Chapter Text
Lena Luthor hates the politics of business.
Hates having to play nice with people that wouldn’t hesitate before trying to usurp her power and company, hates having to smile at people like she hasn’t just heard them lamenting the days of Lex and his maniacal schemes.
But she does it with poise and grace and a smile that oozes charm because she needs these sleazy, shady individuals to stay in a good mood, needs to remain in their good graces.
Because, while Lena is rich, she isn’t rich enough to singlehandedly save the world like she wants.
(Yet.)
Lena Luthor adores all the charity work she gets to do.
Her galas and her opening events and all the research into finding a cure for all of the world’s ills.
All the good deeds she’s meticulous about keeping away from prying eyes and camera lenses.
But her absolute favorite is her visits to her family’s Children Hospital.
Because, while all the glitz and the glam and the dressing up is wonderful, there’s a certain charm to putting on her comfiest pair of jeans and letting her hair down and keeping her makeup light.
(It’s one of Kara’s favorite looks too.)
After she becomes a mom, it becomes one of her special times alone with Sawyer and the twins.
(Though she makes sure to keep them away from the terminal kids in their last days and hours because there’s so much pain and hurt and heartbreak that she herself can barely handle, her children don’t need to worry about it just yet.)
Sawyer loves the quieter moments, like getting together with the friends he’s made and working on the “grown up” jigsaw puzzles Lena gets them.
(This week’s puzzle is a custom-made, 1000-pieced bird’s eye view of National City, taken by one Pulitzer-prize-winning photojournalist with the aid of a resident superhero.)
The twins – once they’ve officially joined the family and slowly adjusted to their new lives and routines – are just barely 18 months old when they start visiting the hospital with Lena.
And Luna takes to it like a duck to water; eagerly running around and exploring the play areas, joining kids – big and small – to play or color or just make friends.
Luka, though, tends to stay close to Lena’s side wherever she goes, or – whenever she feels that it’s safe to venture away from Lena – sits beside Sawyer to watch him methodically build whatever puzzle he and the kids are working on.
(Lena smiles sadly because Luka never goes far and always makes sure to keep herself in Lena’s line of sight – or rather, keep Lena in her own sights.)
(Sawyer always ends up abandoning his puzzle in favor of taking Luka over to where the LEGOs are because he knows those are her favorites on the rare occasions Luka wanders away from Lena but doesn’t choose him.)
(Lena proudly watches them build cities and towns and entire worlds that seem to keep getting more and more intricate each time.)
(She always ends up discreetly wiping her eyes before any tears fall as she watches Sawyer talk to Luka so, so softly, quietly weaving a new story about their creations for Luka until she finally cracks a smile for him.)
(Lena ends up curled into Kara in their bed after those particular days because, “he’s so much like Lex, Kara. Like my Lex…”)
While Kara, as Kara, doesn’t often tag along – because this is Lena’s thing with their children – Supergirl stops by often enough that the hospital has implemented a “Superhero Day” when everyone – from doctors and patients to administrators and visitors and every other employee – wears at least one superhero-related item.
So it isn’t so odd to see kids in red capes and the House of El crest across their chests, or green and orange swimming clothes. Even the doctors and nurses have been caught getting really in the spirit; Lena’s been pleasantly surprised that they even hold friendly “best dressed” competitions.
Lena’s kids love running around in their homemade Super suits, sewn by Kara and Lena using red and blue stretchy fabric in all the wrong shades.
(The girls opted for pants instead of the skirt, and Lena is still teasing Kara about their toddlers being more practical than her.)
Which is why the day Lena and the children get paparazzi’d walking into the hospital – dressed in authentic mini Batman and other Batfam suits, right down to baby-proofed Batarangs, and Lena dressed in a simple black t-shirt with the Bat symbol across her chest – is a day full of gossip and Kryptonian outrage.
Kal-El’s Kryptonian outrage, to be more specific.
He flies in that same night, ranting about picking sides and family loyalties while Kara blankly watches him pace and Lena hides her smirk into her glass of wine, her explanation of, “they were gifts from Bruce, and the children loved them; I wasn’t about to deny them, Kal,” falling on deaf ears.
“… and I understand that he’s upset about the latest supervillain’s escape because I couldn’t come help like I promised, but Metropolis was overcome with evil robot pigeons, Kara! Frankly, this is a low blow, bribing my family to abandon me like this, and I can’t believe you’d fall for it.”
(Lena’s endlessly amused and muttering about getting caught in the middle of a “lovers’ quarrel” while Kal continues about dropping off, “an entire dozen of Martha Kent’s famous apple pie still hot from the oven as an apology!”)
He’s so worked up about it all that he doesn’t notice Kara speeding to their room and back until she’s blocking his path on his next trip of walking a hole into her floor, and – eyes serious and hard – dramatically takes off her glasses like she’s about to jump out the window to save the kittens of National City.
He’s instantly alert and listening to the city the second she reaches for her shirt buttons.
Lena snorts into her wine as Kara, still staring Kal-El dead in the eye, yanks her shirt open and reveals… her own Batman shirt.
And Kara looks and sounds so defeated – the perfect picture of an exhausted mom that has already had and lost the argument with their kid about dressing themselves, the mom that just really needs a nap.
Lena ends up sprawled on the couch, laughing so hard it startles Buttons into protectively standing at her feet as Kal dramatically falls to his knees and clutches his chest with a quietly – because the kids are asleep and he won’t survive the wrath of a Luthor this time if he wakes them – wailed, “Nooo…”
(Seriously, she thinks. These aliens are so… extra.)
“We are proud members of the House of El.”
Kara’s sigh is so heavy, Lena’s budget reports flutter off the table.
“But in this house, we stan… Batman.”