Chapter Text
The bustle of National City had been overwhelming when she'd first moved from Midvale, but on that crisp morning years later Kara wouldn't have traded it for anything.
Her walk to work was filled with friends old and new, the community she'd grown to know and love - the street vendors with their breakfast foods, the gazillion dogs on their bathroom walks, the two cats from that newspaper stand with always judging but often benevolent eyes. Kara soaked it all in, every morning with the same sense of wonder as on the very first day.
Noonan’s wasn't so full, and the baristas working that day already knew her and her order well. They served the latte and the pumpkin spice in record time and she was in the sunlit comfort of the CatCo headquarters earlier than she'd anticipated. She hadn’t even needed to fly, and she actually appreciated that; there was a comforting pleasure in taking things slow and allowing herself to exist in the world around her.
Two things could be true at the same time: Kara was truly enjoying redirecting her career towards journalism and deep investigation, and she had never stopped wanting to care for and watch over Cat Grant. And so now, even as she had a couple of pieces waiting to be finished, one feature that needed final polishing after passing proofreading and fact-checking, and a whole interview to transcribe, she stopped by Cat’s office to drop the latte and ensure the Queen of all Media would have everything she needed as soon as she arrived.
“Ah, there you are, invading my office again.” Cat was early that morning.
“Well, someone has to. I brought you what I have so far on the social media regulation proposal, maybe you can take a look and tell me what you think.”
“You still want to look at it from the doxxing angle?” Cat always jumped straight into work mode, and Kara loved it.
“I was thinking I could open it up to different types of invasions of privacy, or leaks of personal data, taking into account the exposure part but also blackmail and the effect on the target’s personal circle, too.”
Cat nodded, thinking. “Sounds good, but be careful not to cast too wide a net, if you try to cover everything then you won’t go deep into anything and will actually cover nothing. Also, Kara, don’t let it get too personal. You’re going to out yourself one of these days out of sheer anguish about outing yourself.”
“I know,” Kara sighed.
“Let me check what you’ve got and come back after your little lovey dovey stroll, I’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong.”
Kara grinned. “Thanks, Miss Grant.”
As she turned around to leave, Cat called her again.
“And remember I have an assistant, there’s no need to barge into my space.”
“Should I stop visiting, then?” Kara asked, grin still on her face.
Cat grabbed her latte and narrowed her eyes at her. “Don’t you dare.”
The morning, mercifully, was uneventful, though Kara kept a close eye on Cat’s new, permanently panicking assistant, who flitted about preparing what Kara feared would be an afternoon meeting in the big room. But even the city was kind that day, with Supergirl’s services only being required a couple of times for minor disturbances.
There was, nonetheless, one part of her daily routine that Kara would never skip or forgive: she and Lena would as often as possible take either a lunch or late afternoon stroll down the waterfront. The occasion was rare where they'd both be done with work before eight or nine o'clock, and so they grabbed these small moments of the day to be together. This time, however, Kara's lucky day continued - she'd been able to meet Lena at her lab, eat with her on the terrace, and then Lena had bought her an ice cream for their stroll. Now they chatted away, Lena explaining enthusiastically how she wanted to take the technology for National City's street cameras and lights to the rest of the country, maybe abroad in the next five years.
Kara would remember forever that moment when they first saw her, when she called out the name in a bright, high voice, when she walked into their lives.
“Lena!”
The familiarity made Kara's stomach jump, and something in her urged to be on alert. Before she could react, though, the woman's call was answered.
“Andrea!”
The woman came over to them and didn't hesitate for even a second before hugging Lena and jumping into conversation like lightning.
“I did hear you'd moved to National City, but I didn't expect to find you so soon! To run into you! How are you, how's it going?”
“Oh, it's great, I love this city, so much sunnier than Metropolis.” Lena was all smiles, delighted.
“I know, it feels so much like home to me! I've only been here for two weeks and I'm in love already.”
Kara looked back and forth between them, Andrea’s excitement and Lena’s sudden joy.
“And what brings you here?” Lena asked.
Andrea rolled her eyes. “Oh, you know, investors and closing deals and opening branches.” She waved her hand around, dismissive. “Obsidian is all about clean energies and alternative power sources now, and National City is the best place to find committed suppliers and ideas with potential.”
“Well, you’re totally going to adore the city, moving here from Metropolis was the best choice I ever made.”
“I think it’s mine, too! And we definitely need to hang out so you can show me the best sights around town!” Andrea laughed, batted her eyelashes, and only then did she acknowledge Kara. “And who's your friend? So cute!”
Lena took Kara's hand and beamed at her.
“This is Kara, my fiancée. Love, this is Andrea Rojas, a dear friend from high school.”
“Oh wow! Congratulations!” Andrea's smile was dazzling and her voice was chirpy, but Kara did not miss the thorough once over her eyes gave her. “Hi Kara! Such a lucky girl.”
Kara looked at her, this beautiful woman with razor sharp eyes who had hugged Lena so delicately, and cocked her head to the side.
“I am indeed.” She placed her hand on Lena's arm, making sure the ring faced Andrea. “Lena really has friends all over the place. So you're in tech like her?”
“Yes, but more on the corporate side, not as hands-on as Lena has always been. I just took over running my family's company, and you know how time consuming that is. How about you, corporate or field research?”
Kara laughed. “Ah, um, media.”
Lena looked at her, beaming. “Kara is an integral part of CatCo Worldwide, Cat Grant's right hand.”
Andrea raised her eyebrows with a little laugh. “Cat Grant, really? She's such an interesting woman.”
“She truly is.”
Andrea’s eyes fell on the rings, and gave Kara another quick head-to-toe look.
“And do you ladies have a date for the wedding?”
“We're figuring it out,” chuckled Lena, “what with work being tremendous, and a wedding in this city is much easier said than done, but our friends are helping us a lot.”
“We do want the ceremony,” Kara added. “I mean, I certainly want a party, though to all effects and purposes we're pretty much married. But hey, Andrea, you should come over sometime, right babe? We'll have dinner and you can tell me all about Lena's high school days.”
“I would love that,” said Andrea, looking at Lena. “I'll find you, okay Lee? Don’t be a stranger anymore.”
Andrea hugged her again, and to Kara's taste the contact lasted a couple of seconds too long. She walked away, but though they went in opposite directions Kara could sense she had turned to look at them one last time. She fought the urge to break one of the rules she and Lena had set for themselves and kiss her in public.
Instead, she tried to find her most normal voice.
“She seems fun, your friend. I mean, she clearly cares a lot about you.”
“I didn’t know she was here,” Lena was quick to clarify. Was that defensiveness in her voice?
“You'd, uh, never mentioned her.”
“Andrea is a friend from that boarding school I told you about,” Lena said, but her tone was too casual and she avoided Kara's eyes as she spoke.
“Like Sam is your friend from college?” Kara couldn’t help it.
Lena sighed. “Listen, fine, we sort of dated for a little while. But we were fifteen, okay, and it lasted a couple of semesters at most, nothing more. My mother pulled me out for an even fancier boarding school and that was it, I lost contact with Andrea pretty much until just now.”
“Well, to her it seems that no time has passed at all.”
“Kara, it was half a lifetime ago. We were children, our families had dumped us there and we bonded over that for a little while. But Andrea and I have different personalities and interests, and as we grew up we also grew apart. Plus Lillian wasn’t particularly fond of her, so she made sure we didn’t keep in touch.”
“But she ticks all the boxes, doesn't she? Old money, big powerful family, business empire owner-”
“New money,” Lena corrected. “That's mostly why my mother never liked her. She always said the Rojas made their fortune a little too quickly and found them tasteless compared to Luthor tradition.”
Kara nodded absently. Lillian would know about suspicious enrichment.
“Corporate people tend to prefer Metropolis or Star City, though.”
“Well, you heard her, Obsidian is redirecting focus and knowing Andrea she's definitely looking to take a new risk. But you know, baby, you were right, we should invite her over so you can get to know her. I think you'll like her, I mean, you like Sam, don't you?”
There Kara couldn’t argue. “Ah, Sam is amazing.” And she doesn't have psycho eyes.
They were at the L-Corp labs again, and Kara walked Lena all the way to her office. She was thinking about giving her that kiss she’d wanted at the waterfront, but Lena beat her to it. Rao, she’s mine, Kara thought before giving in fully to Lena’s embrace.
Back in the CatCo headquarters, Kara found the comfort and safety of a known environment. That is, until she met the relentless eyes of her boss. Gaze sharp, but amused, Cat Grant waved her into her office.
"You look positively fuming. Out with it."
Kara groaned and didn’t even stop to marvel at how she could never keep anything from Cat.
"I had lunch with Lena today, like always, and by the pier we ran into her ex."
This time the Queen of All Media couldn't hold back the guffaw.
"Her ex? Now you really have to tell me all about it.”
Kara collapsed on the couch.
“It’s nothing, really, and it kinda makes me feel dumb because truly nothing happened.”
“But…”
Another groan. “But we were just talking when in comes this woman, calling out for Lena like they just hung out yesterday, she hugs her and everything, and starts chatting away like they’re besties and doesn’t even acknowledge me until ages later to ask Lena who her friend is.” Kara spat the word.
Cat raised an eyebrow. “And what did Lena do?”
“Ah, she was nice to her, of course, she actually looked happy to see her again. She wouldn’t be rude in public, anyway. She did introduce me as her fiancée and we talked about the engagement, this ex was super curious about when, and you should have seen how she looked at me, she has these, these big green feline eyes and oh she was studying me, I can tell you that much.”
“What’s her name?"
“Andrea Rojas,” Kara said, rolling her eyes and her R’s.
"Rojas? Lena Luthor dated the Obsidian heiress?"
"You know about Andrea and Obsidian?"
"Darling, I know about everyone. The Rojas are a particularly notorious family, and not precisely for the right reasons.”
Kara nodded. “Lena said Lillian doesn’t like them because they’re new money.”
“Among other things. They’re a family from Aztlan and Andrea is barely the second generation in terms of immigration and wealth. They weren't doing bad at all in their home country, but it was around when Andrea was born that they really hit it off internationally. I suppose people could regard them as social climbers, one moment they were no one and the next they controlled some of the biggest brands in the continent, they own mostly tech, infrastructure, and real estate. Bernardo Rojas, Andrea’s father, got rich a bit too quickly for the old guard’s liking, and now she’s paying for his approach and his mistakes.”
“Well, it wasn’t Bernardo Rojas who hugged my wife today and asked her to show her around town.”
Cat went to sit beside Kara on the sofa. Her words were calm, but serious.
“Kara, I don’t know Andrea or her family personally, but I can tell you that anyone who secured their position so tightly so fast isn’t playing around. Find out what she’s after, and find out as soon as you can. Lena loves you, so don’t take it out on her, but don’t lower your guard.”
“I just don’t wanna make a mistake, but I don’t know which way is the wrong or right one.”
“Err on the side of caution. Haven’t I taught you anything?”
The light scolding brought a half-smile to Kara’s face.
“I’ll make you proud, Miss Grant.”
Cat patted Kara’s cheek with the back of her hand.
“You always do.”
***
Sitting in the skyscraper office she had set up two months earlier, Andrea did her research.
She’d heard through the grapevine that Lena had gotten engaged in National City, but with Lena being the extremely private creature she'd always been, it had been impossible to pinpoint the “local, sweet girl” she'd chosen, and Andrea had had to calculate her moves and bide her time before that casual and completely spontaneous encounter at the waterfront. Now with a name and a face, seeing all about Kara Danvers’ life (her own Instagram account was private, but her friends and coworkers mentioned and tagged her everywhere), she could confirm her first impression.
It gave Andrea peace to know she had nothing to worry about.
The girl was pretty, sure, but Lena needed challenges in her life, needed thrills, something to shake her up now and then. She needed a puzzle to solve, but where her mind was built for those twelve-sided Rubik’s cubes, that blonde cupcake was the six-piece jigsaw laying on a daycare floor - fast fun and a cute picture to look at for a minute, but easily overgrown.
Well, reclaiming what was hers was going to be easier than expected. Part of Andrea wanted to simply let it run its course, if Lena wasn’t bored of the bland little girl already, she soon would be, but the other side of her called for the thrill of the chase and the active victory. And after all, what was she if not a hunter?
This was going to be fun.
***
At quarter to nine, Kara texted Lena.
Finished for the day, heading to the ph.
When Lena got home, closer to midnight than she would have liked, the penthouse was quiet but she could definitely sense Kara's presence. It was a new and welcome sensation, coming home to a house that wasn’t empty.
There was food on the stove, and Lena reheated herself a plate. Sometimes Kara would get takeout or fly somewhere for one of Lena’s favourites, but this was her own cooking and Lena treasured it more than any dish Kara could bring from overseas. She knew the concept was cheesy, but it tasted like love.
Kara was asleep already and Lena was careful not to disturb her when climbing into the bed. She wrapped an arm around her waist and buried her face in her neck for a kiss and a cuddle - how she loved that extra alien warmth! Though still sleeping, Kara placed a hand on Lena's and made a small noise.
At that moment, at least, Lena didn’t hear her phone chime with the text notification.