her lips to soothe her.

“You’re mean, Lena Luthor.”

“Never claimed otherwise.”

With Alura still awkwardly standing there and a lack of any kind of suggestion from Kara, Lena stood up and brushed her hands down her clothes. “I believe I should go home,” she stated, then looked directly at Kara. “And, by the way, based on that little stunt you pulled there by picking me up, I believe your bracelet is working, darling.”

The blonde frowned and looked at her wrist, noticing how there was the faintest of glows coming out the side that was in contact with her skin. “Oh. Well, look at that.” She looked back up at Lena with her teasing smirk. “I suppose you are a genius, after all.”

“Lena, you don’t have to leave on my account,” Alura stated, passing by them on her way to the kitchen. “Like I said, I don’t expect Kara to be celibate. I wouldn’t expect it from you, either. I know all about those urges.”

“Ew! Mother!” Kara had gotten up, too, and was now looking at her mother with horror written all over her face. “I didn’t need to hear that!”

“Well, I was young once, too, Kara. Your father has always been a very handsome man.”

“Oh, Rao!” The blonde brought her hands to her ears, covering them tightly at the same time she started saying: “lalalalalalala.”

Guess some things are universal.

Her mother just laughed before looking at Lena once again. “You’re more than welcome in this home, Lena. Always.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it, it means a lot,” she said over Kara’s non-stop nonsense, “but I do believe I should go.” Kara seemed to notice Lena had said something important and pertinent to her, because she uncovered her ears and stopped ‘lalalaing.’ “So, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“What? No, don’t leave.” Of course Kara would make things more difficult for her. Why not? “You heard jeju, she doesn’t mind. She loves you, even.”

At this point Alura had disappeared into the kitchen, leaving them alone once again. So Kara took advantage of that and stepped in closer, gently placing her hands on Lena’s hips to hold her flush against her body. 

She was definitely not playing fair.

Lena’s hands moved to the blonde’s chest and she looked at her own fingers as they fidgeted with the neck of Kara’s shirt. “I’m afraid I have to, darling.” She looked up and her knees went weak once again at the sight of those eyes that had literally been plaguing her dreams for the past couple of months. “If I stay I know we’re going to get carried away, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. Better yet, I don’t know if you are ready for that yet.”

“Well, don’t you wanna find out?” Kara was smiling and nuzzling her temple and that was so not fair!

“Kara, darling…”

With one last kiss to her temple, Kara pulled back. Contrary to what Lena had expected, she was still grinning and in very good spirits. “Can I at least drive you home?” She asked with that same handsome smile and goddammit!  

“Yes, I would like that very much. As long as you promise to be good.”

“Coerced consent is not consent, Lee.” Kara stated, still smiling, and Lena was just a little bit more in love with her after that. Not that she was going to say it out loud. Kara didn’t need that big of an ego-boost so soon after the last one, but she knew, and that was enough. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

Chapter Text

Did you make it home yet?

Barely. Just walked in. Do
you have cameras in here 
or something?

I wish.

Kinky 😏

Kara? Where did you learn 
that word?

Lena, I know words.

Not that one, you don’t.

I do too!

Kara…

In my defense, you told me 
not to look into it. What was
I supposed to do?

Oh my god!
Have you been watching porn?!

No, I have not, even though
there is nothing wrong with
it and there wouldn’t be if I 
actually did.

No, of course not! That’s not
what I meant, darling.

Don’t worry, Lena. I’m not gonna
get any ideas. Most of the things
I saw were just ridiculous and very
far from what a real experience is.

Yes! That’s exactly my point.
See? You get me.

I do 🙂

Are you in bed yet?

You haven’t stopped texting
me, so of course not 🙃

You’re the worst. Get in bed,
I’ll be quiet.

For her part, Lena was already in bed. After a brief make out session in Kara’s car they had gone their separate ways. The first thing she did was take a much needed shower, washing off the past two zehtiahro with hot water and some soothing soap she had gotten from a nice, bubbly young man at the market last time she had been there. 

It worked like a charm.

She was happy and relaxed, wearing another one of her comfy but very un-Luthor-like t-shirts and a pair of simple cotton panties. Yes, she took some great comfort knowing Lillian would disapprove of her attire.

Her bed was calling her, Lena could almost hear it, so she let out a long, satisfied sigh the moment she got in it and pulled the covers up her body to cover her legs. She could feel the weather starting to change and the days progressively getting a bit colder. Argo’s climate control to resemble Krypton was truly amazing.

It had been second nature to just grab her phone and text Kara to make sure she had made it home. She didn’t even have to think about it, it just… happened.

That was an amazing event on itself. It never happened before. At least not with someone with whom she was, somewhat, romantically involved. Sure, it did happen with the Arias/Danvers women, but even those times were a conscious choice she made. Not now, though. The human brain was truly fascinating.

Okay, I’m in bed.

Good. You need to get some
proper sleep. Remember not
to take off your bracelet.

I won’t. Thanks for making it
work even though I kept
nagging you 😬

My pleasure, darling.

Not giving up on those emojis,
I see?

Never! Can you live with that?

I mean… if I HAVE to…

Comes with the Kara Package. 
You have to take it all, Lee.

Wait. That didn’t sound so dirty
in my head, I swear.

Too late, I’m already thinking
about it.

Oh. Is that good or bad?

Well, let’s just say I didn’t ask
for this, but I’m not mad at it.

I didn’t accidentally overstep
your boundaries, did I?

You have to be the sweetest
woman in the whole universe.

No, darling, you didn’t overstep.
You never do, to be honest.

That’s good to know.

Glad to help.

Hey, Lee, I was thinking… 
Do you want to go out on a  date 
with me? Tomorrow maybe?

I’d love that.

Is it okay if I pick you up for lunch?

Sounds wonderful. Now get some
sleep, sweetheart.

Night, Lee 😘

Good night, Kara ❤️

Dreams of blonde hair, beautiful sun-kissed skin and bright blue eyes plagued Lena’s dream all night, which meant that she woke happy; smiling, even, as Rao found its way past her curtains to warm her back just enough to help her set more comfortably to enjoy it. 

Her smile only got even bigger the moment she realized why her lips felt a bit sore whenever she smiled. Then her whole body woke up with memories of the softest lips against hers, of warm hands keeping her close, and soft breaths making her knees weak.

Lena was, simply put, absolutely smitten with Kara. And the best part was that she didn’t mind it one bit. Quite the opposite, actually, she welcomed it with open arms, which for her was very uncharted territory. It was highly unlikely that she would’ve been this open to anyone on Earth. Argo City gave her a second chance at life, and that fact didn’t go unnoticed. 

Ironically, it was Lex and his hatred for aliens, especially Superman, who had led her here. If only he could see his little sister now: alive and well, in love with a Kryptonian woman and happier than she had ever been. He would probably have a stroke. Maybe letting him know wouldn’t be the worst idea.

She was lost in that beautiful fantasy where she was happy and free, where Lex couldn’t hurt her anymore, when the ringing of her phone startled her out of her daydreaming. Lena rolled over with a loud, very dramatic groan, but immediately smiled again when she saw Kara’s name and silly picture on the bright screen.

“Hi, darling,” she breathed softly into the phone, rolling onto her back and stretching.

She could hear a little chuckle on the other side of the line, and Lena smiled at the beautiful sound. “Hey, Lee. You sound sleepy. Did I wake you up?” 

There was a bit of guilt in Kara’s voice, so Lena was quick to reassure her. “No, Kar, you didn’t. I was awake, just still in bed.”

“Oh. Okay, that’s good.” Kara let out a relieved breath that for some reason made Lena even happier. “Um, how are you?”

“I’m quite alright, darling. Very pleased with recent developments, if you must know. How are you?” She was pretty sure the blonde would be able to actually, somehow, hear her smile, and Lena liked it that way.

“So happy,” Kara whispered into the phone as if she was trying to keep it a secret from anyone who could be eavesdropping, which could very likely be the case because, now that she was paying more attention, Lena could hear other people in the background, as if Kara was outside, walking down a busy street. “Are we still up for lunch? I wouldn’t mind if you’d rather stay home, I know you just woke up and everything, so–”

“Kara: breathe.” If she didn’t interrupt her, Lena was pretty sure the blonde could go on for several minutes. “I told you last night and I’ll say it again now: I’d love to go on a date with you. Today, if possible, so lunch sounds perfect.”

“Okay. Good. That’s good. Yeah.” There was a relieved sigh and a happy giggle right after. “Should I pick you up in like an hour?”

“Wait, is it that late?”

This time Kara laughed and wasn’t trying to hide it. “It is. I’m guessing you had a good night of sleep, Doctor Luthor?”

“You’re not playing fair, Kara Zor-El.”

“Never said I would be.”

Smartass. “Where are you? I can hear people in the background and would hate for you to go out of your way to come here if I could just meet you wherever you’re headed.”

“Picking you up could never mean I’m going out of my way, Lee.” Thank God for the little pause after that, because Lena was pretty sure she had become a puddle. “If anything, I’d be going exactly where I need to be.” 

Okay, she had been wrong before. Now she was a proper puddle.

“Smooth as that was, darling, I would still like to meet you halfway, if you don’t mind?”

“You don’t want me to go to your home?”

“Kara, I would love nothing more than for you to be here right this instant, so don’t be stupid.”

“Hey!” The cute little laugh that came with the exclamation told Lena that the blonde wasn’t really offended. “Okay, I give up. Want to meet me at the waterfront by the market? I’m actually heading there and it’s fairly close to your home.”

“Sounds perfect. See you soon, love.”

It came out before Lena could stop it. It just did. She wasn’t thinking, why would she when talking to Kara? Maybe to avoid words like that one? Jesus fuck, Luthor, get a grip.

Lena was on the verge of apologizing and making up some random excuse when Kara’s soft voice broke the long silence. “See you soon, i :zhao.”

The call ended—possibly by Kara, because Lena seemed to be completely frozen—and the brunette had to bite her bottom lip to keep her smile from growing to a painful extent. Her heart was beating wildly in her rib cage, if she paid attention Lena was pretty sure she could’ve seen it pumping against her chest if she moved enough to actually look. 

She had never been happier to have learned Kryptonese.

However, she only had one hour to meet Kara, so if she wanted to be in time—which she always was—Lena would have to actually move.

The covers were rudely kicked off her body and she got up, not without taking a moment to stretch her back and appreciate how beautiful the skyline of Argo City was through the parted curtains. Her shower after that had been a quick affair, same as the choosing of her clothes: a nice deep red shirt, paired with skin tight black pants and a pair of beautiful boots the same color of her shirt that Tyll-Gen had designed specifically for her. Her attire in full Kryptonian style seemed like the way to go for her first official date with Kara.

She applied very little make up and, after checking the forecast for the day, decided to just keep her hair up in some sort of intricate bun that seemed to be messy while in reality was anything but. 

After making the bed, Lena stopped in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom and couldn’t help but smile at her reflection. Her hands smoothed down the front of her shirt and she stood up straighter, proudly, realizing that Tyll-Gen had chosen the perfect colors for her. The man truly was a genius. 

As happy as she had been with her attire before, it was nothing compared to how she felt the moment Kara laid eyes on her.

Lena had left her apartment with plenty of time to take a nice walk to the market, greeting vendors and making small talk with some of them. These little things were the ones that made her feel like she actually belonged and wasn’t just a refugee anymore. Well, those and the beautiful blonde who was waiting for her at the waterfront with the biggest smile on her face.

She made her way to Kara as fast as she could without being rude or walking into someone, only to find herself standing in front of the woman with no idea on how to greet her. The blonde, absolutely perfect as usual, stepped in closer and wrapped her arms around her waist, allowing Lena to hug her neck and bury her face in it, breathing everything that was just Kara.

They were still hugging, not wanting to let go, when Lena could hear the blonde whispering into her ear. “Can I kiss you?”

The question seemed so ridiculous after the previous night that Lena had to laugh. “Of course you can, Kar.”

Kara pulled back and looked into her eyes with more seriousness than Lena would have expected. “There’s no going back after people see it, though. We will become the gossip of Argo City, everyone knows us here. I don’t mind it, but do you?”

There were several ways to answer that question but Lena chose the one that would leave no doubt in Kara’s mind. She moved one of her hands up, tangling her fingers in soft blonde hair, and kissed her slowly and gently, almost lazily, taking her time and scratching the back of her head, smiling when Kara let out a happy sound that was very close to a purr into her mouth. “Does that answer your question?” She asked afterwards, lips still brushing Kara’s.

The blonde chuckled and left one last sloppy kiss on Lena’s lip before pulling back. “It did,” she said grinning, then took a quick look past Lena’s head. “I believe it already started.”

The brunette turned back without removing her arms from around Kara’s neck and noticed some people already looking at them, most of them smiling and happily whispering to each other. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“Yeah? Are you that serious about this?”

The question made Lena blush, because the prospect of it not being serious never even crossed her mind. It was Kara, how could it not? “I am.” If her voice cracked a little bit in fear, Kara didn’t notice or didn’t mention it. Instead the blonde smiled brightly and stepped away from the hug, only to grab Lena’s hand and lead her to a more secluded area where she had set up what looked like some sort of picnic.

“So am I,” Kara whispered against her lips once they were away from prying eyes. She smiled brightly against Lena’s lips for a second before she fully kissed her once again, cradling her face with both hands. “I have to admit, I was rendered speechless the moment I saw you.” She pulled back enough to look at the brunette, but still kept some sort of physical contact by holding her hand once again. Lena could see how her eyes trailed down her body and mentally congratulated herself on her choice of clothes. “You look… I don’t even have words. That’s how good you look.”

“I’m glad you like it,” the brunette said, blushing a little bit. “I have to admit I did make an effort.”

“You didn’t have to, Lee. I would have found you beautiful no matter what you wore, but I can’t say I’m displeased.” Kara seemed to spare Lena from blushing further after that by sitting down on the blanket she laid for their picnic before helping the brunette do the same next to her.

Kara proceeded to pour some bubbly clear liquid into two glasses under Lena’s watchful eye, then handed her one while she kept the other one for herself. “I will have to see you in traditional Earth garments someday,” the brunette mentioned with a little smirk, “it’s only fair, after all.”

“Mh. What would that be like? I find the diversity of them fascinating, to be honest.”

To be fair, that was a good question. Lena thought about it for a long moment, then smirked again, only this time arching an eyebrow while leveling the blonde with a playful stare. “I suppose I’ll have to choose it for you.”

She didn’t know if it was the smirk, the stare, or the way she was now sipping her drink, but Kara seemed transfixed when she answered, “I suppose you’ll have to, but can I ask you to pick something flattering?”

The brunette laughed and reached over, placing her hand on Kara’s forearm and moving it up her arm until she could casually grip her bicep. “Oh, trust me, I most certainly will.”

The tension could be cut with a knife, and Lena was pretty sure that if someone saw them right there, they would be able to pick up on it. Luckily, Kara had chosen a very secluded area and she had managed to borrow some of the fabrics they used for shade at the market—probably by charming someone—to give them even more privacy.

Yes, Lena had half a mind to just tackle the blonde to the blanket and kiss her until their lips hurt, but she was doing her very best to keep herself in check. “So, are you planning to just get me drunk, or have you brought some food?”

That seemed to break the tension and Kara actually laughed before she started arranging several containers of food that could easily be eaten without the help of cutlery. “My apologies, Miss Luthor. Please, do help yourself.”

Lena chuckled and gathered her options, immediately going for a piece of fruit that had quickly became one of her favorites soon after her arrival. She shouldn’t be surprised Kara picked up on that. However, the blonde’s little smirk while noticing her choice didn’t help her raging libido. “Stop staring.”

“Do I have to?”

Well, fuck. Every time Kara was this assertive, it did things to the brunette. Things that would make her blush if she had to say out loud while sober, and she didn’t embarrass easily. That was the extent of Kara’s effect on her. It was new and interesting and everything Lena wanted. “Not really,” she answered as smoothly as she could, this time holding eye contact while she carefully bit into another piece.

Gotcha.

She could see how Kara’s eyes darted down to her lips as her very own parted in awe. It was only fair, after all. If Kara was going to be smooth as hell and get her all flustered, then Lena would make sure to give as good as she got. 

She had no idea how long they would last without taking things further if they kept these kinds of things up to get a rise out of each other.

In true Luthor fashion, Lena held her gaze until Kara broke eye contact, because she was not going to lose that one. The blonde looked down, after several moments of just staring at Lena, and cleared her throat. They both smiled, the brunette victorious and Kara still pleased with the outcome, and silently agreed to focus on the food for the time being.

It was an impressive spread, she had to admit that, but the most impressive part—aside from a certain blonde—was the view. Lena had been to the market countless times. Most vendors knew her, and viceversa. She could easily remember the name of Fym-Rez’s husband and would often ask how their children were doing, or bring Kela Nox-Lix the new medicine she was working on to help her father with his arthritis. But every single time she failed to actually notice this part of the city. She knew the waterfront was there, just never bothered to actually wander closer to it.

Now that she did, Lena was glad she had never done it before. Getting to appreciate it for the first time with Kara was priceless.

The surface was calm, which made her wonder what kind of water body this might have been. It had the appearance of a lake, but since she could—barely—see the border of the force-field on the other side, several miles away, it could’ve just as easily been an ocean, cut and trapped inside the dome, void of currents. 

“This is one of my favorite places in all of Argo City,” Kara commented as if she could read her mind and moved a bit closer to her. “I come here when I need a break from everything. The water makes me feel like I can just… be. It’s the first time I share it with someone.”

“I’m flattered. Thank you for sharing it with me, darling.” For her part, Lena closed the remaining distance between their bodies and rested her head on Kara’s shoulder. “It’s beautifully terrifying,” she said with a sigh, knowing that if they weren’t this close, the blonde would have missed it.

And then Kara decided to be absolutely perfect once again, as if Lena needed the reminder. The blonde wrapped one arm around her slightly shivering body, holding her close and kissing the side of her head. She didn’t question her choice of words, just accepted them for what they were. She held Lena close and safe, taking her breath away for all the right reasons, and then just waited in silence.

“I’ve been afraid of large masses of water for as long as I can remember.” And just like that, Lena was opening up to her. “My biological mother drowned when I was four years old. I was there.” She heard a long, sad exhale, but nothing more. There was another kiss on her temple, this time a lingering one, and Lena’s eyes filled with tears from the beautiful display of tenderness and affection. “She was all I had, my whole world crumbled before my eyes that day. The Luthors adopted me after that.” Her voice was low, but still loud enough for Kara’s ears. She heard a little sniffle and hugged the blonde’s waist with both arms. “I didn’t know it at the time, and still wouldn’t for about two decades, long after he passed away, but Lionel Luthor was my biological father. I was the result of an affair he had with my mother.”

It was almost unbelievable the way Kara just seemed to understand her. Lena didn’t need words or condolences, and the blonde didn’t try to provide either. Instead, she made sure Lena felt safe, and that meant the world to her. She wasn’t trying to comfort her or find a bright side, like most people did. She, literally and figuratively, embraced Lena and her pain, silently promising to be a safe space for her, without judgement or the need for explanations.

Several minutes passed and they remained just like that, admiring the water and basking in each other’s warmth, when Kara whispered softly. “I lost my father the day Krypton died.” Lena could feel the blonde’s fingers playing with the hem of her shirt, a fidgety kind of thing she had noticed Kara did when she was battling her own emotions. In response, Lena tilted her head up and burrowed her face in the crook of the blonde’s neck, leaving a soft kiss there. “He stayed behind to activate the shields, knowing he would be trapped outside. He sacrificed himself for all of us.” The brunette could feel the fidgeting slowing down and Kara holding her tighter once it stopped. “You know what’s curious?”

“Mmh?”

“I was supposed to be sent to Earth with Kal-El.”

That information had Lena pulling back from her neck to stare up at her. “What?”

“Yes. My parents were going to send me with Kal so I could take care of him on Earth. I was in a pod, right about to take off after him, when the hangar got damaged with the explosions and was rendered useless.” Lena could see the corner of Kara’s lips tilt up the way she did when she was about to say something that would surely amuse, at the very least, herself. “Can you imagine if we met on Earth? I would be… what? Around fifty-five years old now?”

“You’d be a cougar.”

“A cougar?”

“Mhm, an older woman seeking younger partners. That’s what people call them on Earth. Unfairly so, in my opinion, since men who do the same are seen as winners.”

Kara laughed. The kind of laugh that Lena could feel against her own body, and it made her immensely happy to hear that sound. “Do you think we would have met? Would you have been willing to date a cougar?”

“I believe we are inevitable,” Lena said with every bit of conviction in her body, and this time it was the blonde who pulled back to look at her with curiosity in her eyes. “Think of it, Kara,” she started explaining, “you didn’t make it to Earth, so the universe had to make sure I made it here. I had to find you. You even went through a wormhole, for Rao’s sake! Although I’m pretty sure I would have been into the cougar version of you.” She looked at the blonde and smirked, announcing she was about to mess with her. “I mean, you have good genes, Alura doesn’t look bad at all, just saying.”

She couldn’t contain her laughter when Kara gently pushed her away, making a disgusted face. “Ew, Lena!”

“What?!” 

“That’s… gross! Lena, she’s my mother!”

“She’s also a woman, darling.”

“Please, stop.”

Lena laughed and got closer once again, resuming their previous position and hiding against Kara’s neck, this time kissing it softly. “You know I’m kidding,” she whispered in between soft kisses. “I’m a woman of science. Faith isn’t exactly my forte, but I’m convinced, now more than ever, that we, us, have always been inevitable.”

She had only herself to blame.

No, wait, take that back: her hormones were to blame.

The moment Lena realized their date was coming to an end she felt a kind of longing she had never felt before, and thus had no idea how to deal with it. All she knew was that she wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet, and that’s how she found herself stupidly inviting Kara to her apartment.

Sweet, innocent Kara had accepted, and now how were they supposed to get out of this?

What Lena hadn’t taken into consideration was that her apartment would provide them the kind of privacy they couldn’t get at the waterfront, where not only bypassers could see them, but also the people that were mingling around the market.

Well, maybe she did take it into consideration, but she had been stupid enough to ignore it and think it would be okay. They were grown women, after all, not horny teenagers.

She should have known better.

This time Kara was the one straddling her lap and cupping her jaw in both hands, while Lena held her hips tightly. She could feel her fingers digging into muscle and realized it could have been painful, but the blonde didn’t seem to mind, if anything, she seemed to be enjoying it.

The moment they entered the apartment and the door closed behind them, both women found themselves all over each other. They were a mess of lips and limbs acting on their own, kissing and touching, struggling to stay apart for more than the three seconds it took Lena to blindly find the couch and sit down, pulling Kara down with her.

Oh, and Kara’s bracelet seemed to be working wonderfully, by the way. There hadn’t been any signs of discomfort all day, and there wasn’t one now, when their newfound position could have granted it.

No. No discomfort at all.

One of Kara’s hands moved to the back of her head and, even though Lena’s hairdo wouldn’t allow for much, it did seem to have enough give for the blonde to find the way to pull softly and make her moan, because… well, Kara. 

By now Lena knew better than to question her, her methods, or the results she got.

At some point they parted for air, breathing heavily but still smiling, and as if pulled by an invisible force, they both turned their heads to look out the glass wall, where they could see Rao setting in the distance. The view was breathtaking, because nothing short of that could have kept their lips apart for as long as that sunset did.

And even a synthetic Rao, in his infinite compassion and wisdom, gave them both the moment they needed to gather their thoughts. They exchanged a long, silent look and Kara nodded, because words didn’t seem to be necessary anymore. The blonde carefully moved off her lap and sat next to her at first, only to get more comfortable and lie down afterwards, resting her head on Lena’s lap.

“Are you alright?” Kara asked softly and, once again, Lena was infinitely grateful to have her in her life.

“I am.” She answered softly, running her fingers through that gorgeous blonde hair. 

“I’m sorry for… you know… that.”

The brunette laughed, shook her head, and bent down to steal a short kiss. “Never apologize for that, darling.”

“We got a bit carried away,” Kara said with a little playful smile, “if Rao hadn’t interrupted us…”

“Oh, believe me, I know.” The inflection left no room for interpretation, and the blonde laughed while agreeing with a nod.

“We can’t be trusted to be alone in private, can we?”

“I blame my hormones, to be honest. And you.” She paused, fixing Kara with a pointed look. “I have never experienced this lack of self control.”

“Me neither.” The blonde had a little cute frown on her face, and Lena couldn’t help poking at the crinkle. “But, seriously, are you having trouble with your hormones?”

The question made Lena laugh and she shrugged while resuming the movement of her fingers through Kara’s hair. It was soothing. “Just because I think I’m ovulating. It honestly is taking everything I have to keep myself in check around you.”

“Wait, you go through… the whole thing?” Something about what Lena had said got Kara up on one elbow, looking up at her with curious and expectant eyes.

“What do you mean?” The blonde’s curiosity seemed to be serious, so Lena wanted to give her all the attention she deserved.

“I mean your… is it called ‘menstrual cycle?’ I don’t want to mispronounce it or seem disrespectful.”

Now she was confused. “Yes, that’s what it’s called. And… um, yes? I’m still fertile, Kara, of course I go through it.”

“Amazing.” She was frowning again, this time deep in thought, and looking down at Lena’s stomach for a moment before focusing on her eyes once again. “You think… Would it be okay if I studied your hormonal changes? I mean, you can say no, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything, I’ve just never seen… This is amazing!”

Still confused. Even more so than before. “Hold on. What do you mean? I know we’re different, but it is my understanding that we are very similar species in most aspects. Correct me if I’m wrong, but surely you go through something similar?”

Now Kara was pursing her lips the way she did whenever she was trying to find the best way to explain something. It was adorable. “Yes and no.”

Less adorable now. “You’re gonna have to give me more than that, Kara.”

That made the blonde laugh. She took a quick deep breath and got comfortable once again, resting the back of her head on Lena’s lap. “We are capable of it, yes. But!” She raised her index finger in the air, it was endearing and ridiculous at the same time. “We evolved.”

“What do you mean you evolved?”

“Yes,” Kara nodded. “We haven’t reproduced naturally for centuries, Lee. I told you about Kal-El, he was… an anomaly, to be blunt and honest. Kryptonians have been using the matrix to reproduce for many, many generations. Our bodies adapted to that. We evolved.”

There was silence after that, and Lena loved that Kara already knew when to give her time to process new information. “You’re telling me you don’t get a period?!” Now she was outraged. How dare she?! “I’m painfully miserable for like a week every month and you have the nerve to tell me that you go through life without having to deal with that?!”

“Um, basically.” At least she looked apologetic, even though she had no idea why. “You really are miserable during that stage?”

“Unbelievable!” Lena threw her hands in the air for a more dramatic effect and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. “Every woman is different,” she started explaining while still staring at the ceiling, but looked back at the blonde after that. “In my case, I am. I suffer from cramps and my mood is just awful. But not everyone is like that.”

“I had no idea.” She burrowed closer and Lena almost melted when she attempted to caress her stomach with the side of her head. “How can I help whenever you’re feeling bad?”

“Good God, my poor heart. You’re just perfect, aren’t you?”

“Why?”

“I’ve never had a partner ask me that. They just figured it would be easier to stay away, so that’s what they did.”

“It seems you never really did have good taste in partners until now, huh?”

Lena chuckled and scratched Kara’s head. “It appears so.”

“Seriously, though, how can I help you? I hate that you have to go through that, I’m not letting you do it alone if I can help it.”

“You already are helping by showing that you care about me.” To be honest, Lena was moved to the brink of tears, but she was doing her best to keep them at bay. “But… I wouldn’t say no to cuddles and some ice cream.”

Kara grinned brightly, probably because ice cream was one of her favorite things the humans had introduced her to. “Consider it done.”

It only took a few minutes after Kara’s first yawn until she was fast asleep on Lena’s lap. Needless to say, the brunette was enjoying every second of it, watching her sleep like a creep and feeling utterly content. 

Which was suspicious on itself.

So she should have expected the AI to announce Sam at her door, not only asking for entrance, but yelling from the other side that it was urgent.

There was something in her voice that made Lena actually believe her, so she quickly granted her access, trying to not disturb Kara too much, but that was one failed mission, since her best friend came in speaking way too fast and urgently. “Lena, thank God you’re home! Oh, you’re both here. That’s even better–wait.” She paused, but only briefly, looking from Lena to Kara, who was now sitting up and rubbing the sleep off her eyes, looking around completely lost. “Okay, WHAT? No, wait, later. Nel-Bin has been spotted, I need a shot like the one you gave me last time or something.”

That seemed to startle them enough to get up and spring into action. “What do you mean he has been spotted?” Lena asked while running to her office, where she had stashed some emergency supplies after what happened to Kara.

“Where?” The blonde asked in a rush.

“I need the shot, Lena!”

There was something wrong. Sam was ignoring Kara’s question. She would never do something like that. Something was very wrong. 

And Kara noticed it too. “Sam, where is he?!” When Lena came back into the living room carrying a case with her supplies, she saw the blonde grabbing Sam’s biceps, urging her to look at her and answer her question.

For her part, the tall woman looked at Kara, then at Lena, then back at the blonde while letting out a soft sigh. “He tried to break into your house. Alura was quick to initiate lockdown and contact the Peace Officers immediately. She’s safe inside, but we don’t know for how long. Nel-Bin is powered again.”

And just like that, Kara’s face lost every single bit of color. “I need to go there,” she stated and tried to rush past Sam, but thankfully the woman was quick to stop her.

“No, you don’t,” she said firmly, and with one hand urged Lena closer. “After this, if you want, Alex, Lena and I can train you so you can safely get a boost next time. For now, you have to let me and the Peace Officers handle it.”

There was no time to waste and Lena was very aware of that. She got several vials containing a bright yellow serum out of her case and loaded one into the automatic injector before approaching Sam. Without the need to exchange any words, the former World Killer extended her forearm and Lena applied the serum quickly but carefully. The change was almost immediate, but while Sam closed her eyes to stabilize herself and take a deep breath, Lena prepared three more shots in a device that resembled an EpiPen and handed it to her. “In case you run out.”

“Thank you.”

That was the last thing they heard before the woman ran out the door, leaving behind only a gust of wind.

But Lena knew. She knew there was absolutely no way that Kara would stay put. She knew because she wouldn’t, either. So, instead of stopping her, she moved to stand in front of her and held her face. “Darling, we are going there right now.” Kara nodded, but her face was still pale and devoid of any emotion. “I just need to grab one more thing, okay?” Again, just a nod, but Lena would take whatever she could get at this point.

Truth was, she had expected something like this to happen sooner or later. Men like Nel-Bin or her brother would never give up just like that. And that’s exactly why Lena had built a radio-like device with comms that could tap into the Peace Officer’s frequency, without telling anyone because… well, she was pretty sure that was illegal.

It took her a few seconds to retrieve it and rejoin Kara, who looked a bit more present now. “Let’s go.”

By the time they made it there Sam had already engaged him with the support of about a dozen Peace Officers who remained behind her, but several feet away, led by Alex and Thara.

Given her vantage point, the redhead was the first to see them arrive and immediately ordered them to stay behind the line of officers, knowing that nothing she could say would make them leave the scene.

They were running to their designated location the moment Nel-Bin spotted them, and with an almost deranged smile, the man turned to shoot a beam of heat vision their way again, only this time Sam was conscious and she was noticeably faster, so she flew in front of him, taking the brunt of it on her chest with a loud, angry, pained scream.

“Sam!” Alex shouted, but her girlfriend ignored her, probably for the best, because she couldn’t afford getting distracted.

Lena rushed to Alex's side, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, even if briefly. “Is she on comms with you?”

The redhead nodded, so Lena wasted no time in placing her own set of comms and checking if Sam could actually hear her. “Sam, can you hear me?”

“Lena?!” She could not only hear her but even see the confused frown on her friend’s face.

Alex started protesting immediately, but Lena was quick to turn away and completely ignore her. “Yes. Stay on comms with me. I’ll be your second set of eyes from here, okay? Like we used to do when Reign was helping Superman.”

“Sweet.”

“Full Reign?”

“Full Reign,” Sam said softly, and Lena could see her taking a deep, calming breath. “Let’s take this bitch down once and for all.”

“Atta girl.” Lena could feel Kara’s hand sliding into hers, so she intertwined their fingers, taking a moment to look into scared blue eyes. “We’ve got this, love,” she whispered, not caring if everyone else could hear her. “I won’t fail you or your mother.”

“Neither will I,” Sam said over the comms, making the brunette smile before she repeated the message.

Lena took a deep breath herself and went back closer to Alex. “Do you think we can have this channel just for us? I don’t want to risk it.” She turned off her comms briefly and whispered only for the redhead to hear, “I don’t know who we can trust.”

Alex nodded and turned to Thara, asking her if she could order everyone to get off comms, which the woman did immediately, getting everyone to follow her order in a matter of seconds.

“Did he say anything? Do we know why he’s here?” Lena asked, switching to full business, but never letting go of Kara’s hand.

“No, but I can find out.”

“Lure him away from the house first,” Lena instructed. “There’s a fairly open space to your right, take him there to minimize structural damage or casualties.”

“Define ‘lure,’ please.”

“Just fucking do it, Sam.”

“Yes, ma’am!” 

Next thing she knew, Sam was flying straight into him, practically tackling Nel-Bin mid-air and dragging him to the space Lena had pointed out.

“Perfect. Ask him.”

So, Sam did. Loud and angry, eyes shining bright-red menacingly. He didn’t respond at first, merely squaring up with her, as if gauging his options, which he probably was. “Who are you?” He asked instead, confusing everyone. “This is the second time you face me, is it not? You’re considerably more powerful than me.” The way he was talking, with such calm and curiosity, was unnerving, and it only got worse when he didn’t even wait for an answer before continuing. “You’re clearly not human,” he tsked and smiled, “are you Kryptonian? Not quite either, are you?”

The switch to Kryptonese raised all kinds of alarms in Lena’s head. “Don’t let him rile you up,” she said over comms as calmly as she could given the circumstances. “He’s obviously testing you, trying to find a weakness so he can exploit it or distract you.”

“Daxamite, perhaps?” Nel-Bin kept poking, but Sam wasn’t playing his game, which was good. 

Instead, she started moving around him, slowly, holding eye contact with a smile on her face that reminded both humans of a time when Reign was a threat to them all. It was steady, cold, the kind of smile of someone who knew they had already won the fight before it even started. “Neither.”

That tone. The dangerous reverberation of it. Chills ran down Lena’s spine the moment she heard it. Flashbacks of a trapped Reign, kept subdued with Kryptonite in L-Corp's basement, started playing one after the other. “Sam, are you still with me?”

“I am.”

She trusted her. Fully. With her life, even, but PTSD was inevitable after what had happened between them, or so her therapist had explained to her. She could see Alex looking at her with worried eyes, but they nodded at each other in silent support. 

“What are you, then?”

“Why are you here?” Sam countered instead, trying to be patient.

Nel-Bin laughed a bit maniacally and shot another beam at her that, once again, Sam stopped with her body before it hit someone or something. “I’m told the Great House of El has something I need in their basement. Now tell me what you are, I’m curious. Please, indulge me.”

“You can’t even comprehend what I am.”

“Sam, that’s the way. He’s getting irritated.” Lena noticed and glanced at Kara, who agreed with a nod and a squeeze on her hand. “Make him angry, he’s gonna slip and tell you what it is that he wants, just… try to keep his random outbursts contained as much as you can.”

She could see the littlest of nods from her best friend before she continued. “Compared to me, you’re as insignificant as an insect. Pathetic. A sorry excuse of a man.” They kept circling each other. “A complete embarrassment for your kind.”

He shot again, screaming incoherently, and this time Sam got closer, retaliating with her own, giving him a taste of her powers.

That’s when Alex saw an opening. Not with Nel-Bin, but with Alura. The Peace Officers' jobs was first and foremost to get everyone to safety, and as long as Alura stayed in the house, her life would be at risk because Nel-Bin wasn’t going to stop trying, and the lockdown system hadn’t been designed to stand against a super powered rogue Kryptonian.

Lena watched from the corner of her eye how Alex and Thara started moving to the back entrance of the house, silently exchanging signs and nods. That’s when she understood what was happening. “Keep his back to the house and distract him, they’re extracting Alura.”

Another nod, and Sam made sure to follow her instructions. “What is it that you want?”

“Pathetic?! You dare call me pathetic?! Look around you, I could kill them all in the blink of an eye. I could have killed the great Kara Zor-El and her new human toy if it wasn’t for your meddling. You don’t get to call me pathetic when you won’t even admit what kind of monster you are.”

“You want to know who I am so badly? Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you: I was once the Killer of Worlds.” Lena got the impression that Nel-Bin went a little bit pale after that, but maybe it was the distance and lack of proper light. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories, based on your expression, haven’t you? Did your parents tell you stories about me to get you to behave? I don’t particularly hate to be the one to tell you that those stories are very, very real. You see, I was perfectly designed for that purpose. That part still lives inside me, we merged, and even though I’m in control and we learned to coexist, I can still hear Reign as clearly as I hear my own thoughts. She wants to destroy you for your insolence. You could never get past us. You know it, and that’s making you angry, isn’t it? We’re faster, stronger, better.”

“You’re not better than me!” He tried to make a dash for the front door, but Sam body-checked him at the last second, sending him flying for a few moments until he regained his balance. “You Earthlings and your meddling! I know why you’re here. You’re hiding, and I know exactly from whom. I know he’s looking for his little sister, and there’s a portal in this house that is going to help me reunite them.”

Oh, no.

No. 

Absolutely fucking not.

“Alura is out and safe!” Alex said loud enough through the comms while Lena’s blood ran icy cold in her veins. 

She closed her eyes tightly, feeling the beginnings of a panic attack starting to make an appearance. But this time she had an anchor. A literal blonde, beautifully kind anchor that squeezed her hand and kissed her shoulder, bringing her back and clearing her mind. 

“Take him down. Now.” She instructed over the comms. “He can’t get to Lex.”

“He won’t.” That was the last thing Sam said before her heat vision hit Nel-Bin in the chest, distracting him enough for her to tackle him to the ground into a crater of their own making, and punch him once, effectively breaking his nose. She tried to keep him pinned down, but he kept struggling, so she punched him again, and again. “Pathetic.” She kept repeating in between punches every time he struggled.

“Sam, stop!” Lena tried, loudly. So loud she was pretty sure her friend could hear her even without the comms, but she wasn’t answering. “You’re gonna kill him, stop!”

It clearly wasn’t working and Lena was seriously starting to worry she might kill him.

That’s when she saw Alex rip her comms off her ear and set off running as fast as she could in their direction. Luckily, she knew better than to physically intervene, so she knelt down next to her girlfriend and called her name once. Twice. Three times. Until she gathered enough courage to place her hand on Sam’s back.

Lena held her breath for a few seconds, fully expecting Sam to react physically to the touch and accidentally hurt Alex, but it didn’t happen. Instead she stopped with her bloodied fist mid-air and turned to look at the redhead, deflating at once and burying her face on her neck the moment Alex wrapped her arms around her. 

She could hear the faint “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you,” that Alex kept whispering into Sam’s ear, and it felt so much like intruding in such a private and vulnerable moment that Lena took off her comms, too while letting herself relax against Kara’s firm body, knowing that, at least for now, Lex wasn’t a threat for these wonderful people.

“Lena?” She heard Kara asking after a few moments of just holding her.

There was something in her voice that worried her for some reason, so Lena looked up at the blonde with questioning eyes. “Mh?”

“How did he know about Lex?”

Chapter Text

“Okay, first things first: Lena, what the actual fuck?”

After Nel-Bin’s breaking and entering attempt, the Chief Peace Officer had taken matters into her own hands and arrested the man herself. She had a brief conversation with Alex right before urging him not-so-gently into the detention pod, promising the redhead that she wouldn’t let anyone else near him until he was processed and ready for questioning. Sam had used that brief moment to—quite literally—fly her daughter back to her side, and if she broke the sound barrier trying to get to Ruby, well, that was none of anybody’s business.

Once they were all reunited again, Team Earth, Kara and Alura had gone inside the house to ‘assess the damage,’ a bad excuse Kara had come up with on the spot to dismiss the rest of the officers and get some privacy.

How this woman was a literal genius, Lena would never know.

So now they were in the living room, all of them scattered around the coffee table, sporting similar frowns.

Sam had been pacing back and forth behind the couch where Alex and Alura were sitting, mumbling to herself before her outburst. She stopped after that, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at her best friend, who was sharing one of the armchairs with Kara. 

No, she wasn’t sitting on her lap or anything, the blonde had respectfully taken the arm of the chair while Lena sat comfortably on the cushions, one leg crossed over the other in one of her trademark power poses, defiantly holding her friend’s gaze.

“Excuse me?” She asked, and one of her eyebrows rose slowly in a gesture her CFO knew all too well.

“Don’t give me that shit,” Sam said, glaring back and moving her hand to gesture at Lena’s pose. “You and Kara? And you didn’t tell me?!”

The way Mon-El and Ruby turned their heads to look at them from the floor at both ends of the coffee table would have been funny if Lena hadn’t been so unnerved. 

Kara, on the other hand, seemed to find the whole situation rather amusing.

“No way!” You could always count on Ruby for a healthy dose of teenage excitement. “Are you guys dating? Have you kissed?”

Lena did her very best to hold back a smile when she noticed Kara nodding excitedly at the teenager from the corner of her eye. Instead, she focused on Sam and her ridiculous priorities, but couldn’t hold the façade for much longer, feeling pretty excited about it herself. “Fine! We just kissed last night!” Lena said with a half smile, losing every bit of poise she had managed to portray up until that moment. “You crashed our first date, it wasn’t like I had time to tell you about it.”

“I knew it!” This time it was Alex who couldn’t hold back any longer, pointing a finger between Kara and Lena. “I knew there was something there!”

“Congratulations, Alex. You picked up on the most obvious sapphic sexual tension in the whole universe.” Lena deadpanned.

The redhead huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the couch. “There’s no need to be an ass about it.”

Ruby patted Alex’s knee and scooted closer, resting her back against her mom’s legs to offer some sort of comfort with her closeness.

“Can we please talk about what just happened? Or is this meeting to discuss my romantic life?” She was tense. She had good reason to be, too. What Lena failed to remember, though, was that taking it out on her friends and family was not the way to go.

So Kara was quick to remind her by wrapping her arm around Lena’s shoulders and kissing the top of her head. “Our frustration is not their fault, Lee. They love you, you’re important, they care. Focus on that.”

And Lena’s eyes watered immediately the moment she looked up into bright blue eyes. She nodded and pushed herself up enough to plant a soft kiss on Kara’s lips, blushing when Ruby and Sam awed and cooed and made some giddy noises.

It was all sorts of uncomfortable for Lena, but the blonde seemed to be determined to be her savior that night. “Now that we cleared that up, can we focus on the reason why we’re all here? I’m sure Lena will be available for gossip later, Sam.”

“Fine.” She seemed to finally give up and walked around the couch to sit down next to Alex, close enough to also be able to play with Ruby’s hair. “What the hell just happened?”

“Somehow Nel-Bin knows about my deranged brother.”

“That much I gathered.” It was Sam’s turn to deadpan, an act that made her best friend narrow her eyes at her, silently telling her she was not amused. “The question is how?”

“Well, did anyone here say anything to someone, anyone, who’s not in our inner circle?” Kara asked, turning to problem-solving mode. When everyone shook their heads in the negative, the blonde rubbed her eyes, trying to think. “I’m sure Thara didn’t, either. She knows how dangerous it could be if word got out. We’ve all seen it today.”

“Agreed,” Alex nodded at Kara, confirming that, as far as she knew, Thara had kept it a secret. “But if I may, shouldn’t we figure out the extent of the damage to make plans for a proper containment of the situation?”

“Probably,” Sam agreed, but she was curiously looking at Lena, who had remained silent.

There was a reason for that. The brunette was staring straight ahead at Alura, who held her gaze in a way they hadn’t noticed before. They seemed to be having a silent conversation until the older woman nodded her head, and Lena did the same.

“What was that? What’s going on?” Apparently Kara had noticed it, too.

“I don’t think anyone else knows,” Lena started carefully, still checking silently with Alura.

“Aside from the person who told Nel-Bin, that is.”

“I have to agree,” Lena slowly interjected after Alura’s observation. “It wouldn’t be wise of them to spread the word, they know we have most of the people on our side.”

“I would say it’s only the three of them.” The older woman nodded her agreement, resting her elbow on the arm of the couch and rubbing her forehead in concern. “This is going to be a nightmare.”

“Can someone please explain? This is the most confused I’ve been since I realized I’m a lesbian.” Alex was starting to lose her patience, but Lena and Sam still let out a low chuckle.

“ Jeju? You know who did this?”

“Sadly, I think I do.”

Lena placed her hand on Kara’s thigh and squeezed softly, which prompted the blonde to place her hand over hers and hold it for support. “The only other people who know the details regarding Lex are the members of the High Council,” she explained, making a pause to let the information sink in.

Kara seemed so confused with her little frown and that adorable crinkle. “You think one of them did it?”

“I would bet my whole fortune on that.”

“Who?” Alex’s fists clenched tightly, same as her jaw. Lex being aware of their location was as much of a threat to her family as it was to Lena herself.

“Jul-Us.” Ultimately, it was Alura who said the name, and Lena nodded.

“Jul-Us? Why would he do that?” The blonde asked, looking from her mother to Lena, back and forth a few times. “He knows that it could be considered high treason if we find out it was him. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because of Tan-Us.” 

There was a faint sorrowful expression on Kara’s face, but it lasted less than a second once she looked at Lena. “I’m not following.”

“Neither am I.” Sam leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and tiredly rubbing her eyes.

“Wait,” Lena sat up straighter at that, uncrossing her legs to do so but not letting go of Kara’s hand. “None of you figured out why Nel-Bin was acting out? I thought we were all on the same page.”

“Luthor, what the hell are you talking about?”

Mon-El, who had remained eerily quiet during the whole exchange, looked at Alex after her question, then at Lena, as if looking for confirmation before his next words. “Nel-Bin is in love with Tan-Us.”

Lena’s eyebrow arched again, this time to show how impressed she was with him. “Precisely.”

“The fuck?”

“As much as I appreciate that kind of colorful language, Sam, and you know me: I do,” Lena said, staring at her best friend. “I believe your daughter is present and you should be more careful…?”

For her part, Ruby just rolled her eyes, which made her godmother smirk proudly.

“What do you mean he’s in love with Tan-Us?” 

Lena shifted a bit more in her seat to be able to properly face the blonde next to her. “Forget everything you think you know about them and look at the facts: he has a personal problem with you for no apparent reason,” she started listing with her fingers, “he blamed you for what Tan-Us did, even when he had no ground to stand on. He wanted to hurt me to hurt you, saying that he was going to destroy ‘your heart,’ the same way you hurt him. Clearly he knew back then you had… um, feelings for me.” The brunette blushed at that last part, but didn’t let it distract her. “I thought you knew. I've known since the day you fired him, to be honest.”

And then Kara took her time. Well, not only Kara, but everyone else, too. After about a minute of processing the information, the blonde looked at her mother, frowning deeply. “Can you access the matching database from here?”

“I can,” Alura nodded, but then asked, “why do you want me to do that, though? You know that is information we can’t disclose without at least one of the parts requesting it after the initial run.”

“Mother, both parts are either already or seem to be on their way to being incarcerated. I hardly think they’ll object.”

“If you give me one compelling reason,” Alura started, looking pointedly at Lena for a second, once again telling her something without using words, “I might be able to do it. If there’s a valid reason I can explain later on to the rest of the High Council, I mean.”

For her part, Lena tried not to smirk, clearly reading between the lines. “I believe it is a matter of intergalactic security,” she stated confidently, with the smile of someone who had it all figured it out. “As Chief Judicator, I would assume you are the only one with a valid reason to access it at the moment, seeing as both parties have broken the law: one of them being already sentenced and the other one expecting trial, or so I’d like to believe.”

And then Alura smiled. She smiled Proudly. The woman held Lena’s gaze for a few moments before looking at her daughter. “I know I’ve said this before, but I highly approve of your choice in your mate.” Following that, she just reached for a holographic device in her pocket and turned it on, displaying a search field over a long list of names. “Search for matches for Tan of House Us.” She instructed the device that immediately returned a brief list of names. 

“Is Nel-Bin on the list?” Kara asked, nervously biting the skin on her bottom lip to the point that it started to bleed.

“He most certainly is.”

Lena narrowed her eyes once again, trying to read Alura the way she had been doing all night. “This is a situation where you can only give us what we ask for, isn’t it?”

“It is.” And there it was again, the proud smile that made Lena feel seen in a way Lillian could never.

Kara squeezed the hand on her lap and nodded, dabbing at her slightly bleeding lip with the back of her free hand. “Can you give me the percentage of my match to Tan-Us, and then Nel-Bin’s?”

“I can. Would you like me to?” 

“Yes, please.”

Alura nodded shortly and waved her hand on the holographic screen, swiping away a couple names at the bottom of the list. “Kara Zor-El: 73.1%. Nel-Bin: 71.9%.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Sam cut the silence that had stretched after that, holding her hands out, as if her words weren’t enough to get everyone’s attention. “You were gonna get married to a guy you barely matched with at 70%?” She asked, completely flabbergasted. “Are you insane?! Oh, wait, is he incredibly hot?”

To Lena’s surprise, Kara actually laughed, breaking the tension with the melodic sound. “It was the highest match either one of us got,” she shrugged, “although now I see that Nel-Bin was an incredibly close second.”

“So, what? You just settled because an algorithm, or whatever that thing is, said so?”

“Anything over 70% is perfectly acceptable for a match if both parties agree. Couples are expected to have certain differences, after all.” Alura explained eloquently, but it wasn’t enough for Sam, and Lena felt so proud of her friend’s intervention at that moment.

“Yeah, only this time the difference was that he’s a violent asshole and Kara isn’t.”

It honestly saved her from having to point it out herself. “That algorithm needs updating, because clearly Nel-Bin would have been a much better match.” Yeah, no. She couldn’t help herself, after all.

“What would be considered an actual good match? That number doesn’t really seem good enough.” Alex asked, pursing her lips.

Alura hummed and tried to hide a little smile. “Well, I suppose that depends. Each individual might have different opinions on the matter, as well as both of them as a couple.”

“How about you and Kara’s father?” Surprisingly, it was Ruby who asked, and a very good question, at that.

The woman smiled fondly and folded her hands on her lap afterwards. “I don’t believe that would be a fair comparison; Zor-El and I were an exceptional match, one of the highest in all of Krypton, actually. We matched at 96%.” She paused briefly to look at her daughter. “We always thought that was why we were able to create such a wonderful daughter.”

Kara was blushing and when Lena looked at her, she could see her eyes were full of tears. She fully agreed with Alura, and the blonde needed to know that, right that second, it just couldn’t wait, so she squeezed her hand to get her attention and once Kara looked at her, the brunette moved her other hand to the back of her neck and pulled her down for a soft kiss. “I agree with your mother,” she whispered against her lips, making her blush even more.

“Disgustingly adorable.” Of course it was Sam, but she was soon distracted by something else. “Wait, do you have everyone’s in there?”

“Yes.”

“Even ours?”

“If you submitted a sample, we have it.”

“Oh! What’s mine and Alex’s, then?” Sam asked excitedly, dragging Ruby into the excitement train.

Alura paused then, glancing at Alex, who was suddenly a bit pale. “In this case, both parties should agree to it, sweetheart,” she told Sam, sparing the redhead, if only for just a few seconds.

That’s when Sam looked at her girlfriend and noticed maybe Alex wasn’t as excited about it as she was. “Alex?”

“Mm?”

“Hey, what’s wrong? You don’t want to know?” Sam scooted a bit closer, holding Alex’s hand in hers and bringing them to her chest, just over her heart. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to. Nothing is going to change either way, I know you’re it for me. I was just curious.”

The redhead held her gaze for a considerably long time, then asked in barely above a whisper. “You’re not gonna have any doubts if we don’t do well enough?”

And at that moment Lena knew exactly what was going through Alex’s mind. She knew how for years Alex had been the one to bring up marriage, and how Sam had dismissed it every time, saying that they didn’t need to involve the government in their love and how they didn’t need papers to be a family, Ruby’s adoption papers were more than enough. Lena had, on more than one occasion, told her best friend to take into consideration how Alex might feel after receiving those answers, but the redhead always seemed to be okay.

Now it didn’t really look like she was.

Of course she wasn’t, Sam was a fucking idiot and Lena would kick her ass after all of this was over.

Sam looked at her girlfriend with eyes full of tears and she seemed to understand everything in mere seconds. She pursed her lips, making an effort to hold back those tears, but it was all in vain, since they spilled anyway. “Hold on,” she whispered in a shaky breath and, confusing everyone in the room, she ripped off the left sleeve of her shirt, tearing a long, thin piece of fabric from it afterwards before discarding the rest.

Now, Lena was more confused than ever, but the way Kara squeezed her hand and the smile she saw on her face told her that this was something. Something was about to happen or was already happening. Honestly, she had no idea, but now Kara was grinning, so how bad could it be? 

With the cutest shy, little smile on her face, Sam gently held Alex’s right hand in hers and carefully removed the Hand of the Soldier from her wrist. The redhead frowned in confusion, but Sam was quick to explain, “we’ll find a way to make it work later, right now,” she trailed off, making sure to wrap the dark strip of fabric she had just ripped off her own clothes around Alex’s wrist, all while failing terribly at keeping her tears at bay. “I’ve been a fucking idiot, and I will never find the words to properly apologize for it.” Then she paused, looking into Alex’s eyes and tying the knot on the new makeshift bracelet. “Hopefully this will be a good start.” She looked down at her girlfriend’s wrist and ran her thumb on the bracelet before looking into her eyes once again. “Kryptonians don’t really use engagement rings or wedding bands, you know?” Her smile started getting bigger after that, and suddenly Lena felt her own eyes fill with tears because she knew this. “They’re more into bracelets.” Once again, she brought Alex’s right hand to her chest, laughing when she realized both of them could feel her heart almost beating out of her rib cage. “So, no matter what that thing says, or even if we don’t check it at all, I still want you to marry me, Alex.”

Fine, abort the kicking of ass.

“Sam,” Alex whispered, leaning closer to the taller woman and touching their foreheads together. “Are you sure?“

So Sam nodded, holding her gaze and sniffling again. “I’ve been so fucking stupid, Alex. I… I never thought…” she shook her head and closed her eyes, but only for a second. “I should have realized it sooner, God knows my friend, who shall remain unnamed, tried to talk some sense into me, but I’ve never seen it. Not until just now, when you looked at me with that… fear in your eyes.” She brought her other hand to the side of Alex's head and raked her fingernails on her scalp, where her hair was shorter and allowed it easily. “I never, ever, since we started dating, doubted that I would spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t want you to think otherwise ever again, not even for a second. So, Alexandra Danvers, please, marry me?”

“Are you asking so I’m not afraid anymore or because you really want to? Because–”

“Alex, for the love of God!” Sam interrupted her, holding her chin with one hand. “Just say you’ll fucking marry me.”

The redhead chuckled and nodded. “I’ll fucking marry you, Samantha Arias.”

“Mazel tov!” Ruby jumped excitedly, landing between her mothers and effectively breaking up their kiss. “Can I be a flower girl? But, like, one of the cool ones, with sunglasses and dancing down the aisle to cool music?”

“Jesus, Ruby! Right in the boob!” Sam groaned, leaning back against the couch and holding her chest. “Damn your bony elbows that you got from my stupid genes!”

The teen winced and turned away from Sam and more into Alex. “Sorry, I got excited.”

“Get excited away from my boobs next time.” She seemed to realize what she just said and looked from her daughter to her now fiancée. “That doesn’t apply to you, by the way.”

“Eeeeww! Mom!” That did it. Ruby got off Alex’s lap and sat back down on the floor. “My therapist bills are gonna be huge.”

“Good thing your godmother is a billionaire.”

“Congratulations, by the way,” Lena said after a low chuckle. “About time, Samantha.”

“Can we know now?” Ruby seemed to be the only one who hadn’t forgotten how this whole thing started, so when she asked and looked at her mothers, it took them a moment to process.

Once they did, however, Sam looked at Alex and shrugged. “It’s up to you, babe. I’m marrying you either way.”

The redhead leaned closer and kissed her once more, then focused back on Alura. “Yeah, okay, I have to admit I’m a bit curious.”

The older woman laughed, but immediately nodded and cleared the holo-screen. “New search: Match between Samantha Arias and Alexandra Danvers.” She instructed, and a moment later the results came up. 

There was a moment of pure suspense, Alura’s face expressionless and stern. She was so obviously teasing them that Lena had to laugh again. “Just tell them, jeju!” Kara intervened. “That’s plain mean!”

Finally, Alura laughed and looked at them again. “Well, congratulations, ladies. On your engagement and on being each other’s highest match with 93.8%.”

“What?!” 

“93.8%?!”

Sam and Alex asked simultaneously, both in disbelief.

“I proposed when I had a 93.8% to back me up?!”

“Ha! Sucker!”

But neither of them meant it, Lena knew that. It was the nature of their relationship, teasing each other like that. She had always known they were perfect for each other, now they had the numbers to prove it.

“Not that I’m not thrilled about this whole situation, because I am and we are going to celebrate when this is over, but what are we going to do about this whole potential situation with Jul-Us?”

“I suppose I should bring it up with the rest of the judicators and decide on a viable course of action.” Alura explained calmly, putting the holographic device away. “Of course, it’ll have to be with the utmost discretion, but I know I can rely on some other members of the High Council for their support, too. If it was him, I will personally see he is brought to justice, I promise you, Lena.” The silence that came after that promise spoke volumes. “In the meantime, I do believe you should carry on as if everything has been dealt with now that Nel-Bin is in custody. The last thing we need is to alert the person who did this and give them time to flee Argo or find another way to contact Lex Luthor.”

“She’s right,” Kara agreed, frowning in that cute way she did whenever she was thinking. “If Jul-Us sees us relax, he will, too. If he thinks he got away with it, he’ll be much easier to catch once the Council gathers enough proof.” It was the smart thing to do, Lena knew it, but there was just one little detail missing and just when she was about to bring it up, the blonde beat her to it, making her doubt one more time if she could actually read her mind. “I do think we should temporarily deactivate the portal, just in case. I’m sure Lena and I can easily do it before we leave.”

“Okay, sounds reasonable. So… What after that?” Alex asked, looking around the group.

“After that we celebrate our engagement, hot stuff!”

That’s exactly how the night found them.

Alura had graciously offered to spend the night with Ruby, promising the teen lots of treats and full access to the holographic video games still left at the house from when Kara was younger. Surprisingly enough, the blonde hadn’t been very keen to the idea, but the few words Lena whispered into her ear that had her blushing seemed to be enough to convince her.

“Bottoms up, my good bitches!” Sam shouted over the loud music, urging everyone to take the shots she was freely pouring.

The problem with that was that, while Alex was known for enjoying a good drink, she was also usually the voice of reason when her girlfriend started to go off the rails. 

That was definitely not the case tonight.

And for good reason, too. Lena wouldn’t hold it against either one of them for wanting to celebrate their engagement. They deserved it after so many years together and, in her opinion, the rest of the group could use a night out to distract themselves from everything that was going on.

So, yes, she was willingly one of the ‘good bitches’ taking shots with her best friend.

“You know you’re my maid of honor, right?” Sam drunkenly yelled into her ear at the same time she wrapped a sloppy arm around her shoulders.

“Well, I wouldn’t just assume that. What about Ruby?”

“You heard her, she wants to be a cool flower girl, whatever the fuck that means.” Sam’s voice was almost painful in Lena’s ear, but she didn’t have it in herself to dim her excitement one bit. “It would’ve been you anyway, Lena. You’re more than a sister to me, y’know?”

Lena nodded and took a sip of water, trying to do her best to not get emotional and keep hydrated to avoid a hangover at the same time. “I know,” she stated softly, but close enough for Sam to hear. “You know I feel the same way, right?”

“Yup!”

“Just don’t make me wear something stupid.”

That made Sam laugh, almost choking on the fruity drink she kept sipping in between shots. “Oh, hell no. I’ll let you pick, you can wear white for all I care.”

“I look awful in white.”

Sam nodded her agreement and tried to subtly nod her head in Kara’s direction. “Just do your fancy thing and match with your stud of a date. You both scream power-couple and I want to see all the jealous bitches drooling over both of you.”

That left Lena speechless for a moment, even though she didn’t really have a clear idea why. She just stared at Kara after that, not only marveling at how gorgeous the Kryptonian was, but also at the way she so effortlessly got along with her friends, how she held her drink and slightly bent over with a hand on Alex’s shoulded, laughing at something the redhead had just said, on how she wasted no time in getting Mon-El in on the joke, too, not wanting anyone to be left out, and… “God, Sam, I’m so fucked.”

For her part, the taller woman laughed and tightened her hold around Lena’s shoulders before kissing the side of her head. “Welcome to the club, Luthor. We’ve been expecting you.”

“She is perfect,” Lena whispered, and she didn’t know if it was for Sam’s ears or her own, but now it was out there, so whatever. “What the hell is she doing with me?”

“Oh, you poor damaged idiot.” Sam placed her drink on the table and turned to face Lena, grabbing both her shoulders so they could look into each others eyes. “You are just as perfect. You got dealt a shit hand in life, sure, but none of that defines you. Or, wait, actually, it does. You were able to overcome every single obstacle life has thrown at you. Lena, you showed up every single time. You showed everyone your strength, your resourcefulness, your resilience, your compassion and that infinite amount of love you reserve for those of us who are lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it. Now you have one more person to receive that love and give some of it back to you. So just take it, because anyone can see that Kryptonian Daddy is head over heels for you.”

It took her a few moments to let it sink in. She had been trying to do better, to listen to the people who loved her and learn how to love herself. Lena knew Sam was right, but hearing it was never easy. Maybe one day it would be, and she was on the right track. Mostly.

“The hell do you mean ‘Kryptonian Daddy’? I’m no bottom, Arias.”

“Sure, you tell yourself that, babes.” Sam smirked and picked up the bottle again, refilling everyone’s shot glasses. “But you and I both know that blonde is gonna bend you over, spank you until you call her Daddy, and rail you into next week. And all you’ll do is thank her afterwards.”

“Samantha, you’re someone’s mother.” 

“Exactly. And how do you think that happened?” Sam’s observation made Lena actually laugh because… well, it was a good point. “And I swear, if Alex could knock me up, Ruby would have like six siblings already. There’s no shame in being a power bottom, you know?” She finished, holding her shot glass up to Lena’s in a private little toast of their own.

It wasn’t that she was drunk. No, not at all. A little tipsy? Maybe. But not drunk. Perhaps that was the reason why her next words came out while she was looking at the blonde in question. “She can fucking step on my neck and I’ll thank her and make her breakfast.”

Maybe she was tipsier than she thought.

“Spoken like a true bottom, enjoy!” Sam said proudly, smacking Lena’s ass before walking to her fiancée and stealing her away from the conversation she was having to drag her to the dance floor. 

That’s when Kara turned to her, sporting a weird and very disconcerting combination of a blush and a smirk, and held her bottle to her lips before walking around the tall table to stand next to her. “Enjoying the night?”

Lena smiled and leaned closer into her body until their shoulders were touching. “Very much. Never thought your clubs would be so similar to ours. How about you? Are you having fun?” Kara nodded and took a sip, and Lena couldn’t help but notice again the little blush on her face. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah… Yeah!”

Something was definitely off. “Kara, darling, what’s going on?”

“I’m fine. It’s just, um…” Was she blushing more? How was that even possible? “What did Sam mean when she said I’m going to ‘rail you’? And why would you think I’d step on your neck? That sounds painful.”

Oh, dear God. Fucking Sam. No.

Never before had Lena felt this mortified, and it was all thanks to her best friend. She started blushing and almost choked on air, before realizing there was no way Kara should have been able to hear that over the loud music. That’s when her eyes landed on the blonde’s wrist and that fucking bracelet.

“Give me your hand,” Lena instructed sternly, but her eyes were still incredibly soft. She didn't really wait for Kara to do it, instead she just grabbed her wrist and took the bracelet off, shoving it into her own pocket for safekeeping. “That was not for you to hear, but glad you’re all healed.”

To Lena’s surprise, Kara just laughed and shrugged her shoulders, not caring one bit about getting caught unintentionally eavesdropping. “Well, it’s too late for that now, isn’t it? Come on, I want to know.”

“Believe me, Kara: you don’t.”

The blonde turned to rest her elbow on the table and leaned even closer to Lena, placing her other hand on her hip and, so unfairly, making her knees weak when she asked again, only this time into her ear. “Why don’t you want to tell me?” She asked, and without waiting for an answer she continued, because her stupid wit had to rival Lena’s own, didn’t it? “Is it something sexual? Do you want me to rail you?”

“For fuck’s sake, Kara.” Was she breathless? Also, was it getting warmer in there? “You can’t do this to me.”

“I have literally no idea what I’m doing.”

In all fairness, that was true.

The brunette closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly in an attempt to compose herself. “Yes, it is something sexual,” she whispered back into Kara’s ear with every intention to return the favor. “But it’s not something I can explain or show you here.”

“Okay.”

Okay? That’s it?

“What, just like that? Okay?” She had to ask, Lena had always known her mouth would be her downfall one day.

Kara chuckled into her ear and nodded before leaving a soft kiss right behind her earlobe and goddammit. “Just like that. I trust you will tell me in time, Lee. I’m guessing it’ll have to be in private?”

“Yes. In private.”

“Then that’s okay. You can even show me in private, if you want.”

Every single possible image involving… that started flooding Lena’s brain, making her blush and fan herself with her hand. “I… I, um…”

“Lena, you do realize we Kryptonians are just as sexual beings as you humans are, right?” Kara asked with amusement written all over her face. “I would dare say probably even more, since we don’t need to have intercourse for procreation, we do it solely for pleasure.”

And that had the brunette gulping and reaching for her glass of water, trying to at least balance some her alcohol consumption before she just spontaneously combusted.

“Huh, never pegged you for the shy type.”

Lena sprayed half the water that was still in her mouth down the front of the blonde’s shirt, making her laugh again, partly in confusion this time. Before Kara could say anything else, though, the brunette held her hand up, then a single digit, looking into her eyes. “Not another word from you, Kara Zor-El, you hear me?”

“What did I say now?!”

“Not. Another. Word.”

“Why? Was it something sexual again?”

“I swear, Kara.” That was a full threat on itself and the blonde seemed to get the message. Lena downed her glass of water, following it by a shot she poured herself, and looked into blue eyes again. “I’m going to the dance floor, you’re welcome to join me if you’d like.”

Kara wasn’t the kind of woman that needed to be told twice.

“Why am I always the designated ‘drunk idiot’ wrangler?!”

Kara laughed at Lena’s words and was quick to catch Alex before she tripped and fell into a bush, while Lena guided Sam to the entrance of their building. The taller woman had her arm wrapped around her shoulders while the brunette supported half her weight with an arm around her waist. It was definitely a bad day to be wearing heels.

“Next time you should get shitfaced with us,” Sam offered as a viable alternative.

“Who’s gonna get you home if that happens?”

“Probably the police.”

Lena turned her head to glare at Kara when she heard her laugh again behind them, but softened her gaze when she realized the blonde was dealing with an equally drunk Alex that was not making things easy for her, either.

“Jesus fuck, Sam! Why do you have to be so tall?” Lena scanned her hand on the side of the glass doors and practically dragged her best friend inside the building, using her foot to keep the door open for Kara and Alex. 

Sam groaned and haphazardly kicked off her heels in the middle of the lobby. “There, better? It’s not my fault Kara and I are perfectly engineered aliens and you’re a short grumpy Irish leprechaun.”

This time she definitely glared at Kara when she laughed. “Fuck you all.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Alex shouted with a little giggle that was so out of character for her that had Lena trying to hide a smile.

“You can get it, babe.”

“Please, at least wait until Kara and I are out of your apartment?”

“Can’t make any promises, grumpy leprechaun.”

If Lena pushed Sam into the elevator after that, well, that was probably an accident. She waited until Kara got Alex inside, too, heroically and  successfully retrieved Sam’s shoes, before scanning her hand and marking their floor.

It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but by the time Lena turned around to help Sam out, she found her heavily making out with Alex against the back wall of the elevator. “Oh, hell no.” She looked at Kara and pointed back at the other two women. “There’s no way I’m getting in the middle of that. You get them, I’ll open the door.”

And somehow Kara did, because apparently she was a miracle worker or something, but that didn’t mean the other two stopped making out. In fact, that was exactly how they stumbled into the apartment, falling into a fit of giggles when Alex hit her shin on the coffee table and Sam tripped right into the couch.

“We got them here. Let’s go.”

Kara looked at Lena, then at the giggling messes once again. “Are you sure they are going to be okay? Shouldn’t we leave them some water or something?”

Of course she would be the nicest person to ever live, all so she could torture Lena a little bit more with her pure heart and good intentions. “Ugh, fine. We leave them water and painkillers on their nightstands, but then we are out.”

“Agreed.” This time it was Lena who laughed when she saw the blonde shielding her eyes from the image of Sam struggling to take off her own shirt and failing horribly at it. “Let’s do it fast?”

“Please.”

So, they rushed. Lena filled two glasses of water while Kara grabbed the painkillers from the cabinet by the bathroom, and they headed to the master bedroom. 

“Um, Lee?”

The brunette carefully placed the second glass of water on the nightstand to her right, then turned her attention to Kara, who had just done the same with the pills. “Mm?”

“What is that?”

Kara was pointing at something by Lena’s right foot. Something that had very clearly been discarded earlier that day and that the brunette hadn’t seen in her haste to leave the apartment as soon as humanly possible. “Oh, my fucking God!” She yelled, quickly looking away and up at the ceiling, because what the hell do you do when you see an obviously recently used and discarded strap on on the floor of your best friend’s bedroom? “We need to get out of here.” She rushed to Kara—it was a miracle she didn’t trip on anything, considering she was still staring at the ceiling—and grabbed her by the elbow to drag her out of the bedroom.

The blonde followed, knowing there was probably a good reason for that, but she was clearly still curious. “Okay, but what was that?”

“None of our fucking business, Kara. That’s what that was.” She kept dragging the blonde to the front door, this time shielding Kara’s eyes herself when she noticed Sam had successfully removed her shirt and was working on undoing Alex’s pants. 

“Good night! Congratulations on your engagement!” Kara yelled before they left, and Lena could hear Sam yell back “have a good fuck, ladies” through the now closed door.

It was a lot. The whole thing had been so much more than Lena had bargained for. She would make sure to make her friends pay for it, but for now, she would settle for leaning her back against the wall next to her own door, close her eyes and let out a long sigh.

Her eyes only opened when she heard Kara laugh next to her. “What?”

The blonde, considerate as always, unlocked the door to Lena’s apartment and guided her inside with a hand on her lower back, making sure the door locked again behind them. “Do you really think I’m that naïve, Lee?” She asked, confusing the other woman for a moment. “We might not have the same name for it, but I know perfectly well what that was,” Kara said, her voice getting lower the closer she got to Lena. “And I’m willing to bet you have something similar stashed somewhere in your bedroom.” Now she was so close Lena could feel her hot breath against her ear and her hand burning on her hip. “Rao knows I do.”

Little Kryptonian shit.

Lena opened her eyes, which, by the way, had closed without her even noticing at some point while Kara was whispering into her ear, and pulled back enough to look into Kara’s. They were a dark shade of blue she had never seen before. Not even the night of their first kiss or earlier that day, right before Sam interrupted their date. No, this was something new. It made her breath hitch and her muscles tighten. It ignited something so deep within her that the only thing Lena could do was walk her back against the closest wall, bring her hand to the back of Kara’s head to close her fist in her hair, pulling not-so-gently to the point of tilting her head back, so she could defiantly and teasingly nip at her jaw, while her other hand grabbed possessively at her throat. 

That was the moment Lena knew Sam had been right. 

Kara could have stopped her. She could have put up some sort of resistance and not let Lena tilt her head back like that. Move away, easily flip their position in an attempt to assert some sort of obvious physical dominance that would ultimately have been clearly superficial.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she looked down into Lena’s eyes, arching one curious eyebrow and letting a smirk show.

So, Lena knew. Probably better than anyone. She knew because whenever you pin a woman down, when you hold her by the throat, and all she does is smirk at you like that, you are most certainly not the one in control.

She was fucked.

Chapter Text

Lena found herself staring at her bedroom ceiling after being practically thrown into her bed.

How, you may ask? She had clearly bitten more than she could chew.

She had felt the shiver run down her spine when Kara smirked down at her. Goosebumps covered her arms and legs, because she knew perfectly well that a smirk like that was nothing but a promise.

Next thing she knew, both of Kara’s hands were on the back of her thighs and the blonde was picking her up, inevitably forcing Lena to wrap her legs around her waist and let out a very undignifying little yelp.

There was no need for pleasantries, that much was obvious. While Kara carried her to the bedroom Lena had started kissing and biting her neck, eliciting a few moans from the blonde that almost made her lose the vice-grip she kept around her waist. Almost.

She did end up losing it, though, but only when Kara urged her to once they reached the bed. And now Lena didn’t have it in her to complain, because she was laying in her very comfortable bed, holding herself up on her elbows and staring at the blonde Kryptonian goddess that had just taken off her shirt in front of her, displaying a perfectly sculpted set of abs that were calling her like the ocean called Moana.

“Fuck. How are you even real?” Lena sat up on the edge of the bed, parting her legs and pulling Kara to stand between them so she could map her abs with her lips, eliciting soft sighs and barely contained moans from the blonde.

One of Kara’s hands moved to the back of Lena’s head, urging her on, while also scratching her scalp. Needless to say, the brunette was more than eager to comply. Her hands moved to Kara’s sides and she raked her nails down her ribs at the same time she made the executive decision to leave a hickey right where her bottomest ab met the waistband of her pants. 

Bottomest ab? What the hell is that called anyway? Who the fuck cares, Luthor? Just keep going!

Lena would forever blame her distraction on those abs, that was the only reason why she didn’t notice Kara’s other hand until it was too late and she had literally ripped the front of her shirt open, buttons flying everywhere.

It startled her, yes. It also made her let out a needy whimper that felt foreign even to her own ears. The appreciative half-moan, half-grunt Kara let out, though, had Lena suddenly believing in Rao, Yuda Kal, and whatever other deity that had ever been relevant in Kryptonian lore.

One of them looked up while the other looked down and they both smiled when their eyes met. Any self-deprecating doubt Lena had felt the moment she laid eyes on Kara’s sculpted physique flew right out the window when the blonde licked her lips while her eyes traveled down to her chest. Apparently, Kara was very appreciative of her body, too, and she had no problem letting it show.

“Rao, Lena,” she whispered softly and licked her lips again, right before bending down and capturing Lena’s in a fierce kiss. It provided the brunette with the perfect angle and opportunity to start undoing the intricate pattern holding Kara’s pants in place.

For her part, the blonde made sure to discard Lena’s torn shirt to the side with very little care on where it landed, and used the momentum to carefully urge her back down into the bed once she noticed with a little laugh that her pants had gotten magically undone.

If it hadn’t been entirely obvious before that Sam had been absolutely right, it sure was now.

Kara helped her all the way down and carefully climbed on top of her, straddling one of her thighs while putting some light pressure between them with one of her own. Soon enough Lena’s fingers were tangled in that mane of gorgeous blonde hair while Kara trailed urgent but deliberate kisses down her chest, letting her lips brush the lace of Lena’s bra before she started tugging at it with her teeth.

There was no shame in being a power bottom, just as there was no shame in admitting she was a complete mess and that she would probably have to discard the underwear she was wearing later.

She knew they had chemistry, sure. Intellectually, they were unmatched. They could be equally cunning in the best of ways, too. They didn’t particularly have the same sense of humor, but that worked perfectly, because that prompted them to enjoy their banter even more and helped them keep each other on their toes. Then there was the kissing. Good God, the kissing. Kara was, hands down, the best kisser. Subjectively, of course, but Lena was in no rush—nor did she have the interest—to find out if it was an objective opinion, too.

But this? This was beyond anything she could have imagined. Her skin burned with every touch of Kara’s lips, tingled wherever the blonde moved her hands to and, based on the noises she was making and the encouraging words they kept exchanging, Lena was pretty sure she had the same effect on the blonde. Kara’s back arched and she let out a whimper every time Lena raked her nails across her shoulder blades. Her thigh pressed harder between Lena’s legs whenever the brunette pulled on her hair or arched up into her mouth, and the moment Kara brought a hand to her bra, pushed one of the cups down and wrapped her lips around a very sensitive nipple, Lena actually thought she would just die. Combust right there and then. Happily so, too.

Death by mind blowing sex.

She hoped Sam gave a fun eulogy at her funeral.

Kara’s teeth had just entered the game and Lena was getting ready to beg when a loud thud on the wall closest to their heads startled them apart.

Well, not so much as apart, just enough to pull the blonde’s mouth away from her chest so they could both look at the wall.

There were a few seconds of silence after that, but just when they exchanged a smirk and were about to resume what they were doing, a second and louder noise actually shook the wall a little, and this time they could hear a loud groan followed by Sam’s muffled—but still distinguishably—voice.

“Oh, shit! Sorry! Sorry! Are you okay?”

“Ugh, Sam, what the hell?! Are you trying to kill me?”

Alex didn’t sound so happy.

“It slipped! I thought you had it, babe!”

“Do I look like I had it?!”

Kara bit her lip, trying so hard not to laugh that her eyes were starting to get teary.

And Lena wanted to be mad, she really did, but the whole situation was so jarring and utterly ridiculous that she found herself laughing alongside Kara.

“Are you two okay?” Lena yelled through the wall and let out another little chuckle when the blonde rested her head on her shoulder and kept laughing harder into her neck.

“Clearly we are not!” Sam shouted back. “Well, I mean, I am. Alex might have a concussion, though.”

“Do you need medical assistance?” This time it was Kara who asked, finally being able to stop laughing.

“I am medical assistance!” The redhead responded, indignation dripping from her tone.

“Just be careful, will you?” Lena yelled back and focused on Kara once again when there was no answer from the other side. “Well, that’s one way to kill the mood.”

Instead of being frustrated or annoyed, the blonde actually laughed and carefully rearranged Lena’s bra, gently patting the cup covering her breast once again for a job well done. “Concussions would do that, yeah.”

Lena laughed, surprising herself. It felt odd, but in a good way. In a peaceful way. She felt content. They both knew they had gotten carried away, but the smiles and soft caresses they kept exchanging told them that it wasn’t a problem. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t get interrupted, either. “I guess we didn’t need to wait as much as we thought,” she observed with a smile, kissing the tip of Kara’s nose when the blonde tilted her head up to look at her.

Laughing, Kara scrunched her nose adorably and rested her head on Lena’s shoulder again, leaving a soft, lingering kiss on her neck. “Apparently not,” she said, and the smile could be actually heard in her voice. “Would you have been okay with it if the drunks didn’t interrupt us?”

“I would have loved it.”

“Good. Me too.”

“Would like it to happen organically, though. Like the way it started tonight.”

“Same,” the blonde nodded into her neck, readjusting her position so her thigh wouldn’t keep putting pressure between Lena’s legs.

Lena wrapped her arm almost possessively around Kara’s back and kissed the top of her head when the blonde relaxed more into her body. “Would you like to spend the night either way, though? I’d love to wake up next to you.”

The blonde let out a long, happy sigh, before pulling back to look into Lena’s eyes. “I’d love that,” she whispered and scooted up when the brunette aimed for a kiss. “Would you mind if I took a shower before bed? I have a whole… situation that needs some cleaning.”

That had the brunette laughing out loud and rolling them over. She left one last kiss on Kara’s lips and got up, nodding to the bathroom. “Go, there are fresh towels in there. I’ll find some clothes for you to borrow in the meantime. I’m gonna need my own shower afterwards.”

“Are you getting close?”

“No.”

“Well, how much longer?”

“Are you in a rush all of a sudden?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I thought you were having fun.”

“I’m hungry.”

Kara looked up from her microscope and stared straight at the brunette, cracking up after a few seconds. “You are literally eating a Twellian fruit right now.”

“Fruits are not food.”

“Lena, you are a Doctor.”

“Shut up. I don't wanna talk about it.”

“You weren’t joking about those hormones, huh?”

“No, I was not.” Lena got off the desk she was sitting on and walked to the blonde, wrapping her arms around her from behind and kissing her shoulder. “Come on, please?”

Even without looking at her, Kara knew the brunette was pouting. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but whenever it happened she wasn’t able to resist it. She ended up letting out a long sigh and turned around in Lena’s arms, hugging her waist. “Alright, do you want to go out for dinner?”

“Yes, please.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know.”

The blonde pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She seemed like she wanted to be annoyed, she really did, but ever since Lena had started her period—and made her aware of it per her own request—it had been, according to Kara, one ridiculous situation after another and she was actually amused by them. “Do you want me to choose?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then let’s go get some of that pasta with the Oregus plant sauce you like so much.”

“Mh… No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’? You just told me to choose.”

“Yes, but not that!”

“How am I supposed to–?!” Kara closed her eyes and pressed her index finger and thumb into them while taking a deep breath. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and looked into Lena’s. “Okay, okay.” Another deep breath. “Do you still want me to choose?”

“Obviously.” The brunette deadpanned as if it was the stupidest thing Kara had ever asked.

“Alright, then let’s go get Roast Babootch at that little place around–”

“That’s not it either, Kara! Are you even trying?!”

“Am I even–?!” The blonde’s eyes narrowed almost menacingly and she clenched her jaw. It was very clear that she was doing her very best to keep her temper in check, but Lena was surely testing her by then. “I can’t read your mind, Lena.”

“I literally told you to choose.”

“Are you even hearing yourself right now?” Kara’s tone was bordering on dangerous, but she never raised her voice. “You’re saying no to everything I’m suggesting.”

Lena glared at her, not enjoying her attitude one bit, and folded her arms across her chest, petulantly taking a step back, too. “That’s because you keep choosing all the wrong things.”

“Why am I even choosing when you clearly already know? Just tell me. Please.” Her hands moved to Lena’s hips and she pulled her closer, getting her to stand once again between her parted legs and placing a soft kiss on her forehead. “You’re my girlfriend and I want to make you happy.”

Her words had been soft, same as the kiss, that’s why Kara was so surprised when Lena pulled back enough to look at her. “What?” The brunette asked, trying to keep her voice steady and failing.

“What?”

“What did you just say?”

“That I want to make you happy?” Now Kara was looking at her like she was crazy.

The brunette shook her head, “did you just call me your girlfriend?”

“I did. Aren’t you?”

“I–I wasn’t sure–we never discussed–”

“What are you talking about?” The blonde asked, completely lost. “We are courting, Lena, we talked about that on our first date. That was ten zehtiahro ago.”

“No. I mean, yes, but I didn’t know that meant–”

“Hold on,” this time it was Kara who pulled back, holding an arm out to put some sort of physical distance between them. “You don’t want to court me?”

“Of course I do!” Lena was quick to assure her, not wanting the blonde to get the wrong impression even for one second. “I guess some things got lost in translation, that’s all. Is courting the equivalent of becoming someone’s girlfriend?”

“Pretty much, yes!” Kara nodded frantically after having gone pale for a few long seconds. “Lena, you just scared the crap out of me!” She exclaimed afterwards, right before asking in a whisper, “is that how you say it? I’m still learning some things and Ruby is a very complicated teacher.”

That broke any and all tension, making Lena laugh and wrap her arms tightly around Kara’s neck, kissing her so hard her lips actually hurt. “I’m sorry!” She said in between giggles against her lips. “And yes, that’s exactly how you say it.” She finished in a whisper of her own.

The blonde wrapped her arms around her waist, laughing softly and hiding against her neck to let out a relieved sigh. They stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other, until Kara asked from her hiding spot: “Do you want me to go get you a rainbow cake?”

“Finally!”

“Can you tell me again why we have to go to this thing?”

“Kara, this thing is a social event the Science Guild organizes regularly,” Lena explained, probably for the millionth time in the span of two wolo. “Don’t you think the Head of the Guild should be attending?”

“No.”

The brunette rolled her eyes at her girlfriend in the mirror before she finished her makeup. “You know we have to go. The High Council is going to be there, and even though we are playing it cool, we still need to present a united front.”

“But I’d much rather stay here with you and have a normal dinner.”

Lena applied her lipstick slowly and carefully, secretly delighted when noticing the blonde staring at her red lips in the mirror. “I know, darling,” she said, turning around, “I do too.” She walked to Kara and fixed the lapels of her blue coat, proudly smoothing her hand down the red and golden crest of the House of El adorning the left side of her chest. “If it’s any consolation, Alex and Sam will be there. So will Thara and Lir-Al. Worst case scenario you get to have some fun with your friends.”

For her part, the blonde rolled her eyes and huffed dramatically. “I guess.”

“Good girl.” Lena praised, smiling and patting her cheek. “Now zip me up?”

The moment she turned around for Kara to zip up her hybrid gown that was neither fully from Earth, nor Kryptonian, she could feel her girlfriend’s eyes practically burning her back. To her merit, she did it without complaining, even if Lena was sure she was taking longer than absolutely necessary.

“Ready?”

All she got as a response was a petulant shrug and another huff. It was adorable. Lena was trying very hard not to smile, though, because she knew Kara’s annoyance with the whole thing was real and, if she was being honest with herself, well founded, too. Half a lorakh had passed since Nel-Bin’s arrest and none of Alura’s trusted advisors nor her peers from The High Council had been able to find anything incriminating on Jul-Us. They knew he had leaked the information, everyone was sure of that, but accusing the man without any proof would make them look like amateur fools and turn him into some sort of martyr.

So now they had to pretend everything was fine in front of hundreds of people. Another one of Lena’s areas of expertise.

“Do you want me to drive?” 

“I can still drive, Lena. It’s not like I’m gonna abduct you and take you somewhere else,” the blonde stated, making a little pause afterwards, “at least not now that I said it out loud.”

The brunette chuckled and snatched the unlocking device for Kara’s pod-car from her girlfriend’s pocket. “You’re distressed and distracted, and you have every reason to be, so let me take care of you?”

“It’s not like you’re giving me many options,” Kara pointed out, gesturing to the device in Lena’s hand.

“Quit being a big baby,” Lena said over her shoulder after grabbing her clutch and walking to the door, “I’ll make sure to properly thank you for this once we’re back. I’m assuming you’re spending the night?”

That was all it took for Kara to literally run after her, locking the door behind them once they were out and following Lena into the elevator.

The ride had been mostly a quiet one, with Kara looking out the window and Lena checking on her periodically. She could feel the distress coming out in waves from the blonde’s body, so she reached over and placed her hand on her thigh, effectively getting her attention. “Hey,” she whispered, trying to smile when Kara looked at her. “You want to hear something that might cheer you up?”

“Are we turning the car around and going back to your place?”

Lena laughed and shook her head. “Not happening, you can stop trying.”

“What is it, then?”

She made a point to squeeze her girlfriend’s thigh just enough, and smile devilishly. “According to Sam we give ‘power couple’ vibes,” she explained, licking her lips before biting the corner of her bottom one, knowing that her girlfriend was paying close attention to it. “That means most eyes will be on us the moment we walk in. I’m not gonna lie and pretend I don’t have ulterior motives that involve making some people jealous, but it also means that Jul-Us is gonna be dying inside.”

Kara stared at her for a long moment before inhaling sharply. “You really think I’m that petty?” She asked, her tone sharp and serious, but before Lena could apologize, Kara laughed and grabbed her hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing it loudly. “Who am I kidding? Of course I am. I hope that bastard can’t sleep tonight knowing I’m happier with you than I’ve ever been.” She kept their fingers intertwined and brought their joined hands to her lap once again. “Do you think he might be there already?”

Lena checked the display on the dashboard and smiled again, “I believe we are fashionably late. That is also a power move. I have so much to teach you, love.”

For her part, Kara chuckled, nodding and accepting her fate, because if being with Lena Luthor and portraying whatever a ‘power couple’ was, meant she got to show off the fact that Lena was choosing her as her mate, then she would endure as many events they had to attend with a smile on her face. Pissing off evil bastards was just a bonus.

“Ready?” Lena asked after finding a suitable spot to park near enough the side entrance to the building.

“I suppose,” the blonde shrugged, deflating once again.

They couldn’t have that. For things to work the way they planned them to, she needed Kara at her best, at least in public. She could be as grumpy as she felt whenever they were back home, but right now it was showtime, and Lena needed to get her ready.

“Hey.” She didn’t wait. The moment Kara looked at her she hooked a firm hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into a heated, passionate kiss, knowing it would definitely mess up her makeup and not caring anyway. There was a dopey smile on the blonde’s face when they parted, and Lena laughed at the sight of her lipstick smeared all over her lips. “Hold on,” she giggled, reaching into her clutch for a wipe, successfully cleaning up the mess on Kara’s face, before taking out a mirror and cleaning her own before reapplying her lipstick. “Now I want you to keep that cocky attitude you get whenever you kiss me breathless. Think you can do that for me?”

“I think I can manage.”

“Good,” Lena smiled, throwing a wink for good measure. “Now let’s go.”

As Lena had anticipated, they were fashionably late which got everyone’s eyes on them the moment they walked through the open doors. Kara was standing tall, chin up and a playful smile on her face. The brunette, for her part, was the very picture of confidence and elegance, walking in four-inch heels on Kara’s arms, silently greeting people with tight smiles and respectful nods.

There was only one thing that threatened to make her break character, and contrary to what she had been expecting, it wasn’t Jul-Us, but Sam looking at them from across the room and making lewd gestures behind people’s backs. She knew she could handle it, her poker face was exceptional, after all, but Lena could see Kara having to bite her lip in an attempt not to laugh.

Jul-Us was staring at them closely, Lena could see him from the corner of her eye so, in an attempt to get Kara’s attention and keep her from laughing with Sam in front of most of Argo’s high society, she squeezed her arm and let it go to grab two flutes of a bubbly wine, very similar to champagne, from a waiter passing by. 

“Stop looking at Sam,” Lena whispered softly after leaning closer and moving the hand holding her clutch to the small of Kara’s back, making it look like they were just whispering sweet nothings.

Kara wrapped her arm around Lena’s waist and took a short sip from her flute. “But she is funny!”

“Just stop it,” the brunette repeated, then licked her lips, “you can go be funny with her later. Everyone is looking at us now. Your mother is coming our way.” The woman didn’t give them any time to move before she reached them, so Lena just smiled and greeted her over Kara’s shoulder. “Alura, you look positively radiant.” 

“Why, thank you, sweetheart,” Alura responded, blushing a little bit and giving Kara enough time to turn around and face her mother, keeping her hand on the small of Lena’s back. “Lena, you look absolutely stunning,” then she focused on her daughter, “and you, Kara. I have no words. Is ‘handsome’ an appropriate way to compliment you, inah?”

“It is,” the blonde agreed, giving her a short, pleased nod, “thank you for asking. You look lovely, jeju.”

Lena watched the exchange proudly, wondering if humans would ever reach that level of respect and selflessness, and ask people how they preferred to be addressed, even if only to compliment them. They were slowly making progress with pronouns, but they still had a long way to go. She subconsciously leaned into Kara’s side and smiled shyly when she felt her girlfriend’s thumb caressing her lower back. 

“How is the evening going?” Lena asked so casually that her girlfriend almost forgot they had to keep an eye on certain things. It was good that the brunette remembered, though, because two more members of the High Council were approaching them now. “I have to apologize for our tardiness, I haven’t been to an event of this magnitude in so long that I forgot how long it takes to get ready.”

Kara’s hand got heavier on her girlfriend’s back and Lena knew it was a silent ‘thank you’ for graciously taking the blame instead of just telling them it was because she didn’t want to be there in the first place.

“Oh, it’s been delightful, dear,” Alura said with a little glint in her eye. “Luckily everyone could make it.”

“Luckily,” Kara repeated, her tone clipped and bordering on annoyed.

“Kara, darling, why don’t you go get us something to eat? I know you must be hungry after waiting for me for so long.” She definitely needed to get Kara out of there before she just outed all of them with her stubbornness. “There’s a table there next to Alex and Sam.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Kara gave her a short nod, followed by the sweetest of kisses on her lips, before excusing herself and joining their friends at the back of the room.

“I see the two of you started courting,” a woman Lena remembered from the High Council observed with a warm smile. If she was not mistaken, she was Alura’s most trusted confidant. “I’d say it’s about time, considering how at odds the two of you were when you first arrived. That kind of rivalry could only end in young love.”

Lena laughed so graciously it could have seemed fake, but it was an honest, if only contained laugh. “Had I known it then, it would have saved me a lot of headaches,” she continued, genuinely liking the woman. “But I suppose it’s better late than never, right?”

“That’s exactly what I told Zethi when rumors of your courtship started circulating everywhere.”

That was her name, Zethi Nyh-Be. Lena remembered her, she was Alura’s most trusted colleague and friend, and Head of the Religious Guild. She had always been kind and welcoming to them.

“How did your courtship start, if I may be so bold?” The man that had joined them with Zethi finally asked, speaking for the first time.

He had curious eyes, and Lena took a moment to try to read him. She played it as coyness, fidgeting with her clutch while examining him. “Well, I guess you could say it began in a very unorthodox way, considering Argo’s matching system,” she explained slowly, using a lot of words and still not actually saying anything. There was something about this man that didn’t sit right with her. Something in his eyes… he wasn’t just curious, it felt like he was trying to gather information. To what purpose, was still to be determined, so Lena played it smart and thanked Rao Kara wasn’t there to put him in his place for questioning them and their courtship. “But, then again, it is my understanding that the younger generations are actively trying to change some of the traditions they feel are outdated?” She voiced it as a question, but knew it was a fact. Kara had told her all about it, and Lena had been enraptured by her strength and determination.

The man huffed and shook his head to the ground, folding his hands behind his back. “Sadly,” he said gravely before meeting her eyes again. “Sometimes I do wonder if it might not be the beginning of the end for our society as we know it.”

“All species are bound to evolve, Mr…” she trailed off, knowing very well the man had never introduced himself.

“Nav-Zem,” he responded, a bit curtly.

“Mr. Nav-Zem, I’m sure you’ve been made aware by now that I am a scientist, just like Kara and her father before her. And while I hold great respect for certain traditions and the need for people, no matter the species, to put their faith in something greater, I do believe in evolution. You might not see it as such, but, like I said before, all species are bound to evolve. While significant changes don’t happen overnight, they do start small. Take, for example, the invention of the Birthing Matrix for reproduction, which is something the Science Guild is currently studying to get a better understanding of its evolutionary effects on people born with uteruses. It started out of convenience, perhaps a commodity, even, but it had greater effects than anyone could have predicted at the time. Bodies that were once capable of hosting life adapted accordingly, since they didn't need to get ready for it anymore. What you might see as the end of the society you know might pave the way for an ever greater one. One your great-great-grandchildren might enjoy and benefit from.”

Bitch.

Saying that last part in her head felt more satisfying that she could ever explain.

The man didn’t seem like he enjoyed it one bit. Not only had he been schooled in front of his peers, but it had been by a woman. A human woman, at that. A species Lena was well aware a lot of Kryptonians considered beneath them.

He made a noncommittal sound, narrowing his eyes and studying Lena with a very unsettling stare. “Sometimes I do wonder where these ideas come from,” he said slowly, his voice dripping with nothing but disdain and a little bit of… was that hatred? “Our own great minds? Or the influences they receive from… other societies.”

“Excuse me?” Oh, she was fuming now. How dare he? How dare this man question Argo’s brilliant scientists? They were some of the greatest minds Lena had had the pleasure of working alongside with. Not just Kara, she wasn’t biased like that, most of the members of the Science Guild blew her mind and challenged her every single day. She had learned more in one single ahmzeht in Argo City than she had learned in years at Harvard or MIT. 

The only problem was that she needed to keep her cool and play her part, because what was the point of doing everything in her power to keep Kara from losing hers, when she would do it herself a few dendahro later?

No. She wasn’t about to give this man the satisfaction. Lena took a deep breath and plastered a fake half smile on her face. “I’m sure I must have misunderstood you, Mr. Nav-Zem,” she said, still smiling. “I wouldn’t dare assume the greatest minds of one of the most advanced species in the universe could be so easily influenced. Was that what you were implying?”

“No, no,” he was quick to respond, waving his hands dismissively in front of him once he noticed Alura’s and Zethi’s murderous glares. “Of course not. I would never.”

“Oh, then my most sincere apologies,” the brunette said sweetly, but making it incredibly clear that she wasn’t sincere. “I got confused there for a moment, since the sparse contact Argo had with a society that wasn’t their own has been very recent and almost meticulously contained.”

For his part, Nav-Zem folded his hands behind his back once again and gave Lena a curt nod in parting, probably realizing she was onto him already. He did the same facing both Alura and Zethi, then left them be.

“Good God,” Lena let out a long, tired sigh, and downed her flute in one go. “I’ll need another drink if I’m gonna get through tonight without jumping at someone’s throat.”

Alura fetched her another flute while Zethi just laughed, studying her carefully with a pleased expression. “If it wasn’t for the score—” a not so subtle elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Alura, interrupted whatever the woman was about to say, but honestly, Lena had bigger fish to fry at the moment, so she just let it go and pushed it out of her mind. “What I was saying,” Zethi continued after clearing her throat as if nothing had happened, “was that if Kara hadn’t chosen you as her mate already, I would be introducing you to one of my children as we speak.” She said with a chuckle that Alura shared. “They would benefit from a strong mate like yourself. I don’t think my husband is going to believe me when I tell him what just happened.” The woman leaned closer to Lena and patted her arm. “He can’t stand Nav-Zem,” she whispered, ”calls him a stupid head. I’m not entirely sure where he learned that term, though.”

“Is he a Peace Officer, by any chance?” Lena asked, thoroughly amused.

“He is!”

“That’s where he learned it, then. I’m sure either Peace Officer Alex Danvers or Mon-El might have had something to do with it.”

Zethi laughed loudly, tilting her head back. “I’m sure of it, now that you mentioned his name. Mon-El must be his favorite coworker, whenever he comes home from work there’s always a new story about some trouble they got into together. He’s giving him his youth back, I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

If for every Nav-Zem out there Lena would find someone like Zethi Nyh-Be, she would gladly take it without complaining. It gave her hope that one day they would be okay.

“I’m terribly sorry you have to listen to those stories, then. And I apologize for my friend’s bad influence on your husband.”

“Oh, please! He’s always been like that. Why do you think I married him? He was just missing a sidekick lately.” The three of them laughed and the woman looked over Lena’s shoulder before leaning closer to her and patting her arm. “Go find your mate now, before you get ambushed again. Alura and I will buy you some time so you can enjoy the night.”

Her chest filled with so much warmth Lena could barely contain an onslaught of tears. She laughed, instead, and leaned closer to whisper, “forgive my forwardness, but if you want to adopt me, I wouldn’t be opposed to it. The position for my mother is open, since my current one is absolutely terrible.” They laughed again and Lena looked from Zethi to Alura. “Thank you, both of you. I’ll see you later, hopefully with a less grumpy Kara by my side.”

Alura practically shooed her away, laughing when Lena made for a little run in her heels before someone else ambushed her for another passive-aggressive pointless conversation.

“Sup, mommy?” Sam asked the second Lena joined them at their table.

Lena had half a mind to tell her off but, to be honest, she was enjoying the compliment because she surely felt like it. “Hey, baby girl,” she greeted her back, grinning mischievously at her friend’s mock-scandalized reaction.

“Lena Luthor,” Sam whispered, still in character, “I am an engaged woman! How dare you?”

“One can only dream.”

“Okay, cut it out, this is getting weird. I know how this thing between the two of you ends and it’s always by grossing me out.” Alex intervened, waving her hand between the two of them as if that could keep them apart.

For her part, Kara was just laughing and seemingly enjoying their banter, which gave her a million cookie points in Lena’s book. She loved how confident and comfortable the blonde was in their relationship. Lena knew from experience that it hadn’t always been the case with some other people she dated. She loved joking around like this with her best friend from time to time, so her girlfriend laughing with them was a huge win.

“I saw Nav-Zem practically jump at the chance to talk to you,” Kara observed after their laughter died down. “What did he want?” In the meantime, she poured Lena a glass of her favorite whisky—because apparently being Kara Zor-El granted her instant bottle service wherever she went—and handed it over.

“Good God, Kara. Could you be more perfect?” She took the glass, not without leaving a soft kiss on the blonde’s cheek, and took a long sip. “I needed that.”

Alex narrowed her eyes at her, nursing her own drink. “You still haven’t answered Kara’s question.”

“Oh! Right, sorry.” Lena placed her glass down and cleared her throat, feeling the delicious burn of the alcohol. “I’m not sure what he thought his end goal was. I think all he wanted was to question our relationship. Probably to intimidate me and make me feel insecure? Who knows?” She explained looking at her girlfriend, who was about to protest but was promptly interrupted by a quick kiss. “It didn’t work, darling, and I ended up giving him a free lesson on evolution. That’s how bad it went for him. Me, on the other hand?” She paused briefly to take another sip and licked her lips afterwards. “I’m enjoying that our relationship is bothering and threatening a group of grown men so much that they feel the need to confront me about it. It’s quite… empowering.”

“Damn,” Sam said after a low whistle, repeatedly snapping her fingers afterwards. “Yas, mommy!”

“Since when are you a drag queen?” Lena asked, eyebrow arched and a teasing smile.

The woman brought her hand to her chest and gasped. “Um, excuse me? Since always!”

Their banter continued for a few more moments, especially while Lena and Sam took turns explaining what a drag queen was to a very amused Kryptonian, until Alex’s voice interrupted them. “Hey, who’s the woman on Jul-Us arm?”

“Please don’t tell me that’s his wife, because that should be criminal.” Sam said after craning her neck to take a better look.

“No, his wife never comes to these events. That’s Renna Jul-Us, his daughter. Tan’s younger sister.” Kara answered their question looking down at her own glass and sliding her finger around the border.

All eyes were on the blonde after that. The sudden change in her demeanor was strange, to say the least, and the way she kept her gaze down told Lena something wasn’t okay.

“Where do I know her from?” Alex asked with a frown while still looking at the woman. It took some of the attention off Kara, but Lena was still trying to decide if that was a good or a bad thing. “I’ve seen her before but I can’t remember where.”

To her misfortune, Lena was taking a good, long sip when Alex finally answered her own question. “She was the woman with you at the park!”

The brunette started coughing violently while Sam patted her back in an attempt to help her. For her part, Kara was sputtering, just in a different way. “You were there?!” The blonde asked, her eyes bulging dramatically.

“Oh, yeah, but only for like a second, because Lena pulled me away. She said I was being a creep.”

“Why would you be a creep?”

Now all eyes were on Lena and she wasn’t enjoying it one bit. “You two looked… close.” There was no other way to describe it without making it sound worse. “I felt like we were intruding, so I made sure we left you alone.”

Kara’s confusion was written all over her face. She turned a bit in her seat so she could face Lena better and try to read her expression. “Intruding on what?”

“That’s what I asked!”

The brunette glared at Alex for a moment, then looked down at her own hands holding her drink. “I don’t know, Kara! You were there, all close, and she had just reached over to push a strand of hair away from your face. It seemed intimate. It made me uncomfortable.”

“So you left right away?”

“Well, yes. Why would I have stayed? I had a crush on you and you were there, looking happy with another woman. I didn’t want to see that!”

Kara reached over and took one of Lena’s hands between her own. “So you didn’t see me move away and ask her to stop?”

“What?”

Alex smirked and let out a pleased ‘mhm’ that got Lena’s attention right away. “I told you, Luthor. I saw Kara do that right when you dragged me away and turned your back on them.”

“Asshole! And you didn’t say anything?!”

“I would have if you had admitted you had a crush on her.” The redhead defended herself, and she was right, Lena couldn’t really blame her. “But instead you just stormed off like the extra diva you are.”

That made the brunette blush while Sam chuckled and rubbed her back in a way that was supposed to be comforting but felt condescending. “Sorry’bout that,” she mumbled, averting her eyes and stealing another glance at the woman.

“I can’t believe I have to be the voice of reason here,” Sam started, and she had a point there. “But that woman hitting on you, Kara, feels incredibly inappropriate. Almost… incest-y?” She said, trying to find a better word and coming up empty. “She would have been your sister-in-law, and then the moment her brother was out of the picture for good she wasted no time in putting the moves on you?”

“Oh, it’s worse than you think,” Kara said, and this time she was the one blushing. “Tan and Renna have different mothers. Tan’s mother passed away from a lung disease when he was around five years old. Jul-Us was bonded to another woman shortly after. The woman, Renna’s mother, is one of my father’s cousins.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Lena whispered, resting her elbow on the table and holding her forehead with that hand. “This is so fucked up.”

“Holy shit. You think?” Sam asked loudly, getting some attention with the volume of her voice, but caressly dismissing the stares she was getting with a wave of her hand, as if shooing people away. She lowered her voice a bit, though. “Lannister much?”

This time it was Alex who choked on her drink, staring at her fiancée with a completely grossed out expression after that. “Ew, Sam.”

“I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking.”

“Well, Targaryens had been doing the same thing for centuries,” The redhead observed, earning herself a look from Lena that silently screamed ‘what the hell are you doing?’

“See, that’s not really helping their case now, is it?”

“Who are all these people you keep talking about?” Kara asked, clearly distressed. Between the fact that Lena was still holding her head, and Sam and Alex were discussing people with names she had never heard before, she was probably feeling rather on edge.

“Oh my God, you don’t have Game of Thrones here!”

“Jesus fuck, Sam,” Lena finally looked up, glaring at her best friend and shutting her up. “Do you think right now is the time to worry about that?”

“Probably not.”

“Kara, darling, didn’t you think that was weird?” The brunette asked, now focusing on her girlfriend.

“Those Lannisters and Tar…something? Yes, pretty weird, I don’t know who–”

Leave it up to Kara to break the tension without even realizing it. Lena chuckled and shook her head. “Not that, love. Renna hitting on you.”

“Oh, that.” The blonde paused, noticing how she had mixed things up, but nodded afterwards. “Yes, and that’s one of the reasons why I declined her advances right away. Along with some others, like me not being interested or attracted to her, her being Tan’s sister, and the whole thing being so intrinsically complicated and… wrong, that I couldn’t even conceive the idea in my mind.”

“Thank God.” Lena shifted in her chair to face Kara, bending over to rest her forehead on the woman's shoulder and closing her eyes.

“The fact that she did it right around the time Tan-Us’ sentence was made public isn’t raising any red flags for you?” Alex asked, leaning a bit over the table to be able to lower her voice and still be heard. “Because I have about a dozen alarms going off in my head right now.”

She was right. Lena hadn’t even realized that. It had to have been on the same fanf. Every new thing they learned somehow pointed back or could be tied to Jul-Us, which only meant this whole thing was way bigger than they thought. She wouldn’t be surprised if it even predated their arrival and the man had just seen an opportunity there he could weaponize to turn some people against the House of El.

“What do we do now?” Sam voiced the question Lena was asking herself, because she felt at a loss.

The table fell silent after that, but Kara was chewing on her bottom lip, once again peeling at the skin there, which meant she was already thinking about something. “I might have an idea, but it’s risky and we will need the judicators help. If it works, though, he will surely expose himself for everyone to see.”

Chapter Text

Kara surely had to be the biggest tease to ever exist. First she tells them she has an idea, but then she can’t talk about it there? Who does that? Sociopaths, that’s who. Lena would surely keep an eye on her after that.

She did forgive her rather quickly, though, mostly because she was oh so weak for that stubborn blonde. It also helped that Kara’s plan involved irritating Jul-Us as much as possible in advance, especially by flaunting their relationship and having people fuss over them, probably more than strictly necessary… considering there was literally zero necessity for that under normal circumstances. Lena wouldn’t usually go for that, she preferred to keep her privacy, but if it meant that Kara would at least fake being in a better mood, she would take it and play her part.

But, first things first, the blonde had announced. That meant she got a ridiculous amount of food specially delivered to their table, and once again Lena found herself wondering if it was part of the ‘Kara Zor-El treatment.’ All in all, it wasn’t half bad. She could learn to live with it. Hell, who was she kidding? She used to live with it back home, she was the Lena Luthor, after all.

“Alright,” the blonde said after wiping her mouth on a napkin and looking around the table. “Ready to be annoyingly adorable?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Sam, for fuck’s sake!” Lena tried really, really hard to speak over Sam’s last word so Kara wouldn’t hear it all that well, but she noticed she failed when the blonde looked at them with confusion written all over her face. “I’ll explain later, darling. I promise. She’s just being a shit.” The brunette whispered to her girlfriend, standing up afterwards and doing a quick scan of the room.

Kara nodded and stood up with her, immediately placing her hand on the small of Lena’s back and smiling when she felt her girlfriend shiver at the contact. “You two feel free to do the same,” she instructed Sam and Alex in a low voice so as not to be overheard. “Just go around, talk to people and have a nice time. If you happen to bring up your engagement or your matching results, even better.”

“Randomly?” Alex asked with a little frown, already feeling uncomfortable with this part of the plan. This wasn’t her life. Back on Earth she only attended galas whenever Sam asked her very nicely or Lena needed her there for security reasons. She felt very out of her element, but since it was a matter of security for her friends and family, she was willing to do the effort.

“Whenever it comes up,” Kara responded, smirking afterwards. “You’ll be surprised, people here love gossip, especially the romantic kind. I can assure you, they’ll bring it up themselves in no time.”

Alex and Sam disappeared in the crowd almost immediately, leaving Lena and Kara to do the same. “Ready, Doctor Luthor?”

She wasn’t playing fair, and Lena was determined to show her girlfriend that payback was a bitch, and so was she. So, she leaned more into Kara’s body and tilted her head back, just enough so she could whisper into her ear while her lips brushed her earlobe. “I’m always ready for you, darling.” And as if that wasn’t enough, she softly bit down on that same earlobe, dragging her teeth down slowly and meticulously until finally letting go.

She could hear the air getting caught somewhere in Kara’s chest after a subtle gasp, which only made her revenge even sweeter. “I’m definitely going back home with you tonight.”

“Oh, I was counting on it, love, about damn time.” The brunette responded with a little chuckle. “Now, should we flaunt our relationship for grumpy old men to get even grumpier?”

The melodic laugh that came out of Kara at that point was one of Lena’s favorite sounds. “Let’s go.”

They didn’t make it far before people stopped them for some small talk or to get to personally meet Lena for the first time. Some were clearly well intentioned. Some weren’t. After a couple of trial rounds, it was starting to become easy to spot which way the conversation would go, and with that information, they also became more fun and interesting, at least for Lena. Kara tended to relax and be her amazing, sweet and kind self when people approached them with good intentions. However, when they didn’t, the blonde’s hand got heavier on her lower back or her arm tightened possessively around her waist, and she pulled the brunette closer to her body, all while they both plastered fake smiles and carried on bizarre conversations. 

The heat was real, though.

Whenever those conversations ended and their eyes met, it was pure, raw and undiluted passion between the two of them. A silent but deadly fire that threatened to consume it all. And it would have, if they hadn’t been promptly interrupted by someone else every single time.

Until they found themselves standing in front of Jul-Us. His fake smile was all Lena could focus on, and the way Kara pulled her possessively closer to her body told her that she could see it, too.

“Well, if it isn’t Argo’s most famous couple,” the man said with a big grin, holding one of his arms out in some sort of greeting, while his other hand rested on a beautifully crafted walking cane Lena had never noticed on him before. “I wondered when I would get the chance to congratulate you.”

“Ah, here we are,” the blonde said smiling back, convincingly enough, to Lena’s surprise. “It’s good to see you again, Jul-Us. How have you been?”

The man knew better than to fake it, he was an exceptional liar, after all. Lena knew it because she could be one herself when needed. It takes one to know one.

“I’ll admit I could be better,” he stated matter of factly, correctly assuming that both women would know what he was talking about. “But I suppose I could also be worse, so tonight I’m choosing to count my blessings.” He waited for their polite nods before calling his daughter forward. “Renna, dear, you already know Kara, of course, but tonight I’d like to introduce you to Lena Luthor,” he gestured politely at the brunette, who smiled and nodded at the young woman.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Lena said the words in her most formal, leveled voice. Her poise impeccable and her chin held up high. Was she overdoing it because Renna had tried to seduce Kara? Yes, and she wasn’t the littlest bit ashamed of it.

“Likewise,” the woman smiled back. She was the exact opposite of Lena. The brunette presented herself as a strong woman. Stoically elegant. Renna on the other hand—and to the trained eye—tried to appear shy and out of place. With the innocence of an inexperienced young woman being thrown into a situation like the one they were in. “It’s great to see you again, Kara.” She addressed the blonde right after with a little shy smile, and the fact that she did it in Kryptonese spoke volumes to Lena, making her smirk; discreetly, of course. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you in such a long time.”

Just by looking at her Lena could see that her girlfriend was conjuring every single bit of willpower to be polite and pleasant, so she placed her hand over the one Kara had on her hip and caressed it with her thumb in an attempt to get her to relax. It worked better than she intended, too, because not only did the blonde visibly relax, but Renna’s eyes had drifted to that spot so quickly Lena would have missed it if she blinked.

“I’ve been great, Renna. Thank you for asking.” 

Could Lena love this woman more? Probably. Kara answered in English, even knowing that Lena could speak perfect Kryptonese. It was a power move. No, actually, it was an overpowering move, and it was hot.

“You’ll have to forgive my daughter,” Jul-Us was quick to intervene while leaning on his cane with both hands, one atop the other, showing Lena he was as much of a strategist as she was. He would be a fantastic chess opponent. “Admittedly, it is the first time one of these events is partially conducted in English. Sometimes we just… forget.”

And the double entendre wasn’t lost on the brunette, who only smiled at him while nodding, pretending to take no offense. Mostly because she rarely took offense from entitled men who thought she was beneath them.

“Oh, yes. Please, forgive me, Doctor Luthor,” Renna apologized, going as far as reaching over and gently placing her hand on Lena’s arm. 

The moment that happened the brunette could feel Kara’s eyes on her. She knew her well already. Better than most people, actually, which meant she knew Lena despised being touched by strangers out of nowhere like that, particularly when she knew they didn’t have good intentions or were being insincere. It also applied for whenever she was feeling distressed. It made her so physically uncomfortable that she felt like crawling out of her skin. She called it a radar for people who wanted to hurt her, and so far it had never failed her. When Zethi did it earlier Lena felt it as a kind and caring gesture, so she welcomed and reciprocated it, even. She knew the woman meant her no harm. Now, Renna? Oh, she could confidently say Renna wanted her dead.

However, being the perfect picture of flawless grace, she just smiled back and allowed Kara to pull her out of that unwanted and unwelcome touch.

“I am just not used to having to speak a different language here at home, we don’t really have the need for it other than for cultural reasons. It’s hardly useful here.” Is this cunt doubling down? That took some serious guts. Well, either that or she had no idea who she was talking to. “It could never stay for long, eventually we’d get over the novelty and go back to Kryptonese.”

Yeah, she definitely had no idea who she was talking to.

Lena could tell by the way the vein in Kara’s forehead was suddenly popping that she was about to say something that would ruin all the progress they were making with the two of them, so she stopped her with a quick squeeze on the hand that was still holding her hip. They both could easily understand what the young woman was implying. It wasn’t that hard, to be honest, but it wasn’t worth addressing it directly, either.

“Please, you don’t have to speak English on my account. I’m perfectly fine conducting the rest of this conversation—however short it might be—in Kryptonese, if it makes you more comfortable.” She paused and took the time to smile at Renna in her most bitchy, petty and condescending way. “I do try my best to speak the local language whenever I travel as a sign of respect for the people and their culture.”

Now Kara was brimming with pride, while Jul-Us couldn’t fully hide his surprise, nor Renna her loathing for her.

“I wasn’t aware you spoke Kryptonese,” the man observed. 

“Seeing as I was to spend a considerable amount of time here among you, I felt it was the sensible thing to do. I mean, I already speak seven languages, what’s one more, right?” She paused for a moment, making sure to keep steady eye contact with both Jul-Us and Renna while she spoke, not wanting to seem disrespectful. “In fact, I was able to grasp it rather quickly, since the sentence structure for Kryptonese is identical to… well, I suppose there’s not a word for it in Kryptonese, so I’ll just say it in English: the Goidelic Languages of Earth, meaning verb-subject-object structure. Irish is one of those languages, and since I was born in Ireland, it’s one of my two native ones.”

Now, the way Kara’s fingers started digging harder into her hip was doing things to Lena. Things that were very distracting. Things they should focus on later. So, for now, she removed that hand from that burning spot and intertwined their fingers, bringing the back of Kara’s hand to her lips and kissing it softly. 

“And, besides, Kara is worth the effort, after all, wouldn’t you agree?”  The question was directed to Renna, who instead of answering just fake-smiled at her.

“I wondered if it was true when I heard the rumors regarding the two of you,” Jul-Us said, going for nonchalance but overdoing it when he reached for a flute of champagne and took a pretend-distracted sip. “Are they true? Are the two of you courting?”

“Are there still any doubts?” Kara asked with a chuckle, holding their joined hands up and then motioning with her other one around the room. “I believe at least half the people here saw us together.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean you entered a courtship, dear.” The way he said that had Lena having to restrain herself from going off on him. “Rao knows you used to have your… fun.”

The way Kara smiled and nodded, so confidently, made Lena feel so proud. And a little bit curious. “So have your children, Jul-Us. Are you forgetting we all grew up together? Things are not the same as they were when you started courting either one of your mates, luckily we have more liberties now.”

“You say that as if it is a good thing.”

“Isn’t it? We are free to explore, find out what we want in a mate and what are the things we would never tolerate.” The inflection on the word ‘never’ had Lena fighting down the sudden bile that crept up her throat at the thought of what Tan-Us had done to Kara. “If you ask me, I’d take this ‘fun’ and exploration over any matrix match.” Good Rao, Kara was so hot. If it hadn’t looked so scandalizing, Lena would have started fanning herself. “I might be biased due to my past experiences, I am aware enough to accept that, but that doesn’t mean that Lena isn’t the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’ve never known true happiness and freedom until I started courting her.”

That was exactly where Kara wanted him, and it seemed to be working beautifully. For her part, she was also pretty fucking proud of the fact that Renna was looking straight up pissed after that, so she did what any respectable woman would do in that situation: she smiled sweet and adoringly, nose scrunching a little bit and everything, and lovingly nuzzled that spot right behind Kara’s ear; the one that always made her let out a soft little groan.

Petty and vindictive, Luthor? Yes. The bitch deserves it.

“Now, if you’ll both excuse us, we must find my mother. We promised to share a drink with her before the night is over.”

Jul-Us just smiled, and with a curt nod took a step back, freeing them from their conversation so they could leave.

The moment they turned around, though, Kara seemed a bit more agitated, so Lena stopped her once they were out of earshot to try to find out what was happening. “Hey, hey. Stop, talk to me, what’s going on?”

“I need to find my mother, something is off. I think we might have to do this tonight.”

“Kara, I don’t even know what your plan is.”

“You’ll find out soon.”

The blonde took her hand and they started searching the room, clearly looking for Alura. It took them a little while, but they finally found her at a table with three other people.

“Follow my lead?” Kara asked, looking into her girlfriend's eyes with an almost pleading expression.

“Always, love.” To her surprise, the blonde surged forward and kissed her with the kind of passion of someone who was running on pure adrenaline.

It gave her whiplash, because just as sudden as it started, Kara pulled back and walked to her mother’s table. “Jeju, since I finally have you in the building, isn’t it the perfect time to show you my laboratory? Would you mind? I know you've been wanting to see it for ages.”

Alura’s first reaction told Lena that she had absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeing Kara’s workplace, but she must have sensed something was going on, because she smiled and nodded, excusing herself to the rest of the table and standing up. “Lead the way, inah.”

Kara nodded, but before she led Alura away, she turned to whisper into Lena’s ear: “get Alex and Sam and meet us at my lab.”

“What about Thara?” The brunette asked, not even questioning what she was about to do.

“No, it’s better if she doesn’t know. We need her to look surprised, even if she’ll be mad at me for like an ahmzeht afterwards.”

“Kara, are you insane?!” While Alex paced the lab, anxiously running her fingers through her hair and wondering how Kara had been able to stay alive for so long, the blonde just stood there, looking at her as serious as Lena had ever seen her.

It was risky, yes. But it was also a damn good catalyst, she couldn’t deny that. By the looks of it, Sam couldn’t either, because she was just as quiet, biting the corner of her thumbnail while watching her fiancée walk back and forth in front of her.

Alura, well… she seemed conflicted. And for good reason, too. It wouldn’t be easy to pull this off tonight, not with some other judicators there, but there was a glint of something in her eye that told Lena that maybe she could make it work.

“I am not,” the blonde finally responded, looking around at the rest of them. “You know this is going to work.”

“Yes, Kara, but at what cost?” Alex had finally stopped pacing to face her. “There are hundreds of people out there, are you comfortable making them collateral damage if this gets out of hand?”

“It won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“His daughter is here. He won’t like it, and I’m sure he will react badly, which is exactly what we want, but he won't endanger Kryptonian lives, his ego is not going to let him.” Kara paused for a moment, just enough to stand in front of Alex to make eye contact with her. “That’s why you’re here, why I’m suggesting we power up Sam, I know you won’t let anything happen to anyone out there.”

“Yeah? What about the two of you? He has it for you, Kara, and you know just as well as I do that he never really liked any of us. He voted ‘no’ when we were seeking asylum here.”

“I know, but I can keep us safe.”

“Can you, though?”

“Alex, I would die protecting Lena.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m worried about!” Oh, that was Alex’s trademark ‘mom face,’ which meant Kara was now in trouble. “You think I only care about Lena? Kara, you’re our friend, too, we love you, even if you’re being so fucking stupid right now!”

Kara bit her bottom lip, clearly moved by Alex’s words, but also in a position where she wasn’t willing to back down. “I love you all, too, I do, but Alex, I can’t stand the idea of them doing something that could hurt Lena, your family, or lead Lex Luthor here. You know how dangerous that could be. If Jul-Us is in custody, that’s one less thing we have to worry about, but you can’t arrest him without motive.”

“I’ll stay with them,” Sam finally intervened. “We’ll power me and keep it quiet. I’ll stand close enough to them and Alura to keep everyone safe. If he makes a dangerous move I’ll stop him.”

Alex turned around, clearly defeated, and placed both hands on a desk, leaning into them while letting her head hang a little. “I’m not gonna win this, am I?”

“No.” At least Kara was as honest and straightforward as they came.

“Fine.” The redhead turned around and folded her arms across her chest. “But only if Alura thinks it’s viable.”

The older woman pursed her lips, quickly considering her options. “I’ll need to put some people up to speed, and do it fast, but I’m confident I can do it.”

“Okay, then,” Alex finally sighed, completely defeated. “But if any of you gets killed tonight, I’ll find the way to bring you back only so I can kill you again myself. And don’t test me, I know some really smart people who can probably pull it off.”

They all silently agreed after that. Alura excused herself to get started on the part that she needed to ensure first, leaving the four younger women behind. 

“Well, how do we get out of here without looking suspicious?” Alex asked, making her fiancée grin in that very ‘Sam way’ that had Lena usually fearing for her life.

“By making it look like we disappeared for a quickie.” It was simple and easily doable. Not graceful or discreet, but it would do the job and Lena knew it.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree,” Lena sighed, shaking her head and trying not to smile when Alex looked at her so betrayed. “You just got engaged, Alex. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t done that for real tonight.”

“Only because she didn’t want to, I tried.” Sam smirked, making the redhead blush and mumble incoherently under her breath. “Which is okay now, because it will be our cover. Now come here.” 

Sam faced her fiancée and messed with her hair a little bit before unbuttoning the three top buttons of her pristine shirt. She also untucked one side of the shirt, just enough to make it look rumpled, but not leaving it completely out. Something seemed to be missing, though, if the way she kept looking at Alex was anything to go by, but she seemed to be unable to decide what.

That’s when Lena remembered the kiss she had shared with Kara in the car and smirked. “Stain the collar of her shirt with your lipstick,” she instructed, helping by holding said collar open and pointing at the right spot until her best friend did it. “There. Congratulations, Agent Danvers, you look thoroughly fucked.”

“Damn, she does. I’m kinda jealous of myself now.” There was no one in the entire known universe that could be as ridiculous as Sam was, at least in Lena’s opinion.

“Come here,” the brunette instructed instead of pointing that out, getting to work once her best friend stood in front of her. “I’ve been seeing you appear out of nowhere exactly like this for over a decade, I’m an expert by now.” While Sam just laughed, unable and unwilling to deny it, Lena ran her thumb across her lips to get rid of some more of the lipstick. Then she mussed her hair a bit, glad that it had gotten longer enough to make it look even more messy than her shorter cut would have allowed, before looking into her eyes. “You know what you have to do now.”

Sam held her gaze in silence, both women having a silent conversation. “Are you serious?”

“Do you want it to look real or not? I’ve literally seen it happen in person. More than once.”

“Ugh, fine!” Sam reached around her own body and pulled the back of her dress down enough to be able to unclasp her bra. Then she slid one strap at a time down each of her arms until she could pull it out.

“How did you do that so easily?” Kara asked, mouth hanging open in amazement, but still blushing at the sight.

“Lots and lots of practice, blondie,” Sam winked at her, “Lena wasn’t kidding when she said she saw it happen. A lot. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”

Amusing as it was, they had to keep things going, so Lena snatched the bra from Sam’s grasp to stash it into Alex’s pants pocket, letting a bit of the red lace show, contrasting against the navy fabric of her suit. “There you go, perfect. Now, Sam, come here.”

While she pulled Sam aside to inject the serum in her arm, Lena could see Kara checking on Alex and reassuring her, nodding when Alex did so, too. 

“Ready?” Sam asked once she was back and saw the two puncture marks on her forearm completely disappear.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Okay, go. If you could go back giggling a little bit and then try to play it cool, that would be just spot on.”

“You got it, boss.”

Lena and Kara watched them leave the lab, already hearing some giggles, even if they weren’t out there yet. 

For her part, Kara waited a little longer before breaking the silence. “So, what is going to be our story? I don’t really want people thinking we were in a foursome.”

“Ew, Kara!”

“Well, they would if we came back looking like them!”

Okay, she had a point. “We won’t. We’ll wait for a bit and walk down to one of the sub levels so we can take the elevator on the other side and magically appear across the room from them. I can play it tipsy and you’ll be my concerned, loving mate who was just taking care of me.”

“Do you think people will believe Lena Luthor can’t hold her liquor?” The blonde asked with a little smirk.

“They don’t know me,” her girlfriend pointed out matter-of-factly, but then thought better of it. “And besides, Kara Zor-El, let’s not forget that I did drink myself into a stupor once before, all because of you.”

“You mean because you wouldn’t admit that you had feelings for me.”

Damn Kara and her stupid logical and factual correction.

“Same thing, now let’s go.”

“First of all, I’d like to thank the Science Guild for organizing this wonderful event, and all of you for attending. I’m sure your contributions will go a long way for the research of these new ways to improve Kryptonian lives and its subsequent development.”

Alura had, somehow, procured a microphone and was standing atop a set of three steps to be able to see and address the whole room. 

“So this is like a fundraiser!” Lena whispered, tilting her head towards her girlfriend.

“I told you I have no idea what that means!” The blonde whispered back, still focusing on her mother, but leaning closer to Lena.

“It’s right there on the name, Kara!”

“But that wasn’t the whole reason why the very kind people of the technology department gave me this microphone.” Alura continued before Kara could answer that, making them stand on high alert once again. “These are strange times we are living in. We are seeing things we haven’t seen in a long, long time.” She made a pause and looked around the room once again, her expression grim and sad. “Due to the general unrest that arose after the latest attacks we experienced, our top judicators, myself included, have been working tirelessly along with some specialized members of the High Council and the Science Guild. We came up with what we believe to be a viable plan to ensure we never see crimes like these again or if, worst case scenario, they happen again, the perpetrators will be brought to justice in a way that would ease our concerned citizens' worries.”

The pause that came right after was long and measured. Alura put a worried frown on her face and looked around the room, subtly checking on everyone who already knew what she was about to say.

Lena saw Kara give her mother a short, reassuring nod, and felt her hand squeeze hers a bit tighter in anticipation.

“We will reinstate Fort Rozz.” A low mumble broke across the room, which worked great for the suspense and anticipation Alura was building. “Our scientists already have a new prototype and we will be starting with the first trials soon to make sure it can withstand an indefinite amount of time in the Phantom Zone.”

The room got increasingly louder but, to Kara’s surprise, it didn’t seem like people were entirely against it, which was something she hadn’t foreseen. She did venture a quick glance at Jul-Us, noticing him trying to contain his rage.

“High Councilmember Alura Zor-El, if I may: what will happen with the people who are already incarcerated or are in custody awaiting trial?” Thara was the one who asked, looking worried but focused and fully professional, and Lena absolutely loved her for it. That was the crucial point in this whole charade and she brought it up, even without knowing what was going on.

“That is a great question, Chief Peace Officer, thank you for asking,” Alura responded gracefully. “People in custody will await trial as usual, where their sentence would be determined and announced by the judicators, and they will still have their rights to appeal and get proper counsel. The system will remain the same, only now we will be adding banishment to Fort Rozz as a possible outcome of the ruling.”

Lena cleared her throat as an excuse to move and check on Jul-Us, who looked increasingly more agitated the more Alura explained the ins and outs of this new ‘decision.’

“However.” This was it. She squeezed Kara’s hand and leaned more into her body. “Those who have already been sentenced to life imprisonment for severe violations that threatened the safety or the life of other people, whomever those might be, will be banished to Fort Rozz as soon as it becomes a viable and safe option.”

“HOW DARE YOU?!”

Right on cue.

“This is outrageous!” Jul-Us made his way to the front of the crowd so he could properly yell at Alura, displaying his entitlement to the fullest while shaking his cane in his hand. “This isn’t something you can decide with just a few handpicked members of some of the guilds! The whole High Council should have been informed and consulted before such a decision was made!”

Lena knew Alura was one badass woman. She knew she was clever, one of the best in her field. She had made mistakes in the past, yes, but who hasn’t? At least she owned them and was now trying to make up for them. She was a strong woman who raised an absolutely brilliant, compassionate and kind daughter under the hardest of situations, after losing not only her mate, but her whole planet. She couldn’t even grieve any of those things, because her people needed guidance from those who could provide it, Kara had told her as much, and Alura rose to the occasion.

None of that prepared her for what happened next, though.

The Kryptonian woman walked down the three steps that separated her from Jul-Us, standing in front of him without any kind of leverage, physical or otherwise. She handed the microphone back, politely thanking the young woman who took it and quickly retreated in fear, and looked at the man dead in the eye without an ounce of fear. If anything, her eyes were full of determination.

“Excuse me, High Councilmember Jul-Us, but why would the Lawmakers Guild ask for the opinion of the Artisans Guild about a subject that doesn’t concern them in the slightest?” She asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. “Do you call for High Council meetings every time you work on a new project for our beautiful city and have to make a decision?”

“This is different!”

Is he spitting when he yells? Gross.

“How so?” Alura discreetly moved her hand when she saw Sam about to react to the step Jul-Us took to intimidate her mid question, silently telling her to wait. “I do not meddle in your line or work, I can’t see a reason why you would attempt to meddle in mine.”

“This is my son’s life you’re talking about! The only heir to my House!” The veins in his neck were popping so much and so suddenly that Lena feared for a moment he would give himself a heart attack.

“Ah, I see. There is where you are mistaken, Jul-Us. This applies to all criminals. If your son falls under that category, well, that has nothing to do with me, the other judicators, or the Lawmakers, does it?”

Holy shit!

This time it was Kara the one who moved, clearly uncomfortable with their closeness, because that was never part of the plan. Lena didn’t let her, though. She pulled on her hand and shook her head when the blonde looked at her, confused and distressed. “You are the last person who should be there,” the brunette whispered once she got her close again. “Your mother knows what she’s doing, trust her. Sam and Alex are right there, she is safe.”

The blonde huffed and grumbled, but stayed back, knowing that Lena was right. Neither one of them should be there, especially for what was about to come.

“You dare speak ill of my House in my face?!”

“I am not, you brought up your House yourself, I had no reason to. But even if I were to do it, I would solely do it to your face. I do not go behind people’s backs, whispering and plotting against them.” Alura paused and looked him up and down. “That is what cowards do, and the House of El has never been, nor will ever be, considered a House of cowards.”

At this point Lena was seriously considering plastering a picture of Alura’s face on every single billboard back on Earth. Worldwide.

“Now you dare call me a coward?!” The man sputtered in indignation, probably spitting again.

“I wasn’t, but you just did. Is that what you’ve been doing, Jul-Us? Plotting behind my back?”

“Plotting what? I haven’t done a thing.”

“No, you just sent your lackey, didn’t you? The one who’s been so desperately in love with Tan-Us for so long that would do anything to please you, to get your approval?”

“Nel-Bin acted on his own.”

“I never mentioned his name, but I’m glad you know who I was talking about.” She sighed and folded her arms across her chest, leveling him with a disapproving look. “Attacking the Science Guild to target and hurt my daughter and her mate? Attempting to break into my home?”

“Like I said, Nel-Bin acted on his own! His criminal acts are his and his only. Do not try to play your mind games with me!”

“So that means you don’t believe he would have been a better match for your son than my daughter? Because I distinctly remember you giving that statement during Tan-Us trial. Were you lying then or are you lying now?” She asked, fully committed to push all of his buttons. “You used a broken-hearted man as a pawn, without showing any remorse.”

“Says the woman who sentenced her own sister to Fort Rozz!” And finally he lost it. “You destroyed my House, my son’s life! Nel-Bin was willing to do what needed to be done: get you El scum out of the way once and for all! Imagine my surprise when the perfect opportunity literally landed at my feet. These filthy Earthlings were fleeing their planet because of a man who has a particular hatred for Kal-El! The sooner I can get him to come for all of you, El’s, the better!”

“You must be terribly mad, Jul-Us. How were you to contact him? We are light years away!” Alura pushed, now raising her voice and matching his cadence, not letting him back down, knowing that keeping him so riled up would get them what they wanted.

“Do you think I don’t know about that portal that you have? The one these…” He made a point to look at Sam in disgust and wave a hand in her direction. “Humans used to get here after they were attacked? That is my way, it’s been there the whole time, just waiting for me, and Nel-Bin was supposed to break into your house and establish contact with Lex Luthor, until your Peace Officers meddled! You’d be all dead by now if he had properly followed my orders.”

“We would all be dead if you had succeeded, Jul-Us. Lex Luthor has a hatred for all aliens, but especially for Kryptonians, no matter the house. Your ignorance and recklessness put us all at risk.” Alura took a step back and turned her head just enough to look at Thara and Alex, who had been slowly and carefully closing in on them. “Do you have enough, Thara?” She asked, and that seemed to sober Jul-Us up right away. 

“We do.”

Next thing she knew Alex was turning the man around to handcuff him, but he shouldered her to break her hold and get away, accidentally also pushing Alura and making eye contact with Kara in the meantime. “You! All of this is because of you! You should be dead or sent to Fort Rozz, not my son! Not my son! You and your filthy human mate… I’ll kill the two of you myself.”

And he just went for it. He twisted the top of his walking cane off and suddenly there was a dagger in his hand. Jul-Us lunged forward with every intention to stab them, but Lena pushed Kara out of the way, moving with her, too, so instead of getting stabbed she just got a cut on her left thigh due to the trajectory of the blade.

The thing was, he seemed to have forgotten a key piece of information.

Sam had gotten distracted when she rushed to catch Alura the moment the man pushed her. She had stumbled back against the steps behind her and, if she had taken that fall, the older woman could have hit the back of her head on the steps, making that fall literally fatal.

But now she was in front of the man, quickly taking the dagger away and restraining him while he struggled in vain against her grip. “Oh, and by the way?” She said with a saccharine smile on her face, leaning closer to speak into his ear but still loud enough for the people around them to hear. “You seemed to miss the memo. I’m not human, fuckface, I’m a Workdkiller. Enjoy your family reunion.”

The two Peace Officers swooped in quickly after that. While Alex handcuffed him, Thara recited what Lena assumed to be their own version of the Miranda rights and carefully collected the dagger for evidence.

“You El’s are filth! Hopefully Lex Luthor will finally kill Kal-El and your family name will die when he finds and kills you, too, Kara Zor-El!” He yelled angrily when Alex started leading him to the door, then kept yelling incoherently until he was out of earshot.

The first thing Kara did was wrap her arms tightly around Lena, holding her close as if she needed the reminder that she was still there. They stayed like that for a few moments, until the brunette kissed her cheek and whispered, “you need to check on your mother, darling.”

So Kara pulled back with a nod, leaving a soft kiss on Lena’s lips before rushing to her mother and hugging her tightly. “Jeju, are you alright?”

For her part, Alura returned the hug as tightly as she could, then opened her eyes and motioned for Lena to join them, beckoning her closer with one of her hands. “I am, inah,” she whispered back into her daughter’s hair, wrapping one of her arms around Lena, too, and kissing both their foreheads when the brunette joined them. “I am so sorry.” Alura kept whispering over and over, and if it wasn’t for the soft sniffling and the fact that her tears were falling on her shoulder, Lena might have never realized Alura was capable of this kind of emotion.

“Alura, you have nothing to be sorry about,” she started softly, reassured when Kara also nodded as they pulled back. “You just protected all of us from a very dangerous man.”

“I should have seen it sooner.” The woman added, shaking her head.

“How? He had us all fooled, jeju.”

Alura was looking down in shame when she noticed the large stain of blood on Kara’s right leg. She frowned and bent down quickly, frantically checking her daughter for injuries. “Kara, you’re bleeding!”

“What?” The blonde asked confused, until she looked down at her pants and saw the blood. “I’m not. That’s–” Realization hit her and she turned to her girlfriend, noticing the long slash on her gown and how some of the already dark fabric was darkening even more. Their eyes locked after that, Kara stunned for a moment and the brunette feeling a mix of guilt and exasperation, because a cut like that was hardly fatal, why would she bring it up? It wasn’t even close to her femoral artery, clearly just a flesh wound. It did sting like a bitch now, though. “For Rao’s sake, Lena!”

If she wasn’t so annoyed by the sticky blood, her gown clinging to the wound and the way it was slowly starting to hurt, Lena would be definitely fanning herself this time.

The blonde had quickly picked her up, carrying her bridal style, and rushed in the direction of her lab. She was also saying something but, to be honest, Lena was too distracted with everything that was going on already to actually pay attention to the words.

They entered the lab and as soon as Kara laid her down on top of the nearest workbench, she could see Sam, Alura and Zethi following close behind.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!” Kara was clearly in distress and Lena couldn’t blame her. She had been in a similar position some time ago when the roles were reversed and she was the one tending to the injured Kryptonian.

The brunette watched her girlfriend moving quickly around the familiar space, grabbing several things from the cabinets and drawers. “It’s a flesh wound, darling–”

“No.” Kara interrupted her, finally coming to stand next to her. “Don’t ‘darling’ me. I’m so mad at you right now.” Lena knew better than to push it when the blonde looked that mad, so she just shut her mouth and rolled her eyes when Sam also gave her an exasperated look.

Luckily for her, Alura and Zethi were also in the room watching them with worry written all over their faces, because the way Kara tore the bottom of her gown open with her bare hands had Lena quivering and on the verge of letting out a needy moan. Instead, she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes while her girlfriend did her thing.

“Sam, are you easily impressionable?” She heard Kara ask, so she immediately opened her eyes because what the hell was going on?

“Uh… what do you–”

“Blood. Will you faint if you see blood up close and feel it on your hands?”

“Oh! Not at all. I’m a mom and Reign; I've already seen my fair share.”

“Great, put some gloves on and come here.”

What the bloody hell is going on?

Lena held herself up on her elbows and finally looked down at her own leg, throwing her head back and groaning in annoyance after that. Yes, it was a flesh wound, that would be the medical term she would use to describe it. It was also quite deep, about eight inches long and it was currently bleeding profusely onto the workbench. “Can’t get a fucking break,” she mumbled under her breath, but one stern look from her girlfriend shut her right up.

Kara rushed to wash her hands before putting on her own set of gloves while looking at Sam. “Place one hand on either side of the wound and… hold it closed. I have no better way to explain it.” 

“Don’t worry, gotcha.” Lena could feel Sam’s hands doing exactly that.

“Are you gonna give me stitches?” She asked, still watching curiously.

The blonde looked up at her once again and Lena marveled at how deep her frown could get. “I don’t want to hear another word for you until we are done.”

“I mean, you could be nicer to me, you know? I just saved you from getting stabbed.”

“Lena, if you don’t shut up right now I’ll fix you up without any kind of anesthesia.”

“Kara,” the brunette scoffed, “I’m a woman in a world where medical professionals don’t think it’s necessary to give us any kind of anesthesia before performing a cervical biopsy. You can hardly scare me with that.”

From the corner of her eye she could see Alura and Zethi pale a little and grab onto a desk and a chair respectively after hearing that information.

For her part, Kara looked at Sam for confirmation, because she wouldn’t put it past her girlfriend to bluff while bleeding out on a table after almost getting stabbed. Her eyes opened comically wide when Sam nodded, but she quickly shook her head and focused back on Lena’s leg. “Just stop talking.”

She did after that.

While Sam held the wound closed Kara carefully maneuvered between her hands to apply the soft pink gel that made the skin around the deep gash start tingling almost immediately. “Can you feel it working yet?”

Now, Lena had two options here: be petty and stubborn, refusing to talk just like Kara had told her, or be cooperative and stop being a little shit for once.

Option one was a thousand times more appealing.

So, she made a show of pursing her lips so no words would escape, but still nodded because she wanted nothing more than to get this over with.

“I stand by what I told you the first time we did this,” the blonde pointed out while putting the jar containing the gel to the side. “You’re insufferable.”

It was impossible not to laugh after that. The fact that Kara remembered it warmed Lena’s heart to an almost impossible extent. “Yes, but you still love me, anyway.”

What. The. Fuck. Luthor, what the fuck?! Oh, God. Rao. Shit. Fuck! Shit. Kill me now. Fuck it, I’ll cut my femoral artery myself. Is there a scalpel around? Bring Jul-Us back.

“I do.”

Hold on… what?

Lena’s panic attack was cut short by those words and she looked up at Kara, who was looking at her with the most beautifully shy half smile on her face.

She was absolutely speechless. Her mouth was hanging open rather ungracefully and her brain was literally yelling at her: say something! Oh, for fuck’s sake, what is wrong with you? You call her ‘love’ all the time! Say it back, you fucking wanker! You love her! Tell her! Now!

Nothing came out, though, but what amazed her the most was that her girlfriend’s half smile turned into a playful smirk before she went back to work.

That’s when the brunette made the stupid mistake of directing her gaze at her best friend, who was staring at her with an expression that said “are you stupid?”

Yes. Yes she was.

In the end, Lena ended up rolling her eyes and shutting her mouth. She looked down at her leg to avoid anyone else’s gaze, but also to appreciate the way her girlfriend was working with such care and precision that it could be considered art in medical form. Kara slowly ran down the regeneration wand—that’s what the scanner-like thing was called, Lena learned not so long ago—for the third time before pulling back and looking at her work. “You can let go now, Sam. Thank you.”

The taller woman nodded and carefully let go, pulling her hands back slowly, as if she was afraid the wound would reopen. When it didn’t, she let out a breath she might have been holding the whole time, by the way it sounded, and took a step back, removing and disposing of her gloves in the biodegradation bin.

There was a very short lived attempt to sit up from Lena that was quickly shot down with a heavy and firm hand on her shoulder. They exchanged a quick gaze, and Kara seemed to understand the silent question, because she answered right away. “There’s blood everywhere. Let me clean you up first. Then Sam can move you to a chair while I clean and disinfect the workbench.”

It did sound reasonable, so Lena nodded, even though she had the strong feeling there was something more to it that her girlfriend wasn’t telling her. “Kara?”

“Mm?”

Oh, there was definitely something going on.

“What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing!” It was so squeaky and high pitched that even the blonde knew she had failed at trying to keep her concerns away from her girlfriend. Lena leveled her with a stern gaze, anyway, for good measure. “Fine. I don’t feel comfortable leaving traces of your blood around.”

“And why is that? Other than the gross and very unsanitary factors.”

“Because I don’t trust anyone here anymore, Lee, and if someone gets even the tiniest bit of your blood…”

“What?”

“They could do whatever they wanted.” The voice came from where Alura was standing. She waited until Lena met her eye before continuing. “From cloning you, to creating a child that’s biologically yours without your consent.”

Oh.

“It is against our rules,” Zethi added, showing the same concern as Alura, “but people have been ignoring those lately.”

They had a point. Not only that, but the very building they were in held every piece of technology necessary to do any of those things. If Kara couldn’t trust anyone there, then she couldn’t, either. And, honestly, the last thing she needed right now was an unexpected child. Not even the clone scared her as much as a child did.

So she stood still and waited patiently. She watched Kara clean every trace of blood from her leg and wrap a bandage around it, just for good measure. Once again she had to bite back a moan when the blonde ripped the rest of the blood stained fabric, looking closely to make sure she got all of it. She didn’t complain when Sam picked her up and carefully sat her down on Kara’s chair, but smiled with appreciation when her best friend went to help Kara scrap and clean every little bit of blood.

By the time they were finished the blonde gathered the remaining scraps, rags and disinfectant wipes they had used, and threw them into the biodegradation bin along with her gloves.

“Alright, I think we are good,” the woman stated, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “How are you feeling? Ready to go home?”

“I’m feeling just fine, darling,” the brunette answered smoothly, but the smirk on her face made her girlfriend pause. “Although I believe you forgot something.”

“Huh?” Kara frantically looked around, even crouched to check under the workbench for the fourth time, but when she couldn’t spot anything she focused on Lena again. The brunette looked into her eyes first, then slowly moved her gaze down Kara’s body, until she was pointedly staring at her right leg, where the beautiful blue fabric had a big maroon stain of now dried blood, courtesy of her girlfriend. “Shoot.”

“Yep.” She was enjoying it too much.

The blonde looked pleadingly at her, but Lena shook her head. “You ripped my gown to shreds,” she stated, because there was no denying that. “Go ahead,” her hand waved at Kara’s leg, “we can’t deal with a child right now, darling. You can either rip it off or take your pants off altogether. Your choice.”

Kara groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I am. I don’t even care that your mother is here.”

“On that note, we’ll wait outside!” The way Alura rushed the words out made the brunette laugh, but she appreciated that she took Zethi and a struggling Sam with her.

Once they were left alone and before Lena could say anything else that would make her blush, the blonde bent down and in a swift motion ripped off the piece of fabric covering her thigh right where the stain was, eliciting a moan followed by an appreciative grunt from her girlfriend that she didn’t bother to hide this time.

Apparently that wasn’t the reaction Kara had been expecting, if the way she looked at her with her eyebrows up in surprise and a smile in place was anything to go by. The moment their eyes locked she understood, though, and the blonde smirked almost cockily. And dammit, Lena loved it.

Once she discarded that piece of fabric, too, the blonde activated the system on the bin that would first burn everything they had thrown into it, erasing any and all sorts of biological samples, and then turn the remains into some sort of dust that was used as a fertilizer for most of Argo’s crops.

Yes, it was amazing, but Lena had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment after witnessing Kara repeatedly rip pieces of clothing off with her bare hands.

“Kara, can you fucking take me home now?”

Chapter Text

“You’re joking,” Lena stated, not even fathoming  to voice that sentence as a question.

For her part, Kara huffed and nervously ran her fingers through her hair. She looked distressed, which only meant she was struggling with an inner battle.

“Kara, please tell me you’re joking.”

“You just got hurt, Lena!”

Eyes bulging in disbelief, Lena reached over and removed the very unnecessary bandage wrapped around her thigh. “You are fully aware that you did a great job. It doesn’t hurt at all, I don’t even have a scar!”

“Are you sure?”

“That I fucking want my girlfriend to spend the night with me? Yeah, pretty damn sure!” She paused for a moment, rethinking her choice of words. “Wait. That wasn’t my finest. I want you to spend the night here with me, Kara.” The blonde laughed and removed her jacket, draping it over the back of the armchair Lena kept in her bedroom. She then sat down next to her in bed, placing her hand on her girlfriend’s fully healed thigh and tracing the nonexistent scar with her fingertips. “I also fucking want you.” Lena added, and Kara looked up in surprise. “And I also want to fuck you.”

The blonde’s mouth opened the way it did when she was caught off guard and was trying to find her words. She tried a few times, but Lena guessed it would take her a moment. “You can basically rearrange any of those words to form a sentence and it would still work,” she teased, noticing how her girlfriend had favored grabbing her thigh quite possessively over just caressing an invisible scar. “I can keep going, if you’d like, stop me whenever you have some input. ‘I want my girlfriend to spend the night fucking me’ would also work, for example.”

The answer she got was not in the form of words, though.

Kara stood up and grabbed both her thighs, pulling her down the bed to lay her down completely flat, instead of leaning against the headboard like she was before. 

It was rough, assertive, primal, and everything Lena needed that night.

“Jesus, Kara,” she gasped breathlessly, looking up and smiling when the blonde carefully settled her body on top of hers. “You could have warned me, you know?” Her smile told her girlfriend she was kidding, but just in case, Lena moved her hands to Kara’s hips, making a slow, deliberate point by sliding them up her body, raking her nails up her ribs over the shirt.

Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t have said another word, because now Kara was kissing her and it felt… different. Not even the day they got so rudely interrupted by her neighbors felt this way. There was a lot of pent up energy flowing between them. Months for her, lorakho for Kara, of slowly and exponentially built sexual tension, restrained displays of affection at first, then heated glances and not-so-casual touches that left them both wanting more.

One way or another, life always got in the way, and Lena was fucking done with that. She wanted Kara and, as long as her girlfriend wanted her back, then the outside world could burn down to the ground as far as she was concerned, because they were not leaving her apartment until they were both completely spent and satisfied.

That being said, Kara’s shirt was annoying her. A lot. Lena grunted into the kiss, using both hands to pull the shirt out of the blonde’s pants and sneak her hands underneath the fabric, slowly caressing up the expanse of her back with her fingertips, only to bring her nails down hard, making Kara break the kiss enough to moan and arch her back.

“Fuck, Lena,” she whispered against kiss swollen lips, so the brunette raked her nails down her back again, already addicted to the sound of Kara’s moans and the way the weight of her body felt on top of hers.

“Take this fucking thing off, Kara,” she instructed, pulling at the suddenly inconvenient piece of clothing that was now her sworn enemy.

Instead of undoing the buttons one by one, like Lena thought she would, Kara sat up straddling her hips and just pulled the shirt up over her head, discarding it to the side without a second thought.

The moment their eyes met, time stopped. There was no going back after the look they shared. They both knew it. Kara looked the most beautiful Lena had ever seen her, straddling her in her bra and torn pants, hair messy and Lena’s lipstick all over her lips. Her hands moved on their own accord to the blonde’s thighs, gripping just as possessively as Kara had before, and she could feel the blonde’s eyes burning down her still covered torso.

“I need a shower,” Kara announced out of the blue, and it took Lena more time than she’d like to admit to actually make sense of the words.

“What?” She got up on her elbows, looking up at her girlfriend, absolutely confused.

“I need a shower,” the blonde repeated, but this time seemed to notice that she would need to elaborate a bit more. “My clothes are torn, there’s probably dirt and some blood still on my arms and I just… feel gross. I want this. Rao, Lena, you have no idea how much I want this. I just need a quick shower first.”

See, when she used more words it was easier for Lena to understand her. It was a no-brainer for her: if Kara wasn’t feeling a hundred percent in her body, then she wouldn’t even try anything until she did. And, to be fair, she could also use a shower herself.

Huh. Well, there’s an idea.

“Okay,” she said sweetly, sitting up and hugging her girlfriend’s waist before leaving a soft kiss on her shoulder. “Does the shower have to be quick, though? Because I was wondering if I could maybe join you? Just shower if you’re still feeling gross, not trying anything here, I promise.” 

The way Kara’s soft smile turned into a grin told Lena everything she needed to know.

The blonde was off her lap in a second, grabbing her hand and pulling her up, too, only it didn’t stop at that, because Kara had to be extra sometimes. She bent down at the waist and threw Lena’s body over her shoulder, carrying her like that all the way to the bathroom.

“Kara! Put me down, you Neanderthal!” It wasn’t convincing at all, given the fact that she kept giggling, which was making the blonde laugh, too. She didn’t fight it long, either, because soon enough she realized Kara’s gorgeous ass was within grasp, so she focused on that, instead.

“Having fun back there now?” The blonde asked in between amused chuckles.

“Lots. Take your time getting us to the bathroom, will you, sweet cheeks?”

But she didn’t. Mostly because it was an en-suite bathroom so it was right there.  

Who’s stupid idea was that, anyway? Probably stupid Jul-Us’, always ruining everything.

Kara set her down carefully, but wasted no time in cradling Lena’s jaw with one hand and kissing her again. After a while, and just when the brunette was getting into it again, her kisses moved from her lips down the line of her jaw, only to finally tease her earlobe with her teeth. “Have I ever told you how much I love your jaw?” She asked softly, making Lena’s knees go a little bit weak once her lips moved over its length again. “It is so incredibly sexy.”

She had gotten… semi-compliments on her jaw before, yes. Mostly comments that addressed her powerful looking features, one of them being her strong, yet feminine jawline. That same feature that a certain group of people praised as something positive, was reason enough for a completely different group to call her a cold bitch. Why couldn’t a woman be both? Now, sexy? And not only that, but being called sexy while the most gorgeous woman to ever live kissed it and ran her lips across it? No. That was a first.

“God, Kara. I really need that shower now,” Lena whispered in a shaky breath, placing both hands on Kara’s shoulders for support.

Never to disappoint, the blonde carefully maneuvered them around so her girlfriend was leaning back against the sink while she moved to turn on the shower. Their eyes met afterwards, both of them knowing what needed to happen next, but neither very sure on how to take the first step.

After a little while, when the relatively small space started to fill with steam, Lena bit the corner of her lip and reached over, pulling Kara closer to her by the waistband of her pants, and kissed her deeply while her hands worked on undoing it. For her part, the blonde slowly lifted Lena’s tank top—the one she had changed into the moment she got rid of her ruined gown—making sure her hands kept caressing her sides while she pushed it up, until she could break the kiss long enough to be able to pull it off. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and the soft gasp that escaped Kara’s lips when she looked down told Lena it had been a good choice.

“Like what you see, love?”

“You have no idea.” 

It felt like a more primal side of Kara took over at times, like right then, when she picked her up and sat her on the counter by the sink so she could leave a trail of wet kisses down her chest. It was a problem, though, because never, under any circumstances, would Lena want her to repress that side. Ever. So she moved one hand to the back of Kara’s head and closed her fist on her hair, tilting her head back a bit so she could look into her eyes. “Kara.”

“Yes?”

She could see she was still distracted by her breasts, and who could blame her? But Lena really needed a few moments of her attention. “Darling, look at me.” That did it. The blonde stood up straighter and looked into her eyes. “I can tell you’re repressing a side of you. The side that pulled me down the bed before, the same one that just picked me up right now. You have for a while I think.”

“I’m sorry, Lee. I didn’t mean to be so aggressive, it’s just–”

“Kara, I don’t want you to repress it. That’s what I’m trying to say. I want you to be free and stop thinking, explore that side with me, because… fuck, baby, it’s so fucking hot.”

It was clear that was not what Kara had been expecting, especially the part where her girlfriend called her “baby,” which had never happened before. She focused on Lena’s eyes for a while, probably trying to see if she was being honest, but the brunette decided to make it easier for her. “You want to know if I mean it?” She didn’t wait for an answer, instead she grabbed Kara’s right wrist and carefully slid her hand inside her own underwear. Then she waited. The blonde gasped in surprise at first, but eventually got a bit bolder and started exploring the wetness she found there. “Can you feel that?”

“Yes.” It was a gasp, barely one. Probably the only reason why Lena could hear it was due to their closeness. “Lena, you’re so wet.”

The brunette nodded and pulled their lips together once again, wrapping her arms around her neck to hold the blonde close after the kiss. “It’s that side of you, the one that you’re trying to repress or control, that’s getting me this wet, Kara.” They both looked down, and Lena gasped when she felt the blonde slowly and deliberately slide her fingers up a bit. “So stop holding back on me, you hear me?” It was so hard to form coherent sentences with Kara’s hand between her legs. 

I should get a fucking medal or something.

“I won’t anymore.”

“Good. Now let me take your fucking pants off, because I really want to get in the shower with you and hopefully lick you all over once you stop feeling gross.”

That broke the tension a little bit, making Kara laugh and relax, while she gently removed her hand from Lena’s underwear. The brunette laughed with her and resumed her work on Kara’s pants once again, but she got terribly distracted when she noticed the blonde bringing her fingers to her mouth and licking them clean with a teasing smile on her face.

“You’re a shit, you know that?”

“I am aware.” She was laughing again, but never stopped what she was doing until her fingers were clean. “But I couldn’t help myself.”

After that, Lena had had enough. She placed both her hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders to gently push her off and jumped off the counter. She was down on her knees in the blink of an eye, kissing Kara’s stomach while her hands finally undid the stupid intricate fabric holding her pants up and she could slide them down her legs.

“Kara, kick off your shoes, for fuck’s sake!”

The blonde just laughed and did what she was told, kicking them to the side. “Sorry! I didn’t notice they were still on.” The socks soon followed. It was surprising how dexterous Kara could be without even using her hands. “You’re being very distracting, you know?”

Lena laughed, too, then licked a slow trail down her girlfriend’s abs. “That was the whole point, darling.”

Both of Kara’s hands moved to her head and she started running her fingers through Lena’s hair, which only made her smirk when she caught the waistband of the blonde’s underwear between her teeth and looked up into her eyes, silently asking for permission.

The blonde nodded encouragingly and moved her hands off her head, so Lena started, painstakingly slow, pulling her underwear down with teeth while dragging her nails down the back of her legs.

Once Kara stepped off her clothes, though, she didn’t give her girlfriend time for anything else, really. Not only did she pull her to her feet, but also picked her up, giving Lena no other option but to wrap her legs around her waist. She tried to get some sort of friction from it, but the fact that her own underwear was still on made it way harder than it should have been.

Her disappointment didn’t last long. The blonde just carried her to the shower, not even waiting to get rid of Lena’s panties or her own bra. That last part got sorted out rather quickly, because now the brunette was in a perfect position to flip the clasp open using only two fingers—thank you very much—and let it slide down her arms until Kara just tossed it away in annoyance.

They were under the spray of warm water, Kara still carrying her with both hands holding her butt cheeks, while their lips found one another’s again in a passionate deep kiss.

The coldness of the glass against her back was what alerted Lena that their positioning had changed slightly. She welcomed and enjoyed the feeling, hissing and arching her back, effectively breaking the kiss by doing so. It prompted Kara to finally let Lena stand on her own two feet, locking eyes in a burning gaze. “May I?” The blonde asked, fingers playing with the waist of Lena’s underwear.

“Please, Kara.” It was shaky and almost desperate, exactly how Lena felt at that exact moment.

This time it was the blonde who got down on her knees, only she used her hands to get rid of the garment while her lips trailed sweet kisses down the length of her girlfriend’s legs. Once she was done, she allowed Lena to step out of it, then sent it to join her own bra somewhere in the bathroom. What caught the brunette’s attention, though, was that Kara didn’t seem to be getting up once she was done, so she looked down to find eager eyes staring up at her. She knew what the blonde wanted, hell, she wanted it, too, but there was one little thing nagging at the back of her brain that wouldn’t let her enjoy anything unless she got it out. “Come up here.”

“But, Lena…” Was Kara… whining?

Lena chuckled and scratched the back of her head, never breaking eye contact. “I promise I will let you go back to it.”

“Fine,” the blonde huffed grumpily, standing back up but still pinning Lena against the frosted hard glass that served as a wall for most of the apartment. 

She was trying so hard, but now Kara was nuzzling her neck and how was that even fair? “Kara,” she tried, getting a noncommittal sound, so she tried again, a bit firmer this time. “Kara, please.” 

That got her attention. The blonde pulled back with a worried frown and looked at her. “Did I overstep?”

“Not at all, darling,” she responded, placing her hand on Kara’s cheek and looking into her eyes. “I can barely contain my emotions around you, let alone my words, and I don’t want this to come out in the middle of sex because I think it will lose all meaning if it does. I don’t want you to think it was just thrown there because you were making me feel good.”

“Lena, what is it?”

“I love you, Kara.” There, she said it. The sentence that scared her more than anything else in the world. “I was so caught off guard before when you admitted that you did, that I couldn’t get the words out, but I love you. I have for a while now.”

She could see the moment Kara’s eyes got teary and the sweetest of smiles appeared on her face, lighting Lena’s word up. “I love you, too.” It was but a whisper, but she heard it clear as day.

So now Lena could go back to losing every little bit of decorum without fearing those words might slip at an inappropriate time. They kissed again, much slower this time, but just as passionate, and the brunette used the distraction to her advantage to turn them around and press Kara’s back against the glass. Of course the blonde tried to protest the moment she felt it, but her girlfriend silenced her quickly with another kiss, just to interrupt her this time. “You said you felt gross and dirty, didn’t you?” She asked, already reaching for the artisanal soap made from a mix of twellian fruit and the fragrant Dar-Essa flower Lena liked so much. 

“Y-yes,” Kara stuttered, following her girlfriend’s movements with her eyes.

Lena smirked, rubbing the bar of soap between her hands. “Then let me take care of that.”

All she needed was a nod. Her lathered hands moved slowly over Kara’s upper body, not missing a single spot. She started with her arms, which seemed to be what had the blonde more worried, then moved up her shoulders, around her neck and down her front. The very moment Lena’s hands cupped Kara’s breasts, the blonde hooked a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her in for another deep, hard kiss.

The brunette gathered she would be a complete idiot if she didn’t enjoy the way her girlfriend’s breasts felt in her hands, or how her nipples hardened almost immediately when Lena slid her thumbs over them. Lena could be a lot of things, but she was no idiot.

Her teeth found the blonde’s bottom lip and she tugged playfully on it, deliberately teasing her, at the same time her fingers did the same with her nipples. The needy moan Kara let out was swallowed in a bruising kiss, and once she had decided it was enough torture for now, Lena reached for the soap, lathering her hands once again, and moving them down her stomach. She took her sweet time there, too, because how was she supposed to just ignore those abs? But a frustrated groan from her girlfriend—after what she had apparently deemed more than enough time—made her cuckle and Lena decided to move on.

She didn’t move on to where Kara was expecting her to, though, which only elicited another groan from her girlfriend that quickly turned into a needy whine again. That was the moment Lena decided she absolutely loved that whine and would always do everything and anything in her power to draw it out.

The moment she crouched down, Kara’s hands were on her hair. She wasn’t being gentle this time, closing her fists on it and holding her tight, and Lena let her know she appreciated it with a satisfied moan. She attached her lips to one side of the blonde’s hips to actually show her appreciation, kissing, biting and sucking until there was an angry mark with her name on it, while her hands worked down the front of Kara’s legs and up the back, until she could dig her nails on her butt cheeks.

Their eyes locked, and she noticed how the blonde was staring expectantly at her, but Lena had decided long ago that she was not about to give in so easily. Not because she didn’t want to, she was dying to, but because she really got off on the way her girlfriend reacted whenever she avoided giving her what she wanted.

Lena stood back up, then, smirking and handing Kara the bar of soap while she moved under the shower and started shampooing her hair. “There, you can finish the rest yourself, can’t you, darling? I can still help with your back if you need it.”

It was a bummer that she didn’t have her phone to take a picture, because Kara’s expression was like nothing she had ever seen. “Are you serious right now?”

“What?” She was rinsing her hair and working on the conditioner afterwards. “Didn’t you want to get clean?”

“I’m pretty sure that part flew right out the fucking window, Lena!”

Oh, how she wanted to laugh. It was so hard to hide it that the brunette had to actually turn around so her girlfriend wouldn’t see it. “Don’t be so dramatic, love. It’s just a shower after all, isn’t it?”

There was a long silence after that. Long enough for Lena to actually consider that maybe she had really managed to piss Kara off, which was not what she wanted. Ever. So she turned around.

Mistake number one.

The moment their eyes met Lena could see the fire burning in Kara’s. She was still under the shower, rinsing her hair, when the blonde moved closer to place the bar of soap back on the holder. Trying to be polite and avoid any potential conflict, the brunette moved a bit to the side in an attempt to give Kara more room to reach it comfortably.

Mistake number two.

Their eyes met again and this time the blonde’s were full of determination and… something else. There wasn’t much time to think, really, because taking advantage of their proximity and the fact that Lena had moved to the side, Kara placed a firm hand on her hip while the other moved to her throat, pushing her firmly against the glass once again.

Even when she was being this assertive, Kara was still checking if what she was doing wasn’t too much, if Lena was comfortable with it, if she hadn’t overstepped. It wasn’t a question, it was the way she was looking into her eyes. Lena got it, she honestly would have done the same, because they were still exploring and learning, this was uncharted territory for them as a couple, after all. So she bit her own bottom lip harder than she had intended, and when she felt Kara’s hold on her throat starting to ease, she tilted her chin up and shook her head while smirking at her, teasingly arching a brow, daring her girlfriend to not back down.

And in her defense, she didn’t.

Kara tightened her hold a bit, just enough, and Lena licked her lips. “Is this what you want?” She asked, smirking defiantly again, only to try to hide how fucking turned on she was by everything her girlfriend was doing. There would be time to show her later. This was a power play, and if she was being honest, Kara was winning.

For her part, the blonde made a slow, deliberate show of pulling back just enough to look down Lena’s body and smirked, slowly licking her lips afterwards. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.” She whispered, leaning closer again so her lips would graze Lena’s jaw.

“You could tell me.”

“I could.” Lena could actually hear the smile in those words. “But I could also show you.”

She was likely about to answer something witty, smart and teasing, but Kara’s hand moved from her hip to the apex of her thighs and all words left Lena’s mind

“Open your legs a bit more for me, baby.”

Oh, dear God.

She did. Holding eye contact, Lena parted her legs for Kara and actually let out a tiny whimper when the blonde praised her for it.

Huh. Looks like I have a praise kink now. Interesting.

One of her hands moved to Kara’s back, nails digging into her shoulder blade the moment she felt her fingers slipping past her folds, while the other one reached back for the glass wall, hoping it would help her stay upright, because the blonde was expertly moving those fingers now and Lena knew she was fucked.

“Shit. Kara.”

The hand that had been on her throat moved away deliberately slowly. Lena was about to protest, call Kara out on it for not following through with her promise to not hide that side of her anymore, but she realized soon enough that it was so she could wrap that arm around her waist to hold her upright while her middle finger slowly slipped inside her.

Who would be stupid enough to protest after that?

Her hand clawed at her back even harder, and she was sure there would be angry red marks all over the expanse of Kara’s back in the morning, but fuck it, because it was her own damn fault.

Before she could get used to it, Kara pulled her finger out, giving her no time to process what was going on before she used that same finger to slowly start circling her clit.

“Shit!” Her knees buckled this time, but the blonde tightened her hold around her and even pressed her body into hers, anchoring Lena’s body against the frosted glass wall. For whatever reason, her own reaction made the brunette giggle, and she used their closeness to get a better hold on Kara’s back. “Thank you for that,” she whispered hotly and breathlessly, close to the blonde’s ear, making her laugh, too.

“You’re welcome.”

During that whole interaction, brief as it was, Kara had never stopped her ministrations. Her finger kept slowly circling Lena’s hardening clit while making sure she was safe and comfortable. And they could laugh about it, too? 

Was this what sex with feelings and full trust felt like? What the fuck had she been doing her whole life?!

Nevermind, Luthor! You can barely hold yourself up and she just started touching you. Get a grip! Literally!

“You’re a fucking tease, darling,” she said slowly in between soft moans, still laughing a bit, because the epiphany she had just experienced left her full of happiness and more emotions than Lena knew what to do with.

The blonde laughed with her, though, and her mouth kissed its way down to her neck, where she seemed to set camp while her finger started to speed up a bit. “Don’t act like you do like it, you’re dripping into my hand, Lee.”

“It’s the shower.” There was nothing wrong with a bit more teasing, was it?

It made Kara laugh again and in that moment Lena knew that this was it. Kara was it for her. She wanted this for the rest of her life. She wanted the playful banter, the lazy days where they just existed together. She wanted Kara’s kisses and the feel of her body pressing against her back in bed, pulling her impossibly close so she could nuzzle the back of her neck right before she woke up. And this. She wanted this . To feel this loved and cared for, and she wished more than anything that she could be the same for the woman she was madly in love with.

She hated that Sam had been right, though. All those times during some of their late night deep talks and confessions, usually over a bottle of wine, when Lena told her that love was overrated and she had never truly seen the appeal nor felt the way Sam seemed to feel about Alex, her best friend had told her that one day someone would just change that, and she would just suddenly feel it. That there would be no words to explain or describe it, one day she would just feel it, and she would know.

And now Lena knew.

She was suddenly filled with a surge of emotions so strong that made her tear up, and she held tightly onto Kara, feeling her tears fall while she laughed and sniffled at the same time.

“Are you okay?” Kara asked softly, a tinge of worry in her voice. She attempted to pull back to look at her, but Lena just wrapped both her arms around her, holding on for dear life.

She nodded, though, because she knew Kara would feel it. She nodded, and cried, and sniffled, and laughed. One of her hands moved slowly up the blonde’s spine until her fingers tangled in her hair, and she breathed a sigh of relief, closing her fist on it and nodding again. “I just love you.”

How was it so simple?

She could hear the soft, content sigh that Kara let out, and when she pushed even more into her body, the brunette knew that she didn’t need to explain. Kara knew. Kara always knew. “I love you, Lena,” she whispered back, keeping their bodies flush against each other’s.

The fire that had been steadily burning inside her suddenly intensified tenfold after hearing those words. It left Lena in a state where she didn’t really know what to do with herself, because everything was too much and not enough at the same time. So she did the only thing she could do, really: Lena let out a needy, begging whimper, and hoped Kara could magically know what to do, because she didn’t even know what she wanted her girlfriend to do next.

The blonde might have missed her Hogwarts letter. Probably because the owls could have never made it all the way to Krypton when she was eleven years old.

The hand that had been around her waist moved now that Lena was holding onto her with both of hers, and Kara reached for brunette’s leg, pulling it up and making her hike her thigh over her hip. The position allowed the blonde a lot more room, and she took advantage of it by adding a second finger and slowly pushing both into her girlfriend again.

The moan that made its way past Lena’s lips this time was downright sinful.

Her head tilted back with it, giving her girlfriend enough room to kiss her neck with a lot more freedom than before. The fact that Kara was also panting and moaning with her only served to prove her right: she was dripping into her hand.

Just when she was about to ask for more, Kara’s thumb slid across her clit a few times, teasingly at first, probably to gauge Lena’s reaction, but with a lot more purpose when all the answer she got was an unintelligible string of curse words. Some might not have even been in English.

It could have been embarrassing if Lena had some semblance of shame or decorum at that point, but she didn’t. She also didn’t give a fuck because, honestly? If she could get Kara to come this fast, she would be fucking proud.

She felt it building steadily at a fast pace. Almost out of nowhere, too. One moment Kara was teasing her, trying to find out what she liked and how, and then next she was fucking her—because there was no other word for it—in a way that absolutely blew Lena’s mind and turned her into a moaning, whimpering mess.

“Fuck!” Her head was still thrown back and her eyes had closed against her will. “Kara… fuck!” There was no holding it back now. “Baby, I’m so fucking close.”

“I know, love,” the blonde answered, her voice strained in between her own grunts and satisfied moans. “I can feel it.” 

“Shit!” Hearing her like that was definitely making things unravel way faster than Lena expected. The way Kara kept curling her fingers so she could rub her front wall with each trust wasn’t slowing things down, either.

Lena was pretty sure there had been another string of cursing there, but her brain didn’t really work anymore, so she would blame it on that. 

“Lena,” Kara tried gently, never ceasing her thrusting nor her steady thumb rubbing her clit. However, ‘ gently’ didn’t seem to cut it anymore. “Baby.” This time she moved her hand and grabbed her face firmly to get her attention. It worked, and the way she did it, by holding her face in a way where her thumb was placed on one cheek while her fingers were on the other, made Lena whimper loudly when she opened her eyes to look at her. “That’s it, baby. Focus on me, okay? I want to see your pretty face when you come for me.” She never let go of her face. Probably for the best, because Lena wasn’t really sure how to keep her head from tilting back in pleasure anymore. She did nod, though, and did her best to keep her eyes open to hold eye contact with her girlfriend, because not getting to see those darkened blue eyes looking back at her like that wasn’t an option anymore.

“Fuck. Fuck!” Her fist pulled on Kara’s hair and her leg wrapped around her waist, inadvertently pulling her closer and applying more pressure on her clit. “Fuck, Kara! Yes!” Then there was a moment of almost complete silence, where no sound left Lena’s parted lips, but it was merely the calm before the storm that her mind blowing orgasm would be. Those few seconds where her back arched, all air caught in her chest, and her fingers dug hard into the already marred and sensitive skin of Kara’s back.

Lena came hard. Her hips buckled erratically at first, then rolled in tandem with the fingers that were still drawing out every last bit of pleasure out of her until she had nothing left. 

She came hard, long and loud.  

And getting to look into Kara’s eyes while she was coming until her eyes couldn’t remain open anymore had been an incredible experience. Especially after her previous realization. It only confirmed what she already knew. 

At some point Kara had let go of her face and she had pulled her fingers out of her. Lena wasn’t really sure when that happened, but she found herself with her forehead resting against the blonde’s shoulder while she tried to catch her breath. Soft hands were holding her close and caressing her back, and she noticed that as soon as her body shivered, once it had started coming down from her high, one of the hands moved off her back to change the setting of the shower and she could suddenly feel a nice, soft drizzle of warm water washing over them from the shower ceiling. 

“Are you alright?” The blonde asked in a whisper, kissing the side of her head and holding her in both her arms once again.

Lena shook her head, but let out a breathless chuckle. “Am I alright? You just ruined me, Kara.”

Her girlfriend pulled back with a smile, trying to take a look at her face. “What do you mean?”

She tilted her head to look at her, smirking playfully. “It means that I could never go back to have mediocre sex with anyone else after what I just experienced with you. You’re stuck with me, Kara Zor-El.”

“Huh.” Kara tried to look pensive, but the little smile she was trying to hide blew her cover. “You do know that Kryptonians mate for life, right?” She asked, and Lena could detect a little bit of fear in that question.

Of course she knew that. She had spent most of her time there learning everything she could about their culture. “I do,” she nodded, slowly finding the strength to stand up straighter on her own. “So we better bond after this courting, because… Good God, Kara. I honestly had no idea!”

Kara laughed and shook her head, a bit confused. “About what?”

“That you could fuck like that!”

“Oh!” Was she blushing now? After what they had just done? While they were still naked in the shower together? “Well, I’m a woman of many talents.”

“I can see that!” The brunette chuckled once more, then leaned closer to leave a soft, promising kiss on her girlfriend’s lips before whispering against them. “How about we finish this shower so we can go back into the bedroom and find out what my mouth can do all over that gorgeous body of yours?”

The way Kara gulped and nodded after hearing those words had her girlfriend grinning and pulling her closer for a hard kiss. Nothing deep, because she knew now how easily things could escalate, but still assertive enough to let her know she wasn’t kidding.

Kara switched the setting of the shower once again, this time for it to offer enough pressure, and she reached for the shampoo at the same time the brunette reached for the soap.

“Need help with that?” The blonde asked cockily, and Lena looked up at her with the eyebrow and smirk combo.

“I’ve seen how that ends,” she observed, keeping the same expression on her face. “Don’t you think we wasted enough water already?”

Kara smirked back and acquiesced, focusing on washing her hair and letting her girlfriend clean herself up after… everything. “If that’s the point you’re trying to make, I feel like I should warn you that nothing goes to waste here in Argo City. We learned from our mistakes. All of our resources are renewable.”

Lena looked up at her again, not teasing anymore. “Are you serious?” Kara chuckled and nodded. “How?!”

“I heard the Head of the Science Guild is brilliant. I’m sure if you ask nicely next time you see her at work she will be happy to show you.”

Now Lena was laughing with her, and how was she in love with this huge dork? Probably because of that, if she was being honest with herself. “I’ll make sure to ask her, then.”

They both finished showering quickly after that, exchanging glances, smiles and the occasional short kiss. While Kara turned off the shower, Lena reached for two towels from the rack on the other end of the huge stall and turned to face her. “You need help drying off?”

The blonde scoffed and snatched one of the towels from her hands. “If I let you help me, you’ll make things even worse.”

“Likely.”

“I’ll pass this time. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“Suit yourself.”

It wasn’t long until they were both mostly dry, only towel drying their hair in between giggles and sweet kisses that kept promising more, until Lena seemed to have had enough. She looked at Kara once again and took the towel from her hand, discarding both of them carelessly next to the sink. “You’re done.”

“Am I?” How could the woman who just fucked her senseless look at her so innocently confused now?

“Yes, you are.”

The brunette took her hand in hers and turned around, leaving the bathroom behind and going back to her bedroom again. Somehow she could feel Kara’s eyes on her back, and it made her feel wanted, desired. It was a huge turn on.

She turned around once again and hugged Kara’s waist, because she wanted to make sure their plans hadn’t changed. She kissed her softly and looked into her eyes. “You still want to?”

There was no need to explain what she meant, they had both been thinking about the exact same thing ever since Lena mentioned it before. Kara brought her hands to cup her face, kissing her slowly once again. “More than anything,” she whispered against her lips.

“Do you need me to be… I don't know, slow and tender?” It wasn’t like she was asking out of the blue. The way her girlfriend had just kissed her felt a lot more like slow lovemaking than, um… what Lena had in mind.

She got her answer right away when the blonde grinned brightly and captured her bottom lip between her teeth, eliciting a breathy moan from Lena. “I need you to do exactly what you said you wanted to do.” And as if she needed to make a point, both her hands moved down her girlfriend’s back until she could squeeze her butt cheeks.

The words and what her hands were doing snapped Lena out of her thoughts, and her gentle mood changed so drastically that it surprised even herself. “Then get your hands off my ass.” Her voice was firm and a bit demanding, and her eyes might have communicated the same thing, because Kara moved her hands away as if she had just been burned. “Much better.”

It was her time to take the reins now, a task Lena didn’t take lightly. Especially after what had just happened in the shower.

Her hands tightened on Kara’s hips and she started kissing her once again, all while walking her back to the bed. The little bump of the blonde’s calves hitting it had Lena smiling into her kisses, and before the blonde knew what was going on, her girlfriend had pushed her into the soft surface of her mattress and she was staring up into darkened green eyes.

“Kara, love, do you have any issues relinquishing control for a little while?” It was a question that Lena knew she would have to ask whenever they started being sexually active. Having gone through what Kara had gone through could mean there could still be some underlying issues, and the last thing she wanted was to cause her girlfriend any kind of discomfort.

Kara sat up, placing her hands on Lena’s waist while she nuzzled the skin of her stomach, peppering some kisses there every now and then. “I always knew I could trust you,” she started in a soft whisper while her lips kept kissing every bit of skin they came in contact with. “The fact that you just asked me proves how right I was in doing so.” She looked up and smiled, the kind of smile where she also bit the corner of her lip, the one that never failed to make Lena’s knees go weak. “Not to you, I don’t.”

All Lena could do after that was bend down and cup the blonde’s face between her hands, kissing her with as much love as she could muster. “Good girl,” she whispered, winking playfully right after and placing her hands on Kara’s knees so she could part her legs, giving herself enough room to get down on her knees in front of her. “Now, I’m gonna be very clear here, Kara.” Her voice had an edge to it. Not a bad one, per se, but it was the same one that always made an appearance whenever she had to command a room full of board members. It left no room for misinterpretation. She looked up and noticed her girlfriend kept her eyes trained on her, already listening closely. “At this point, I doubt either one of us could endure any foreplay without immediately combusting, so you are gonna be good for me while I eat you out. Is that clear?”

She could actually hear the gasp that preceded the enthusiastic nod, but that wouldn’t cut it. Not tonight. Lena wanted, needed to hear her say it. “Use your words, darling.”

“Y-yes.” To be completely honest, Lena took some sort of twisted pleasure from her girlfriend’s slight stutter and the way she saw her lick her dry lips after that.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, i-it was clear. I’ll be good for you, Lee.”

“Good girl.” Lena moved her hands up and down the blonde’s thighs, leaving goosebumps in her wake. Her lips soon joined her hands, and she held Kara’s left thigh a bit more open so she could start kissing the inner side of it. “Oh, and one more thing.” She used her teeth to tease her, too, once she heard her breathing picking up a bit.

“Mm?”

“Coherent words, Kara,” she demanded, and by the looks of it a shiver had run down the blonde’s back.

However, Lena had to give it to her, because very few people would dare react to her that way when she used her boardroom voice, Kara groaned in almost pained frustration and clenched her jaw. “Please, tell me what else is on your mind?”

She let out a pleased little moan while nipping at the sensitive skin of Kara’s inner thigh, then she looked up at her. “You made me look at you before, when I was about to come, and I did. Now I want you to watch while I eat you out until you come all over my mouth.”

“Shit.”

“Language.”

“I can’t help it, love.”

“Will you still be good for me and watch?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can use as much profanity as you’d like. In English or Kryptonese, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you.”

“You can thank me later.”

She didn’t give Kara a lot of time to react after that, because both her hands parted her thighs even more, and Lena held eye contact while tasting her for the first time. The moan that escaped Kara’s parted lips was beautifully haunting. Lena was ruined for good.

Sadly, she had to break eye contact in favor of tilting her head a bit more comfortably so her tongue could keep exploring freely. It was aimless, but still deliberate, making each and every single stroke count, and she couldn’t hold back her own moan when she felt Kara’s hand on the back of her head, urging her on.

There was a slight shift in the blonde’s position, and since the new angle allowed her such a better view, Lena assumed she had leaned back on her hand to be more comfortable. She did a quick check to see if Kara was still watching, and was pleased to say her girlfriend never disappointed. Her eyes were glued to every little thing Lena was doing, a mix of an all consuming fire mixed with adoration swimming back and forth between them. 

The next part, though, was pure fire.

Lena moved her tongue down with purpose, putting pressure at her entrance, but also gathering more of her wetness into her mouth, which made her let out a loud, needy moan into the blonde. “Fuck, Kara,” it took everything she had to pull back enough to to form words, but she was getting a bit overwhelmed herself and needed to get it out. Kara needed to know. “You taste so good, baby.”

“Fuck, Lee. Please!”

Lena felt the hand on the back of her head close in a fist around her still damp hair, and it only spurred her on. She had teased her enough. Her tongue started drawing lazy circles as it moved up, finally focusing those same circles around Kara’s clit. It earned her a whimpery moan and a pull on her hair. She thought about scolding Kara for a moment, but the thought didn’t last long because the blonde had just rolled her hips into her mouth and Lena was a goner. 

Her hands moved up the blonde’s body and she took her sweet time on her breasts, pinching and rolling her nipples between her fingers, while her tongue alternated between the lazy circles and strong deliberate licks that had Kara gasping.

Lena was undoubtedly having the time of her life.

There was a slow, ragged sigh that got her attention, and when she looked up she could see the desperation in her girlfriend’s eyes clear as day. Yes, she was having a lot of fun, but right now Kara needed more, and who was Lena to deny her?

“What is it? Do you need more, love?” What? She never said she wouldn’t be a tease.

“Yes. That feels so good, Lena.” Her hand tugged on brunette hair again and she tried rolling her hips. “I need more, baby.”

Both of Lena’s hands moved down to her hips to keep her from rolling them again, and Kara got the message loud and clear, because she stopped right away. As some sort of little reward, Lena moaned into her again, and this time she could feel those gorgeous legs actually shaking a bit when she did.

“Rao, fucking… oh!”

Was it wrong that she was actually feeling proud of herself for having Kara reverting to her native tongue? Honestly, Lena didn’t give a fuck if it was wrong or not, she was fucking proud.

With deliberate precision, the brunette moved her right hand from Kara’s hip, down her thigh until she reached her knee, then slowly up her inner thigh. There was no warning, basically because she didn’t think her girlfriend needed it at this point. Her middle and ring finger pressed firmly against the blonde’s entrance for just a second, before slowly sliding in at the same time Lena closed her lips around her clit, sucking softly while her tongue kept liking it, not letting Kara get used to anything for long.

“Oh, fuck! Lena, yes, just like that. Don’t stop.”

It was definitely the proudest day of Lena’s life.

Once they were all the way in, her fingers started moving, pumping slowly, rubbing Kara’s front wall with every pull and going as deep as she could with every push. That’s when she felt her legs shaking harder than before and she smiled, even with her lips still sucking softly, she smiled for a second, and something told her the blonde could actually see it, because she pulled on her hair a little bit harder. 

That was what started a chain reaction that neither one of them could control. Lena smiled, Kara pulled. Lena flicked her clit, Kara wrapped one of her legs around her body and pulled her closer. Lena moaned loudly into her, Kara rolled her hips again.

They kept urging each other on until the brunette could feel Kara starting to clench around her fingers. She was close and Lena wanted nothing more than to make her come like that. She pushed her fingers in one last time, but instead of pulling back, she just curled them inside her and stroked her front wall more deliberately. She knew Kara would roll her hips again, and this time she was ready for it. Lena looked up and locked eyes with her girlfriend, then rubbed the flat of her tongue firmly on her clit, using the hand that remained on her hip and a playful wink to silently tell her to… well, basically, to fuck herself on her face.

She didn’t really have high hopes for her message to be delivered exactly the way she wanted it to, but Kara got it as if she was reading her mind.

The blonde smirked back and licked her lips. She nodded and tightened her hold on Lena’s hair even more, effectively keeping her head still while she moved her hips. Her moans only got louder after that, and she started letting out little grunts in between them. It was absolutely mesmerizing and Lena couldn’t tear her gaze away. 

Not that she was trying or anything.

“Yes! Lena, fuck!”

She wanted more of Kara. Everything, really. Lena’s left hand moved past the blonde’s hip and around her body, grabbing her ass tightly now that her hips kept lifting off the bed, easily guiding Kara whenever the rolling of her hips got a bit more erratic.

“I’m… Lena, Rao! Fuck, yes!”

Kara’s orgasm didn’t exactly catch her by surprise, but it was way more overwhelming than Lena could have ever anticipated. The blonde was a mess of jerking hips and loud whimpers mixed with soft grunts. The way she kept clenching around her fingers almost pushed them out, and it would have, if the brunette wasn’t so determined to keep them inside her until the very last possible second.

It could have been seconds or hours, Lena wasn’t entirely sure, but slowly and with just a few more erratic jerks, Kara finally started to come down from her high.

The hand fisting her hair softened its grip until it was gently rubbing her scalp. As carefully as she could, the brunette pulled her head back, and when she licked her lips with the most self-satisfied grin, Kara chuckled and let herself fall back into the bed, arm thrown over her eyes while her chest rose up and down in time with her panting.

“Fuck, Lena. That was…”

“Mhm, indeed.”

That made the blonde laugh again, and this time she moved her arm away to crane her neck and look down at her girlfriend. “You okay down there?”

“Having the best time of my life.”

“You can pull out now, you know?”

“I mean, I could…” She looked from Kara’s face to her fingers still buried deep inside her, back and forth a few times, contemplating her options until the blonde laughed again, making her laugh, too.

“Get up here so I can kiss you, Lena.”

It wasn’t a question and Lena low-key enjoyed it, but she wasn’t about to let her girlfriend know that and relinquish even more power right now. She had just fucked herself on Lena’s face, for fuck’s sake, that would have to be enough for now.

But she did it, anyway. She pulled her fingers out slowly and carefully, enjoying the little gasp that it elicited from the blonde, then got off her knees in favor of straddling her girlfriend’s abs. Sure, she made a show of sucking and licking her fingers clean under her watch, but Kara had done the same before, so who could judge her?

As expected, the blonde’s eyes were glued to what she was doing and darkening again by the second, so Lena did the only thing she could do in that situation and slowly rolled her hips, leaving her renewed wetness smeared on Kara’s stomach.

It got her attention immediately and Lena could see how her gaze switched back and forth from her lips to her own stomach. “What?” She asked, playing dumb but still letting her smirk give her away. 

“And you say I’m the little shit?”

“It is entirely possible for both of us to be. I never said it was an exclusive title, you know?”

Next thing she knew, Kara had flipped them over and was lying between her legs, grinning down at her in a way that meant nothing but trouble.

They fell asleep several hours later, still naked, completely spent, and with satisfied smiles on their faces.

When Rao rose, just moments after they had fallen asleep, it found Lena with half her body resting on top of Kara’s, face buried in the crook of her neck and one arm possessively around her waist. For her part, the blonde had her own arm around her girlfriend’s body, holding her close, while her lips brushed her forehead, even in her sleep.

The perfect ending to a beyond perfect night.

That was, of course, until a red wave of antimatter washed over them.

Chapter Text

“Hey, there, sleepy head.”

The hell?

That was most certainly not the voice Lena was expecting to hear the moment she woke up.

“I fried a couple of eggs for you. Methohexital hangovers are no joke. You must be ravenous.”

She slowly sat up, noticing she was fully dressed and had been sleeping on her own couch. In her own penthouse. On fucking Earth!

And that wasn’t even the worst part. Lex was in her kitchen, pouring champagne into a flute to hand her a mimosa.

“This can’t be real.” She took the flute, because what else was she supposed to do? “I left.” On second thought, maybe drinking wasn’t the wisest choice at the moment. Lena set the flute down on the coffee table without taking a single sip

“So, you remember everything?”

“Of course I remember! You tried to kill me! I did everything in my power to get away from you!”

What the fuck are you doing still talking to him, then? Run, you idiot!

“Yes, that's right, we both might have let our emotions get the best of us. But that is all in the past.” Lex finished putting together a plate with what Lena assumed was some sort of food for her and set it on the coffee table, next to her glass. She wasn’t gonna touch that, either. “Because we’re back together now, as family should be, and I forgive you for practically vanishing from the face of the Earth.”

Try literally, you sick fuck.

Lena got off the couch to follow after him the moment he headed back to the kitchen area. She was getting desperate at this point, and it showed on her face. “What are you talking about? What is happening?”

“Well, it was, uh... sort of a Crisis.”

His nonchalance was making Lena nauseous. How was she back on Earth? Where was Kara? The more she thought about it, the more desperate she got to find answers, because if anything had happened to Kara, this time she wouldn’t hesitate, she would put two bullets in Lex’s chest herself without any semblance of remorse. “A Crisis?” She needed answers. Soon, before she lost her mind.

“Yes, billions of lives were lost and the multiverse collapsed, and it was all very interesting.” He said casually, as if it was a common occurrence, an ordinary everyday thing, and Lena was ninety percent sure she was about to throw up any minute now. “What matters now is that a very powerful person rescued me before I disappeared so I could help. But I refused to do so, unless he promised that you would make it through okay, and you have, with your noggin intact.”

What the fuck?

“You gambled the fate of the entire multiverse to get your own way?” It was killing her that she couldn’t ask about Argo, about Kara, about every single life there. She wasn’t afraid to be in his presence, because her worst nightmare and greatest fear wasn’t Lex anymore, it was the very real possibility that her girlfriend, the woman Lena knew to be the love of her life, could have suddenly disappeared from existence.

“It gets better. In this new world, we work side by side at LuthorCorp and the DEO to make the world a better place.”

“So I'm in hell.” It surely felt like it. She turned around and walked back to the living room area. Looking at his face was making her nausea even worse.

“No, no, you're in a new reality. To the outside world, we're billionaire philanthropists. It's the perfect cover.”

“The perfect cover for what?” She knew that the best thing she could do right now was to keep her temper in check, but the more Lex explained, the harder that single task got. Until she just lost it. She turned around to face him once again with nothing but unconcealed hatred. “I already was a billionaire philanthropist, Lex! You were the deranged megalomaniac making my life a living hell. I want nothing to do with you.”

Lex let out a disappointed sigh and sat down on the couch crossing one leg over the other while staring at his sister.

“What happened to my friends?” She couldn’t ask about Argo, but at least she could ask about her family. Her real family.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. The world is ours now, Lena. You don't need friends. You need a partner. Imagine what we could accomplish together. Why not give it a go?”

That cut her deeper than she thought his words ever could. Of course she needed them, they were her family, not him. “So you think this is your world now? How delusional can you be to actually believe that I’ll ever work with you again?” Lena clenched her jaw, and her stony expression seemed to give Lex pause, or at least make him a bit curious. “I know what you did to Sam, Lex.”

“Ah, so I was right!” He said, grinning  triumphantly. “She knew where you were hiding. I have to admit, she’s a strong-willed one, that Kryptonian, never said a word. How sad would it be if she didn’t make it into this new reality?”

Lena was sure she would lose half her fortune on speeding tickets after this.

The familiar drive to the suburbs that usually took her around twenty minutes, had just taken nine. She wasn’t proud of it, but she couldn’t help it once desperation set in.

As soon as the house was in sight she could spot Sam’s SUV parked on the driveway, and that eased the tightness in her chest a little bit. Not entirely, but enough for now. 

She haphazardly parked her Bentley right behind it, carelessly and chaotically askew, and jumped right off, slamming the door after her.

“Sam! Alex!” She started banging on the front door so hard that some of the neighbors stepped out to see what the commotion was all about.

It opened suddenly, almost making her fall past the threshold mid-knock. “What the hell, Lena?!” Sam asked, seemingly exasperated. She looked out and shooed her nosy neighbors away before quickly pulling Lena in by her wrist and closing the door behind her. “Are you dying? You better be dying after scaring the shit out of me like that!”

That was the moment Alex chose to rush to the front door, gun in hand, looking for whatever danger had Lena in such a state. “What is it?! Lena, what happened?!”

All Lena could do was throw her arms around her best friend and just cry in relief.

While Sam wrapped her arms around her, Alex still went to open the door, making sure she wasn’t in any kind of danger.

“Lena, what’s going on?” The redhead finally asked, transforming the Hand of the Soldier back into a bracelet once again.

The brunette sniffled and pulled back, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater and looking around. “Is Ruby…?”

“She’s at a friend’s house.”

Oh, thank Rao!

“Lena, you’re freaking me out,” Sam said loudly, effectively getting her attention. “What the hell is going on?” She also tilted her head down and a little bit to the side, inspecting her friend’s face a bit closer. “And why is there a bruise forming on your cheekbone?”

“I… I don’t know how to explain it. But… Lex isn’t Lex.” The confused faces that were looking at her after that sentence made her shake her head and close her eyes in an attempt to clear her thoughts. “The Lex you know, the good one, the philanthropist. He isn’t any of those things, it’s all an act. That’s not my real brother. Things are different. He-he-I thought you all disappeared, he made it sound like it and I… I-”

“Lena, did you hit your head when you parked your car like a crazy woman? Is that how you bruised your face? Maybe you got a concussion or something. Or are you suddenly just plain stupid?”

Before she had the chance to be offended by that question, Alex’s phone started ringing loudly, startling all three of them. She pulled it out of her back pocket and frowned at the name displayed on the screen. “Hold on, I have to take this.” She slid her thumb over the screen and brought it to her ear. “Danvers.”

Okay, so it was business related. For a split second Lena’s hopes spiked, thinking that the DEO could help her, but they were immediately squashed when she remembered that the DEO was a LuthorCorp subsidiary now. She was truly fucked.

“She just got here, she’s with us.” The redhead said, sparing Lena a quick side glance. “I believe she’s unharmed, aside from a bruise on her cheekbone.” She had gotten closer and was examining the bruise. “I understand. I will.” Alex kept speaking into her phone, but now her gaze switched back and forth between the other two women, still frowning. “We’ll get Ruby and be there as soon as possible, Director J’onzz.” The moment she hung up Lena felt her hopes going up again. “We have to go,” she said with a stony expression. “Sam, call Rubes, we need to pick her up on our way.”

“Should I pack some clothes or something?” Apparently Sam was more familiar with the whole drill, if the lack of questions was anything to go by.

“We don’t have time.”

“Where are we going?” Lena asked while taking a step closer to the redhead after Sam nodded and stepped away to call her daughter. “Alex, we can’t go to the DEO.”

“I know.” 

She knew?

The same stony expression remained on Alex’s face, only now it was joined by a deep frown and tinged with a bit of worry. “Did your brother do that to you?”

Lena could only look down at the floor and nod, letting out a soft “yes.”

There was no way to miss the way Alex clenched her jaw and angrily closed her fists. “Anywhere else?”

“Just my arm when he grabbed and backhanded me. I was trying to get out of my apartment to come here and he seemed to have other ideas.”

“Did you defend yourself?”

“I think I broke his nose. Didn’t stay back enough to confirm, but the sound was there.”

“Atta girl.” There was a little proud smile on Alex’s face for a split second. “Are any of your jets available?”

Lena frowned, too, but nodded. “Mine should be.”

“Does Lex track them?”

“He has the means to, but I doubt he’d do it without reason. Unless he realized this could happen and set up an alert…?” Lena was starting to get an idea where this whole thing was going while thinking out loud. “I will need to check myself, I don’t trust anyone else to do it, but if things are… um, the way they used to be, he shouldn’t be able to track it. I designed that jet myself, there’s no faster way to fly. And if you’re really concerned about stealth, it's got military grade cloaking.”

“I fucking love you.”

“Keep it in your pants, Danvers, you have a fia–” she tried to cover the slip up with a cough, because that’s how smooth she was. “Girlfriend. You have a girlfriend.” Luckily, Sam saved her right away, joining them while shoving her phone into her pocket again. 

“Okay, ready. Ruby is waiting for us. Where are we going?”

Alex looked from Sam to Lena. “National City.”

“Whoa, hold on,” Ruby walked up the length of the aisle, placing her probably-dirty-teenage-hands on the very off white leather seats. “Are you telling me this is yours, aunt Lena?”

Her godmother just laughed, enjoying her reaction while following her inside. “Yes.”

“I knew you were rich,” Ruby turned around to face her, grinning so bright it made Lena forget her worries for a second. “But you are rich, rich.”

“The proper term would be ‘billionaire,’ Rubes.” Of course Sam had to throw her two cents in there. “Now pick a seat and buckle up.”

“You’re really harshing my mellow here, mom.”

A special kind of look was all it took for Ruby to sit down and buckle up, looking out the window in silence.

As soon as Alex finally joined them, after checking the perimeter for threats, she took one glance at her daughter and looked at Sam afterwards. “What did she do?”

“I seem to be ‘harshing her mellow’ nowadays.” 

Lena pursed her lips so hard in an attempt not to laugh that they were starting to hurt. She was well aware that laughing now would undermine Sam’s authority, and she would never do that to her best friend. So, to keep her cool, she sat down a row away from Ruby, taking the seat closest to the door, and reached for her secured tablet to check if it was still, in fact, secure. 

While Alex went to take a seat with her daughter, probably to talk to her and calmly explain why she shouldn’t talk to Sam that way, the woman in question took the seat across from Lena, quickly buckling up, too, and watching her curiously. She knew her that well. Apparently some things could never change.

“I’m going to need all of you to either turn off completely or at the very least disable the location services on all of your electronic devices now.” She was all business, because there was really no margin for error here. Lena knew she needed to outsmart her brother with every single step she took from now on. Lex would be expecting her to make a move after the way she had to literally fight him to leave her own apartment. “If any of you are wearing a smartwatch, I’m going to need you to take it off and hand it over.” Lena finally lifted her gaze to look at them, waiting. 

She could easily see that Ruby was about to protest, but Alex held her hand up, stopping her before she could say anything. “It’s for your own safety, Rubes. Just do it.”

It wasn’t without a lot of huffing and a very pointed eye roll that the teenager took off her smartwatch and handed it over. Alex and Sam did the same, so when Lena had all three of them, she bent down a bit on her seat to push a hidden button under the small table that separated her from Sam, and placed all three smartwatches inside the concrete and lead lined drawer that slid out swiftly with a soft hiss.

“They are safe here, Ruby. You’ll get it back the minute this is all over, I promise.” She was back on her tablet right after, typing and sliding her fingers across the screen a few times before the plane started moving. “Also, if your phones aren’t off, airplane mode for the duration of the flight, please.”

Sam pulled hers out of her pocket and just turned it off completely. “Whatcha doing over there?”

Her eyes were still fixed on her tablet, but she answered anyway because it would be rude not to. “Making sure Lex is not going to remotely crash this plane and kill us all.”

There was a long pause afterwards, and it took Lena a long time to realize that she had just said those words out loud, but when she did, she at least had the decency to look up at her best friend. “He probably won’t.”

“Probably?!”

“He won’t.” She reassured her. Pausing again afterwards. “I’m almost sure.”

“Almost?! Lena, what the fuck is going on?!”

All eyes were on Sam after that but, honestly, she looked like she couldn’t care less. Which, knowing her the way Lena knew her, she probably didn’t.

“Hopefully Director J’onzz will have some answers for us.”

This time Sam lowered her voice, at least. “You already know what is happening and you’re not telling us. You think I don’t know you by now?”

Fair. She had a point there. 

Lena had been trying to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t have to think about it. About any of it. About Lex, about him risking the entire fate of the multiverse to get his own way, about the possibility of Sam, Alex and Ruby to have never existed in this brand new and revamped universe, but over everything and anything else, she couldn’t– wouldn’t think about the fact that Kara might just be… gone. Whenever that thought crossed her mind she would just shove it into one of the little boxes in her brain, closing and pushing it away, never to be opened again.

And now fucking Sam made her think about it and she was fresh out of little boxes.

“It’s not something I can explain, Sam, because I don’t know how to do it without it completely destroying me!” It all hurt so fucking much that Lena had trouble getting the words out in a civilized manner. She knew she shouldn’t be lashing out, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, either, but her chest felt completely hollow and she had no idea if she would ever feel whole again. “Hopefully someone else can,” her tears started slowly and silently running down her cheeks, and that made her angry, too. “Because I’m fucking drowning here! I feel like I can’t breathe. My lungs are on fire and my heart is barely beating anymore. It’s taking everything I have to just function. And none of you can understand why because you just don’t remember! It was a different universe, a different timeline, so technically none of this really happened to you. But, Sam…” she closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head, overwhelmed with more sadness than she knew how to handle. Lena had known grief before, but this? This was hell. “The best, most beautiful part of my entire universe could be gone. Could be nothing but a memory that only I will remember, the most cruel curse to bear. I carried her with me for over a year. She showed me I’m deserving of love, and I learned how real love feels with her. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone. You were right. You’ve always been right: I just knew. She brought out a side of me I never knew I had, and now all of that love has been ripped right off my chest in the blink of an eye, and I’m just… left here. Not even an afterthought. A lost memory. Completely miserable, with no idea on how to fix it. I’m living in hell right now and I don’t know how to get out of it, or if I ever will.”

As expected, Lena had been unable to sleep during their five hour flight.

Sam had gotten off her seat once they were in the air and held her until her tears started to subside. Not because she was done crying, but because she ran out of them. Maybe she was that dehydrated. It didn’t matter anyway, because Lena refused to give up. She decided right then and there that she would never give up on Kara, and if that meant spending the next ten, twenty, fifty years trying to find a way back to her, then so be it.

By the time Sam let go and moved back to her own seat, both Ruby and Alex were deep asleep. Lena noticed with a fond, sad smile how both of them had put on a set of headphones she kept attached to every seat of the jet, likely to give them some privacy. She would thank Alex for that later.

Her best friend had fallen asleep about an hour later, and Lena was finally alone with her thoughts again. Whenever they started drifting towards the despair she was feeling, she made the conscious effort to guide them back to trying to find viable solutions to what she was going through.

Few things came to mind, but it was a start.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that the voice announcing they would be landing soon in National City startled her a little bit. It also woke Sam up, which was good because someone needed to wake up the other two and Lena was not looking forward to doing that.

“Lena?”

She had been looking down at her tablet again when Sam called her name. “Mm?”

The taller woman waited until her best friend looked at her. “I might not fully understand what happened yet, but I understand pain. We’re gonna get her back, no matter what. You deserve the kind of happiness you described, and I’ll be damned if I let the universe take that away from you.”

No more words were necessary after that, they both knew it. Lena just gave her a short nod that came with a sorrowful frown, while Sam sent her a smile that conveyed nothing but reassurance and support.

The landing was smooth as always, and as soon as Lena opened the door they could see an unmarked DEO black SUV waiting for them. From then on, Alex took the lead, and the young Luthor was infinitely grateful for it, because she was exhausted.

“Director Danvers, it’s good to see you.”

J’onn J’onzz’s deep, yet smooth voice greeted them the moment the four of them stepped out of the elevator and into the control center of the National City branch of the DEO.

Ruby was amazed, Sam looked impatient, Alex was worried, and Lena was getting a bit desperate and annoyed at this point. She waited until all of them shook his hand and Ruby had wandered off to check out some screens and maps to finally ask the question she has been dying to ask ever since Alex got his call. “Director J’onzz, I’m aware we barely know each other so, please, forgive my bluntness, but did you call us here because you know what happened?”

“I’m sorry,” he looked at her with that same frown Alex had been sporting over the past six hours. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Do you remember?”

The man crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Lena with a curious expression. “Do you?”

“Yes! Thank God, I thought I was gonna go insane!”

“Hold on. Miss Luthor, how did this happen? I was under the impression that only the Paragons–”

“My brother, Lex. He-he told me something about a Crisis and-and I’m not sure what happened, but he said that he made a deal with some sort of powerful being…?” Lena waited for the man’s nod to continue, “to make sure I would make it here safe with my memories intact.”

“The Monitor.” At least he was following what she was saying and not just looking at her as if she was insane. “I have to admit I was not aware of Mr. Luthor’s… private negotiations with The Monitor.”

“Can someone, for the love of God, please tell me what the fuck has been going on?!” Sam had had enough.

Director J’onzz opened his mouth to answer that question, but he was rudely interrupted when the ground shook violently beneath their feet.

“What was that?” Alex was already on high alert. Lena could notice her checking all emergency exits and Ruby’s location.

Only moments later a frazzled Brainy appeared out of seemingly nowhere and looked around the group in confusion. “Greetings, friends,” he said in a very Brainy-like fashion, but there was no more time for pleasantries because the ground shook again, harder this time, and he held onto his tablet for dear life to avoid dropping it. “Director J’onzz, the reinforced containment cell just failed. Nia and Guardian are doing everything they can, but they are no match for that kind of power.”

“Just in time, then,” J’onn J’onzz said gravely, “all of you, follow me.”

“Ruby,” Sam whispered, looking at Alex and frowning, full of worry. 

“Hey, don’t worry,” a blonde woman appeared to their left, startling them at first, but then giving them a much needed sense of relief once they recognized her. “I’ll make sure Ruby is okay, about damn time she met her little cousin, don’t you think?”

“Cass!” It had been years since Lena last saw her, but the woman looked exactly the same. “What are you doing here?”

“Just…” Cass tsked and shooed them away with her hand. “Go with J’onn, you’ll see. We can catch up later.”

“Thank you, Sergeant.” Lena had absolutely no idea how Director J’onzz could be calm enough to still remember pleasantries. 

She did smile fondly when Cass saluted him, meeting his seriousness with some of her usual goofiness. The fact that the woman was holding a toddler at her hip made the whole thing even more amusing and ridiculous.

All there was to do after that was follow J’onn down a flight of stairs while the man apologized for not being able to use the elevator for security reasons.

Even if they could, Lena would have chosen the stairs anyway, considering the rumble she could still feel beneath her feet.

They made it down two flights of stairs until a thick, heavy looking metal door was the only thing that separated them from the source of the rumble and a new strangled agonizing scream that twisted Lena’s heart in the most painful of ways. 

“Director J’onzz, with all due respect,” Alex started, getting the man’s full attention. “This clearly looks like a very dangerous situation, I don’t think it would be wise nor safe to involve civilians.”

J’onn J’onzz placed both his hands on his hips and looked down at the floor, shaking his head in defeat. “Believe me, Director Danvers, in this case it is absolutely necessary. We tried everything, but ran out of options in a matter of hours. I contacted you after that, even. We’ve been trying to keep the situation contained in the meantime, but it’s getting harder by the minute. Four of my agents have been sent to the Med bay already. The three of you being here is our ‘last resource’ situation.”

The redhead narrowed her eyes in suspicion and locked eyes with the man again. “What or who is in there?”

“You’ll see in a minute. Stay behind me,” J’onn instructed, his hand about to open the door. “Miss Luthor, I need you to stay closer to me. But, please, be careful.”

The door opened and the loud, pained scream that pierced their ears shattered Lena’s whole world and built it back up in a matter of seconds. She couldn’t see much, mostly because Dreamer was manipulating her energy into some sort of lasso to restrain the person that was furiously struggling against it, while also trying to calm them down with her words. Honestly, what was she even thinking?

It didn’t seem to be working, shockingly, because that same person was still screaming in seemingly a lot of pain, while their eyes burned red and two blue beams of heat vision burned bright against a golden shield.

A Kryptonian.

She would recognize her anywhere, even if the way she was screaming was so foreign to her ears.

Suddenly her hands were shaking uncontrollably and, without even thinking, Lena tried to move past J’onn. Only to be stopped by a firm hand grabbing her shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing? Stand back!” Alex shouted over the noise with her firearm already trained on the woman in front of them.

J’onn noticed Alex’s gun and shook his head. “Your bullets are useless here, Director Danvers. Put your gun down.”

“I’ll take my chances, thank you.” Alex could really be a pain in the ass when she wanted to. “That’s clearly a Kryptonian, do you have any Kryptonite bullets here? Tranq darts? Anything?”

“No!” Lena shouted loudly, glaring at her friend, ready to jump at her throat if necessary. “What the fuck is wrong with you? We do not use Kryptonite, Alex. Ever!”

She kept to herself the ‘especially not now’ part.

“Lena, are you fucking seeing what I’m seeing?!”

J’onn seemed to have anticipated a much more aggressive fight between the two friends and decided to intervene. “You’ll only escalate things even more and put everyone here in danger.” The man was firmer this time, slightly raising his voice while glaring at Alex. “This is my branch, you will follow orders here, Director.”

It was obvious that Alex didn’t like that one bit, but she seemed to know J’onn was right, because her gun disappeared from her hand moments after, transforming into a thick metallic wristband again.

So Lena tried again, this time shaking Alex’s hold and taking a step closer.

“Lena, no!” It was Sam the one holding her back now.

But she didn’t pay attention to her words. Lena tilted her head slightly in an attempt to get a better look to confirm her suspicions. “She won’t hurt me.” She said, finally smiling after hours of enduring the most painful, heart breaking grief.

“Are you insane? How do you know that?”

She took a step closer and her smile only grew. “Because she’s here for me.”

“Miss Luthor.” Lena heard Director J’onzz voice calling her and turned to him for a second. “I already restored her memories.”

That was all Lena needed to hear before she broke free of Sam’s grip and pushed past Brainy, who was there trying to do some damage control, too. He didn’t seem to try to stop her, which only proved her theory.

“Kara,” she called, berating herself when her voice came out so weak and shaky that she could barely be heard. Lena cleared her throat, steeling herself and tried again, louder this time: “Kara!”

The beams of heat vision suddenly dissolved and the woman’s red, tired eyes turned to look at her. “L-Lena?” Kara looked like she had been crying, and her voice was hoarse, probably from all the angry screaming. She also stopped struggling against Nia’s hold.

The brunette practically threw herself into Kara’s arms, much to the complete horror of her friends who were watching the whole scene from the doorway. That was the moment Nia thought it safe to stop trying to restrain her. “Finally, I couldn’t have held her much longer.” 

The blonde’s arms were immediately around her the moment she was free, only it felt different this time. Her whole frame felt more solid, her embrace tighter than usual, and the reality of the situation gave Lena enough pause to warn her, whispering softly into her ear. “Remember you have powers here, Kara. Please don’t crush me.” But not even then she could find it in herself to stop laughing while also crying happy tears.

Kara, always perfect and thoughtful, quickly let go of her and took half a step back. “Oh, shit! Sorry! Lena, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? Are you okay?”

“No, my love, you didn’t hurt me. You could never.” Lena cupped her girlfriend’s cheek and softly caressed it with her thumb.

“Okay, now that the batshit crazy situation we just witnessed seems to be over: since when does Lena speak Kryptonese?” That checked out. If anyone was going to break their little bubble, it would be Sam. “And why is she calling this blonde psycho ‘my love’?” She paused for a moment, seemingly remembering Lena’s words from a few hours earlier. “Hold on. Lena, is that…?”

Her friend nodded but, in the end, what seemed to surprise Sam the most, was that the blonde woman laughed and looked fondly at her. “Hi, Sam,” she greeted her smiling, then looked at the woman next to her. “Alex.”

The redhead stepped protectively in front of her girlfriend and kept her gun pointing at Kara. “Who the hell are you and how do you know our names?” 

“Oh, wait. Allow me. I probably should have done this sooner.” J’onn turned around and touched Alex’s and Sam’s temples at the same time, using both hands while closing his eyes to focus, somehow making them close theirs, too. It didn’t take more than a few seconds before both of them breathed loudly, as if breaking the surface after a long time underwater, opening their eyes in shock. 

It seemed like everyone else in the room was staring at them. Probably because they all were, including Lena and Kara.

“Shit, Kara,” Alex gasped, and before she could say anything else Sam was pushing past her to hold the blonde in a tight hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” Kara said softly, sniffling in a futile attempt to get rid of her tears.

While Alex wasn’t one for open displays of affection to anyone other than her girlfriend or her daughter, she still walked closer and placed her hand on Kara’s shoulder, squeezing steel-hard muscle. “You too, Kara. Sorry for…” she waved back at the door where they had been standing before. “You know.”

The blonde chuckled and Lena’s heart started beating faster at the sound. “I get it. Things were… confusing for me, too.”

That sentence gave Lena enough pause to realize that a lot of things didn’t seem to add up. “How did you end up here?”

“I’m… not really sure.” Kara frowned, and the crinkle was there and all Lena wanted was to kiss her, but she couldn’t right now, not before she got some answers. “The Martian was kind enough to restore my memories, but before that, all I can remember is that I was working on a new project at my home-lab, and suddenly the portal my dad built turned on out of nowhere. I didn’t even know it was functional, but now I remember that I fixed it. Which doesn’t really make any sense and trying to think about how is that even possible now makes my head hurt. But that’s not what you asked.” She finished, looking at her girlfriend with a sheepish expression. “I just got… a feeling.”

“A feeling?” Lena asked, carefully leaning closer to her.

“Yes. I… I don’t know if it’ll make any sense. My chest suddenly felt tight and this feeling of… emptiness took over me. I knew something wasn’t right. Nothing felt right after that realization. Nothing except the portal. So… I took my chances with it and ended up here. J’onn J’onzz seemed to recognize me the moment he found me, which, to be honest, scared me a little. But he mentioned my cousin and briefly explained what happened, then offered to restore my memories. I agreed, but suddenly I had all those memories and you weren’t here.” She looked at Lena and both their eyes started tearing up again. “After everything he told me… Lena, I didn’t even know if you were alive. It was too much. Back in Argo we-we had just… um, y’know.” The blonde blushed, and if there was someone in the room who hadn’t gotten it before, they sure did now. “So I needed to find you, make sure you were alive and well, but they wouldn’t let me leave and I just… I started to get desperate, and I lost it. I don’t know how to control any of the powers I have here, they are linked to my feelings, I think.” She looked at Dreamer and Guardian with a sorrowful expression on her face. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone. I would never do anything to hurt anyone. I’m sorry I lost control of myself.”

“All good, Kara,” Guardian said calmly.

Wait. Where do I know that voice from?

“I can’t blame you. I would have done the same if it was my wife or my daughter.”

“Kelly?!”

Guardian laughed and removed her helmet, winking at Lena and greeting Kara with a little wave. “Please, don’t tell anyone?”

“Oh, Rao, I just assaulted my therapist! Lena!” She turned desperately to her girlfriend. “I assaulted my therapist!” When all she got for an answer was a little laugh, Kara focused on Kelly once again. “I swear I didn’t know it was you! Not that I would want to attack anyone else, but… I didn’t know, I swear!”

Once again, Kara was breaking the tension by just being her adorable self.

“Secret identities are secret for a reason, Kara.” Her kindness made Lena miss her friend so much more. “I’ll keep your secret of the very accidental attack, if you keep mine.”

“Oh, I would never tell a soul.”

“Good.”

But there was something else. Something was nagging at Lena and she couldn’t pinpoint what it was right away. Something Kara had just said had gotten her attention, and not in a good way. When it finally dawned on her, she—very stupidly, yes—punched her girlfriend’s shoulder, only to cry out in pain and cradle her hand afterwards. “Motherfucker! Fuck!”

“Shit!” The blonde rushed to her side and tried to hold her hand to examine it, but Lena pushed her away.

“You fucking idiot!”

“Wait, huh? You punched me! How am I the idiot here?”

“No, not that!” She quickly checked her hand, making sure nothing was broken so she could focus on Kara once again. “A portal magically turns on and you just… what? Go frolicking into it?!”

“I didn’t frolic, Lena. That would have been stupid.”

“That is the part that would have been stupid?! Not you just going in without knowing what was waiting for you on the other side?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ I swear to Rao, Kara, one of these days you’re just gonna give me a fucking heart attack.”

“If she didn’t give you one while you were loudly fucking last night, I hardly think she ever will.” Sam’s nonchalance made every single one of them pause to look at her in various degrees of uncomfortableness. “By the way, nice job, Daddy. Never heard Lena scream like that.” Well, not everyone seemed uncomfortable, Nia was grinning and looked ready for the gosip.

“I’m… going to let you… and you can sort out…” J’onn tried. He really did, but it had been a lost battle from the beginning and he knew it the moment Lena panicked and he accidentally read her mind. “I’m just going to leave. The Med bay is ready for whatever you need.”

Kelly laughed right after the man disappeared and excused herself to go back and let her wife know everyone was okay. She handled it way more gracefully than J’onn, for sure.

“How… Um… What?”

“Our bedrooms used to share a whole wall, Lena, remember?” Sam was smirking while directing a pointed look at her best friend. “Turns out, we shared a wall in our bathrooms, too.”

Kara blushed furiously and looked down, much to Sam’s amusement and Nia’s endearment. Lena, however, was out for blood now. “Just for future reference, do you make it a habit to listen while I have sex?”

“Not particularly.” Sam was completely unfazed by the question. “But the two of you kept waking us up, so it wasn’t like I could really help it.”

“Can this conversation please be over?

Sam looked at her girlfriend and arched her brow. “Don’t act like you weren’t listening, too.”

“Well, I didn’t want to!”

Kara brought her hands to her ears, trying to shield them from noise while a pained expression took all over her face. “Argh!”

That cut the whole conversation short.

Lena stepped closer and held both of the blonde’s biceps, softly rubbing her hands up and down in what she hoped was a soothing manner. “Hey, Kar,” she whispered softly, shushing Sam when she tried to say something. That got Kara’s attention and opened her eyes to look at the brunette, only they were burning red again. 

If Lena was being honest, it took everything in her to still remain calm and bring one of her hands to the blonde’s face, gently bringing it down her eyelids to silently tell her to close them. “That’s it, love. You’re doing great. Keep covering your ears.” She looked at Alex after that and mouthed the word ‘earplugs’ while pointing at her own ears.

The redhead nodded and ran out, likely to get them from the Med bay.

This time, when Kara groaned painfully again, she also crouched, keeping her eyes tightly closed. “I got you,” Lena whispered, kicking away some of the broken glass around them so she could sit down on the floor with her back against the closest wall and pull Kara into her arms.

“It’s too much,” the blonde almost sobbed, feeling the shift and allowing Lena to pull her into her lap. “It hurts.”

“I know, darling.” Lena removed one of her girlfriend’s hands from her ear and guided her head against her chest as carefully as she could. “Try to focus on my heart. Can you hear it?” When Kara nodded and burrowed closer, the brunette started rubbing a hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her again. “Good. You’re doing really well, love.” She kissed Kara’s temple and left her lips there, caressing the soft skin.

Alex came back with her earplugs and handed them over, then closed the heavy door, hoping it would help Kara a little bit.

“Kara, we need to uncover your ear so I can put one of these earplugs in. It’s going to help, I’ll be quick, I promise.”

It took the blonde some time, she was likely considering her options, but in the end she nodded and waited until she could feel her girlfriend’s hand on that side of her face.

“Ready, darling?” Kara nodded. “Take a deep breath for me now.” As soon as she did, Lena made a quick job of removing the hand covering her ear to replace it almost immediately with one of the silicone earplugs. “There. Does it feel better?” 

Kara took a deep, relieved breath through her nose and nodded.

“Do you want the other one?”

“Not yet,” the blonde whispered back. She kept her ear practically glued to Lena’s chest, only now with a little smile on her face, and tried opening her eyes again. They weren’t red anymore.

After noticing that, the brunette smiled in relief and looked up at her friends. “Would you mind giving us a moment?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Also, Alex, could you prep the Med bay? I’ll have to make a dampener.”

“Of course.” Alex waved Nia closer and followed Sam out of the room.

As much of a pain in the ass as they were most of the time, Lena wouldn’t change a single thing about her friends, nor trade them for anything in the world.

So they remained like that, Lena sitting against the wall with Kara sitting on her lap and curled into her chest. The theory the blonde had come up with regarding the way her powers manifested was proved right in that exact moment, because Lena could suddenly feel her body getting lighter. Kara was levitating. So Lena sighed and wrapped her arms a bit tighter around her body, anchoring her down and kissing the top of her head, before the dam broke and the tears started running down her cheeks without even asking. They were rude like that.

The Kryptonian looked up, her eyes teary and full of worry. Maybe she could hear her breathing, or her heart picking up a bit, but she seemed to know that Lena was crying, no matter how much she tried to hide it. “Lee,” she whispered, bringing her hand to cup Lena’s cheek, and the sweet gesture made her cry even more.

But she didn’t say anything else, and Lena knew she didn’t need to explain herself, either. What she needed to do was kiss those lips again, because just an hour ago she was doubting if she would ever get to do it again. Her hold around Kara’s body tightened and she leaned down, capturing her lips in the sweetest of kisses, which the blonde reciprocated immediately.

It wasn’t lost on her the way the blonde flinched a bit when her head moved away from her chest, but without even having to look at what she was doing, Lena placed the other earplug in Kara’s ear, never breaking the kiss.

They stayed like that for a long time, just enjoying being together again after they both had been left with the feeling that they had lost one another.

“I love you,” Kara finally whispered after breaking the kiss, keeping her lips brushing Lena’s brand new smile.

The brunette looked into those blue eyes and pushed a strand of hair behind her girlfriend’s ear, then playfully nudged her nose with hers. “I love you, too, Kara Zor-El.”

“So, this is Earth, huh?” Lena tried to keep her laughter down, and she almost succeeded, if it wasn’t for the goofy blonde looking up at her afterwards. “I have to admit I am highly unimpressed, but that might be due to the fact that your friends attacked me.”

“They attacked you?” She asked, grinning and wiping away the tears. “I was under the impression that it was the other way around.”

“Seriously Lena? You’re supposed to be a genius. This is basic Earth’s commutative property of multiplication. Changing the order of factors does not alter the product.”

“Since when are you so well versed in Earth’s mathematics?”

“Like I told you last night: I am a woman of many talents.”

“You’re a shit, you know that?” There was no malice behind those words, only love and adoration.

Kara grinned brightly and nodded. “I seem to recall you saying that exact same thing last night.”

Shit. Is it getting hot in here? No. You do not want to go there right now. Bad Lena! Kara needs help, not you being a horny pervert.

So she kissed her softly once again, then stroked her cheek with her thumb. “Do you think you might be able to come up with me now?” The blonde looked up at her with the most devastating pout Lena had ever seen. “We’ll keep the earplugs and I’ll make sure no one you don’t know yet gets anywhere near you.” 

“That’s not my issue, Lee. What if I accidentally hurt someone? I already did.”

“I’m gonna ask you to trust me, love. I won’t let that happen, I promise.” The pout was starting to slowly dissolve, but not entirely. “I will make a dampener for you, darling. Just like the one I made for Sam, remember?”

Kara nodded, but then she was frowning again. “I don’t want it to be an implant.”

“Then it won’t be,” Lena reassured her. “We can make some sort of wristband or watch, like the yellow sun one I made for you to recover faster.”

“No. Not a bracelet.”

It was said so quickly and firmly that Lena realized immediately why that wouldn’t be a good idea for them anymore. That had meaning now. They were courting, things were different. What actually surprised her the most, though, was that she agreed: whenever she gave Kara a bracelet, she wanted it to mean something.

She didn’t need to say anything, they both knew why. “A necklace?”

Kara bit the corner of her lip, thinking about it. “I’m not the most careful person, even without powers. If I break it somehow, it could be a disaster.”

“An anklet?”

“What's that?”

“A bracelet for your ankle, love,” Lena explained, with a little chuckle.

“Oh, that could work, yeah! Just… make sure it’s hard to break?”

Lena smirked, because even before Kara said it, she already knew what she was going to do. “You’re dating a Luthor, darling. Leave that to me.”

Chapter Text

Lena hadn’t fully noticed the real extent of Kara’s exhaustion until they entered the secluded Med bay that J’onn had prepared for them. He had been thoughtful enough to change the setting of the glass walls, allowing them to see everything that was happening outside, but not the other way around. Lena assumed it was some sort of half-silvered surface, but the fact that it didn’t require a certain kind of lighting to actually work as intended made her realize it was probably made of some sort of alien material. She made a mental note to ask Director J’onzz about it and hopefully be able to look into that at some point. 

Alex, Sam and Ruby were already inside waiting for them. The two adults were engaged in a hushed conversation, while Ruby was just waiting to hug Kara after getting her memories restored, too.

So that’s what she did the moment she saw the blonde, almost knocking her down, which shouldn’t have been possible, yet it looked like it. Lena was about to ask, but she let it go when Kara quickly steadied herself at the same time she carefully wrapped her arms around Ruby. “I missed you, little one.”

“I missed you too, aunt Kara,” the teenager mumbled against her chest. “I’m sorry I forgot about you.”

That was so painfully sweet that neither Kara nor Lena could help their eyes from getting watery.

Her godmother placed a hand on Ruby’s back and stepped closer into the hug to at least try to soothe the girl’s worries with some affection. “That wasn’t your fault, Ruby,” she whispered sadly, but now with a small hopeful half smile on herself. “The important part is that we’re all back together now, and I won’t let anything bad happen to any of you.”

“Neither will I, Ruby,” Kara added, pulling back and looking at the young girl. “On the bright side, now that I’m here you’ll get to teach me all about that social media you kept talking about back in Argo.”

That seemed to do the trick, because the teenager got so excited that she pulled back from the hug to reach for her phone, and Kara proved to be a ‘master distracter’ at the same time.

“Rubes, not now.” Sam stepped closer and gently took her daughter’s phone. “We can’t, remember? Not until we’re back in Metropolis.”

“What’s the point of coming all the way to National City if I can’t even Insta about it? Pics or it didn’t happen, mom.”

Kara leaned closer to her girlfriend, asking softly, “what’s an insta?”

“Oh, darling,” the brunette grinned and patted her shoulder. “Good luck with all of that. I’m sure Ruby will give you a full rundown of every single app.”

“You do realize we didn’t have ‘Insta’ when we were your age, right? We barely had internet at home, on an actual desktop computer. If we were lucky, which I wasn’t.” Sam explained as calmly as she could, but anyone could tell this was not the first time she had to have this conversation with her daughter. 

“Barbarians.”

Clearly, that wasn’t the answer her mother was expecting, which prompted her to have to turn to the side to hide a proud smile at her daughter’s quick wit.

“You can survive a few hours without your phone,” Alex decided to intervene before Sam laughed and threw all of that effort out the window. “Go ask Vasquez to show you what she’s working on or play with your new cousin. Kara needs to get checked out and your mom needs my help with something.”

“Ew, that’s gross, mother. In front of Kara and Lena?”

“What? No! Not that!” The redhead blushed and pointed at the door. “Out. Now.”

So Ruby left, not without a lot of huffing, and they could see her choose hanging out with Esme over going to nag Vasquez.

“She’s a good one, isn’t she?” Sam asked, looking proudly at the way she interacted with the little shy girl, making her giggle a few times.

Lena followed her gaze and smiled. “You two are raising her well. She is going to be an amazing woman.”

“Team effort, Luthor. You did more than your fair share, and so has Kara lately.”

Stupid emotions, making her almost tear up again.

That’s when Lena looked at her girlfriend and noticed not only how red and tired her eyes were, but also the way she was holding herself on a bed to stay upright. “Shit,” she berated herself, “lie down, darling.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not. Please, lie down so Alex and I can properly check you up.” Even after she said she was fine, Kara responded immediately when her girlfriend helped her onto one of the two state of the art hospital beds. 

“Do you know if these were designed by L-Corp? They look a lot like a prototype I was working on.” The brunette asked, appreciating the sleek lines and checking the functionality.

“They are LuthorCorp, Lena,” Sam informed her grimly, clearly not enjoying having to be the one reminding her. “L-Corp never existed here. It’s always been LuthorCorp.”

“Right. That fucking cunt.” It was a mumble, more to herself than anyone else, but Kara heard it and snorted, making Lena smile, too, and forget about Lex again. “Okay. Now, you,” she looked at her girlfriend, “I am going to check on your vitals and once we can dampen your powers, Alex will take a blood sample to make sure everything is okay.”

“Are we sure she didn’t solarflare down there?” Sam asked, folding her arms across her chest and standing at the foot of the bed, letting both Doctors work.

Her best friend looked up at her for a second. “Yes. Or at least not entirely.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do, Sam.”

“Kara, do you feel like you have powers?” The woman asked, apparently not satisfied with that answer and bypassing Lena altogether.

The blonde frowned in confusion and looked from Sam to Lena. “I don’t know. How do I know?”

“I had to hold her down after you left because she was flying, Samantha.” Clearly Lena had had enough nonsense for a day.

“I was flying?”

“Oh, so now it’s Samantha?”

Both Kara and Sam asked at the same time, and Lena could feel the beginning of a migraine already. “Yes,” she answered, looking at her girlfriend, then turned to Samanta. “It is when you’re being an insensitive asshole, yes. I’m already stressed enough, and right now I have to check my girlfriend— whom up until an hour ago I thought I had lost forever—for internal bleeding and severe head trauma. Do you think any of this is fun for me? I don’t need you to add anything else to my plate.”

As stubborn as Sam was, she knew when to admit that she had been wrong. Maybe not in the form of an apology, but in her own way; one that her best friend was used to already anyway. She let out a long sigh and looked down with a frown. “Fine.” That was all. 

“Thank you.” At least Lena would be civilized.

While she started doing exactly what she had just detailed, Lena noticed from the corner of her eye how Alex and Sam exchanged a quick look, then the latter nodded her head away from them, calling her fiancée to the other side of the room. She ignored the conversation, even if she was tempted to ask Kara if she could actually hear what they were talking about, but when Sam sat on the other bed while Alex prepared a neatly selected surgical kit, it was clear that the situation needed to be addressed. “I’m sorry, what’s going on there?”

Sam was the one who looked up to address her while Alex just kept doing her thing with laser focus. If Lena had to bet, she’d say that she wasn’t even listening. “Alex is removing my dampener.”

For whatever reason, that wasn’t the answer Lena had been expecting, even though she probably should have, considering they had done the exact same thing in the previous timeline. She took a moment, evaluating the pros and cons of that situation, even knowing that it was Sam’s body and she could do with it whatever the hell she wanted. “Are you sure?” Was all she asked.

“More than ever. We already took this precaution when we were in Argo, and I didn’t even have powers there without some sort of yellow sun radiation. But here? With Lex running rampant?” Her eyes opened almost comically for emphasis. “I’d say we’re gonna need to use whatever advantage we have over him. This is a huge one. I wasn’t able to help you before when he was constantly threatening your life because of this dampener and my stupid misplaced trust in Superman. That’s something I’ll never forgive myself for, but I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to any of you this time around.”

Alex seemed to have been listening all along, because she smiled proudly while still getting her surgical tray ready.

No more words were necessary after that. Lena smiled softly and both friends exchanged a short, understanding nod.

“Do you think you could train me?” Kara asked, and her girlfriend’s gaze landed right back on her once again.

Sam shrugged one shoulder, nodding afterwards. “Sure! If you’re up to it, we can train you.”

The brunette attached the last electrode to Kara’s temple—because, priorities—then looked up at her friend. “We? I hope I’m not part of that ‘we,’ because I’m strongly opposed to that idea.”

“You and Alex trained me,” Sam pointed out, a bit confused with Lena’s reaction. “I was just as green as Kara when I merged with Reign and suddenly had all of these powers I couldn’t control, remember?”

“Yes. I also distinctly remember being against the idea of you going out there and putting yourself in danger. Why would you think I’d want that for my girlfriend?”

“Um, because she just asked and it’s her choice?” Well, yes, Sam had a point there, but it didn’t mean Lena had to actually like it. “Regardless of how you feel, the choice is hers. You decide how you deal with it afterwards.”

That was the moment Alex approached them again, placing the tray on the rolling table and pulling a chair closer so she could sit by her fiancée. She hadn’t said anything yet, because she was wise like that. Nothing she could say would get through to a stubborn Lena the way it did whenever Sam was the one doing it. It wasn’t a matter of trust, but a matter of wording and directness. 

While Alex’s analytical—and anxious, because she was well aware that was a clear sign of anxiety—brain would inevitably stop to consider what Lena’s reaction might be and all the possible outcomes before saying something controversial, Sam would just do it and deal with the aftermath later. Yes, there had been lots of arguments because of it, but in the end it was what worked best for Lena. She didn’t need people sugarcoating things, she had always liked direct people who said exactly what they were thinking, and Sam had always been that kind of friend. They both had been for each other.

Now, Lena knew Sam was a hundred percent right. There was no doubt in her mind about that. 

She still hated it.

“Is that what you want, love?” She asked, her voice softer now that she focused on the blonde and ran her fingers through her hair.

Kara gulped and nodded. “I want to be able to keep all of you safe, too.”

“You don’t need superpowers for that.”

“I know, and I still want the dampener. I just want it to be removable in case I ever need to take it off.” Why was everyone making such good points today?! “Is that something you can deal with, Lee?”

That was the moment Lena realized her girlfriend had been paying attention to Sam’s words. It wasn’t the first time her best friend had used that logic with her, it always worked because it was sound and simple: if she couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to deal with something, whatever that was, she could always step aside and distance herself from the situation completely; and the fact that Kara immediately understood how effective it would be to ask her that question spoke volumes about how much she knew her already.

She did take a few more seconds than necessary, trying to get used to the idea. “I’ll design a suit for you.”

“You will?” All three of them asked at the same time, making Lena laugh and nod.

She noticed Alex reaching over for the arm holder they used whenever they needed to take blood samples and an idea that would make things so much easier for her popped into Lena’s mind. “Hey, is that one of the dampeners I made with the encasing for implants? I can’t remember if I made it before or after.”

“Before. This is one of those, yes,” Alex said, not looking up while disinfecting Sam’s arm, which for her was pointless, because once she regained her powers, Sam would instantly heal completely anyway. There was zero risk of infection, but whatever made her happy.

“Great, don’t discard it.” The brunette moved away from the bed and began going through cabinets and drawers until she found what she was looking for. She held a beaker and carefully filled it halfway with isopropyl alcohol, then placed it on the surgical tray, next to Alex’s tools. “Put it in there as soon as you remove it, please.”

The redhead finally looked up once she had applied the local anesthesia on her fiancée’s arm and was waiting for it to work. “Are you gonna recycle it?”

“Yes. Why waste a perfectly good micro-dampener when I can repurpose it by just sterilizing it and removing the casing?”

“Smart,” Sam commented.

Lena smirked and arched her eyebrow at her. “I believe the accurate word would be ‘genius’ but I suppose I can let it slide.”

“Asshat, that’s the accurate word.”

The brunette narrowed her eyes and switched her gaze from Sam’s eyes to her arm, where Alex was making the first incision. “I’ll let that slide because you’re undergoing minor surgery right now.”

“Appreciate that.”

The actual surgery didn’t last more than three minutes. It took longer to prepare the surgical equipment and clean up afterwards than the procedure itself. Of course, it did help that it only took a few seconds for Sam to absorb enough yellow sun radiation from a tiny, well placed sun lamp so her own body could close the incision itself without the need of stitches.

No one noticed Kara watching closely and opening her mouth in amazement when she saw the way the other Kryptonian’s arm healed itself. “Okay, I definitely want to have that power.”

Sam smirked, “learn to control the other ones first, young Padawan.”

Lena was already sitting at the nearest workbench, disassembling Sam’s dampener so she could adapt it for Kara, when she heard the reference and she laughed out loud, which only seemed to confuse the blonde even more.

“Young what?”

Instead of answering Kara, Sam looked at Lena with nothing but indignation on her face. “I hope you know I’m very disappointed in you right now,” she told her, shaking her head. “Imparting this kind of knowledge is your responsibility, Lena.”

The brunette smirked, but never tore her gaze away from the work she was doing under a magnifying glass. “It’s not like we had streaming services there, Sam. I don’t carry copies of Star Wars with me.”

“I know you’re right,” her best friend conceded, but she was not done, “but this is still going to be your fault.”

“I suppose I can live with that,” Lena commented absentmindedly, clearly having already moved on from the conversation, at least in her mind. “Hey, Alex, do you know if they have any Nth metal here?”

The redhead pursed her lips while placing her hands on her hips. “I’m not sure. I know we have it in Metropolis because you financed its production there yourself, but I have know idea if it ever made it here. I’ll go ask J’onn, hold on.” 

“Well, at least I seem to have done something for my own damn company in this fucked up timeline,” Lena mumbled under her breath after Alex went to find J’onn, but both Kryptonians were able to hear her anyway. They both remained quiet, though, only exchanging a concerned look, knowing that Lena would need to get that frustration out somehow.

“Miss Luthor.” J’onn was suddenly at the door, scaring all three of them. To his credit, he was at least trying to hide a smile after seeing them all jump, startled. 

Not Alex, though. Alex was grinning, right next to him.

“Director Danvers tells me you are in need of some Nth metal?”

“Yes. Do you happen to have any? Since this is a LuthorCorp subsidiary I figured you might.”

The man shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, looking at her with a half smile and… apologetic disappointment? “Sadly, we don’t. The shipments of Nth metal you–the other you sent for us mysteriously disappeared. We never got them.”

“What? How is that even possible?”

“I’m a green Martian running a DEO branch, Miss Luthor. I’ll give you one guess.”

“Lex.” J’onn’s nod was more than enough answer. “Is there anything that maniac hasn’t ruined yet?”

“There is.” The Martian said calmly, piquing Lena’s curiosity.

“And what would that be?”

“ You, Miss Luthor.” Was that an actual warm smile on his face? “He hasn’t ruined you.”

“Barely,” she scoffed, trying to deflect it.

J’onn leaned against the doorframe, resting his shoulder on it while still looking at her. “You and I both know that’s not true.”

Lena narrowed her eyes at him, eyeing the man suspiciously. “Are you reading my mind right now?”

That made him laugh, something none of them had ever seen before. “No, I am not. I do respect your privacy. However, and I’m sorry I have to bring this up, when you were all in distress before I couldn’t help it because you were so loud.” He made an uncomfortable pause to clear his throat and look at anything but her. “I apologize.”

“Please tell me it wasn’t after Sam mentioned what happened last night.” It was wishful thinking at this point.

“Sadly, I cannot do that.”

“Oh my God!” The brunette covered her face with both hands and groaned into them. “I’m never gonna be able to look you in the eye again, Director J’onzz.”

“What were you thinking about, pervert?”

“Sam!”

J’onn just laughed, whispered something to Alex, and left them to their own devices again, clearly not wanting to be part of any of what was about to happen.

Kara was the one bringing everyone’s attention back to the problem at hand, saving Lena from a world of embarrassment. “So… what do we do now?”

Her girlfriend swiveled around in her chair and frowned, pulling her hair up into a bun. “I suppose I can come up with something using any kind of metal we have available here,” she rationalized out loud, “but we have to leave as soon as it’s working so I can work on the real thing back in Metropolis. If I’m not mistaken I should have more than enough Nth metal in my lab.”

“Lena, you know we can't go to LuthorCorp or the Metropolis DEO for this,” Alex observed with a worried frown.

“Oh, absolutely not.” She wouldn’t set foot in any of those places again anytime soon. “Neither one of those is the lab I mean.”

“You sneaky genius,” Sam said, smirking playfully. “You have a secret lab, don’t you?”

Lena smirked back, only also arching an eyebrow. “Perhaps.”

Kara’s amazement when she spotted the jet waiting for them could rival Ruby’s during their flight to National City. It was adorably endearing and Lena was so, so in love. Sam was leading their little group while they walked to it, mostly because she was worried about their safety, but honestly, Lena didn’t think it was necessary. However, Ruby was with them, so she couldn’t blame her for wanting to take every single precaution.

In the end, she had made a ring to hold the dampener for her girlfriend. A bracelet was out of the question, no version of a necklace or anklet made in such a short amount of time could be remotely comfortable for Kara to wear, and to minimize the resources they would be using—because J’onn had been nothing but accommodating and Lena would hate to take advantage of it—they decided on a quick ring. 

Titanium seemed like the best choice. The DEO always kept more than enough quantities in stock because of its common use in some surgical procedures, so it seemed like borrowing just a few grams wouldn’t affect them all that much.

To save time, Sam had used her heat vision to cut just the right amount so precisely that nothing went to waste. As quickly as she could and after getting the blonde’s ring size, Lena brought it to the workshop and in a little bit over an hour she had crafted it into a simple but beautifully shiny band that held the dampener in contact with Kara’s skin on the inside.

Yes, it ended up looking a lot like an engagement ring. 

No, Lena didn’t want to talk about it.

Her best friend had tried to bring it up in private, but the brunette just shut it down at once, asking her not to mention it again and especially not to Kara. To her surprise, Sam had agreed to her terms without putting up a fight.

So now Lena was checking the outside of the jet while Sam went inside and used her x-ray vision to make sure nothing looked out of the ordinary, and once they were both satisfied, they let everyone else in.

“Is this like a spaceship?” Kara asked, touching every surface she could reach, including the ceiling.

“Well, not exactly. We can’t go to outer space, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Her girlfriend explained with the soft smile of someone who was absolutely smitten.

Kara nodded her understanding, then took another look around while Ruby sat down and Alex did the same in front of her. For her part, Sam just smirked and winked at Lena. “I’ll go sit with my girls so the two of you can ‘catch up’ or whatever.” 

The air quotes were very unnecessary, in Lena’s opinion.

“Aunt Lena, do you have any food in here?”

“Take a seat, darling, I’ll be right back,” the brunette said softly, leaving a quick kiss on her girlfriend’s lips before heading to the back of the jet.

She nodded her head at Ruby, calling her closer, and once the teen was next to her, she opened a hidden cabinet that not only held every kind of snack known to humankind, but also a fridge with a glass door, displaying a variety of drinks.

“Whoa.” Ruby was definitely marveling at the contents, going through every single thing to pick whatever she wanted. “Why didn’t you show me this before?”

“You didn’t ask.” Lena chuckled and kissed the side of the girl's head, walking a bit closer to Kara afterwards. “Darling, are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?”

The blonde looked up at her and the look of adoration Lena saw in her eyes made her wonder how she could’ve been so blind for so long. “I’m not hungry, but I hope you know I’m going to try every single food I can get my hands on while I’m here. I would love something to drink, though.”

Lena laughed, because of course, and vowed to do the best to help Kara try whatever she wanted. But in the meantime, a drink. “Are we thinking alcohol, like some ale, or…?”

“I’d rather not right now, I still feel so tired.”

“Electrolytes, Lena,” Alex yelled, but only because she had to, because Ruby’s loud excitement over all of the snacks she had brought with her made it hard to speak normally and be heard. “She almost solarflared and is now basically human. I don’t even know how she’s awake right now.”

When Kara gave her a shrug, the brunette nodded and went to get just that, because she knew Alex was absolutely right. She stood in front of the fridge trying to decide which flavor Kara would like the most, realizing it would probably be the one with the most ridiculous name. Mountain Berry Blast seemed like the right choice. The bright blue color would probably help, too. She grabbed a bottle of water for herself afterwards and went back to her seat, handing the blonde her drink.

“Ooohh, I have no idea what this is, but I already love it.”

Nailed it.

She then waited to see her expression once she tried it, which didn’t disappoint. Kara’s eyes opened wide while taking the first sip, then she took a second to look at the label before drinking half of it at once. “Okay, this is really good.”

Lena laughed and finally opened her water bottle, taking a long sip. “You won’t be drinking only that from now on, Kara. I’m warning you now because I know you.”

She did know her, because the next thing the blonde did was pout and look at her with those damn puppy eyes.

“No.”

“Don’t worry, aunt Kara, you’ll get to try lots of things, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks Ruby,” Kara answered, giving her girlfriend a cocky look with a grin that said ‘I won.’

The eyebrow with the half smile came up and that was the end of it. Lena could see her girlfriend gulp, then clear her throat, then blush, then look away while finishing her drink. “Do you need another one before we take off, darling?” She asked, her voice intentionally a couple octaves lower.

“Uh… No. No, I’m good.”

It had definitely worked.

Lena smirked at her before reaching for her tablet and focusing on it. “Okay, everyone buckle up.” She also did it herself, and once Sam gave her a thumbs up, she started typing and swiping on her tablet, and the jet started moving.

Once they were in the air for several hours and Ruby got the all clear from her moms, meaning that she could at least move a little, she reached for a bag of her favorite chips and looked over at Kara, who was sitting with her back to her. “Hey, aunt Kara! Catch!”

It was a good thing that the blonde still had quick reflexes and caught it, because otherwise it would have hit Lena right in the face.

“Sorry!” She heard from the other end of the jet, but couldn’t help the smile nor the shaking of her head at her goddaughter’s antics.

The teenager had gone back to putting on the headphones and listening to music while eating an inhuman amount of snacks, while Sam and Alex were engrossed in their own conversation, having moved about two hours ago, now sitting across each other one row behind Kara. 

That meant that the only one who was there to appreciate the blonde’s first experience with Earth snacks and junk food was Lena. She liked it that way. It felt… private.

“Mmm!” Well, at least she wasn’t actually talking with her mouth full.

Lena chuckled, because how could she not? Her girlfriend was adorable. “I know, right?” She asked playfully. “I always make sure to have the best snacks and drinks here. It enhances the whole experience. After all, this plane makes its own coffee, cleans its own toilets and flies itself.”

For a Kryptonian, the blonde seemed to be very surprised about that. “There's no pilot?” When she voiced the question she sounded a bit… concerned? But also impressed.

And the way she was looking at Lena afterwards… Yes, it was definitely starting to affect her. She had seen that look plenty of times before. Lena was well aware that they both were extremely attracted to each other intellectually speaking, too. In her opinion, that was how it all started, after all.

So, this time, when her voice dropped lower, it wasn’t intentional. It was her stupid body and brain reacting and responding to the way Kara was looking at her. “Well, humans make mistakes. My technology doesn't.” It came out sultry, clear and concise, with a bit of an accent. There was a hint of a smile and a twitch in her eyebrow, too.

Up until that point in her life, Lena had never been so relieved to experience turbulence. If the plane hadn’t shaken like that, she might’ve just dragged Kara to the bathroom in front of everyone and showed her what that look was doing to her.

But the whole plane shook, and everyone else was now looking at her with worried expressions. “Don’t worry, it’s just a lightning storm.” She said as casually as she could, trying to convince herself more than anyone else. But then it happened again, and they could see the lightning up close this time. 

“Is lightning here usually… purple?” Kara asked, and that was a very good question. Because, no. No, it wasn’t.

Before anyone could answer, though, that purple lightning fully hit the jet. It made the lights go out and it was clear that the engine experienced some sort of failure. Alex immediately moved next to Ruby, holding her daughter to calm her down.

Lena exchanged a quick look with her girlfriend and the frightened look on her face ignited a kind of determination in her that she didn’t think possible at a time like this. “Get your seat belts back on. I'm gonna land this plane.” She didn’t even wait for an answer before she got up and headed to the cockpit just when an alarm went off.

“Hold on. Can Lena… pilot a plane?” Alex asked, still stroking Ruby’s back and holding her close to her body.

“She’s a billionaire, Alex. Lionel probably got her one when she was ten along with a unicorn or something.”

The moment she sat down Lena checked their situation and shouted over her shoulder, “Brace yourselves, we’re gonna make an emergency landing.”

“Yeah. You know what, Lena? That's gonna be a huge ‘nope’ for me.” Sam shouted over the alarm.

And Lena knew exactly what she was about to do. The stupidest, most dangerous thing she could do in that situation.

“Sam, you open that door and we all die!” She shouted back quickly, as loudly as she could, hoping it would stop her before it was too late. “You’ll depressurize the cabin way too fast and the suction pull will get all of us sucked right out of the plane!”

After two seconds Lena noticed she was still inside the jet. Good. It worked.

She reached up and flipped a few switches. “Get your oxygen masks on, okay? I'm gonna restart the engine.”

The clouds suddenly cleared up, indicating they were losing altitude, and fast. But that wasn’t even the worst part, the moment she got a clear view Lena noticed they were heading straight into one of the mountain ranges that were relatively close to Metropolis. “Are you kidding?” She mumbled to herself, trying to breathe through her panic. “Okay, I got this.” She pulled on the control wheel, trying to pull the plane up, at the same time she heard a pained groan coming from the cabin.

She turned around quickly to make sure everyone was okay, when she saw Sam hovering mid air, with both hands on the roof, helping her push it up from the inside.

Oh, how she loved her best friend.

Once they were safe from the mountain and Lena could breathe again, Sam finally let go, letting out a sigh of relief but standing there just in case, making sure everyone else was safe.

She could see the landing strip. They were gonna make it if she could get the engine working.

“Okay, I gotta get the power back on!” She reached under a panel to her right and pulled it open, trying to manually jumpstart the engine again. Electricity crackled—yes, she got a small shock while at it— and the lights turned on while the automatic computer voice announced, “Engine engaged.”

“Yes!”

But Lena knew she had celebrated too soon, because then it added, “Autopilot rebooting. Manual landing required.”

“Seriously?!” Internal bitching aside, Lena took a deep breath, focused and landed the jet as if it was something she did every day.

Once it was over and she could get up, the brunette rushed back to the cabin. “Is everyone okay?”

“A bit shaken up,” Alex said, still holding a terrified Ruby, but smiled at her friend. “But we’re okay.”

“Kara?” She asked afterwards, bending over her girlfriend. 

“I don’t think I like planes,” she stated way more calmly than anyone expected her to be, and Lena noticed she was fiddling with her ring. “But I’ve had way worse experiences flying so, all in all, it wasn’t that bad.”

Both Sam and Lena chuckled, then exchanged a pointed stare, adrenaline still running high for both of them. “That lightning wasn't natural. Someone brought us down on purpose.”

“Wanna bet who?”

The logistics to get everyone to safety had gotten tricky the moment they set foot out of the jet. Alex started getting paranoid, looking everywhere and always keeping Ruby at her side. It was obvious she wasn’t thinking clearly or rationally, and Lena wouldn’t blame her for it, so it was Sam the one who immediately stepped up. They were a great couple that complemented each other perfectly, Lena had to give them that.

“Okay. So, what’s the plan now?”

Lena pressed her index finger and thumb to her eyes for a moment, then looked up at her friend. “We obviously can’t go back to your house or my apartment,” she observed, frowning worriedly. “My car is right here where we left it. We can all fit in it, I can take us to my lab. Although I don’t think that’s completely accurate. It’s, um… a bit more than just a lab. There are living quarters there, too.”

Sam eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds, narrowing her eyes and everything. “Lena, did you build yourself a doomsday bunker?”

It was truly unfair how well she knew her.

The brunette made a long pause, just holding eye contact until she just couldn’t anymore. “Maybe.” 

To her surprise, Sam just laughed. “That checks out.” She paused to gaze at her fiancée and her daughter for a moment. “Is it a long drive?”

“Not from here.”

“Where is it?”

Lena was reluctant to reveal the location, even to the people she loved and trusted the most, but they ran out of options the moment Lex attempted to kill them all. “Nearby the water gap.”

“Lena, how on Earth did you build a fucking bunker in a national recreation area?!”

“I said nearby!”

Sam just ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head. “Okay, so, a little over two hours from here?”

“Well, it depends.”

“On what?”

“On how much you’re gonna be yelling into my ear to slow down.”

Once again, Sam found herself narrowing her eyes at her friend. “Sometimes you can drive like a maniac, and you know it!”

Lena huffed and glared at her. “It would be ‘like a maniac’ if I didn’t know what I was doing. You know better than anyone that I’ve been training for over a decade. I am the best evasive driver you can get.” She paused, letting Sam absorb the information she already knew. “So what’s it gonna be?”

“I’ll fly over the car the whole time to make sure we’re clear of threats.”

“Fair enough.”

“How fast can you get us there?”

Lena smirked. “We’ll be there in under an hour.”

True to her word, less than an hour later, a concealed electric door that looked like the side of a hill slid open for Lena to drive inside. Sam followed close, stopping to check if that same door had closed properly before following the car down the narrow passage that lit up as they moved.

The passage finally opened into a parking lot that already had four cars parked inside, as well as three motorcycles. 

Sam was already looking around in complete shock and amazement by the time Lena parked her Flying Spur in one of the remaining empty spots. The moment she unlocked the doors, Alex and Ruby got right out of the car to look around in awe. Which gave Lena a few moments alone with her girlfriend.

“Hey,” she turned to the passenger seat where Kara was sitting comfortably. She waited until the blonde looked at her and brought her hand up to move a strand of blonde hair away from her face. “How are you doing, darling?”

Kara leaned into her touch and smiled, closing her eyes for a second. “I’m okay,” she whispered, but the exhaustion was still clear in her voice. “You have a really nice car.”

The random comment made Lena chuckle and she leaned forward to plant a kiss on the blonde’s lips. “I’m glad you like it, it’s one of my favorites.” She pulled back while Kara moved her hand slowly over the dashboard, clearly appreciating the design, and tried again. “It’s okay to be scared, you know that, right?”

“Are you scared?” Kara asked, frowning.

“I’m terrified,” Lena admitted, “but that’s not going to stop me. Nothing is going to stop me until I make sure everyone is safe and that maniac is at least in prison.”

Kara nodded once, reaching over and taking Lena’s hand to bring it to her lips, leaving a soft kiss on it. “Me neither. I’ll help you however I can.”

Lena smiled tiredly and nodded once, too. “What do you say we get out of the car and go get some sleep? It’s really late already.”

“Please.”

With one last nod, Lena opened her door and Kara did the same, both of them joining the other three women in the middle of the parking garage.

“I can’t believe you had these three incredible bikes just sitting here this whole time and you never told me.” That was the first thing Alex said when they joined them, making Lena laugh.

“The point of this whole thing was for it to be secret,” she pointed out. “Which one do you like the most?”

“Never thought I’d betray my Ducati like this, but that Ninja H2R you have over there is doing unspeakable things to me.”

Once her amused chuckle died down, Lena nodded her head at the bike. “It’s yours.”

“What?” Alex paused, confused. “Wait, are you serious?”

After a little smirk, Lena took her girlfriend’s hand and they both headed to the elevator. “Of course I’m serious,” she said over her shoulder, silently calling them to follow her. “Just try not to kill yourself riding it?”

“Holy shit!”

“Can I have a car?” Ruby asked excitedly, following them into the elevator first.

The brunette hugged her with one arm around her neck and laughed. “When you turn sixteen and only after you learn how to drive safely and responsibly.”

The squeal Ruby let out as her mothers got into the elevator, too, made everyone wince. “Jesus, Ruby. It’s too late for that kind of excitement,” Sam pointed out, rubbing her eyes.

“Good evening Doctor Luthor,” a voice spoke out of seemingly nowhere, startling everyone but Lena.

“Good evening, Hope.”

“I detect more than one heat signature here with you. Would you like me to initiate the security protocol for intruders?”

“Yes. Thank you, Hope.”

“Understood.”

“Um, what the hell was that? Did you just tell your AI to kill us?! Are you a fucking doppelgänger working for Lex?” Alex asked, outraged, looking around the closed elevator for an escape.

“Alex, wait. Everything is fine,” Lena said, having to grab her shoulders for the redhead to look at her. “Think about it for a second. What would happen if I was in real danger and, when Hope asked me that, I said ‘yes’?”

Alex pursed her lips, thinking for a few moments. “You’d probably get killed on the spot.”

“Exactly. So if I say ‘yes,’ it means everything is fine. Now, if I’m in real danger, I am obviously going to say ‘no’ to that, and Hope will initiate it right away.”

Lena could see Kara beaming from the corner of her eye and Sam grinning behind Alex. “Sometimes you’re so smart it’s just annoying, you know?” The redhead asked, trying not to smile.

All she did was chuckle and shrug, turning back to stand next to her girlfriend again. “Hope, can you take us to the living quarters level, please?”

“Of course.”

The elevator started moving right away, quickly but smoothly taking them down. It only took a few seconds before the doors opened to a beautiful lobby area that rivaled the best hotels in the world. The decor was modern and sleek, which was clearly Lena’s style, but the space was full of several kinds of plants, bringing it to life. Literally.

“Okay,” the brunette started as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. “Kitchen is that way,” she pointed to the right, “this lobby opens into the living room area, straight ahead,” she pointed in front of them, “and bedrooms are down that corridor,” she finished, pointing to the left. “The one at the very end is mine. Not because it’s any different from the others, but because it’s full of my things already. You’re free to choose whichever you’d like. I’ll give you a full tour tomorrow.”

“Okay!” That was all Ruby said before she sprinted down the corridor, opening and closing doors to pick her room.

“Ruby, they’re all the same!” Lena shouted after her, openly laughing at her excitement. It was good to see her like that again after the scare from before.

The teen poked her head out of one door to look at her godmother. “No, they’re not! They all have different colors!”

“Oh. I guess she’s right.”

That was the exact moment Kara yawned and rubbed her eyes, trying to push the exhaustion away. Of course, Lena would be having none of that, so she took the blonde’s hands in hers and looked at their friends. “I trust you’ll be able to find whatever you need yourselves?”

Alex was the one who nodded and ushered them away. “Yes, go get some sleep you two. We’ll see you in the morning.”

Grateful as always, Lena nodded and tugged on Kara’s hand to follow her. “Good night, ladies.”

“Night, lovebirds!”

Sam’s words made Kara laugh, so she waved back at them while the brunette guided her to the very end of the corridor and past the door that led to her bedroom.

Lena had already kicked off her shoes and was now heading to her walk-in closet in an attempt to find some more comfortable clothes for both of them. She was still in there when she finally heard her girlfriend’s voice after a couple of minutes of full silence. “People told me you were rich,” Kara started, and the brunette could hear her steps getting closer, until she could finally see her head peeking into the walk-in. “But I had no idea you were this rich.”

Her first instinct was to laugh, because even in the most stressful situations, Kara would always find a way to elicit that reaction from her. Truthfully, that was one of the things she loved the most about the woman. She knew it the night they all got high and the blonde walked her to her apartment and stayed with her all night, talking for hours. Lena wasn’t really ready to admit it then, but she knew that was the day her feelings for Kara started to change. She was able to see her in a different light. A light that she actually liked and enjoyed being around. That was the day she started falling in love with this blonde alien goof.

And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Does that change anything between us, Doctor Kara Zor-El?” She asked while holding up two pajama bottoms for Kara to choose from: one long and one short. The blonde pointed at the shorts, and Lena couldn’t say she was displeased with that choice. She tossed the shorts for her girlfriend to catch, along with a tank top she had taken the liberty to choose for her, because… well, because she could and her girlfriend was hot, so fuck it.

“Not at all, Doctor Luthor,” the blonde answered, turning around again with the clothes and looking over her shoulder to see if Lena was following her. “Well, actually, it might change things a little bit now that I think about it.”

“How so?” She was halfway through pulling up her sweater over her head when she heard Kara’s answer, giving her pause. Maybe she had underestimated things?

Kara grinned brightly while taking off her own shirt, which was already distracting enough and so unfair. “Well, I think you might be… what did Sam call it? A sugar mommy?”

She should have known that the blonde would say something like that. She had been spending a lot of time with Sam lately. So, instead of answering with words, Lena just threw the sweater she had finally taken off at Kara’s head, a bit harder than she normally would, hitting her straight in the face.

And all Kara did was laugh and get closer to wrap an arm around her waist so she could pull her into a kiss.

Stupid perfect alien.

“Just get changed and get in bed, Kara,” Lena said with no malice whatsoever. “We’re both exhausted right now.”

“Fine!” The blonde huffed in mock indignation, pulling back so she could change into her shorts and tank top. 

Yes, Lena was staring while she did so, but that was their business and no one else’s.

“I can feel you staring.”

“As if you wouldn’t?”

With a little chuckle, Kara jumped into the bed and made a show of getting comfortable against the headboard. Even bringing her hands to the back of her head. “It’s only fair that I get to watch now.”

It made Lena actually blush. She had not been expecting that response at all. “Don’t ask too much of me tonight, love. I have no idea how either one of us is still awake.”

The blonde laughed and patted Lena’s side of the bed while her girlfriend changed into sweatpants and one of her tattered t-shirts she refused to get rid of. “Come here so we can pass out together. We’re going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Are we?” Were they? Lena finally got in bed and cuddled into Kara’s body, draping one of her legs over the blonde’s once they were both comfortably lying down. She quickly asked Hope to turn off the lights, and they started dimming slowly.

“Mhm,” Kara nodded. “I have many questions that are gonna need scientific answers.”

“Like what?”

“Like how in Rao’s name did that portal activate all by itself back home.”

Chapter Text

Much to no one’s surprise, really, Lena’s so-called ‘Doomsday Bunker’—according to Sam—was so much more impressive than the brunette had let anyone know in the beginning. The living quarters were beautiful, of course, but the technology she had installed herself was bordering on what Kara and her whole team had designed for Argo City.

Since it was underground, she had installed a fully automated lighting system that would perfectly replicate the world outside. It wasn’t just sunrises and sunsets, that would’ve been too easy. No. She had included ‘windows’ in her designs, which led to a whole lot of questions from the architect and the engineer who were in charge of the whole project. It wasn’t for them to understand, so Lena didn’t bother with explanations. She had made sure they installed the window frames, with the promise that she would provide them with the reflective surface to mount on those once they were ready.

Clearly, it hadn’t been glass. Or, well, not entirely. It was a reflective glass-like surface that projected the world outside as if it was a real window. Lena had strategically placed 180° panoramic cameras on the outside, all of them not only hidden from sight, but also cloaked better than her jet.

Which was a fucking good thing, because apparently Lex had been able to find her jet.

But that was not the point. The point was that now Lena had the sun on her face and the windows had clearly been a terrible idea.

She tried to open her eyes but the brightness was too much, so she closed them tightly once again. Lena also tried to move, but the moment she did, she realized that Kara had moved in her sleep and was now lying face down, snoring softly, and Lena’s own body had found its way to stay so close to the woman that she was lying half on top of her, hugging her waist, with one leg thrown over the blonde’s and her head resting on her shoulder blade. The sun on her face was a small price to pay if it meant she could stay like this for a little while longer.

“I know you’re awake.”

Or maybe not.

Lena smiled softly and buried her face a bit more aggressively on her girlfriend’s back. She tightened her arm around Kara’s waist and protested in a low groan that had the blonde laughing in that sleepy way that was absolutely adorable. “Let’s pretend you don’t.”

“I would love that, but I have to use the bathroom, my love.”

The groan was way more dramatic this time, but Lena did roll over to her cold side of the bed. “Fine, I suppose.”

The blonde laughed and pushed herself up with a tired sigh, rounding the bed to go to the bathroom, but not before leaning down and planting a good morning kiss on her girlfriend’s lips. It was long and slow and soft and everything Lena needed, but it was over way too soon for her liking. “Tease!” She shouted after Kara’s retreating form, hearing her laughter even through the now closed bathroom door.

Kara was out of the bathroom a few minutes later holding an electric toothbrush, looking kind of annoyed and offended at the same time, which piqued Lena’s interest almost immediately. “How lazy can humans be that you all felt the need to actually invent and mass produce what I’m hoping is an electric toothbrush?”

She didn’t really know what she had been expecting when the blonde walked out, but it definitely wasn’t that. So, Lena laughed, and Kara’s brow furrowed even more. “I don’t think I have an answer for you on that, darling,” she shrugged one shoulder, “but there are several regular ones in the top drawer.”

Kara huffed loudly and turned around, completely offended that electric toothbrushes were a thing on Earth. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, my love!” Lena shouted back. “I apologize if my toothbrush offended you.”

She laughed again when Kara appeared at the door, mid-brushing her teeth, only to glare at her and mumble an almost unintelligible: “you’re ridiculous, Lena.”

Waking up that morning with Kara was such a contrast to the previous morning that Lena could have sworn the day before had been nothing but a nightmare. Only, the fact that they had woken up in her secret bunker was more than enough to sober her up and confirm that everything had, indeed, happened.

She was lost in her thoughts, about to go down a rabbit hole, when the blonde emerged from the bathroom once again, only this time with a smile. “Are you alright?”

Lena’s eyebrow rose in amusement. “How do you always notice so quickly?”

“I know you, Lena.” Kara sat down next to her and smiled. “Do you want to tell me what is bothering you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Your brother?”

“And the fact that he played with the fate of the whole multiverse like it was nothing just to get what he wanted.”

The blonde nodded and placed her hand on her girlfriend’s thigh, giving it a soft, reassuring squeeze. “None of that matters anymore, my love. We can’t change what he did. There is no going back to the way things were before this Crisis–is that what it’s called? That’s what the Martian told me.”

“Yes, Lex referred to it with that same word.”

Kara nodded, then, and started moving her hand soothingly up and down Lena’s leg. “Like I was saying: none of that matters anymore, love, you shouldn’t dwell on it too much. I understand your anger and frustration, but our energy would be better spent trying to find a way to outsmart him and keep everyone safe.”

“How are you so level headed right now?”

“I have both witnessed and survived my planet’s destruction, Lee.” Kara said, and she might have seen Lena’s regret on her face, because she squeezed her thigh once again to get her attention, not letting her apologize. “I am not saying my experience was worse than yours, nor am I trying to compare them. All I’m saying is that, just as we rebuilt Argo City, we can do everything in our power to somehow ‘fix’ this timeline and get it as close as possible to how it was before.”

“How?”

“Doctor Luthor, if I may: I know for a fact that you are the smartest woman on Earth,” the blonde said with a playful smile. “And as if that wasn’t enough, your mate is one of the smartest women of her species–”

“The smartest, Kara. Don’t play it down.”

“Alright, the smartest. Even better. I’m sure we will be able to figure something out and, even if we don’t, we have Ruby with us. That little one has proved time after time to be the most creative and resourceful young woman I have ever met.” She finished with a playful grin, but, in all honesty, Lena wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not. “So, I’m going to need you to get up now and start your infinite morning routine, because I’m hungry and will get grumpy in about twenty minutes if I don’t have breakfast soon.”

“Morning!”

Both Kara and Lena jumped on the spot as soon as they stepped into the open kitchen area, the latter even bringing a hand to her chest while glaring at the back of Sam’s head, who was standing next to the stove and out of direct sight for the most part, flipping pancakes with one hand while sipping coffee with the other. “Stop doing that!”

The woman laughed and turned her head to look at them. “Doing what? Greeting you, drinking coffee or making pancakes?”

“No, you know that’s not what I meant,” Lena deadpanned while her girlfriend ignored the whole exchange to move closer to Sam and inspect what she was cooking. “It freaks me out when you do that before we see you. Or you see us, for that matter.”

“Just because I wasn’t looking doesn’t mean I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Stop eavesdropping!”

Sam just laughed and shrugged. “I can’t, Lena. Sabes cuánto me gusta el chisme.”

To both brunettes’ surprise, Kara actually laughed with them and leaned back against the counter, folding her arms across her chest in amusement.

“Wait.” Sam moved the now empty pan away from the stove and focused on the blonde. “You also speak Spanish?”

“Well, yes,” Kara said with a little frown, looking from Sam to Lena, who was now pouring two cups of coffee. “Why? Is that not common here?”

They were looking at her dumbfounded, mouths open and everything, both at a loss for words.

“Isn’t it one of the top five languages spoken on Earth?” The blonde kept asking, more confused than before. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Sam laughed and turned around, mimicking the blonde’s pose against the counter. “Kara, my sweet summer child, most people around here can barely speak English.”

Kara’s first instinct was to laugh, because Sam was prone to say things like that when she was joking, but when none of the other two women laughed, she got serious again, this time with a deeper frown. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Sadly, she is. And also very correct.” Lena handed her a cup of coffee and sat across the island from them to drink hers.

“Why?”

“It’s of little consequence to most of them, darling.”

“How so? It’s common courtesy.”

Sam scoffed and patted her shoulder. “Good luck here, Kara. You’re gonna need it.”

The blonde absentmindedly took a sip of the black coffe her girlfriend had just handed her and immediately pulled a face. “Oh, Rao, how can you drink this?”

While Lena shrugged, Sam slid the sugar closer to Kara and fetched her some milk, too. “There, add to taste. Lena just hates life, that’s why she drinks her coffee like that.”

For her part, her friend flipped her off with a fake, menacing smile.

After a few trials Kara seemed to find the perfect ratio for her and finally smiled in delight, making Lena forget to be annoyed at Sam for that comment. “Kara?” She asked, curiously.

“Mh?”

“Do you speak any other languages?” Her eyebrow rose in suspicion, and it only got higher when the blonde broke eye contact to stare at her own hands holding the mug. “Kara.”

With a loud sigh, the blonde looked up and rolled her eyes at her. “Maybe.”

“Kara!” This time it was Sam. “What languages do you speak?”

“Other than English and Spanish?”

She was stalling and Lena knew it. “Yes.”

“Uh… Mandarin?” She phrased it as a question, but it was anything but. Lena’s mouth hung open again and, for some reason she was not about to acknowledge, she also blushed a little bit. “And Hindi.” Kara made a long pause after that. “And Russian.”

“Is that all?” Sam asked ironically in disbelief.

After taking a long sip, the blonde shrugged one shoulder. “Yes. Those are all the languages I speak.” There was another pregnant pause that made Lena suspicious, and her expression might have shown it, because soon enough Kara added: “from Earth.”

“Unbelievable!” For some unknown reason, Sam seemed baffled and outraged by this new information, which Lena found actually funny because it made no sense.

“Kara?” When her girlfriend looked at her in question, Lena asked, “is it multilingualism or xenolingualism?”

“What the hell even is that?”

“Sam, the grownups are talking.”

“Fuck you, Luthor.” And as if to make a point, Sam stabbed two pancakes with a fork and shoved them all into her mouth.

“Classy.”

“Fuck off.”

Or that’s what Lena thought she said, it was hard to understand her around that amount of food in her mouth.

They didn’t notice the way Kara was looking at her girlfriend after that question, smiling lovingly. “While Kryptonians do have the innate ability to learn different languages with ease, I’m not sure if it is xenolingualism, simply because I haven’t been exposed to enough different languages to test that theory. I will consider it multilingualism until proven otherwise.”

“Astounding.”

Sam swallowed the ridiculous amount of pancakes she had been chewing and washed it down with a long sip of coffee. “Can you go eye-fuck each other somewhere else?”

At least both women had the decency to blush. In a very weird way, it actually appeased Sam.

“Are those huge stacks of pancakes to share, or is your physiology catching up after all those years with the implant?” Lena asked with a little smirk.

“They are obviously to share, smartass.” Sam rolled her eyes. “But it was a fair question, I’ll give you that. Ruby’s half-Kryptonian side is starting to wake up, she’s been giving pre-implant Sam a run for her money.”

As if having heard her name being called, the teenager entered the kitchen rubbing her eyes and yawning, followed by Alex. “I smell pancakes,” she mumbled.

“Go sit down,” her mother instructed, stealing a kiss from Alex when the redhead went straight for the coffee machine. “I’ll bring everything to the table.” 

Kara and Lena joined the teenager at the kitchen table while Alex helped her fiancée with the food she had been preparing. It was way more than just the pancakes they had seen.

“Sam, what time did you get up?” Her best friend asked, looking around the table in disbelief.

The woman shrugged after taking a seat. “A few hours ago,” she said nonchalantly. “Great job on the sun lamps you have installed, by the way.”

“Oh!” Lena paused to chew on the slice of apple she had grabbed. “Do they work?”

Both Sam and Alex smirked and, instead of answering directly, the former held a hand in their daughter’s direction, who was chewing on her sixth pancake while grabbing three more. “What do you think?”

Kara looked at Ruby with a proud smile on her face and patted her shoulder. “A true Kryptonian, indeed.”

Not really knowing how to bring it up, Lena glanced at her best friend with guilty eyes and a pained grimace, already knowing what was to come the moment she said it out loud. “Um, so…”

Sam, sharp as ever, eyed her suspiciously, setting her fork down and noticing how the brunette followed the movement with her eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” It was too quick, too squeaky and high pitched, too out of character. It was a clear tell and Lena rolled her eyes at herself. “Technically, I did nothing wrong, I would like to start with that.”

“Good thing you didn’t pursue a career in Law, because you’re shit at it if that’s your opening statement.”

Lena noticed how both her girlfriend and Alex had to hide their smiles after Sam’s keen observation. She couldn’t even be mad, her friend was right. 

“I’ll spare you the details but, just so you know, we have a food fabricator.”

Everyone around the table frowned in confusion, but it was ultimately Alex who asked, “what’s a food fabricator?”

Lena pointed her thumb over her shoulder without even looking, directing everyone’s gaze there. “See that thing that looks like a small fridge with a glossy door over there?” She waited until they nodded. “That’s a food fabricator. All you have to do is ask Hope and she’ll make whatever you want in a matter of seconds.”

The silent pause that came afterwards was so long it became uncomfortable. At least for Lena.

“You let me slave for hours over the stove when I could’ve just asked Hope to make a shit ton of pancakes and the rest of this stuff? What the hell, Lena?! A little heads up would’ve been nice, you know?!”

Lena’s mix of feelings over that accusation didn’t let her see the irrationality of her friend’s words. Thankfully, where she found herself lacking, Kara thrived—and vice versa—so, when Lena’s silence reached a point where it was obvious she was at a loss, the blonde quickly took over, draping her arm over the back of her girlfriend’s chair in a silent, protective gesture. “How were we supposed to know you had been up and cooking for hours?”

‘We.’ Kara said ‘we.’  

She calmly and smoothly jumped in the middle of a situation that had Lena feeling uncomfortably inadequate without an ounce of hesitation, figuratively standing in front of her girlfriend and shielding her from words that triggered feelings that had nothing to do with her current reality. It was silly, or it could have been seen like it, but to her it meant the world.

Kara said ‘we,’ and Lena was reminded once again of all of the reasons why she loved that woman.

The blonde had glanced at her just now, Lena saw it from the corner of her eye, and the next thing she heard was Kara’s voice once again. “I will say this with all of the love and appreciation I hold for you: you need to back off, Sam.”

It could have gone either way, everyone around the table seemed to know that. Both Kryptonians were engaged in a silent and serious staring contest, one neither one of them intended to lose. Or at least that’s what it looked like from Lena’s perspective. A perspective that had been slowly and carefully shifting as she moved closer and closer to her girlfriend, until Kara pulled her the rest of the way in, holding her protectively against her side with her arm around her.

Sam was the first one to break eye contact, but only because she focused on Lena once again. “If you ever let this woman go, I will beat you to death with a shovel, you hear me?”

The little smile at the end of that sentence threw the brunette off completely, forcing her to take a few seconds to actually understand what had just happened. “Me?” Lena asked once she found her voice. “Are you giving me the shovel talk?”

“Correct.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? You’re like my sister.”

“Pft! I already gave Kara the shovel talk months ago, Lena, who do you take me for?” Sam asked dismissively and rhetorically, waving her hand in the air. “This deranged woman just walked into a potential argument against a fully powered and stupid Kryptonian because it took her a split second to notice from your body language you were in distress and extremely uncomfortable.” The woman explained, looking back at the blonde once again afterwards. “You better fucking marry her.”

To Lena’s surprise, Kara nodded shortly. “I fully intend to.”

“Good.” Sam’s attention went back to Lena. “I’m very sorry. I should have known better.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” the taller woman shook her head. “And I can’t promise it won’t happen again because my temper can be an issue sometimes, but I want you to know I’m always trying to do better.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry and I love you.”

“Same.”

Sam scoffed, finding it amusing because she knew her best friend better than… Well, everyone but Kara, probably. Lena felt extremely vulnerable after situations like that, so putting feelings into words once again would take a few hours, maybe a day or two, but it would come back eventually, Lena knew it would.

“Is there anything else we need to know?” Alex asked, caring and level headed, trying to avoid any future confrontation. “You know, about how this whole thing works?”

“Yes,” the brunette nodded shortly, pursing her lips for a second. “There’s also a clothes fabricator. I’ll show you how to operate it after we clean up here.”

“I’m sorry.” 

Kara turned around from the screen she had been inspecting to look at her girlfriend. 

After showing everyone how to ask Hope to fabricate whatever piece of clothing they needed, Lena excused herself and her girlfriend, leading the blonde to her lab a few levels below the main living area.

That’s where they were when Lena’s small voice broke the comfortable silence between them.

“About what?” Kara’s frown and the way she slightly tilted her head to the side showed her confusion. 

Trying to avoid her gaze, Lena busied herself by firing up some equipment. “Oh, you know, for what happened before at breakfast.” It sounded casual, but the blonde proved once again that she could read her better than her girlfriend gave her credit for.

Lena carefully turned around when she felt a hand on her shoulder, finding blue eyes staring into her own. There were a few seconds of silence, probably because Kara was waiting for her to actually pay attention to her words instead of getting lost in her own head, but then she said in almost a whisper, “you never have to apologize for that, Lena.”

“I feel like I do.”

The blonde quickly looked around and pulled a stool closer to them, half sitting on it and holding her hand out for Lena to take it she wanted to, giving her all the time she needed without uttering a single word.

Her girlfriend’s gaze moved from her eyes to her extended hand, back and forth a few times, before she took it and let herself be gently pulled a bit closer. The rest, Kara left up to her. She could be close enough for their bodies to touch or just barely enough to only have close proximity. Lena chose the first option.

The moment she got closer, leaning back a bit to rest her body on Kara’s bent leg, the blonde placed one hand on her lower back while her other one softly held Lena’s jaw, encouraging her to meet her eyes once again.

“You never do. Not to me, not to anyone.” Kara kissed Lena’s forehead and looked into her eyes again. “You’re allowed to have all kinds of feelings, Lena. They are yours and they are valid. I don’t expect you to always be okay, you don’t need to be the one that holds it together all the time. You can fall apart, you don’t have to fake it for the sake of other people. You told me what growing up a Luthor was like, we talked about how our lives used to be like before meeting each other for hours—if not days— but that’s not your life anymore. Rao, it’s not mine, either.” 

“What do you mean?” Lena’s voice was soft and scared, which made the blonde kiss her forehead again and hold her closer to her body.

“Lee, you’re human. A wonderful one, if you ask me. You’re allowed to break, you know? You can fall apart, get mad, frustrated, without needing to hide it because, I can guarantee you, no one in here expects you to hide anything.” Lena bit her bottom lip, but didn’t say anything, knowing her girlfriend had more to say. “I never wanted to see ‘the perfect Luthor’ and that’s what I thought you were when we first met, but you proved me wrong at every turn. I fell in love with the real you, and I want you to be the real you for the rest of your life. And, yes, the real Lena carries a lot of trauma, but so does the real Kara, and you seem to be quite smitten with her.”

That got a little snort out of the brunette, and her girlfriend’s smile at having achieved that goal lit the whole room. “I am.”

“So am I with you,” Kara nuzzled the side of her head before kissing her temple. “So allow yourself to feel openly, my love. Don’t try to make yourself small. Feel everything, and I promise I will be there every single time to catch you, shield you, hold you, or confront and step up to you if that is what’s needed. My love for you it’s not conditioned by the way you present yourself. I’m nothing like your mother and your brother. There is nothing that will make me love you less. I’m here to stay, Lena. I meant what I told Sam.” Green eyes met blue, and the corner of Kara’s lips turned up for a second. “Unless you kick a puppy, because Ruby showed me some pictures and they are painfully adorable.”

The soft giggle that came after that and the way Lena burrowed into her body made Kara sigh happily at the same time she wrapped both arms around her girlfriend’s body. 

“Okay,” the young Luthor whispered, hiding against Kara’s neck and placing a soft kiss there.

“Okay?”

The brunette nodded without moving. “Mhm. I would never kick a puppy.”

“Can we get one?”

That would do it. Lena pulled back to look into her eyes, placing both hands comfortably on Kara’s chest. “A puppy?”

“Yes, they are so cute!”

“Kara, we are not getting a puppy.”

“Well, obviously I don’t mean right now. There are other things that need our attention and we have to focus on at the moment, but after.”

Her brow arched curiously, but her fingers played with the neck of her girlfriend’s t-shirt, a telltale sign that she was a bit nervous. “After what?”

What surprised her the most was that Kara didn’t even need to think about her words. “You know, after. Once this is all over. After our bonding ceremony and our wedding—because I would like to do both. Do you think we could combine the two? That would be amazing.”

Lena started hyperventilating. She suspected the answer would be something along those lines, but she never expected that level of detail.

“Once we are living together and have enough space for the dog. Like a big yard. That would be great. Our children would love it, don’t you think?”

Her hands pushed a bit against Kara’s chest, giving herself enough momentum and leverage to pull back from the embrace and take a step back. “Our children?!”

Kara’s confused frown would have been adorable if Lena wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack.

“Um, yes,” the blonde said slowly, looking even more confused, “we talked about it, remember? We both said we wanted to have children eventually.”

“Eventually, Kara. Eventually!” The brunette took another step back and fanned her suddenly very warm face with her hand.

“Yes. So what’s the issue?”

“The issue is that I almost had a panic attack because you left out that word the first time you said it!” She breathed in and out slowly, leaning back against a workbench. “Jesus fuck.”

The blonde looked at her with a little amused frown paired with a little smirk. She didn’t reach over or got closer, though, waiting for Lena to let her know if that was okay. “Are you okay?”

All she got was a glare from the brunette.

It made her laugh.

Lena hated it. She also hated that she secretly loved that perfectly timed laugh and Kara’s stupid wit and sense of humor.

“Can I get closer?” The blonde asked, her smile turning loving instead of mischievous. When her girlfriend let out a loud sigh and nodded, she got off the stool and stepped closer. “Can I touch you?”

Their eyes locked. “Yes.”

Kara placed her hands on Lena’s waist while holding eye contact, never wavering, still with that loving expression on her face. “Are you okay?” She asked again.

This time the brunette gulped before letting out a soft chuckle with a nod. “I am.”

“I will make this perfectly clear: we are not having children anytime soon.”

“Agreed.”

“We will also not be discussing anything beyond this courtship for the foreseeable future. Or at least until this whole thing is sorted out and we decide to. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The smile turned to mischievous once again and Lena could feel those hands tightening on her waist. She didn’t even have enough time to ask before she was being lifted to sit atop the workbench and Kara was standing between her legs. “That doesn’t mean we can’t practice the ‘children making,’ though.”

The bubbly laugh that left Lena’s body had Kara grinning proudly. “You do know that’s not how it works between two people with uteruses, right?”

“I’m trying to be smooth, Lena. Just roll with it and let me seduce you.”

Lena and Kara stumbled out of the elevator in a fit of giggles neither one of them could contain. As luck would have it, Alex was on the way back to the living room with a bowl of popcorn, but stopped in her tracks to look at them curiously. “Mh, working hard, huh?”

Kara blushed and tried to compose herself while her girlfriend cleared her throat and ran her hands down the front of her t-shirt. “Yes,” Lena stated confidently.

“I see. Anything interesting?”

The blonde nodded and scratched the back of her head, but at least she could look at Alex in the eye. “Yeah, lots of Earth science things for me to learn, you know?”

“Science things?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” There was something about the smirk Alex threw their way before turning back to the living room that gave them pause, but once she was walking away they breathed a sigh of relief and started hush-giggling again. “Oh, by the way,” the redhead turned around as if just remembering something. “Lena, your shirt is inside out,” then she looked at Kara, “and you, for the love of God, go change those pants. I don’t even want to know.” 

When they both looked down at Kara’s pants they noticed what could only be described as a clear smear down her right thigh. “Lena!” The blonde protested while Alex just laughed and walked away for good.

“Oh, shut up!” With that, the brunette grabbed Kara’s hand and practically dragged her to their bedroom for a much needed shower and change of clothes. “That is as much your fault as it is mine.”

“We’re about to start Star Wars, if you want to join,” the redhead shouted after them, smiling to herself.

“Yeah, just give us ten minutes!” Lena shouted back before the sound of the door slamming revererated down the corridor and all the way to the living room.

The brunette pulled her t-shirt off in a swift motion, tossing it to the side and almost masterfully into the hamper. “You could have told me about the shirt!” She whispered, turning around to face her girlfriend while her hands started working on undoing her pants.

“I didn’t notice!” Kara tried defending herself, but clearly lost track of everything because she was—not so subtly—staring at Lena’s chest.

“No,” her girlfriend stated firmly, pointing a finger at her and walking backwards in the direction of the bathroom. “Stop that.”

“Stop what? I didn’t do anything!” The blonde tried to defend herself, even knowing it was a lost case already because she had absolutely been caught staring. So, in an attempt to act as nonchalant as possible, she started taking her own clothes off.

Lena scoffed and shook her head, then arched her eyebrow. “I’ve seen that look plenty of times, Kara,” she said, more amused than actually mad. “I know exactly how this ends if I give in, and Alex just caught us. I’m gonna go shower and you’re gonna wait here.”

“I can’t even join you?! I need a shower, too!”

The complete outrage in Kara’s voice made her girlfriend laugh. “Absolutely not.” Lena took a step back, giving herself enough room to close the door, leaving the blonde muttering to herself on the other side of it.

Five minutes later she was walking out of the bathroom wearing only a towel while she used a smaller one to towel dry her hair. The sight of Kara sitting in bed, arms folded and still muttering to herself brought a smile to Lena’s lips, but she pursed them in an attempt to hide it. It wasn’t very effective, that was clear enough by the way her girlfriend glared at her. “Bathroom is all yours, darling.”

The blonde’s eyes narrowed, but it was clear as day that she was faking being mad, at least to Lena. She knew her girlfriend better than that. However, if Kara needed to maintain that front for whatever reason, Lena was more than willing to roll with it, so when she huffed and got off the bed to walk angrily to the bathroom, the brunette only took a step to the side, finally allowing her smile to show once Kara closed the bathroom door behind her.

Once the blonde emerged Lena was already dressed in a pair of shorts and the softest sweater she could find, sitting on her side of the bed, her back resting against the headboard with a book in her hands. Her gaze moved from the book to the figure walking out of the bathroom and the air in her lungs got stuck there. 

It’s true what they say, karma sure is a bitch .

Kara was also towel drying her hair, only she was doing it completely naked, and Lena had to gulp at the sight because of… reasons.

She was lucky the blonde didn’t even look at her because, based on the way her ears were suddenly burning, she was sure her blush covered her whole face and part of her chest, too. 

“Lena, I’m gonna need to make some clothes for myself later, your legs are shorter than mine and your pants look ridiculous on me,” Kara said from the walk-in closet, raising her voice a little bit to be heard. Only it wasn’t really necessary, because her girlfriend was already standing at the doorway, making her jump the moment the blonde turned around. “Gah! Lena!” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t do that!”

“Sorry,” she apologized, chuckling and folding her arms across her chest while still enjoying the view of a topless Kara in front of her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Yeah, right.” 

Okay, so her girlfriend didn’t believe her, which was fair, because she wasn’t sorry at all nor she cared if she actually scared her. “Ready to go join the others in the living room and watch the greatest saga ever made?” 

Kara grabbed a black tank top from a drawer and quickly pulled it over her head, foregoing wearing a bra simply because she didn't have any other than the one she was wearing when she arrived, and that one was definitely due for a wash. “I have no idea what that means, but you seem excited about it so, sure!” She reached for Lena’s extended hand and pulled her closer, stealing a longing kiss that left both of them smiling like lovesick teenagers. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

There was an argument going on in the living room the moment they made it there, and it was getting increasingly louder. Alex was the one holding the remote away and Sam kept trying to grab it while telling her she was insane and threatening to break their engagement for some reason.

“You were the one who proposed!”

“I didn’t know this about you. I take it back. I’m un-proposing now. This is me officially un-proposing to you.”

Ruby was sitting away from them, having moved recently by the looks of it, because she was still trying to get comfortable on the floor. The moment the teenager saw Kara and Lena, she rolled her eyes at her godmother and shook her head, indicating she was done with her parents.

“Okay, what the hell is going on here?” Lena asked, while Kara just watched the whole scene trying not to laugh and failing terribly.

Both adults stopped fighting over the remote when they heard Lena’s voice, now focusing on her instead.

“Your best friend has no respect for anything sacred anymore.”

“Alex is being purposefully stupid and stubborn.”

They said at the same time before going back to fighting over the remote.

Kara and Lena exchanged a quick glance, and the brunette jerked her head in the direction of the remote dangling from Alex’s hand closest to them, so the Kryptonian just snatched it from her and handed it to Lena with a triumphant smirk.

“Hey!” The other two protested, but none of them made a move to retrieve it.

“Are you going to tell us what is going on?”

Sam huffed indignantly before answering, “Alex, the scientist, refuses to acknowledge that time is linear.”

Well, that was wrong for so many reasons, but Lena decided to play along and wait for the redhead’s counterargument.

“Sam seems to think she knows better than George Lucas.”

“Ah. I see.” With both statements Lena could deduce exactly what the argument was all about. 

Kara didn’t though. “Who’s George Lucas?” She asked, completely confused.

“The dude that created Star Wars and some other things,” Ruby provided from the floor, nodding back when the blonde nodded at her.

“First of all, time is not linear,” Lena pointed out while looking at Sam. “You’ve been on the Waverider, what are you even talking about?”

“Ha! That’s what I said!” 

“Nor is it circular,” she added before Alex could keep rubbing it in her fiancée’s face. The redhead frowned at her, looking completely betrayed, but Lena ignored it and rolled her eyes. “In this particular case, however, I have to side with Alex. Sorry, Sam.”

“Bullshit!”

The redhead looked at Sam and shrugged. “It’s two against one, babe. It’s called democracy, look it up.”

“Kara didn’t vote!”

“Kara doesn’t even know what’s going on,” the blonde said, referring to herself in the third person and making her girlfriend laugh.

There was a long, almost uncomfortable silence after that, but in the end Sam huffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. Have it your stupid way that makes no sense.” She also made a point to move to the end of the couch, sitting as far away from Alex as she possibly could. She did look at her, though, before announcing, “just so you know, you’re not getting laid tonight.”

The pained whimper that came from the floor had Lena looking at her goddaughter with sympathy. “I’ll pay for your therapy.”

“Thank you.”

After all the drama, and even though the couch was big enough for the five of them, Lena decided to lead Kara to another one, even if they would have to crane their necks a little bit to face the TV. There was no way in hell she was going to spend the next two hours sitting between the other two. It proved to be highly beneficial for her, because Kara decided to arrange some cushions so she would be able to half lie down, gently pulling Lena to get comfortable sitting between her legs, with her back against the blonde’s chest and those gorgeous Kryptonian arms wrapped lazily around her.

Since she had been the tiebreaker, Lena had implicitly declared herself Queen of the Remote, so she was the one who ultimately pressed play on Episode IV, and Kara was immediately enraptured by the movie. The brunette suspected it was mostly because of the images of space, but when Kara whispered “I don’t like that guy in black with the breathing issues” into her ear, she realized maybe that wasn’t entirely the case. Which made her immensely happy.

An hour in, right when Tarkin told Princess Leia he would like her to be his guest at a ceremony that would make the Death Star operational before her execution, Lena realized this had been a terrible, terrible idea. 

Stupidest idea anyone has ever had, really. What the hell was I thinking? And why the fuck did I side with Alex?!

Not really knowing what to do, she paused the movie—rather abruptly—and cleared her throat. “I’m a bit tired, maybe we can finish this another day?” She asked nonchalantly, faking a yawn for good measure.

“What are you talking about? It’s only been like an hour. We didn’t even have dinner yet.” Stupid Sam and her stupid big mouth.

Lena looked at Alex instead, knowing Sam was a lost case already, and gave her a pointed look. She then glanced at the TV and back to the redhead, who was just staring at her in confusion while shoving more popcorn into her mouth.

“Oh!” Unfortunately for her, Alex realized what was going on mid-chew, which resulted in her choking on the popcorn after her gasp of realization. Once she was done coughing and could take a sip from the water bottle Sam had so graciously offered, she nodded her agreement. “Yes, I’m tired, too. How about we go figure out something for dinner, huh?”

Sam rolled her eyes dramatically. “You can literally ask Hope to make whatever you want from here, just play the stupid movie already.” 

“I… can’t.” Lena’s voice was small, sad and apologetic. The silence that followed her words was deafening. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to make her skin crawl and her guilt sink her stomach.

She wasn’t expecting the way Kara tightened her hold around her, though, or the kiss she left on the side of her head, letting her lips linger. “They’re about to blow up Alderaan in front of her, aren’t they?” She asked softly, and Lena wanted to cry.

She didn’t. But she really wanted to.

“Oh.” That’s when Sam finally understood, letting out a gasp followed by a grimace. “Shit,” she whispered, covering her face with both hands.

“Yes,” she answered softly, her voice shaking.

Lena could feel Kara move behind her, so she tried to readjust her body to allow her girlfriend to move, assuming she was about to get up and leave the room, but that wasn’t the case. The blonde was just moving to leave a soft kiss on her jaw while she threaded her fingers through her girlfriend’s hair. “Hey, hey,” she whispered, knowing Lena was about to go down a very deep rabbit hole. “It’s alright, love.”

Her bottom lip trembled the way it always did when she was on the verge of tears. “It’s not, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this.”

But Kara kissed that trembling bottom lip and didn’t let go until she felt Lena’s body starting to relax. “I’m really enjoying the movie, please don’t cut it short just because of that.”

“Kara, it might be too much,” Alex observed, wincing apologetically, and Kara nodded her agreement.

“Maybe,” she said, the only one level-headed at the moment. “Or maybe not. It’s been close to two decades now, I’d like to believe I’m growing and making progress with therapy. I say we try, what’s there to lose?”

“Um, your sense of safety and comfort around us?”

That made the blonde actually chuckle. “Lena, that’s not gonna happen.”

“How do you know?”

“You’re my family,” she stated, simple and concise. “Even if it makes me uncomfortable, I know the four of you will be here for me.” She glanced at the floor and smirked. “Well, the three of you. Ruby has completely passed out.” Kara used the distraction to take the remote from her girlfriend’s hand, even against her protests, and point it at the TV once again. “Just let me, I want to know what happens next.”

Before she could press play, though, a bright and square portal opened on the other side of the living room, startling them all. Even Ruby woke up and scrambled back until she could feel her mothers’ hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, thank God!” A very distressed looking blonde woman took a step into the living room, looking around and nodding to herself. “Good, you’re all here.”

“Ava?” Lena asked, getting up but not letting go of Kara’s hand. 

“Yes, hi. Hello. Sorry to barge in on you like this.”

A second blonde walked into the living room, sneaking past the first one. She was shorter and definitely in a better mood. “Heeeey!” She said cheerily, looking around and smirking when she spotted Alex and Sam. She winked at them both and then laughed when she saw them squirming. “Where’s Kara?” She asked pointlessly, because she was right there, but Lena was on high alert already. “Hey, Kara.” There was a head-jerk in her direction and a toothy grin. “How’s it going?”

“No. Absolutely not, Sara.” Lena moved to stand in front of her, obstructing Sara’s view of a very confused Kryptonian.

Sara laughed and dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “Relax, Lena, Kara and I have a platonic bromance going on, nothing more.”

“I swear I haven’t seen this woman in my life!”

Lena actually laughed and turned to look at her nervously frightened girlfriend. “I know, darling. I’ll explain in a bit.” Then she turned around to glare at Sara again while Ava did the same. “Great job there preserving the time continuum.”

“What?”

“Babe, you’re not supposed to tell them anything about the future,” Ava said, rubbing her forehead.

“I didn’t!”

“You literally just said that you and Kara are ‘bros,’ Sara,” Lena pointed out, rolling her eyes.

“Oh,” the woman winced and shrugged. “My bad.”

Sara’s hand moved to her own belly and Lena had to do a double take. “Wait. Are you pregnant?!” The blonde only nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “What–when? Did she…?” The brunette looked at Ava while she trailed off, not wanting to actually voice that question, but the woman shook her head, answering her. She still had so many questions, though. Lena pointed back and forth between the two of them, “so you two…” Ava nodded this time, and she was smiling. “How?”

“You see, Lena, when a mommy and another mommy love each other very, very much–”

“Oh, fuck off, Sara!” 

It only made Sara laugh, which was infuriating, but she should have known better. “Okay, fine. I’m a human-alien hybrid clone now, Ava knocked me up.”

“Oh, that’s so great! And interesting! What kind?” Kara asked enthusiastically from the couch now that she knew none of these people were a threat to any of them.

“Kriblix,” Sara answered, smiling knowingly when Kara nodded back giving her the same look.

“That makes sense.”

“None of this makes sense!” Lena’s raised voice cut their small interaction short, but she still made a point to glare first at Sara, then at her girlfriend. “Look, not that you are unwelcome or anything, but how did you find us? We are here to not be found.”

Ava shook her head and a hand, trying to dismiss her worries. “We knew about this place. But don’t worry, no one else does, that’s why we came personally. We wouldn’t disclose your location to anyone.”

“How do you know, though?”

“You told us.” 

Sara’s nonchalance was really starting to irritate her. “I did no such thing.”

“Yet.” And with that single word, the short blonde booped Lena’s nose, getting her hand smacked away right after, but still laughing.

“Alright, fine. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. Now, what are you doing here?”

Sara opened her mouth to answer, but Ava held a finger up, giving her a murderous glare that shut her up right away. “Remember that portal Kara came through?” 

“Vividly.” Lena deadpanned. The subject seemed to pique Kara’s interest, because she got up and moved to stand next to Lena with a curious expression on her face.

“Do you think the two of you could ever build one just like it?”

“If we can get the right parts and tools, I’m fairly confident we could, yes.”

Sara clapped her hands once and rubbed them together, way more cheerily than the situation called for. Which was not at all. “Good, because I blew it up.”

Chapter Text

“Excuse me, you what?”

“I blew it up,” Sara repeated, raising her voice as if Lena’s confusion was due to poor hearing instead of disbelief.

Lena definitely had to sit down after that. It was already a lot of information and she was barely processing the events of the previous day. How was she supposed to deal with this now, too? 

Little boxes. Come on, Lena: little boxes. For fuck’s sake, little boxes. Jesus fucking Christ! Where the fuck are the little boxes?!

The brunette placed an exhausted hand on her forehead and closed her eyes for a second. “Okay.” She opened them and looked up at the pregnant blonde. “What the actual fuck?”

“I know, it was crazy–”

“Sara, why did you blow it up?!”

Ava held a hand up, looking at Lena and pleading with her eyes for a moment before focusing on her wife. “Honey, why don’t you go get a snack or something before you get murdered here? I’ll explain everything to Lena.”

“I don’t want a snack.”

“How about a milkshake? You could ask Gideon to make you one with extra cherries.”

Sara seemed to light up at the suggestion. She took a few moments, then decided to listen to Ava. “That actually sounds good. I’ll leave this up to you, then?”

“Yes, Captain. I’ll try to do my best,” the other blonde answered as if taking care of this situation would be harder without her wife there.

“Okay.” Sara stole a quick kiss from her, then looked around the room, waving a hand at them in goodbye, “see you all later!”

Both Ava and Lena waited until they couldn’t see Sara anymore before letting out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry about that,” Ava apologized, and for the first time Lena noticed how tired she looked. “She’s been… a handful lately.”

The brunette shook her head, “don’t worry about it,” she said softly, trying her best to ease Ava’s worries. She surely had enough already by being married to a pregnant Sara. “I would still like to know why Sara blew up the only portal connecting my girlfriend’s home planet to Earth.”

“Is it technically a planet?” Sam asked, helping no one. “Isn’t it more like an asteroid?”

The room fell completely silent while Lena and Ava exchanged a quick glance. “Would you like to continue this conversation in private?” The brunette asked, because at this point she was ready to physically fight anyone who interrupted them.

“Yes, I think that would be best.”

Lena motioned with her hand for Ava to walk ahead of her, following closely and dragging Kara with her once the woman clicked her time currier and the portal closed.

“Sure, Sara can say all sorts of stupid shit, but when I ask a very valid question it’s suddenly too much?” She could hear Sam shouting after them, followed by some cursing under her breath.

After making a point to lead both blondes into the elevator, Lena asked Hope to take them to her study, already feeling a headache starting to form. 

The doors opened a few seconds later into an office-like open space. Only it was so much warmer than her actual office in Metropolis. For starters, it was full of the most beautiful plants of all kinds—much like the living quarters—floor-to-ceiling ‘windows’ overlooking a cliff that opened to the bluest ocean, and a few comfortable looking sofas and armchairs. Also, unlike her company office, with its sleek white style, the furniture and decoration was more on the industrial side, with dark woods, black or copper iron, and leather.

“Take a seat,” she offered, walking to the sitting area and stopping for a second before getting comfortable herself. “Can I offer you anything to drink?”

“No, no. I’m good. Thank you.”

Lena sat down after that and the two blondes followed, Ava taking one of the armchairs while Kara sat down right next to her girlfriend. “Okay, can you tell us what happened?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Yes.” Ava was nervous, that was clear. It wasn’t like she knew the woman as much as she knew her best friends, but they had shared more than one social gathering together and, while they might not be friends yet, they were definitely more than acquaintances.

“You can relax, you know?” She smiled, trying to ease her tension. “I know Sara can be a bit extreme sometimes, but I also know she is smarter than she lets anyone know. I assume there was a good reason for what she did, but if Kara and I are going to work on building a new portal, we need to know what happened and why.”

Ava nodded and took a deep breath through her nose, straightening up her posture and placing both her hands on her lap. “Okay, yes.”

“You look the furthest from relaxed I have ever seen, and I don’t even know you,” Kara observed with a little smirk, inadvertently making Ava smile and actually relax her posture this time.

“Sorry, force of habit,” Ava replied, now leaning back against her comfortable chair and letting out a sigh. “Okay, I’m going to explain this as safely as I can. From what Sara told me, this Crisis was pretty intense.” She waited for Lena to nod before continuing. “Lex pulled more than one trick on all of them, and I believe bringing back the original version of you intact was one of them?”

“Yes, that’s what he told me.”

The blonde woman nodded and ran her fingers through her long hair. “We know he had been looking for you before everything happened. We also know that someone from Argo City managed to get in contact with him right before the antimatter wave hit us all. He never got the chance to actually find out where exactly you were hiding before the whole universal redo and, for that, I am grateful, because that could have been a complete disaster, but that’s not the point. When everything reset, it seems he wasn’t sure if the Monitor would make good on his promise and bring you back to him, so he had a backup plan of sorts.”

“What does that mean?” The brunette asked, already frowning and leaning forward on her elbows.

“He made sure to leave the portal active in case he needed to actually go and look for you wherever you were,” Ava explained mirroring Lena’s posture. “He also made sure that the memories of whoever helped him remained intact. Just like yours, Lena.”

Now Kara was frowning, too. “Why would he do that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“That’s what I thought, too, but then Sara told me that it was exactly what she would have done in his place and explained it to me. He needed the portal and this person’s hatred for you, Lena. He still had no idea where you were, which means he never knew what to expect on the other side. He would need a guide of sorts. If he failed and you didn’t wake up on Earth, he would have gone to Argo City to find you.”

Both of them nodded their understanding, but then Lena’s blood ran cold all of a sudden when she noticed Ava’s wording. “Hold on. You said he had no idea? That means he does now?!” She asked, alarmed.

Ava nodded and pursed her lips for a second. “He does. That’s why in our haste, Sara found no better option than destroying the portal and breaking the connection to keep everyone in Argo City safe.”

“How did he find out, though?” Kara asked, her leg bouncing anxiously. “Everyone at the DEO assured us they never said a word to anyone.”

“And they didn’t,” Ava confirmed with a shake of her head. “But someone followed you here, Kara.”

“I–I don’t even know where to start.”

Ava had left a few hours ago, unable to provide any additional information, claiming that she honestly didn’t know anything else. Lena doubted it, and for good reason, because they were constantly traveling through time, it would be as simple as making a quick little trip to find out but, as a scientist, she also knew how risky that could be, especially with the Legends’ track record while trying to ‘fix things.’

It was probably for the best that they didn’t.

They had spent about an hour bringing Sam and Alex up to speed and then brainstorming between the four of them, trying to guess who could have made it to Earth. Every option was worse than the one before, which only made the anxiety they were all feeling even worse, so Kara ended up suggesting they start working on the portal right away while Alex and Sam organized all the possible options, including how each one could potentially help Lex and affect them.

So, now, three hours later—once they gathered and organized the tools they might need—the brunette was sitting in front of her keyboard, looking at a blank screen, with her fingers hovering over the keys.

Kara got closer to the standing desk, leaning on her elbow while looking at her girlfriend. “We don’t have to start right now, Lee,” she suggested in a small voice, as if she would spook Lena if she spoke any louder.

“Yes, we do.”

The blonde shook her head and reached over, placing one hand on Lena’s outstretched arm, but immediately retracting it when the woman flinched at the touch and her arm jerked involuntarily.

“I’m sorry,” Lena whispered, hanging her head in shame. “I didn’t mean to–I don’t–”

“It’s alright, my love.” Kara’s voice was dripping with love, care and understanding, and it only made her girlfriend feel even worse. “But I need you to listen to me, Lena: this can wait.”

“No, it actually can’t.”

“And why is that?”

“Why?! What do you mean ‘why’? Because this is all my fault, Kara!” She snapped, rather aggressively. “This is my planet, my brother. You have no fucking idea what we’re dealing with here! You think Tan-Us was bad? You think you were in danger then? Wait until you meet Lex Luthor.”

The blonde stood up straighter and leaned back a bit, arching a brow while staring at Lena in silence as if waiting for something.

It was a reaction Lena had never seen before. Not even when Kara seemed to hate her. It made her feel uneasy and she knew she only had herself to blame. Still, Lena didn’t say anything, she just stared at her girlfriend, arching her own defiant and questioning eyebrow.

She had no idea how long their staring contest lasted, but it definitely reached the point of uncomfortableness.

It was uncharted territory and she didn’t like it one bit.

Finally, right when Lena thought the blonde was about to make a very strong, logical point that would help her see reason, Kara looked down, taking a deep breath through her nose and focusing on readjusting her t-shirt before meeting her eye again. “I can understand you’re stressed and afraid right now,” she started low and calm. Too calm. The coldness in her voice immediately froze Lena’s spine. “But if I were you, I would think twice before speaking to me like that ever again.” She took a step back and her brow seemed to relax, but her eyes got colder, perfectly pairing the storm raging being them. 

Lena gulped, knowing exactly what she had done. She wanted to apologize, to reach for her girlfriend, pull her closer and not let her go, but her body never responded. Instead she just kept staring into those eyes, completely frozen.

“I am going to let you do… whatever it is you want to do here,” Kara continued, waving her hand at the empty monitor. “You can come find me whenever you realize how much you just fucked up and are ready to own it. Or not. Do whatever the hell you want, Lena.”

This time she didn’t give Lena time to react. Well, maybe she had a couple of seconds before Kara disappeared behind the elevator doors, but she found herself speechless after those words. 

She was known for being harsh at times, sure. A lot of people could attest to that, most of them would even call her a bitch, and some for good reason, but she didn’t want to be like that with Kara. 

Never with Kara.

Except she just was.

It also didn’t help that the moment her girlfriend stood up to her and called her out on it, she just stayed quiet. Frozen, unable to utter a single word.

“Fuck,” Lena muttered to herself, folding her arms over her desk and burying her face into them. “FUCK!” She pushed the keyboard off her desk in anger, smashing it against the closest wall and breaking it to pieces.

“Have you seen Kara?”

“Mm?”

“Have you seen Kara?” Lena repeated a bit louder, prompting Sam to stop reading her book and look up at her.

“What happened to you?” Her best friend asked with a frown and every hope Lena had of hiding the fact that she had been crying for the past thirty minutes immediately vanished.

“Nothing,” she tried to dismiss it, even knowing Sam wouldn’t buy it, but she wasn’t about to discuss this without anyone except her girlfriend. “Have you seen her or not?”

Her best friend narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but didn’t press it. “Wasn’t she with you?”

“Clearly, she’s not.”

“I haven’t seen her.”

Lena turned around without saying another word, not even to thank her. She could feel Sam’s eyes on her back the whole time, but ignoring it was a conscious effort on her part.

She wasn’t in their bedroom, the kitchen or the living room, which was a bit odd, because other than her study, Lena hadn’t had the chance to properly show them around yet. So, her study was the next logical option, the last one, too, before she just had to give up and ask Hope.

Kara wasn’t there either.

Now, asking Hope felt awfully intrusive. It felt like cheating. Her girlfriend had told her to come find her, and yes, Lena assumed she would be at their bedroom, but that was not the case. What if Kara didn’t want to be found just yet? Or worse: what if she had taken so long that the blonde got tired of waiting for her?

Admittedly, logic dictated for her to ask Hope, but the feeling of invasion of privacy she got just at the mere thought of it stopped her from doing it. Which led her to several frustrating minutes of stopping at every single level to physically check for herself, as if it would atone for what she had said before.

At last, before the door even opened, Lena knew she was about to find her girlfriend. She could hear the mechanical whirring of a machine, followed by fast and heavy footsteps, and it was obvious that Kara had found the gym.

Great. You found her. Now what?

The moment she took a step out of the elevator Lena noticed Kara’s eyes quickly darting toward her and just as quickly going back to focus on the window, entirely ignoring her. The blonde’s pace was not overly fast, but brisk enough and, overall, impressively steady. 

Her mouth opened to say something, but after taking a couple of steps closer she noticed the earbuds adorning her girlfriend’s ears—Ruby’s influence most likely—so she thought better of it. 

She was left with no other option than to stand in front of the treadmill, blocking the window, and wait for her girlfriend to properly acknowledge her presence.

So she did.

Lena cursed at herself for several reasons over the past forty-fives minutes, but she didn’t think she would have to do it because she was finding the sweat glistening on Kara’s body so damn sexy.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me?

But she pushed it down and, gathering as much strength as possible, she looked into her eyes, just then noticing that Kara’s were as red as hers and already on her, even if she hadn’t made any attempt to stop running. 

Bringing a hand up, Lena tapped her own ear, silently asking Kara to take off her earbuds and the frown she got in return made her think her girlfriend would ignore her request. She didn’t, though. There was a long sigh followed by the blonde lowering the speed a little bit before ultimately removing both earbuds and stuffing them in her pocket.

“Can we talk?” Lena asked over the sound of the treadmill.

There was that deep frown again. She felt sick. For a solid ten seconds Lena thought that Kara would say no, or even worse, just ignore her, but that wasn’t the case. The blonde started slowly and gradually lowering the speed until she was just walking, ultimately turning the machine off once she deemed it safe.

She stepped out and brought her shirt up to wipe the sweat off her face, resulting in a full display of her abs that rendered Lena useless for a few seconds. Thankfully, Kara pulled her shirt back down and the spell was properly broken.

“I’m listening,” Kara stated, hands on her hips, showing that she was not even going to attempt to make things easier for her girlfriend.

“Do you mind going somewhere where we can sit and talk?”

Not willing to give an inch, the blonde looked around until she spotted a bench against one of the walls. “There.” It wasn’t a question or even a suggestion, Kara just turned around and went to sit down, waiting for Lena to do the same.

“Alright, I suppose.” Had she been hoping they could go to their bedroom? Sure, but at this point she would take whatever she could get, so she sat down next to her girlfriend and turned to the side to at least be able to face her. “I don’t even know where to start. I feel like an apology isn’t enough.”

Kara leant forward, resting her elbows on her legs and turned only her head to face the brunette. “It’s a start.”

“I’m so incredibly sorry, Kara,” Lena whispered in a voice she couldn’t even recognize.

The blonde nodded while looking at the floor, slowly scrapping her teeth across her bottom lip. “What for?”

Alright, she deserved that.

“Should I make a list?” Lena asked, ever the smartass, and the moment the words left her mouth she immediately regretted them. 

“You’re off to a great start, Lena.” Her girlfriend had turned her head again to look at her–no, glare at her, and the frown was right there again. “At this point I believe you should, yes.”

The way Kara said her name felt like a punch to the gut. Lena gulped and nodded once, feeling another pang when her girlfriend looked down at the floor once again to avoid her. “Okay, I believe the first thing I need to apologize for is the way I talked to you,” she admitted. “I should have never raised my voice or used that tone, no matter how stressed or scared I was. It was disrespectful and unacceptable, and I hope you can forgive me.”

Kara nodded again, but still wouldn’t meet her eye. Lena watched her closely, though, noticing the way her brow furrowed and her hands clasped tightly together. “Alright. We will have to talk about it, still, but I accept your apology.”

“Thank you.” Several seconds passed and when the blonde didn’t say another word, Lena realized she wasn’t going to. She wasn’t going to help her or make things easier and, to be honest, it was a side of Kara she had never seen but immediately admired. “I don’t know what the fuck was I thinking, Kara. I still can’t believe what I said about Tan-Us. I–I don’t even expect your forgiveness, I just want you to know how very sorry I am. I regret every single word I said, but that… shit, Kar. That was so low and–and,” she sniffled, and only then Lena realized she had tears running down her face while her girlfriend just kept staring at the floor. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why did you say that?” Kara’s voice was so broken that she had to take a few moments to register her question.

“What does it matter?” Lena asked softly, “there is no situation that would warrant something like that.”

“I want to know.”

The brunette took a deep breath through her nose and wiped her tears with one hand. “I don’t know.”

Kara scoffed and turned her head to glance at her. “You don’t know?” This time she held Lena’s gaze, though. “You brought up and threw in my face one of the worst and most traumatic moments of my life so you could compare it to another situation, invalidating it and me in the process, and you don’t even know why?”

Those blue eyes were so cold, so terrifying. Lena took another deep breath, refusing to cry because she would not put that on her girlfriend right now. “I don’t want to justify myself, Kara,” she explained softly. “An apology followed by a justification means nothing. You don’t deserve that ‘ nothing.’ I’m owning my shit, I fucked up and I will regret those words probably for the rest of my life. That is, and always will be, on me. It’s up to me to do better from now on.” She paused, shivering when realization hit her. “If there even is a ‘from now on’ after this.”

Without even noticing, Lena held her breath during the infinitely long and silent seconds that followed that sentence. “Lena, do you think I’m going to end our courtship after this?”

“Won’t you?”

The frown turned from mad to confused in the blink of an eye. “Of course not!”

The only thing Lena could think of was, “why?”

“Because you just fucked up, Lena.” Kara sat up straighter and this time turned so she could fully face her girlfriend. “You really fucked up, but we all do. That doesn’t mean I love you any less, just as this doesn’t mean that everything is okay and I’m going to magically forget about what you said.”

Lena nodded, biting her lips and doing her best to hold Kara’s gaze. “I should have never –Darling, I will never–”

“I know,” the blonde interrupted her, and her gaze turned apologetic. “But you did. I can’t really forgive you for that right now, Lee, but that doesn’t mean I never will. I just need some time.”

She found herself nodding once again, because this was already so much better than what she had been picturing in her head for the past hour. “You–um, do you need time away from me? Because I know this is an underground bunker, but I can still give you space; I can move to another room for as long as you need and I can work on rebuilding the portal by myself, you don’t even have to see me.”

“No,” the blonde answered quickly, shaking her head and effectively interrupting her babbling. “I don’t need any of that. I love you and I want to be with you, but you have to understand that you really hurt me.”

“I understand. I’m so, so sorry.”

“I know you are, love,” she said, and Lena could see her eyes softening, “but I need to make my peace with it now. It’s not going to go away because I just want it to.”

Lena was absolutely flabbergasted. She had never known what a mature relationship looked like, that much was obvious. All things considered, it made sense that she would have to leave Earth to find the person who would teach her.

She was in a healthy relationship. 

Mind blowing.

“Is it okay if I tell you that I love you?”

Kara smiled and scooted a little bit closer. “Yes, Lee.”

So she scooted a bit closer, too. Kara initiated it, after all. “I love you, Kara Zor-El,” Lena said softly, almost in a whisper, sighing in relief when the blonde’s gaze finally softened. “You are, without a doubt, the love of my life.”

Then Lena realized that trying to keep the ring thing quiet before and asking Sam not to bring it up had been entirely pointless, because Kara was looking down at her own hand with a little smile, rolling it around her finger, before she met her eye again, only this time with a knowing smile. “I know. And you are mine, love.”

“Oh. So, you know about that, huh?” The brunette asked in amusement, surprising even herself when she realized she didn’t panic at all.

“I’m Kryptonian, Lena, not stupid,” Kara chuckled.

Lena laughed, too. It felt good. “That is not it, though,” she said, pointing at the ring on her girlfriend's finger, knowing they both knew exactly what she meant. “Believe me, darling: when the real thing comes along, you will know. We Luthors are known for being very extra.”

“I… have no idea what being extra means.”

“I’m sure Ruby will be happy to explain it to you.”  They both laughed, mostly because it was entirely correct: Ruby was in charge of teaching Kara everything she deemed vital for her to learn about Earth. “Are… we gonna be okay?” Lena finally asked, still a bit unsure once the easiness of that last conversation died down.

So Kara moved closer and cupped her girlfriend’s jaw in one hand, leaning forward and leaving a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. “Yes, my love, we will be.”

Anyone who walked into the living room would have thought Lena had completely lost it this time. It wouldn’t have been too far from the truth, in her opinion, but Kara would kindly point out that she was exaggerating later that night. However, the moment Alex came into view, she stopped dead in her tracks—bottles of beer in hand and all—and looked at her friend with a confused frown.

“Do I even wanna know?” She asked, looking from Lena to Kara.

The blonde chuckled from her comfortable position on the couch and shrugged. “I’m still not sure, and I’ve been watching her for an hour now. I think she had been already working on whatever this is for a while before I found her.”

All they got from Lena was a little grunt. She was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed under the big coffee table, with two laptops, five phones and two tablets in front of her. She had her glasses sitting on a deep, focused frown while she typed on one of the laptops, looked at the screen on the other, and periodically checked the portable devices that kept lighting up.

“From what I gathered so far, she’s coding. She has her coding face,” Kara explained softly, reaching for the beer the redhead was offering her and taking a sip. “Thanks. The phones keep lighting up. It seemed random at first, but I noticed about half an hour ago that there’s a pattern. Next one will be the one over there,” she pointed to the one closer to Alex, grinning proudly when the screen lit up a few seconds later.

“Um, Lena?” Alex tried again, getting another grunt from the brunette and a chuckle from Kara. “Dude, are you okay?” 

“Mm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

“See?” The blonde asked, laughing again.

Alex opened her eyes comically wide to look at Kara and laughed with her after a few seconds. “Here.” She placed a bottle of Guinness on the coffee table and slowly started sliding it toward Lena. Without even looking, the brunette reached for it and took a sip, thanking her with a soft hum and a nod, but still not looking at her.

“I haven’t seen her like this since she came up with the whole Hope thing,” Alex told the blonde while they both relaxed and drank their beers. “That lasted several months. We had to practically drag her out of her lab so she could get some sleep and take a shower.”

Kara laughed again, looking at her girlfriend with nothing but adoration. “That sounds like my Lena.”

They had been in the bunker for ten days now. It hadn’t been easy, but none of them expected it to be. Especially Lena, who was used to living alone and not having to deal with other people sharing communal spaces with her. There had been more than one argument—most of them pretty stupid, she could admit that—but she was slowly getting used to it. Having her own room definitely helped, one she got to share only with her girlfriend who, at times, was the only person she could tolerate.

Speaking of her girlfriend, things weren’t back to normal yet, whatever ‘normal’ meant. There had been some progress, though: they made sure to keep talking about their feelings a lot more—which Lena was still getting used to after a lifetime of repressing them—and trying to build their closeness back up by experiencing new and different things together. Lena taught her how to play Mario Kart, which soon became something they loved doing to wind down from a long day in the lab, while Kara showed her more about her culture, especially how to cook certain foods, which was something her girlfriend was determined to perfect.

However, they hadn't had sex again yet.

And it was fine, really. Kara didn’t try to initiate anything, and Lena honestly didn’t know if she was ready herself for that level of intimacy yet after the way she felt knowing she hurt Kara so deeply.

That didn’t mean she didn’t miss it, though.

Their physical intimacy restarted slowly after the fight, just a few short kisses and hugs at first, then came the cuddles and the spooning during the night, which led to waking up tangled in each other every morning, and eventually make out sessions that left both of them panting heavily and in need of a cold shower.

But no sex. 

Lena was pretty sure she would spontaneously combust soon. Not because she couldn’t live without sex, that part was easy, she had survived it before just fine; it was because now she was sleeping every single night next to the woman she was madly in love with, after making out for Rao knows how long, and going to sleep right after in Kara’s arms.

It was frustrating, but understandable. She wanted to take it slow, but her body strongly disagreed with that decision. It also didn’t help that she knew Kara was feeling the exact same way, because she knew her better than she knew herself. The blonde was just as frustrated. They were a hot mess. No pun intended.

“Alright,” Lena finally announced, clearing her throat after her voice came out a bit raspy, and taking another sip of beer. She pulled back quickly—clearly lost and surprised—and looked at the bottle in her hand, frowning. “How did this get here?”

Both Alex and Kara looked at each other and started laughing. They did stop when the brunette looked at them arching that devastating eyebrow that gave nightmares to a lot of grown men.

“I got it for you,” the redhead finally explained.

“Oh,” she looked at the bottle again, a little smirk showing up when she noticed it was her favorite. “Thank you.”

“That’s more like it. You’re welcome, Luthor,” Alex said grinning. “So, what’s going on here?” Her hand moved in circles over the mess of devices on the table.

After another sip, Lena turned off and closed both laptops, moving them to the side afterwards. “Ava came to talk to me again yesterday.” She noticed two frowns starting back at her. “I was in my study, working on the blueprints for the portal. Don’t look at me like that, you were all asleep. Anyway, that’s not the point.”

“What is the point?” The redhead asked, starting to get lost.

“We shouldn’t have gone radio silent this past week.”

“Ava told you that?”

Lena shook her head. “No, that was part of my conclusion. She came to tell me that Lex went to National City looking for me.”

“Um, didn’t we know he was looking for you already? I thought that was the whole point of staying here.” Kara asked slowly.

The brunette nodded and took another sip, trying to prolong the moment as much as she could. It lasted only a couple of seconds. “Since he found my jet intact and void of dead bodies, he went to the DEO assuming the flight had been only a decoy and we would still be there.” She looked at Alex, “nobody got hurt, Director J’onzz, Superman and The Flash got everyone out in time.”

Alex sat up straighter after hearing that, looking at her friend with dread written all over her face. “What happened?”

“He demolished the whole building.”

Now Alex was literally on the edge of her seat, clearly at the brink of tears. “W–What? How?”

“I don’t know how, they didn’t tell me.”

“That’s… Are you sure everyone is okay? Has anyone talked to Nia or Brainy? What happened to the people in holding?!”

“Ava assured me they got everyone out, even the people in holding. I asked about them too.”

The redhead leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes, running her fingers through her hair. “Your brother is deranged.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“How did he get away with it?” Kara asked, noticing that Alex was still in shock and trying to regulate her breathing.

“My understanding is that he blamed it on an experiment gone wrong that caused some seismic activity. He is even conducting a terribly fake but very public investigation to ‘find out’ who was responsible for it.”

“That fucking psycho!” Alex shouted, making the other two women jump. “Lena, I need to talk to Director J’onzz, or at least Nia or Brainy.”

“I know.” The brunette nodded once, then picked up one of the phones and tossed it for Alex to catch. “You are on vacation with your family and just found out about what happened. It was two days ago, so it’ll be perfectly believable if Lex is somehow monitoring their calls.”

Now Kara was at the edge of her seat, holding Alex’s arm before she dialed. “Lena, is this safe? Didn’t you say he can track us down?”

“He could before,” Lena said in agreement, “but that’s what I’ve been working on for the past several hours. These five phones are impossible to hack. If anyone could, it would either be Brainy or myself. My brother? Not so much. That was never his thing.” She moved two more phones closer to Alex and that’s when they noticed those were labeled ‘S’ and ‘R’ while Alex’s had an ‘A.’ The brunette looked pointedly at her and kept explaining. “You’re in Tahiti with your family. The three of you decided to go away on a much needed vacation after what happened with the jet. If Lex checks, your names will show in commercial flights from three days ago. You landed two days ago and have had crappy service until now. If he somehow manages to track your call, it’ll ping in Tahiti for about a week, then it’ll move to Bora-Bora for another week. If we need more time after that, I’ll make it ping somewhere else. You could ‘go visit’ the Arias family in Cuba, if you want.”

“Holy shit, Luthor.”

“You’re welcome, Danvers.” Lena smiled proudly, then tapped Ruby’s phone. “Tell her to start posting on social media again, I’m sure she’ll be excited about that,” she laughed while the redhead grinned, “but please make sure her content is Tahiti related. Her location tags will change automatically so she doesn’t need to worry about that. If she needs pictures, I already saved lots of them on her phone. There are two separate folders with several of my personal ones that no one has ever seen and, no, I’m not in any of them. I’m talking gorgeous sunsets, beaches, food, things like that. If she needs a backdrop for selfies, tell her to come find me and I can configure one of the windows just for her. I also set an alarm on her phone to let her know when she needs to switch the pictures to Bora-Bora.”

“Is this what you’ve been doing for the past… I don't even know how many hours?” Kara asked, completely mind blown.

Her girlfriend looked at her with a little guilty grimace, then shrugged. “Actively, yes, but I started planning the whole thing last night.”

The blonde narrowed her eyes at her. “You didn’t sleep, did you?”

“Does napping in the bathtub earlier count?”

“No!”

“Then no.”

Before they could get into some dumb argument again, Alex intervened to cut their conversation short. “Where are you supposed to be, though?”

“Kara and I are traveling all around the UK, I don’t want to use a specific location in case he goes nuts and puts people in danger, so we’ll be moving around. No one would believe we’re at some gorgeous beach with my complexion right now, anyway.”

“I’m sorry, you and Kara?” The redhead asked, and by the look on the blonde’s face, she was wondering the same thing.

So Lena smirked. Not the regular smirk they were used to, but the one that said she was up to no good. “Yes. He’s trying to ruin my life, so I’m gonna ruin his. I’m sure whoever is helping him will recognize Kara and tell him who she is. I want him to know this gorgeous Kryptonian woman is thoroughly fucking his little sister senseless.”

Kara laughed out loud while Alex just stared at her in complete shock. “Um… Okay. Yeah, okay. That’ll piss him off for sure,” she chuckled. “How are you going to show him that, though?”

“Oh, I will be lovingly showing my incredibly hot girlfriend what social media is and how to use it. You know, teach her about Earth and our social customs. Might even bring my personal accounts back to life.”

“You know you’ll get thousands, if not millions, of likes and comments, right?”

“I’m counting on it, actually. I want us to go viral.”

Alex laughed and it brought a smile to Lena’s face. She had been the ‘perfect Luthor’ her whole life, and it got her nowhere. It only made her miserable. She thought she was free of the name the moment Lex went to jail, but he had escaped in no time, ruining her life once again. Now he was a free man, and not only that, but everyone thought he was a hero. She was done with him. Playing his game was not an option for her anymore, so she would start playing her own, and hopefully turn the tables on him for once.

“Darling, are you alright with us going public here on Earth?” 

Kara grinned brightly, her eyes illuminating with it. “I’m alright with us going public anywhere in any galaxy, Lee.” If Lena’s insides melted, it was not pure coincidence. “If I’m being honest, I’m really excited about it.”

Lena tried to get up after hearing those words, but she had been sitting in the same uncomfortable position for so long that her legs refused to answer, so she did the next best thing. “Come here, I want to kiss you.”

So Kara laughed and got up, squatting next to her girlfriend and letting the woman grab her face with both hands and pull her into a hard kiss. “I love you,” she whispered against her lips with a dopey smile.

“I love you, too. Now let’s tell people about us and hopefully give my brother a stroke.”

Chapter Text

“Are you serious?” Ruby’s excitement had to be one of the best parts of this idea. The only one that could ever compete with it was knowing that Lex was going to hate every second of it. “Ma! You can’t play with my feelings like this, I swear if you’re not serious–aunt Lena!” Lena was just heading to her bedroom when her goddaughter spotted her through the open door of hers. She stopped in her tracks with a curious look on her face. “Is it true that I can keep this phone and use social media again?”

The brunette laughed and held her own phone up for the teenager to see. “Yes, but there are rules–”

“Yeah, yeah, ma told me about that,” Ruby interrupted her, “it actually sounds pretty cool, but whatever. Can I still talk to my friends and stuff? I’ve missed so much already!”

Lena saw Alex sit down on her daughter’s bed and run her hands down her face, already exhausted. The least she could do was try to help the woman, after all. “Yes, sweetheart, you can talk to your friends. Just, please remember where you are supposed to be?”

“Totally!” She jumped rather aggressively on the bed, jostling Alex in the meantime, and started downloading all the apps she was going to need. “Thank you!” She looked back at them and waved her hand in the air, “you can leave now.”

While Lena bit her lips as hard as she could not to laugh, the redhead didn’t seem to find it so amusing. “Excuse me? Do you want to get your phone taken away before you can even use it?”

“No, no. I’m sorry, please stay all you want.” Her grin was overly fake, just enough to make Alex repress her own smile.

Her mom got off the bed and gave her a pointed look. “I’m going to leave, but watch it, because if it was your mother instead of me, you’d be getting an earful already.”

“I know, I’m sorry. Just got excited. Don’t get me wrong, I love you all, but I need to catch up with my friends and, you know, interact with younger people.”

“Wow.” Lena brought her hand to her chest, trying to look appalled. “Rude.” Then she looked at Alex. “You’re raising a menace, I hope you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just wait until you have your own and then tell me how it goes,” the redhead joked, leaving the bedroom.

Of course. As much as Ruby wanted to talk to her friends, she didn’t miss that one. “Are you pregnant?!” She asked excitedly, sitting in bed and looking at Lena.

“Oh, Rao! Who’s pregnant?” Kara asked while looking at Alex, instantly assuming they were either talking about her or Sam. She had stopped at Ruby’s door, too, with a half eaten sandwich in her hand and her mouth full of bread and God knows what else.

“Aunt Lena.”

The brunette knew right away she would probably have to Heimlich Kara.

“W–?!” The Kryptonian tried to ask in between choking coughs, hitting her own chest with her fist. Her eyes sought her girlfriend’s, completely lost. “What?! How?!”

Lena just rolled her eyes and tapped Kara’s back, making sure no part of that monstrosity she called a sandwich was getting stuck there obstructing her air pipes. “How on Earth could I be pregnant, Kara?” She asked in almost as much distress as her girlfriend. “Unless you have some Kryptonian hidden superpower you didn’t tell me about, I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

“I don’t know, Ruby said it!”

“Ruby says a lot of things. Some of them are rubbish. Case in point.”

“Rude,” the teen grumbled.

In the meantime, Alex was standing just outside the bedroom, staring back and forth at them with the most amused expression on her face.

“Well, how am I supposed to know when she’s being accurate?” The blonde was blushing, but it was probably because of the choking.

“Common sense, maybe?” Lena rolled her eyes again so hard that they could’ve gotten stuck there forever. “Again, I’ve been only fucking you, so I’m gonna ask: can you get me pregnant?”

“Hey! Hey! Okay, that’s enough!” Alex tried, she really did, but her daughter was already laughing and there was no salvaging this situation. “How about you continue this conversation in your bedroom away from my teenage daughter’s ears?”

“Alex, she knows we have sex. She’s fifteen.” The brunette deadpanned while her girlfriend looked at her with a little smirk.

Ruby nodded, as if her input here was necessary. “She’s right.”

The redhead huffed, clearly not finding the whole thing amusing anymore. “You know what? I give up. Do whatever you want, I’m gonna go take a nap in Tahiti, apparently.” She turned around and headed to her bedroom, slamming the door for emphasis.

“And she says Ruby is the only teenager?” The brunette asked, scoffing indignantly. “Come on,” she reached for her girlfriend’s hand, “let’s go.”

“Hold on, I have to tweet this. Ruby, teach me how to tweet!”

She was finally happy with the way the blueprints looked. It had taken some time and she had to review a lot of things with Kara before trying to integrate them, but with her girlfriend’s input Lena could finish a very solid project to start building the portal. 

After saving the design—with several backups, just in case—the brunette leaned back on her chair and noticed it had gotten increasingly dark outside her window. She checked her watch and realized how late it was. Once again she had completely lost track of time.

Every now and then Kara would come and get her before it got too late, urging her to eat something before going to bed at a reasonable hour, but lately she had been so eager to finish the project that the blonde had decided to let her get it out of her system. She wasn’t going to stop thinking about it, anyway.

Lena took a few moments to look out the window, sighing wistfully and hoping she would get to take Kara to Ireland for real sometime.

“If only Lex stopped being such a fucking cunt,” she mumbled to herself.

With one last sigh, she turned around and asked Hope to power off and lock all devices in her study for the night before heading to the elevator.

It wasn’t like she was particularly tired, to be honest. Whenever she had been working for too long it took her a while to actually decompress enough to be able to sleep, which is why she decided to go to the kitchen and get some tea instead of going to bed and risk waking up her girlfriend. However, the moment she set foot in the kitchen Hope quietly told her that Kara had left some food for her with the instruction to “have proper dinner before going to bed.”

To be honest, it made her want to cry.

How could she not, after that? Lena closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, willing the tears away, and chuckled to herself. The food waiting for her was warm—thanks to Hope—and delicious. Maybe she was a bit hungry, after all.

Once she had had ‘proper dinner’ Lena decided it was definitely time for a much needed shower, so she tiptoed into their bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her and taking a moment to make sure she hadn’t woken Kara up. She did the same thing when heading to the bathroom.

It seemed to work. She was out, freshly showered and way more relaxed, and Kara was still snoring softly, which brought a smile to her face. She was so distracted by it that maybe her step got a little heavier. Either that, or her girlfriend could sense her presence, because the moment Lena got closer to walk around the bed, she heard Kara stir with a little hum and then felt a strong arm reaching over to wrap around her waist and pull her to bed, half on top of her girlfriend, who was grinning proudly after getting a surprised yelp and a giggle out of her.

“Kara!”

“Sshh! People are sleeping!” The blonde whispered while still grinning proudly.

Lena chuckled and leaned closer to kiss her lips, which was a bit awkward giving her position half sitting on the blonde’s lap, half lying on top of her. “The walls are insulated, darling.”

“Why am I whispering, then?” Kara asked, still whispering and effectively making the brunette giggle again.

“Who knows why you do the things you do?”

“You’re an ass,” the blonde said laughing, making a point to poke at Lena’s secret ticklish spot, before rolling her over so she was lying half on top of her instead.

And something shifted right then. Their eyes locked while they kept grinning and, even in the darkness of their bedroom, Lena could see the way Kara’s eyes darted quickly to her lips before moving up again. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but God, she missed this so fucking much. Her grin turned into a playful smile and she moved her arm to wrap it around the blonde’s neck, gently pulling her down for a kiss, but giving her every chance to back away if she still wasn’t ready. And thank every fucking deity in history Kara responded in the exact same way, because it would’ve been so awkward if she didn’t.

They took their time, neither one of them in a rush, really. Lena could feel this wasn’t like any of the previous nights when they just made out for a bit before going to sleep. She knew her girlfriend, and this wasn’t that. Kara was deepening the kiss and moving her hand to her waist, then sneaking it underneath her shirt and sliding it up her side, making the brunette take a sharp breath against her lips when those fingers moved across her ribs.

“Are you okay?” Kara asked her softly, and Lena nodded while tangling her fingers in her hair.

“Yes, darling,” she whispered back, because she knew how important it was for the blonde to hear the words. And Lena liked that. A lot. It made her feel safe, too.

So Kara gave her a nod of her own and her hand kept moving, cupping her breast while her lips trailed soft kisses down her neck.

Objectively, it hadn’t been that long, but to Lena it felt like an eternity. Her body seemed to agree, because she arched into her girlfriend’s touch, hissing softly while biting her own lip the moment the blonde playfully pinched her nipple. Kara’s teeth scraped her neck right after, and she knew she was a goner.

“Shit, Kara,” she whispered, tilting her head back to grant her more room, and the blonde was quick to respond to that, too. Lena was fairly sure she would either sport a hickey or a bite mark the next morning, and she couldn’t care less about it.

Her free hand moved to Kara’s lower back and found the hem of her shirt, so she grabbed it and slowly pulled it up, trying to get the whole thing out of the way. That’s when she felt the lips on her neck turn into a smile, which was soon followed by a little chuckle. “You want it off?”

“Please.” It came out as a pitiful little whine, and she didn’t care. Especially when Kara pulled back and, before Lena could protest, straddled her hips and pulled the offending shirt over her head. She was fairly sure the blonde tossed it to the side, but she had gotten immediately distracted by the sight of her gorgeous girlfriend straddling her in nothing but a blue pair of panties.

Blue was definitely Kara’s color.

Lena moved her hands to her waist, letting her thumbs put some pressure there because she needed to do something with all of that fucking pent up energy. She was biting her own lip again while her eyes kept roaming all over the blonde’s body when the woman’s voice distracted her. “Sorry, what did you say?” She asked without an ounce of shame for getting distracted, and Kara laughed.

“Sit up.” It might have only been said like that because she was repeating it and trying to keep it brief, but holy shit, it sounded like an order and the shiver that ran down Lena’s spine gave her goosebumps. 

So she sat up, because who would be stupid enough not to? 

Kara was waiting for her with a smile and two warm hands that immediately cupped her face to kiss her while Lena moved her arms around her waist, tracing random patterns with her fingers across the expanse of the blonde’s back.

Those warm hands left her face and moved down to grab her shirt almost roughly, and Lena had to stop her roaming fingers to allow her girlfriend to take her shirt off. Fair was fair, she would give her that.

But she never promised to play fair.

The moment her shirt was off and she could feel Kara’s skin against hers, something triggered her need even more, and she moved her kisses down the blonde’s chest. Her hands were on that gorgeous back once again, only this time she was also putting some pressure with her nails, making Kara let out a little whimper.

Lena grinned proudly, because being privy to that little piece of information turned her on more than it should. No one in a million years would guess Kara was the whimpering kind, and she was more than happy to take that secret to the grave. Now she needed to hear more of those, though, so she took advantage of their position and kissed her way down the blonde’s breasts, sucking a nipple into her mouth the moment her lips brushed against it, and there it was, another whimper paired with the feeling of long fingers treading through her still wet hair and pulling not-so-gently.

Kara rolled her hips, probably more out of reflex than anything else, but it still spurred her on and Lena was not about to back down now. Not unless the blonde told her to, of course. Slowly and softly, she moved her right hand to the front of her body, letting her fingers explore her abs for a moment instead, and since Kara was arching her back a bit, she reluctantly had to let go of her nipple to look into her eyes. “Hey,” she whispered softly, and her girlfriend’s eyes opened to focus on her with a questioning look. In an attempt to make herself as clear as possible, Lena moved her hand down her stomach until her fingers met those blue panties. “Are you still okay with this?” 

And Kara laughed softly, arching her eyebrow and pulling on her hair again. “If you don’t keep going, I can assure you: you’ll sleep on the couch tonight.” They both laughed and their lips met again, hard and needy, but the blonde had to pull back to gasp the moment Lena’s fingers slid inside her underwear. Of course, the brunette took advantage of that and her lips decided to move to give her girlfriend’s other breast the same kind of attention, because she would be damned if she left it feeling neglected.

“Fuck,” Kara whispered at the same time she rolled her hips, and Lena let out a little moan before biting her softly, which prompted the blonde to pull her hair a bit harder.

Her fingers moved further down, rubbing in tight circles that made the legs bracketing her hips shake. “You’re so fucking hot, Kara,” she groaned, but was urged again into the blonde’s chest, which had her grinning proudly at the same time her tongue lathered it with attention.

So she kept rubbing Kara’s clit just the way her girlfriend liked it, until she felt the woman’s lips brushing her forehead. Almost reluctantly, Lena let go of her breast to look up into her eyes, and she noticed how their eyes got watery when they met. There were smiles on their faces, though, so those unshed tears were definitely happy ones. Kara brushed her lips against hers, slowly, teasingly, and she rose a bit more on her knees, silently telling Lena exactly what she wanted. “I missed you, Lee.”

And Lena delivered. Perfectly, even. She slid her hand further down and pushed one tentative finger inside her girlfriend, making her smile and moan at the same time, all while their lips kept brushing against one another’s. “I missed you too, baby.” Given how wet Kara was and how easily she was able to push one finger inside her, the brunette pulled out to add a second one, and this time the moan she got in return was a little louder. “Good girl,” she encouraged her because she knew what would happen after those words, and the blonde didn’t disappoint when she rolled her hips again, more deliberately this time. “That’s it, keep going, baby.”

There was another loud moan; Lena couldn’t tell for the life of her whose it was, but she didn’t care anyway. Kara was placing her arms on her shoulders for leverage, and the brunette couldn’t tear her gaze away from her beautiful face. “Rao, Lena.” The whimper had her clenching, but she was a woman on a mission now, and she wouldn’t stop until her girlfriend was completely spent and happy.

The hand she had on Kara’s back moved further down and squeezed hard. “Have I told you I love your ass?” The question made the blonde laugh, which in turn made Lena grin when she got her shoulder smacked playfully. “What? I do!” She squeezed again, even harder, digging her nails a little bit.

“Stop that,” her girlfriend said, laughing and slowing down the movement of her hips. “I can’t keep up if you make me laugh on top of everything else that’s going on right now.”

“Sorry, sorry. My bad.” So she kissed her again, not letting go of her ass. Her fingers had been moving slowly but with the determination of someone who knew exactly what they were doing and what their girlfriend needed. Lena broke the kiss to look at her while she made sure the heel of her hand pressed firmly against Kara’s clit. Her movement range got a bit restricted after that, but based on the way the blonde shivered and how her hips jerked, it was definitely the right move. “Kara, baby?”

The woman opened her eyes again and looked down at her. “Yes, love?”

“I want you to ride my fingers, can you do that for me?” She asked sultry, determined to keep their eye contact, because she wasn’t about to go easy on her.

“Fuck! Oh, Lena, fuck.”

“Is that a yes?”

Instead of answering with words right away Kara readjusted her position, and the rolling of her hips got more deliberate, setting a steady pace Lena could help her follow with the hand she kept on her ass. It had never moved away. “Is that okay?” The question came out ragged, breathless in between soft panting, and the brunette could barely hold it together.

“That’s perfect, baby. You’re perfect.” Instead of instinctively trying to move her fingers, Lena made a conscious effort to keep them steady, making sure they would still rub against her girlfriend’s G-spot whenever she moved a certain way.

It didn’t take long for Kara to pick up the pace. She even had closed her eyes and thrown her head back, riding her girlfriend’s fingers just like she was asked to, silently reassuring Lena that she loved whenever she took control. “I’m getting so close.”

And there it was, she was reverting to her native language and whenever that happened Lena felt like getting a bit more aggressive, maybe a little bit possessive, too. It was hot, and sexy, and… hot. She let go of the butt cheek she was grabbing tightly enough to leave a clear imprint of her nails—she was gonna check on that later, actually—and instead moved that hand to the back of Kara’s neck. She pulled on her hair at first, hearing the blonde whimpering loudly the moment she did. “Fuck, Kara,” she moaned back, refusing to tear her gaze away.

Kara’s moans got increasingly louder and her hips picked up their pace, if only a bit erratically, which based on their experience, wasn’t a bad thing at all. “Rao, yes! Fuck! Lena, shit, shit, shit!”

“Holy fuck, baby,” she mumbled into a glistening neck and ran her tongue up as far as the height difference allowed her to. “You’re almost there. I missed you so much, Kar.” The hand that had tightened in a mane of blonde hair grabbed the woman’s neck and pulled her down for a deep, searing kiss. They both moaned loudly into each other’s mouths and Kara’s whole body tensed for several seconds. “Just like that, baby. Come for me.” Lena bit down hard on her lip and that was it. The blonde let out a string of high pitched whimpers while coming hard, holding onto Lena’s shoulders for dear life.

Surprisingly, Kara kept coming for way longer than either one of them were expecting. Her hands moved down to her girlfriend’s back and she dug her nails on the soft skin there, trying to get a better grip. It made Lena groan possessively and wrap her free arm around her body, holding her close while the blonde started to come down from her high.

She found herself softly kissing every inch of Kara’s body her lips could reach and caressing her back, uttering words of comfort and adoration. Because that was another thing Kara had taught her without even trying: the importance of aftercare in any situation that left either one of them feeling vulnerable. Jack had tried after particularly rough… situations, but Lena avoided it every single time, never really wanting to be touched. And then she met Kara and everything she thought she knew was turned upside down and life suddenly made sense.

So yes, she was going to take care of her girlfriend and make her feel safe and loved for as long as they both needed.

Her fingertips moved softly up and down the length of the blonde’s spine, tracing it delicately once Kara hid her face against her neck, trying to catch her breath. Even without having to look Lena knew she was smiling, and soon she found herself smiling with her while her lips kept brushing her girlfriend’s freckled shoulder. “I love you, darling.”

There was some sort of happy and incoherent mumbling coming from the blonde, but Lena could still catch the “Love you, too” that was thrown in there somewhere.

“You think we could sleep like this?” Kara asked while nuzzling the brunette’s neck with the tip of her nose.

“You mean sitting up, you on top of me, or with my fingers inside you? Because the answer won’t be the same for all three,” she paused, smiling to herself. “I would like to lie down, but the rest you can have.”

Kara let out the kind of raspy laugh that her girlfriend loved and pulled back from her neck to look into her eyes. “As much as I would love to, I think you should pull out, because my underwear is annoyingly wet and I need to get rid of it.”

“But do you, really?”

She laughed again and Lena felt that familiar flutter in her stomach. “Careful,” was all the warning she got before Kara gently moved up and back, effectively giving Lena no other option than to pull out. She searched the woman’s eyes when she heard her gasp, but Kara just smiled and shook her head, silently telling her nothing was wrong and she was okay; it was only the slight discomfort of pulling out after coming the way she did.

“Well, that’s a bummer. I was looking forward to it.” Ever the smartass, Lena laid back down, bringing one of her arms up and behind her head in an attempt to have a better angle to watch Kara get rid of her panties, which was proving to be much harder and entertaining than anyone would’ve expected, making her laugh from the bed.

“Stop laughing!” The blonde said in the middle of her own fit of laughter. “They’re sticky and my legs don’t work, Lena!”

She was jumping on one leg while trying to pull them down the other, and the whole thing was so endearingly ridiculous that Lena sat up and held her arms out. “Come here, you goof.” She only laughed harder when Kara jumped closer to her. “You’re ridiculous.” There wasn’t an ounce of malice in her voice, quite the opposite, actually, and the blonde seemed to know it because her only response was to laugh again. “You could’ve done it sitting down, you know?” She asked, looking up into her girlfriend’s eyes while her hands pulled the offending underwear down for Kara to step out of them.

“Huh. Well, I didn’t think of that,” the blonde replied with a little indignant huff, kicking her panties away once her girlfriend helped her get rid of them. “You could’ve said something before letting me struggle like a flamingo.”

“I did!”

“After laughing!” 

“You were laughing, too!”

“Oh, shut up!” Kara grabbed the closest pillow and  hit her girlfriend in the face with it, only making her laugh louder. 

All Lena could really do after that was grab her by the waist and pull her into bed to hold her on top of her body and kiss her as hard as humanly possible. “You still want to sleep like this?” She asked once their laughter died down and all that remained were happy sighs and soft caresses.

The blonde looked up from Lena’s shoulder and kissed her jaw. “I’d love to if you’re comfortable,” she said in a soft whisper, nuzzling her jaw.

“Very.” She smiled and tightened her arm around Kara’s back, holding her close and sighing happily. “Did you know flamingos are actually one of the species with the highest percentage of homosexual behavior, both male and female?”

While it wasn’t entirely random, since the blonde had been the one to bring up flamingos, it was still a strange moment to bring up that fun fact, so Kara had to laugh. “Well, Then I guess comparing myself to one was very accurate by Earth standards.”

“It really was.” Lena grinned and kissed the top of the blonde’s head. “Hey, Kara?”

“Mmh?”

“Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to try sleeping with my fingers inside you?” She asked in the same kind of soft whisper Kara had used before.

The blonde scoffed and hid against her neck again in a futile attempt to hide her laugh. “Lena, shut up and sleep.”

“You three were supposed to help me half an hour ago, what are you doing?” Lena asked as soon as she spotted her girlfriend, Sam and Ruby huddled around the coffee table.

“Macramé!” Kara said happily, holding her left hand in the air and moving her wrist to show her a new colorful bracelet on it. “You like it? Ruby made it for me. I’m officially her honorary godmother.”

“Is that so?” The brunette asked, walking closer to inspect their work and smiling fondly, because dammit, they were adorable. “Is there one for your other godmother?”

The teenager shook her head and looked up at her. “Kara didn’t let me make one,” she answered with a little shrug.

“Yeah, she said she would make yours herself,” Sam explained, giving her best friend a pointed look.

The blonde didn’t miss it, though. “It’s not like that.” She rolled her eyes at Sam before looking at her girlfriend to explain. “You gave me a ring that is not a ring, so I want to give you a bracelet that is not a bracelet,” she elaborated with a little smirk, making Lena laugh.

“I’m not following,” Ruby said, looking back and forth between the two of them, finally setting her eyes on her mother for an explanation.

“Don’t look at me, I’m just as lost as you are, kid.”

Lena sat down on the floor between Kara and Ruby and crossed her legs. “You remember when your mother gave your mom that bracelet when we were at Alura’s?”

“The day they got engaged? Yeah.”

“Yes, that was because Kryptonians don’t use rings when they get engaged or married like we do, they exchange bracelets during their bonding ceremony.”

“Yeah, I know that, I’m half-Kryptonian, remember? Kara has been teaching me a lot of things over the past year. I’m still not following though. What’s a ring that’s not a ring? Were you two high?” 

“Ruby!” Sam chastised, but then got curious and looked at her friend. “Wait, do you even have weed here?”

Lena rolled her eyes while looking at her. “That’s the part you’re curious about?”

“Well, yeah!”

“We’ll talk about that later,” she directed that to her best friend, then focused on Ruby again. “I shaped Kara’s dampener into a ring and only when I finished it, I realized it looks like a wedding band. I didn’t say anything because that’s not a Kryptonian custom, so I was hoping Kara wouldn’t notice, but she did. When it came up a few days ago, I told her that the ring I made for her was not that kind of ring, and whenever the time for a proper ring came, she would definitely notice because we Luthors are extra.”

Ruby scoffed, clearly agreeing with that last part. “Is that why Kara came to ask me what being extra means?”

“Yup!” The blonde said with a bright smile. “So, since she gave me a ring that is not that kind of ring, I’m gonna give her a bracelet that is not that kind of bracelet.”

The teenager looked back and forth between the two of them for several moments. “You two realize that by openly acknowledging what those things mean and still wearing them you’re basically engaged already, right? Like, that is exactly the way it works.”

Kara and Lena exchanged a very panicked look, but Sam diverted the attention by just laughing out loud and pulling her daughter closer to kiss the top of her head. “I love you, baby. Please never change.”

“Well, are you all gonna help me with the pictures or not?” The brunette asked, quickly changing the subject before Ruby could make more very valid points.

“Honestly, at this point, you should all back off and let me take them.” Ruby scoffed, generalizing her statement but looking pointedly at her mother.

Sam rolled her eyes and held her hands up in a clear sign of giving up. “You know what? Go at it. I can’t even deny that you’re a thousand times better than me at this.”

“No shame in admitting that your child has bested you at something,” the blonde pointed out, laughing wholeheartedly when the other Kryptonian flipped her off.

Lena finished configuring the backdrop and took several steps back to admire her work. Even from up close she couldn’t see a single pixel. “Look at that, I really am that good.”

“Lena, the last thing you need right now is for us to inflate your ego even more.”

The brunette narrowed her eyes at her friend, but acquitted pretty easily. “That’s fair. Kara did enough of that last night, anyway.”

“Oh,” Sam smirked, sitting down and crossing one leg over the other. “Do tell.” She wiggled her eyebrows, making the other two adults laugh.

“Gross. And also, since when do you openly discuss sex related topics in front of me? Ma would be throwing a fit.”

“She’s a prude,” Sam pointed out, waving her hand dismissively. “I got pregnant at sixteen because I was very misinformed. I’d rather you be informed and avoid making me a grandmother before I’m even forty.”

“Believe me, I’d get an abortion.”

“See, while I’d support you, that’s not the correct answer for this specific scenario.  First of all, you’re fifteen–”

“You just said you got pregnant at sixteen years old,” her daughter pointed out, and it was hard to argue with that.

“Yes, because I was stupid,” Sam answered, emphasizing the word. “You’re not. Do I wish you’d wait a few more years before you have sex? Yes. Can I force you to wait? No. So all I can do is make sure you’re informed, that way you can be safe.”

“One: I can assure you I’m not having sex anytime soon,” the teenager pointed out, holding one finger up. “And two,” she held up another finger, “I’d rather talk to someone else, because you make it weird and ma would have a heart attack or lock me up in a tower for the rest of my life.”

Lena looked over Ruby’s shoulder to silently check with Sam, so when her friend nodded, she offered, “you can come to me, Rubes. You know I won't make it weird nor will I have a heart attack. I love you and I will do my best to answer any questions you might have and support your decisions no matter what.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. I’d rather do that.” 

“Okay, now that that’s been sorted, I’d like to hear more about Kara inflating your ego last night,” Sam resumed their conversation without an ounce of shame or regret.

“I’d rather not right now,” Kara answered, glancing at Ruby and making Sam laugh in the process.

“That good, huh?”

For once, Lena laughed while her girlfriend covered her face with both hands. While Kara wasn’t exactly a prude, she was very aware of the fact that Ruby was there with them and they didn’t need to ruin her life. “Leave her alone, Sam.”

“Yes, please. I love you all but I don’t want to hear details of your sex lives. Can we start taking some good pictures?” Ruby asked, looking pointedly at her mother again. She was getting bossy, a trait that both her mother and godmother were proud of. “We have several wardrobe changes to go through and I would like to at least cover a few days of pictures today.”

“Alright, alright! Be our content manager. What do you need?” The brunette asked, and Ruby’s chest puffed proudly.

She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. “You’re both going to keep the mystery for a couple of posts, right?” Lena nodded, because she knew it would build the anticipation they needed. “Okay, so no faces for now. Do you want it cute?”

“I mean, as cute as two grown women can tastefully do it,” Lena replied. Discussing this with Ruby felt way more mature and professional than she expected it to be. Surely way more than some renowned photographers she came across in the past. Maybe her goddaughter would be a prolific photographer one day. “I’ve been in the public eye my whole life and held to a certain standard, through no fault of my own, with very little freedom on how to portray myself.”

“So, is that what you want? To keep it professional?”

“Oh, absolutely not!” Lena grinned brightly, making Sam grin, too. If anyone here knew how much she dreaded having to be the Lena Luthor, that was Sam. They had spent many a night after a gala getting high and bitching about having to portray people they were not. “I want… freedom, to be honest. I want to be me for once.”

Ruby smiled, too. “So… fun and badass, basically?”

“Is that how you see me?

The teen seemed taken aback by that question. “Well, yes. You don’t?”

Lena blushed under the gaze of two Kryptonians that kept looking at her with proud smiles on their faces. “I… guess I never had to think about it. My life was practically a script I just had to follow.”

“You never followed a script with me,” Ruby said with her own little smile. “You were always my awesome aunt Lena. Kids at my school were so jealous because I had the most badass godmother ever.” She looked at Kara, too, and smiled brighter. “I actually have two badasses now as godmothers.”

Her eyes got teary and she felt an urge to hug this kid that she loved as if she was her own. “Do you really think that? I always felt like I was falling short.”

“Aunt Lena, are you kidding me?” The girl chuckled in disbelief. “You showed up to every single one of my soccer games and took the whole team for ice cream afterwards, even when things were crazy at work or you had some family drama going on. I used to get so excited when I knew I was gonna spend the night at your place! By the way, this is really cool and all, but when it’s over, I want to resume that.” She looked pointedly into her eyes, waiting for a nod of confirmation, that she got almost right away. “You helped me with every science project, were there for my stupid lame school plays taking pictures and videos, god, even when I got my first period you were there! You protected me from Reign and promised me you’d bring my mom back. And you did it, like a boss.” She locked her phone and put it away, taking the necessary steps to be able to hug her. “I don’t really remember all the gifts and material things, but I remember that you were always there for me. I have no memory of my life without you in it.”

There was not a single dry eye in the room after that. Sam was bawling and laughing at the same time, both proud and moved by her daughter's words. Kara was smiling lovingly and wiping furiously at her tears, trying to get it together. While Lena… Lena was holding onto Ruby for dear life and crying at the same time she left a loving kiss on the girl’s temple. 

“I never knew,” she whispered into her ear, and Ruby laughed.

“Well, that’s on you, it’s pretty obvious I worship the ground you walk on, I think you’re the only one who didn’t see it.”

That made Lena laugh, all watery and full of love. “I guess sometimes I’m not as smart as everyone think I am.”

Ruby pulled back and wiped at her own eyes. “Nah, you were just raised by psychopaths, emotions are hard to express for you. Or used to be.” She glanced at Kara for a moment and smiled. “This one seems to be helping.”

“Whoa, ‘this one?’ Is that how you refer to your honorary godmother?” The blonde asked, breaking the emotionally charged moment for Lena’s sake.

The teenager laughed and fished the phone from her back pocket. “You can drop the ‘honorary,’ you know? I already chose you, you're stuck with me.”

Kara’s eyes darted to Sam for a moment, though, afraid to step on anyone’s toes. “Well, yeah, but shouldn’t your moms–”

“She already chose you, Kara. Nothing can beat that,” Sam interrupted her with the biggest smile. “But if you need my blessing, I couldn’t think of anyone better for that title except Lena. Why do you think it was just her? No one else was good enough until now. Alex and I fully agree with Ruby’s choice.”

“Alex doesn’t even know.” Kara was trying to divert the attention from her blushing face, seemingly not really used to this kind of love being thrown at her like that.

“Oh, she does. We discussed it already,” Sam replied, surprising everyone with that revelation. “She was actually the one who brought it up to me during our last days in Argo, but we both wanted Ruby to realize it and come up with it on her own whenever she was ready, so we kept our mouths shut.”

Her daughter turned around to glare at her. “You could have saved me so much time, mother.”

“Time for what? You’re literally doing nothing all day because Lena’s tutoring is making you a genius or something.”

“From thinking about it!”

“You just got a glimpse of what adulthood looks like. Most things are a waste of time and it sucks, you’re gonna love it.” Everyone laughed after that, even Ruby, against her better judgment. “So, are you gonna take those pictures or what? I don’t have all day, I got things to do.”

Her daughter rolled her eyes and turned around. “Please don’t ask her what she has to do, because if she says ‘Ruby’s mom’ I’m just gonna leave.”

The brunette chuckled and kissed Ruby’s forehead, composing herself as best as she could to do what they came here to do. Kara, on the other hand, was looking at Sam and smirking when the woman made an approving gesture and gave her two thumbs up, confirming her daughter’s theory. What Lena missed, though, was the way Sam looked down at her watch with a frown, then at Kara with exasperation written all over her face while she tapped her wrist, silently telling her to hurry things along.

“Okay, what do you think?”

Ruby scooted closer while they were both lying on her bed, craning her neck to look at Lena’s phone. “May I?” She asked politely, holding her hand out instead of just taking the phone from the woman’s hand.

“Of course!” The brunette handed it over without hesitation.

The teenager studied it for a second, and Lena found her little focused frown very adorable. “Get rid of the caption,” she suggested, “you want people guessing. While it’s pretty obvious what it means, you won’t confirm nor deny anything for one or two posts. If it was me on the other side, I would go crazy.”

“You can do it, love,” her godmother encouraged with a little smile, “edit it however you see fit.” She watched while Ruby did just that and handed the phone back to her when she was done.

“There, that’s perfect. I’ll make sure to comment, and I’m pretty sure mom will, too.” She laughed, already picturing Sam going crazy over the whole thing. “Oh, also! Before I forget, check the time difference between us and…” she glance at Lena’s screen again, “County Donegal, wherever that is–”

“Ireland,” the woman answered, laughing.

“Okay, here and Ireland before you post. You don’t want to be posting at, like, 4 am.”

Lena smirked and arched an eyebrow. “Or do I?”

Ruby pretended to be grossed out and shoved Lena away from her, but ended up laughing. “You pervert.”

“I mean, have you seen my girlfriend?” She asked, laughing carelessly with her goddaughter.

The girl chuckled again, this time with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I hope you’re ready to see people drooling over her. I mean, they have always drooled over you, but I have to admit Kara is also a very attractive woman.”

The brunette got really quiet, pursing her lips and turning her head to look at Ruby again. “I… think I’ll kinda like it.”

She got shoved again, but both of them were laughing now. “Pervert.”

“Alright, so do I post?”

“Yes!”

Lena paused with her hand hovering over the screen. “Wait. What happened with Kara’s account? Could you get it running?”

“Everything is set up,” Ruby nodded once. “We’ll work on her own post later, but she will have to comment on yours. Probably some cute, suggestive emojis or something that’s not a confirmation of you two being in a relationship.”

“Noted.”

“Okay, now post!”

With one last deep breath, Lena tapped the screen, effectively posting what they had curated together.

“Okay, since Kara left her phone with me to set everything up, I’ll just comment from my account first, then use some emojis from her account, we know that’s exactly what she would do, anyway.” Ruby informed with a big smile on her face. “Where is Kara, anyway?”

“I…” Lena frowned, trying to remember if her girlfriend had said something about what she would be doing, but nothing came to mind. The last thing she remembered was the two Kryptonians leaving the room they had set up to take the pictures together, while she headed back to the living quarters with Ruby to start working on her post. “Have no idea. Where are your mothers?”

The teen shrugged, not knowing nor caring, apparently, leaving it at that. The cackle she let out right afterwards startled Lena, though. “Nia beat me to it,” she explained, holding her phone in front of Lena for her to check it out and making her laugh in the process.

“Thank you for doing this for us, Rubes.” She got up and kissed her goddaughter’s forehead, taking Kara’s phone when she handed it back. “I’m gonna go try to find her, text me if you need anything?”

Ruby nodded. “If I need something, I’ll tell Hope to find you, don’t worry.”

“It worries me that you’re getting so used to this technology, actually.” No it didn’t, but she couldn’t resist teasing her. “You know it’s not gonna be like this when you go back home, right?”

“We’ll see about that.” Ruby smirked, and Lena knew exactly what she meant. If her goddaughter asked to install the exact same system at home she would do it in a heartbeat.

She shook her head, amused by the girl’s confidence and walked out the door. She checked her phone, noticing the increasing amount of likes and comments she was getting, including Sam’s, so at least she knew her friends were out there somewhere. It was only a matter of finding them now.

Chapter Text

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Kara turned around, clearly startled, not expecting Lena to find them at all. “Lena! I-It’s not what it looks like!”

“What the fuck is it then, Kara? Please, enlighten me.” She was seething, her jaw clenched and hands closed into tight fists at the sides of her body. 

“We were just… I was–well… oh, Rao.”

“How stupid do you think I am? This is exactly what it looks like.”

The blonde frowned, taken aback by that question. “I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“You must, if you thought I was never going to find out.”

Kara huffed and looked down at the ground. “I was going to tell you, I swear!”

Lena scoffed and looked at her girlfriend from head to toe, eyebrow arched and a defiant look on her face. “Oh, yeah? When?”

“I–I don’t know.”

“You’re fucking unbelievable!” She threw her arms in the air, then looked at the other two. “And you two…” she trailed off, glaring at Sam and Alex. “Don’t even get me started.”

Sam took a step forward, placing her hands on her hips to look at her best friend. “Look, Lena, she wanted this and came to us because she knew you’d never–”

“Fuck you, Sam.” She interrupted, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “You went behind my back.”

“It’s not their fault,” Kara took a few steps closer to her girlfriend, but Lena took a step back. “I asked for this, Lena. Alex only went with it to make sure Sam didn’t hurt me.”

The brunette looked over Kara’s shoulder, where an apologetic Alex was nodding at her. “I could have done this for you if you just asked, Kara.”

“But you already told me you didn’t want to.” Her voice had gotten so small and hurt that Lena had to hold herself back from rushing to her and engulf the woman in a big hug.

She took a step closer and held her arm out waiting for Kara to take her hand, but the blonde looked at her with hesitation. “I trust you, darling, you’ve done this before, remember? Even amidst complete chaos.” She whispered and smiled encouragingly.

So Kara closed her eyes, took a deep breath through her nose, and carefully reached for her girlfriend’s hand. She held her so delicately that Lena smiled brightly while she ran her thumb over her knuckles.

“You think I could hug you?” The brunette asked, maybe pushing her luck, but she was feeling oddly optimistic.

Kara looked from Alex to Sam, both nodding with confident smiles on their faces. “Okay.”

Lena stepped closer, bringing Kara’s newly ringless hand to her lips and kissing it softly. The blonde met her halfway after that, this time with no hesitation, way more confident than before as they both wrapped their arms around each other.

“I’m so proud of you, darling,” she whispered against Kara’s shoulder, tilting her head up a bit to look at her. Lena felt her girlfriend’s hand slowly move up and down her back, comforting her even more. “So, so proud.”

The blonde blushed and tilted her head to look into her eyes, then left a soft kiss on her forehead. “Thank you. It means a lot, Lee.”

“None of you need to lie to me,” Lena said, looking at the other two women over Kara’s shoulder. “I know I was a bitch about it before and I’m sorry. I worry a lot.”

Alex nodded back. “You were in distress that day, we get it. I was hesitant at first because I knew how you felt about it, but I know Sam and it would have been better this way. I always made sure Kara was safe. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, though.”

Lena nodded, then looked at Sam, who had her arms folded across her chest and was staring at her dead in the eye. “I’ll be waiting by the phone for your apology,” the woman announced cheekily.

“You will be waiting?” Her best friend asked in disbelief.

“Yes, that ‘fuck you, Sam’ is gonna cost you.”

Lena chuckled, fully used to their dynamic. “Oh, fuck off!”

“Call it even, then?” The tall Kryptonian asked with a bright smile, making Lena laugh and nod.

“Sure.”

After everything was settled, Alex walked closer and handed Kara her ring, which the blonde slipped on right away. “Ready for your combat training with me? Lena can watch if she wants.”

The blonde looked at her girlfriend with those damn puppy eyes. It was so unfair. So Lena pulled her into a soft kiss and smiled against her lips. “Show me what you’ve got, Kara Zor-El.” She took a step back from the hug and went to join Sam, sitting next to her and crossing one leg over the other.

Both Kara and Alex faced each other with grins on their faces and immediately assumed a fighting stance. “You good to go?” Alex asked, and Kara just nodded.

There was no denying they had done an amazing job training Kara. Lena hadn’t seen her properly use her powers yet in a controlled environment, but regarding the combat training, her girlfriend was keeping up with Alex just fine, which was already saying a lot. She had trained with the redhead herself in the past and knew how tough she could be.

Of course, there was the whole ‘this-is-hot-as-hell’ factor, too, and her expression might have shown some of it, because Sam elbowed playfully to get her attention, only to smirk and wiggle her eyebrows at her. “Don’t even,” Lena warned in between low chuckles, because they both knew.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Keep it that way.”

“Okay.” There was a long pause, and Lena should have known better, really. “But I can see a fantastic post-workout shower in Kara’s future.”

Her friend smirked, biting the corner of her lip when Kara dodged a punch to the face with a swift move to the left. “You know what? I believe you might be right.”

Sam laughed and hit Lena’s thigh proudly. “You did good this time, kid. She’s amazing.”

The brunette blushed and looked down for a moment. “I know,” she said, looking back at Sam with the biggest smile on her face. “She is… everything I didn’t know I wanted and needed.”

“I know.”

“That obvious?”

The taller woman shrugged. “I guess I just know you.”

Lena nodded, her eyes fixated on her girlfriend once again. “How is she doing with her powers?”

“Better than I expected,” Sam said absentmindedly. “We started the right way. Figured since we’re not in a rush, we could do it right. We’ve been meditating with and without the dampener to work on her awareness regarding both her body and her mind.”

“How did that go?” 

Sam laughed and leaned her head back against the wall. “Once she stopped complaining about how boring it was, surprisingly well.” Lena laughed, because she knew that was very on brand for her girlfriend. “I only started training her when she showed full control without the dampener. It was just the two of us in here at first, neither one of us would risk Alex, or you, for that matter. So far she can float just fine, freeze breath is on point, strength and speed are off the charts.”

“Hearing and x-ray vision?”

“The hearing has been a bit overwhelming, but she’s getting the hang of it. I’m mindfulness…ing her into focusing on heartbeats.” Sam explained, wincing a bit at the display in front of them, but then smiling proudly when Kara knocked Alex on her back. “X-ray vision is perfect, too, although she got a bit embarrassed when she accidentally saw our underwear.”

Lena laughed wholeheartedly and glanced sideways at her friend for a moment. “She’s lucky it stopped at your underwear. Or that you were wearing any at all.”

“That’s what I said!” The woman agreed with a chuckle of her own. “She’s doing great, really. Heat vision is the only one she’s struggling with right now. I’m pretty sure it’s because of what happened when she arrived here. It scared her. I think that one is particularly connected to her emotions.”

She nodded, perfectly understanding how that could have been traumatizing enough to leave a hint of fear or reluctance. “Talk to her about it. I don’t want to meddle and put pressure on her, this is your thing and I actually love that for the two of you; but if she wants, I’m sure we can come up with something in the lab for her to practice safely. Whenever she’s ready.”

Sam reached over again, this time grabbing Lena’s hand and giving it a soft squeeze. “I will. Thank you, babes. I’m sorry we kept this from you.”

“It’s alright, I can see why you had to do it,” she nodded, completely focused on her girlfriend. “But no matter how fucking stupid I am, please talk to me. Don’t leave me in the dark, because then I go nuclear. I know my first reaction might not be ideal sometimes, but I can promise you, I’ll always come around.”

“No, don’t look!”

“Kara, sooner or later I’m gonna see anyway.” Lena scooted closer again, only to get gently shoved away by her girlfriend.

“I know, but let me do this on my own, I want to learn. You’re just being nosy.”

The blonde’s cute little frown and the way the tip of her tongue poked between her lips convinced Lena to just back off and let her do it. She would have to learn anyway, so Lena trusted Ruby had done a good enough job teaching her.

It also helped that Kara was lying in bed next to her in nothing but her underwear after their shower and she could get a better view from her side of the bed.

Sam had been right. It was a phenomenal shower.

After a few moments Kara nodded to herself—it was endearing—and turned her head to look at her girlfriend. “Show me the location again?” So Lena unlocked her phone and held it facing the blonde so she could search for the same one. “Got it, thank you.”

“You’re enjoying this way more than I expected you to,” the brunette pointed out, smiling at Kara’s focused expression. “I’m afraid to have unleashed a monster with this idea.”

The blonde tapped her screen one last time and turned her head to Lena with a big grin on her face. “It would have happened one way or another. Ruby would have made sure of that.”

Lena rolled onto her side and propped herself on her elbow with her hand supporting her head to face her girlfriend. “You did it?”

“Yes,” Kara answered proudly, checking her phone again to make sure she had, indeed, posted the picture she chose. “Yes.” She confirmed afterwards.

She left the phone on the bed between them to happily welcome the kisses she was ready to receive once Lena got closer to her without trying to spy. It could only have been a few seconds, but they were both really getting into it again, when Kara’s phone started buzzing between them, startling them at first, and then becoming a very annoying distraction when they tried to resume what they had started.

“Good God, just check what’s going on,” the brunette groaned, rolling away from her but still staying close enough to keep one arm over Kara’s torso.

So the blonde reached for her phone and looked at the still locked screen to find several Instagram notifications. She frowned and slid her thumb up, effectively unlocking the device. “Oh, Rao.” Her expression was something between surprise and amusement when she turned her head to look at Lena. “How is this even possible? I don’t know any of these people.”

The brunette chuckled and moved closer, resting her head on Kara’s shoulder to look at her phone with her. “That’s the whole point, actually. They got quite curious after I posed earlier today, so it makes sense that they would launch an impromptu investigation to figure out who the woman in my picture was.”

“But… how?”

“Oh, Ruby posted some emojis with little hearts from your account.”

“And that made them find me? This fast?”

“Darling, some people on the internet work better and faster than the best detectives.” That made Kara laugh, which had Lena kissing her jaw. “Are you still on board with the whole thing?”

“Lena, are you kidding me? This is so much fun! Look at how many hearts I’m getting!” She held her phone right in front of her girlfriend’s face, making her have to recoil a bit while she laughed.

“That’s a cute one, I like it,” Lena said softly, looking lovingly at the blonde. The phone buzzed again, and when she glanced at it, the brunette couldn’t help the laugh that found its way out of her body. “Alex just commented, you might want to answer that.”

So Kara pulled the phone back in front of her, groaning loudly. “Stupid Alex,” she mumbled under her breath while tapping on said comment to reply. “She’s the worst,” she finally concluded once she had responded to her.

Her girlfriend rolled over, wrapping her arm more firmly around the blonde’s waist and kissing her neck. “I won’t like it from my account yet, but I want you to know that I think it’s a beautiful picture with the sweetest caption. You make everything in my life infinitely more beautiful.”

Kara smiled and held her arm open for Lena to rest her head on her shoulder and get comfortable so she could kiss her forehead. “That’s all I want.”

“Have we heard from Lex yet?” 

Alex tore her gaze from the TV to look at Lena and shook her head. “No,” she pointed at the screen. “I’m keeping an eye on the news, just in case. I’ll let you know if I hear something.”

“I’ve set up a Google alert, too,” Sam added from her spot on the couch with her head resting on her fiancée’s lap. “That way you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Thank you.” The brunette laid down on the other couch, propping her legs up on the armrest. “I didn’t take into consideration how anxious the waiting would make me, and it’s only been a day.”

Ruby, who was sitting nearby playing on her Nintendo Switch, looked up at them. “I do have an idea that might speed things up, but I don’t know how you’re gonna feel about it.”

Lena craned her neck up to look at her suspiciously. “Color me intrigued.”

The teen looked at both her mothers, then focused her gaze on Alex. “Only if ma promises not to lose her shit.”

Alex’s brow furrowed while narrowing her eyes. “Okay, first of all, watch it, kid. But more importantly, why would I?”

“Because you’re uncomfortable every time I say anything… um, you know.”

Sam and Lena laughed, but the redhead rolled her eyes. “I’m trying, okay? Your mom talked to me about your conversation yesterday, I want to try. Give me a chance.”

“Okay,” Ruby said, not at all convinced, but trusting that Sam would intervene on her behalf if needed. Right before she could explain, Kara joined them in the living room with a bowl of popcorn and sat next to her girlfriend, making the back of her head bounce on the cushions and earning herself a glare she didn’t even see. “You need to crank up the spiciness.” The teen suggested simply, without giving more details.

Now Lena was the one frowning, but only because she was confused. “What exactly do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to be more clear without sounding crass.”

“Oh, look at you all fancy using words like ‘crass,’ I’m so proud!” Sam commented, making Alex laugh.

Lena rolled her eyes and ignored them. “So, um…”

“Sexy?” Kara asked instead, casually shoving handfuls of popcorn into her mouth, correctly guessing the topic and having no issue voicing anything. “Hot?”

The teen nodded, then tilted her head to the side. “Maybe more on the… suggestive side? Like, you could have engaged in certain… activities right after the picture was taken.”

“Oh,” both Lena and Kara said at the same time.

“It’ll work,” Ruby promised. “People will lose their mind.”

“I want Lex to lose it.”

“Well, how do you think that’s gonna happen if we don’t draw more attention to you? Aren’t I your content manager?”

“Touché.” The brunette conceded. “And yes, you are.”

Her goddaughter nodded proudly. “Then trust me. This is my thing, I know how people will react. If you keep pushing it that way, I can promise you’ll go worldwide viral in a matter of days.”

“Okay, I have one concern, though.” The blonde said, nervously biting her lip when Ruby looked at her in a way that encouraged her to keep talking. “Who is going to take those pictures?”

“I will absolutely have to draw the line there,” Alex stated firmly. 

“Alex, I’m not about to post nudes!” The young Luthor exclaimed, almost horrified at the thought. “Ruby said suggestive , not pornographic!”

“I did not need to hear that,” the teen mumbled to herself, but her mother’s super hearing allowed her to hear it, which made her laugh.

“You wanted to be treated like this and be included in these conversations. Now deal with it.”

All Ruby did was roll her eyes at her before just ignoring it. “I could take some, that’s fine. But for those that could be a bit more intimate, there’s another way you could take them yourselves.”

“You really are full of surprises, aren’t you?” Her godmother observed with a big grin. “Tell me more.”

“Okay, so you prop your phone up wherever you want the shot to be taken from, then you set it to record with the back camera. Don’t use the front one, it’ll ruin the quality. Then you do… whatever you need to do and, once you’re done, you go and stop the recording. All you have to do afterwards is screenshot the takes you like and voilà!”

All of the adults were looking at her with their mouths hanging open. 

“It also works for sextapes or for when you want to send each other nudes,” she added with a laugh, completely horrifying Alex, and Lena had the not-so-slight suspicion that it was intentional.

“Please tell me that’s not how you learned that.”

“I’m fifteen! What is wrong with you?!”

“Why would you say that then?!” Alex asked, turning an angry shade of red.

“To mess with you,” her daughter admitted and Sam let out a loud cackle. “I mean, it’s true and that's how you should do it tastefully so they are not selfies or in front of a mirror, but that doesn’t mean I do it! I’m a minor!”

“So glad that’s been acknowledged.” The redhead grumbled, glaring at her daughter.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Alex, then pointed her finger back and forth between her mothers. “Don’t act like you two are not gonna try it.”

“I plead the fifth,” Sam answered, not giving her fiancée any time to say anything, only blush again.

“You really think we should do it?” Kara asked, changing the subject back to the original idea.

Ruby nodded once. “Without a doubt.” She put her video game down and stood up. “Get up, I’ll take one for you right now so you get an idea of what I mean.”

Lena groaned and pushed herself up, looking down her own body with a frown. “Should we go get changed?”

“Absolutely not,” the teen said with a big smile, pulling Kara up by the hand, too. “You look comfy and homey, that’s gonna be perfect.” She paused. “Come with me.”

She led them to the kitchen, which was something Lena was not expecting, and made them wait while she looked around. In a couple of minutes she had carefully arranged a few things that were on the counter, moving them around while always going back to check from the angle Lena assumed she wanted to take the picture. 

“Does anyone here know how to use Photoshop?”

“Uh, what for?” The brunette asked, getting more and more confused by the second.

“Because this kitchen looks like something out of a spaceship and we need homey.” Ruby explained, but then shook her head. “Nevermind. I’m not great, but I can manage some random background and lighting. Aunt Lena, go sit on the counter over there.”

At that point they were all past the point of asking questions when Ruby gave them directions like that. Mostly because they were scared of her, but especially because they had seen the results and they had all been flawless. So Lena walked to the designated spot, and right when she was about to push herself up, Kara walked to her and grabbed her waist, hoisting her up.

“Don’t move!”

“Jesus, Ruby!” Alex exclaimed from behind her daughter where she was watching the whole thing with her fiancée. “You want to give us a heart attack?”

The teenager chuckled and looked back at her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry.” Then she faced her godmothers again, who luckily hadn’t moved—probably because she scared the crap out of them, too—and directed them as if they were all acting in her movie. Which, to be fair, they kinda were. “That’s just perfect! Now look at each other and be disgustingly in love and sweet as you always are.”

Lena half smiled and looked at her girlfriend, who was looking back at her with one of her goofy grins on her face and the moment she, absentmindedly, put her arm over Kara’s shoulder, she understood exactly what Ruby meant. Mostly because she was dying to kiss the blonde, but she chose to refrain from doing it, because she could hear the telltale sound of pictures rapidly being taken one after the other. “You can move a bit, just be natural, as if you had just woken up and this was a random morning, just the two of you.”

“Well, that’s hard when the three of you are just standing there, staring at us,” the blonde pointed out, making everyone laugh and shifting her stance a bit, almost knocking a cup and a jar over in the process.

There was one last shutter sound and Ruby pulled back from behind her phone with the biggest grin on her face. “That’s it. That’s the one,” she said in awe, almost a whisper, but still loud enough to be heard. 

Both her mothers peeked over her shoulder to see the shot, looked at each other, then back at the other couple. “At this point I think you should pay her.” Sam pointed out and, to be honest, Lena had been considering it.

“That is something I shall discuss with my niece, and my niece only,” the brunette answered teasingly. “But thank you for the suggestion.”

“I accept payments in the form of cars,” the teen said casually, only to get a kitchen rag thrown at her face.

“Learn how to drive first.”

“Oh! I wanna do that, too!” Kara suddenly got excited, almost knocking everything on the counter again.

Her girlfriend looked at her, surprised and amused. “You want to learn how to drive here?” Kara nodded enthusiastically. “What for?”

The blonde shrugged and tilted her head a bit. “Why not? I’m here, might as well learn. You learned back home.”

Kara made it sound so natural that Lena didn’t even register what she said. Maybe it had been natural for her, too, and that’s why she didn’t stop to think about it. So, she just shrugged. “Alright.”

“Wait. We can learn here?” Ruby asked excitedly.

Alex was the one to intervene before Lena could even answer. “Where exactly do you plan on driving here? We can’t go outside.”

“Actually,” Lena pursed her lips for a moment. “She can learn the basics.”

“She is not leaving this place until we deal with Lex, Lena.” The redhead said sternly, frowning and pursing her lips.

The brunette seemed outraged at the suggestion. “Of course not! None of you are!”

Sam narrowed her eyes after hearing that. “Neither are you, Lena. You’re not gonna endanger yourself for the greater good.”

It took Lena more time than all of them seemed to be comfortable with to respond. “No, that’s not–just let me show you what I have in mind and you’ll see what I mean.” She looked at her girlfriend afterwards. “In the meantime we need to post those pictures. And, Kara, I’ll say this with all the love in my heart: I know which picture you liked because you have the worst poker face I’ve ever seen. So, if my ass and underwear make it to the internet, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

“Okay, I just have one question: how on Earth did you build this fucking place? Is this some sort of pocket dimension?” Sam asked, seemingly outraged.

“Um, no, but…” Lena said timidly. “There’s one more place I haven’t shown you that will probably grant the same reaction.”

“I don’t even wanna know right now.”

The five of them stood in the middle of a second level of the parking garage, only this one completely empty with the exception of one single modest car.

Well, ‘modest’ for a Luthor.

The redhead scoffed and ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation before shaking her head. “Of course, our daughter is gonna learn how to drive on an Audi A6.”

Eyes bulging and disconcerted, Lena looked around the room, holding her arms in front of her as if she didn’t know what the problem was. “What? It’s a Sedan!”

“The fact that you just said that makes me want to punch you in the tit,” Sam answered, holding both arms in front of her, too, but touching her index fingers to their respective thumbs while bending down a bit to stare pointedly into her best friend’s eyes.

Not that she was actually scared, but Lena carefully and discreetly hid behind Kara while bracing both arms around her own chest, just in case. “You literally have a BMW SUV.”

“Yes, and you and I both know I worked my ass off my whole life to get everything I have.”

“I know. And I also know how damn stubborn you are. Sam, there is nothing wrong with getting help sometimes, you know that.”

“I do, and part of the reason I worked this hard is so Ruby wouldn’t have to, but she’s fifteen; this seems a bit over the top.”

“Well, it’s what I got! What do you want me to do, build her a car from scratch?”

“While I’m sure you could do that if you wanted,” the tall Kryptonian answered, “I’d rather you didn’t. But I know you, Lena, and I’m telling you now: you can’t give her a car like this when she turns sixteen.”

“Why nooot?” The teenager whined, already running her hand over the shiny hood of the car. “Look how pretty and shiny it is!”

“Are you trying to get me killed?” Lena asked her goddaughter from behind Kara’s lovely and conveniently placed back.

“Sorry.” At least she had the decency to wince.

The redhead rolled her eyes and walked to the passenger side of the car, opening the door while staring at her daughter over the roof. “I learned how to drive on a 96’ Honda Civic that had definitely seen better days. Whatever you get, you’ll love and be grateful for it. Understood?”

“10-4.”

“Atta girl. Now get inside, I’ll teach you how to drive.”

While the two of them did and Ruby started the car, Kara turned around to face her girlfriend, already whining. “When am I gonna learn?”

The brunette rolled her eyes and took her hand to pull her away from the car’s path. “Darling, I’m pretty sure it’ll take you ten seconds to learn. It’s honestly not that different from the cars in Argo, and your cognitive skills are off the charts. I’ll show you around later tonight and you’ll be driving by tomorrow morning.”

Kara clapped her hands excitedly and even did a little jump-y thing. “Will I get a shiny car, too?”

The door flung open, startling them both and forcing Lena to let out a very undignified yelp. Neither one of them really had any time to protest, because the sight of Alex barging in while keeping her hand covering her eyes was as disconcerting as the sudden slam of the door against the wall.

“Are you decent?”

Kara just laughed from the bed, where she had been reading a book, while her girlfriend scoffed from the bathroom doorway. “Am I ever?”

“Good point,” the redhead acquiesced, “are you at least dressed?”

“Yes, Alex,” Kara laughed again, “you can look.”

For some reason, the redhead parted her fingers for a little glimpse, checking that they were, in fact, wearing clothes, before letting out a relieved sigh.

To be honest, Lena was tempted to flash her.

“May I ask what difference does it make peeking instead of just removing your hand?” She settled for asking instead.

“I… Lena–” Alex glared at her and shook her head. “Shut up. Lex just landed in Dublin. You need to come to the living room right now.” The three of them exchanged a pointed look and in a matter of seconds they were rushing there, where Sam was turning up the volume on the TV.

And there he was: the bald psychopath responsible for Lena’s nightmares. Lex was smiling brightly on screen while some unsuspecting reporter asked him questions about his unexpected visit.

“Well, I’m sure by now you’re all well aware of the fantastic news regarding my sister’s personal life, since she hasn’t been particularly shy about it,” he was speaking with that same creepy smile on his face. “Of course, being as close as we are, we Luthor children have been in touch this whole time and I’ve been meaning to personally meet Kara, but my schedule has been hectic lately and I couldn’t find the time to do it sooner.”

“Does that mean we might get to see all of you together here in Ireland in the near future?” The reporter asked with the kind smile of a woman who has no idea she’s walking into a lion’s den. “Miss Luthor seems to be rather elusive these days.”

“I’m sure you can understand Lena’s desire to protect her privacy,” he said, looking at the camera as if he knew his sister was on the other side, watching him. “Even if her Instagram account says otherwise.” Lex laughed conspiratorially, playing the ‘big brother’ persona he was so adamant on portraying. “But I suppose that's what love does to us all, isn’t it?”

“Indeed, Mr. Luthor.” The woman smiled fondly and Lena felt truly scared for her wellbeing. “I won’t take any more of your time, Mr. Luthor, I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for this reunion for a while now. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us, we truly appreciate it.”

“Of course! Always a pleasure.”

“Have a great stay, Mr. Luthor. Send our regards to your sister and Kara.”

Once again, Lex looked at the camera. “Will do.” His smile filled Lena’s whole being with a sense of dread that chilled her to the bone.

“Is your brother always this…” Kara started asking once the image went back to whatever news they had been watching.

“Creepy?” Sam suggested, seeing as Kara seemed to be at a loss.

The blonde nodded, only then noticing the way Lena had her arms around herself. “Hey, hey,” she whispered, carefully wrapping her own arms around her girlfriend and letting out a relieved breath when the brunette melted against her chest instead of pulling away. “This is exactly what we wanted, remember? It’s working, we know where he is. He can’t hurt you, Lee.”

“You’re right. You’re right,” Lena whispered against her collarbone. “This is what we wanted.”

“He’s in Dublin now, though, so what’s the plan?” Sam asked at a loss, looking around the room for answers.

The brunette pulled back from her girlfriend’s embrace with one appreciative soft kiss to her shoulder and looked around. “Well, he landed in Dublin when it would have been far more convenient to do it in County Mayo, since Knock is also an international airport,” she observed, but it sounded mostly like she was talking to herself, which she probably was. “So he either left in a hurry, not bothering to check where we were exactly, or he’s scheming something.”

“Lex is not stupid,” Sam pointed out, locking eyes with her friend.

“No, he is not. So I believe it is time for one more post to properly piss him off and then leave Ireland altogether.”

They all nodded, including Ruby, who already seemed to be planning the whole thing in her head. “Okay, but first: aunt Lena, people think you have been hacked. Apparently you’ve ‘never been this happy or approachable.’ You might want to post a current selfie to prove that it’s you.” Then she grinned, the kind of devious smile that should scare any human in their right mind. “If we’re ever gonna do this, now is the time. You’re coming out, ladies. Mazel tov!”

Chapter Text

The moment Lena slid the door open everyone was immediately stunned into silence. It didn’t last long, of course, as it happens with teenagers, but it was long enough for her to try to hide behind her girlfriend again. However, that wasn’t possible this time because Kara was also speechless and following Ruby into the… well, whatever the space could be called.

“Are you shitting me?”

“Ruby!” Sam admonished her daughter’s language, but had to follow soon enough because she seemed equally astounded. “But, for real, Lena. Are you shitting me?!”

The way Kara tilted her head curiously had the brunette wanting to just grab her cute face and kiss her as hard as humanly—or alienly—possible. “How come that she gets scolded for her language when you use the exact same words?” She asked, and the other Kryptonian narrowed her eyes at her in silent threat. “I’m honestly asking out of ignorance, I swear I’m not being purposefully defiant. I have no idea how children are raised on Earth.”

It was easy to forget, but it was in moments like these when Lena was reminded that her girlfriend was an alien. 

The hottest alien that ever lived, mind you. How the hell did I land this woman? Should I send Lex a thank you basket? Mini muffins, perhaps? Oh! Mini explosive muffins! That’ll do it. I really am a genius.

Lena’s amazement-turned-brainstorming was cut short when Ruby ran past her as carelessly as an individual who grew up so fast she had no spatial awareness whatsoever, shouldering her into her girlfriend’s body. Kara, ever the savior, held her steady so she wouldn’t fall on her ass. A true hero.

“Out of my way! Have to go ask Hope to make me a bikini!”

That was the last thing the four adults heard before Ruby just disappeared behind the elevator doors.

“Only you could have an infinity pool indoors and underground,” Sam mused, looking around.

It wasn’t a big pool by any means, but it wasn’t small, either. One of the walls was a floor-to-ceiling ‘window’ that took the length of the whole wall and was currently displaying some high view of a Caribbean beach, giving the impression that the pool rested on a nice rooftop, with lounge chairs on the other side of the pool. The lamps were hidden from view in a way that made them feel like the day was as sunny as the windows displayed, and the warmth in the room perfectly paired the whole setting. 

It was stunning and she knew it, even if she wasn’t sure why she added to the blueprints in the first place.

“I have an uncomfortable question.” Alex had her brows pinched and her lips pursed as she sat down sideways on one of the lounge chairs. She rested her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands together while looking up at Lena.

“Yes?” The brunette asked when the statement wasn’t followed by the question.

“Lena, why did you really build this place?”

She frowned in confusion and tilted her head a bit, the same way Kara had done before. “What do you mean? I told you, in case I ever had to hide from Lex.”

“Mhm,” the redhead nodded, but her expression didn’t change at all. “And when you were designing it and doing all the math, how long did you think you might have to hide from your brother if it ever came down to it? How long could a person comfortably live down here without ever needing to venture out into the world?”

Well, now Lena knew why the question would be uncomfortable.

Fucking Alex.

Now all eyes were on her and Lena hated it with a passion.

Fucking Alex!

“I don’t know.”

Alex scoffed and placed her hands behind her body, leaning back into them. “I don’t buy it. Lena Luthor, just winging it? Nah.”

“What do you want from me, Alex?” Exasperation was starting to settle in because she didn’t want to answer that question. Not because it bothered her or felt invasive, but because she didn’t want to say it out loud. Those words and the meaning behind them had never left her brain, and she had never planned to let them out, either.

Sam sat down next to her fiancée and looked up at her, too, eyes full of curiosity and fear she failed to hide. “How long?”

“You too?”

“Yes, Lena.”

The brunette folded her arms across her chest and looked up at the sky/ceiling the moment she felt her eyes welling up with tears. She would absolutely not cry.

“Several lifetimes.”

Except she did when her eyes met first Alex’s, then Sam’s, and ultimately Kara’s. 

Those bright blue ones were the ones she was trying to avoid the most, and she didn’t even know why. She wasn’t ashamed, not by a long shot. This was a good idea. A safe idea. An idea she came up with because… well, because the alternative was unpleasant.  

Lena was past the point of lying to herself. She was well aware that she had entertained the thought for as long as she could remember. With time she realized it was the idea of nonexistence that she found appealing. She had no desire nor intention to harm herself after understanding the difference.

This was her ‘nonexistence plan.’

She could see in their eyes that the three of them understood that.

Their reactions actually surprised her. 

Alex was furious, fuming even, but it wasn’t because she was mad at her. No. She was mad like a big sister would and should be; mad at the world and the people who forced Lena into seeking this solution, who urged her to plan and execute this permanent escape that could very well have taken her away from them. Because she knew. She knew that if it came down to it and Lena had to disappear, she would. Completely. Breaking not only the family they had all built together, but also shattering their hearts.

Sam’s arm moved quickly across Alex’s chest to stop her fiancée from standing up in a fit of rage that would inevitably end up doing even more harm than good to their vulnerable friend. When Lena met her eyes she found them full of sorrow. It was like the mere idea of it all had already broken her, leaving her speechless. They didn’t need words, they hadn’t for years, really, but Lena knew Sam was mourning. It could seem ridiculous, mourning something that never happened, but some things could cut and hurt so deeply that it wasn’t strictly necessary for them to happen to actually grieve them, and the single tear running down Sam’s cheek told her that she was.

And then there was Kara. She was the one who surprised her the most. The blonde’s eyes showed nothing but understanding. Yes, there was pain, but the moment she looked into them she felt understood. It was even clearer when the woman stepped closer and wrapped her arms protectively around her body. Lena surprised herself when she felt her own arms sneaking around her girlfriend’s waist to pull her closer instead of just rejecting physical touch, and Kara responded by placing a comforting hand on the back of her neck and kissing her temple. “I’ve got you,” she whispered, her lips brushing her skin, and Lena felt safe. Not only physically, but emotionally safe, too.

Kara understood everything she wasn’t saying.

“I don’t want to be sad anymore,” she whimpered softly only for her girlfriend’s ears, and if Sam heard it, she didn’t mention it.

She felt another soft kiss to her temple and Lena melted into the embrace even more. “We will heal together.”

Those words broke the dam for good and the brunette hid her face against her girlfriend’s chest and cried. “God, I love you.”

Even though she couldn’t see it, Lena knew the blonde was smiling. She could feel it on the way her lips pressed against the top of her head, where Kara had been leaving soft kisses while letting her cry. “That’s great, because otherwise it’s going to be really awkward whenever I present you with a bonding bracelet.”

And just like that, she managed to get a bubbly laugh out of Lena. 

“Why don’t the two of you go somewhere a bit more private to either continue this conversation or wash your faces? Because I can hear Ruby’s squealing from here and I’m sure she’s just gonna run in here and do a cannonball,” Sam suggested, making Lena laugh again. 

The brunette pulled back and looked into Kara’s reassuring eyes. They nodded together, breaking the hug to hold hands as the blonde led the two of them away after giving Sam a grateful nod.

Based on the way Alex’s shirt was clinging to her body when they came back, Lena was absolutely sure that Ruby had, indeed, jumped into the pool in the most chaotic way possible, completely drenching her mothers.

“Is there some sort of wet t-shirt contest I’m not aware of?”

Alex glared at her while Sam just laughed from the side of the pool where she was sitting with her feet in the water. “I hope not, otherwise you’ll wipe the floor with all of us, Lenny.”

“First of all: damn right I would. Second, and more importantly: excuse me?!” 

It didn’t help Lena’s case that Kara laughed at the nickname.

“What? It’s cute!” Sam tried to defend herself to no avail. “I thought I’d try something new.”

“Next time you want to try something new, get bangs or something equally stupid.”

That seemed to be where Alex drew the line this time. “You can do whatever you want and I’ll fully support you, but: Sam, please, do not get bangs. If you do, I’m not marrying you until they grow back. Imagine our wedding pictures.”

Sam smirked and tilted her head back to look at her best friend. “Sorry, Lenny, my mom says I can’t.”

The brunette shook her head and finally responded to Kara’s silent invitation to sit with her on the lounge chair she had claimed for herself. “That is so disturbing.”

She should have known by the way her friend arched her brow that something inappropriate was about to come out of her mouth. “So… Kara hasn't called you Mommy yet?”

“Oh my God, Sam!”

Absolutely not. No. We are not turning around to face Kara. Stay strong, Luthor. Don’t do it. Don’t blush either, you idiot! Just stay still, don’t do anything, no one will notice. Wait, isn’t that what you have to do if you run into a T-Rex? Jesus fuck, a T-Rex?! The hell is wrong with you? Why don’t you borrow a Delorean and go back in time to stop Sam from saying that while we’re at it? Shut up. It’ll go away if we ignore it. That’s it, just keep–

“Why should I call her mommy?”

Goddammit!

The cackle that came out of Sam resonated around the whole room, sponsored by the expanse of it and the echo it provided.

Lena hid her face in both her hands and let out a loud, embarrassed groan, only to immediately feel her girlfriend laughing behind her. The deep blush of embarrassment took on a whole new meaning when Kara leaned over her shoulder to whisper into her ear, “is it something sexual?”

“Yes,” she whispered back, tilting her head to at least be able to see her face from the corner of her eye.

“Will you tell me more about it later?” Her lips were now brushing Lena’s ear and, seriously, how was this fair?

“Pe–Perhaps.”

There was a faux gasp behind her and the brunette knew. She just knew what was coming.

“Did Lena Luthor just… stutter?” 

“Darling, can you not?” She turned her head even more to look pointedly into her girlfriend’s eyes. “We can talk about it later, Sam is probably eavesdropping, even though we are whispering.”

“No, she’s not,” Kara stated confidently, probably because it wasn’t something she would do herself.

“Yes, I am.”

For whatever reason, Kara found it hilarious. That was the only reason why Lena wasn’t planning her revenge already. She could do it later, there would be plenty of time for that.

“Aunt Kara!” 

“What’s up little one?” The blonde asked with a big grin.

“You gonna come into the pool or what?”

That made the woman laugh. “I wasn’t aware I was supposed to.”

The teenager scoffed and swam to the edge of the pool, next to where her mother was sitting. “You didn’t swim on Krypton or something?” She asked, her cocky smirk triggering a little chuckle from the blonde that Lena could feel against her back.

“Not really, but how hard could it be, right?”

Kara kissed the back of her head before carefully getting up and winking playfully, because Lena knew for a fact she was bluffing. 

However cute and playful the moment was, those thoughts went out the window to be replaced with very different ones the moment the blonde pulled her t-shirt over her head, standing there in her sports bra and shorts. 

Kara noticed her girlfriend suddenly getting serious, so she turned around and squatted in front of her to be eye level. “Is this okay? If it bothers you I can go ask Hope to make me something else.”

“No!” Smooth, Lena. Five stars. “I mean, it’s okay, you look gorgeous, darling, you know that.” As if it would prove a point, she leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips. “If you’re wearing underwear, you can also take off your shorts.”

“What kind of savage do you think I am that I wouldn’t be wearing underwear?”

The arched brow made the blonde recoil a bit. Smart woman. “You weren’t wearing any under your shorts earlier this morning.”

“Because I was sleeping! If anything, that was your fault.”

Lena laughed and softly patted her girlfriend’s cheek. “I know, I know. Go have some fun with your goddaughter.”

The grin that came before their short kiss could have brightened the room.

“Okay, so… how does this work?” The blonde asked, walking to the edge of the pool and looking down at Ruby.

While Kara entertained herself by messing with Ruby a bit for being a little smartass, the brunette laid back and looked at the whole thing. Sam was still sitting there and the way she was avoiding looking at the blonde was a telltale sign that she had already done it.

“Please stop staring at my girlfriend’s ass,” Lena said under her breath, knowing that the other woman would be the only one to hear her.

“I wasn’t!”

Sam’s outburst had everyone but Lena looking at her like she had suddenly gone mad, which made it even worse when she turned around to glare at her best friend.

“I saw you.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Alex looked at her fiancée and frowned, lost and concerned. “Babe, what’s going on? Are you hearing voices or something?”

“No.” Her gaze softened a bit when she glanced at the redhead. “Lena is just being an ass.”

“Oh. Is she whispering for your super hearing to pick up?”

“Yeah.”

To Lena’s surprise, Alex turned and narrowed her eyes at her. “Stop messing with my fiancée.”

“No,” the brunette answered defiantly because she knew Alex would appreciate it.

And the woman didn’t disappoint. She shrugged and looked at Sam again. “Well, I tried.”

“Fucking assholes.” That was all Sam mumbled before turning around again to focus on the exchange between her daughter and Kara.

“So, I just… jump and grab my legs to my chest?” She asked, and Ruby nodded encouragingly. “Doesn’t it hurt your butt?”

“What? No! Aunt Kara, it’s the easiest way to jump if you’ve never done it. Just trust me.”

“Okay, I guess.” 

Lena had to purse her lips in an attempt not to laugh because she knew Kara was an exceptional swimmer, but she was either playing along or about to do something that would show it. 

“So, I take a few steps back and run? How is breaking the water surface like that not painful? Isn’t there a better way to do it?”

Ruby rolled her eyes and groaned. “Yes, there is, but you’re not ready for that yet.”

“Well, but what if I tried anyway?” 

At this point Lena had no idea how Kara was keeping a straight face through the whole exchange.

Frustrated, Ruby groaned and narrowed her eyes, looking more and more like Sam with each passing day; especially when she got frustrated. “Fine, just do whatever you want. At least if you hurt yourself, my mom is a doctor, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

At that, the blonde grinned brightly and stepped back. She took a deep breath that Ruby understood as her being nervous, then quickly paced the few steps that separated her from the edge of the pool. Once her feet touched the border she did jump, but in a flawless head dive that had Ruby sputtering incredulously. 

To add salt to the wound, the blonde didn’t resurface right away. Instead she quickly swam behind the teenager and picked her up so she would be sitting on her shoulders as she emerged from the water.

After recovering from the unexpected action, Ruby leaned forward to look at her face and softly smacked Kara’s forehead. “What the hell was that?!”

The blonde chuckled and looked up at her. “Did you truly believe I couldn’t swim?”

“Well you said you couldn’t!”

“Well, little one, you were being cocky, bordering on condescending. Someone had to humble you.”

“I hate you.”

Kara laughed again and looked up while patting one of the teenager’s legs that hung over her shoulder. “No, you don’t. You think I’m the coolest here. Admit it.”

“I hate you even more for knowing that.”

“Lena, are you sure about this?” Kara whispered, holding her girlfriend’s hand and following her through the dimly lit corridor.

“Yes, darling,” the brunette whispered back, “but we have to be quiet out here because Sam can hear everything.”

“It’s the middle of the night, aren’t they sleeping?”

The brunette slid the door to the pool area open, led her girlfriend inside, then closed it again behind them. “Yes, but if there’s something I’ve learned over the years I’ve known her, it’s that she is absolutely unpredictable.” She made sure to lock the door, then went to the panel on the wall to change the settings of the room.

“I also meant if you are sure about…” she moved her hand in a circular motion that included the two of them. “You know, this.”

For her part, Lena grinned and arched an eyebrow, turning to face her girlfriend once she was done with the settings she had chosen and stepping closer. “Do you really think I’d be doing anything I’m not a hundred percent sure of?”

“I sure hope you wouldn’t,” Kara shrugged and allowed herself to be pulled closer by the hem of her loose button up shirt.

The brunette shook her head and stepped even closer. “I wouldn’t,” she whispered against parted lips that let out a soft gasp. “Give me your phone.”

“Huh?” 

She couldn’t really blame her, if the roles were reversed and Kara was the one teasing her, she would’ve been just as lost.

“Your phone, darling. We shouldn’t really use mine. I know I said they were impossible to hack, and I stand by it, but I don’t feel like risking it with this.”

The blonde smirked and pulled her phone out of her pocket, handing it over and taking a step back to let Lena do her thing.

“Have you ever done this?” She heard her girlfriend ask from farther away.

Once she was done, Lena turned around to see the blonde sitting with her feet on the water. “What do you mean?” Her steps were slow and deliberate, taking her time to gauge her options.

Kara turned her head around and smiled when she saw the brunette approaching her. “That,” she jerked her head slightly at the phone propped on one of the lounge chairs, then met Lena’s eyes again.

Oh. That. “No.”

“Really?”

“Why? Have you?”

“Oh, no. That isn’t really a thing back home. At least not that I know of.”

Once she reached her girlfriend, Lena finally made a decision and carefully moved one of her feet over Kara’s legs, very briefly standing before her, before hiking up her already very short, very purposefully sexy nightgown, and slowly lowering herself down, maneuvering her body to comfortably straddle the blonde’s lap without falling back into the pool. It did help that Kara immediately moved her hands to her waist, keeping her safe against her body.

“Are you having second thoughts?” She asked softly at the same time her arms moved over the blonde’s shoulders.

“No. If anything, I’m excited.”

Lena chuckled and nuzzled Kara’s jaw, making sure her lips were close enough to her ear. “Well, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

She felt a soft kiss on her shoulder and smiled. “It is.” There was some nuzzling there and some more kisses before Kara spoke again. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“Absolutely not. But, darling, if at some point you want to stop, all you have to do is let me know and we stop.”

“Same for you.”

The brunette nodded and the trail of kisses she started leaving across Kara’s jaw finally led her to her lips. Instead of just going for the kiss, like the blonde was expecting, she smirked playfully and captured her bottom lip between her teeth, eliciting a little groan from her and the tightening of her arms around her waist.

Kara was the one to kiss her after that. It wasn’t particularly gentle the way their lips clashed together, it still held a hint of playfulness, and the brunette found herself realizing she was not only enjoying it, but also made her feel even more comfortable about the whole thing.

She also felt Kara become more dominant.

It was like a switch had been flipped and the blonde was suddenly holding her tight against her body with just one arm while her other hand moved up the length of Lena’s thigh.

The moment her hand moved further up under her nightgown Lena grinned into the kiss, then pulled back to nip at her girlfriend’s bottom lip again. 

“Why are you wearing underwear?” Kara asked softly against her lips and now Lena was wondering the exact same thing.

But she knew why, so she chuckled softly and rested her forehead against the blonde’s. “Because I’m wearing the shortest nightgown I own, and while I did enjoy the way your breath hitched and your eyes got darker when you saw me in it, I didn’t want to risk running into someone and giving them a full visual of my bare ass.” Kara chuckled her understanding and quickly stole another kiss that escalated quickly. Lena could feel her fingers playing with the waistband of her underwear and breathed hotly into her mouth. “Wanna take it off?”

“Yes, but I don’t want you to move right now.” It didn't end there, though. Her hand moved from the waist to the front of the soft garment. Kara moaned into her mouth when her palm pressed softly and she felt the heat and wetness starting to coat her panties. “Already?” She asked teasingly, and Lena couldn’t do anything but chuckle. 

“Kara, I started getting wet the moment you suggested this.”

The grin on her girlfriend’s face confirmed Lena’s assessment regarding her dominant mood. “I like that,” the blonde said softly, trailing kisses down the brunette’s throat, stopping every now and then to nip at the soft skin. 

“I figured.”

Slowly and carefully, the arm that had been wrapped around her waist started moving up her back, finally resting on the back of Lena’s neck and holding her that way now. “What else did you figure?” The fingers between her legs pressed harder and started moving slowly.

Lena moaned and used the arms resting on Kara’s shoulders for leverage so she could slowly roll her hips into her hand. “Nothing else, you’re always a surprise,” she whispered into her ear, “but I did hope you’d end up fucking me within an inch from my life.”

The bite she felt on her throat and the way the fingers put even more pressure against her told Lena that she had uttered a perfect answer.

“Sit next to me.”

The brunette pulled back, utterly confused, to look into her girlfriend’s eyes. “Pardon?”

In a tremendously attractive display of strength, Kara helped her up and off her lap, only to guide her to sit next to her instead. Of course, being the mature adult she was, Lena pouted at the loss of contact, which made the blonde chuckle. “Put that pout away, my love.”

She was on the verge of protesting when Kara pushed herself into the water, and everything made sense the moment she reemerged to part her legs and stand between them. “Oh.”

Without another word, the blonde placed a kiss on her knee, followed by another, then another. None of them on the same spot, moving impossibly slow. “Did you think I was just going to pull you into the water?” She asked, looking into Lena’s eyes to reassure her. “Lee, I know you.”

Her hand moved to Kara’s jaw without her even noticing. “Thank you.”

“For what? Paying attention to important things and making an effort to get to know my girlfriend?”

“Basically, yes.”

The blonde laughed and kissed the inside of her thigh this time. “The bar is really low here, isn’t it?”

Lena laughed with her and scratched the back of her girlfriend’s head in a way she hoped showed her appreciation. “Yes, but that has nothing to do with how incredible you are.”

Kara’s hand moved to her girlfriend’s hips and she gently pulled her closer to the edge of the pool. “You deserve nothing but the best.”

“Are you trying to get into my pants, Miss Zor-El?”

The blonde smirked and looked up into green eyes. “No, Miss Luthor. But that’s only because you’re not wearing any.” Her hands tugged her hips even closer to the edge and before Lena realized what was going on, Kara had pulled her underwear halfway past her thighs. “Now, your panties? Yes.”

In a poor attempt to show some confidence—or maybe actually regain some—Lena leaned back on her hands, looking down at her girlfriend while she got rid of her underwear. Their eyes met again and, since she was expecting Kara to continue her torturous trail of teasing kisses up her legs, the way the blonde practically dove in caught her completely off guard.

“Jesus, Kara!” Her spine arched and one of her hands moved to the back of the woman’s head.

All Kara did in response was look at her, wink, then maneuver her parted thighs over her shoulders.

And Lena couldn’t tear her gaze away for the life of her.

Her fist closed in a mane of drenched blonde hair; not to guide her or anything, but because she needed something to hold onto, and the floor wasn’t good enough anymore. It proved even more convenient when Kara let out a moan that reached her core, silently telling her to keep her hand exactly where it was.

Everything about the moment was so perfectly overwhelming that every other thought that wasn’t related to what they were doing was completely erased from her mind. The phone, the ambience sounds around them, the water. Nothing mattered anymore. Just Kara and what her mouth was doing to her body.

“Shit, baby,” Lena moaned softly, breathlessly, opening her hand a bit to scratch the back of the blonde’s head encouragingly. “You’re so fucking good.”

And Kara knew it, of course she did. Not because she was inherently cocky or anything, but because they both had taken their time to learn what they both liked and how. So, when she said it and Kara smirked, Lena knew it was because she was proud of herself for learning instead of misplaced arrogance.

One of her legs seemed to suddenly have a life of its own, because when the blonde opened her mouth a bit more and her tongue rolled slowly and deliberately around Lena’s clit, it tightened behind her back, pulling her even closer.

Since Kara didn’t complain, neither would she.

Both of them moaned loudly at the same time when Kara closed her lips just enough to suck softly while her tongue now slid and rubbed Lena’s hardened clit up and down. If it wasn’t because she needed it for balance, she would have moved both her hands to Kara’s head to fist her hair and eagerly show her appreciation that way, but alas, her right hand would have to do for the time being.

“Fuck.” No. It was too soon. She wasn’t ready yet. She couldn’t be done. “Baby,” she tried softly while trying to steady herself, but there was a very high chance that the blonde wouldn’t even be able to hear her. “Kara, baby.” This time it came out a bit louder, and the blonde looked up right away. She didn’t stop, but she did slow down. “I’m painfully close and I don’t want to come yet.”

Kara did stop after that. She looked up, frowning in confusion. “Why not?” She asked softly in the same tone she always used when trying to soothe Lena’s raging emotions.

“Because I’m not ready for it to be over.” She knew she was panting, and the grin that replaced the blonde’s frown did nothing to help with that.

“And who told you it would be over if you came?”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. She didn’t have an answer for that question, anyway.

“That’s what I thought.” Kara smiled and nipped her inner thigh, making her leg jerk a bit. “Now be a good girl, Lena.”

Holy fucking…! Shit! Absolutely not. Fuck! I’m not the–oh, shit!

“Motherfucker!” Perhaps that last part shouldn’t have left her lips, but it was hard to distinguish her thoughts from her words when Kara had her face between her legs once again. Her mouth sucked a bit harder than before while the flat of her tongue kept rubbing her clit, pushing her faster and harder than Lena could’ve guessed possible.

Fingernails dug on her hips hard enough to leave marks and that little bit of pain ended up being the thing that pushed her over the edge. Her back arched and her fist tightened around blonde hair while her hips rolled involuntarily in tandem with the waves of her orgasm. If she had been more aware, Lena would’ve noticed Kara’s hands urging and helping the rolling of her hips, but it was impossible when her vision turned white behind her closed lids and her jaw tightened so hard she was sure it would be sore in the morning.

It could have been seconds, minutes or hours, Lena wasn’t really sure, but eventually she started coming down from her high. She could feel her heart beating wildly against her rib cage and the quick rising and falling of her chest, which told her she was still trying to catch her breath. She relaxed her jaw first, took a deep breath, and finally opened her eyes to meet the bluest eyes paired with the most beautiful smile that had no right to look so innocent after what that mouth had just done to her.

Lena was about to say something but was cut short when her girlfriend placed one hand on the floor on either side of her body and pushed herself up to kiss her deeply and drip water all over her, apparently.

The hand that wasn’t still gripping Kara’s hair moved to hold her face with her thumb and fingers on either side and remained there even after the kiss ended. The blonde grinned brightly, and Lena felt the unstoppable urge to kiss her again, so she did.

“If you tell anyone I came that hard after you called me a good girl I will have to kill you.”

Kara chuckled and lowered herself into the water once again, but she placed her hands on her girlfriend’s thighs to keep physical contact. “I have it on tape, I don’t need to tell anyone.”

Had Lena given herself whiplash with how fast she turned her head around to see the phone still there? Yes. Did she regret pressing ‘record’ and placing it there in the first place? Absolutely not. Even though she knew it was a recipe for disaster, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Kara had been curious about it since they started using that method to take some pictures, that much was obvious, so all there was left to do was just drop the suggestion of a willing possibility, and that was it. Kara was on board.

No regrets.

“Step back a bit?”

Kara looked up at her with eyes full of something akin to concern. There was no reason for it, they had discussed it at length and this was something Lena wanted to do. Needed to do. And she knew the only person she would ever trust to ease her back into it was her girlfriend.

“I’m sure, darling.” The blonde didn’t need to ask the question, she heard it loud and clear in the silence between them. “It’s you.”

That seemed to be all the information Kara needed to know. Her step back was a bit hesitant and her hands reached for Lena’s waist as soon as she eased herself into the water to hold her close, successfully doing everything in her power to make her feel safe and cared for. “Are you okay?” She asked after a moment, looking into the woman’s eyes with honest concern.

It would have been a lie if Lena answered right away, so she took the few seconds she needed to sort out her feelings. “I feel safe,” she uttered softly at the same time her arms moved over Kara’s shoulders.

The grin that brightened the blonde’s face was almost blinding, so obviously her girlfriend had to kiss her. Kara’s appreciation made itself known in the way her hands moved carefully to gently grab her buttcheeks, but not with the intention of staying there. Or at least not at first. She pulled her up, silently telling Lena to wrap her legs around her waist, so she did without a moment’s hesitation. She relinquished what little control she had over her body while in the water, once again telling Kara she trusted her completely.

It was implicit, but the blonde heard it.

Their eyes locked and they both smiled when the other’s gaze moved to their lips, leaving them no other option than to get lost in a long, soft and languid kiss. 

As soon as they parted, Kara touched her forehead to her girlfriend’s and took a deep breath. “Still doing okay?”

How on Earth could she be so sweet and caring when Lena felt like her insides were on fire once again? How could Kara have this kind of control? Deep down she knew how, because she was capable of it, too, but that was not what she wanted or needed right now.

“Yes, darling. I’m alright, if only a bit flustered,” she chuckled, noticing how her voice had dropped an octave. “I never considered this kind of exposure therapy, to be honest, but it seems to be working.” Her lips moved to ghost the length of Kara’s jaw until they reached her ear. Lena made a point to leave a soft kiss right behind it, being the first of many that paved the way down the blonde’s wet neck. Warm droplets kept pooling at her lips, and the brunette welcomed every single one of them.

“Lena.” It was nothing but a whisper, barely loud enough for her to hear.

She wasn’t willing to part from her neck, though. “Mh?”

“Is this what you want?”

“If by ‘this’ you mean having hot, mind blowing, incredibly satisfying sex with my gorgeous girlfriend, then yes. This is what I want.”

“And you want it here? In the water?”

This time she did pull back from her neck because Lena knew she had to give it the importance and relevance it deserved. So she looked into Kara’s eyes and one corner of her mouth twitched, if only for a second. “Yes, Kara. You’re making me feel safe, loved–” it wasn’t clear if it was intentional or not, but Lena could feel the blonde’s hands tightening their grip on her ass. She smirked and arched an eyebrow. “Wanted.” That last part carried a bit of a grunt because the way Kara had tightened her grip pulled her closer, resulting in her center rubbing against the woman’s clothed abs.

“Good.” It had definitely not been an accident. Kara’s hands tightened and moved again, this time eliciting in a moan after a new soft grunt from Lena. “Is that alright?”

“You know it is.” She was gradually losing patience and it started to show.

The blonde smiled and nuzzled her neck, all the way up to her ear where she took a moment to drag her teeth on her earlobe. “Does it feel good, love?” She squeezed and pulled again, and this time Lena rolled her hips against her, letting out a little gasp. “Keep doing that.”

So Lena did, because apparently she had decided to be Kara’s little bitch tonight or something.

Not that she was complaining.

The blonde’s mouth took its time, kissing every little spot her lips could reach. It could have been so easy to forget where they were if it wasn’t for the way Lena’s hair kept getting wet every time she tilted her head to the side to allow those lips more room, or when she arched her back, leaning backwards when Kara mapped her chest with kisses and soft, deliberate licks.

She wasn’t sure when it happened, since she was so distracted with what her girlfriend’s mouth was doing, but suddenly she felt the soft pressure of fingers between her legs and her surprised gasp got lost somewhere between her lips and her lungs.

Lena found herself torn between holding onto her girlfriend’s shoulders for dear life, or actually listening to her own body for once, relax, and trust that Kara would keep her safe. 

It was a no brainer.

Her grip on the blonde’s shoulders slowly started to loosen, and Lena knew it had been the right choice because the hand holding her upright tightened its grip, reassuring her. She was safe.

Kara never let her go. Not when her fingers first made contact with her center, nor when they got bolder, slipping between wet folds until a middle finger could slide up and down her clit.

Sensitive as she was, one of Lena’s hands moved to the back of her girlfriend’s head and fisted her hair, warning her to be careful at the same time her hips pulled back a bit.

“Sorry.” The blonde’s sheepish smile told her she got the message, but the way she bit the corner of her own lip afterwards said loud and clear that she wasn’t really sorry at all.

Little shit.

“You’re not,” Lena gasped playfully against those lips she adored so much and was rewarded with the sexiest of smirks.

“I am if I caused you pain.”

“You know damn well that wasn’t it.”

“No? Then what was it?” Kara’s chin tilted up defiantly. She wanted to hear it. She wanted Lena to say it. She wanted a little stroke to her ego, and who was Lena to deny her that?

“I’m still a bit sensitive after the way you made me come into your mouth a few minutes ago.”

The proud grin in front of her told her it had worked as expected. Now, the way that middle finger slid down from her clit to push past her entrance, well, that was a surprise. 

Her fist tightened in Kara’s hair at the same time she hissed, but Lena ultimately had to let go when the blonde added a second finger that made her back arch once they began moving in and out of her.

As if that hadn’t been enough, Kara made good use of the leverage Lena’s arched back provided and bent forward to leave wet, open mouthed kisses across her chest.

Kara was thoroughly fucking her. In the middle of the pool. With the most beautiful sunset behind them.

“Kara, fuck, baby.”

She could feel her grinning against her chest. “Yes, I’m on it, love.”

Lena felt her girlfriend slide her thumb up and press it gently against her clit as if testing the waters again. The way the brunette arched even more and tilted her head back seemed to be answer enough.

Perhaps exposure therapy would work, after all.

She forced her body to relax, taking advantage of the lightness the water provided and the way Kara kept one of her arms firmly around her waist now, anchoring Lena’s body to her own. The kisses on her chest became more demanding, sometimes followed by a groan or a moan, and the intensity of it all made her feel like Kara was claiming her somehow.

It was exhilarating.

Her body was responding to her girlfriend’s ministrations as if it had finally found its sole purpose and, right now, it had. She felt herself clenching around Kara’s fingers and a deep moan escaped her lips to get lost somewhere between them. Lena felt the loss of the warmth those beautiful lips had been providing with a little whine, but when she opened her eyes to see why they had stopped, she couldn’t find it in herself to complain when all she saw was awe and adoration written all over her Kara’s face.

“Do you know how absolutely beautiful you are?” The blonde asked, hopefully rhetorically because, even if she tried, Lena wasn’t sure she would be able to give her a proper answer. What she could do, though, was wrap one of her arms around Kara’s neck for leverage and hold herself a bit higher up to move her hips in time with the fingers pumping in and out of her. “So fucking sexy, Lena.” The brunette had to close her eyes again, but she rested her forehead against Kara’s and kept riding her fingers, urging her to keep going with soft moans against her lips. The blonde nudged her nose and pulled her even closer. “I could keep fucking you all night if you’d let me. I can never get enough of you.”

“For fuck’s sake, Kara.” Now the water was starting to become a problem, because Lena was desperate to ride her fingers harder, faster, but she couldn’t. “Please, baby.”

Kara kissed the corner of her mouth and flicked her clit a few times. “Are you getting close?”

“Yes,” she gasped, nodding against her forehead but not moving back. She gulped and rolled her hips in a way that got a surprised moan out of her, but when she opened her eyes and saw Kara’s smirk, knew it hadn’t been an accident. “Fuck. Just like that, baby. Don’t stop.”

So Kara did it again. She curled her fingers just the tiniest bit so every time Lena rolled her hips like before she would be hit with the little nudge that made her cry out in pleasure.

Kara seemed to notice the resistance of the water was starting to become an issue, so she walked to the edge of the pool aiming their bodies so Lena’s back would be pressed against the wall, providing them both with the leverage they so desperately needed. Her hand, of course, returned to her girlfriend’s ass.

Lena let out a loud groan of appreciation and captured her girlfriend’s lips with her own as she picked up the pace with her hips. Her—up until then—controlled moans changed to almost desperate ones when she felt Kara fuck her harder now that they had the wall for support. “Fuck. Kara, fuck! Yes, baby.” It was high pitched, needy and desperate, and she didn’t fucking care.

Then the blonde kissed her hard and resumed circling her clit with her thumb with a moan of her own, and Lena became completely powerless.

She clamped down hard around Kara’s fingers as if suspended in time. She bit down on the woman’s bottom lip while her nails clawed at her back, and with one last swipe of a dexterous thumb around her clit and one final slide against her g-spot she was coming loudly and violently.

To her credit, Kara never let go of her. The grip she had on her tightened even more and her lips latched onto Lena’s neck, freeing the woman’s lips so she could breathe properly through her orgasm. It also allowed her to moan and whimper, but that wasn’t here nor there.

Lena rode her fingers until her body couldn’t take it anymore. Until her hips jerked to the slight pressure on her pulsing clit and her body inadvertently and unwillingly pushed Kara’s fingers out.

Only then the blonde stopped moving her hand.

Lena slumped over girlfriend’s body, resting her forehead on Kara’s shoulder while the blonde made the most out of it and busied herself by kissing her neck.

“I love you,” Kara whispered into her ear and Lena felt it. Everywhere, all at once. 

She only realized she was crying when one of the blonde’s hands moved to her face, wiping a tear away, before setting it on the back of her head to just hold her there for as long as she needed.

“Jesus, Kara,” she whispered after a while, feeling a smile tugging at her lips.

“For someone who’s agnostic you sure call on that guy a lot.”

She laughed this time tilting her head to the side to be able to look at her girlfriend. “He was an exceptional carpenter, or so I hear.”

Kara was the one laughing after that. “I fucking love you.”

“I think you said that before.”

“It bears repeating.”

Lena moved up a bit and left a lingering kiss on her lips. “I fucking love you, too.”

“I clearly didn’t think this through.”

Kara laughed and scooted closer, not letting her girlfriend move away from her. “Lena!”

“No!”

The blonde laughed, but ultimately pulled back. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay.” Kara shrugged and moved to her side of the bed, but the sound was still on and Lena had to cringe.

“Darling, can you mute it?”

This time Kara huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! What was the point of it if I can’t appreciate it now?”

She had a point, Lena couldn’t really argue that. Five minutes into the video she decided she couldn’t watch anymore. The idea was fun, and a perverse part of her really enjoyed knowing they were recording themselves having sex. Now, she realized, watching it wasn’t that fun for her. Of course, that didn’t mean she would stop Kara from watching if that’s what she wanted to do—to be honest, Lena enjoyed knowing her girlfriend was appreciating it—but hearing herself moan like that wasn’t particularly enticing. Maybe if Kara was the one moaning she wouldn’t feel this way, but there was no way to try that theory.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She wasn’t a bitch, after all. “How about I go take a shower while you enjoy it freely?”

“Really?”

She looked so hopeful and excited. Lena chuckled and nodded, then leaned closer to leave a soft kiss on her girlfriend’s jaw before getting up. “Enjoy, darling. And remember: this doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy doing the whole thing. I just feel strange watching and hearing myself like that.”

“I get it, Lee, don’t worry. I know how much you enjoyed the process.” Kara smirked and it made her chuckle.

“Good. Have fun, I’ll be in the shower.”

Twenty minutes should have been more than enough for Kara to be done watching the video, so when Lena came out of the bathroom and found her girlfriend still staring at her phone with a little proud smile, she assumed maybe she had miscalculated the whole thing. Had it lasted that long? It felt like it couldn’t have been more than half an hour at the time.

“Isn’t it over yet?” She asked, and it was only then she realized there was no sound anymore.

“It is,” Kara answered before tearing her gaze away from the phone to look at her. “Come here, I want to show you something.”

“Kara, I really don’t–”

“Lena, trust me.”

That was a request she couldn’t deny. Not in good conscience, anyway. So she joined her sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her body and looked at her expectantly.

When Kara turned her phone around with that little cute smile on her face she understood.

Oh. Wow. Damn.

It was a screenshot. Kara had taken a screenshot. A perfect one, she had to admit. Her eyes moved from the screen to her girlfriend, who was looking back at her. “What do you think?” The blonde asked excitedly.

“I think… Wow.”

Kara laughed and turned the phone around so she could look at the picture again. “Right?”

“I… Don’t really know what to say.”

“I understand the feeling.” Kara looked from the screen back to Lena. “Do you like it?”

“Like it?” Was she really asking her that? “Kara, that’s gorgeous. I love it.” She grabbed the blonde’s wrist to turn the phone around and look at it again. “To be completely honest, I want to print it and keep it in our bedroom.”

“Really?”

“Yes! How could I not?”

“I don’t know, you didn’t want to watch.”

“This is different. This looks… I don’t know, like art. Does that make any sense?”

“It does. We should print it.” The way Kara smiled and bit her lip afterwards made the brunette narrow her eyes in suspicion. “What if we posted it?”

Her eyes opened comically wide and her mouth opened to protest and to list all of the reasons why that wouldn’t be a good idea, except nothing came out. What if they posted it? There was no reason not to. They were two consenting adults and the image certainly didn’t break any code of conduct.

Should they? Lena did say she wanted them to go viral, and now she knew for sure Lex was keeping an eye on them. Why not? This surely would work. If it didn’t, then nothing would.

“Should we?” She asked in awe.

Kara nodded eagerly and looked at the screen again. “I think we should.”

“On whose account?” Apparently it had already been decided they were doing it.

“Both. At the same time.”

The brunette bit the corner of her lip, not even trying to hide her excited and mischievous half smile. “Send it to me. We’ll post it together, I have an idea.”

“I got a call from J’onn.”

Lena looked up and turned around to face the source of the voice. She flipped the screwdriver in the air and sat more comfortably on the floor, staring up at Alex. “Regarding?”

“Brainy has been doing his… thing and he says that if we’re about done with the portal, it would be the best course of action to head to National City and let ourselves be seen out and about. You know, live.”

From her position, Lena could see her girlfriend pulling back from the computer to focus on the redhead, too. “Brainy is the Coluan, right?”

Alex nodded. “Yes.”

“Is he trustworthy and not interested in bottling planets?” The opinion and assessment Kara valued the most was her girlfriend’s, so she looked at her for answers.

When it came down to it, the answer was really simple. “I trust him with my life.”

“Then we have to go.”

By the look of it, neither Alex nor Lena were expecting that response. “What do you mean we have to go? It’s dangerous, Kara.” Lena was the one who protested.

“I know, but if a trusted Coluan tells you it’s the best course of action, you do it.”

“Just like that?” The brunette asked, bordering on outraged. 

Kara sighed and it was clear she was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. “What level intellect is he?”

Alex didn’t even bother to hide her smile. “Twelfth.”

The blonde laughed and shook her head for a moment, but when none of the other women laughed, she got serious again. “Hold on. Really?”

“Yes.” Lena frowned, looking at the blonde and having absolutely no clue why she thought it was a joke. “Is that not… ordinary for his race?”

Now Kara looked baffled. “No, the lowest average Coluan intellect level is six. Based on what I’ve been reading and my own research and calculations, that’s exactly the same as Lex’s. And yes, by Earth standards Lex is a genius, but compared to other races, he could be defined as simply average or even below that line. Now, the average Coluan is at an eighth level. Nine would be above average, ten gifted, and so on, you get it. By Coluan standards, a twelfth level is a genius. It’s called Absolute Intelligence.”

Lena was trying to process so much information so fast that her head was starting to hurt.

Alex didn’t seem to be having that problem. Probably because she wasn’t really thinking about what it all meant. “So what level do you think Lena is? And Superman? And, by extension, you?”

“I can confidently say Lena is a seventh level intellect.”

“How do you know?” The redhead asked, and Kara just rolled her eyes.

“Just ask the Coluan if you don’t trust me.”

“What’s up with the attitude, blondie?”

“You ask questions and then question the answers I give you. That’s a waste of everyone’s time.”

Alex decided to ignore that because admitting Kara was right was clearly not something she wanted to do. “How about you?”

Lena could see Kara blush just the tiniest bit from where she was sitting. “I’m an eighth level,” she said calmly, and right when her girlfriend thought she couldn’t be prouder—or more turned on—she added, “without yellow sun radiation.”

The redhead’s eyes opened comically wide, same as Lena’s mouth, but Alex recovered quickly. “Should I leave the two of you alone? You look a bit flustered, Lena.” She asked with a smirk.

What she definitely wasn’t expecting was the brunette’s honest response to that. “Probably, yes.”

Alex saw the two of them exchange a very specific look she was already getting used to by now, so she turned around. “Aaaand I’m gone. Let me know when the portal is working so I call J’onn and get us out of here.”

Chapter Text

Lena looked around the room with a confused frown. “Is this the right address?”

“I think so.” Alex looked down at her phone again. “Yes, this is it. Very Sam Spade.”

“I kinda like it,” Sam said, opening one of the many books scattered around and closing it again. “Is Director J’onzz an avid reader?”

“J’onn?” The redhead asked, raising her voice a bit so the man could hear her.

Lena looked around the room, completely lost. “Where is he?”

“I’m up here.”

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and while they looked around in confusion, one of the brick walls opened in front of them.

Kara’s mouth hung open in awe. “Is that a secret elevator?” And, without waiting for an answer, she just walked to it.

Alex tried to rush after, but Sam shoved her slightly to the side and walked past her. “Don’t push!” She lightly shoved her fiancée’s arm back as a way to make her point.

The five of them got into the elevator and looked around in various degrees of confusion and awe. Kara and Ruby leading on the latter. Once the doors opened again they emerged into an hexagonal room, bright and open,  full of windows and even a balcony.

“What is this place?” Lena asked, looking around and noticing various pieces of tech here and there.

J’onn approached them with a fond smile on his face, looking at all of them with relief. “I’m so glad you’re all safe.” He clapped Alex on the shoulder. “I know some of you don’t know me that well yet, but I hope we can change that soon.” 

“Okay, J'onn. Just–You gotta tell us about this place.” The redhead asked, still looking around.

“Yeah!” Ruby joined, just because.

“Well, in the wake of Crisis, Kal-El, Barry, Kate, Sara, we all established a headquarters from which to fight crime.” J’onn explained, and Lena started to realize how little she actually knew about what happened during Crisis. “I thought National City could use its own collective: a headquarters to keep this city safe, to work outside of corporate and government oversight, whose interests might not always side with justice. After all, we’ve all seen what Lex Luthor did with and to the DEO.”

“So, like STAR Labs,” Lena observed while her eyes kept roaming around the room, only now noticing the set of big screens displaying maps of the city.

“Or the Arrow bunker,” Alex added with a nod.

J’onn nodded back. “A place for us to work, whenever we should need it. I would like for all of you to join us here, if you want, of course. It’s clear that Metropolis is not safe for any of you anymore.”

Sam, Alex and Lena exchanged a quick glance. The redhead was the one to nod shortly. “What do you call this place?” She asked with the hint of a smile.

“The Tower.”

The blonde grinned brightly. “Cool!” 

“Absolutely.” Sam agreed with a grin of her own.

“So, we are to stay in National City. Correct?” Lena asked and the man gave her a short nod. Concise. She liked him. “And by that you mean… permanently?”

J’onn took a seat at the table in the middle of the room and folded his hands on top of the wooden surface. “That is up to you. For the time being, National City is the safest place for you all, so I would advise you to stay. At least until we deal with Lex.”

Sam leaned back against a desk and folded her arms across her chest. “What is it that he wants? Really.”

“Right now? To kill me.” The room fell completely silent. “There is no need to sugarcoat it, we all know that’s what he wants, especially since I didn’t side with him right after Crisis when he tried to convince me. However, I do have a question for you, Mr. J’onzz: why is keeping me alive so important?”

“Lena–”

“How can you–?”

Sam and Kara protested right away, but the brunette shook her head and held her hand up to stop them. She sat down at the other side of the table and touched her fingertips to the rough surface. “I know you have your own reasons and I love you all for it,” she said looking between the four women before setting her gaze on J’onn again. “What about me could possibly be so important that Brainy deemed it necessary we come and stay here.”

The man let out a long, tired sigh, but looked into her eyes, responding sincerely. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Kara approached the table to stand beside her girlfriend. “Nobody asked why?”

J’onn shook his head and sighed again. “Miss Zor-El–”

“Kara.” The blonde corrected him quickly and Lena reached for her hand, knowing how uncomfortable she felt when anyone used just ‘Zor-El’ to address her.

“Kara,” the man corrected himself, “Mr. Dox, Brainy, is from the thirty-first century. We might not always get all the information or an answer to every single one of our questions, but we trust him regardless. He’s proven himself time and time again, I’m sure Miss Luthor can attest to that.” He waited for Lena to nod before continuing. “I agree with what you must be thinking, there are things he is not telling us, but I trust him implicitly.”

The blonde let go of her girlfriend’s hand after a soft squeeze and folded her arms across her chest. “Well, I don’t really know him, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, I was the one who insisted on coming here if a Coluan told us it was imperative that we did.” She tilted her chin up and looked at J’onn almost defiantly. “However, I would like to get some answers. This is my mate’s life we are talking about.” Her voice had gotten firmer and a bit cold, leaving no room to question her.

“I understand, and I can assure you, you’ll get the chance to talk to him directly once he’s back. Right now he is out responding to an emergency with Dreamer.”

“Alright.” Kara gave him a short nod and relaxed her stance. “Thank you for respecting the privacy of my thoughts, Director J’onzz. I know it must be a struggle at times and you don’t really know me, but I can assure you I was being sincere.”

“Please, call me J’onn,” he pleaded softly, “and you don’t have to thank me for that, Miss–Kara. I would never intentionally invade your privacy.”

“I appreciate it.”

“So, how is Kara the most intimidating person in this room right now?” Sam asked in disbelief. “She is sunshine in Kryptonian form.”

Lena scoffed and looked at her best friend. “You seem to forget our early days in Argo City. She scared the crap out of me back then.”

“Oh, yeah!” Sam laughed. “She hated you, remember?”

“How could I ever forget?” The brunette asked, glaring at her with a fake smile. “Thanks for the reminder, though. Feels great.” She deadpanned.

To Lena’s surprise, Kara laughed and hugged her shoulders from behind, leaving a kiss on the side of her head afterwards. “I never hated you.”

Lena leaned back into her body from her sitting position and tilted her head back to look up at her girlfriend with a little smile. “I know, darling.” Kara stole an upside down kiss that left her smiling. “But it sure looked like it for a while.”

“Until we all got high together,” the blonde chuckled and Lena agreed with a nod. “Then you drooled all over me that night and I couldn’t resent you anymore.”

“I did not drool!”

Kara was grinning and Lena knew she was messing with her, but there was no way she would let anyone think she had drooled all over her. At least not that time. 

“Little bit.”

“Oh, fuck off, Kara.”

It only made the blonde laugh and kiss her again. “I love you,” she whispered against her lips and Lena couldn’t be annoyed anymore.

“I love you, too, asshole.”

Completely ignoring the public display of affection in front of her, Alex slowly walked around the room, looking at every single detail. “Where’s the portal?” She asked, always straight to the point. That was a trait Lena loved.

The brunette was absolutely sure she saw a hint of a smile on J’onn’s face. “It’s here in the building,” the man said calmly.

“Where?”

“Alex, I’m sure you’ve noticed this is not the only level in this facility.” There it was again, the hint of a smile. She filed it for later, though, because she was sure there was something about this building that was very, very not ordinary and she would want to hear—and learn—all about it.

Lena could see from the corner of her eye how Sam walked to the balcony and leaned over the rail, first checking up to corroborate that they were on the top floor, then looking down and counting the floors below, pointing down at each one with her finger. “What’s up with you all and your secret facilities with a lot of mysterious floors?”

“Great minds think alike, perhaps?” The brunette suggested playfully.

“I’m honored to be compared to you, Miss Luthor.”

“J’onn,” Lena made a point to use the man’s name. “I’m going to need you to start calling me Lena. I have a feeling we are all going to be spending a lot of time here together so, please.”

“Lena it is.”

Alex approached the table, once again ignoring the conversation. “So, where exactly is the portal?”

“Alex! Rude much?” Her fiancée scolded her, but that was it. They were all wondering the same thing, anyway.

“Well, excuse me for having trust issues after everything we’ve been through over the past… what? Year and a half?”

The man nodded once, not at all put off by the redhead’s questions or her weariness. Lena assumed he knew her well enough by now. “It’s on the eighth floor. I considered asking Ray to place it on a sub level, but that would have been dangerously close to our containment cells and I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I would never risk someone escaping their cell somehow and finding it.” He saw the women agree with silent nods. “The eighth floor seemed like the most logical place after some consideration. The med bay is there, so is the armory and a lounge for you all to relax.”

A loud whoosh that had everyone’s hair flying in the air startled them all before they could ask more questions. And Lena had a lot of questions.

“Thank God, Kara.”

It all happened so fast that by the time they all realized it was Superman, the man was already hugging his cousin.

“Kal.” Kara hugged him back with a proud smile on her face. “No matter how many times I see you, I can’t believe you’re a grown man now.”

He pulled back to look at her, but kept holding her shoulders as if he was still trying to make sure she was okay. “I’ve been here a long time, cousin.”

“Yeah, but for me you’re only eighteen.”

“Do I look eighteen?” He asked, faking to be offended, but betrayed by his smiling face.

The blonde chuckled and shook her head. “Definitely not.” She paused and Lena could see the little smile on her face that screamed trouble. It was confirmed when she looked around the room with that same smile. “I used to change his diapers.”

“No way.” Ruby looked back and forth between the two of them.

Kal-El leaned closer to his cousin and said in what was intended to be a low voice but was heard by everyone anyway. “Uh, not exactly sure you have to tell them that.”

“No, I think I really do.” Kara’s proud and dorky grin was absolutely adorable.

“Okay,” the man said blushing. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. Kara, I received a message from your mother, she was desperate. As far as everyone in Argo City is concerned, you simply vanished.”

The blonde paled immediately. “Well, did you tell her I’m here?”

“I did, because Lois is fully invested in your Instagram, but she should have heard from you sooner.”

“We just built a new portal, I had no way to contact her before. How did she get in contact with you?”

“Holo message through her end. We set it up last time Lois and I were there.” He then turned around and looked from Lena, to Alex, and finally J’onn. “How come no one told me she was here?”

“It was dangerous,” Alex told him, but he didn’t seem to like that answer. “She arrived right after Crisis and Lex tried to kill us all the same day.”

“I could have protected her.”

Sam scoffed and didn’t back down when Superman just stared at her with a deep frown and some distaste. “Better than Reign?” The woman asked, and now he was fuming.

Kal-El’s jaw clenched and Lena knew it was because he knew. He knew that Reign had kicked his ass at every turn. Not once had he been able to stop her without Lena’s help. He could have never protected Kara better than Sam. “You have a dampener.”

“Not anymore.”

“Well, I didn’t know that. But regardless, I’m her family.”

Lena opened her mouth to say something but was pleasantly surprised when her girlfriend beat her to it. “No more than they are. You need to tone it down, Kal-El.”

Her tone seemed to take everyone by surprise, including Clark. The way he physically recoiled was a clear indicator that he had not been expecting that answer from his cousin, nor her tone.

“They’ve been in my life for more than a ahmzeht by now, that’s way longer than you have been, little cousin.”

Oh shit, she went there.

“That was not by choice, Kara,” Kal-El said dejectedly, looking at her with sorrow and some pain. “I never asked to be sent here.”

“I know, but you were anyway,” the blonde said calmly. “Yes, you are my family by blood and I respect that, but they all are the family I chose. Ruby is my goddaughter, Sam and Alex are like sisters to me.” She turned to Lena, looking at her with a soft smile and reaching for her hand to bring it to her lips. “And Lena is my mate.”

“Have you bonded?”

“Excuse me?” Kara asked, her tone severe and bordering on incredulous. “Are you judging our relationship?”

The fact that he asked in Kara’s native language was almost laughable. 

“No, I’m just asking.”

Kara scoffed and looked him up and down. It was both hot and frightening at the same time. “Not yet, but I plan to.”

“Then she’s not your mate.”

Lena could see Sam about to say something, but if anyone was going to draw the line, it would be her.

“That is not for you to decide, Kal-El.” Lena paused, waiting for him to, one: realize she understood and spoke Kryptonese, and two: let her words sink in. “If Kara sees me as her mate, then I am her mate. It doesn’t matter if we have bonded or gotten married yet. I’m her mate and she is mine.”

“And what the fuck is your problem anyway?!” Clearly there was no stopping Sam, she should have known. “Speak English, you’re being an asshole.”

At least he had the decency to look down, even if his hand was now rubbing his forehead in a clear sign of distress. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Kara asked defiantly. “Being an asshole, speaking a language not everyone in the room understands, or getting caught by Lena and Sam?”

He looked into Kara’s eyes. “Everything but getting caught. I deserved that.” Next he looked at Lena, eyes pleading. “I’m sorry about what I said, you’re right. If you see each other like that, who am I to judge?” Lena gave him a short nod. She would acknowledge his apology, but that didn’t mean she would forgive him. Especially because she knew his words had hurt Kara, even if she didn’t say it out loud. He chose to say those things and now he would have to live with the consequences. 

That and she could hold a grudge like you wouldn’t believe.

“Are we done here?” Apparently Kara wasn’t in a forgiving mood, either.

Kal-El sighed loudly and nodded, “yes, but please contact your mother?”

“I will, thanks for passing the message along.” She looked at her girlfriend again for a second and sighed, too, softening a bit. “And thank you for keeping Lena safe this whole time. If it wasn’t for you, I’m sure Lex would have taken her from me before I even found her.”

While Sam and Ruby awed and J’onn and Alex smiled, Lena had to bite her lip to keep her eyes from watering.

“My pleasure,” the man answered with a little smile of his own, briefly glancing at the brunette and exchanging a knowing nod. They both knew Kara was right, after all. 

“Before I leave,” he reached into a hidden pocket in his boot and pulled out a watch. “I want you to have this.” He held it to the blonde, showing her how to flip the face open to display the glyph of the House of El. “If you ever need me, no matter where you are on Earth, just press that button and I’ll be there as fast as I can.” He smiled when the corner of his cousin’s lip twitched up, then seemed to realize something and turned to look at Sam. “Actually, Sam, you might want to consider doing the same thing now that you don’t have a dampener anymore. I’m sure Lena can help you with that?” He looked at the woman for that question and smiled when she nodded. “Just make sure you use a different frequency? To avoid any confusion between the two.”

“Will do, Clark.” Sam was definitely a little grinning shit.

Clark sputtered, looking around the room in clear distress until he noticed everyone just smiling at him. “Why do I even bother?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Lena said, her grin getting bigger. “Glasses and a cardigan are not a good disguise. Not to mention that whenever you do something to your appearance, like getting a haircut or growing a beard a bit, Superman seems to do the exact same thing.”

“Seriously, Kal?” Kara asked with an eyeroll. 

“Whatever. Just… keep the watch and call your mother.” He sounded like such a dad, which Lena found funny enough to giggle, earning herself a playful glare from the man of steel. Clark tilted his head to the side for a moment. “It seems I have to go. Use the watch if you need me.” With one last tap to his cousin's shoulder, the man flew out the balcony and out of sight in a second.

The room fell silent for a moment, but Kara broke it soon enough. “Has he always been so obnoxious?”

“Lena!” Sam looked up from her phone, noticing her friend was not in the room with them. “Where’s Lena?!”

Ruby looked up from her laptop after getting startled enough to jump on her seat. “Okay, first of all, mother, you need to calm down.”

“Okay, Taylor Swift.” The woman looked around the room again. “Where is she?”

Lena had just gotten out of the elevator when she heard the first yell of her name. “I’m here, what’s going on?”

“It happened.”

“Great! That explains everything. Thank you for keeping me informed,” the brunette said sarcastically enough to make Sam groan.

“You and Kara have gone viral.”

Okay, that made a bit more sense. “What? How do you know?”

“This whole conversation could have been avoided if you checked your phone every now and then like a normal person your age.”

Not in the mood to get into it with Sam now that she heard what was going on, Lena grabbed her phone and unlocked it, noticing how it couldn’t even keep up with her notifications. “Holy shit.”

“CatCo, the Daily Planet, Central City Citizen, all of them published an article following your recent Instagram journey. I think the last post set shit on fire.”

Ruby started typing after hearing the news and checked every single one of them. “It’s true,” she said in awe, “the Star City Sentinel and Gotham Gazette, too.” The teen kept scrolling for a bit, then frowned. “Aunt Lena? The Gotham Gazette is saying something about a… um, special video…?”

Sam’s surprised smirk awfully contrasted with Lena’s immediate dread.

“I'm sorry, what?”

The Kryptonian’s glee was undeniable and impossible to hide. “Lena! A sex video?”

“No!” She pointlessly lied. “I mean, no. Well, yes, but–” she gave up trying to explain and rushed to Ruby’s side to check for herself what the media was saying.

“Are you serious?!” Sam asked in disbelief, but also incredibly proud. “You kinky little shit. Who knew you had it in you?”

“Sam, please!”

“It’s a rite of passage, my sweet, sweet Lena.”  The woman walked around the table to see her daughter’s laptop, too. “It means you truly made it in the public eye!”

“I don’t want to make it, Sam!” She thought better after uttering the words, because that is exactly what she wanted when they started this whole thing. “Not like… that.”

Sam grinned, because apparently she was unable to take this seriously, which was getting on Lena’s last nerve. “I don’t think it works like that, you don’t get to choose, babe.”

Just then Kara joined them, walking into the room with the innocence and nonchalance that can only be granted by complete and utter ignorance. “Hey, Lee, I finished setting things up, I should be able to send a message to my mother and–” She stopped in her tracks when she saw her girlfriend’s face. “What’s going on?

Before Lena could say anything, Sam grinned proudly and stood up taller. “You stud! You two made it into a million spank banks.”

“SAM!”

“What? It’s true. What do you think people will be doing with that? You two are hot as hell. The whole internet has been going crazy for you even before this whole sex video thing!”

That seemed to give Kara an idea of what was going on. Soon she was as pale as her girlfriend, but it didn’t last long. “What’s a spank bank?”

Sam burst out laughing while Lena paled even more. “That’s what you’re worried about?! Not you–” she paused to cover Ruby’s ears, even knowing she was gonna hear anyway. It’s the thought that matters, right? “Fucking me in the pool?!”

The blonde shrugged and grinned when Ruby rolled her eyes. “I did an exceptional job, I have nothing to be ashamed of, and neither do you.”

“Kara! What the hell?!”

“Why are you yelling at Kara?” Sam asked. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned her hip on the high table to look at her friend. “You are here, on Beyoncé’s internet, posting your sex tape. What did you expect?”

“I didn’t post our sex tape! For fuck’s sake, I couldn’t even watch it!”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Sam shook her head in complete disappointment.

Kara folded her arms, too, and gave her panicking girlfriend a pointed look. “Have you found it?”

Lena frowned, incredibly confused, and shook her head. “Have I found what?”

“The video on the internet.”

It seemed to dawn on the brunette where Kara was going with her question. “I didn't really… look for it.”

So the Kryptonian smirked, arching an eyebrow. “So you’re panicking and making a scene about something you don’t even know if it’s true?”

“Kara, darling,” she paused, only to unnecessarily whisper the next part, “we did it. Remember?”

The woman grinned brightly and took a seat across the table from the three of them. “Trust me, I remember.” She made a pause, probably for dramatic effect, if Lena had to guess. “Vividly.” Her grin got even bigger and Lena wanted to kick her. And Sam, for laughing. She didn’t, though. “Look for it. See if you can find it. Maybe ask Brainy to look for it, too? They might just be speculating, Lee.”

“She’s right, maybe it was just a lucky guess,” Ruby nodded. “I won’t look for it because I really don’t want to find it, but maybe you should.” She pushed her laptop closer to her godmother. “Asking for Brainy’s help is a good idea. If the two of you can’t find it, then it’s definitely not true and they are just trying to guess to get you to confirm it.”

“I don’t know about this.”

“Lena, do you trust me?”

“You know I do, I’m just scared now.”

“You are here because of my calculations, are you not?”

Lena nodded and leaned forward over the table to hold her forehead in her hand. “Yes.”

“This is nothing compared to that,” Brainy said encouragingly. “No one has the video and no one other than Kara ever will.” He had a point there. “And if everything works, no one on Earth will have that video. Kara Zor-El and I already analyzed and discussed it. We have a solid plan.”

He was so sure it did make her feel a bit more confident. “I know, I trust you both.”

Then it was Nia’s turn to intervene. “Lena, I’m a reporter, I know how these things work. They were trying to bait you, so just ignore it. Keep doing your thing, you and Kara need to look completely unfazed, like you didn’t even hear about it. Don’t confirm nor deny it, just ignore it.” Lena nodded, knowing that the younger woman was right. “Just post that terribly offensive picture of your girlfriend and move on.”

Her wording made her laugh. It wasn’t really offensive by any means, but Nia had deemed it so when she first saw it, complaining that no one should be allowed to look so good. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” they both said at the same time.

The brunette finally reached for her phone and unlocked it. “Alright, fine. I will have to call Jess and tell her to decline any and all interviews if they start calling.” She stared at the screen for a little bit and the corner of her lips twitched up in a little smile. “God, she’s gorgeous.” 

Brainy looked at her a bit confused. “Who? Jess?”

“Kara!” She chuckled, typing something quickly and finally posting the picture she had chosen as if nothing ever happened. 

No more than ten seconds later her phone vibrated in her hand and Lena laughed when she saw Kara’s like, followed by a comment from Nia. Who was sitting right in front of her. Giggling like a dork. So she checked the comment and laughed, nudging the woman’s knee with her foot. “Don’t try to steal her from me.”

“I would never!” She said dramatically, bringing a hand to her chest and everything. Then she wrapped her arm over Brainy’s shoulders and pulled him closer, almost making him fall off his chair, to kiss his cheek. “I have my guy over here and I’m very happy.” 

Lena chuckled when Brainy actually blushed. “I’m very happy for you two. You make an adorable couple.”

“So do you and the hot Kryptonian.”

“Yes. I agree with Nia’s assessment,” Brainy nodded stiffly in that way that was so uniquely his that Lena had started to find familiar and comforting. “Now, I believe Kara Zor-El is waiting for you.”

“You can just call her Kara, you know?” 

“I know.”

His response made the two women laugh, because of course, and it was then when Lena realized how much she had missed both of them. Maybe now that they would be in National City for a while they might get to hang out and make up for lost time. “Okay, you two behave, I’m gonna go check on my impossibly gorgeous girlfriend and whatever way she found to contact my mother-in-law.”

“Damn, Lena,” Nia grinned playfully, “already whipped like that?”

“I should be so lucky.” She winked suggestively but didn’t give the younger woman any time to react before she disappeared behind the elevator doors. She was still smiling proudly to herself when the doors opened again into the eighth floor, where Ruby was yelling excitedly over Kara’s shoulder while the blonde stood in front of an arcade machine immediately to her left. “Um, hello?”

“Oh, hi aunt Lena!”

“Hey, Lee!”

Lena just chuckled at the way Kara briefly glanced at her before focusing on the screen again. “Are you two enjoying yourselves?” What kind of asshole would she be if she interrupted them? No, they were both having fun, something they all needed, and Lena would be damned if she took that away from them. So she just walked to the lounge area and got comfortable.

“A lot, Earth is awesome!”

“Stop getting distracted!” Ruby yelled over the blonde’s shoulder again, scaring them both by the looks of it. “You’re gonna die!”

She probably shouldn’t have laughed as loud as she did, because it proved to be distracting. Kara had glanced at her again with a big smile of her own and, right after, there was a sad little MIDI sound followed by two loud groans.

“I blame you,” the teenager said, looking into Lena’s eyes. However, she didn’t waste any time in lightly shoving Kara to the side and starting a new game herself.

Kara didn’t stay around for that one, though. She laughed and joined the brunette, carelessly sitting on her lap. “Hi,” she greeted happily, wrapping her arms around her neck before kissing her.

Lena, surprised as she was, didn’t let it show. She was not about to complain about any of it. To make sure her girlfriend wouldn’t move, she wrapped her arms around her waist and returned the kiss. “Did you and Alex figure anything out?”

“Yes,” Kara nodded. “She is with J’onn right now trying to find some pieces. Apparently there’s a basement here or some sort of storage room with a lot of things that could be useful.”

Only then Lena seemed to notice Sam was nowhere to be found. “Where’s Sam?”

“She went to get the house thing sorted out, said she’ll be back in a couple hours.” Ruby raised her voice to be heard over the sound of the arcade. 

“Oh, Lee!” The blonde shouted out of nowhere, effectively scaring her girlfriend out of her skin. Kara didn’t seem to notice or mind, though. “I saw your Instagram post, does that mean I can post mine? It’s been ready for ages waiting for you.”

After that Lena couldn’t bring herself to really care about the sudden scare. Kara was, and always would be, the most adorable individual she had ever met. “Yes, darling,” she chuckled, “go ahead.”

So Kara squirmed around a bit while trying to fish her phone out of her pocket, not even attempting to move from her comfortable position on her girlfriend’s lap, and started swiping and tapping on the screen. It really only took her a few seconds with minimal typing, which meant she hadn’t been bluffing when she said it was ready to post, and once she was done she looked at Lena with a little glint in her eye. “Before you ask, Nia took that picture a little while ago and sent it to me, so if you have any complaints, bring them to her.”

Lena quickly reached for her phone, afraid of what she was going to find, but smiled when she saw the picture. It wasn’t bad at all. Considering Nia was reponsible for it, it could’ve been a lot worse. She commented it quickly, right before Alex rejoined them, announcing she had found everything they needed. “That place is a goldmine.” Her eyes landed on Lena right after. “You’re gonna have a blast in there.” Only then she seemed to realize how the two women were sitting and, of course, she would have to comment on that. “Getting comfortable here, are we?”

“We are,” Kara answered with a cheeky grin, a clear sign that she was already used to the redhead’s teasing after the time they had spent together.

“Anyways! Lena, wanna work on this?” Alex finally got down to business. Her arms moved a bit forward, showing everything she was carrying.

The brunette nodded shortly. “Sure.” She looked at Kara when the blonde quickly got off her lap. “Want to help me?”

“Of course!” Her eagerness was contagious. “What are we building? I have no idea what’s going on.”

“A room dampener,” Alex explained. “We don’t want to risk anything after what happened to you when you got here.”

Lena nodded her agreement. “If the portal is going to stay here, then we need a room dampener.”

“Smart,” the blonde nodded. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

Between the three of them it only took a couple hours to get it functional. To be more specific, it actually took longer to test it than to build it, but Lena wasn’t about to risk anything. She would never forget the sight of her girlfriend when they first found her, scared and with no control over her powers. No, she would do anything to avoid that happening ever again.

So when Alex proudly announced that everything was ready and functional while Lena was still running simulations, she looked up and turned around, ready to tell them to wait until her process finished running.

“Lee, we got it!” Kara called her from her position next to the portal and gave her no time to react whatsoever. The blonde had turned it on without waiting and, once Lena’s eyes adjusted to the bright purple light, she could immediately see the outline of a person walking from the portal into the room. 

Fucking Kara and her kamikaze chaotic energy.

The brunette let go of the breath she had been holding once the portal was off and Alura was standing safe and sound in front of it. It took the woman a second to pull her daughter into a tight, relieved hug. 

“Thank fucking God,” Lena sighed, leaning back on the table behind her and running her fingers through her hair. “Kara, that could have been a disaster!”

“Oh, don’t worry, we sent a pen first to see if it disintegrated. It made a round trip fully intact,” she announced proudly.

“Darling, a pen is not a living organism.”

The blonde winced and Lena found herself wondering how someone could be so fucking smart and still do such stupid, risky things. “Oh, well. She’s here!”

“Kara? Where are we?” Alura was looking around the room in fear, scooting closer to her daughter who, as far as she was concerned, was the only person she knew.

“Ah, shit!” The blonde grabbed her mother’s hand in what looked like an attempt to make her feel safe, but looked at Alex pleadingly.

The woman didn’t need any further instructions. “I’ll go get J’onn, stay right here.”

In the couple of minutes that took the redhead to find J’onn, Alura kept looking around nervously but also curiously. Her gaze moved around the room to finally land on her daughter, then move to Lena, then back to her daughter. “I… have a strange feeling.”

“What do you mean?” Kara asked her with a little frown. “Are you feeling sick? Fuck, was it the portal?”

“No, no.” Alura shook her head and let go of Kara’s hand to pat her arm reassuringly. “It’s not that, I feel like I’m supposed to know everyone, but I don’t remember where from.”

“It’ll all make sense in a minute, jeju.”

J’onn joined them not even a minute later. He approached the woman with his usual calm, introducing himself and explaining he was a Martian and they needed to restore some of her memories. Of course, Alura looked to her daughter for answers, but when the blonde nodded and told her to trust him, she gave him a nod of her own and closed her eyes.

It seemed to last a few seconds, but to Lena it felt like ages. Soon enough the older woman was opening her eyes again, but this time, when she saw the brunette, she opened her arms widely, inviting her to hug her. “Lena.”

The kind of relief she felt spoke volumes about the affection she held for this woman. That was something Lena had not been expecting, but still welcomed with open arms. Literally and figuratively. She rushed to hug her, trying very hard not to cry when Alura placed her hand on the back of her head in her most motherly, soothing manner. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said into the hug and felt the Kryptonian hug her even tighter.

“Me? Dear, I was always safe. Worried sick about my daughter, but safe.” They broke the hug, but Alura kept her close, checking her up and down, as if trying to decide if Lena was okay. “How about you? What happened? Where are–?” She looked past the brunette and saw Ruby standing there, timidly watching the display without interrupting. “Ruby, thank Rao!” Her arms opened again and this time she almost got trampled by a clumsy teenager, which actually made her laugh. She held Ruby close and kissed the side of her head. “I’m so happy to see you again.”

“Me too, I was so scared you wouldn’t have made it to this universe.”

“I…” Alura clearly didn’t know what to say to that, so she glanced from Kara to Lena for some sort of clue, but they both shook their heads and her daughter actually whispered that they would explain everything soon. “I’m glad to be here.” It was a safe answer. “Where are your mothers? Alex was right here a few minutes ago. Is Sam alright?”

“They are both fine, jeju. I’m sure Alex will join us soon, and Sam should be back later.”

“So everyone is safe?”

“Yes,” Lena confirmed.

“No one is missing here?” Alura asked and everyone in the room frowned.

The brunette’s mind was racing. “What do you mean?” She motioned to the lounge area, inviting everyone to take a seat. “Are people missing in Argo?”

“Well, I don’t know now.” The woman paused and looked at the blonde. “I thought Kara was missing, but she is here, so maybe…”

“Alura?” Lena had a really bad feeling about this. “Who else is missing?”

Suddenly they could see dread written all over the woman’s face. They knew she had recovered her memories involving their time in Argo, but she was still putting some pieces together. “Oh, no.”

“Jeju? Who is missing?”

“Renna Jul-Us.”

Chapter Text

Once she heard the name it made perfect sense. Lena had to admit that Renna hadn’t even crossed her mind when Ava told them someone had followed Kara, but now she wasn’t really sure why that was. Hindsight really was 20/20. 

But did events in this new universe’s Argo City unfold the same way as the old one? Before, everything had been the perfect example of the most chaotic butterfly effect, starting with Kara and Tan-Us. If, contrary to the original version, nothing bad happened between the two of them now, what would that mean?

Well, for starters, Kara might be married. Shit. Oh, no. No, no, no. How do I ask her? Oh, God. ‘Hi, darling, woman of my dreams, love of my life. Quick question, are you bonded for life to a psychopath?’ No, she can’t be, she would have mentioned it. She would. Would she?

She couldn’t just ask her; especially not in front of everyone. It was bad enough that she would have to ask at all, the last thing she wanted was to make her girlfriend feel even more uncomfortable. But they needed to know, Lena had to ask. She would do it later. But that meant she couldn’t really start thinking of any contingency plans. It was awful. An awful shit show. She had a lot of questions only Kara could answer.

“Lena, are you alright, dear?”

The brunette was very aware of the fact that the conversation around her had kept going, but she had gotten lost in her own thoughts almost immediately after the revelation, only coming back when she heard her name.

She looked at Alura with a very forced smile and gave her short nod. “Yes. I mean, as much as I can be with everything that’s going on.”

“You look tired, Lee.”

“I am tired,” she admitted, leaning closer to rest her head on Kara’s shoulder.

“Go get some sleep,” Sam suggested, even though it sounded more like a command. “There is nothing we can do right now anyway.”

Sam was right. If she didn’t get some rest soon, Lena knew she would push over her limit, and then it would be practically impossible to sleep until she crashed. And it would be at the worst possible time ever. That was something none of them could afford right now.

“I’ll go back to Argo,” Alura said confidently. “The first thing I need to do is let everyone know that Kara is safe and sound. I can tell them that she’s visiting Kal-El and his family; I’ll say the boys had been asking about her, everyone knows she has a soft spot for them.”

With that, the woman got up and everyone followed her. She hugged them goodbye,  promising to see them again soon and, with Alex’s help, she disappeared past the portal.

“Now go,” Sam ushered Lena away, or at least tried to. “Go to your fancy National City penthouse and get some rest.” She paused and looked at Kara who, now that Lena could take a moment to look at her, was looking just as exhausted as she felt.

She wouldn’t even try to fight it. Her bed was definitely calling her. “What about you, though?” No matter how tired she was, Lena wouldn’t leave without knowing her friends would have somewhere to stay, too. She would gladly take them to her penthouse, but this one wasn’t big enough. She didn’t even have one guest room, unlike the one in Metropolis that conveniently had two. “I don’t want to–”

“Don’t worry about us,” Sam interrupted her quickly. “I have it all sorted out, I found a nice house with lots of space. We’ll leave right behind you.”

The brunette nodded and softly squeezed Kara’s hand when she felt it slide into hers. “Text me the address? It’ll give me some peace of mind to know where you’ll be.”

“I will,” Alex reassured her. “Now call a car and go home.”

“What are you thinking about?”

Lena tilted her chin up, looking into her girlfriend’s eyes. 

Neither one of them realized the full extent of their exhaustion until they walked past the entrance and locked the door behind them. Lena dropped her purse by the door and kicked off her heels, letting out a long sigh while Kara—even though she had never been there–walked straight to the fridge and got two bottles of water. She practically forced Lena to drink a full one, correctly assuming that she had been surviving on coffee for the best part of the day, and emptied the other one herself. 

Now, after a much needed shower, they were laying in bed and Lena couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking about Lex, thinking about Renna and what it all meant to them, but specifically thinking about Kara and what her life might have looked like in this universe prior to her arrival to Earth.

Knowing herself well enough to realize that sleep wouldn’t come to her until she got an answer, the brunette let out a soft breath and brushed her lips on her girlfriend’s bare shoulder, avoiding her piercing gaze. “I need to ask you something and I don’t know how to do it.”

That seemed to give Kara pause. She frowned and brought one hand to the other woman’s chin, softly tilting her head up again so she could look into her eyes. “You know you can ask me anything, my love, don’t you?”

Lena had to blink a few times. Every time she looked into the blonde’s eyes like that she was prone to get completely lost in them. She had a feeling Kara knew it. “I know,” she finally said, “I think I misspoke before. This isn’t really because I’m afraid to ask you, but because I’m afraid of what the answer might be.”

Once again she was reminded of how bright, logical and perceptive her girlfriend was. 

Kara had, thankfully, softened over the past year or so. Since they started dating—or maybe a little while before that—she had been nothing but sweet and caring; a stark contrast from the Kara she first met. That sweetness, along with her effortless playfulness, sometimes made it hard to put together both versions of her. While at the beginning she had been a bit cold, she was also incredibly logical—when she wasn’t plastered, that is—and highly intelligent. She was also clever, and that wasn’t a term Lena used lightly. The blonde was, hands down, one of the brightest people she had ever met. She surprised Lena at every turn: from the way she worked the Harun-El, ensuring everyone’s survival, to how she helped Alex tend to Sam when she first arrived at Argo City, then the way they worked side by side together to design, and subsequently build, a couple models of the Sunbeds that would equip every single hospital back home. There were countless other things, of course, but it wasn’t the time to list them all.

The Kryptonian had always been quick and damn brilliant; this time wouldn’t be the exception. “Everything transpired in the exact same way,” she said in almost a whisper after a few moments, correctly guessing what her girlfriend was dreading to ask her. She brushed her lips against Lena’s forehead and took a deep breath through her nose, likely committing to memory the scent of her shampoo. “I’m not with him. I’m yours, Lena.”

And Lena felt like crying.

Her girlfriend had gifted her with the chance to avoid asking the question that could potentially break her and, not only that, but also reassured her that she was hers in the process.

There was no need for comforting words after that, and the blonde didn’t try to provide them. Lena needed to cry and Kara wanted to let her. Even though a few tears escaped the corner of her eyes, she never tried to make it about her, instead allowing the brunette to just get it all out. Lena knew, of course. She could feel a few tears slowly making their way down to her own forehead, since she was now crying into Kara’s neck, but neither one of them mentioned it.

They both fell asleep like that.

As soon as the elevator doors opened into the base of operations they could hear Alex’s voice gradually increasing in volume. That was never a good sign. The two women exchanged a quick look before walking out and joining the redhead, Sam and J’onn around the table in the middle of the room.

“I’m not gonna wait around to see what happens,” Alex said angrily and, judging by the man’s expression, he didn’t seem to agree. “That is the worst thing we could do right now.”

Sam, on the other hand, looked neutral.

“Alex, we can’t intervene,” J’onn stated patiently. “Lex has done nothing wrong. It’ll make us look like we are after him and not the other way around.”

“We don’t have to make it public.”

It was a weak point. Although, given this whole thing was about Lex, Lena was inclined to agree.

“What is going on?” Kara asked, looking around the room.

Sam sighed loudly and closed her eyes for a second, shaking her head. “Alex wants us to go after Lex.”

“We are sitting ducks right now,” the redhead explained her point of view before anyone could protest. “What are we gonna do if he hits first? Let’s not forget he is working with Renna, that means he has his very own Kryptonian now.”

“Hey!” The wording was unfortunate, and Lena felt the protective need to intervene. “Can you at least choose your words more carefully?”

“We’re not a thing people can ‘ own’, Alex,” Kara said firmly, using air quotes.

“Fucking shithead,” Sam mumbled for emphasis.

The redhead paled a bit. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.” She looked at Kara, who gave her a short, understanding nod, then at Sam, who was leveling her with a stern gaze. “I really am,” she repeated, this time taking a step closer to her fiancée.

“Do you understand why that was extremely troubling, especially from your privileged position on this planet?” Her fiancée asked, her expression firm and determined.

“I do.”

“We all know that’s not who you are, Alex, but do better.” Sam ultimately sighed and pulled her closer to kiss her forehead. It was a sweet and rare public display of affection between the two of them and, honestly, Lena was here for it. The woman wrapped her arms around Alex afterwards and, while the redhead hid against her shoulder, Sam kissed the side of her head and rubbed her back.

“I’m exhausted,” Alex mumbled. “I want this shit to be over.”

“I know, babe.”

They remained like that for a few more minutes, Sam exchanging a quick knowing look with Lena and silently begging her best friend to take the conversation with J’onn elsewhere.

So, that is exactly what she did. The brunette jerked her head away from the other two women and led Kara and J’onn to the elevator. Once they walked out into the eighth floor, the man invited them to sit down so he could explain the situation.

“We received word that Lex will be coming back from Europe later today.” His expression was grave, not only severe—that would have been his usual demeanor—which gave Lena pause. 

“And?” She asked, knowing there was more to it.

The man sighed and leaned forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees. “He’s coming here, to National City.”

After several long seconds of complete silence, Lena laughed humorlessly while resting her back against the couch she was sitting on. “Of course he is.” Now she understood Alex even better.

“I want you all to know I will do everything in my power to keep you all safe.” His tone was serious and determined as per usual, it was the meaning behind his words what surprised her. 

Lena wasn’t about to question him. Besides, they stood a better chance in National City with all of them, than in Metropolis. “I have to admit: now that I know that, I’m inclined to agree with Alex.”

“Believe me, I’m tempted, too, but we can’t afford potentially making him a martyr.” J’onn was right, Lena knew it, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. “He has the public eye on his side in this universe, very few people know his true nature, we need to be careful.”

She was in the middle of nodding when her phone rang in her pocket. Sam and Alex joined them again at the same time she pulled the device out of her pocket. “It’s a private number,” Lena frowned, unsure about what to do.

“Answer it.” Alex was back, calm and collected.

The brunette took a deep breath and answered it, closing her eyes merely a second after bringing it to her ear and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“What a thoroughly unpleasant surprise.”

After hearing her warm greeting, Sam, sharp as always, glanced at Kara to check if she was still wearing her ring. When she noticed the shiny band on the woman’s finger, she got up and rushed to the armory to quickly turn off the room dampener.

As soon as she did it was clear she could hear Lex’s voice.

“Good morning, sis. I promise this will be quick.”

Lena clenched her jaw and opened her eyes, exchanging a knowing look with both Alex and Sam. “What the fuck could you possibly want now?”

“Is that how you address your loving big brother? I’m very disappointed in you, Lena. If you must know, I’m on my way back to the states now.”

“And that concerns me why?”

“I was thinking we could have a nice family reunion, since we couldn’t do it while in Europe.” He paused, waiting for a response that never came. “No? Nothing? I’m starting to think you don’t want me to meet your little Kryptonian pet, Lena. What’s her name again? Kara? Yes, Kara. I’m dying to meet her.”

Sam was up in a second, fists balled at her sides and a hard scowl on her face. Her eyes were starting to show a reddish glow and Lena couldn’t really blame her. 

Alex stood up almost immediately and moved in front of her fiancée, looking into her eyes and carefully holding her wrists while whispering soothing words in an attempt to calm her down.

It worked. For Sam. Lena was still fuming. 

“You fucking piece of shit,” she said through gritted teeth, getting everyone’s attention. “Don’t you ever say her name again.” She stood up and started pacing, too amped up to remain sitting. Her blood was boiling with rage. “I will fucking kill you myself if you try to come near her.”

“All I was suggesting is a family reunion, Lena, why must you be so defensive all the time?” She was seeing red. “ You know, I saw her picture on your Instagram just a little while ago; I would recognize those House of El blue eyes anywhere. Congratulations, sis, you managed to get your hands on Kryptonian royalty.”

“Fuck you, Lex.”

“Whatever have I done to you? I was even planning to have the Lex Foundation organize a fundraiser to help all aliens refugees in need, now that you’re so intimately involved with one and I am such a charitable man.” Lena could hear the smirk in his voice and it was grating on her nerves. “Nevermind, I can tell when I’m not wanted. I’m flying to National City as we speak, so we might run into each other at some point. It will still take me several hours to get there, but I wanted to let you know.”

“You better pray I don’t run into you. I won’t hesitate to put two bullets in your chest.”

“It’s a shame it has come to this, Lena. We could have had it all, together.”

“A real shame.” Lena agreed, making sure to sound as sarcastic as she possibly could.

“This isn’t over.”

“It never is.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

It was a good thing he hung up, because she was about to lose her shit on him. Even more than she already had, that is.

“Fuck! FUCK!” Her shout was so painfully visceral that it left her shaking in Kara’s arms. Somehow her phone had flown rather aggressively and shattered into a million pieces when it hit a wall.

“Hey, hey,” Kara whispered softly with her lips against Lena’s hair. “I got you.”

The brunette shook her head and pushed back. To her surprise, she wasn’t crying. The amount of rage she felt had her blood boiling and had presumably evaporated any tears she might have had left. “I can’t stop him,” she mumbled, “not like this. He has the means to do anything he wants.” She frowned and shook her head, ignoring the confused faces around her. “I need to cripple him somehow. He’s unstoppable.” 

“Lena?” Kara’s voice was tentative, as if she was afraid to spook her. “What do you mean by ‘crippling him’?”

“Figuratively.” The idea hit her all of a sudden and it sent her into a frenzy. Lena rushed around the room, pushing papers and books aside, not even caring for the ones that found the floor. “Where’s Brainy?” She asked while still looking around. It was clear that she wasn’t gonna find what she was looking for there, so she moved her search to the med bay. It wasn’t long until she found one of the slim computers secured by the Coluan and turned it on. “Brainy?” The brunette asked again while touching something on the screen and, only a few seconds later, the man appeared out of thin air a few steps away from her.

“Sorry it took me so long to get here.”